She smiled. “No chance you’d ever return?”
“No, my fighting days are over. I’m excited about what we can accomplish here.”
I shifted my weight, and Aiden noticed.
He did a quick double-take, and his countenance went as dark as a thundercloud. Head down, I walked back to my office and hoped it would be a very, very long interview.
The newscaster started speaking again, and I closed my office door.
“Well, shit,” I whispered.
I got to work because I had a feeling my door would burst open, and a very tall, very angry man would be behind it as soon as it did.
As I was staring at the computer screen and clicking through a few things, my phone buzzed.
Molly: Ooooooooooh, PAIGE TOLD ME ABOUT THE LINGERING EYE CONTACT. You owe me stories.
* * *
Molly: I need something to distract me from wedding stress. Why didn’t we just elope on a beach with our families??
* * *
Me: It’s not too late, Mol. You still can.
* * *
Molly: Don’t think I don’t notice how you deflect.
* * *
Me: See? Wedding isn’t getting you down. Still sharp as a tack.
The phone got tucked back into my bag, and when I heard someone knock on the door, I froze.
“Come in,” I said.
Gavin popped his head in. “Got a minute?”
“Of course. What’s up?”
He nodded at the clunky black wrist brace I was wearing. “How long until you can ditch that?”
“Another week probably. Thanks for covering for me this afternoon.”
“Sure.” He pulled his phone out. “I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to take any pictures or videos for our social media with that news crew showing up, so this is all I got.”
I flipped through a couple of shots, stopped to watch a quick video he’d snagged of Aiden demonstrating a few moves in the ring with one of our regulars. “These are great, Gav. Can you text them to me?”
“Sure.”
Gavin was only a couple of years younger than I was, one of our college students working toward a kinesiology degree. Once he had that piece of paper, and whatever else he decided to add to his education, he’d be far more qualified for this job than I was. But moments like this made me even more thankful Amy had taken a chance on me.
Now I just needed the big, angry guy out in the main area to figure out his issues so I didn’t have to worry about my place.
Or my heart.
Standing a few inches taller than my five-foot-ten, Gavin studied my forehead after sending the text. “You’re gonna have a badass scar.”
I smiled. “Totally my intention.”
It was at the moment I was smiling up at him that a very large body stepped into the doorway of my office.
“A minute of your time, Ward,” he all but growled.
Ahh. We were back to Ward.
I’d never had the sound of my last name spark such immediate and hot rage. My bones practically melted from the force of it.
Gavin’s eyebrows lifted briefly. “You okay if I go?” he asked quietly.
Aiden’s countenance darkened even further.
I gave Gavin a subdued smile. “Yes, thank you.”
He nodded deferentially to Aiden as he left my office. I crossed my arms as Aiden closed the office door behind him.
It took him a second to say anything once we were blocked from prying eyes.
Oddly enough, it was the first time I felt no butterflies, no flutters, no walking-a-tight rope feel in the fact that he and I were alone.
No, I was too frustrated with him for that. So even when he walked closer and tilted his head to look at my bandage, I didn’t move, didn’t smile, didn’t break the silence.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
“Fixing the schedule you messed up.”
“I didn’t …“ He took in a deep breath. “Okay, I probably did.”
My eyebrows lifted. “And making sure you didn’t do the same thing to payroll. If you plan to keep your employees, you kinda need to pay them.”
“They’d forgive me,” he answered simply.
I exhaled a laugh. “Well, at least you’re feeling more confident in your role.”
“Because of you,” he explained. “They’d forgive me because of you.” At my silence, he took a step closer. “But none of that matters because you should not be here. You’re supposed to be off work for at least four days.”
“I’m done resting, but I appreciate your concern.” I hooked a thumb at my desk. “Is that all? I’d like to get back to work.”
My tone remained calm and even, but my heart started to race at his nearness. An unconscious reaction that I had no control over. Born from the frustration of that, I turned my back to Aiden and walked to the storage cabinet in the corner. I wasn’t even sure what I was looking for; I just needed space. I needed distance between his body and mine, and my desk didn’t provide enough of that.
Aiden’s response took a long moment to come, but when it did, it stopped me in my tracks. “You’re mad at me.”
In the middle of pulling a stack of shirts out of the cabinet, my hands froze.
“Is that it? You’re mad about the other night.”
Not in a million years did I expect him to push this. Push what had happened—or not happened—in his bedroom. Slowly, I slid the shirts back into place and closed the cabinet.
When I turned, his face was impossible to read. I’d need a chisel and crowbar to get this man’s thoughts out of his head clearly. Leave it to me to find someone like this to finally light me up inside. Someone guarded and cagey. Someone who couldn’t—or wouldn’t—make things easy.
It was … poetic justice at its finest. I deserved someone like Aiden because this was how everyone, in my entire life, had always felt about me.
And it was the only reason I started laughing. Once I started, I couldn’t stop.
Aiden looked at me like I’d lost my fucking mind because I kinda felt like I had.
He clenched his jaw, crossing his arms over his chest, but he didn’t say a word as I tried to get a hold of myself. Eventually, I did, and as I wiped away tears underneath my eyes, he shook his head.
“You done?”
“The hell if I know,” I said around a few stray giggles. I never giggled. But this—him and me—it was too much. And if I didn’t laugh about it, I’d probably cry. Finally, I took a deep breath. “You are … impossible, Aiden Hennessy.”
His face went blank with shock. “Me?”
“I’ve always been that person,” I told him. “The impossible one. Always. And now I understand what it must have been like for the people waiting for me.”
Aiden’s brow furrowed, his chest worked steadily as his breathing increased.
“I wish you’d trust me enough to tell me why this is so hard.” I searched his face. “I want to know. But I won’t keep putting myself in this position, where we almost do, we both want to, and then you pull back. I won’t do it anymore.”