hi there

"Wouldn't dream of it." Except she was overthinking it. When they'd met, she'd immediately written him off as just another rich asshole with no heart and no conscience. He seemed like exactly the type of guy she'd spent her entire life around which was exactly the type of guy she wanted to get away from. The only problem was she couldn't stop thinking about him. Delilah had been the one to put her foot down and she was regretting it the longer she looked up at him. "How close is the car?"

"Five minutes away," Aiden replied, looking at his phone. He needed to put as much distance between them as possible, as soon as possible. Before she did anything. It had been an intense few days. Since yesterday, he could only think about how their relationship had changed, about her, about her lips, about the taste of her in his mouth, about her bold mouth. Aiden didn't like that. He was going to take her home in one piece and then put some distance between them. At least until they had to see each other tomorrow at their office. The idea of ​​repeating what had happened between them yesterday suddenly wasn't as horrible as it seemed that morning.

"Okay, but I don't have to fuck it up even more for you." This would be so much easier to think through if he didn't have a pounding headache. "I figured we'd be able to keep it with just my family until we could break up and then nobody would be know the difference." His eyebrows furrowed together slightly. "Is he really worried that you'd marry an Elvis impersonator?"

"Aiden would find a way to worry one way or another," Sasha shrugged. "My mom, though, she's a whole other story." Her mom wasn't going to let him off the hook so easily; she was like a dog with a bone. And since Aiden wasn't getting married anytime soon, and considering that none of her kids were particularly keen on the idea of ​​marriage in general, "It's okay though." The hangover was killing her. When had she drunk so much? She moved to reach something from her purse before offering him a pill "For you head"

His face crumpled as he realized just how out of hand things had gotten. "Fuck." He frowned slightly. "I'm sorry, Sash. Look, whatever I gotta do to fix this, I'll do it. I don't want to fuck things up with your family." Riley new her home life was complicated enough; he didn't need to add to the chaos.

"Ri, my family is fucked up anyway," she assured him in an attempt to calm him down. Her mother could get on her nerves sometimes but Sasha would just ignore her like she always did. "My mom," Sasha shrugged before moving to sit on the bed. "My brother, I think, wanted to make sure I didn't get drunk and get married in Vegas to some Elvis impersonator." Aiden was probably thinking about the prenup as well to protect her but Sasha knew she wasn't really going to need it in the first place because she and Riley weren't getting married after all.

She huffed slightly before giving him her address. The woman had a feeling he wasn't going to take no for an answer so there was no point in wasting their time arguing. Walking outside, Delilah leaned against the wall, arms crossed over her chest. "You know, with you defending me today and now you making sure I get home okay...I might start thinking you've got a heart in there." Looking over at him, she fought to keep her gaze from skimming over him. She wasn't sure if she was antagonizing him in hopes of returning to normal or in hopes of getting him riled up enough that he'd give in and they could hook up again.

"Don't overthink it," Aiden said in a joking tone, but it was actually a subtle warning to her so she wouldn't see anything in his actions other than being a decent person. Nothing more. He knew how quickly they'd crossed the line the day before, and if they weren't going to repeat it, as she'd made very clear the day before, then he couldn't allow her to believe that he cared about her. Aiden didn't really care about Delilah, did he? He wanted to think as little as possible about her, but that didn't seem possible given that she'd been occupying every second of his life for the past 48 hours.

"You might as well be able to read my mind," he grinned before chugging what was left in the water bottle. The man sat up for a minute, or attempted to rather, before plopping back down as the room spun. "Because we were drunk and it was dark outside." Riley wasn't even sure if he'd registered that the curtains were open the night before. He'd been so happy to climb into bed that not much else had crossed his mind.

Sasha debated whether or not to tell him that her mom and brother had called. Partly because she didn't want him to feel guilty for getting them into this whole mess. "My mom called. She thinks I'm engaged," she informed him after a moment of silence. "Apparently the wedding planner's sister goes to Pilates with my mom or whatever." Sasha hadn't even been able to fully process everything her mom had told her. "My brother called too, but he's more surprised and worried, I think."

Delilah felt vulnerable under his gaze, lips parting slightly for a moment. "Stop looking at me like that." She knew she was tipsy, but she wasn't completely inebriated. There was no way she was driving but she certainly wasn't expecting him to offer to share an Uber with her. "You don't have to escort me home, Aiden," she protested, even as she wobbled slightly on her heels. "You might think I'm an incapable, spoiled princess but I do know how to take care of myself." It was probably a bad idea for her to be in close proximity to him right now.

Aiden wasn't going to deny that Delilah had always seemed like a little brat to him. "I think I have too," he replied, ordering an Uber on his phone until he realized he didn't know where she lived. Of course, why would he? "What's your address?" He would take her to the door of her building, watch her enter, and then ask the Uber to take him to his own house. Safe. Smart. He wasn't going to go up to her apartment even if he had the chance. He would have to settle for knowing that she was going to walk into her building in one piece. Aiden followed her outside the bar.

He woke with a start as the phone was thrown across the room and he groaned as the sudden movement caused his head to throb. Riley ran a hand down his face, eyes feeling like sandpaper as he rolled onto his side. "What time is it?" He mumbled, propping himself up onto an elbow. "Are you okay? I thought I heard something." He looked over at his nightstand, wishing he'd thought about putting water out for them both the night before. He hadn't thought about it though. Now he was regretting it.

"Hey," she greeted him, reaching over to grab the water bottle she'd opened the night before and handing it to him. "No, I can't read your mind, but I've been your friend for a long time." Sasha knew Riley could drink an ocean after a night of partying. She stretched out on the bed and covered her eyes with her arm. "I don't know why we didn't close the curtains last night."

"He's the fucking worst. He plays poker with my dad on Saturdays," she said, making a face. Her eyebrows furrowed together as he put a few bills on the bar. Standing, she grabbed her purse and turned on him with a slight glare. "Stop being nice to me, Aiden. It's..." Confusing. If she hadn't been so headstrong and stubborn yesterday, she wouldn't hesitate to attempt to get him somewhere more private or take advantage of their empty office. But she was the one who'd put a stop to them fooling around and she was battling with her pride to broach the subject of it happening again. And maybe again. With the alcohol buzzing in her system and him being this close to her it was hard to think straight. The scent of him and his cologne filled her senses and a soft scoff left her. "And what cologne is that anyway?"

"Okay, let's go," Aiden said, avoiding her question, which Delilah clearly wouldn't have even suggested if she weren't at least a little tipsy. Now he simply couldn't leave her alone until he was sure she got home. "Time to go home." Taking an Uber alone in that condition wasn't an option for her either, clearly given the state she was in, let alone walking through the city at night. Aiden placed his hands in his pockets and stared at her, wondering what to say to avoid telling her she was clearly drunk. He was willing to give her a free pass given the shitty day she'd had. "Come on, let's share an Uber."

"Okay, fair point. But my mom didn't like Aubrey, Beth, or Liv either," he pointed out as she got up to find a bottle of water. "She likes you. Regardless of where the bar was." Truthfully, Sasha was the only girl he'd brought around that his mom hadn't had a problem with.

Sasha nearly burst into tears when she woke up the next morning to her phone vibrating on the nightstand. Her head was pounding so hard she couldn't think straight. The call indicator read "MOM" as she debated for a minute whether to answer. She glanced across the bed at Riley, still asleep next to her. "Yes?" She moaned in a near whisper, her voice still hoarse from the night before, only to be greeted by her mother's screams demanding to know how she could be compromised and not have told her. It took Sasha a good couple of minutes to process everything her mother was saying (screaming) into the phone when her phone started vibrating again with a call from her brother. Aiden briefly let her know that he had found out from their mom and asked simply what was going on. Once Sasha whispered under her breath that Riley was the person she was engaged to, she could have sworn her brother had let out the breath he'd been holding on the other end of the line. At least he knew Riley wasn't some guy who had lured her into a Vegas wedding in exchange for her small inheritance or something. Once she was done talking to her brother, Sasha threw the phone across the room before closing her eyes again. Oh, damn.

"What, you think you're the first girl I've brought home to my family?" He lifted an eyebrow. "They fucking haaaaaaated Sophie. My mom didn't say it, but I could tell." Riley leaned over, tapping a spot between Sasha's eyebrows. "She gets this wrinkle right here when she's trying too hard to be polite and she had that any time Sophie was around."

"Well I can't blame her, Sophie was irritating." The girl hadn't been very fond of Sasha either, Sophie had the idea that she was somehow trying to take Riley away from her. "I tolerated her which doesn't mean I liked her," she explained before getting up to look for a bottle of water in the minibar. "The rod was underground, that's why your mother liked me."

A laugh left him. "Oh, my mom would have definitely done that. She can cook but she's a shitty baker," Riley grinned. "Although she'd probably feel guilty and then admit it later. That's usually how she operates." He looked down at her feet. "My family really liked you, by the way."

"Your family liked the idea of me, Ri," Sasha laughed. "The idea that you're about to marry someone, I think it could have been anyone else and your mom would have still been happy because her baby was engaged," she explained. His family clearly loved him enormously and were happy as long as he was happy but Sasha wasn't sure that they particularly liked her so much as they liked her engaged to him.

As he called her the hated nickname, she took a deep breath. "There he is." Delilah ran a finger along the rim of her wine glass, shaking her head slightly. "I almost thought you might be a decent guy for a second there." Of course, she wasn't so sure that a good guy would eat her out in the stairwell at their office or fuck her against the counter in the break room. Just thinking about it caused a blush to spread across her cheeks but she didn't look away, holding his gaze even as she tried to banish thoughts of them sleeping together. She'd be lying to herself if she hadn't considered it today after the way he'd stood up for her in the meeting. She'd found it incredibly sexy how protective he'd been while still giving her space to defend herself.

Delilah didn't need him to defend her. Today had been made abundantly clear, and Aiden had seen her in action when someone was dumb enough to mess with her. He finished his glass of wine. "The only good thing that came out of this mess is that Davis is off our backs," he commented. "The guy was driving me crazy." Aiden had to remind himself that it was a terrible idea to blur the lines with Delilah. Yesterday couldn't happen again, and they had both been okay with that. So he left a couple of bills on the bar before turning to look at her. "I'm going home. I'll have you tomorrow." He told her, standing up. "Drink whatever you want, I think you've earned it."

"I know you'd skip dinner if you could, so it was the least I could do." Switching to her other foot, he rubbed his thumb over the arch of her foot. "Yeah, it's one of my cousin's favorite. Old family recipe. My aunts worked on it for fucking days."

"See? That's the difference between your family and mine, my mom would have probably bought them somewhere fancy and then said she made them even though we all know she can't cook." She shook her head. "It was really good, so I'm not surprised it's a family tradition." Sasha had appreciated that the wedding hadn't been a big event but it had been nice and she had seen everyone having fun which was the important thing.

"Wouldn't dream of it." The corners of her mouth curled up in a quick smirk. "We always home someone will do right by the people we care about. People usually don't though. Not unless there's something in it for them." Her gaze was steady on his face, attempting to read deeper into the man next to her. Delilah didn't trust most people. Especially not in their world. She'd been used more times than she could count. People trying to get in her dad's good graces or hoping to gain ties to her family's connections or money. Aiden didn't need those things to her knowledge. Was he actually a good guy? It didn't fit with her idea of him at all.

"It was the right thing to do," Aiden shrugged. There wasn't much behind all of that other than trying to even the scales a little in favor of justice. He didn't exactly consider himself a "good guy." "Don't overthink it, princess." A warning concealed by the stupid nickname that he knew was going to drive her a little crazy. They couldn't be anything other than sworn enemies. Yesterday they had blurred the line, and it had almost ended horribly because Aiden still didn't understand how and why he had wanted so much to stay between her legs yesterday.

"Ouch," he laughed. Riley began to massage her calves and feet, head turned slightly to watch the cartoons he'd put on the TV for background noise. "I figured it's the least I can do for taking up your time this weekend."

"You did enough, like double the dessert earlier, but I'm not really complaining," she replied with a small gasp. Her feet were throbbing from all the dancing that night. "The dessert was really good," Sasha admitted with a small smile.