21. Aiden #2
“Look, we have to talk about this. I can’t go back to the unbearable lack of communication between us.
I know you weren’t looking for this complication in your life, and honestly, neither was I.
And I don’t know what any of it means. Maybe it’s just lust, and maybe nothing will come of it.
But don’t we owe it to ourselves to find out, Aiden? ”
“But find out what? God, Isla. This is more than a complication. Let’s say we have sex. Then what? We just keep having sex until we decide we want to have a relationship? You’re in Costa Rica. I’m in London. Our lives are set for the foreseeable future.”
“Do you want me to ask you for a lifetime commitment?” Isla raised her brows. “Why do we have to have everything figured out now? Can’t it just be sex? Two people who are attracted to each other enjoying the moment—what little time they get to spend together.”
He shook his head, amazed that he was even having this conversation. The irony wasn’t lost on him. He’d broken up with Lola because she wanted a lifetime commitment. Now, here he was, and the idea of not defining everything. .. mattered somehow.
Because she mattered. Callum, too. He wasn’t about to just screw her and not think of the consequences.
“So, we’d be what? Friends with benefits? You think Callum wouldn’t murder me for that? Too many people know that something’s happened between us for him not to eventually find out, Isla.”
“And like I said, it’s none of his business. Or how about this? Let me handle telling Callum—he’s my brother.”
“And he’s my best friend. He’ll expect me to be honest with him.”
“It’s not dishonest. It’s just not his business,” she repeated.
“He started dating your sister-in-law’s sister—one of his employees—without asking permission, didn’t he?
Of all people, he has no room to judge us.
He didn’t care about the chaos he created when he got together with Liddy, did he?
He just saw what he wanted and went for it. ”
She has a point.
He released a slow sigh. “But I’m not Callum. Believe it or not, I didn’t become CEO of my father’s company by being irresponsible and throwing caution to the wind.”
“I know that,” she said softly.
He gave her a sidelong glance. “Do you, Isla? Do you know how often I’m awake in the middle of the night, unable to breathe with the weight of everything on my shoulders?
Quinn stepped aside because he couldn’t handle the pressure.
Quinn—the dependable and responsible one.
I’m not half the man my older brother is. ”
She leaned her head back against the seat-rest. “To begin with—and I say this with all the love in my heart toward Quinn—I would take you a thousand times over Quinn. He never knew how to let loose and have fun. Never carried me on his back out to the yard so I could see the glowworms at dusk like you did that summer I broke my leg. You don’t have to be Quinn.
The man you are has grit and tenacity. Creativity and determination. I like that man, Aiden.”
His hand tightened around the steering wheel.
“Maybe I did once. These days, I just feel exhausted. Uninspired. Like I’m drowning, and there’s no lifeboat in sight.
” He leaned forward as he pulled into the heart of the small town, the replica of the Eiffel Tower looming from a street corner up ahead.
“Hmm. I don’t believe that. Pull over.”
Aiden shot her an incredulous look. Does she want to have sex? Now?
She must have caught the question in his eyes because she laughed. “No, I didn’t mean that. As much as I would love to be bent over a bonnet, I had something else in mind. Right there. At that Eiffel Tower Park.”
At the park? What could she possibly want to do there?
The park was tiny...not much besides the Eiffel Tower replica and a few benches.
But he did as she requested, pulling the car off the road.
Flicking a wary gaze at the fountain, he said, “I’m not climbing in another fountain if that’s what you have in mind.
I’d rather not drive through the night with soaked trousers. ”
“It’s not what I have in mind, but that could be interesting.” Isla’s eyes practically twinkled. “Do you have any ribbon? Rope?”
“You’re not succeeding in diverting my thoughts from adult activities with those suggestions,” he said dryly. “What do we need those for?”
“You’ll see. What do you have that we could tie?”
Tie? “I have a tie.”
“Perfect. Grab it.” She opened the door, then stepped out onto the footpath beside the parked car.
Baffled by her, Aiden shut off the engine and went around to the boot for his suitcase. He pulled out one of his silk ties and joined her on the footpath. He held it out to her. “Here, Miss Skye.”
She grinned and took it from him. “Follow me.”
“Was there any other option? I suppose I could leave you here on the side of the road—that might prove my impulsiveness.”
Her pace was brisk as they passed the fountain and the unimpressive Eiffel Tower, heading for a chain-link fence. ..covered in locks. “Is that?—”
“A love lock fence,” Isla said with a wide smile. She stopped in front of it. “Cute, right?”
Cute was one word for it. “Because this is Paris. I get it.”
She lifted her chin. “I think we should commemorate our marriage. When in Paris, you know.”
He guffawed, finally following her train of thinking. “You want to tie my tie to that fence?”
“Together. In the absence of a lock, this is the best I could come up with. And anyway, it’s a good symbol. Not permanent, like a lock. Easily undone, like our marriage. Just the two of us, passing through, and having a fun memory together.”
He didn’t comment on the fact that it wasn’t just a tie, but an expensive silk one.
Yet. ..this was so Isla.
At his hesitation, she added, “You came all this way to Paris, Aiden. You may as well do something to remember your time here.”
He searched those blue eyes of hers, heat flaring through him. As though he wouldn’t remember that kiss from the hotel room. It would probably haunt him—as would their conversation from the car. “All right.”
She turned toward the fence, and he came up behind her, her back resting lightly against his chest. This should feel awkward and silly, but somehow, it didn’t.
Somehow, it feels perfect.
Like she’s meant to be in my arms.
His hands brushed hers as they tied the necktie through a link in the fence. “At least we’ll remember this,” Isla teased as they finished. “We should probably take a selfie with it, don’t you think?” She fished her mobile from her handbag, then squatted to be at eye level with it.
Helpless to do anything other than follow her lead, he squatted beside her, then smiled as she pointed at the tie. “This is ridiculous, you know that.”
She kissed his cheek and took another picture. “It’s adorable, and you’re going to smile every time you think about it.”
She’s probably right about that. He stood, then helped her to her feet.
“We should probably go. We have a long drive ahead of us,” he said, squeezing her hands gently.
She nodded, her lips parting as though she wanted to say something. Then she thought better of it and walked with him in silence back to the car.
The air between them had shifted as they pulled back onto the road—to something comfortable. Friendly. Isla didn’t speak for a while, clearly lost in thought, playing her quiet music instead.
At last, when they pulled onto the highway, she said, “You know, I may not run a multi-billion-dollar business, but I actually understand what you’re going through.
I didn’t set out to be the manager of an inn in Costa Rica—whether or not I love it.
” She rolled her head to the side, then tilted her seat back, setting her feet up on the dash.
He tried not to let himself be distracted by the smooth, bare skin of her svelte legs.
“Pop your legs down, love. I’ve heard of terrible accidents associated with people putting their legs up there.” Aiden heard her eye roll, but thankfully, Isla listened. And removed her gorgeous legs from my sight.
“Do you want to go back to acting?”
“I thought I might. But after doing this the last couple of weeks, I’m not sure what I want.
Or where I’m supposed to be. And the worst part is, I can’t even tell Callum that I’m not sure I want to do this anymore.
Because he bought La Hacienda for me. And if I don’t want it now, that would make me the most ungrateful sister on the planet. ”
Just like fooling around with Isla makes me a terrible friend.
He let her words fade. Maybe she was right. Talking about everything somehow made it better. Easier. They weren’t talking around things now or pretending.
He reached across the center console of the car and slipped his hand into hers, as though it were perfectly normal for them to hold hands.
They were no closer to figuring out how to deal with their attraction to each other.
No matter what Isla said, he knew what Callum would want. How Callum would react to any perceived betrayal from a friend.
Aiden knew what he should do.
Walk away. Shut this down. Forget the way her lips felt against his, the way her touch burned through his clothes.
But the thought of never having her again felt like a slow kind of death. Like condemning himself to an existence of obligation, loneliness, and nights staring at the ceiling wondering what could have been.
He couldn’t have both. He couldn’t reject her without hurting her. Without it becoming a source of tension between them.
But he wasn’t sure he could let go of her, either.
“So where does that leave us?” he asked at last, his voice rough.
Isla didn’t answer. She still held his hand, but her grip had slackened—she was asleep.
Aiden sneaked a glance at her. Beautiful, tempestuous, sexy Isla.
She’d turned his world upside-down. And for the first time in ages, he felt something other than exhaustion. Other than obligation. Life kicked within his heart, a pulse in his veins, raw and insistent.