“I was a SEAL. No longer,” Aiden replied. Then he looked at me. “And to answer your question, no. I tried to avoid them. But I wasn’t innocent either.”
Bishop held up his beer bottle and pointed it at Aiden. “Dude, I bet you’ve had more pussy in the last few years than all of us combined since we started having sex.”
“Excuse me, but there are ladies at the table,” I said as I glanced at Bishop with a disgusted look.
He smiled and said, “You like it when I talk dirty.”
I lifted my hand and shot him the finger.
Aiden looked at Hunter, and something passed between them.
“Kyle, heard you got put in for that promotion,” Hunter said, turning the conversation to something else.
The woman with dark blonde hair next to Kyle looked up at him. “What do you do?”
“I’m a police officer here in Boggy Creek.”
Her eyes lit up. “Oh, my two sisters—” she pointed to the brunette and the other blonde—“and I are only here for the week. We wanted to find a place we could go hiking and enjoy the outdoors. Maybe you could, um, give us some suggestions on where to go.”
One of the sisters was currently deep in a conversation with Adam, and now Bishop was working his best moves on the other blonde in the group.
“Nice diversion,” I said to Aiden. “Do you and Hunter know how to communicate telepathically now?” I watched Aiden take another long drink as he finished off the bottle of beer. He lifted his hand and the waitress came over.
“Another one of these and a whiskey, three fingers.”
She nodded and asked, “Any certain brand?”
Aiden shook his head.
The waitress turned to me. I held up my full beer. “I’m good, thanks.”
When she walked away, Aiden let out a long breath. “Hunter knows me well enough to know that I don’t like talking about what I do.” He flinched, but tried to hide it. “What I used to do.”
I tried to move my leg and failed once again. It was like his thigh was glued to mine.
The corner of Aiden’s mouth twitched with what looked to be a smile. Was he doing that on purpose?
The waitress brought back Aiden’s beer and the whiskey in record time. I watched him drink the whiskey in two sips. Then he turned back to me. “You sure you don’t want a whiskey to celebrate?”
“I’m sure. My sister is keeping Ben overnight, but I still need to watch what I drink. The last thing I want is a hangover, plus I drove here.”
Aiden nodded.
The DJ started playing a song, and Bree jumped up. “Oh my gosh! It’s BLACKPINK! Willa, dance floor, now!”
Before I had a chance to even react, Bree had us both up and on the dance floor. I wasn’t going to argue. I was a huge BLACKPINK fan. This song, “Crazy Over You,” was one of my favorites, and I hadn’t danced in so long.
“Now dance sexy because that man is staring at you,” Bree said as she moved her hips like she was a professional dancer. It didn’t take long for me to catch on. The beat of the song settled in like an old friend, and I could feel my body moving sensually with the rhythm of the music. It felt good to simply let myself be free.
I turned and moved my hips against Bree. If I remembered one thing from my days before marriage, guys liked to watch girls dancing with one another, and I was not going to waste this opportunity.
“Work it, girlfriend,” Bree shouted as she placed her hands on my hips and we did a pretty hot little move. When I lifted my gaze, I saw Aiden. He had turned his chair some for a better view of the dance floor. He had a smile on his face, but I could see the hunger in his eyes all the way from over here.
There was no way I was going to look over at my brother, or the other guys, for that matter.
I turned and faced Bree. “If I had on pants, I could dance a little more provocatively,” I pointed out as she laughed.
“Sweetie, just bend over some and that boy is going to come on the spot.”
“Good Lord!” I yelled as we both laughed. “I didn’t even know I could still move my body like this!”
“Keep it up. He can’t keep his eyes off of you,” Bree called out.
“And Hunter?” I asked.
Bree smirked. “Pretty sure I’m getting lucky tonight!”
“Oh, gross!”
The song changed to another BLACKPINK song, “Kill This Love,” and I let out a squeal.
Bree and I soon got into the music, but I couldn’t ignore the weight of Aiden’s gaze on me as I danced just a little bit sexier.
Aiden
“What in the hell are they playing?” Bishop cried out.
One of the girls said, “It’s BLACKPINK! They’re a K-Pop band and hugely popular.”
“Khop?” Bishop asked as I laughed.
“No, K-Pop! P. O. P.,” the girl next to Bishop shouted.
“Okay, what does that mean?” Hunter asked.
“It’s short for Korean pop. They’re a pretty popular group, both in South Korea and over here,” I heard Kyle say.
“Dude, do I even want to know how you know about K-pop music?” Bishop asked.
I tuned them out and watched as Willa moved her body in ways that made my cock strain against my jeans—and her brother was only a few feet away from me, which made me a shit friend.
Bree and Willa were laughing as they danced, and I loved that she was happy. When Willa turned around again, her eyes met mine. The lyrics in the song were now in English, and I couldn’t help but allow my smile to broaden some as I slowly lifted my beer to my mouth and finished it as Willa sang along. I let my gaze move over her and hoped like hell Hunter was paying attention to Bree and not how I was eye-fucking his baby sister.
When Willa moved her hands over her body in the most seductive way I’d ever seen, I nearly bolted out of the chair so she could touch me instead. She winked at me, and I had to adjust in the fucking seat to accommodate my growing hard-on.
“Christ, Willa,” I whispered under my breath.
Bree tapped Willa on the shoulder and broke the connection between us. She motioned to the bar, and Willa nodded and followed her. The song changed to a slower country song, so I stood, set my empty beer down, and headed through the crowd of people to get to Willa.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Hunter make his way over to Bree.
Reaching for her arm, I gently pulled Willa to a stop, which made her turn around. For a moment, I thought for sure she had been about to hit me, thinking some stranger was manhandling her. When she saw it was me, her eyes brightened and she licked her lips.
“Aiden.”
“Dance with me,” I said, walking her back toward the middle of the dance floor.
Willa looked over her shoulder at Bree, who was now deep in a conversation with Hunter—who’d apparently had the same thought process I did.
“Please,” I called out over the song.
“Of course,” she answered with a sweet smile.
I drew her body close to mine as we slowly danced.
“I’m glad it’s a slow song. I realized I’m out of shape during those last two songs,” Willa said, lifting her head to look me in the eyes.
All I could do was chuckle. She was in my arms, and my body was feeling strange, like it had nine years ago in that barn. No other woman had ever made me feel this way. None. My heart beat hard against my chest, and a rush like no other came over me. The last time I’d felt like this, I was about to kick in a door in Afghanistan, for fuck’s sake.