Chapter 25
HARRISON
With another Westwood grandchild on the way, my first niece, things moved fast. One minute, we were still sitting at dinner, and the next, we were all crammed into the hospital waiting room, fluorescent lights buzzing overhead and the sharp scent of antiseptic hanging in the air.
Laney’s dad, Vincent, had charged in not long after we’d arrived. The man was built like a linebacker, still carrying that detective’s edge even though it was the middle of the night and he hadn’t been on duty at the police station.
“Where is she?” he’d barked, startling the nurses and our family alike. “Where is my daughter? Laney Westwood.”
The first person his gaze landed on was me, and my eyes widened, but I pointed in the direction of the hall my mother had disappeared. “That way. Room 304.”
He gave me a quick nod, racing toward the glass doors that separated the waiting room and the ward, impatiently demanding to be let in. A security guard at the nurses’ station handed over a clipboard and he hastily filled it out before he was buzzed in.
I watched him go, but then I turned my attention back on Aurelia. She was perched on a chair between Sadie and Maisie, the three of them bent close together, whispering like they’d known each other for years.
She laughed softly at something Sadie had said and I dragged my gaze away from her before I made it too obvious that I was staring. Across the room, Callum had passed out on the couch with Brody curled against him, the kid’s little arm thrown across his dad’s chest.
Our own dad was asleep in a reclining armchair he’d sniffed out the second we’d walked in, making himself comfortable for what the nurses had warned us could be a long night. Mom had gone with Sterling and Laney, and we hadn’t seen her since.
That left me leaning against the wall next to Jameson. He was scrolling through his phone, his thumb flicking absently through a news site. He suddenly pressed the button to lock the screen and looked at me.
“This is why you were asking me about the Van Alens, isn’t it?” He inclined his chin toward Aurelia. “Why didn’t you tell me about her?”
I met his gaze, seeing a complete lack of judgment, but maybe a smidgen of concern. “CC and her mom don’t get along. We were trying to find out why out of respect so we could figure out how to tell them without detonating both of their lives as they knew it.”
He nodded slowly. “That plan changed, huh?”
I shrugged. “We were together when I got the call about dinner from Mom. I was tired of hiding it, and besides, no one seems to know what happened between CC and Regina. It was starting to feel like it was time to just tell them and find out exactly how much they hate each other from them once they knew.”
“Good plan,” he said, his lips quirking into a slight smirk. “Just show up to Dad’s retirement dinner with a fiancée, from a family Mom doesn’t even talk about, no less. I wish I’d thought of that.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, I feel for you. You only brought home a woman Mom and Dad thought was going to bankrupt you.”
He let out a quiet chuckle, shoulders shaking as he shook his head. “Touche, brother, but okay. Who is she? Tell me about her.”
I straightened up a little. “What do you want to know?”
“How did you meet her? Where did she come from? When did you put a ring on her finger? More specifically, why did you put a ring on her finger? I didn’t even know Dad had—”
“He hasn’t,” I cut across him as my throat went tight.
I glanced at Aurelia again, my old-school Hollywood, blonde bombshell of a friend who I happened to be engaged to.
I could’ve dodged Jamie’s questions. I could’ve deflected with a joke or simply told him to mind his own business, but Jameson read people too well.
Besides, I wanted to tell him the truth.
“We met by chance,” I started, bringing my gaze back to my brother’s under the harsh fluorescent lights. “Both of us were going after Kingsley, but something just clicked between us and we decided to do the deal together. It went well, obviously.”
“So you decided to marry her?” Her eyebrows shot up. “That’s interesting reasoning.”
“I’m not marrying her just because we made a good team.” I shrugged. “Something is just different with her than it has been with anyone else.”
Jameson studied me for a beat, his expression unreadable. “Yeah, I saw that.”
“What do you mean you saw it?”
“It’s easy to see something when you know what you’re looking for, but I saw how you guys leaned on each other in conversation. How you silently check in. The way you’re constantly angled toward one another.”
My heart rate spiked and I shifted my weight against the wall, trying to act casual. “You got all of that from half a dinner?”
He pumped his eyebrows at me once. “Again, it’s not hard to see these things when you know what they look like. It’s good, though. I’m happy for you. I still don’t really get why you’re rushing into marrying her if it’s not because of Dad, but hey. Whatever floats your boat.”
I rolled my eyes. “We’re going into it for the same reason you all did. We both have something to gain. It’s business. There’s no romance involved.”
He tilted his head, a single eyebrow raised, and I could see he wasn’t buying the whole just business line. “Is that so? Because I’ve been watching you, little brother. You’ve been staring at her for hours.”
I groaned. “It’s not like that. We’re friends, is all. She gets me. I get her. We work well together. It’s a solid deal.”
Jameson smirked, an infuriatingly knowing look in his eyes as he pushed off the wall. “Alright then. If you say so. For now, I’m taking my wife home.”
He glanced over his shoulder at the glass door and the hallway beyond. “If Laney gives birth tonight, we’ll come see the baby tomorrow. Otherwise, I’m going to enjoy the quiet of my own home while I still can.”
I nodded, feeling a faint twist of envy that his life somehow always seemed so effortless, but I knew it hadn’t been. I knew he and Sadie had fought for what they had now, and I knew that I should learn from that.
Sadie and Jameson’s quiet exit triggered Maisie into action. Before I knew it, she had gathered her boys and slipped out the door, leaving just Aurelia, my dad, and me. Since Dad was still fast asleep, I went over to Aurelia and nodded toward the corridor that led to the exit.
“We should go, too.”
She nodded, rising and glancing at my dad with a soft smile on her face before she followed me to the exit. When we climbed into my car, the clock on the dashboard read almost two a.m. The city streets were washed in a soft, yellow glow of streetlamps reflecting off the wet pavement.
We drove mostly in silence, but my mind was far from quiet. Jameson’s smirk kept replaying in my head. What did he mean? Why doesn’t he believe me? Does he think I’m falling for her faster than I’m admitting? Maybe he’s right. Maybe I am. I shouldn’t be, but shit.
Aurelia sat next to me, her profile illuminated by the dim lights of the dashboard and her eyes fixed on the quiet streets outside. She seemed lost in thought herself, and for just a beat, I wondered if she was struggling with the same thoughts I was.
“Almost there,” I said quietly.
She didn’t look at me. “Yeah, it’s late. You should just stay with me.”
The invitation hit me like a jolt. I lived just a few hundred yards away from her and she knew that, which meant she was inviting me to stay because she wanted me there, not to save me a long trip back to my own place at this time of night.
“Sure. Yeah. That’s a good idea. Thanks.” I swallowed, keeping my eyes on the road and feeling that tension between us settle somewhere deep in my chest.
Yeah, I’m in over my head, but the worst part is that I don’t think I would want it any other way.
The moment the front door of her apartment clicked shut behind us, it was like the world narrowed to only us. Only now. Only the fact that we were completely alone, spending the night together because neither of us had wanted to be without the other.
The soft hum of the city outside seemed to vanish, leaving just the two of us and the faint echo of our own breaths as we stood in her foyer.
Aurelia turned toward me, her eyes wider than they had been back in the car and no longer tired at all.
In fact, she was looking at me like she could see every thought running through my head.
“Why did you kiss me?” she asked, her voice quiet but demanding.
I knew I wasn’t going to get out of answering the question, and probably rightfully so. The way I’d grabbed her the other day, I was surprised she’d let me get away with it for this long. I must really have looked like shit that next time she’d seen me for her to have kept her mouth shut.
My mind scrambled for any acceptable answer outside of the truth. Say something clever. Say something safe. Don’t freak her out.
Instead, I said the first honest thing that came to mind.
“You were the only person I wanted to talk to after that fight I had with my parents. You were the only person I wanted to see. Actually, I didn’t just want to see you.
It felt like I had to see you, and I, uh, I kissed you because I wanted to. ”
The words had barely left my mouth before she was moving, closing the short distance between us. When she reached me, she surged up on her tiptoes, her hands capturing my face before she pressed her lips against mine.
Hard. Urgent. With passion she didn’t even try to hide.
My hands rose instinctively, cradling her face before they threaded through her loose hair. I pulled her close and deepened the kiss, feeling her meet me with equal force. I had no idea where this was coming from, but this kiss somehow made logic and reasoning irrelevant.
For a moment, I thought I might lose my mind entirely if she broke away from me, but then I felt her starting to pull me toward the stairs and I knew then that she wasn’t going to stop.
Aurelia Van Alen wanted me, possibly even just as badly as I wanted her, and wild horses weren’t going to be able to drag me away for as long as that remained true.