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I watched him hesitate as he shifted a bit in his seat. Up until now Aiden had been cool as ice, but this was the first sign of any sort of discomfort.
“You’re beautiful,” he said, as if the statement were fact instead of opinion. “Very pretty.”
“Thanks,” I said, doing my best not to blush. “But that’s not exactly a question.”
“Way too pretty to be single,” he went on. “And I already know you’re not married…”
The statement spun out in silence as I let his insinuation dangle, unanswered. I turned toward the glass and watched the trees go by, hiding my smirk against my own shoulder.
“So do I have a boyfriend?” I finally rescued him, raised an eyebrow. “Is that the question?”
Now one of us actuallydidblush, and it wasn’t me. “Yes.”
“No,” I replied simply. “I don’t.”
Aiden remained silent. He tilted his head slightly as if trying to decide something.
“No girlfriend either,” I told him smartly, before he could ask. “I’m a hundred-percent single.”
From the other side of the car, he was trying his best not to look too relieved. He was doing a bad job, though.
“Good,” he said finally. “That’s… much less complicated.”
“Why?”
“You’ll see.”
Four
JORDYN
The house we pulled up to wasn’t a house, it was a whole damnedmansion. And after a quick glance around the grounds, I realized it wasn’t so much a mansion as it was an estate.
“You’re joking, right?”
Aiden smiled wordlessly as he guided the car along a cobbled road, circling a huge central garden complete with a beautiful gazebo. The place itself was monstrous; a Spanish-style house with white stuccoed walls and triple-arched windows, capped by several different levels of red tile roof. The place had multiple balconies and covered porches, each more enticing than the next. Vines grew along a pair of Doric columns that flanked a round, central turret, and in its center was a gorgeous wooden door, complete with dark iron studs, hinges, and a handle that looked like something straight out of a movie.
“No joking,” said Aiden, finally. “Welcome home.”
The place looked both old and new at the same time. A perfect blend between being breathtakingly historic and yet totally updated and livable in today’s day and age.
“The three of you really live here?” I asked.
“For the past year, yes,” he answered. “We tend to move around a lot. Especially to properties we can’t easily sell, or ones we feel would make more money if we held them for a little while. We’re trying to settle down though.”
A man in a uniform greeted us, and Aiden handed him the car keys. Then he took my hand, led me down the walkway, and pushed almost effortlessly on the huge beast of an oaken door. Somehow it opened easily, on perfectly-balanced hinges.
We stepped inside, to a sprawling foyer that looked up to inner, second-floor balconies on both sides. The clay-tiled floor was decorated with mosaic in places, and covered in hand-knotted Persian rugs and runners. The hallways were wide and sprawling. The deep-set windows were big and beautiful, showering the inside of the house with a gorgeous, natural light.
“And I’d live here?” I asked, my voice a combination of incredulity and skepticism
“Yes.”
“Inthishouse,” I asked again, pointing to the floor.
Aiden looked at me and laughed. “Of course! Why wouldn’t you?”
“I don’t know,” I swore. “I just… I can’t imagine…”
