Her Greatest Mistake

by Eve L Mitchell

  Aiden watched me for a long moment. “Can I trust you?”

  “Yes.” My voice came out in a whisper.

  “It’s a business arrangement. I met Kat on the day of the wedding. I knew of her but had never met her.”

  “What?” I looked him over in confusion. “You married her without knowing her? Did she need a green card or something?”

  “Or something,” Aiden responded dryly.

  “Tell me more.”

  “I can’t.” He gently removed my hand from his arm. “I really do have to go.” His hand came up and cupped the side of my face. “I never lied. I’ve never so much as held Kat’s hand. It’s a marriage in name only.”

  “But she was so mean to me at the gala.” I was so confused.

  “She spoke to you?” he asked me sharply.

  “Yes, told me you always slept around and she wouldn’t divorce you.”

  Aiden snorted in contempt. “She’s a twisted bitch. Stay away from her.”

  “I’m hardly getting a pedicure with her, Aiden.” I felt exhausted.

  He smiled at me gently. “Only listen to me.” He stared at me as he tugged my ponytail. “If you want answers, ask me.”

  I do ask you, you don’t tell me anything. “Okay.”

  He dropped a kiss on my lips and pulled away. Frowning, he pulled me into him more, and his kiss was longer, deeper. My hand slid over his chest as his tongue sought entry and I gave it. Both my hands were now on his chest as Aiden kissed me thoroughly. I felt his hand cup my ass and had the fleeting thought that anyone could walk into the kitchen.

  “Fuck, I could bend you over this table and fuck you right here, right now.”

  “Aiden,” my voice was breathless as I stepped back. “You can’t say that to me, it’s…”

  “It’s what?” He was back to being amused by me.

  “Derogatory,” I replied lamely.

  “The fact I want to fuck you hard and have you screaming my name is derogatory?” He was now barely hiding his smile.

  “I don’t know how you think that it’s complimentary!” I protested.

  He leaned down and kissed me so softly. I couldn’t think with the complete change from demanding to gentle. “You’re so innocent.” He kissed me again. “Fuck, I have to go.” Aiden kept kissing me.

  “Go.” I pushed him away with a smile. “Before I show you I’m no innocent and lock the kitchen door.”

  “There’s a lock?” Aiden turned with genuine interest to the door.

  “Out! Now!” I exclaimed. He probably would call my bluff.

  I watched him check the lock, and then with one last wicked smile, he was gone. Leaving me to think over the little that he had said, but it was so much more than he had told me before. Progress. It wasn’t much, but I felt better.

  Slow and steady wins the race, my mom always said. I smoothed my shirt down as I thought about it. Was I going to win this race?

  Nadine was delighted. She ended up getting asked out by two different guys for Valentine’s Day, which meant, of course, she went out with someone else. I think she met him in the bakery or something. She was vague and coy with the details. This usually meant Nadine was only interested in having sex with him. I really did envy Nadine; she was what my mom called promiscuous. That was harsh; she merely owned her sexuality. She was young and single, and as Nadine said, the world was her oyster. So what if she slept with more men some weeks than I had in my entire life—if anything, I was the one at fault. Not Nadine. I admired her. I would have preferred had she not spoken to me all day about her night tonight, but again, I think that was my issue.

  “Was Tim as anti-Valentine’s as you?” Nadine asked me carelessly.

  I looked at her in surprise. “Um…yes, he was.”

  “Shit, I shouldn’t have said that.” Nadine looked at me contritely.

  “It’s fine.” My smile was forced. “What makes you ask now? We’ve worked together for a long time.”

  “Honestly?” Nadine smiled in amusement. “I always thought it was Tim talking when you started your rant about Valentine’s and always felt sorry for you, that he was an unromantic prick.” Nadine shrugged. “But this week, you started the rant all by yourself, and I realised it is you that doesn’t like it.”

  “It’s nothing more than a money-making marketing scam.”

  “Wow.” Nadine sat back and stared at me in wonder. “It really is you.”

  “I’m almost insulted that you thought Tim was so influential.” I laughed lightly.

  “Tell me you at least had hot Valentine sex?”

  My face flushed scarlet. “Nadine,” I protested.

  “What?” She glanced around. “No one’s here, tell me. Did you get nookie on Valentine’s?”

  “Not usually, no,” I answered as I stared fixedly at my screen.

  “Wow,” Nadine repeated. “We need to get you laid.”

  My eyes flew to hers. “I’m…I’m good, thanks though.” I let out a tentative smile.

  “Jemma, you need a good seeing to.”

  Oh my God. “Honestly, I’m fine.” I shook my head. “You don’t need to worry about me.” Aiden has seen to me plenty of times now.

  “I know a guy.” Nadine was not to be deterred. “He’s a bit too timid for me, but you’d find him wild probably.”

  “I’m not a nun!”

  “I know, but honestly, Freddie would suit you perfectly. And his dic—”

  “Enough!” I cut her off sharply. “I don’t need to know.” I took a shaky breath. “Thank you for thinking about me, but no thank you.”

  Nadine’s eyes narrowed. “Do you think you’re too good for him?”

  “What?”

  “Freddie’s a nice guy.”

  “I’m sure he is.” I looked at her in confusion. “What’s going on?”

  “You’re awfully quick to turn him down.” Nadine sniffed superficially.

  “Nadine, I can’t turn down someone who hasn’t offered me anything. You suggested the guy, you’re the one fixated on my sex life. I don’t want to meet anyone just now, I’m happy as I am.” Well, that’s not entirely true, is it, Jemma? You haven’t heard from Aiden since Monday. Maybe a Freddie is what you need? Shut up. “And anyway, wouldn’t it be weird if we slept with the same guy?”

  “I didn’t say sleep with him.” Nadine winked at me. “Hussy.” I giggled at her overly dramatic look of disapproval. It was clear her moment of weirdness was over.

  “What time are you going out?” I asked, eager to steer the conversation away from me.

  “Nine.”

  “Isn’t that late?” I asked absently as I searched my drawer for a file from earlier in the week.

  “No, I wanted it to be later, but he sweet-talked me with cocktails at Bizzy’s.”

  “You are a sucker for their cosmos,” I agreed as I searched my other drawer. Richard must have taken it; he was always stealing his files back without telling me.

  “Hey, Jemma.”

  Looking up, I smiled at Ben. “Hi, Ben.”

  “Need you on tenth.” Ben looked different. Nervous?

  “Why?”

  “Boss is here.”

  Aiden was in the building? “Oh, okay.” I felt a flutter of excitement as I got up and followed Ben to the elevator.

  “You okay?” I asked him quietly once the doors were closed.

  “Yeah. No,” he laughed. “This refurb is yanking on my balls, know what I mean?”

  “No.” I shook my head at him as I poked his ribs. “I really don’t.”

  “Shit, sorry, Jem, you’re too easy to talk to.”

  “Well, at least I’m not yanking on your balls,” I laughed.

  “Hey, never said you couldn’t.” Ben nudged me playfully. I laughed along with him as we exited the elevator. I stopped to put on my PPE, and Ben grinned. “You’re so easy, Jem, I never have to remind you about anything.”

  “Am I being insulted or complimented?” I teased as we headed to the confe
rence room.

  “Hey, Jem, be careful in there, okay?” Ben said quietly before he went into the room.

  Careful? I walked in and looked around for Aiden. He wasn’t here. A tall man with dark hair stood at the conference table. With a quick questioning glance at Ben, I slowly approached. I saw that the man had greying hair at his temples. He stood tall and straight, his posture impeccable. My mom would be impressed; she hated slouchers. He looked familiar.

  “This is her?” he asked Ben as he looked me over.

  Self-consciously, I smoothed my hands over my skirt. I had on a black pencil skirt and white blouse with a faux neck tie. My black knee-high boots were clean after I had mopped the snow off them when I got to work.

  “This is Jemma,” Ben answered.

  “I don’t think we’ve been introduced?” I cursed inwardly that my voice wasn’t as strong as I would have liked.

  “Malcolm Litton.” He didn’t move forward as he continued to appraise me.

  “Oh.” He’s who Aiden is doing the work for, Jemma. “You’re moving in here.” I tried for a smile. He continued to watch me. “I do hope you get to preserve this room as much as possible,” I babbled. Why am I nervous of this man? “It’s so beautiful. The moulding is the original, you know.”

  “Indeed.”

  I looked at Ben again and then back to Malcolm. He had an air of authority about him. I felt like I was standing in front of the principal ready for detention. “Is there something you need from me?”

  He huffed out a laugh as his attention caught on something over my shoulder. A tall, very wide and scary-looking guy joined us in the room. “Any sign?”

  “Nothing.”

  “He’s getting worse,” the man grumbled as he turned his attention to the table.

  “Excuse me, did you need me for something in particular?” I didn’t feel comfortable here.

  “Yes. Miss Leighton, is it?” Malcolm looked over at me.

  “Yes,” I answered. “But you know that.”

  He smiled again, and I realised it was in no way friendly. “Ben, you can leave us.”

  “But—” Ben started forward.

  “Les,” Malcolm ordered. Ben was escorted out of the room. Malcolm walked around the table to stand beside me. “You look apprehensive, Ms Leighton.”

  “You don’t seem to be overly friendly,” I blurted.

  He snorted. “I’m not. I’m a businessman.”

  “I still don’t know why you wanted me here.”

  “I wanted to see what I was dealing with.” Malcolm looked me over again.

  “For what?” I wasn’t comfortable. “I don’t mean to be rude, well, not as rude as you have been, but is there a reason I am here? Where’s Aiden?”

  “You don’t know?”

  “Why would I know?” I snapped.

  “I’m a businessman, a successful one at that.” There was that smile that wasn’t a smile again. “I specialise in takeovers and acquisitions. Do you know what that is?”

  “I’m not stupid,” I answered sharply. “Why do you want to see me? I am no one of interest to you.”

  “True, you’re not.” Malcolm Litton smiled at me coldly. “But you are of interest to Aiden. You’re distracting him.”

  “Excuse me?” What?

  “Whatever you’re doing with him, stop it.”

  “Who the hell do you think you are?” My temper was rising. Then suddenly I realised why he looked familiar. “You were in the restaurant with him? Table Four Six.” Malcolm said nothing. “Aiden walked out on you that night; that had nothing to do with me.” Did it?

  “As I said, you will leave him alone.” The hostility in his stare almost made me step back. “He is married after all.” Malcolm looked me up and down. “You do know that, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” I answered, my temper vanishing.

  “So you’re one those.”

  One of what? Why does he look like I’ve disappointed him? “Aiden told me.” I almost said he explained it to me, but he had asked if he could trust me. Why would he ask that if it were something he felt he couldn’t share?

  “How noble of him.” Malcolm resumed looking at the plans in front of him. “You can go.”

  “What was this about, really?” I asked him quietly.

  “As I said, I wanted to see what I was dealing with.” Cold hard eyes looked at me from under his furrowed brow. “Now I know. You’re of no importance…merely a distraction, I think.”

  I turned abruptly to leave, and he called after me. “And I’ll be ensuring the moulding is ripped out.”

  Bastard. I almost collided with the scary wide guy, but I hurried past him to the elevator. I had no idea what that back there was. Who the hell did he think he was? So he was some bigshot businessman? Good for him. There were lots of successful businessmen. Why that had anything to do with Aiden and me, I had no idea. I almost sagged with relief when the elevator doors closed.

  Needless to say, I couldn’t concentrate for the rest of the day. I had texted Aiden, but he hadn’t replied. Shocker.

  “Is it Ben?”

  My head snapped up in surprise to look at Nadine. “What?”

  “Do you have feelings for Ben?”

  “Ben?”

  “Yes, you know the hot guy who hangs around you constantly?” she barked at me.

  “What are you even talking about?” I wanted to scream. “What is anyone talking to me about today?” I stood abruptly. “I’m finished.”

  “Huh?” Nadine looked at me in shock.

  I ignored her as I strode across the office floor to Richard’s office. I went in and closed the door. “The world has gone crazy today. If I stay here one more minute, I’m going to scream or possibly kill someone. I need to go home.”

  Richard looked at me with concern. “What can I do?”

  I almost cried with relief. “I just need to go home.”

  “Then go,” he told me. “You need anything from me?”

  “No, thank you.” I turned to leave and then turned back. “Who’s Malcolm Litton?”

  Richard looked startled. “Um, businessman mostly. Buys companies and then sells them again. I’m not fluent in corporate law.”

  “Businessman mostly?”

  “Well, there are rumours, but I can’t comment. As I said, they’re only rumours.” Richard looked uncomfortable.

  “What rumours?”

  “That he deals with the less desirables.”

  “I don’t understand,” I confessed.

  “They say he makes his money from drugs.” Richard’s shoulders lifted slightly. “I can’t comment, I don’t know.” He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

  “Why would Aiden work for him?” I wondered aloud.

  “Well, that’s easy, Jemma, he’s his son.”

  I stared at Richard in silence. “He’s his son? Aiden’s last name is Ashford.”

  “I understand that’s his mother’s name.”

  I wanted to see what I was dealing with, Malcolm had told me upstairs. He wanted to see who his son was sleeping with.

  “I have to go home.” I shook my head slightly as if to clear it. “I can’t… Today is too much.”

  “Why the interest in Aiden?” Richard asked me quietly. I looked at him quickly before I looked away. “Oh, Jemma, no. Not him.” Richard was finally all caught up.

  “Yeah.” My laugh was mocking. “Him.” I held my hand up. “Yes, I know.” I sounded defeated. I was defeated.

  “That he’s married?”

  “Yes.” I sighed long and loud. “You seem to know a lot about him.” I looked at Richard speculatively.

  “He and his wife have a prenup with the firm.”

  “A prenup.” I knew I was going to fall over soon. “Why?”

  “Why? That’s what most people who have a lot of money do.” Richard rubbed his head. “I thought it was Ben,” he muttered. “Why isn’t it Ben?” His tone was almost accusatory.

  “Have you met Aiden?” I d
emanded. “He’s conceited, he’s bossy, he’s arrogant, he’s, he’s, he’s…so damn frustrating!”

  “Oh.” Richard winced. “You really like him.”

  “Maybe.” I closed my eyes. “Yes.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me it was Aiden?”

  “It wasn’t anything,” I said quietly.

  “It wasn’t anything until it was something,” Richard groaned. “Jemma, I don’t think this is right for you.”

  I snorted out a laugh. “Well, I didn’t know about the wife until after we had sex, and now his dad’s a drug lord.” I pulled on my ponytail. “God, I just let the hits keep on coming.”

  “You should go home.”

  “Yeah, I was planning to.” I raised my head and looked at Richard, trying to ignore the sympathy. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. You didn’t know.”

  “Yeah, turns out, that’s a shitty excuse.” I opened the door. “See you later, enjoy Valentine’s.”

  It took me less than five minutes to shove everything in a drawer and tidy my desk. I avoided looking at Nadine; if she mentioned Ben, I would either laugh or cry.

  As I waited for my bus, I tried to ignore all the flowers and Valentine marketing in every shop and office window. I didn’t need any of that. All I needed was takeout, a glass of wine, and a long hot bath. I didn’t need Aiden. He was just a man.

  And men? They were simply overrated.

  I ate half of my Thai takeout and left the rest in the containers. Jeremy had forever put me off leftover food when we were younger because he would eat it cold the next morning and not even heat it up. It had stayed with me, and even now leftover pizza wasn’t kept. Nadine ate cold pizza for lunch sometimes, and I would shudder. She called me a food snob. If she knew how often I ate fruit loops for dinner, she would laugh.

  My bath was running, and I had a mix of essential oils and bubble bath in it. I’d also lit a few candles, and as I poured a glass of white wine, I was looking forward to relaxing with a new book. I had piled my hair up on top of my head in a very precarious bun. I didn’t have the energy to dry it tonight, so it would get washed tomorrow in the shower. My condo was modest in size, only two bedrooms and an open-plan living space, but the pièce de résistance was the stand-alone bath. I loved it. Tim had wanted to redo the bathroom when we moved in, but I had fought him. The bath was big and curved. Yes, it took up too much room and the shower stall wasn’t as roomy as he wanted, but one night spent in that bath and I was in love.