Never Say Never

Chapter 15

 Far later than she'd expected, Aly pulled into the driveway of her home. Dinner and coffee had turned into a stroll down the street to the local bar, The Stumble Inn, where the owner, Dan, loved a good play on words. A couple drinks, a lot of conversation, and quite a bit of laughter later, they'd finally said their good nights, everyone heading off to their own vehicles for home.

The boys were probably already asleep considering it was pushing eleven. That was alright. The four of them were planning on a bike ride tomorrow afternoon so if Steve wanted, he could always just leave Jeremiah there. No point in waking the kid to drag him home simply to bring him back again.

Opening the front door, she stepped inside to find Steve on the couch, a rerun of Who's the Boss playing on the tv. He turned to look over at her, his arms propped behind his head, giving her one of those glaringly bright smiles that made her feel like she needed to shield herself, to bring a hand to her eyes to protect them.

"Hey."

Dropping her purse on the table by the door, Aly made her way into the living room, smiling down at him. "Hey. Sorry I'm so late. We completely lost track of time."

"That's alright. I was expecting it. I told you that you were going to be later than you thought. Robin and Nancy love to talk. And with you being all shiny and new, they had endless things to ask you, I'm sure."

Steve pushed himself up to sitting with his legs still out in front of him, opening his arms to her. Aly happily accepted his invite, her body liquefying into him when his arms came around her, pulling her into the warmth of his chest. Sighing contentedly, she wound her arms around his waist curling her legs underneath her, relieved that the awkwardness of earlier appeared to be forgotten.

"They should get jobs as interrogators. They definitely threw the book at me. I don't know if there's anything they don't know about me at this point," she joked, "including the unfortunately mortifying third grade talent show story."

"Ohh, do tell. I'm intrigued now."

"No. That one is better left unshared. Trust me. I don't know why I even told them. I think your friends have some kind of superpower. I was running off at the mouth, story after story. I couldn't seem to make myself stop. To be fair, they were shooting questions at me so fast I barely had time to stop and think. I'm stuck being friends with them forever now, you know. They have far too much dirt on me. Way too much they could blackmail me for. I fear I've made a grave mistake."

Steve's laugh rumbled beneath her, his fingers slipping into her hair, thumb pressing into her skin as it slid over the back of her neck. Her eyes slipped closed, her body practically humming under his touch. His other hand moved under her chin, lifting her face to his and a soft moan escaped her when his lips found hers, gently, tenderly.

She would never tire of his mouth, his touch, the way it set her aflame every single time. Aly wanted him in a way that was borderline dangerous. The way she wanted him was all consuming, like a fire raging through a forest, turning everything to ash in its wake. If it weren't for the boys, she was certain she would lose her job because she would do nothing but spend hours in bed with this man.

But there were the boys to consider. It was hard to concentrate on that fact when Steve's tongue was exploring her throat, his hand slipping under her shirt. Fingertips made rough from working with his hands teased her skin, his palms covering her breasts completely, kneading and squeezing until she was grinding helplessly against his thigh, gasping. But that little voice in the back of her head reminded her, brought her back to reality, the reality where they did not want either of their sons to walk in on this very blatant display in the middle of the living room.