He surfaced from the memories to realize that Lucy was still waiting for him to say something.
“Holly. Yeah.”
“She was your girlfriend back in high school, wasn’t she?”
Aiden had the sense that Lucy knew the answer quite well. But maybe not all the details.
“Some of high school.” He could still feel the nylon stretch of the cheerleading uniform beneath his calloused palms. “A little bit after college, too.”
Lucy chewed on her bottom lip. “What happened?”
It was strange, standing here with Lucy. The memories of Holly didn’t sting—they were only memories. It was like watching a video of someone else’s life. He gave Lucy a knowing smile. “My mother happened.”
She arched an eyebrow. “What did she do?”
“Decided she didn’t like her and drove her away as if she could herd her right out of town.”
“Over what?”
“She was a little…sharp in high school. I don’t think my mother ever forgot. So when Holly moved back, she stood right in her way.” He laughed. “She wouldn’t let her join the Auxiliary Club sip-and-shop with her boutique.”
Lucy’s eyes went wide. “Not that I care much about the sip-and-shop, but…” She looked around as if Linda might be hiding in the hallway. “How much power does your mother have?”
“Enough to make Holly miserable. Wouldn’t let her in until the two of us were no longer an item.” That had been a fight for the ages. Holly had accused Aiden of being afraid of his mother, and Aiden had done his level best to convince Holly that all of his arguments had fallen on deaf ears. She had not believed him.
“Yikes.”
Lucy turned back to the vision board, her brow furrowed. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at a photo of a convertible headed down the open road.
It was a little odd.
Lucy had been more than enthusiastic since they’d started this portion of the agreement, and now she was staring at a paper on the wall as if it could offer her all the answers she was looking for.
“Luce?”
“Yeah?”
“What’s on your mind?”
There was a pause. “I’m wondering what your mother thinks of me. And I don’t even want to be part of the sip-and-shop.”
Hadn’t Lucy just talked to Linda the other day? “She agreed to work with you on selling the house, didn’t she?”
“Well, yeah, but—”
“She likes you, Lucy. Really likes you. She came over to my house after she met with you to tell me just how much.”
Lucy gaped at him. “But what about the whole baby thing?”
Aiden shrugged, his heart beating faster. Maybe he should have waited to tell Linda about what was happening until he and Lucy could meet with her together, but it was too late for that now—it was all out in the open. “She’s…cool with it.”
Lucy’s eyebrows were practically on the ceiling. “She’s cool with it?”
“My impression was that she’s anxious for grandchildren and thinks you’re a good woman. That’s enough for her.”
Lucy jutted a hip out to the side and considered him. “But are you sure that she meant—”
It was enough talk. Aiden’s skin was tight with anticipation. He’d walked in here ready to take Lucy to bed, and here they were, standing in the living room like this was their first time at the rodeo. In one swift movement, he leaned forward and picked Lucy up off the ground, earning himself a squeal and a giggle.
“Hey! We were talking.”
“We’ve done enough of that.” A scrawled message on the vision board caught the corner of his eye. “Besides, I’m pretty sure your wall here says HAVE GREAT SEX in enormous letters.”
She laughed in his arms, one hand slipping up behind his neck. “That’s not meant for you.”
“Not meant for me?” He pretended to be deeply wounded. He was only slightly wounded, but there was no way he’d show that to Lucy. “How could you?”
“It’s meant for…after your task is complete.” Her dark eyelashes fluttered on her cheeks. “You know—when we’re not meeting like this anymore.”
“You’re already looking forward to the end?”
Her eyes flew up to meet his. “No. No way.”
“Then what—”
Lucy leaned into him, the fact of her in his arms sending heat throughout his body. “You’ve given me a taste of something wonderful. Something so good that I—I can’t possibly live without it. Even if I have to find it with someone else.”
That if rang in his ears like a bell, sending his heart rocketing up into his throat. Not when, but if. Aiden was too taken with the scent of her, with the feel of her, to fully parse what that meant, but the most important fact was that there was hope for the future. There was a hope for them. It might not be an appropriate hope, or even an attainable one, but she hadn’t shut the door on him completely.
Which was good, because with every day that passed, he was finding it harder and harder to imagine his life without her. It would be colorless indeed. Running a successful brewery paled in comparison to a life with Lucy by his side.
But for now, he had a job to do, and that job wasn’t dwelling on a future that hadn’t come to greet them yet.
He tipped his head down to hers and kissed her. Lucy parted her lips for him with a sigh that had him standing at attention in two seconds flat. How far away was her bedroom, again? It seemed like a thousand stairs between here and the bed. The floor would be good enough. Lucy flicked her tongue out of her mouth and licked along his bottom lip, a jolt of energy running from that place to his cock.
“I’m glad,” he said huskily, the rest of the sentence taking its sweet time in catching up.
“Glad of what?” Lucy whispered.
“I’m glad I could give you such a good vision. For your future, I mean.”
“You know what?”
He strode into the center of the living room, into the middle of the carpet she’d recently shampooed, and knelt down, putting her gently onto her back. “Tell me,” he said, his hands already working at the buttons of her shirt.
“As far as senses go for this kind of thing, sight is the least important one.”
“Oh? Is it?”
Lucy’s eyes fluttered shut as he ran his hands down the flat of her stomach. “Touch is more than enough.”
Fourteen
On Saturday, Lucy tackled the closets in the den.
Her mother had used them for all kinds of things. Sheets and blankets, in case anyone had to sleep over. Old board games. A humidifier. The pile to take down to the resale shop grew and grew. She saved back a few of the games and a photo album that had been stuffed between two sheets, running quickly up to her old bedroom to put them in a neat stack in the corner.
The knock on the door startled her on the way back down the stairs. Lucy jumped off the third to last step and landed hard on her feet, shaking the floor. If it was Aiden standing outside…well, he’d know she was in here anyway.
Heart fluttering, she pulled open the door to reveal none other than the man himself. She had secretly hoped it would be him, but she was still surprised to see him.
“Aiden,” she said, grinning at him in a way that she was sure made her look crazy. “You look so…clean.” He wore a pair of khaki shorts, neatly pressed, and a short-sleeve polo shirt that hugged his biceps in a very attractive way.
He raised his eyebrows at her. “Have I not been meeting your standards?”
“No, no. It’s just that it’s the middle of the day. Usually you’re, you know, out in the field or fixing something.”
“That’s true. But not today.”
“Did you…want to move your appointment up?” If he said he couldn’t wait to see her, Lucy thought she might collapse into a puddle of joy right there in the foyer.
“Actually, I’ve been thinking about your vision board.”
“My…vision board?” That had been a project
grown too big for its britches, and Lucy had largely moved on from it. She carried her vision for her life everywhere she went. The wall clippings had just been a fun manifestation of it—a break from the relentless sorting and cleaning.
“I was thinking about the houses you had on it. And the future.” He stuck his hands in his pockets, looking for a moment like he was seventeen again. “My mother always taught me that real estate is a local business. It’s different in every part of the country. I think we should go look at some houses.”
Lucy giggled nervously. “To buy together?”
Aiden grinned back at her. “To check out your competition.”
“Right.” Lucy ran a hand over her hair, adjusting her ponytail, and tried to ignore the fact that she was blushing furiously.
“I figure,” Aiden went on, “that this is the best way to gauge whether you’re doing the right things to your house. I also figure that gigantic vision boards in the living room aren’t in vogue, but you never know.” His blue eyes danced in the afternoon light.
She snorted a laugh. “You’re very funny when you’re trying to woo me. Did you know that?”
“I did indeed, ma’am. Would you like to go house hunting with me?”
“Sure,” Lucy said. “I just need to change.”
* * *
Two hours later, they had firmly worked out the kinks in their house-hunting-couple act.
Aiden had taken her to visit four separate homes, and the last one was, in Lucy’s opinion, a winner. It wasn’t too large, but the first floor was open and airy, with huge windows that bathed everything in gorgeous light. It had four bedrooms upstairs and two bathrooms, and the basement was lovingly finished, adding tons of usable space to the home.
They followed the real estate agent up to the second floor for one last look, Aiden guiding Lucy with a hand at the small of her back. It was part of the act. Of course it was part of the act. But she loved the heat of his palm and the possessive pressure just the same.
“The bedrooms up here are absolutely lovely,” commented Marcie, the agent. She’d come level with one that looked out over the backyard. “This one would make a wonderful nursery.”
Lucy sucked in a breath, then held absolutely still. Had Marcie said what she thought she’d said? Was it some commentary on the arrangement she had with Aiden? No, it couldn’t be. Marcie was only making conversation. Or did she know?
Aiden chuckled, the rumble of his voice as comforting as anything Lucy had ever heard. “Hopefully we’ll need one soon.”
His voice was so earnest that she wanted to ask him what he really meant.
But it was a game they were playing—being a couple. It was only pretend, for this one afternoon.
She followed the real estate agent out of the house and into the sunshine, not once thinking of what Aiden had said.
* * *
“There’s one more place.” Aiden looked down at his phone—at the text message that had come in the moment he got behind the wheel of his truck. “Are you up for it?”
Lucy stretched, catlike, in the passenger seat. “Sure. I’m up for anything.” He felt her eyes on him after she delivered this announcement. He didn’t want to pry into it too much. He had to concentrate on driving.
Aiden’s stomach twisted at the sight of the house. He’d known whose house it was by the address, but actually being here wasn’t his favorite.
It was the home of Rachael Miller, one of the girls he’d dated in high school.
He shook himself out of it. That had been years ago. There was no reason to think she’d even be here.
But it was Rachael herself who opened the front door and ushered them inside. “Come on in,” she said, a note of false hospitality in her voice. “I’m running this little shindig myself. No real estate agent to follow you around and harass you.”
Lucy stiffened beside him.
“The best place to start is the kitchen,” Rachael said. “Homemade cookies are on the kitchen island.”
Aiden smelled a trap.
No sooner had Lucy taken one of the cookies from the plate and wandered over to the breakfast nook did Rachael appear at his side, fussing over a hand towel that hung from a little hanger off the side of the kitchen island.
“Wow, Aiden. You’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel.”
He was busy watching Lucy, who was looking out thoughtfully over the large, fenced-in backyard.
“I don’t know what you could possibly mean by that.”
Rachael scoffed. “Dating the nerd? God. You could have had your pick.” She pursed her lips, frowning at Lucy.
Aide chose not to respond to this. He crossed the room, put his hand on the small of Lucy’s back, and bent to speak into her ear. “Should we check out the living room?”
“It must have a great view,” Lucy said with a meaningful look.
Rachael hadn’t been lying. There wasn’t another soul to be seen in the house, but Aiden could feel her watching them as they circled the living room, peeked into the den, and trouped upstairs to see the meticulously staged bedrooms. Lucy’s eyes lit up at the sight of the spacious master bedroom, but she only pressed her lips together and gave a sage nod. Aiden could imagine what she was thinking. They wouldn’t say a word about this house to each other until they were out of Rachael’s earshot. A quick trip to the master bathroom revealed that the sink was clogged—Rachael had left a sign out. Lucy pointed at it and mouthed, really?
She was waiting for them when they got back downstairs. “Any questions?”
“I don’t think so,” said Lucy. “It’s a very lovely home.”
“Yes, thank you.” Rachael sighed. She eyed the two of them standing there. “If you want my advice, think very carefully before you commit to buying anything around here. You might find yourself left in the cold.”
Aiden’s irritation flared in his chest.
Lucy cocked her head to the side. “I guess we didn’t really look at the roof. Are there leaks?”
“Luce, Rachael is alluding to our past history,” he said boldly, not really caring what Rachael thought of it.
Lucy looked at him with wide eyes. Rachael gave a casual shrug. “It would’ve been kinder never to date me at all.”
He could tell Lucy was on the verge of snorting, but she held it together. “Was it really that bad? Dating a football player?”
Rachael smiled like a rattlesnake about to strike. “It is when his mother is a little…different. Someday you’ll understand,” she said smugly to Lucy. “The perfect man will come along, but his mother will be the deal breaker.”
This was insane. It was inappropriate and unprofessional. Aiden wanted to take Lucy and go, but she was already opening her mouth.
“Linda broke the two of you up?”
“She hated me,” Rachael said simply. “For no reason.”
Plenty of reasons, thought Aiden.
“And you’re…still thinking about it?”
“Linda Harper ruined that relationship and our second chance.” Rachael glanced up at Aiden, running her eyes over his body and not bothering to hide it. “And your friend here makes it difficult to move on. Clearly, you can see that. His mother might have destroyed our chances, but he ruined my marriage.”
This was beyond the pale.
“Wait, what?” Lucy looked like she was struggling to contain a smile. “How did Aiden ruin your marriage?”
“He kindly intervened. He and Linda together.”
Lucy shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
Rachael was the kind of person who had never been able to resist an audience, and she couldn’t now. “He stopped my husband in the grocery store to give him his mother’s business card, so that my husband could pass it on to me. Somehow, he’d found out I was apartment hunting for a new place—one just for myself.” She laughed bitterly. “So when Jason came home, he had forgotten the milk, but he’d figured out that I was planning to leave him.”
Lucy stared at Ra
chael like she was a strange science experiment from another planet. “But weren’t you going to split with him anyway? Why would it matter if you got the intended result? I mean, in the end, it doesn’t really matter how you reach a goal so long as you achieve it. Barring murder, of course,” she joked, then brushed her fingertips over her lips. Aiden willed her to stop so that they could escape, but once again, Lucy couldn’t help herself. “I’ve found that…people…are happier when they can let go of certain expectations for their lives.”
Rachael glared at her, shaking her head. “Oh, is that right? Well, I happen to believe that people should take responsibility when they’re the ones to blame for wrecking a home.”
“But—”
“You don’t get it, do you?” Rachael rolled her eyes. “This is his responsibility.”
“But you—”
“I was a good girlfriend,” Rachael said, hands on hips. “I was a really good girlfriend, and then I was a good wife. Aiden was the one who caved like a little boy to Linda’s demands.”
“So you’re not to blame in any way,” Aiden said. It wasn’t exactly a question. “I bet I’m also responsible for the clogged drain upstairs.”
Rachael lifted her chin. “I’m not the one who misused the sink.”
Aiden couldn’t believe her. It was the master bedroom. He’d be surprised if the children used it, too.
“All right,” he said finally. “We’ve seen enough. Thank you, Rachael. Your home is…great.”
Then he finally did what he wanted to do all along: put his hand on the small of Lucy’s back and get her the hell out of there.
Out on the sidewalk, he felt like he could finally breathe again.
Lucy waited until they were in the car to turn to him, eyes wide. “What was that?”
“Rachael Miller,” Aiden said. “I thought by now she’d be over it. Clearly, I was wrong.”
“Is it true?” Lucy pressed. “Did your mother really have a hand in ending that relationship, too?” She waited for a beat, then added, “Or is she really that delusional?”
The Rancher’s Baby Bargain Page 10
