Summer's End (Wildflowers Book 5)

by Jill Sanders

  They’d talked it over on the flight home about the logistics of him moving into the apartment with her. After weighing the pros and cons, they’d decided that she should move her things into his place instead.

  “It’s far more private out there than in the apartment my friends still use occasionally,” Aubrey had argued.

  He didn’t mind, not really. But when she’d brought up the possibility of her friends walking in on them, he’d quickly agreed.

  So not only had he spent the first few days back catching up with work and getting his place clean enough for her to move in, but he’d spent his free time hauling Aubrey’s things out to the trailer.

  Over the past few years, he’d hardly done anything to the place, since he’d deemed it a temporary living arrangement. He’d been thankful Elle and the others had allowed him to continue using the land near the construction entrance to the camp.

  “This is going to be fun,” Zoey said to him as she sat in his living room. Her friends had helped cart the remainder of Aubrey’s things out shortly after the dinner party that evening.

  “Fun?” he asked her, noticing that she was running her hands over her growing belly. Since Zoey was expecting, her friends had demanded that she sit out helping with the move.

  “Sure, I mean, you and Aub.” Zoey smiled. “We kind of always suspected she was hooking up with someone. None of us thought it was you, though.”

  “Oh?” he asked, watching the rest of her friends cart in boxes of Aubrey’s things. Deciding he had a moment, he sat down across from Zoey. “Why not?”

  Zoey’s eyes ran over him before she shrugged lightly. “You’re not the type we expected Aubrey to go for.”

  “What type did you expect her to go for?” he asked, curious.

  “Someone less…” Zoey chuckled. “Manly.”

  His eyebrows shot up as he leaned closer. “You thought…”

  “It had crossed all of our minds several times,” she added while glancing over to make sure Aubrey was busy.

  He couldn’t help it, but he laughed. Loudly enough to get Aubrey’s attention.

  “Don’t,” Zoey warned, but it was too late. Aubrey was heading their way, her hands on her hips as she narrowed her eyes at him.

  “I’m glad you’re having fun,” she said sweetly with a smile. “Unless you’re currently pregnant, we could still use your help.” Her eyebrows shot up, and he stood quickly and wrapped his arms around her.

  “Sorry, Zoey was just telling me a funny story.” He winked at Zoey behind Aubrey’s back.

  When everyone finally left, he sat in bed working on his laptop while Aubrey rearranged her things in his closet.

  “I haven’t had a closet this big in years,” she exclaimed as she poked her head out of the massive walk-in closet. She disappeared just as quickly.

  “I guess there are a few perks of moving in with me that you never thought of,” he joked.

  “Like your shower. I hated showering in mine,” she called out from the closet. “You didn’t really have to move your stuff to the closet in the other room for me. Gosh, I don’t think I’ll ever come out of here.”

  He laughed, remembering Zoey’s words. He hadn’t expected Aubrey to glance out at him again.

  “What?” She frowned as she picked up another stack of her clothes from the edge of the bed.

  “Nothing.” He bit his lip and tried to focus on his screen, but watched out of the corner of his eye as Aubrey set the box down and moved over to stand next to him.

  “I know that look,” she teased. “You’re keeping something from me.”

  He sighed. She was looking too damn sexy with her hair in a messy bun on top of her head. She was wearing a pair of old sweats and a tank top that showed off some of his favorite parts of her.

  “Come here.” He snagged her hips after setting his laptop aside.

  When she was comfortably tucked under him on the bed, he smiled down at her. “Your sisters believed they knew your type,” he said before placing a soft kiss on her lips.

  “Oh?” She frowned up at him. “What type would that be?”

  “Don’t tell anyone I told you, but…” He chuckled again. “They believed I had too much equipment to please you.”

  Aubrey’s eyes grew large, then she laughed. “Seriously?”

  He shrugged and leaned in to kiss her again.

  She stopped him. “That’s why they never suspected you and me.” She held him at bay for a moment. Her arms wrapped around him. “So, do you think you have the right equipment to please me?”

  He chuckled. “I’m not sure, but I’m up for trying.”

  He couldn’t describe how wonderful it was to know that Aubrey would be spending the rest of her nights with him in the king-sized bed. That he’d be waking up to her scent, to the feeling of her next to him. It’s what he’d been hoping for, working towards, over the past few years.

  He knew he still had to convince her to take a chance on him long term. Not that he believed she wouldn’t, but even after New York, she was still in denial about how deep their relationship went.

  The first week they were back at the camp was filled with catching up. He hadn’t realized just how much work was on his plate until he’d left it for a few days.

  Now that Bridgett was in custody, Brett was back at his place just outside of town. He’d stopped by the night after Aubrey had moved in with him to get the full scoop on what had happened in the city.

  After that, it took Aiden a few days to finally catch up and get back in the loop, both at the camp and at Hammock Cove. Work was pretty much completed on the massive club house, gym, sports complex, and swimming pools in the center of the neighborhood. The streets and utilities were almost finished being laid down for each of the roads. All of the home lots had been planned out on the first phase and now that construction trucks could deliver materials, they could start building the home sites.

  He’d just taken a break after finishing up roofing one of the new cabins when he made his decision. After all, he knew that the trailer wasn’t going to be his permanent place. Having Aubrey there every day proved it. Besides, if he didn’t snag one of the good lots at Hammock Cove now, they’d all be gone soon.

  He pulled out his phone to call Owen only to glance up and see the man walking down the pathway towards him.

  “There you are,” Owen called up to him. “I’ve been looking for you.”

  “You could’ve called,” he said, tossing down his tools.

  “Have been for about an hour.” He held the ladder as Aiden climbed off the roof.

  “Sorry,” he said after getting back on the ground and checking his phone. There were three missed calls from Owen. “Ringer was off I guess.” He switched the button, which set his phone to chiming. “Problems?”

  Owen shook his head and glanced up at the cabin. “No, just needed to catch you up on some things. Nice place.” He motioned to the cabin.

  “Elle’s titled this one Last Resort since it’s the cabin farthest from the main part of the camp.” He shook his head. “I was going to call you. Is that offer for a lot in Hammock Cove still open?”

  Owen glanced at him and then chuckled. “Yes. Why? Do you need a bigger place now that Aubrey’s moved in with you?”

  “Yes,” he answered with a smile. “And no, not because of her. But because the trailer was a temporary fix. Besides, the rent of the place is as much as I’d be spending on building a home of my own.”

  “You’re renting the trailer?” Owen asked.

  “It was my only option at the time. Not a lot of banks wanted to take a chance on an unemployed worker pooling everything he had on a chance to open his cousin’s summer camp back up.”

  “Right.” Owen chuckled. “Worked out pretty well in the end.”

  “Yes, it did.” He ran his eyes over the eight-hundred-square-foot cabin he’d almost finished. The cedar shingles set the little building apart from all the green surrounding it. High windows allowed an a
lmost panoramic view from inside. He had plans to have a deck built off the front but needed the basics to be finished first. “So?” He turned back to Owen.

  “It’s actually why I was coming out to talk to you. Hannah had this idea.”

  “Oh no,” Aiden said with a chuckle. “When she has ideas, it usually means more work for me.”

  Owen laughed. “True, but I think you’ll like this one. There’s a patch of land near where you built Dylan and Zoey’s place that’s up for sale. She convinced me to purchase it and separate it out into four lots.”

  He knew where Owen was going with this. “How much do you want for a lot?” he asked.

  Owen nodded. “The ladies all want to talk about that over dinner, which is why I was sent out here to get you.” He motioned behind him. “We can talk on the way back. I assume you were done here for the day?”

  Aiden nodded towards his tools. “Help me load up and we can drive back.”

  Stepping into the employee’s lounge, he realized a few things. First, he desperately needed a shower. Second, he’d skipped lunch.

  Since food was set out buffet style, he filled a tray full of food before heading back to the large corner booth where Aubrey and her friends normally sat.

  He was the last one to take a seat and immediately started eating after kissing Aubrey hello. He made a point to showcase his feelings for her as often as he could in front of her friends. He could tell she was becoming more relaxed and accustomed to the PDA.

  “I know it’s not supposed to be here for another week. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t plan,” Hannah was saying to Elle. “The second we stop taking these sorts of things seriously is the moment something bad will happen.”

  “I’m just saying, this will be, what?” Elle tilted her head as she thought. “The seventh storm we’ve ridden out?”

  He glanced up. “Storm’s coming?” he asked. He’d been too busy to pay attention to the news. Besides, most of his evenings had been filled with pleasing Aubrey since they’d returned home.

  “Next week. It’s just a tropical depression at this point. They don’t think it’ll turn into anything bigger, but…” Aubrey filled him in quickly while Elle and Hannah continued to talk.

  “I’ll make sure everything is tied down as far as construction. I just finished the roof on Last Resort,” he said to Elle. “I’ll move up roofing the other two cabins so they won’t get any water damage and see to it that windows and doors are installed before then.” He thought about the extra work that would have to be done before the storm hit.

  Elle was correct, they’d ridden out half a dozen bigger storms since opening their doors.

  “You don’t live in Florida without knowing to prepare for a storm,” Elle reminded Hannah. “I’ve ridden out more depressions and hurricanes than I can count. We have plenty of time to prepare,” she assured Hannah.

  He pulled out his phone and started looking over his storm preparation lists. He shot a quick group text to his team about preparing not only the campgrounds but Hammock Cove and all the work they’d done over there before next week. Even if the storm didn’t come their way, he wanted to be ready for anything.

  Heavy equipment had to be moved, tools and temporary construction equipment had to be secured.

  “Now that that is settled,” Owen broke into the conversation, “who wants to buy some land?”

  Conversation turned from the coming weather to building homes. Which, of course, included him designing and building everyone’s dream homes.

  “At this rate, I’m going to be so busy in the coming year that I’m not even sure if I’ll have time to think,” he joked to the table.

  “Well, once these last three cabins are finished up, I think we’ve all decided to hold off building any more. Not that we couldn’t pack them out, but you know, supply and demand,” Elle said with a shrug.

  He felt his heart skip at the thought of not designing and building more cabins for the camp. “Really?” he asked, trying to hide his disappointment.

  “At least for a while,” Zoey chimed in. “Until after all the weddings and… baby.” She rubbed her belly again.

  “Besides, we now have forty cabins. If we want to keep this place in high demand, then we have to cut it off somewhere,” Elle added.

  Aubrey reached under the table for his hand. “Won’t you be busy designing and building homes?”

  “Sure.” He tried to hide his reluctance about letting go of his daily life at the campgrounds. If he wasn’t overseeing and building cabins there, then he didn’t really have any excuse to be on the campgrounds daily. Glancing around the table, he realized that he’d grown accustomed to being around the group of friends. They’d become as much his family as they were Aubrey’s now. The possibility of losing them had him growing weary.

  Scarlett stood up suddenly. “Well, it’s my night off, and I’m not going to waste a single moment.” She tugged on Levi’s hand and had the man following her out.

  “We have dinner.” Elle stood up and glanced at the rest of the friends.

  “I’ll see you later.” Aubrey leaned down and kissed him. The fact that she had already changed into an evening dress hadn’t gone unnoticed by him the moment he’d walked in. It was actually one of the perks of being around in the evenings, seeing her and her friends all glamorized for the dinner parties. Not that he didn’t like Aubrey’s evenings off now that she spent them snuggled up against him watching television.

  Since he had the night to himself, he figured he’d get to work on a few ideas that had been going through his mind. By the time Aubrey walked in a few hours later, he had the entire home designed.

  “What’s this?” she asked, leaning over his shoulder.

  “Ideas,” he said, pulling her into his lap. “What are your thoughts about moving?”

  Her brows arched as she frowned down at him. “I just did that,” she reminded him.

  He chuckled. “This would be about a year down the road.” He motioned again. “Of course, I’d love your feedback on the closet here.” He zoomed into the massive space. “Along with the other rooms.”

  He felt her stiffen but held her from bolting.

  “Easy,” he said as he ran his mouth over her neck. “It’s just a home. I’m in the business of making them, remember?”

  He smiled the moment he felt her relax. “Right,” she sighed.

  “Let’s talk about this later.” He felt himself grow hard. “Right now, I want to see what you’re wearing under that dress.”

  He knew he’d hit the mark when her entire body started vibrating. She wrapped her legs around his hips as he carried her into the bedroom.

  Chapter 25

  Aubrey tried over the next few days to avoid talking to Aiden about his home plans. Sure, she wanted him to build his home along with those for all her friends. But every time he tried to bring her into the design process, as if he wanted to design a home for her, she felt herself tensing up.

  She had to admit that she was enjoying being out of that apartment. Not only was it great to be staying with Aiden, but having someone around all the time had curbed her loneliness.

  It was obvious that her friends no longer had as much time for her as they had before, since they were spending all of their free time with the men they loved. That got her thinking about her own feelings towards Aiden, which she tried to avoid thinking about as much as she could.

  She tried to busy herself by adding a few new classes to her already busy schedule. It helped that she’d decided to try a meditation class. There wasn’t a lot of call for it, but she did get three people to sign up on her first day. She also added a painting class and more than ten people signed up for that one. She’d held it outside on the beach, which had drawn even more people the following day.

  She even volunteered to help out for a few dinners that hadn’t been on her schedule, just to avoid the conversation with Aiden.

  She was walking to the dining hall to grab some dinner on one
of her nights off when her phone rang. She was shocked to see her father’s number on her screen and answered it after the third ring.

  “Hello, Dad.” She moved over to sit on one of the wood benches that Liam had built for around the campgrounds.

  “Aubrey.” Her father’s voice sounded stronger than the last time she’d spoken to him in the hospital. “John has informed me that you’ve left the state.”

  So, it had taken Dr. Williams telling her father that she’d left town in order to get her dad to call her.

  “Yes, I returned on Tuesday.” She relaxed back and watched couples shuffle towards the pool bar or the dining hall for lunch.

  “I would have thought we would have talked before you left,” her father said.

  “I think you said everything you wanted to say to me at the hospital.”

  The phone was silent and, for a moment, she thought that the call had dropped.

  “John has filled me in on my recent behavior.”

  She was silent, waiting for him to say anything further. The entire time she’d known her father, he had never apologized for anything. As the silence grew, she knew today wouldn’t be the day he started.

  “And?” she prodded.

  “He’s changed my prescriptions and removed alprazolam from my regimen. I’ve also changed a few things around with my security.”

  Closing her eyes, she shook her head. “So, Bridgett?”

  “I’m told she was released.”

  “She was?” She sat up and stared into the darkness. “Why would they let her go?”

  “There was no proof that she’s the one who slipped the pills into the decanter,” he countered.

  “No.” She felt her anger boiling again and stood up to start marching down the pathway, this time heading to somewhere less populated. “Of course not. Did you call me to accuse me again?”

  “No, John seems to think that the alprazolam was in my system a lot longer than just one day. Which means, it was there before you arrived to town.”