Page 66 of One Time in Paris
“Do you want to go back to acting?”
“I thought I might. But after doing this the last couple of weeks, I’m not sure what I want. Or where I’m supposed to be. And the worst part is, I can’t even tell Callum that I’m not sure I want to do this anymore. Because he boughtLa Haciendafor me. And if I don’t want it now, that would make me the most ungrateful sister on the planet.”
Just like fooling around with Isla makes me a terrible friend.
He let her words fade. Maybe she was right. Talking about everything somehow made it better.Easier.They weren’t talking around things now or pretending.
He reached across the center console of the car and slipped his hand into hers, as though it were perfectly normal for them to hold hands.
They were no closer to figuring out how to deal with their attraction to each other.
No matter what Isla said, he knew what Callum would want. How Callum would react to any perceived betrayal from a friend.
Aiden knew what heshoulddo.
Walk away. Shut this down. Forget the way her lips felt against his, the way her touch burned through his clothes.
But the thought of never having her again felt like a slow kind of death. Like condemning himself to an existence of obligation, loneliness, and nights staring at the ceiling wondering what could have been.
He couldn’t have both. He couldn’t reject her without hurting her. Without it becoming a source of tension between them.
But he wasn’t sure he could let go of her, either.
“So where does that leave us?” he asked at last, his voice rough.
Isla didn’t answer. She still held his hand, but her grip had slackened—she was asleep.
Aiden sneaked a glance at her.Beautiful, tempestuous, sexy Isla.
She’d turned his world upside-down. And for the first time in ages, he felt something other than exhaustion. Other than obligation. Life kicked within his heart, a pulse in his veins, raw and insistent.
22
ISLA
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
“Doyou remember what sleeping in until eleven was like, Q?” Elle asked Quinn with a wink as Isla settled on the couch with a mug of fresh coffee.
Quinn looked up from the floor, where their eighteen-month-old Tara sat on his lap looking at a board book. He shook his head. “No.”
“You’re selling this whole ‘getting married and having kids’ thing so well,” Isla said with a grin as she sipped her coffee. “Is Aiden still asleep?”
From across the living room, Mason lifted his head from where he’d had it buried in his laptop. “No, he got the three hours he requires as a robot and went out for a run.”
The fact that Mason had also been here had been a surprise to both Aiden and Isla when they’d pulled in a little after six in the morning. If Isla didn’t know any better, Aiden had appeared annoyed to see Mason—but that also might have been because he’d driven through the night and was clearly exhausted. Isla had slept on and off, uncomfortably, but it had helped lessen her fatigue.
“I still don’t know what Aiden was thinking driving through the night like that,” Quinn said with a shake of his head. “I know he puts us all to shame with his work hours, but he’s going to collapse if he keeps going with so little sleep.”
“Remember that time he tried to see how many days in a row he could go without sleeping?” Mason said with a chuckle, raising a brow at Quinn.
Quinn palmed his face with a laugh. “Bloody moron.”
Elle set down the watering can she’d been using for some of her houseplants and crossed toward Isla, then sat beside her. “Oh good, we’ve already reached the part of the Camden brothers’ reunions where they sit and reminisce about times long since passed while making fun of each other nonstop.”
“Oh, believe me, I know. It’s even worse when Callum and Logan join the mix.” Even though her brother wasn’t one of the brothers, they’d always treated him like one.
Elle gave her a sympathetic look. “I can’t imagine what it must have been like as the only girl among these guys.”
