The Proposal (The Proposition #2)(48)
When she turned to stare at Aidan, she saw his jaw clenching and unclenching. He was trying to keep his emotions in check. She knew that meant he really wanted her to stay. That thought made her heart beat a little faster. “Are you sure you wouldn’t mind?”
Aidan tore his glance away from the road to pin her with his stare. “Of course I wouldn’t. Stay a couple more days or weeks.” Then under his breath he murmured, “Stay forever.”
Her breath hitched at his allusion to commitment, but she decided not to press it. “If you’re really sure, then I’d love to stay.”
She gave him a bright smile, which caused a smirk to curve on his lips. “Good. I’m glad to hear it. Now why don’t we celebrate by letting me buy you dinner?”
“No, no, this one needs to be my treat. You’ve already done enough.”
“Hmm, I don’t think I’ve ever let a woman pay for dinner,” Aidan mused.
“Good. You can learn that there’s a first time for everything.”
Aidan chuckled. “All right, Em. Since dinner is on you, let me find the most expensive place possible!”
***
The following night Emma prepared for her non-date to the opera with Pesh. After putting the final touches on her hair, she stood back from the bathroom mirror and took in her image. With its empire waist and wide spaghetti straps, the violet colored cocktail dress came just below her knees. Her nose wrinkled a little at how her straining pregnancy cle**age wanted to spill out of the top. It seemed like she had gone up a cup size in the last few days. She would be sure when she wasn’t wearing her coat to wear her drape.
She hadn’t been dressed up in so long, and she had originally bought the dress to wear to Casey and Nate’s rehearsal dinner since it promised to be a swanky affair. But she was glad to get more wear out of it to the opera.
At the sound of the front door slamming, she cringed. “Em?” Aidan’s voice called.
“I’m in the bathroom.” Like a true coward, she had yet to mention her plans of going out with Pesh. She knew it would cause unnecessary trouble. She had hoped to be able to sneak out before Aidan got home. Leaving behind a note or text that she would be out would have been so much easier than having to face him. But Aidan couldn’t seem to get it through his head that there was nothing between her and Pesh, and at the same time, he had yet to tell her the magic three words she had been longing to hear.
While in her mind she told herself that her opera plans were innocent, her heart raged in fury at her. Deep down, she knew she was hurting Aidan, and that regardless of what he had done to her, that made her a horrible person. She should have told Pesh no the first time he broached the subject of attending the opera, but instead, she gone against her better judgment and agreed.
She was snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of Aidan shuffling down the hall. “I picked up some Chinese on my way in. I thought if you were feeling up to it, we might go to Percy’s swim meet tonight. He really wants us to come. I swear, he’s called me like five times.”
Emma winced at the fact she would not only be disappointing Percy but Aidan as well. He appeared in the bathroom door with a half-eaten egg roll in his hand. He took one look at her, and his mouth gaped open. “I think you’re going to be a little overdressed for the YMCA.”
Warmth flooded her cheeks. “Actually, I’m going to the opera tonight.”
Aidan’s face fell. “With Pesh?”
She gnawed her bottom lip before responding. “He asked me last week because he had an extra ticket. Another couple will be there, so it’s not like we’ll be all alone. It’s a way of celebrating me being off bed-rest.” At the hurt radiating in Aidan’s eyes, she quickly added, “It’s just downtown at the Fox. I won’t be out late, and I promise to stay off my feet as much as I can.”
His silence caused her chest to cave in. She knew she had to get away from him. As she started to brush past him out the door, she noticed a crumb of eggroll on his face. Raising up, she ran her thumb over the corner of his lip, catching it.
He grabbed her arm, his blue eyes flashing with desperation. “Em, don’t go. Please.”
She hoped he didn’t noticed how she had started trembling. “Aidan, I’ve already told Pesh I would, and I’m dressed. Besides, it’s not a date. I promise.”
He scowled at her. “Of course, it’s a date. You may think it’s just as friends, but I’m sure he doesn’t. Or he at least wants you to believe that lie while he’s moving in for the kill!”
Emma stared down at the bathroom tile. “Yes, it’s true that Pesh would like us to be more, but I told him I didn’t know what I wanted.”
“That’s not true. You want us. I know you do.” When she refused to look at him, Aidan’s hand gripped her chin, forcing her to look at him. “Why do you keep fighting this? Fighting us?”
She tried pulling away, but he tightened his arms around her. “I’m not fighting us. There isn’t really an us anymore, is there? You made damn sure of that when you couldn’t tell me you loved me and tried to screw another woman!”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “Oh hell yes there is! There was before, and there still is.”
Emma shook her head as tears burned her eyes. “Will you ever get it? You broke my heart, Aidan! You shattered me into jagged pieces from which I’m not sure I can ever be whole again with you or any another man.”