“Yes, I mean you wanted to marry her, right? You must love her?”
“Does it matter now?” he said without really answering the question.
“You were upset. I was…”
“What Cara?” he asked softly, his voice reminding her of the way he’d talked to her last night. “You were what? I’d really like to know.”
“I was upset with Miranda and I felt bad for you.”
Aiden made a noise that sounded like a growl. “You know what, Cara. Go to your damn meeting. You’re right. Now is not the time to talk about his. Because right now, I want to ring your neck. I’ll call you later.”
“Aiden,” she cried out, her voice cracking under emotions. She was too late. He was gone.
Cara made a promise to herself to be unavailable when Aiden made that call.
* * * *
I was upset with Miranda and I felt bad for you? Aiden slammed the phone shut and somehow resisted the urge to throw it across the airport terminal. That was it? She was upset? She felt sorry for him? That was what last night had meant to her?
Breathe, Aiden told himself when he caught the shocked reaction of several people walking by. They probably thought he was a terrorist.
This morning after waking up alone he’d been ready to drive over to her apartment and repeat last night all day long. He’d been willing to cancel his flight. Hell, he’d been willing to cancel his plans, his promotion. Everything for her and she’d felt sorry for him?
“Damn it.” Aiden repeated soft enough this time as to not arouse suspicion from the folks close by. She hadn’t wanted to upset Jason. Jason? That was all she could think about? Jason followed her around like a puppy. She couldn’t be in love with him. Not after last night. He might not know a lot about the hearts of women, but he’d learned some things from his two sisters. And he knew a woman did not give herself to a man, as Cara had to him, if she were in love with someone else.
Aiden opened the flip phone and considered calling her back. He should apologize. He’d lost his temper. And she apparently wasn’t well.
The thought of the possibilities behind that sickness was frightening as well as satisfying. He never had sex without protection. Ever. He hadn’t even thought about it last night. Last night was the fulfillment of twelve long months of obsessing over a woman. Cara could well be pregnant. That didn’t bother him at all. She could just as easily be sick at the thought of making love to him. That bothered him.
Cara thought he was in love with Miranda. Where had that come from? Did she just assume because he’d kept Miranda around longer than most, or had Miranda actually told her as much.
Not once in the months that he and Miranda had dated had Aiden ever led her to believe there was anything serious between them. Miranda believed all men were in love with her. He wished the poor chump that was her latest all the best. At least he could afford her.
Aiden closed the phone without calling Cara. He needed to give her time. She was angry. Upset. She needed to cool off. He’d call her later and apologize and try to get her to listen.
He heard his flight announced and grimaced. Flying to Little Rock was last thing he wanted to do right now. Arkansas only reminded him of Cara. She was a native of Arkansas just as he was a native Texan. She was a diehard Arkansas Razorback fan and he was a Longhorns fan. They argued over which team would win their yearly rivalry. Now their citizenships had been reversed. That had to be some kind of sign.
Chapter Four
Cara had avoided making eye contact with Shelby since her assistant returned from covering her meeting for her.
Shelby’s voice had been full of unasked questions when Cara was forced to call and tell her friend that she’d overslept. That wasn’t exactly the truth. She hadn’t slept at all. At least not until it was almost too late for sleep.
“I’ll be in as soon as I can, but I need you to cover for me.” Shelby’s silence had been enough to tell Cara how odd her behavior was. Cara never blew off a meeting. She’d gotten out of bed suffering from the worse case of flu in years to host a private party for a women’s group.
Now, as Cara sucked down her fourth cup of coffee in less than an hour, she tried to shut out all thoughts of Aiden, her reckless behavior the night before, and all the possible things she’d given away to him.
Her stomach churned on empty. The coffee hadn’t helped her queasy stomach one little bit. Just the opposite.
She finished preparations for the evening’s party and pretended to miss Shelby’s curious glances until she could no longer stand the silence.
“Okay, stop it. I don’t want to talk about it.” She turned and faced her friend.
“What? I didn’t say a thing,” Shelby insisted with a blank expression as she finished the last of the decorations on the cake intended for tonight’s party.
“Oh yes you did.”
“Cara, I’ve been quietly putting red roses on this cake.”
“But you’re dying to say something,” she told her childishly.
Shelby put down her colored frosting and grinned impishly, looking more like Shelby. Those quiet little looks of hers were completely out of character. “Okay, yes. I want to know what’s going on with you today.”
“Nothing. Why?” Cara couldn’t quite meet Shelby’s glance.
“Oh please! Cara! You never miss an appointment. Never. And you haven’t even asked me about my evening?” Shelby knew her too well. She’d picked up on things that Cara hadn’t expected.
“I’m sorry. I’ve just been worried about tonight. How was your evening?” she asked politely only to have Shelby snort in response. Then the phone rang and their eyes locked.
“Aren’t you going to get that?” Shelby wanted to know. Cara quietly shook her head and turned away.
Another snort. Shelby was getting close to guessing the truth.
“Delicious,” she answered sweetly while Cara resisted the urge to tell her to let it go.
A very pregnant silence followed as Shelby held the phone away.
“Cara, its Aiden,” she said quietly.
Cara turned and shook her head, mouthing, ‘Tell him I’m not here.’
“I’m sorry, Aiden, she’s out with Jason.” Cara groaned. Of all the excuses to give, that was the wrong one. She glanced at her friend’s expression. Shelby’s eyebrows lifted higher. “Can I take a message?” Silence while Shelby shot the obvious question back at her.
“Sure, I’ll tell her you’ve landed and that she should give you a call.”
The second the receiver hit the cradle, Shelby started the questioning.
“What the hell is going on between you two? You never dodge Aiden. What happened last night?”
“Nothing.”
“Cara…”
Cara turned and ran to the bathroom. She felt sick again. When she could finally leave the stall safely, Shelby stood waiting for her, Sprite in hand.
“Hear drink this,” she said quietly.
Cara took a couple of sips. “I slept with Aiden last night,” she mumbled, unable to meet what she knew would be Shelby’s shocked expression.
“Just say it…” she said, close to tears.
Shelby didn’t. She took the Sprite from her and kneeled in front.
“What happened?” Shelby asked so calmly that Cara started to cry.
“It was horrible, Shelby,” Cara told her. Accepting the tissue she gave her, she covered her face with it.
“Aiden was horrible in bed?” Shelby asked in disbelief.
“No. No, Aiden was wonderful. Aiden was everything that Miranda said and then some. I was horrible.”
“Oh, Cara. That’s not true. You’ve had enough lovers for me to know you must be doing something right there.”
Cara moved the tissue away from one eye and looked at her. “No, I’m not talking about in bed. We were great together in bed. I’m talking about as a human being. As a friend. As…” She started to cry even harder.
“You guys were great to
gether. I knew it.” Shelby was thrilled. “So what’s the problem? Sounds wonderful to me and about time I might add.”
“Shelby, it’s not wonderful. It’s far from wonderful. Aiden wasn’t making love to me. He was thinking about Miranda. He was getting even with Miranda.”
“No!” She breathed the word into the silent room.
“Yes. Why else would he make love to me…more times than I can remember?”
Shelby tried hard to hide her smile. “Cara, you two have had a year of foreplay. What did you expect? Of course it was going to be unbelievably out of this world. You waited long enough for it.”
Her words made Cara want to cry even more. If only that were true. She knew better. Aiden was in love with Miranda.
“No, that’s not true. I mean, yes it was. It was amazing, in fact. But it wasn’t directed at me. It was all Miranda. And I not only cheated on her, I cheated on Jason as well.”
“Oh please!” Shelby interrupted in an explosion of anger. “Miranda is too good for you and for him. She only cares about Miranda. And Jason, well, you’re right he didn’t deserve it but you knew going into the relationship that it was just to protect yourself against Aiden.”
Cara stared at her. Was that the truth? Had she simply been dating the half dozen or more men to protect her heart from Aiden? Jason was the latest in a long line of guys she’d dated this year. Truth was, Cara rarely dated at all that much before Aiden. She’d been preoccupied with her career. Meeting Aiden had thrown her for a loop in so many ways.
“Cara, Aiden’s not in love with Miranda. No way. He was just using her for…”
“For sex? Because she is the perfect female specimen for him? Because Aiden’s only attracted to models?” Shelby’s expression said all of those things were true. “So where does that leave me. I don’t want to be one of those women. I can’t. I—” Cara bit her tongue and clamped the words off before she could say the words, ‘I’m in love with Aiden.’ In Love? Where had that come from?
“Cara, who cares what happened in the past? Aiden was just playing the field. He could never be serious about Miranda or any of her kind.”
“Aiden isn’t serous about me either. I’m no different from the others. I just don’t look the same.”
“Oh, Cara. You are such an idiot. You can’t possibly believe that?”
“Its true and I do and I don’t want to talk about it any more.”
“You’re not going to call him back, are you?”
“No. What’s the point? He just thinks he feels something for me. Give him a few days and he’ll be begging her to come back. Or worse still. He’ll have moved on from the both of us to Miss July.”
“Oh, Cara.”
Cara started back to the kitchen.
“You don’t want to talk about it?” Shelby asked as if she’d just sprouted two heads.
“No.” She took tonight’s entrée out of the oven and shoved it on the counter. “There’s nothing to talk about. And if Aiden calls back, I’m out. Forever. For the rest of my life. In fact, I’ll never be in for Aiden again.”
* * * *
Aiden didn’t actually believe Shelby’s cover up, but still, the thought of Cara with Jason left a hollow feeling in his gut and made him want to turn the rented car around, go back to the airport and return to Dallas to find out for sure.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” he told himself again. Give her space. She was just…what? Upset that he’d made a move on her? Unhappy that she’d betrayed Jason? Or just unmoved. Like he’d pictured her over the phone. Like she’d sounded when she’d told him it was just a mistake.
Mistake? He’d never met a woman whose body responded to him like Cara’s had. How could that be anything but meant to be? Fate. The person he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with?
Aiden had a full day ahead of him. Best to stop obsessing over every little tone or word that she’d spoken. If he were going to give her space, he’d at least try to get the Shelby Advertising back to profitability after the former chief executives screw-ups. A year. That’s all. He’d promised himself that he would stick it out for one year to get the experience and then he was coming back home to Dallas to start his own agency. That had been Aiden’s lifelong dream.
Two days ago, one year in his life hadn’t seemed like such a big thing. But that had been before Cara had rocked his world and sent his prospective scattering in a million different directions. Since last night, well all he could think about was a repeat performance. More than once. Because once was never going to be enough.
Apparently, Cara had not felt the same. In fact, she hadn’t had anything close to the same reaction as him. Cara it seemed was full of regrets. Or at least, that’s what she wanted him to think.
Aiden debated on whether to go straight to the apartment that he’d picked out his last trip here. He could use the time to get settled in, even though the place came fully furnished and he hadn’t exactly added anything, except for a few clothes and basic necessities.
After listening to the three voicemails on his cell phone, he decided against spending the day settling into the apartment. Two of the three messages were from his second in command, Eric Reynolds. The man who had been forced to fill in for Aiden after the executive, who had run the company into bankruptcy in the first place, absconded to parts unknown with most of the pension plan, not to mention his secretary.
Things were in absolute chaos at Shelby. And that was just what he needed at the moment. Nothing like a sinking ship to take your mind off one stubborn brunette.
Aiden chanced another call to Cara, this time bypassing the office and Shelby entirely. He dialed Cara’s cell phone instead and got the expected recording asking him to leave a message. He didn’t. He’d be patient. She couldn’t screen her calls forever.
He turned off the main interstate and headed downtown. This part of the city was filled with a variety of long standing businesses. Shelby Advertising had been around for almost twenty years when its founder died and the next generation of Shelby’s took control. Alfred Shelby didn’t have the brains God gave a snail. It had taken him only five years to run his daddy’s dream into bankruptcy.
“Mr. Wilder, good you’re here. I have a dozen or more messages that need your attention.” Lois Brown was Eric’s assistant but she was covering like Eric in lieu of Alfred’s secretary disappearance.
“Good Morning, Lois. Is Eric in?” Eric was definitely in. Apparently, he’d been listening for Aiden’s arrival. He stood in the doorway of his office, looking like a man who had just been rescued from a burning building.
“Good morning, Eric. Things as bad as you look?” Aiden felt his bad mood grow when the man who looked to be twenty years his senior nodded furiously.
“They’re that bad all right. This place is one bad decision away from closing its doors entirely and I don’t think Southern’s going to be none to happy with the midyear earnings…or should I say lack of them.”
“Okay, well, let’s see if we can fix that.” Aiden started for his new office and stopped. Something on Lois’s desk caught his eye. Roses. Bright red roses.
“Is it your birthday?” he asked the woman.
“No, my husband sends those to me every month or so. Says he just wants to remind me that he loves me.”
On an impulse, Aiden turned to the older man. “Eric, I’ll be right there. Why don’t you get the files that are critical together and I’ll meet you in your office in two minutes.”
Eric didn’t need much coaxing, which only confirmed how bad things really were.
Aiden turned back to Lois. “Can you do me a favor?”
“Sure thing, Mr. Wilder. You need me to type something up for you?”
“No, I need you to send flowers to someone. And I need them to be there by today?”
“A girlfriend?” Lois smiled gently.
Aiden considered that. Cara wasn’t his girlfriend at all. Not because he hadn’t been considering it and trying to work toward t
hat goal. Or more for that matter. But mostly because she was good at putting obstacles in his way. Namely that damn friendship thing. And then there was Miranda that she’d practically forced on him. And now this whole avoiding him thing.
“Something like that. But I’m hoping for more,” he told Lois honestly and was rewarded with the smile that women sometimes got when a man finally admitted he needed a woman.
“Tell me where to send them and I’ll have them delivered today.”
Aiden took a piece of paper and jotted Cara’s work address and number.
“Could you see if the florist can do something in brown…no, not brown, nutmeg?”
Lois looked at him as if he’d just ordered black roses. “I can try. Any special reason.”
“Yeah, because I want them to match her eyes.”
“Aww…” Lois practically oozed that sentiment. “What do you want the card to say?”
Aiden thought about it. Considered how embarrassing the truth would be to admit to Lois.
He took the paper back from Lois and wrote:
It’s only a mistake if you regret it. I don’t. I hope that you don’t either. I’ll be back in two weeks. And once is never enough to know it wasn’t a mistake. It was only enough to want more. I want more. Aiden.
He didn’t look at Lois, but as he closed the door to Eric’s office he heard her say, “The girl’s a fool if she turns you down for seconds.”
Aiden closed the door, barely stifling his laugh.
The expression on Eric’s face was enough to wipe away any remnants of his grin.
Aiden let go of his breath. This was not going to be an easy year.
“Okay, who do we start with?” he asked his second in command before taking a seat across from him.
“There are three clients, all major money clients that are threatening to pull their accounts right away. Somehow, word got out about the merger, but that’s not the worst of it. They’ve heard about Alfred’s shenanigans as well.”
“Great. Who are they?”
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