Page 111 of One Time in Paris
Another loud knock.
Aiden yanked on a pair of trousers and a shirt. “Stay in here. Close the door—just in case.”
“Well, I’m not going to greet him naked?—”
He was already out the door and on his way through the hall. Hurrying down the stairs toward the front door, he braced himself as he unlocked it.
Sharp relief sank through him.Not Callum.
Elle and Kyle, instead.
Out of breath, apparently, with red faces.
They pushed past him like a SWAT team, Kyle slamming the door behind him like they were dodging sniper fire.
“Nice to see you too,” Aiden muttered. “Make yourselves at home. Raid the fridge. Hide the evidence.”
“What the hell is going on? Why are you and Isla both ignoring our phone calls?” Elle asked with wide eyes.
Aiden almost cringed. They already knew she was with him, but the assumption that they’d ignored them spoke to the breach of trust.
“We weren’t. We were just asleep.”
“Told you,” Kyle said with a smirk at his sister.
“Oh, save it.” Elle rolled her eyes and turned back to Aiden. “Callum’s on his way here. He texted you to find out if you wanted to run and then when you didn’t answer, he decided to run here to ask. Kyle and I had to book it to beat him, but he’ll be here any second.”
Goddammit.
As if on cue, a key scraped into the lock behind them.
Aiden shoved them both toward the stairs. “Go!” he hissed. “In my room.”
“He has a key?” Elle asked with wide eyes.
He didn’t have time to explain. They had barely vanished from sight as the door opened behind him. Aiden whirled around as Callum stopped in the doorway, surprise on his face.
“I thought I heard someone at the door,” Aiden said as smoothly as possible. He’d given Callum the key years ago in case he ever needed someone to check on things while he was out of town.
Callum withdrew it from the lock, a sheepish expression on his face. “Sorry about that. I tried texting and calling. Didn’t know if you wanted to go for a run. I could use a moment out of the house. Between my mum in one guest room, Liddy’s parents in the other, and Kyle crashing on the couch, it’s been a lot.”
That explained Kyle’s presence here—but Elle’s? Elle and Quinn maintained a house in London in addition to Littleton, which was closer to Oxfordshire. But since Quinn had started renting Littleton out to film crews and for parties a few years earlier, the house wasn’t always available when they wanted to come to England.
Aiden checked his watch.
Then again, it’s almost nine.Goddamn jet lag. No wonder he hadn’t woken up. Between an exhausting night with Isla and still being accustomed to the East Coast time zone, he was a mess.
“Yeah, I can grab my trainers.” He almost added,wait here,but would that seem oddly suspicious? He’d never made Callum wait in the foyer before.
Callum followed him up the stairs. “You doing all right? Liddy said you closed that deal with Ipolymer.”
“Yeah, it’s great,” Aiden said, summoning what little enthusiasm he could fake as he came to the main level.
Shite.Isla’s knickers still lie on the floor beside the sofa, from where they’d been discarded the night before. He stopped abruptly, his hands clenching by his side.
Oh God.What was he supposed to do—shove them in his pocket and pray Callum didn’t ask why he’d suddenly developed a fondness for lace accessories?
He glanced down the hall toward his bedroom door, which remained shut. “Can you see if I have any bottled water in the fridge,” he blurted, sweat breaking out on his neck.
