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He swiped his keys from the end table. “I’m going,” he said in a voice that said he wasn’t compromising. “And you better start thinking about what you want the café to be. Maybe we could just close it down while it’s getting remodeled rather than hire right now.”
“Aiden, I can’t do that. That’s my livelihood.”
“You don’t need it,” he said firmly. “I’m a damn billionaire, Skye. I can take care of you and Maya.”
“Taking care of me wasn’t part of the deal,” I retorted. “And I want you to get to know Maya. I’m not here so you can take over the expenses.”
“I’m making it part of the deal.” Aiden moved so he was blocking my way to the front door. “You need to take a break. I’m not saying that you need to stop being Maya’s mother. But you need to take care of yourself. I can see how damn tired you are, and I hate the fact that all of the responsibility of raising Maya has fallen on you without help from anybody.”
“I’ve never complained about that,” I argued.
“I’m complaining for you, then,” he rumbled. “You need a goddamn break, and I’m here now. Maybe I wasn’t before, and I regret that. But now that I’m around to watch over both of you, I’m not going to let you work yourself to death.”
I knew I should be telling him I’d do whatever I wanted. But if he pushed the issue, he’d win anyway. “We’ll need to compromise.”
“I’m open to that, as long as you stop working almost every hour of every day. You need to put yourself in a creative position instead of being responsible for all the day-to-day stuff.”
I sighed. “I’d love to see the Weston Café become the in place to eat instead of a greasy-spoon diner. But it needs to be more on trend. Healthier, fresher food. Vegetarian options. And a décor that makes people feel good and want to come back again.”
“You can change everything, Skye. Completely remodel and reinvent the entire restaurant,” he urged.
I wanted that so much. “I’d have to do a significant investment.”
“You got it,” he replied immediately.
“Aiden, you don’t need to do that.”
“I want to,” he insisted.
I tilted my head to search his face. He wasn’t lying. He really did want to help me, for some reason I couldn’t put a finger on. “We need a written agreement. You can become a partner.”
He moved forward until I could feel the warmth of his breath on my face. “You and I are going to be permanent partners. We’re getting married.”
I swore that my heart nearly stopped as I saw his tenacious expression. “We haven’t agreed on that yet,” I answered breathlessly.
“We will,” he vowed. “I’ll be good to both of you, Skye.”
For a moment, he reminded me of the old Aiden, my big, buff, obstinate fisherman that I’d loved so damn much. The only person in the world who had ever wanted to protect me from all of the bad things that could happen to me.
He’s not that man anymore.
I kept trying to convince myself that the Aiden I knew was gone. But really, he hadn’t changed all that much.
He was still resolute when he wanted something.
“The only thing we have in common anymore is Maya,” I asserted.
“That isn’t the only thing we still have,” he said as he wrapped his steely arms around my waist.
“W-what are you talking about?” I stammered.
I was mesmerized by the fire I saw in his beautiful eyes.
“You feel it, too, Skye. So don’t bullshit me. We have this.” He lowered his head and covered my mouth with his.
I hadn’t experienced desire in over nine years, so it stunned me that I responded almost immediately.
Wantonly.
Desperately.
Longingly.
I wound my arms around his neck as he plundered, exploring and seizing my lips like they belonged only to him.
I lost my practiced composure almost immediately as my previously dormant body roared to life just from the feel of Aiden’s soft lips and demanding embrace.
When we finally came up for air, I put my head on his chest, and I could hear his heart beating in the same rapid rhythm as my own.
“We still have that,” he rasped next to my ear.
“Sex isn’t everything,” I answered weakly as I pulled away from him.
He let me go. “Maybe not, but it’s definitely something.”
The doorbell rang as I was still trying to catch my breath, and I stayed put while Aiden moved out of the living room and headed toward the foyer.
He was back within moments, but he wasn’t alone.
“Skye, meet Hastings. He’s my caretaker for the property. He’s going to hang out here until we get back, in case Maya wakes up.”
I shook hands with a silver-haired man who gave me a genuine smile as he remarked, “It’s been a while since my kids were young, but I think I can handle the little one if she needs anything.”
I realized that Aiden must have texted his estate manager to hang out at the house to babysit.
“Thank you,” I said sincerely as I took my hand back.
I wasn’t worried. I knew Aiden wouldn’t leave Maya’s well-being to anybody he didn’t completely trust.
I was so used to my neighbor dropping over to watch out for Maya while I closed the café that I hadn’t even thought about the fact that if Aiden was going along, I’d need someone to be at the house with my daughter.
Plus, I was pretty certain that his kiss had temporarily scrambled my brain.
“Happy to help,” Hastings answered with a warm smile that put me even more at ease.
We were out of the house in moments, but I didn’t want to admit that it felt nice to have somebody come with me so that closing the café wasn’t quite so lonely.
CHAPTER 9
AIDEN
I was a truck kind of guy. Always had been. When you grow up fishing, it helps to haul equipment with a truck.
As we drove toward downtown, I had to wonder, now that I was a family man, if my big-ass truck was really the best vehicle for a guy with a kid.
Sure, I’d bought a nice, shiny, brand-new truck with a king cab when I’d come into a lot of money, but I wasn’t at all sure about the safety statistics on carrying an eight-year-old in it.
But I knew I was going to look it up when I got back home from taking Skye to close up the café.
Jesus! How in the hell had Skye ever gotten through those first eight years? I’d been a father for all of one day, and I was a wreck about what was and wasn’t safe for Maya.
“Who’s named as her father on her birth certificate?” I asked as I got on the freeway.
“You are,” she said into the darkness of the truck’s interior. “If anything ever happened to me, I wanted to make sure that she’d go to you. I guess, even back then, I knew you’d take care of her if she had no other family.”
I balked a little—or maybe a lot—at the thought of anything happening to Skye.
Nothing will ever happen to her or Maya. I’m here to make sure it doesn’t.
I was having a harder and harder time being pissed off at her. After having spent some time with my daughter, I knew that Skye was a fantastic mother. She’d brought Maya up right, and the love she had for our daughter was right there for anybody to see.
