Aquarius - Mr. Humanitarian: The 12 Signs of Love (The Zodiac Lovers Series)

by Tiana Laveen

  “Uh, what?”

  “That’ll be $120.32. Do you want anything with them? A nice box of chocolate truffles? Some heart shaped balloons?”

  “Uh, no. $120 you said? All right.” He handed the man his VISA credit card then looked around as he waited, checking out the various plush plants, fancy ceramic vases, and the glass refrigerator stocked with corsages, wedding bouquets, and grave wreaths. “Must be a very lucky lady.” The old man grinned, exposing small, pearly teeth. “Or man.” The guy shrugged, then smiled wider.

  “Yeah… well, I don’t know what I’m doing here, actually.” Aiden leaned against the register counter, not certain what to do with himself.

  “Did you mess up that badly?” The old timer chuckled as he grabbed a bin full of colorful ribbons and rummaged through them with knobby, freckled hands.

  “I didn’t mess up or impress, actually. Well, if I did impress her I honestly don’t know. I like her though, a little too much I guess. You ever just, you know, meet somebody and they light up something inside you? Like, it’s just a stranger on the street maybe but they smile at you, and you two have a little small talk and then you never forget them—but you can’t figure out why?”

  “Sure I have…. and then once they’re gone, you regret not saying anything, too.” The old man’s eyes twinkled, as if he’d had such a situation happen just as described and lived to regret it.

  “I shouldn’t be here getting her these flowers.” He sighed dismally.

  “Why not?”

  “Because she doesn’t know me like that. She’s a client. Well…” He shifted his weight. “She knows me, but not in a romantic way.”

  “But you want to make it romantic, I take it?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe, but uh, I shouldn’t be doing it.”

  “And yet you’re here anyway.”

  “Yeah, I’m here anyway,” Aiden said.

  “She must be worth the possible humiliation and risk. And besides, someone has to say something if you’re to get to know one another, right? All those who are in love right now, Mr. Summers, at one point were strangers. All right, so what do you want on the card?” The man whipped out a small white rectangular piece of paper, grabbed a pen, and waited.

  “Put uh, shit…” Aiden grabbed his forehead and briefly closed his eyes as he searched his brain, trying to think of something catchy, but not offensive. “Put… ‘I became tongue-tied when I looked into your eyes. Thankfully, you’re an expert in speech.’”

  The old man nodded and began to write his name on the bottom of it.

  “No, no, no!” Aiden swung his hands back and forth and leaped about. “It’s a secret. I can’t let her know who I am. Don’t write my name… leave it just like that… it’s only a clue, you know?”

  The old man peered at him suspiciously from over his glasses, then nodded before handing the credit card back.

  “All right, young man. They’ll be delivered to her in a couple of hours, as soon as my delivery guy gets back from lunch. Good luck. I put my extra pretty ribbon on there—usually an upcharge, but for you, consider it a gift.”

  “Thanks.”

  Aiden waved to the guy before exiting the floral shop, then hightailed it to his car. The cold air blew through him to the point of pain. Swinging the door open, he threw himself inside the thing. Turning on the engine, he boosted the heat to the highest setting. The cool winter air had practically frozen him to death during that brief jaunt outside. It pierced his skin, his muscles, his bones. Damn near pierced his soul. Perhaps it was just in his mind for it hadn’t seemed that cold before he’d gone into the shop. Now that his adrenaline was going full throttle, trepidation and excitement swirled within him and he wasn’t sure what to think or feel. He was the kind of man who took calculated risks, but when he woke up that morning, he’d never anticipated he’d be buying flowers for a client, ‘just because’. He was digging her, and there was just no denying it. Rubbing his palms together, he turned on the radio and sat back for a spell. ‘Truly, Madly, Deeply’ by Savage Garden played out the speakers. He smiled at the tune, one of his all-time favorites…

  Maybe it’s a sign?

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I Just Called, To Say, You’re Sexy

  Addison stood in her living room dripping with sweat while Macy Gray crooned, “I Try.” Her workout had been damn good, but these gorgeous red and yellow ombre calla lilies were even better. She ran her finger along the fluted ridges of the blooms, the softness against her fingertips feeling like a dream. She re-read the card and confusion fell upon her.

  “Maybe it was Derek from the gym…” she mumbled. Derek was a tall, sexy hunk of chocolate who flirted with her endlessly. The man, however, wasn’t a free agent—though he enjoyed pretending to be one with anyone who caught his roving eye. She plopped down on her couch and searched the files of her mind.

  Steve? I doubt it…

  Steve was a man she’d dated a couple of times, an older man who was also divorced but they had no chemistry.

  Cole? Maybe… but I doubt he’d spend this sort of money. These flowers are definitely not cheap. She knew a damn good bouquet when she saw one. After all, her sister was a florist and owned a chain of lucrative shops.

  Nah, couldn’t be Cole. He’d never pay out this sort of cash.

  They’d gone out one time and he’d spent the majority of the conversation discussing the cost of everything. At first she’d thought he’d acted that way because he was a math teacher, but deep down she’d believed he was simply being cheap…

  Oliver? Yeah… could be him.

  Oliver was a guy from Sweden who’d she’d met online in a workout chat group. They’d been out a few times, but it was always for short periods of time. She found him to be sweet and cute, but he kept such a busy schedule that they were barely able to talk on the phone, let alone date.

  Addison had placed an ad online on a couple of dating sites, through which she’d met several other men, too. None of those hookups had amounted to much. One had been a romp in the hay—lackluster, to say the least. She wished to begin life again, though it was a struggle at times. All that she knew and had been accustomed to had been ripped out from under her, but when she’d finally got the gumption to take life by the reigns, her close friends giving her a bit of a push out into the open field, she seized the opportunity. She’d had fun on most of her encounters, but she wasn’t convinced she’d met ‘the one’ or ever would. Not anyone she’d danced with, ate a meal with, went to the theater or movies with made her believe that, with further exploration, they just may be on to something.

  I don’t even believe in the idea of ‘the one’. I believe in many and, if you’re lucky, you just happen to find one of those in the stack of possibilities.

  She chuckled at her thoughts before heading to her half-unpacked kitchen and placing the flowers in her favorite emerald glass vase. She arranged them just so, gathering them here, releasing the stems there, until they were perfect, exactly how she desired.

  These are so gorgeous. I wish I knew who sent them so I could thank them.

  She sighed and picked up the card once again, re-reading it.

  This could have come from anybody. I wonder if they didn’t leave out their name on purpose?

  Tossing the thought out of her mind, she inhaled deeply, taking in the sweet, beautiful scent. Like fresh air, it filled her lungs. It was the end of winter, but the flowers opened the fresh buds of spring, a dream of what was to come…

  Perry’s hair was jammed under a crooked, old baseball cap. They sat across from one another in the Cheesecake Factory, the massive booth dwarfing them. Aiden glanced down at his menu one final time then shoved it aside and plucked his glass of frosty beer from the table. He took a big gulp. The froth felt good as it tickled his upper lip.

  “So, did you ask Mom about him again?” Perry asked behind a yawn.

  “No.” Aiden shook his head and flopped back in the seat. “I don’t put much effort into
it lately. Kinda gave up.” He shrugged.

  “At least you know who yours was. You’ve got a name.” Perry rolled his slightly slanted blue eyes.

  “But we really don’t know that, right? Maybe Mom was wrong. Who the hell knows? Maybe that’s why he didn’t take an interest in me. Who has a kid and never comes to see them? I mean, even if he wasn’t sure I was his, it seems he’d be curious enough to find out. Anyway, I honestly don’t care,” he lied, but he wished his lie were true.

  “Nobody is gonna step up to the plate if they aren’t sure, Aiden. Not with child support looming over them. Mom said your father was definitely Gregory, though. She didn’t even hesitate when she told us his name.” Aiden wasn’t sure what to say. He hated conversations about his father. They didn’t have the same dad, but Mom had admitted she wasn’t certain who Perry’s father was, and it was hard to tell if she even cared about this fact or not. Perry sure did.

  She’d never wavered from her admission of who Aiden’s father was though. She’d said he’d been the love of her life.

  Mom had lived a hard, wild life. They’d had fun with her when they were small. She’d been their friend, a laughing companion who let them stay up all hours of the night, eat what they wanted, and do as they pleased. Mom’s mother had left her a lot of money after she passed away. Grandma had spoiled them rotten and wanted them to have a fighting chance. They got to enjoy the finer things in Mercer Island, went to the best elementary schools, wore nice clothing, and had the finest videogames and toys. From early on, Aiden had been very much into videogames and it seemed to come naturally to him. He’d won tournaments, competitions, even got paid for some and earned little gold plastic trophies.

  Those days were long gone, and he wasn’t much into it anymore. In fact, he didn’t even own a gaming system and didn’t long for one, either. Maybe he’d just grown out of it. Simple as that. But some things time hadn’t changed—like the emotional scars of a parent who wasn’t there to do the hard work of disciplinarian or teach them right from wrong. When the money was gone and the drinking went into high gear, the trouble really began…

  After Mom had spent all the money and her sugar daddy cut her off, they’d gone from a three level, four-bedroom house full of expensive furniture to a small two-bedroom apartment in a part of town where it wasn’t even safe to walk the streets in the daytime, let alone at night. And that’s when her drinking kicked up a few hundred more notches, to the point of no return…

  “How’s work been going?” Perry finally changed the topic, giving Aiden some relief and snapping him out of the abysmal reflections.

  “Pretty good, actually. Hoping to get that promotion soon.”

  “You work your ass off, man; you deserve it so I hope you get it, too. Shit, one of us has got to be due for a come up, right?”

  “Thanks. From your lips to God’s ears.”

  Perry reached into his denim jacket pocket and pulled out his pack of Marlboros. He inhaled it as if it were fine wine, then placed it gingerly back out of sight. “I’m gonna pop out for a quick smoke. When the waitress comes back over let ’er know that I want the—”

  “Smokehouse BBQ Burger with fries…”

  “That’s right! You know me, bro.” Perry popped up from his seat and dashed away, the scent of old cigarette smolder trailing behind him. Aiden watched his brother disappear then drummed his fingers on the table, watching the dinner crowd. He pondered the work-related duties he needed to take care of as soon as he hit the door the following morning and then it dawned on him…

  Addison’s interview happened earlier today…

  He’d seen it on his calendar, and he typically gave twenty-four hours before he reached out to the company, as well as the client, to see how everything went. Glancing back at the exit of the restaurant where his brother had disappeared to get his nicotine fix, he slipped his phone out of his jacket pocket and ran through his contacts.

  There she is…

  He selected her number and dialed.

  “Hello?” she answered on the third ring.

  “Hi, Addison. This is Aiden Summers from Dexter Employment Staffing and Consulting Agency. Did I catch you at a good time?” he spoke over the noise of the people around him.

  “Uh yeah, sure, I can talk.”

  “Okay, I was just calling to follow up with you about the interview.” He ran his hand along his shoulder, massaging himself to work out a kink.

  “Well, I was going to call you and ask the same thing,” she said with a dainty chuckle. “But from my perspective, it went well. I interviewed with two different people. One was a manager—her name was Erin Foster—and the other was the director, Hans Millhouse.”

  “I know Hans. He’s a great guy.”

  “Hard interviewer, but I think I did fine.”

  He smiled, happy to be speaking to her, no matter the reason.

  “Good… good… well, uh, I’m glad to hear things went all right. I will give you a call in a day or two to let you know their take on it and if they want to proceed with a second interview.”

  “Okay, that sounds good. Thanks for calling, too.”

  “Yeah, no problem… no problem at all.”

  “Sorry if you hear a bunch of background noise, I’m in the grocery store getting ready to check out. I ran out of my favorite hot sauce. To me, that was a crisis.”

  He laughed at her words.

  “No problem. I like hot sauce, too. I’m actually not in the office right now so whatever noise is going on doesn’t make any difference. I just left a while ago. I’m at dinner, at the Cheesecake Factory.”

  “Oh yeah? I love the Cheesecake Factory but I only go on my cheat days.”

  “I guess every day is a cheat day for me. I probably should watch what I eat a little more carefully. I have a high metabolism but I’m sure that’ll end one day, so I better change how I treat my body right now before I turn into a big donut and roll out of town.”

  They both got a laugh from that. And then they drew silent. He held the phone tighter, swallowing hard as his face flushed with heat.

  Her voice titillated him. He could just about picture her so clearly going from aisle to aisle in the store, perusing this and that, a little basket in hand with her bottle of hot sauce rolling around in the bottom of it and elevator music playing in the background. “Speaking of dinner…” He noted his brother coming back into the restaurant, the large glass doors swinging behind him as he adjusted his scraggly baseball cap. “Addison, I know this is, uh… I don’t know, unorthodox I guess you could say, but would you like to…” His brother plopped down, snatched the cap off his head, and ran his hand through his light brown hair before taking hold of his beer. “Would you like to go out sometime?” He was met with silence on the other end. “Hello?” He glanced at his phone, convinced she’d hung up but instead he saw the call was still active.

  “Uh, yeah, I’m here…I’m here.” Just then, a waitress approached their table to take their dinner order.

  “Hold on a sec.” Aiden quickly pointed to his brother to take care of the arrangements, excused himself from the booth, and made his way to a quieter area of the restaurant, a spot off in a corner with a large houseplant shoved in a planter. “Sorry about that. I just wanted to get some place where I could hear you better. Look, you seem taken aback so if you want, we can just forget that I asked. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot or anything. I just uh…I’m attracted to you, and I like your personality. It’s no biggie, all right? It’s cool. No harm, no foul.”

  “No, I want to go out with you. I do. I’m just surprised, I guess you could say. So yeah.” She stopped talking abruptly and he heard a cashier ask her if she’d found everything she needed. “Yes, I found everything, thanks. So, Aiden, I am checking out now, so how about I call you back when I get home tonight? Is that fine?”

  “Yeah, fine… that’s fine.”

  “Okay, and we can talk about getting together. You’ll hear from me in about an hour or s
o. Talk to you soon.”

  “Yeah, cool. Enjoy your hot sauce… Well, whatever you’re going to put the hot sauce on.” He laughed nervously.

  I wouldn’t mind licking it off you…

  “Turkey chili with green peppers. It’s great.” He could hear the smile in her tone.

  “Sounds tasty. Okay, I won’t keep you. Talk to you in a bit.”

  “Bye for now.” And then she disconnected the call.

  When he made his way back to the table, his brother had downed another glass of beer. Perry peered at him through hooded, tired eyes.

  “Who is she?”

  “What are you talking about?” Aiden smiled as he tossed his napkin over his lap, not wishing to get any stains on his suit when the food came out.

  “I heard you asking someone out.” Perry grinned. “Someone new on the radar, huh? I was wondering when you were going to get back out there, settle down.”

  “You just settled down yourself. You and Denise haven’t been together for even a month and now you want to dole out commitment advice.” He shook his head at the nerve of the guy.

  “A month? Well damn. That’s a record for me,” Perry laughed, though it seemed forced. “I like Denise though; things are going good. But anyway, who is she? Do I know her?”

  “Nah, I don’t think so. But she’s nice, you know?” He couldn’t help but smile as he looked down into his glass of beer. “She’s the epitome of beautiful. I really like her style…”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Beers, Breasts, and Beasts… Oh My!

  …A few days later

  She’d almost called him back and cancelled after they’d cemented their plans…

  Men like Aiden were like chocolate cake—so damn tempting, bad for you, and you may regret the indulgence in the morning but you kept coming back for more…

  Addison wasn’t certain why she’d even thought she could pull herself back from the brink. There was something taboo about the whole thing, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her and now here they were at the Bit Arcade Bar on 3rd Street. They walked hand in hand after playing several rounds of old school Pac Man and pinball. There was a Space Invaders game, too and she was duly impressed with his skill level. He stated he was rusty, but she couldn’t tell when he beat the latest and greatest high score. The man gave her butterflies whenever his fingertips caressed her palm, or she got a whiff of his cologne and aftershave. He just seemed so damn comfortable in his own skin. Casual, relaxed, relatable…