by Annie O'Neil
“I thought I’d lay off the wine to keep you company.”
Aidan’s voice swept along Ali’s spine, unleashing an all-over spray of body shivers. For goodness’ sake! A few goosebumps along her arms was not good enough? Hormones, definitely. Had to be hormones. Not the fact that the love of her life had just appeared beside her.
“Mind if I sit down?”
Ali’s hand automatically moved to her belly as she turned to face him. It was almost impossible to believe how happy she felt at the sight of him. Suppressing the smile she knew she wanted to give him was a mammoth task, but she did it. Aidan didn’t have a right to be here. Not while she was patching up her heart.
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
“Even if I am prepared to announce to everyone in this bar—or the whole of London, for that matter—the fact that I’ve been a complete and utter idiot?”
Ali felt her lips twitch, teasing at her composure. She leaned back and gave him an appraising look. “Depends upon just how big an idiot you think you’ve been.”
“Oh, I can assure you...” Aidan drummed his fingers along the bar-top as if his body was humming with as much excess energy as hers was. “I have been a colossal idiot. Epic-style. So much so I’ve been nominated Chief Idiot of Idiotsville and I expect to win.”
A full smile lit up her face. She couldn’t help it. Aidan had a way of bringing out Fun Ali with just one of those knowing winks of his. She really was going to have to toughen up if keeping this man out of her life was her goal. It was her goal. Wasn’t it?
“I suppose my mate at En Pointe is behind all of this?” She pushed the stool next to hers out from under the bar so that he could join her.
“I didn’t really think I stood much chance if I tried to get in touch with you.”
“Mmm... Well...” She felt her smile fade away. “I think you were more than clear about where you stood when we last spoke.”
“That’s just it, Ali. I wasn’t clear at all.” Aidan reached out for her hand.
She balled it up like a fist inside his fingers. No! You don’t get access to me. Not now. Not now that I have a baby to protect.
Aidan kept his hand on hers, his thumb rubbing along the surface of her fist. Back and forth. Back and forth. Soothing her. Like he would a child. She couldn’t do this. Ali pulled her hand away and crossed her arms protectively across her chest.
“Ali,” Aidan persisted. “I was wrong. About everything.”
“When you say everything—what exactly are you talking about? ‘Everything’ covers a pretty big—”
“I mean about the baby, about you, about me and how we all fit in together.”
Ali sucked her lower lip into her mouth, pushing it back and forth along the edge of her teeth as if it would add clarity to what he was saying.
“And what conclusion did you reach?”
“That I needed to grow up, move on.”
“What do you mean? Move on from—?”
“From the island and what happened there.”
“So...have you found a way to do that?”
“I think I have. First—and it took my dad, of all people, to come up with this one—I would like to set up a scholarship fund, so more people there can train in medicine. I mean, it won’t be huge—but it would be a help.”
Ali nodded along. That sounded good. Really good. Healing...
“And secondly...”
He paused and cleared his throat—first once, then a second time—then twisted a swizzle stick into a knot.
“Are you keeping that one a secret or have you just come down here to torture me?” Ali teased, her heart careening round her rib cage.
He looked up at her and pulled her hands into his, eyes bright with emotion.
“I’m trying, Alexis Lockhart—defender of the people—in a really bad, terribly awkward way, to ask you to marry me.”
Ali’s eyes popped wide open. She felt the word yes form in her mouth but couldn’t get her lips and tongue to join in on the action. She loved Aidan, heart and soul. Loved him as she had never loved another—particularly now that she had this little teensy, tiny baby of his tucked up safe and sound in her belly. But he’d never expressed any desire for a wife, a family...
“Don’t answer yet.” Aidan put a finger to her lips. “None of this is how I wanted it to be.”
“I thought you never wanted any of this to be?” Ali indicated the two of them and then her belly.
“A few short months ago you would’ve been absolutely right.”
“And then what happened?”
“You.”
“Aidan—don’t.” Ali fixed him with her steeliest gaze. She had to. There weren’t many more trips through the emotional wringer she could survive. “We had a one-night stand at an airport.”
“Alexis Lockhart, what we had was most certainly more than a one-night stand. I began to fall in love with you that night, and fate gave me a chance to put things right.”
“How? By making it clear that the last thing you wanted was a relationship?”
“Making me face the truth is more like it. I messed things up. I know I did. It’s just—I thought you deserved more. So much more than I believed I was capable of giving. But the day you left it became ridiculously clear I was making the hugest mistake of my life. Even my dad could see things more clearly than I could. But now I can. I wouldn’t be honoring what was good about my past by keeping my heart clamped shut for the rest of my life. And you—my sweet, amazing, irascible, sexy tigress of a wonder woman—you made my heart come to life again, and I want nothing more than to create a family with you.”
He took her hand in his and pressed his lips to it.
“Ali, you are the woman I love—heart and soul. I would be the happiest man alive if you agreed to marry me.”
It was all Ali could do to stop herself from nodding like a lunatic. If she hadn’t known better she would’ve sworn her heart was soaring round inside her rib cage—held aloft by little tweeting birds. She loved Aidan with all of her heart, but she wasn’t just making a decision for one now. She had to be sure he meant what he said.
“You know there are going to be changes in your life if I say yes? Lots of them?”
“The day I met you my life changed—for the better. You’ve taught me what my dad has known all along—that love is worth taking a risk for. Worth changing for.”
“Well...” Ali toyed with a cocktail swizzler. “When you put it that way...”
“Ali.” Aidan placed his hands on either side of her face. “I love you. Please say you’ll marry me.”
“Do we have to tell our baby about the airport?”
Aidan’s laugh lines crinkled as his lips formed a broad smile. “Is this a yes?”
“Only if you promise to keep that little nugget of information our very own secret.” Ali rested her forehead on his, closing her eyes as she took a deep breath of him. It was as if breathing him in made her whole again.
“I promise.” Aidan gave her a soft peck on the lips. “And I promise never to tell the next baby we have, or the next one.” He kissed and teased at her lips as he continued, “Or the next one...”
“How many babies are we going to have?” Ali laughed, slipping her arms over his shoulders.
“Oh, I was thinking a dozen or so.” He pulled back, eyes twinkling.
“Oh, reeeeally? That was what you were thinking?” She tipped her head to the side as Aidan traced a finger along her jawline.
“I thought we could have our own little rugby squad.”
Ali was giggling like a lunatic now. “Is that what you thought?”
“Oh, I could think of quite a few things for us to do over the years. But I know what we could do right now...” He pulled out the key to a hotel room and f
lashed it between his fingers like a magician.
“What do you say to a one-million-night stand?”
“One million?”
Ali gave him a kiss, then pulled back to study his face. That perfectly gorgeous face she would love until the end of time.
“I don’t think that will be nearly long enough, but I’m happy to give it a go.”
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781488009396
One Night...with Her Boss
Copyright © 2016 by Annie O’Neil
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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