Page 23 of Almost True
I nodded. “We decided that staying focused on the professional side of things was best.”
“We?” Sadie asked.
I shrugged, though the movement was about as natural as synthetic oil. “Well. I think once he realized who I am, it was… too much.”
Quinn grumbled, and everyone else was quiet. After a moment, she spoke up. “But what about you? You want to give it a shot with him? Do you feel like that connection you had was something worth trying out for longer than a few hours?”
I swallowed the last bit of my margarita. “Honestly? Yes. I’m really disappointed that the wholeMadeline Reynoldsthing is what scared him away. I get it, but I kind of thought he’d be able to see past that.”
Calla stood up. “Sorry, I just can’t sit for all that long without my leg going numb. But also, you know I get this.”
I nodded. She got it better than I did. My fame was isolated to certain circles. Yes, the book tour and all that publicity from it had put me out there to more people outside of the business world, but still. Not like her. Nothing would ever compare to being an international popstar.
“My advice is this: go for it. Make him see past that.”
“But be careful. He’s… he’s been through a lot.” Dahlia’s eyes reflected her concern. Again, I worried maybe there was something there, but she wasn’t warning me away.
And what he’d told me—that he was a widower. Someone who’d been through something so awful deserved to be cared for.
It was Quinn who had the last word. “I say screw careful. I’m guessing you’ve had your fair share of being careful with all this creepy stalker dude stuff and lying low for months while you figured it out. You’re a public figure. You’ve got all kinds of obligations and all that.”
She nailed it. That was it exactly. “True.”
She grinned. “Then I say be done with careful. I say get a little reckless and show Aidan you’re worth the risk, whether he wants to see it or not.”
CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
Aidan
Jake looked at Madeline with hearts in his eyes. “Thank you so much, ma’am.”
“No problem, Jake. Thanks for being here early.” She smiled at him, all warm and welcoming and trying to torture me.
That’s right. She was hell-bent on torturing me, and I couldn’t be convinced otherwise. Would she be here serving up coffees and pastries to my crew if she wasn’t? Answer: no. I’d held my tongue about it, hadn’t even mentioned it to John because I felt like such a fool for thinking it, but this morning, I was convinced. She’d come out every day since we started, and since ending up with two crew out sick this week, I’d joined in to help get things moving. I couldn’t afford to fall behind on this project since we’d already started two days later thanks to Chadwick’s helpful insights derailing the decision-making last week.
Even that—the fee she was paying to rush the job—made the difference between us, the impossibility ofanythingbetween us, feel more vivid. And it made this whole situation that much worse.
Each morning, she’d arrived looking pretty enough I knew I couldn’t look directly at her. She’d offered coffees and food, and the first day we said no. We weren’t in the habit of refusing gestures like water or coffee—it wasn’t forbidden, necessarily. But I’d warned the men we shouldn’t abuse the situation. We didn’t want to seem like we were taking advantage. Sure, she had more money than anyone could spend in a lifetime, but somehow, that made me more uncomfortable taking something from her than if she’d been a more typical client.
The second day, Jake said yes, and Chris and Todd did, too. They couldn’t resist her smile and that persistent generosity. Today, everyone snagged their orders with thanks and smiles and general adoration, and I held my breath as she approached with one last cup in her hand. One thing I didn’t need was to take a deep inhale of her million-dollar perfume and have it stick with me like it had for so long. Before, I hadn’t known anything but that it smelled amazing on her. Now, I knew it had to be some kind of custom scent formulated just for her using diamond dust and rare orchids from yet-undiscovered islands or something. Whatever it was, it was one more thing to highlight her status.
“Black coffee for you, Aidan?”
Of course she said my name. I’d made a point to think of her as Madeline instead of Maddie simply so I wouldn’t feel the rush of anticipation just thinking her name created, and here she was saying mine.
Not fair.
“I’m good, thank you.” I nodded to the thermos I’d very purposefully brought this morning.
“This was just brewed. Nice and steamy.”
I glanced toward her and—warning! Look away!She wore tight spandex pants and a short T-shirt. Nothing unusual about a woman wearing workout clothes in her own home, but did she have to do it in front of me? Did she realize what she was doing to me and how hard it was to keep my eyes away from her? Hair, face, body,all of it. I liked it all, wanted to gulp down the images of her, inhale her scent and stuff my ears with her voice, but I wouldn’t.
Because this wasn’t Maddie who I’d met a year and a half ago. This was Madeline Reynolds. Technically my employer. Actually out of my league. Definitely not an option.
Not for the first time, the slimy film of embarrassment and foolishness filtered over my vision. I’d been such an ignorant bumpkin that night, hadn’t I? Thinking she was just another regular woman who I could, outside of this fantasy, stand a chance with. And how many nights after our time together had I dreamed of her or lain awake missing her? Missing a woman I didn’t even know.
Jake must’ve shot the coffee instead of sipped it, because he jogged over seconds later. “Thank you so much, Ms. Reynolds. And I hope it’s not completely out of place to say, but I’m really glad that stalker didn’t kill you. I’m glad you’re okay.”
