The Naughty List (The Naughty List #1)(7)

A Smitten Kitten was always prepared.

I paused under Aiden’s window, looking from the large porch in the front to his darkened pane, charting my usual course. There was latticework with interwoven vines attached to the white siding, and amazingly enough, it wouldn’t be the first lattice I’d climbed this week.

When we’d investigated Peter Corning on Tuesday, I’d had to shimmy across his cedar roof to get a picture of him cheating. He and his female accomplice were totally getting it on in his parents’ room! Gross.

His girlfriend, Marissa, was so ticked when she found out, she’d given him a bloody lip in the middle of homeroom! It was quite a scene—swearing, punching, and groin kicking.

Sheesh. Peter would freak if he knew how Marissa had found out about his cheating. So far, none of the guys knew SOS existed—our clients were great at keeping the secret. Even better, nobody outside of the Smitten Kittens knew our true identities. And we planned to keep it that way.

My sneaker fit perfectly in between the slots of the wooden grid as I climbed. My pulse was racing. Heights weren’t my thing. Well, not unless I had a good solid base beneath me, and this latticework was nowhere near as dependable as my girls. They would never drop me.

Aiden’s window was half open, and I smiled. I figured it would be, since I snuck in to see him about twice per week. It would have been quite an inconvenience if I had to pick the lock every time. I pushed the cold glass up all the way before crawling in.

“Hey,” I whispered as I slid my legs over the sill. Aiden’s bedroom was lined with trophies and ribbons dating back to elementary school. My sweetie had even earned a merit badge from Boy Scouts for knot tying. But what I loved most was that his room smelled like him: athletic, sexy, and comforting. His sheets rustled as he shifted in the bed.

“Baby?” He sounded sleepy. Aiden sat up and clicked on his side table lamp, lighting up the room. I noticed that the tracksuit he’d been wearing earlier was tossed on the wood floor. It made me wonder what exactly he was wearing under his sheets. I licked my lips.

Aiden rubbed at his face and grinned at me. “What are you doing here?” His question brought me back to my Kitten senses.

“I need to talk to you.”

“Sit with me,” he said, moving over and holding open his plaid comforter for me. He was wearing the boxers I’d given him for Christmas, the ones with little reindeers on them. He’d been thinking of me! That was awfully sweet of him.

I walked over and sat down, almost ready to forget everything, but then Kira’s sobbing voice popped in my head, sniffles and all.

“What’s wrong?” Aiden asked. “I don’t like to see you frown.” He used his finger to trace my downturned mouth. He really didn’t like to see me sad. Luckily, I rarely was—it wasn’t the Smitten Kitten way.

“It’s Darren,” I said. “He cheated on Kira.”

“What?” Aiden furrowed his brow and glanced around the room, then looked back at me. “Are you f**king serious?”

I glared at him. He rolled his eyes. “Sorry. Are you effing serious?” Aiden raked his fingers through his hair, looking confused.

“I’m seriously serious.”

He paused, shaking his head. Then he straightened up. “Wait. Was it with Charlie?”

My stomach flipped. “You knew?”

“No! Of course not. It’s just … I saw him talking to her after school. I thought it was weird, but it wasn’t anything to call him on.”

“Maybe you should have.”

“Tessa.”

“Now you have to, Aiden! Your boys have been out of control lately. Do you realize that every member of the starting five, except you, has cheated on their girlfriend? Do you think that’s okay?” I felt shaky. I didn’t like having to point out something he should have already known. And besides, it was so negative.

“No, I don’t. But—”

“Well, then, you need to tell them that. You should be leading them.”

Aiden chuckled. He moved over, wrapping me up and putting his chin on my shoulder. “Baby,” he said. “They’re my friends. And I lead them in basketball, not in life.”

“Maybe a life coach is exactly what they need.”

“I can’t do that.”

“I lead the Smitten Kittens! They listen to me. You don’t see any of us running around behind our boyfriends’ backs.” Well, that wasn’t entirely true. But at least we weren’t cheating.

Oh, butterscotch. I was starting to get choked up. Poor Kira. She’d really liked Darren. They’d been together for close to a month. It was her longest relationship.

“Besides,” I said, sniffling. “I should have known.”

“Tessa.” Aiden pulled back and turned me to him, holding my face in his palms. “There’s no way you could have known. It’s not your responsibility. You’re a Sex Kitten, not the morality police.”

I closed my eyes. “It’s Smitten.” Aiden didn’t know about SOS. He had no idea that on the side, the Smitten Kittens were more than the morality police. We were full-on double agents. Like in a James Bond movie—only with twice the sex.

“Lie down with me?” he asked.

I nodded, letting him pull me in between the flannel sheets as disappointment washed over me. I’d let Kira down, and I continued to do something I despised: lie.