Eight Weeks (Unfrozen Four Book 2)

“when the world don’t feel like home / I’m a place to call your own”—ROOM FOR 2 by Benson Boone

I think I got it now. The first few ideas for the book I want to start writing. At least I got the right guy to be inspired by for the love interest.

So, I set my pen down, falling back on the hay bales like I always do when live overwhelms me a little.

Only eighteen more hours, and then finally, I get to hold Aaron in my arms again. I should have been there for his graduation, watch him walk up and down the stage and celebrate with him. But it was impossible, unfortunately.

But I mean, at least we get to spend all day tomorrow celebrating. Hopefully more than just both of us finishing university.

I close my eyes, fantasizing about how tomorrow will go down. Hopefully he will agree with what I am about to drop on him tomorrow.

But that’s not important right now.

Ever since Aaron has sent me this stupid message, I can’t stop thinking about it either. It’s been months since Aaron and I had sex, and it’s killing me. I mean, I’ve been celibate before him for a year, but ever since Aaron is in my life, I think the maximum we went without sex would be four days, and that only because I was on my period.

Truthfully, I wouldn’t be opposed to try it during my time of the month, but Aaron kind of has this thing that he gets lightheaded whenever he sees blood, so that might not be a great idea.

The entire barn is quiet as I am the only one in here, or so I thought until I hear one of the wooden stairs creaking. That’s the thing with old structures, everything makes sounds.

But the only people coming in here would be my parents or Jane, so I’m not worried.

Just, when I open my eyes and catch a masculine figure holding a bouquet of flowers, I no longer lie on the hay bales, I am sat up in what must be less than a blink of an eye.

My jaw drops when I find Aaron smiling at me, his head slightly tilted, his eyebrows raised like he knows exactly what kind of naughty thoughts went through my head.

Once off the bales, I run over to him, jumping into his arms. I don’t even question what he’s doing here, nor how he found me, it’s the least important thing right now. He is here, holding me, filling my nostrils with his scent again.

Did you know you could miss someone’s perfume? Because I just realized I missed his. The smell of rich, yet musky perfume mixed with fresh laundry and a hint of cinnamon.

When I look up at him, barely a second passes before my hands are on his jawline while his free one holds me by my waist and our lips connect. An instant tremor runs through my body, my nerves shaking with the love that I feel for him.

A part of my heart melts when he pulls my hips into his body, his tongue pushing into my mouth to brush mine.

Kissing Aaron is the best feeling in the world, and I do believe a kiss of his could fix everything from this day forth.

The other half of my heart melts the second we break apart and he grins at me with this dimple-inducing smile before he says, “I love you, Sofia.”

My eyes water with joy and I gasp for air, though I already knew he did. Aaron didn’t have to use words for me to know he loves me, and yet finally hearing him say it brings more malfunctions to my body than any factory could ever claim to have.

Slowly, I feel my lips pull into a huge smile, so huge, I can even feel my cheeks getting chubby again. I hate when this happens, but as soon as Aaron pokes one of my cheeks with his fingers and looks at me like these stupid chubby cheeks are the cutest thing he’s ever seen, I simply can no longer hate them.

“I love you, Aaron.”

Aaron licks his lips, closing his eyes for a moment as if to find a place to store my words in. But then he shakes his head. “No, you don’t understand, my little ketchup packet. I love you. I have always loved you. And I will love you until I take my very last breath, even beyond that. I swear to you, the spirit realm better be real because I will not accept not haunting earth together with you after our death.”

“You mean, you will haunt earth and I will have to clean up after you?”

“Yeah, that.” He grabs my hand in his, giving it a squeeze. “You think ghost sex is a thing? If not, we’ll make it one.”

“Aaron!” I slap my palm to his chest, laughing.

“Sorry, I’m horny and exhausted, it’s the worst combination ever.”

My eyes then snap to the lilacs in his hand, internally cussing him out for spending yet another fortune on flowers for me. “Are those for me?”

“Nah. Bought them for myself, figured I earned them.”

“You don’t even like purple.”

His shoulders lift into a shrug. “It’s my favorite color, didn’t you know? My girlfriend is so obsessed with everything wisteria, I sort of had to learn to love it.”

“It’s still light purple,” I correct.

“Icicle, it will forever be wisteria.” Eventually, he does hand the lilacs over to me, quickly pressing his lips to mine one more time before he walks us both over to the hay bales to sit. Come to realize, he does look a little exhausted. How long has he been on the road for to reach this level of exhaustion?

I lay the lilacs down on the floor, leaning into Aaron’s body as his arm loops around me to pull me close.

“Jane told me you’re moving?”

Oh. Alright, makes it a little easier on me to start this topic off. “Yeah, uh, I might move to NYC.”

“You are?” His eyes widen drastically, a lot of emotions crossing his face when he realizes what I just said. “Wait, New York City. Like where I will be?”

“Yeah, I just need to find the courage to ask my boyfriend if he would like to move there together.”

He looks at me with a serious expression now. A mix of confusion and concern hiding in his features. “Together-together?”

I nod, fearing his answer. Even if he says no, it wouldn’t be the end of the world, right?

Slowly, and I mean very slowly, one side of his mouth tips up into a lopsided smile. “You sure you thought that through? Because I heard living with a pro hockey player can get really tiring. Especially when they come home late at night from a game and just throw their bag anywhere and fall right into bed.”

My jaw drops. “You got drafted?!”

“Don’t be so surprised.”

A joy-filled shriek leaves me before I fall all over him, pushing his back into the hay and swinging a leg over his body to sit right on top of him. My hands rest on his chest, feeling his heart beating under my palm. “I always wanted to date a pro hockey player.”

Aaron holds me by my hips, making sure I do not fall off him, or simply because he wants his hands on my body. Either way, I am not complaining.

“I’ve got good news for you then. You’ll be marrying a pro hockey player in a few years.”

Now that, that I can live with. Under one condition. “That guy better be you or else I don’t want it. You just told me hockey players can be tiring, and I won’t put myself through that exhaustion for anyone but you.”

“Oh, shit. I kind of promised you to Miles but let me just cancel everything then.”

And so I suppose, after thirteen years apart, I will finally get my happily ever after with the guy I couldn’t get out of my head since the beginning of my time.