Give In: Lo-Fi Love Stories, #3

By Erika Dusk

After.

It's that inevitable time following every first or second date. That time when the innocent routine of dinner and drinks ends, and the parties involved get to—well—give in. If they want.

And with Aiden, I definitely want.

The only problem is, Aiden keeps trying to be a gentleman about it. Which is sweet, but my best-friend-turned-boyfriend doesn't exactly have me feeling like a lady.

Good thing I know the one thing he won't be able to resist: a game.

Lo-Fi Love Stories are sweet and spicy romance shorts perfect for neon nights, chill playlists, and cozy aesthetics. They contain adult language and adult situations.

Reading Length: 30-45 minutes

Pairing: Female/Male

Spice level: Low-Mid-High-Highest

POV: First person, present tense

Tropes: Friends to Lovers with shades of Boy Next Door and Workplace Romance

Ending: HEA (this is the final part in Aiden and Fiona's story)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Erika Dusk
• Release date: May 4, 2023
• ISBN: 9781738912704

Book preview

Give In

Contents

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Copyright © 2023 Erika Dusk

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews.

This publication is a work of fiction. The names, characters, and events in this work are the products of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons living or dead is coincidental.

ISBN: 978-1-7389127-0-4 (Electronic Book)

First edition, 2023

For content warnings, visit Erika’s blog here.

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One

Saturday brunch at our favorite restaurant goes … normally. Which is shocking, considering my best friend and I confessed our undying love to each other less than ten hours ago.

I’m not sure what I expected. The Fiona of yesterday would have sat across from Aiden and panicked when her egg slipped off her fork. Her body would have seized up when he casually reached across the table to squeeze her hand. She would have giggled super, super awkwardly when he pulled out his wallet to pay for both of them.

A date, she would have tried to convince herself and failed.

This is a date.

But I’m not the Fiona of yesterday; I’m the Fiona of today. What happened last night changed me, somehow. I was a caterpillar, and now I’m—well—still a caterpillar. No dick in the world is enough to transform a woman into a butterfly. Still, though, I feel different. Like loving Aiden is helping me build a cocoon.

By the way, I do panic, seize up, and giggle super awkwardly over brunch. I just don’t feel embarrassed about it. Aiden takes my weird moments in stride. He’s a little shy, himself.

I was thinking we could go to a movie tonight, he says, standing with me afterward on the street between our apartment buildings. His hair ruffles in the breeze, soft ends glinting in a rare moment of thin November sunlight. God. Everything about him is so touchable. "That new movie is out. Vascular Edge. If you want to see it, we should go. I know you like action movies."

I’d love to, I tell him, bravely tucking an unruly strand of his hair behind his ear.

Great. Is he blushing? He might be blushing. His eyes drift down to my mouth. Can I see you after the movie, too?

After. My heart thumps.

Right. Of course. That inevitable stretch of time following every second or third date. That moment when the innocent, proper dance of drinks, movies, and conversation ends, and the parties involved finally get to give in. If they want.

Both Aiden and I know what after means for us.

There’s just one problem. I don’t want to wait for after. I’d imagined today as a montage of me throwing myself at him in various states of undress.

You don’t want to hang out now? I try to sound casual while simultaneously conveying that I’m ready to climb him. I dig my teeth into