Page 61 of Instigator
“Sex.”
“Intimacy,” he corrects. “When you came over a few days ago, and we hung out all day, and it was so easy? Breakfast dates watching the sun rise. Gaming in the same place. Lunches and dinners here, nights out…”
“That sounds really nice,” I admit. “What about long-term goals? Do you want kids?”
“Not unless you do.”
I make a face. “It’s not solely my decision.” I’d hate for him to resent me for taking that away from him.
“You once said you thought you missed your chance. So if you really wanted them, I’d make room in my life for it,” Aidan says. “But you’ve never made it seem like you wanted to have kids. I’m ambivalent. I don’t need it to fulfill me. I never really saw myself as being a dad. Not after… everything.”
“Your ex.”
“She did a number on me.” He’s so matter of fact about it. “I’m not healed. But I want to be. Trust is a big thing for me. If neither of us wants kids, we won’t have kids. It’s that simple. The rest… well, I have to put in the work. We both will. Cheating is a hard limit for me.”
“For me too. I need to be able to trust you.”
“Do you?”
Rather than answering glibly, I stop to consider it. I don’t think he’d purposefully hurt me. He’s never struck me as the type of guy to step out on his partner. But he’s constantly traveling. Who’s to say he isn’t hitting up a bar and taking women home in every city?
On the other hand… most of the time, we’re online together. We’re spending all our free time together.
“I do, yes.”
Aidan grips my hand tightly. “Then I won’t do anything to betray your trust.”
“That easy?”
“That easy.”
“I don’t know that I want to get married again.”
“So we won’t,” he replies. “I don’t care about the legalities of it. I’m not after your money, but if that’s what you’re worried about, I’d sign a prenup in a heartbeat. I have more than enough to fund my lifestyle for the rest of my life, especially now that I’m not supporting Hailey’s medical expenses all by myself.”
“About that…”
He arches an eyebrow. “Yes?”
“Your sister is going to expect a postmortem on tonight.”
“Well, how do you think this is going?”
“I’m… not opposed to the idea.”
He grins. “Then whatever you want to tell her, I’ll corroborate.”
Jamie, our waiter, takes this moment to appear at our table. “Sorry for the delay, Miss Ramos. Do you want your usual?”
Aidan looks at me guilelessly.
“Actually, I think I’m in the mood for something new.”
And when our food comes out about twenty minutes later, the seared scallops are just as good as I thought they’d be. The bites he shares of his salmon are delicious too.
Conversation flows, exactly like it has every other time we’ve seen each other in person. It reinforces the idea that maybe, possibly, we can do this. We can turn our online friendship into something more.
We linger over dessert, and when he reaches for my hand, I give it with no hesitation. This is uncharted territory for us both. I have every confidence we can navigate this—together.
