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“Any regrets about dropping out of Sinclair Properties?”
He shook his head. “None. And I don’t think Seth cares, either. He’s already counting the money he’ll bring in from both businesses.”
“I’m glad you could come to an agreement. I never wanted me or Maya to be the cause of your rift.”
“You weren’t,” he denied. “It had more to do with the fact that he had no right to try to run my life and decide what I should and shouldn’t do.”
“He was trying to protect you.”
“I get that,” Aiden answered. “But he went too damn far.”
“You don’t regret hitting him?”
“Hell, no. He deserved it,” Aiden grumbled. “There were way too many really bad consequences because of what he did.”
“In the end, taking that letter might have saved your life, Aiden. So I don’t regret that he burned it. Had you come after me, you could be dead right now. I had no idea what Marco was when I went with him. In the beginning, I wanted you to come. But later, I was glad you didn’t. You would have come in blind, with no idea of what you were up against. Sometimes things just do work out for the best.”
“Yeah, but what about you?” he said gutturally.
I shrugged. “I would have preferred it if I had just found another way out, no matter how hard it could have been. But I’m here. I’m alive. And I’m free now. So I still think it happened the way it was supposed to happen, no matter how much I hate it. Taking them down when they’d hurt and killed so many people was necessary. So will you tell me where we’re going now?”
I wanted to change the subject. I didn’t want to spoil the trip or the excitement I was feeling over traveling somewhere.
He grinned. “We’re taking a flight.”
I let out an exasperated sigh. “Obviously. For me, that’s kind of exciting. I’ve only flown once in my life. When I was twelve. My mother took me to my aunt’s funeral in Dallas.”
He parked the car in the airport parking lot, hopped out, and grabbed both of our bags. “You ready?”
I was already out of the car. “Yes.”
He nodded toward the terminal.
Citrus Beach didn’t have a very big airport. I was willing to bet that the largest planes that came in and out were probably Eli’s and the Sinclair jet.
I scrambled after him, still wondering where he was taking me.
My ex-husband had acquired a lot of money. I could even say that he had been wealthy—though all the money had been dirty.
But Marco’s money didn’t even begin to compare to the Sinclair fortune.
“This is incredible,” I murmured as I ran a hand over the butter-soft leather of the jet’s seats.
I finally sat down next to the window, since I knew we were getting ready to take off, and Aiden plopped down next to me.
“Honestly, it still pretty much blows me away, too,” he admitted in a deep voice. “I guess I’m not used to owning stuff like this. Hell, I had my doubts whether I’d even be able to own my own house, much less a beachside mansion.”
He put his seat belt on and then reached over to fasten mine.
“What does it feel like to go from being poor to having more money than anybody could ever spend in a lifetime? It’s not even like winning the lottery, because the Sinclair fortune is so vast.”
I knew that Jade had experienced some difficulties adjusting to having so much money. I had no doubt it had affected all of them in some way or another.
“Hell, even after all this time, I still think that there could have been some kind of mistake,” he confessed. “I was a blue-collar guy trying to eke out a living to keep my family above water. For a while, I couldn’t touch the money, even though Evan called it our legal inheritance. It didn’t feel like it was mine. It took me a while to really connect myself with all that money. Sometimes it still feels weird. But having that much money has its perks. You’re in one of them right now.”
“But the money was as much yours as it was Evan’s and his family’s on the East Coast. You had the same father, but none of the same advantages growing up,” I reminded him.
“In some ways, I’m grateful that we were the bastard family,” he admitted. “Evan, his brothers, and his sister didn’t have a very good childhood. Our father was a mean son of a bitch. We probably got out lucky since we hardly ever saw him. My family might have been poor, but we were all there for each other, and we knew that Noah loved us all enough to fight for us to stay together when our mother died.”
“So when did you figure out that it really was your money? That it really was an inheritance you deserved?” I questioned.
He turned his head and grinned. “I’ll let you know. I’m not totally sure I’m there yet. But at least I’ve learned to spend it like it’s mine.”
The aircraft pulled into position for takeoff, and I grabbed Aiden’s hand.
He squeezed it. “Nervous?” he asked.
I swallowed hard. “A little. But I’m excited, too. I don’t remember much of my flight when I was a kid.”
“Just try to relax and enjoy the speed,” he said as he threaded his fingers through mine.
The jet took off like a shot, and my heart soared right along with the engines.
I was almost disappointed when we lifted off the runway and I couldn’t feel the acceleration anymore.
“I never knew I was an adrenaline junkie,” I said with a laugh. “But that was fun.”
“Not completely true,” he drawled. “I distinctly remember a time when it used to turn you on that we might get caught screwing in the great outdoors.”
Heat flooded to my core. “I did not love that,” I denied. “I was just happy to be with you.”
Part of me knew I was lying. Although everything about the Marino family had terrified the hell out of me, playing with Aiden had been exhilarating. That tiny element of danger that we might get caught in the park in the dead of night had added a little to the frantic pleasure he’d always given me.
“Deny it all you want, sweetheart. But you were pretty damn wet when I used to warn you that we could get caught,” he reminded me.
“Okay,” I said in a whoosh. “Maybe a tiny part of me liked it a little.”
Really, what I’d loved was having him inside me.
The profound connection.
The passion.
The abandon I’d felt when he had me all worked up.
With Aiden, sex had been new and exciting in every way.
“It seems like the sun is behind us. Are we headed east?”
“Pretty much,” he said. “Do you remember telling me how much you wanted to see Las Vegas when you finally hit drinking age?”
My heart lifted. “Yes! Is that where we’re going?”
I’d always wanted to go to Vegas. I’d wanted to see the bright lights and craziness of the city.
“We’ll be there shortly,” he said with a boyish grin. “And there’s nothing we can’t do there. I would have picked something more exotic, but Vegas is close, and I knew you weren’t going to want to be away from Maya more than a few days.”
