He made up an excuse for not making himself known and startling her.
“You both seemed to be doing so well I didn’t want to interrupt you,” he told his mother, referring to the exercise. “But now that I seemed to have marched right into the middle of this, can I interest you in going out to dinner with me after you get my mother all squared away?”
Felicia’s first reaction was to happily agree. But that was immediately followed by a wave of nervous self-preservation. Convinced that there was someone following her, she didn’t want to pull Aaron into this. Neither did she want to get entangled with him. She felt that he had the ability to get her to focus on him, which in turn made her drop her guard. That could easily make her vulnerable. Not when it came to Aaron—that could even have pleasant possibilities—but just possibly to Greg, if he actually were somewhere in the area, stalking her.
“I’m sure you have better things to do than to spend time and money on me,” Felicia told Aaron, attempting to dismiss the idea of going out to dinner with him without being rude.
Better not take chances, she told herself.
But instead, Aaron looked at her and innocently replied, “Nope, not a one.”
She felt like a drowning woman, going down for the second time as she made one last protest.
“Besides, your mother’s a fantastic cook and just eating the meals that she’s been preparing has utterly spoiled me for anything else,” Felicia told him in all honesty.
“Oh, Mom’s great,” he admitted, giving his mother a quick wink. “But I happen to know other, almost equally great cooks.”
“Oh?”
“Yes,” he confirmed. “For instance, there’s my cousin. She just opened up her restaurant a couple of years ago. It’s called True. She belongs to a side of the family that we didn’t even know existed until a few months ago,” Aaron admitted. “We—meaning my brothers and Aunt Vita’s kids,” he said with a nod in his aunt’s direction as she chose that moment to walk in, “are trying to cement relations with them.” He saw that he had Felicia’s attention, so he pressed on. “It seems that they’re part of my grandfather’s first family.”
Felicia’s eyes widened in curiosity, so he backtracked and told her, “My dad and his twin brother were born first, but my grandfather was already legally married to the woman who gave birth to her own set of twin sons shortly after that.” He grinned. “Have I lost you?”
“No,” she answered. It was a lie, but she was struggling to try to make sense of everything he was telling her. His life definitely had more going on in it than hers did. “But I think that I’m getting this killer headache trying to make sense out of all this.”
“Well, if you do wind up making sense out of it, then maybe you can guide me through it,” he teased. “In the meantime, we can go out and have dinner at True.”
Felicia still appeared rather undecided as her eyes looked over toward Nicole.
The latter didn’t wait for Felicia to say anything. Instead, the older woman coaxed, “Go. You deserve an evening out, dear. As a matter of fact, I couldn’t think of anyone who deserves it more.”
“But I don’t like leaving you alone,” Felicia told Nicole honestly.
“I’m never alone,” Nicole assured her. “Besides, if I want company, Vita will stay here until Aaron brings you home.” She smiled at her sister-in-law. “You can invite that sweetheart of a husband of yours to come over and we can make an evening of it. It’s been a while since he came over to regale me with his ever-increasing knowledge of plants.” She turned to Felicia. “So, see? You’re free to leave. Now go, before I’m accused of breaking some little-known labor law by working you to death.”
To explain what she meant, Nicole glanced at her son. “Do you know that when I’m not looking, this one insists on cleaning my house?” she asked, gesturing toward Felicia. “She claims it keeps her fit.” She gave Felicia a pointed look. “I told her if I wanted a housekeeper, my sons would have hired one for me, but there’s no talking to this one,” she pretended to complain, shaking her head. “So take her out to dinner and show her the sum total of both of our appreciations.”
Aaron nodded at his mother. “You got it, boss.”
Felicia eyed him uncertainly and tried one last excuse. “I’m going to need to take a shower first.”
Aaron saw nothing wrong with that. “Take all the time you need. I’m taking the rest of the day off.”
That meant that Aaron would be with her for at least part of that time, she thought. The information both excited Felicia as well as scared her just a little.
For her own peace of mind, she dismissed both emotions and just hurried out of the gym to her own room. She had a shower to take—quickly.
Chapter 12
“What are you grinning about?” Aaron asked as he turned around and saw his mother. She had opted to come downstairs and keep him company while he waited for Felicia to get ready.
His mother’s eyes were sparkling as she continued to smile at him. “Must be that inner glow I feel right after doing a round of physical therapy, dear.”
He knew damn well that wasn’t it and that she was pulling his leg, but he played along, at least for now. If this was a fairy tale, part of him would be watching his mother’s nose to see if it was beginning to grow.
“Then I’m glad she’s making such a difference in your life, Mom.”
“She is, dear,” Nicole told him with a pleased laugh. “She has this way about her that actually makes me happy to sweat as she puts me through my paces—and there are a lot of paces. We’re lucky to have found her.”
“I get it, Mom. You’re lucky to have found her and I’m lucky that I didn’t manage to talk you out of having her come work with you,” he willingly admitted. He was a big enough man to own up to his mistakes when he realized that he’d made them; he always had been.
His mother looked at him with an indulgent smile. “Oh, honey, when have you ever managed to talk me out of doing something when I’ve set my mind to it?”
Aaron nodded his head with a grin. “Point taken.” He saw his mother looking at something behind him, just to his left. Curious as to what had caught her attention, he turned around.
For a moment, his entire train of thought came to a screeching halt as he stared at the woman who had entered the room.
Rather than one of the utilitarian outfits she normally wore, Felicia was dressed in a soft, light blue summer dress that lovingly adhered to her curves. While she usually preferred sneakers or sandals when she wasn’t overseeing his mother’s physical therapy routine or working out with her, she now sported what appeared to be four-inch-high heels that flattered her legs. The mere sight of them caused Aaron’s gaze to linger longer than he knew it should.
But he made no apologies. Instead, a single word managed to escape his lips.
“Wow.”
Nicole smiled at the young woman she had welcomed into her home and was in the process of welcoming into her heart. There was just something about Felicia that spoke to Aaron’s mother. “I think that’s Aaron’s inarticulate way of saying that he approves of your outfit, dear.”
Felicia’s eyes appeared to look that much bluer because of her dress. They crinkled as she smiled at what her client’s son had just expressed. “I think that ‘wow’ said that and more,” she replied.
Clearing his throat, Aaron forced himself to snap out of the dazed state that had descended on his brain.
“Shall we go?” he asked even as part of him was surprised that he was actually able to form words, since his mouth had temporarily gone bone-dry.
“So you like the dress?” Felicia asked him. She didn’t need his stamp of approval, but she did want him to like what she was wearing.
“I think if he liked it any more, you might have trouble leaving the house,” Nicole told her, amused.
“Mom
,” Aaron admonished.
“Just saying it how I see it.” Nicole shrugged innocently. “By the way, where is it that you’re planning on taking her?”
He had been up-front with his mother about the Coltons he and his brothers and cousins had recently stumbled across. He was aware that his mother and aunt knew about them now, but until recently, his branch of the family had no clue that the other branch existed—and vice versa. Getting to know them had certainly been an education on all of their parts.
“Like I said, one of our ‘newly discovered’ cousins—Tatum—runs this restaurant. It’s caught on really fast. They say the food there is fantastic. Not as good as yours,” he injected diplomatically, “but still fantastic. I thought I’d take Felicia there. I’ve heard from several people who have eaten there and they all raved about it.” He looked at Felicia, not wanting her to feel as if he was making an arbitrary decision that she had no say in. “If you find that the food is not to your liking, we can always go somewhere else.”
Felicia wasn’t accustomed to having someone be so thoughtful about her likes and dislikes. As a matter of fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she had gone out to eat with a man. Greg had ruined that for her, and she had no desire to be subjected to anything like that ever again.
Or so she had thought. Aaron made her want to take another chance at it.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Felicia assured him, then added as an afterthought, “I’m easy. It doesn’t really take much to please me.”
A second later, she replayed her words in her head and wound up flushing a bright red. Not looking at Aaron, Felicia pushed onward, doing her best to ignore her own words.
However, Aaron couldn’t quite get himself to do that, at least not altogether. “Nice to know,” he told her with a wide smile that sent butterflies fluttering through her stomach.
“Okay,” he told her. “I made reservations while you were getting ready, so we should get going.”
“Don’t keep her out too late,” his mother told Aaron as she walked both of them to the front door. And then she paused. “On second thought, keep her out for as long as you want,” she amended with a soft laugh. “Felicia’s been working much too hard and she could definitely use a night out.”
Felicia smiled as she passed Aaron’s mother and went out the door he was holding open for her. “I guess I have no say in the matter,” she said.
“Sure you do,” Aaron told her. “You can say yes.” And then he lowered his head so that only Felicia could hear what he had to say. “It’ll make my mother happy.”
Felicia glanced back over her shoulder. “Well, then, by all means. I wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity to make Nicole happy. She deserves the best.”
Aaron nodded. He liked what she said, liked the fact that Felicia genuinely seemed to have a bond with his mother and that she obviously liked her. He had always prided himself on his ability to be able to spot a phony a mile away. And he was willing to bet any amount of money that Felicia Wagner wasn’t a phony. Quite the opposite. She was very, very genuine.
But at the same time, there was something about Felicia that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He sensed that she was holding back something that made her uncomfortable to talk about it.
The simplest thing would be to come right out and ask her about it, but he guessed that it wouldn’t get him anywhere. Aaron knew that he needed to be patient, which wasn’t all that easy for him.
But patience was something he needed, to get Felicia to trust him and let him in on what was going on with her.
Maybe not today or tomorrow, he thought, but eventually.
He opened the passenger door for her, and after she got in, he closed her door and rounded the rear of his vehicle to get in on the driver’s side. He started up his car and guided it onto the main thoroughfare.
“I think you’ll like my cousins,” he told her, slowly engaging her in conversation.
She took in a breath, as if bracing herself for something. “How many of them are there?” she asked, wondering if these cousins he mentioned were going to sit in judgment of her and if taking her to eat at this cousin’s restaurant was just an excuse to get her to drop her guard.
The next moment, Felicia upbraided herself for being so suspicious. This was all Greg’s fault. Greg was the one who had gotten her to a place where she couldn’t relax or take anything just at face value.
Aaron wasn’t like that, she silently insisted. Maybe he really did just want to take her out to say thank-you for what she’d done for his mother.
“Not too many cousins,” he assured her, turning on a corner. “Tatum is the one who owns the restaurant. It’s been open for a little more than two years and reservations are really hard to come by—unless you’re related to the owner, which, luckily, I am,” he told her with a wide smile.
It seemed to her that Aaron had gone through a great deal of trouble to take her here. There had to be other restaurants that were easier to go to, she thought. “You do know that I would have been happy getting a burger at a fast-food place.”
“But I wouldn’t have been,” he told her. “Besides, then I wouldn’t have gotten to see you all dressed up and that—” he glanced in her direction to underscore his point “—is something I wouldn’t have missed for the world.”
Felicia caught herself blushing again even though she knew that he really didn’t mean anything by the comment. It was just harmless flirtation on his part, nothing more.
Distracted, she didn’t realize that Aaron was pulling into a parking lot until he turned off the engine.
“We’re here,” he announced.
There was a valet, but Aaron had always been a man who did everything for himself. He saw no reason to surrender his vehicle to someone else just to park it when he knew that he was perfectly capable of doing so himself.
Rounding his car, he was at the passenger side before Felicia had removed her seat belt. Ever mindful of the manners that his mother had made such a point of drumming into his head at a very young age, Aaron opened her door, offered Felicia his arm and helped her out, then closed the door for her.
Felicia couldn’t remember the last time she had been escorted like this, the last time she had felt special, even for a moment.
“You know, I can walk,” she told him, not wanting him to feel as if he had to go out of his way like this.
“I know,” he told her with a smile that managed to swirl right into the pit of her stomach. “I’ve seen you do it. But, between you and me, for the most part I spend my days training a bunch of sweaty guys. This is a really nice change of pace.” He swept his free hand around to take in the entire scene. “Let me enjoy it.”
The way he had put it tickled her. “I guess that seems like a simple enough request,” she agreed.
As they entered True, she found the restaurant warm and inviting. If the food was anything like the atmosphere, she was instantly glad Aaron had brought her here.
He had no sooner given his name at the reservation desk than a vivacious young woman came forward, waving away the hostess who was about to show them to their table.
“I’ll take them, Rachel. You show the next couple to their table,” she said, then turned toward Aaron. “I wasn’t sure if you were actually going to show up, cousin,” she told him in a warm, friendly voice. “It’s been a while since you graced us with your presence.” Her eyes turned toward Felicia. Interest flickered in them. “And this is?”
“A miracle worker,” Aaron volunteered without pausing. “It’s only been a little while since she started my mother on a physical therapy program and she’s practically got her doing handstands,” he told the blonde woman as she led them to a table located just off the main path.
“Oh, that’s right. I heard that your mother broke her hip,” Tatum said. With everything she had going on, not the least of whic
h was running the restaurant, she had temporarily forgotten that. “So how is she doing?” There was genuine interest and concern in Tatum’s voice.
“Much better since Felicia started working with her,” he told his newfound cousin.
“I can’t take all the credit,” Felicia protested with feeling. “Your mother would have done fine on her own—just perhaps not as quickly because it does take the right set of exercises to get on the right path.”
“Pretty and modest,” Tatum said, nodding her head with approval at the other woman’s words. “Excellent combination, cousin,” she told Aaron. “You seem to have found the right person for the job.”
She gestured toward the table. “Here you go. Best table in the house. Glad you came when you did, Aaron. I wasn’t sure how much longer I was going to be able to hold it for you. Latecomers get pushy at times,” she confided. “Your server will be here in a minute with your menus.” She looked at Felicia. “I hope you enjoy your dining experience,” she said with feeling. “And if there’s anything I can do to make it better for you, please don’t hesitate to let me know.”
Then, flashing a smile at her cousin and his guest, Tatum withdrew.
“She seems very nice,” Felicia told Aaron once they were alone, or as alone as they could be in a crowded restaurant.
“That’s because she is,” Aaron assured her. “From what I can see, this whole branch of the Colton family is.”
“You sound surprised,” Felicia commented, observing his face.
“Not surprised, exactly,” Aaron told her. “Just...well, relieved probably describes it best. Considering what my grandmother is like, Tatum’s family could have very easily looked down their noses at my branch of the family and treated us like we were pariahs—if not worse.”
His answer wasn’t what she was expecting. She didn’t quite understand why he would say that. Granted, she didn’t know his family, but his mother and aunt seemed to be exceedingly nice.
Colton 911: Secret Defender Page 11