AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I backed up and turned on my heel, almost running straight into someone.
Her presence overwhelmed me immediately which surprised me. “Cait,” I grunted.
Honestly, after all of these years, I thought I would be over her. I thought that the knot in my stomach that was always there when I looked at her would have been gone. I thought that my heart rate wouldn’t react to her scent, and my breath wouldn’t stall in my throat when I looked into her eyes.
But I’d been wrong about all of it.
“Aidan,” she let out my name on a huff that sounded like she’d discovered she was one number off winning the lottery.
I wasn’t sure exactly what I was expecting from her. A hug? A smile and a welcome home? Dropping to her knees in sheer delight? Whatever it was, it wasn’t the blinding slap across the cheek she delivered.
Jesus.
“I see you still haven’t learned to hit,” I snapped as the memories of the last time I’d seen her came flooding back. I had to resist the urge to rub the sting away. I couldn’t let her see she’d actually hurt me.
“What areyoudoing here?” She sneered, folding her arms around herself.
There it was, that way she always said ‘you’ like I was the devil himfuckingself. I glanced around, thinking my father might have something to say about the fact Cait had just walked up to me and decked me, but he’d already marched off to deal with his men.
“My trip came to an end,” I shrugged, not that I owed her an answer. She didn’t own New York. I did. Or at least this part of it.
“You were supposed to be away for a few more weeks, Aidan.”
“Like I said, I came home early.”
She growled in frustration, stomping her foot. “Well, that’s not the arrangement.”
I frowned. “What arrangement? I never made any arrangement with you.”
She glared at me like I was dumb. Perhaps I was. The first conversation I had with her in ten years probably should have been more of an apology than a sparring match, but I couldn’t find it within me to apologize to her. She had no idea what I’d sacrificed for her. She never even tried to understand my perspective.
Well, how could she? You never told her.
“No, how could you? You didn’t even say goodbye to me.”
“That was for your own good.”
She raised her hand to slap me again, but I grabbed her wrist. Her pulse thrummed under her skin, and I was instantly reminded of that night in The Hamptons.
She tried to snatch her wrist away, but I held fast, dragging her closer to me. So close she was almost fully pressed up against my body.
Hmm.
Even in her pajamas and jacket, I could tell how well she’d matured. A body that had been delicious before, was now downright mouthwatering.
Clover…
“Don’t you tell me what’s good for me. I’m a grown adult.”
“But you weren’t then,” I reminded her.
“Neither were you,” she screamed, drawing the attention of several of the residents nearby.
“Tell me about this arrangement,” I said, turning my back on the eavesdroppers. Last thing we needed was rumors about discord in the family.
“You’re not supposed to come home until I’m on a flight to anywhere else. That’s the rule. It’s always been the rule.” Her lips pouted, and I was momentarily mesmerized by them. I remembered how good they felt wrapped around my di-
“Who made up this rule?”
