Read Just This Once, Contemporary Romance (Last Frontier Lodge #3) for Free Online

wedding. How any man could do that to Becca was beyond Aidan. She must have caught his expression because she groaned and put her hand over her eyes.
    “Oh God. I thought for sure you would have heard that sordid detail.” She paused for another swallow of wine and brushed her hair out of her eyes. Her mouth curled in a bitter half-smile. “The only reason everyone heard he dumped me was because I was so shocked, I just stood there. Technically, he did dump me before I had a chance to dump him. I couldn’t bring myself to tell too many people what really happened because it’s so cliché and embarrassing. My fiancée was actually getting a blowjob from one of my bridesmaids. That’s the kind of thing that’s supposed to be a joke.”
    Cold anger knotted inside. Aidan was beyond disgusted at Kyle. On the heels of that came a deep vicarious pain. He supposed it was a good thing he hadn’t known what Kyle had done to Becca because he could have hardly stood to witness her pain and know how she must have felt at the time. He looked across the table and saw the embarrassment she was trying to shield. He held her gaze. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Kyle’s the one who should be embarrassed.” His words came out low, his anger rising to the surface.
    Becca shrugged. “I know, but it still sucks. Anyway, I didn’t want this to be a woe-is-me thing. The thing is…Kyle’s the last man I was with. I hadn’t really thought about that until last night.”
    Uncertain where she was going with this, he nodded.
    “Since you were honest with me, I’ll be honest with you. I’ve wanted to kiss you for a while too.”
    Aidan was relieved he wasn’t the chattiest guy because his capacity for speech deserted him entirely. Oh, he’d hoped. He’d hoped like hell that what he felt when he kissed Becca last night was what he’d sensed. But to hear her say aloud she’d wanted to kiss him, well that sent lust surging through him. He took a long drag of beer to mask his silence and nodded for her to continue.
    She twirled that lock of hair around her finger again and bit her lip. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “The thing is, I don’t want Kyle to hold the honors anymore, but I don’t want to try to date. I hate dating.” She almost spit the word out, and Aidan bit back his smile. Her eyes held his, uncertainty blinking behind the brave veneer of hers. “I thought maybe we could…” She stopped, her face flushing.
    He stared at her and tried to make sense of what she was saying. If it was what he thought, he might lose his hold on sanity, which was difficult enough to cling to whenever Becca was near. “Maybe we could…?”
    Still flushing, she took another gulp of wine. “How do I say this?” she muttered to herself. She looked over at him, and he felt as if her eyes had ahold of his heart. “I don’t want Kyle to be the last man I was with anymore. I thought maybe if you wanted to kiss me, and I wanted to kiss you, then maybe you might want something more. You probably think I’m crazy, but…” Her words ran out, and she kept twirling her hair.
    He kept staring at her, his mind racing. If he understood, Becca, the woman he’d fantasized about for years, was flat out asking him to do a lot more than kiss her. There was absolutely no way he could say no. Yet, a part of him was torn. He didn’t want to simply be the man who became the newest memory for Becca. Beyond desire, he wanted her—in every way. He’d loved her from afar and kept his distance and had resigned himself he may wait forever. So, he’d have to play his cards very, very carefully. Much as he didn’t know if he had the discipline to do it, he might have to persuade Becca to delay her request.
    Becca started to stand. “Okay, obviously you think I’m out of my mind and you’re too polite to say so. I’ll just…”
    He reached over and wrapped his hand around her wrist. Her eyes slammed into his, wide and vulnerable.