Bottom Line: Callaghan Brothers, Book 8

by Abbie Zanders

  A private jet?

  Suddenly filled with a desire to know more about this man who claimed to be her heart, Mary slipped quietly out of bed. Both Aidan and Max stirred, but neither woke.

  Grabbing her robe and slippers, she padded out to the new laptop Ian had left behind for Aidan. According to Aidan, Ian had also hooked up a state-of-the-art wireless system at Aidan’s request. When she’d asked him why, he’d just shrugged and said her existing DSL just wasn’t fast enough.

  Taking the slim computer out to the kitchen, Mary fixed herself a cup of tea and sat down to see what, if anything, she could find out about her mysterious lover.

  Her heart gave a little stutter when she turned it on and the screen filled up with flowers. She stared at that for a while, watching as new leaves and blossoms appeared and grew on top of the others, knowing that Aidan had chosen that just for her.

  Eventually, though, she remembered her purpose and brought up Google, wondering what she should enter as search key words. She didn’t spend as much time on the Internet as many people did, preferring instead to curl up with an old-fashioned paperback, but she did know enough to function in today’s cyber-savvy world.

  She opted for simple and obvious, and typed in Aidan Harrison Pine Ridge PA, then sat back and sipped her tea. She really wasn’t expecting much, so when her screen started filling up with page after page of hits, she was sure she had done something wrong.

  She looked at the Images first. Literally hundreds appeared - and in every one of them was the man now sleeping peacefully in her bed. Aidan, in a charcoal gray suit, shaking hands with a U. S. Senator. Aidan, handing over a check for a million dollars to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Aidan, in a black tux with Lexi at the grand opening of the Celtic Goddess...

  Mary clicked on one and found the same image attached to an article from the front page of the local newspaper and clicked on the link. Celtic Goddess Hosts Grand Opening Gala. She began reading the first line: Multimillionaire and CEO of the internationally heralded Celtic Goddess franchise, Aidan Harrison, arrived Sunday with master head chef and inspiration for the Goddess, Alexis Kattapoulos Callaghan, to officially open the doors to what will undoubtedly bring a much needed economic boost to the local economy...

  Tea forgotten, Mary clicked link after link. She looked at photos, read articles, watched news clips and videos until her eyes were blurry. She didn’t even realize the sun had risen until she felt Max’s cold nose nudging her arm.

  She turned around to find Aidan leaning in the doorway. Wearing only a pair of pajama bottoms slung low on his hips, his arms were crossed over his bare, muscled chest, and he was watching her with an unreadable expression.

  * * *

  From where he stood, he could clearly see the laptop screen over her shoulder. Knew that Mary had been researching him.

  “This is you,” she said finally, her tone calmer than he would have expected.

  “Yes.” He searched her face, her eyes, but Mary gave nothing away. There was no indication of what she was feeling, good or bad.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Probably for some of the same reasons you never told me a lot about you. It seemed irrelevant.”

  “Irrelevant?” she asked, her eyes widening in disbelief. “You think that being a multi-millionaire and owning the Celtic Goddess is irrelevant?”

  “I’d hoped it would be. Does it make a difference to you, Mary?”

  “I – I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “It’s kind of a lot to process.”

  Aidan wasn’t overly pleased with her answer, but he nodded. At least she was being honest. It wasn’t the resounding affirmation that his wealth and status didn’t matter he might have hoped for, but she wasn’t kicking him to the curb, either. For the first time, Aidan realized that his fortune might be a disadvantage where Mary was concerned. She wasn’t all about the glitz and glamour, nor was she the type to be impressed by it.

  “Fair enough. But it doesn’t change who I am, Mary.”

  * * *

  Mary dozed off and on all morning, curled up on her big comfy sofa. Sleeping all day yesterday and being up half the night cyber-stalking Aidan was wreaking havoc on her sleeping patterns.

  Aidan was never far away. He spent most of the day wherever she was, softly tapping away at the laptop. The few times he did get up and leave, she could hear the low rumble of his voice in the next room and knew that he was either phone or video conferencing with work.

  Aidan was an important man. A very important man. Responsible for literally thousands of jobs and millions of dollars every day. The thought boggled her mind, yet Aidan seemed to take it all in stride. She guessed he was used to it. After all, according to some of the things she’d read, Aidan and Lexi came up with the idea a long time ago, and Pine Ridge was their fourth location.

  It was almost surreal. The soft-spoken pretty blonde cooking in her kitchen and sharing confidences yesterday was a master chef. And the gorgeous man who had stolen her heart and was currently sitting on the floor rubbing Max’s belly was a multi-millionaire CEO.

  “Still thinking?” he asked, turning around to find her watching him. Again.

  “Yeah, but I still don’t get it.”

  Aidan patted Max and eased back up on the sofa. He took one of her feet in his hands, tugged off her fuzzy sock, and began massaging just under the arches. “What don’t you get?”

  “Ungh,” she said, closing her eyes in bliss.

  He laughed. “Ungh? I’m afraid you’re going to have to be a little more specific than that.”

  “God, Aidan, where did you learn how to do that? It’s almost as good as sex with you.”

  One dark golden brow lifted. “In China, actually. They’re very big on acupressure.”

  “China,” she murmured. “Right. Spend a lot of time there?”

  “There’s very few places I haven’t been, Mary. Half of my adult life has been following Lexi around the globe.”

  Yep, surreal. “I’m from Kentucky,” she said lamely.

  “I can honestly say I’ve never been there,” he said, turning his attention to the other foot. “Maybe you can take me there sometime.”

  “It’s a lot like Pennsylvania,” she said dreamily, “but greener. And with more horses.”

  He laughed at that. “So back to your conundrum. What’s got your puzzler puzzled?”

  Mary chuckled before sighing. “You’ve got everything, Aidan. Wealth, power, a good family, friends who’d do anything for you. What could you possibly see in me? I mean, not to be self-deprecating or anything, but I’ve seen pictures of some of the women you’ve dated. I’m so far below their standard I’d need a satellite to reach them. I own a tiny business in a small town that probably doesn’t even register on most GPS’s. My only family is my man-crazy mother. I’ve got no money, no influence, no connections, - ”

  Aidan pressed a finger to her lips. “You’re right. You have none of that. But you do have the one thing that no one else does.”

  She blinked, doubtful that she could have anything Aidan Harrison couldn’t get a hundred times over. “What’s that?”

  “My heart. It’s yours, Mary. And it doesn’t care about any of that other stuff, because the truth is, I have more than enough of all those things. The one thing I don’t have, and the one thing I want more than anything else, is you to share it with me.”

  Mary heard the words, and realized that they were exactly what she needed to hear. And he might not know it yet, but he did have her. It only took a couple of hours and one truly amazing foot massage for her to realize that she was his, had been from that very first night.

  He didn’t have to know that yet, though. The pain of those three weeks without him was fading, but she was still afraid to hope.

  “You know, I’ve been thinking about what you asked me earlier – if knowing who you were would have made a difference.”

  “Yeah?” he asked warily. “And what did you come up with?�
�

  “Well,” Mary said slowly, keeping her expression contemplative, “I’d like to say that no, it wouldn’t have, but I don’t think that would be true.” Aidan’s magical hands stilled. She paused, choosing her words carefully. “I mean, if I knew you were on the Forbes list of the wealthiest men in America, I definitely would have gotten out the better sheets.”

  Aidan’s eyes flashed to hers. Could he see the mischievous glint in them, or the barely-there quirk at the corner of her lips that she tried so hard to hide?

  “Better sheets, huh?”

  “Oh, yeah. Definitely would have gone with the higher thread count.”

  “I see,” he said somberly. “Anything else?”

  “Well, I probably would have put out the good towels in the bathroom, too.”

  “Good towels?” he asked, his thumbs making those wonderful little circles again.

  “Yep. Satin stripes and everything. And of course I would have made sure I bought Starbucks coffee, or at least Dunkin’ Donuts instead of the generic stuff.”

  “You really have been holding out on me, haven’t you?”

  “Afraid so. And – this is actually kind of embarrassing – I probably wouldn’t have taken that picture of you drunk and naked and posted it on my Facebook page....”

  Aidan’s eyes widened, but he was smiling. “I hope you’re kidding about that last one.“

  She laughed. “I am. I don’t even have a Facebook account.”

  Aidan shifted and gently tugged so that she was snuggled up against him. “Seriously, Mary. Are you alright with this? Are you angry with me for not telling you the truth?”

  “It’ll be a struggle, but I think I can somehow come to terms with the fact that my boyfriend is an obscenely wealthy and powerful man,” she grinned. “And no,” she said more seriously, “I’m not angry with you. It’s not like you lied to me or anything, and you had your reasons, didn’t you?”

  “I never meant to hurt you, Mary.”

  “I know. And it was kind of a test for me, too, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes,” he admitted. “I had to know that it was me you were interested in and not all the baggage.”

  “Baggage,” she chuckled. “Is that what you call having an estimated net worth in the hundreds of millions, being one of the youngest men ever to appear on the Fortune 500 most successful execs list, and earning the title of “most eligible bachelor” for the past seven years running?”

  “Seven years?” he grinned. “Really?”

  “Uh-huh. You were also voted ‘the man I’d most like to see naked’, and rated an unprecedented eleven out of ten on the lickability scale.”

  “Someone’s been doing her research, I see. Tell me, were those last two actual polls or did you create those yourself?”

  Her brown eyes twinkled. “Does it matter?”

  “Not in the least. There’s only one woman whose opinion matters to me.”

  “She’s a lucky woman.”

  “I hope she thinks so. Because, you see, I’ve fallen deeply and irrevocably in love with her.”

  Aidan cupped her face in his hands and placed a tender, gentle kiss on her lips. “And I’m hoping she decides she loves me, too. Otherwise, I don’t know what I’m going to do with this.”

  Aidan reached into his pocket and extracted a beautiful diamond ring. It wasn’t overly large, but it was exquisite in every way.

  “Mary, you don’t have to answer me now, but I want you to know just how certain I am about this. You are my heart, Mary, and I’m going to do everything in my power to convince you that we belong together.”

  Mary stared at the ring in his hand, willing her heart to start beating again. “Aidan? Are you...asking me to marry you?”

  “Sort of.”

  “Sort of?”

  He grinned. “I already told you, I don’t accept failure. If I were to ask you right now and you weren’t quite ready to say yes, I’d have to count it as a loss. I am a very poor loser, Mary. So I’m willing to wait. I realize you’ve had a lot thrown at you in a short amount of time, and I want you to have all the time you need to fully come to terms with the idea of becoming Mrs. Aidan Harrison.”

  “So... if I were to tell you I was ready...”

  “Then I would go down on bended knee and ask in a heartbeat.”

  The thought of Aidan on his knees before her was almost tempting enough to let the words flow past her lips, but Mary pushed desire, want, and need aside and forced herself to remain in control. Marriage was serious enough as it was, but when it involved a man like Aidan, it wasn’t as simple as an ‘I do’ and a ride off into the sunset.

  “And if I’m not?”

  He nuzzled her neck. “Then I would just have to devote every waking minute into making you ready.”

  Mary tilted her head back to give him better access to the sensitive spot beneath her ear.

  “Well, Mary?” he murmured against her skin. “Do you think you’re ready?”

  “Ssshhh, I’m thinking. Less talking. More kissing.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Where are we going?” Mary asked several days later as she put a fresh bowl of water down for Max and scratched behind his ears.

  Aidan leaned back against the counter, his smile widening under the heat of her gaze. “Stop looking at me like that, baby, or we won’t be going anywhere for a while.”

  Mary dropped her eyes, but not before he could see the flare of hunger in them. It was a wholly submissive gesture, not done intentionally or based in the sexual role play he so enjoyed, but from her very nature. His cock twitched in response, his innate dominant stirring.

  She could do that to him so easily, he mused, able to push his buttons as no one else ever had. He doubted she was even aware of it. God help him if she ever realized the power she had over him and learned to wield it at will. He didn’t stand a chance.

  “Would that be so bad?” she challenged quietly, lifting her eyes to him from where she kneeled on the floor next to Max, unaware that he was about five seconds away from taking her right there on the floor.

  He almost groaned. It would be so easy to scoop her up and spend the rest of the day making love to her, just like he had yesterday and the day before, but Mary needed to face a few demons. He already knew that she loved him. She told him often enough and showed him in hundreds of sweet, tender, and erotic ways. But as long as they remained safely secluded in Mary’s home, she didn’t have to think about who he was and what he did out in the real world.

  He’d seen the worry and uncertainty in her face a few times when he’d been videoconferencing with people at the Goddess over the last two weeks. Such things were blatant reminders that however right things felt between them, they were from two very different worlds.

  Mary had whispered her fears when she thought he was sleeping. She doubted that the simplicity and sheer ordinariness of her life would sustain his interest for long, while at the same time was convinced that she would fit into his about as well as a square peg in a round hole.

  He knew better, of course. He craved the normalcy of Mary’s life, loved the fact that every part of it was genuine, a reflection of Mary herself. Her home was small but filled with love, designed not by a professional decorator, but by a woman who placed comfort and happiness above labels and price tags. Her little flower shop was the culmination of her dream; each day she went to work she did so with a smile, knowing her day would be spent doing what she loved to do. How many people could say that?

  And then there was Max, the massive yellow Lab who was as besotted with Mary as he was. Aidan wouldn’t have believed he’d become as attached to an animal as he had to Max. Mary confided (in hushed whispers so that Max wouldn’t hear), that she adopted Max when she’d heard the owner was going to have him put down as a pup. Max had been the runt of the litter (hard to believe, now that the dog topped one hundred and twenty pounds) and had been diagnosed with severe hip dysplasia. Even knowing what lay ahead, Mary hadn’t thought tw
ice about tossing the pup into her Jeep and not looking back once. They’d been inseparable ever since.

  That was the woman he had fallen in love with. And he was determined to show that she belonged in his world every bit as much as he did hers.

  “No,” he chuckled, pulling her to her feet and wrapping his arms loosely around her, “that wouldn’t be bad at all. But it is a beautiful day, and a little fresh air will do us both good, I think.”

  He smiled at the slight pout on her face, loving the fact that she would be content to spend the day naked and in his arms, but he had other plans.

  “Okay,” she sighed. Another thing he loved about her: she would deny him nothing. His unanswered proposal didn’t count; technically, he hadn’t actually asked her to marry him yet.

  Aidan took her hand and led her out to the garage, where he opened the car door for her and helped her in. She didn’t really need his assistance any longer, but he took great pleasure in doing these little things for her.

  “First to my place, then down to Jake’s.”

  Aidan paused at the end of the driveway, offering Mrs. Shaughnessy a cheery wave when he saw her peeking through her curtains.

  “You really shouldn’t taunt her like that,” Mary chastised.

  “But it’s so much fun,” he replied, without a hint of remorse.

  * * *

  Mary turned her head so he wouldn’t see her smiling. The last thing he needed was encouragement. By now the whole town knew Aidan had been staying at her house for the last several days. She tried not to think about that.

  She focused on him instead, something guaranteed to wipe everything else from her mind. He was looking sexier than any man should in a simple pair of jeans and a thermal shirt. Both hugged his body, showcasing the sculpted male flesh beneath. An enigmatic smile played across his lips, and his hair was slightly tousled, giving him a really hot just-had-sex look that suited him. Mary took particular pride in that; she’d spent a good part of the morning ensuring it was more than just a look.