Page 66 of Aiden & Lily

“Don’t talk like that,”Lily whispered. “You’re just as worthy of love as anyone else. No more self-deprecating thoughts, alright?”

He nodded but couldn’t bring himself to verbalize anything. She was his rock, his anchor. Lily was what he needed to remind himself that he was allowed to chase after what made him happy even if there were people in his life who didn’t think he was worthy of any of it.

She did, though.

Lily thought he was worthy and that would have to be enough.

18

LILY

“Hey, Lils, can you bring me that box of carpenter nails?”

Lily glanced down at her feet and lifted a small carton. “This one?”

Parker nodded. “Yep. That’s it.”

She carried it over to where he stood beside Aiden as they set to work on reinforcing the framing for the church. Since Parker’s crew was off for the day, she, Aiden, and Jasmine had offered to come out on Sunday and help with the project.

Lily glanced over at Aiden and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Ever since he’d shown up to tell her Mathew knew about them, he’d seemed lighter. She could practically see how much the secret had weighed on him, and not only emotionally. The physical difference was like night and day.

He must have felt her watching because he glanced her way and winked.

Warmth spread through her chest.

This was what she’d wanted. A chance to enjoy their relationship out in the open. To spend time with him without hiding. To look at him across a room, or a half-built church, and not worry about who might notice.

Reese was out of town again for a few weeks, which was disappointing, but she’d promised him they would all get together the moment he returned.

His schedule had made a real phone conversation nearly impossible, so they’d only exchanged short messages. Nothing long enough for her to explain everything that had happened between her and Aiden.

That was fine, though. They’d have plenty of time later.

It was funny that Reese still knew Aiden by his middle name. She’d kept that detail to herself because of the confusion with Mathew, and because she didn’t want to explain everything through a string of rushed messages. Lily could already imagine the conversation that would follow.

Reese was protective, and he would probably have an opinion about the way Aiden had handled things in the beginning. But Lily wasn’t going to walk away from the man she loved simply because her best friend had concerns. Once Reese saw how much Aiden cared for her, she believed he would understand. Eventually, maybe the awkwardness would fade. Maybe they could all become friends.

When she looked toward Aiden again, his smile faded for the briefest moment before he turned back to his work. Lily frowned, but Parker asked him something about the framing, and the moment passed before she could decide whether she had imagined it.

Jasmine nudged her and released a heavy sigh. “Man, why couldn’t Parker be my type?”

Lily startled, then followed her sister’s gaze. Parker stood with his nail gun at the ready, the muscles showing in his tanned arms and a light sheen of sweat on his forehead.

Lily laughed, drawing Aiden’s attention, which only made her blush. Turning away from the men, she lightly whacked Jasmine with the back of her hand. “He is so your type. Seriously. I can’t believe you still haven’t agreed to go on a date with him.”

Jasmine made a face. “Nah. He’s not interested in the romance stuff.”

“Neither are you.”

“But I want to be.” Jasmine lowered her voice. “That’s the difference. If you’ll recall, he wants to skip the whole falling-in-love part and start a family. What do you think Dad would say if he found out I was considering being with a guy who didn’t plan on falling in love with me? He’d blow a gasket, that’s what.”

She wasn’t wrong. Their father might be protective, but he still wanted each of his daughters to find love with a man worthy of her.

Jasmine’s expression softened. “Things seem to be going well with you and Aiden, though. You look happy.”

Lily pressed her fingers to her cheeks, but there was no hiding her smile.

Jasmine giggled. “That’s what I thought. Seems like everything is finally coming together. I’m so happy for you.”