An Angry Kiss
Instinctively, he found himself kissing her back, opening his mouth and pushing into her with enough power that she was shoved back into the chair again. The taste of her, the feel of her tongue sliding against his, fueled him on until Aaron found himself almost devouring her, neither of them actually touching one another with their hands as they both pressed down on the armrests.
The realization of what he was doing hit him, and Aaron pulled back suddenly, putting a few feet of distance between them as he stared at her in disbelief.
Cadence had a similar look on her face, her cheeks tinged pink, possibly more from exertion than embarrassment at her own actions.
But then… she comprehended what she had just done as well, and her mouth froze in a gasp as Aaron struggled to figure out what to say to her.
Turning around seemed to help clear his head. Looking at the wall behind him instead of the deep brown wells that were her eyes and her pink, swollen lips allowed him to put his thoughts into some kind of order. “We shouldn’t have done that,” he said.
“I know. I’m sorry. I totally crossed the line. You were being my boss and—”
She misunderstood what he was saying, and he’d need to circle back to it.
He didn’t mean they shouldn’t have done that right then.
He meant… they shouldn’t have done that… at all.
“You’re suspended.” He took a deep breath and turned back to look at her. She’d closed her mouth, and after a moment, she began a slow nod of acceptance. “You disobeyed orders, and someone could’ve gotten killed.”
Swallowing hard, Cadence said, “I understand.”
“You had no way of knowing anyone would get there in time to help you.”
She was looking at the floor, twisting a ring she was wearing on her right hand around. “Yes, I did.” It was so quiet, he almost didn’t hear her.
“What?” Puzzled, he scrutinized her for a moment, trying to figure out why she would say that. “How?”
With a shrug, Cadence said, “I don’t know. I just did.”
“You knew someone would be there in time to save that baby?”
“No,” Cadence said, lifting her head to look at him. “I guess I didn’t know if anyone would be there in time to save the baby.”
“Then what the hell do you mean?” he asked, folding his arms in frustration.
Her lip quivered slightly again, so he silently begged her not to start crying. He’d had enough of seeing her cry the first night she’d met him, after the Eidolon Festival, in her room. If he never saw Cadence shed another tear for the rest of his life, it would be too soon.
“I didn’t know if anyone would make it there in time to save the baby, but I knew you’d make it there in time to… save me.”
Another wave of disbelief washed over him as Aaron tried not to stare, taking in her words.
She had way too much faith in him.
After a moment of contemplation, he cleared his throat and let the weight of her words settle into his mind.
He’d fucked up.
This was not how this was supposed to go. And now, he’d made a huge mess of the entire situation.
The deeper in he got, the more he’d lose himself, the harder it would become down the line.
Elliott’s words echoed through his head.
He couldn’t take those kinds of chances.
“Cadence… I don’t think we should, uh….” The words got stuck exiting his mouth, and it took him a moment to get them out. “See each other.” Was “anymore” even appropriate? They hadn’t actually been seeing each other, after all, had they?
He expected her to look surprised. Maybe angry or at least a bit dismayed.
If she was feeling any of those emotions, she hid them well as she said, “Okay.”
That had been easier than he expected, and her acceptance was like a knife to the heart. Surely, she’d been feeling just as strongly about him as he had been about her, hadn’t she? She was the one who had asked him to kiss her the night before…. She was the one who’d kissed him while he was in the middle of chewing her out.
Still, it was better this way—wasn’t it?
“You should take a few days. Go see your family or something.” He took a few steps back, preparing for her to get up and not wanting any incidental contact. “We’ll call it a suspension, but it’ll really be more like a break.”
“Okay.” The second time, the word was even more devoid of emotion than it had been the first.
“All right then.” He ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. “You should go home, back to your apartment. I’ve got some things to work on here.”
Cadence pulled herself up out of the chair and stood there a moment. “I’m sorry I disappointed you,” she said, looking him straight in the eye. Then, she rushed past him to the door careful not to touch him as she shot by.
Keeping his eyes glued to the wall behind where she’d been sitting, he listened for the door to slam, the emptiness in the room heavy as it settled around him.
“Fuck,” he muttered, wondering if he had done the right thing or just made the biggest mistake of his very long life.
