Strong For Too Long Trilogy ✔️

11. Don't Kiss, Just Tell

CHAPTER 11: Don't Kiss, Just Tell

They're all surprisingly seated in the room when Harrison steps forward first. He pauses when all of them are playing cards at the couch, "It's six in the evening, you two." Branson voices out, pausing as he takes a sip of his beer while I close the door behind me, Harrison raises an eyebrow at the game, before pausing at the sight of Aaron's questioning look.

"Something wrong?" He asks him.

I roll my eyes, "He's just peeved you got to hang out with me today. Though, Aaron, I truly hope you did some work? Understood how to act like a male stripper, Clyde Knight?" I ask him, smiling down at him as I lean down and place a soft kiss on his frozen lips. Cupping his cheek, feeling natural while the sound of a glass dropping and breaking resounds the second I pull back, "Besides, wait till you see what we've found." I say to his wide-eyed expression, everyone else remains frozen, I ignore it, turning to the kitchen counter as Harrison grabs his own laptop.

Oblivious to the stilled atmosphere in the now silent room.

"So, everyone, we've got it down to science. Here's the main court ball room, Aaron-your beer is all over the carpet, buddy." Harrison says to him, moving the screens up to the television.

Just before I pause.

Furrowing my eyebrows, "Wait, I just kissed you?" I only say this because I hadn't kissed him on the lips yet, it just felt so natural, I did it without thinking and clearly, he'd talked about the fact him and I hadn't done that yet, to the others.

Harrison stills, "You two still haven't done that yet?" He sounds as incredulous as everyone else appears to feel, while Aaron looks like a deer caught in headlights. I blink, trying to remember just when it felt so natural. I turn back, furrowing my eyebrows at my laptop. I didn't even process or thought about it, it just felt more natural than not. I glance over to cognac brown eyes that stare at me intensely. I glance over to others. Fern and Pierce study me.

I fold my arms, "What is it?"

"Are you possibly getting your memory back?" Madison asks me, cautiously, looking hopeful.

I blink, "I doubt it. Perhaps emotional residue of past experiences, by the looks of it, we have kissed, I also recall you mentioning it." I point to Aaron, who's still just as tense and still as he was when I got in the room. He doesn't blink, he just stares. A strange, sensual, meaningful look in his eyes that had me tilting my head at him as I flick the kettle on. I give him a pointed look, mouthing 'What?'

He looks down for a second, before nudging his head towards the other room.

I tilt my head at him, his eyes plead. I sigh and gesture he move towards it first. After a few minutes, I grab my laptop and step towards the room as Harrison seems to shock the others with the run-down he was going through over the mission, I step inside the room, still with the laptop in my hands, he's sitting stiffly on the bed, knee bouncing at rapid speed. I furrow my eyebrows at him, "What has you so irritated?" I ask him, removing my trench coat.

He's silent for what feels like hours.

"You kissed me." He suddenly blurts out. Surprised himself.

I look over my shoulder towards him, "Did you not want me to?" I wonder.

"Do you remember our first kiss?" He asks me, voice hoarse.

I turn towards him, "Okay, it felt natural, I didn't mean for it to bring up anything, Aaron." I cautiously move closer, feeling as though telling him this was both a bad and a good idea. Bad-because I didn't know how he'd react, it was an instinctive mechanism, strangely enough