“Need me to punch him?”
“Got it covered,” I answered. “But thanks.” Jeremy grunted. Honestly, best big brother ever.
When he pulled up at my apartment, he insisted on helping me inside. “Make sure you report the accident at work.”
I fought the eye roll. “Okay.”
“Don’t let anyone take you for a fool, Jem,” Jeremy said gruffly.
“He won’t,” I promised.
“Not like you to lose it over a man; you must be in deep.” Startled at my brother’s bluntness, I was speechless as he hugged me. “Take care of yourself.”
As I got ready for bed that night, I checked myself over. The marks were gone from the day before, the bruises on my hips already fading. By tomorrow, there would be no visible signs of Aiden on my body.
Now I just had to make sure that the hooks he had under my skin didn’t end up breaking my heart.
“I can’t believe I’m dateless for Valentine’s,” Nadine wailed at her desk for maybe the fifth time that day.
“Oh good grief, you do this every year! You know it’s just a giant rip-off, Nadine, it’s just another day,” I told her dismissively as I typed up a schedule for Richard.
“I don’t even know how you can say that.”
“How?” I turned to her, my gaze cool. “The price of candy goes up, flowers are ridiculously overpriced, and the greeting card companies cash in.”
“Oh no, did I not miss Jemma’s Valentine’s Day hate speech?” Richard joked as he approached us.
“It’s not a hate speech,” I mumbled into my coffee cup. “It’s just a day of nonsense. Honestly, if you love someone, you shouldn’t need to tell them on a specific day that you love them.”
“Oh lord, she isn’t even halfway into the rant.” Richard winked at Nadine. “So, Nadine, what are your plans?”
“I don’t have any,” she told him sullenly. “Not one man.”
“Well, you still have four days, I’m sure you’ll get offers.” Richard smiled at her. “You always do.”
“What about you?” Nadine asked him. “Or shouldn’t I ask?” She gave him a knowing look.
“Well, this year I’m taking Karen out for dinner, then a movie, and then home by ten to let the babysitter go home.”
“You do that every year, Richard.” Nadine rolled her eyes.
“I do.” He grinned at her. “It was our first date, and I had to be home by ten for the babysitter for Lily. Karen came with me, and she never left.” He turned to me with a twinkle in his eye. “I don’t need a special day to tell my wife I love her—but I like our special day together.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever.” I laughed at him. Truthfully, I loved hearing Richard and Karen’s story. It gave you hope. Hope when you were single that you would find that special someone. Hope when you were in a lacklustre relationship that the initial feelings were still there. Maybe I was being too hard on Nadine.
“Anyway, I’m not over here to rile Jemma up.” Richard smiled. “Your dad’s up on the tenth floor.”
“What! Why?” I stood abruptly. Had Jeremy told him about Aiden? No, he would never.
“Your work accident.” Richard shrugged. “I didn’t stick around; he’s working. He’ll be down later he said.”
“Uh-huh.” I nodded. “Is Aiden there?” Was that casual enough?
“Didn’t see him, but Ben’s managing fine,” Richard squeezed my shoulder in what I think he thought was a conciliatory gesture and then headed back to his office.
“You going up?” Nadine asked me in surprise.
“It wasn’t really an accident at work,” I said as I hesitated.
“You fell down an elevator shaft.”
I stared at her speechlessly. “No. I didn’t. Oh my God, that sounds so dramatic!” I pushed my chair into my desk. “I fell over my foot.”
“Because you fell down into an elevator,” Nadine replied with exaggerated patience.
“Okay…I’m popping up the stairs to see dad.”
I climbed the stairs slowly as my ankle was still annoying me. The fire door to the ninth floor opened, and I shrieked in alarm.
“Jemma?”
“Ben! You scared the beeswax out of me.”
“You can’t be on the stairs, Jemma.” He looked over his shoulder hurriedly. “Shit, you trying to get us shut down?”
“What? I always take the stairs.”
“Aiden told you about the stairs,” Ben protested as he took my arm and started taking me back down the stairs.
“What? No he didn’t!”
“Jem, he took you out of the last meeting, remember?” Ben pulled me faster. “C’mon, OSHA is here, and the guy’s going through everything.”
Aiden had taken me out of the meeting, but it wasn’t about the stairs. Dammit. “Ben, slow down, my ankle.”
“Shit.” He scooped me up and carried me down the stairs, stopping at the fire door on my floor. “You okay?”
“Well—”
“Cool, catch you later, Jem.”
I stood and looked at the door for a minute before I opened it and headed back to my desk.
Nadine looked at me in surprise. “Your dad gone?”
“Uh, no, I forgot the back stairs are being worked on,” I lied. “I’ll see him when he comes down.”
“When did they start work on the stairs?” Nadine asked as she turned back to her computer.
I don’t know, he didn’t tell me; he kissed me and then we fought. “Earlier.”
“Huh, can we still use the elevator?”
Oh my goodness, do I look like the project manager? “Yes, Nadine, they’ll tell us if we need to move to the service elevator.”
“Cool.” She kept typing away, and I tried to continue the schedule I had been doing before I went upstairs. Or tried to go upstairs. Ben just picked me up like I weighed nothing and dropped me off at the door. I was getting sick of being picked up and set down like a toddler. Think about this later, Jemma, work now. Groaning internally, I took my advice and focused on work.
My phone ringing broke my concentration, and I saw my dad’s face on the screen. “Hey, dad,” I greeted him.
“You at your desk, Jemma?”
“I am.” I smiled. “You coming down? I can start the coffee.”
“Not yet, can you come up to the tenth floor?” my dad asked me brusquely.
“Now?”
“No, tomorrow would be good.” I heard him chuckle.
“Yeah, you’re a comedian, dad.” I ended the call and headed to the elevator. Why on earth did he need me on the tenth floor? Guilt ate at my insides. Did he know? I thought Aiden had deleted the footage, but what if he told someone. Boasted? No, Aiden was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a gossip. Your dad’s about health and safety, Jemma, he isn’t watching footage of the elevator. But what if he needed to watch it to see what happened? And Aiden’s deleted it. Oh my God…where is Aiden?
I waited patiently for the elevator as I thought about it. Frowning, I typed out a quick text.
Me: My dad’s here checking over the site, does he need to know why there’s no footage from the elevator?
The doors to the elevator opened, and I checked that it was aligned with the floor. I had become a tad paranoid, I admitted, as I stepped into the car.
Aiden: He doesn’t need to know anything
Me: Are you coming?
He hadn’t answered by the time I was on the tenth floor. As I got out of the elevator, I picked up a high vis jacket and a hard hat. My work boots that Ben had for me were at the back door. Was I violating code if I walked over the floor with my boots on? I hesitated. Deciding to chance it, I carried the hard hat instead of putting it on, as work still hadn’t started on this floor.
“There you are,” my dad greeted me as he came out of the conference room. “Come in.”
I hurried over and entered the conference room where my dad was waiting with a logbook in front of him. “Hi,” I said as I stood beside him
. Ben was nervously watching us both, his eyes kept flicking to mine in confusion.
“What time did the incident happen, Jemma?” Dad asked as he looked up from the logbook.
“Incident?”
My dad waited. He was stocky like my brother, or more that Jeremy was stocky like my dad. They were both about five ten, give or take an inch. The hard hat covered his strawberry blond hair that was showing signs of grey, which my mom teased him about.
“You had an injury at work.” Dad looked down at the logbook.
“Oh, yeah, I tripped over my ankle.”
“Because the elevator was broken,” dad confirmed.
“The elevator wasn’t broken, the electrics were shut off, Mr Leighton.” Aiden walked into the room confidently. “Nice to meet you.”
I looked up at Aiden in his dark navy suit with a white dress shirt and navy tie; he looked amazing. Will you get a grip? His high vis sleeveless jacket didn’t take away from the sharpness of his suit. He hadn’t yet put his hard hat on, so his hair was perfect. Aiden shook my dad’s hand and stood back.
“Aiden Ashford, I assume.” Dad smiled in greeting.
Ashford? That’s his last name. Huh, suits him. Aiden Ashford…it rolled around in my head.
“In the flesh,” Aiden smiled with a quick glance at me.
Did he seriously just emphasise the word flesh as he looked at me?
“I was just going over the incident report from last week. It isn’t filled in properly.” My dad turned the book and showed it to Aiden.
“That’s my fault.” Aiden smiled at my dad. “Jemma was escorted off the premises,” Aiden lied smoothly, because I had left by myself. “It’s my understanding that Jemma worked from home for the rest of the week.” He gave me a cursory glance. “Today will be her first day back.”
“It is,” I said louder than I intended. “I completely forgot I would need to sign another form,” I chattered as I hurried to the book. “I already did the office one. Sorry, Ben, I completely forgot.”
“It’s no problem, Jemma,” Ben said to me as he watched the three of us closely.
“Well, it is a problem,” my dad said gruffly. “It should have been done on the evening of the incident.”
“That’s my fault, dad,” I said, hurrying to get his attention.
“Dad!” Ben exclaimed.
My dad looked at him in amusement while Aiden looked at him in frustration. “It’s my fault,” Aiden spoke with self-assurance. “I went to check the electrics on the other floors while Jemma was looked after by one of my crew. When I came back, she was gone.” Aiden smiled charmingly at my dad. “I should have stayed with her. I didn’t realise she was a runner with a limp.”
Was he shitting me right now? I was the one that ran? Was he freaking kidding me?
“Yeah, Jemma has a tendency to bolt when she’s embarrassed.” My dad grinned at me, and Aiden chuckled. He chuckles now?
“Hey, dad, I have an idea, how about we don’t do this?” I smiled at him with no humour as I hastily signed the bottom of the page.
“You didn’t even read the report, Jemma,” my dad said as he looked at me with disapproval.
“No, I did.” I looked at him and nodded.
My dad took the book off me and closed it. “What time did the incident happen?”
“Five after seven,” I answered confidently. I saw Aiden cover a smile as he looked away from me.
“And how long were you in the elevator for?” Dad looked at me.
Long enough to have a fight, kiss, make up, have sex and then fight again. Well, you can hardly say that to your father, Jemma. “Um…”
“It was about an hour, give or take,” Aiden answered.
It was?
“And you hurt your foot when?”
“Oh my God, dad! I didn’t commit a crime. I fell into an elevator, Aiden rushed to my aid, and then we were stuck.”
Dad laughed at me as he reopened the book. “I know.” He looked at me in amusement before turning to Aiden. “Quick walk around before I go down for coffee?”
“Absolutely.” Aiden was all smiles today.
“I’ll go down now.” I smiled at them both without meeting Aiden’s eyes and then headed out of the room. I waited for the elevator as I took off the protective clothing and set down the hard hat.
“You doing okay?”
I looked over my shoulder at Aiden. “I thought you were with my dad?”
“He’s using the facilities.” Aiden glanced over his shoulder.
“I didn’t mean to forget to sign your incident report.” That’s what we’re going with today, Jemma? Not where were you? Why were you with your wife at that dinner?
“The report means nothing; he’s here for a proper visit. I think your dad was messing with you,” he told me with a smile.
“Probably, he’s such a goofball.”
“I’ll try and remember that as he finishes his inspection.”
“Why are you here?” I asked him quietly. The elevator had been and gone—and neither of us had moved.
“Ben texted that OSHA was on site; it’s customary for me to be present for the inspection.”
“Oh,” I answered quietly.
He leaned over and spoke into my ear. His warm breath on my skin made my toes curl in my boots. “You think I was here for you, Jem?”
“No, I’m not delusional,” I retorted. “You told me I wouldn’t see you in the office this week.”
“Funny, I remember telling you I would see you real soon.”
How did his voice become even sexier when he spoke to me like that? My breath was already coming faster the longer I stood next to him. He stood so close to me I could feel the heat coming off of him.
I could hear my dad’s voice approaching, and Aiden quickly pressed the button for the elevator.
“Jemma?”
Aiden turned to my dad. “I think the elevator incident may have shaken your daughter more than I realised.”
“Of course.” Dad looked at me in sympathy. “Want me to help you, sweetheart?”
I’m going to throttle him. “No, dad.” I licked my lips as I shook my head. “Just a silly moment.” Silly moment? Who the hell am I? The elevator arrived, and I stepped inside quickly. “See, all good.” I pressed floor six, and the doors closed as I met Aiden’s gaze before he turned away with a smirk. One day, I’m going to knock that smile right off of your face.
Making my way into the kitchen, I started a fresh pot of coffee. I searched through the cupboards for any snacks or biscuits and found Nadine’s secret stash. Looking over my shoulder to check if the coast was clear, I slipped the chocolate chip cookies out of their hiding place and put some on a plate.
“Coffee ready?” my dad asked about ten minutes later as he walked into the kitchen.
“Yeah, all done upstairs?” I asked him.
“Yeah, site’s clean. Ashford’s sites always are; he runs a tight ship for an architect.”
Aiden’s an architect? “You do many of his sites?” I asked instead.
“Not me, this is my first one.” Dad helped himself to a cookie. “But when it’s a site where there’s an accident involving my daughter, I had to come.”
“It really wasn’t anything they did, dad.” I set coffee down in front of him. “I wasn’t supposed to be here, I had said goodnight. I came back in, but I hadn’t checked the update from Ben about switching the electrics off.”
“I know, the report you signed without even checking it was very detailed,” dad said to me as he drank his coffee.
“How can you even drink that when I just poured it?” I asked him in astonishment.
“I’m inflammable.”
“Ugh, that stupid answer is as old as me.” I rolled my eyes at him. “You’ve probably burnt all your taste buds years ago.”
We sat and had coffee and Nadine’s cookies for about thirty minutes before dad told me he had to go. I tidied up in the kitchen as I eyed the two cookies left on the pl
ate. I could have one more.
“Any for me?”
I jumped in surprise as I turned to Aiden, who was closing the door behind him.
“Why do you insist on scaring the crap out of me? I almost dropped my cookie!” I edged away from the cupboards as he came towards me. “No.”
“No?” He grinned at me as he came closer. “What’s no?”
“You’re going to come over here, you’re going to be all hot and sexy in your three-piece suit, and then you’re going to kiss me or do something and then leave, and I still won’t know anything.” I took a deep breath. “So, no.”
Aiden’s grin got wider. “You know me so well, Jem, I don’t know why you’re fighting it.” I sidestepped around the table, and he mirrored my movement.
“You’re talking first,” I insisted. “Do you know I only found out your last name today, from my dad?”
“I don’t know why that’s my fault. You could have asked me at any time.”
“You didn’t tell me,” I snapped back.
“Did you ask?”
Insufferable prick. “I want answers.”
Aiden stopped following me around the kitchen table and looked at his watch. “You have two minutes.”
Two minutes? “Why only two?”
“Have to be somewhere else. Time’s ticking, Jem.”
“What age are you?”
A slow sexy smile. “Thirty-three.” Not that much older than me.
“Where do you live?”
“Denver.”
I rolled my eyes at his evasiveness. “You’re an architect?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you marry her if you don’t live together?” I watched his smile vanish. “Did your relationship fizzle out? Have you always cheated on her?”
“Cheated on her?” Aiden looked at me curiously. “You have to be in a relationship with someone to cheat on them. I thought you would know that.” He glanced at his watch. “Time’s up.”
Ignoring his dig at my relationship with Tim, I raced forward and grabbed his arm. “Aiden, I need to know.”
His eyes roamed over my face, and then he sighed. “I can’t give you details you want, Jem.”
“Give me something then,” I said, hating that the desperation was evident in my voice.
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