“Shit.” Ronan tugged Aiden to the farthest point from where he knew Destiny would enter the ballroom. The last thing she needed was to overhear this conversation.
“So all that crap about her passion and her fire and whatever-the-fuck-else you said, that was just you bullshitting her? This is about you somehow slaking your guilt?”
“I didn’t lie to her. Everything I said was true, but I would be lying if I said that I haven’t wanted some way to make everything up to her for eleven years. That’s why I’ve kept in touch all these years. I’ve wanted to make sure she was okay. I feel…I owe her, so when she called, I probably would have agreed to anything she wanted.”
Ronan growled and paced a few steps away, scrubbing his hands over his face. Though he could appreciate Aiden’s intentions, if Destiny knew, it would kill her.
“She can’t ever know about this. You know that, right?” He pointed across at Aiden and waited for what had damn well better be an agreement.
“Of course I’d never tell her. The only person who knows this—outside of you and me—is my wife. I told her all this years ago and so when I started all this, she understood.”
“Very understanding woman you’ve got there.” Ronan scowled.
“She loves me. She understands me.” Aiden shrugged.
Ronan refused to admit how much those words made his heart ache. Maybe Aiden and Cassidy had found something that the rest of the world seemed to be missing out on, but that didn’t mean it was available for everyone, and it would serve him well to remember that.
“So where does this leave us, Aiden?”
“Destiny deserves this chance. She’s one of the best people I know, and she’s put everyone and everything else before her, and I want to help her make this work more than almost anything, and that has nothing to do with guilt. Unless you make an issue of this, I don’t see the problem.”
He supposed Aiden was right. Still, it felt wrong somehow to keep this from her, but telling her would only blow her world apart. He didn’t want to be the one to do that.
“I agree. I won’t say anything.” Although there was still a lot he’d like to say to Aiden on this particular subject.
“Thank you.”
“I’m not doing it for you.” Ronan growled more fiercely than he had intended.
“I understand that, but I’m still grateful.” Aiden stood a little straighter. His calm returned, and he was once again the composed, in-control Aiden that Ronan was most used to dealing with.
“I do, however, still have one issue with you, Ronan. What exactly is it you think you’re doing with Destiny?” Aiden crossed his arms over his chest and glared.
This wasn’t a conversation Ronan wanted to have, in large part because he wasn’t really sure himself.
“We’re consenting adults, and I will assure you, I didn’t coerce her into my bed in any way.” He meant it as a slam but more to end the conversation than to really sting Aiden.
“She has a tender heart, Ronan. She’s not the kind of woman you just fuck, then walk away from. And while I realize the hypocrisy of that statement, I still feel the need to say it. Plus what about your…” He let the word hang in the air unspoken, using a hand gesture to infer there was something he was leaving out.
Ronan knew exactly what he meant. It was true that he didn’t ordinarily go for women like Destiny. He needed a certain level of kink in his sex to truly be satisfied, and she was innocent, despite her age. Ordinarily, he didn’t mess with the innocent. She drew him in, though—in a way he found himself helpless to resist. There was no explaining it. He had to walk this thing one step at a time because though he wouldn’t stay after the job was completed, he also knew he couldn’t live with her this close all summer and not have her in his bed.
“Leave my”—he used the same hand gesture and let the word go unspoken as well—“to me, thank you very much. As for Destiny, I’ve been totally honest with her. In case you hadn’t noticed, she’s not married now. She’s a big girl, Aiden. Give her some credit.”
Aiden seemed to be considering his words, but he wasn’t the woman’s father for Christ’s sake, what was he going to do about it? Also, he was probably a better judge than Aiden on whether or not Destiny would blossom under the domination of a man, and he’d seen enough submissive tendencies in her, mixed with her passion, desire, her wicked fantasies. He was probably the best thing that ever happened to her because with him, he was hoping, she’d finally allow herself to be authentic and discover the strength she had hidden inside.
“If you hurt her, you and I will have trouble. You understand that, right?”
“Aiden, as much as I enjoy your company, and your family has been very good for my business, I don’t answer to you.” He was beginning to feel like they’d morphed into some alternate universe where Aiden was Destiny’s overprotective father—or at the very least, big brother—whose approval he needed to gain before taking her to the Friday-night dance.
Aiden stepped in close, clearly intending to intimidate him. Ronan didn’t feel in the least threatened, though. He could handle himself just fine up against Aiden.
“On this you do.”
“I’m not going to hurt her, Aiden! Why the fuck do you think I came to you in the first place looking for this information? If I didn’t care about her, I wouldn’t care about this!”
The truth of that statement scared him, but he refused to focus on it.
“I plan to spend the summer with her. I’m not proposing marriage. I’m not fucking ten other women on the side. I’m not leading her on in any way.” He devolved into shouting. “And I won’t tie her to my bed without asking first. Are you happy now?”
“Not entirely. I’d be happier if you just left her alone.”
“And what about what she wants, Aiden? Doesn’t that matter to you? Or are you just a wee bit jealous that my cock gets to go where yours can’t anymore?”
Aiden hit him so fast and hard, he honestly hadn’t seen it coming. Instantly he went from pissed off to furious and lunged back with a powerful attack of his own.
“Fuck you!” The taste of blood filled Ronan’s mouth.
Aiden swung back in response, connecting with his solar plexus, making him double over, but he wasn’t over for long before he swung back, connecting from below with Aiden’s jaw.
“You have no business judging me on this, Ronan!”
“Really? ’Cause I thought you were the one doing the judging here, Aiden.” He swung again, missing and allowing Aiden an opportunity, which he took, ramming into him with his full body and moving them both across the floor until Ronan’s back met with the wall.
“I’m not going to let you hurt her. Your ass is fucking fired, Ronan!” He must have thought that would be the end of it, because he turned to walk away.
Ronan jumped him from behind and had him down on the ground swinging his fists hard and fast.
“You don’t fire me. Only she does.”
“Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! What the fuck are you doing?” Destiny screamed upon entering the room, but it took a moment before her voice registered on Ronan and he realized what she was witnessing.
He climbed off Aiden, but couldn’t look at Destiny. He took a few steps away, keeping his back to her, wiping blood from his lip, choking on the dust they had stirred up.
“Des, I’m sorry.” Aiden’s pathetic apology only pissed Ronan off further.
“What happened?” The pain and concern in Destiny’s tone, however, did him in.
He turned to face her.
“Disagreement.” He looked to Aiden, hoping that regardless of what had gone on between them that they were still on the same page about protecting Destiny. “Got out of hand is all.”
“Out of hand?” Destiny looked at him, incredulous.
Aiden was quiet for the longest time, and Destiny’s fawning over his superficial wounds wasn’t helping Ronan calm down.
“I fired him,” Aiden calmly stated then looke
d dead into Ronan’s eyes as if challenging him.
He could have walked away there and then. He could have stopped this entire insanity in that moment, but he didn’t want to. He looked at Destiny, dressed today in a baby blue, form-fitting, sleeveless dress, her hair up as always. He loved how soft she looked. He had the most primal urge to pull her to him and make her promise she’d never leave him.
That should have scared the shit out of him, but for some reason, surrender was the more prevalent emotion.
“I told him he didn’t have the authority to fire me, only you did.” He met her gaze with his own and saw the confusion raging within.
She had her hand on Aiden’s back. She looked between the two men before stating, “He’s right, Aiden. I thought we had this worked out. If you’ve got a problem with Ronan, we should talk, but you don’t get to fire him.”
Ronan really shouldn’t have taken so much childlike joy in her defense of him, but he did.
“There are a ton of other contractors we can hire, Des. I think Ronan has fulfilled his potential here.”
She stepped away, and a feeling akin to relief washed over Ronan when he saw her finally stop touching the son of a bitch.
“Yeah, but, you said he was the best, and he’s already done a ton of work and has everything under control. Why would hiring a new contractor midstream make any sense at all?”
She searched Ronan’s expression, clearly looking to understand what was going on, but how could she?
“I just don’t think he’s the right man for the job anymore,” Aiden snapped.
He hated the look on her face. Hated the way she looked so torn and confused.
“Fine.” He couldn’t believe he was about to do what he was. “I’ll quit, but keep my guys on. Kirkland is a good foreman, and he can run the renovation without me. There isn’t any point to wasting time and money replacing my whole crew and stopping the plans we already have in motion.”
“But, Ronan, I don’t want you to go,” Destiny pleaded with him.
“And I don’t want to come between your friendship with Aiden. However misguided, I do understand that he’s genuinely looking out for your best interest.” He turned to walk away. He needed to leave before he lost control, grabbed her and fucked her right there on the ballroom floor.
What he was doing was for the best anyway. Aiden really was right, she wasn’t his type. He had no business messing with her head or her life. For him it was a few months of pleasure, but for her, it would probably end up meaning more, and when he walked away for good, he would only hurt her, the very thing he swore he would never do.
He refused to look too closely at the way his heart ached as if it was being ripped from his chest in that moment. It was probably just aches from the physical altercation. It had nothing to do with his growing need for a feisty redhead who brought him more pleasure and satisfaction that any woman he remembered. Absolutely nothing to do with that at all.
Chapter Ten
“Aiden Grand, I want an explanation! And one that makes some kind of sense, or I’m running after that man and I’m begging him to stay.” Destiny was furious. Beyond that, she was confused and hurting and desperate to run after Ronan anyway.
“Let him go, Destiny. He’s not who you think he is.”
“I think he’s a kind, gentle, interesting man, and I think he’s doing great work on my hotel, at your request, might I add.”
Aiden flexed his fingers and grunted in pain.
“You okay?” She really was concerned.
“No. I’m too damn old to be brawling like a kid!” He stretched out his arms and rolled his neck as if trying to see if everything still worked.
“Then why were you?” She reached out to touch his brow which was cut, but he pulled away from her. “You’re bleeding.”
He swept away the trickle of blood with his fingers. “I’ll live.”
“Fine.” If he wanted to act like a child, so be it, but he wasn’t evading her questions. “So tell me what the fight was over because my gut says it wasn’t over you firing him.”
“No, I fired him during the fight. The fight was over you.”
“Me?” She was skeptical. “How is that possible?”
He looked at her through narrowed eyes. “You have an effect on people, Des.”
“I don’t bring men to blows.” She placed her hands on her hips.
Aiden went into the corner and brought out two chairs that would have been used for banquets in the past but were now simply stacked along the wall. The dust-filled air with its slight hint of mildew reminded her once again of how much she’d taken on, how much she still needed to accomplish, and that her advisor had just fired her contractor.
“Here, sit.” He gestured to one chair and waited.
Wanting answers, she decided to simply go along with him and took the spot he provided. He took the other chair which he placed so he’d be facing her.
“Destiny, I realize I’m not your father or brother, and I have no right to tell you what to do with your personal life, but Ronan, he plays hard. I just think you should be careful.”
She didn’t like that he was butting into her personal business, but decided to let it go because she wanted to know what the fight was about.
“Is that what you fought over? Your wanting me to stay away from him?”
“Sort of.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows along his legs. “He asked me about what happened with you and me, and it got heated from there.”
Her stomach flipped. “He had no right to talk to you about that.”
Ronan had proven a very good listener. Too much so. She found herself telling him things about her past she’d never told anyone before. Something about lying sated in that man’s arms made all her defenses useless. So when he asked her something, she’d tell him all of it. However, her affair with Aiden had been off-limits, so she wanted to know what Aiden had told him. At the same time, she didn’t quite feel brave enough to hear it.
“Destiny, I don’t want to give you the wrong impression here. I love my wife and I would never cheat on her…” His face turned red, and he closed his eyes as if just realizing what he said.
“I get it. You aren’t like me.” Destiny sat back in her chair and folded her arms over her chest as if that could somehow protect her heart.
“I didn’t mean it like that. God, I’m making a complete ass out of myself today.” He lowered his head. “Destiny, I cosigned the loan at least in part because I felt guilty about pushing you into our affair all those years ago, and I wanted to make it up somehow.”
Her shoulders sank. She went numb. She literally felt nothing in that moment.
Aiden looked back up at her.
“That’s what I told Ronan. That’s what we were fighting over. That and the fact that I really do think he should stay away from you. Please say something.”
“What do you want me to say?” She stared into nothingness, so damn tired and drained she wasn’t even sure she cared. “You felt sorry for me, and you cosigned an enormous loan… God, I’m pathetic.”
“No, you aren’t.” He reached out to touch her, but she pulled away.
She shook her head. It didn’t matter, she supposed. This new person she’d been trying to represent herself as—the woman in charge, the woman who was capable and going to change her life—she was a fraud. Deep inside, it drained her to hold everyone at bay. It made her tired to her soul to try and be in charge all the time. That wasn’t who she was. Who she was, was a 1950s sitcom mom, only with no husband, white picket fence or small children to raise. In other words…useless.
“Des, when we were together, I was an arrogant kid. I had no clue what marriage and commitment even were. Cassidy has taught me about that, and as I learn from her and I grow more in love with her every second of every day, I realize how wrong it was of me to chase you like it was some game. I’ll be honest, you weren’t the only married woman I ever slept with, but you were the only one that being mar
ried seemed to matter to. I didn’t understand that. I was an ass. I hurt you. Please let me do this to make it up to you even in some small way. Please.”
He looked so desolate. Part of her wanted to comfort him and assure him everything would be fine, but wasn’t she the injured party here?
“Aiden, it takes two willing people to have an affair, otherwise it’s rape. Eventually, I consented, and if I’d truly loved my husband or valued my marriage, I wouldn’t have and it wouldn’t have mattered how often you asked. In truth, I’m sure I was sending you mixed signals because I wanted you, I just…”
She pushed back loose tendrils of hair from her face. How had this become all so complicated?
“I never blamed you, Aiden. I blamed myself.” She reached across and placed her hand on his knee. He placed his hand atop it.
“But I blamed me, Des. I saw what our affair did to you. It took your joy. That’s not what sex is supposed to do to someone.”
“Aiden, my life was so screwed up.” In truth, it was still screwed up. “We can’t take it back, but we can move on from here with the air cleared. Aiden, I’m going to make this place work, somehow, but I don’t want you involved if you don’t believe in me. If this is just about guilt for you, then…”
“It’s not, Des. I do believe in you. I cannot believe what a mess I’ve made of all of this when all I was trying to do was make things right.”
She had a lot to digest, but she had faith that she and Aiden could find their footing again and work things out. They would probably be all the stronger now that the truth was out and they could each stop dancing around the other trying to figure out what was really going on. As painful as it was to realize he’d helped her out of some misplaced sense of guilt, it was better than thinking he was looking to start something up with her again. While she hadn’t been in love with Oscar any longer by the time she met Aiden, she did think that he and Cassidy were the real deal. She was thankful she’d been right on at least that mark.
“We’ll figure it out, Aiden, but right now, I need to go to Ronan.” She had no idea why. She was so confused, and all this with Aiden made her more uncertain that she and men were ever going to be a good idea. Still, something called to her. She just had to go to him, that’s all she knew.
The Seduction of Destiny Rhode [The Seduction 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) Page 10
