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A tread behind her caused her to spin toward Aiden. His eyes moved down and then back up her again, his voice throaty. “How am I going to keep my hands off you?”
She stared brazenly right back at him. In his dark slacks and the interwoven gray and red fabric of his silk shirt, along with his polished shoes, he was too damn handsome for her peace of mind. It was only his slicked back dark hair, with the tuft that brushed his brow as though in conflict to an otherwise perfect persona, that made him seem less of a demi-god and more a human.
“The same way I’m going to have to keep my hands off you,” she said huskily. She opened her clutch purse. “Just one last thing.” Stepping closer to the mirror, she uncapped her fire-red lipstick and painted her lips. “There. I’m all done.”
“Lord help me,” Aiden said in a hollow voice, his gaze transfixed on her.
With a shiver of self-awareness, she dropped her lipstick back into her clutch bag and tucked it under her arm before she reached for his hand. “Let’s eat...then dance.”
He nodded and drew her with him out the front door of his penthouse and into the sitting room’s elevator. The door slid closed as he murmured, “Is it bad that I have a whole lot of other plans in mind right now of what I want to do with you?”
She tossed her head, her long blonde ponytail swishing. “Not bad at all,” she denied. “You can save those plans for later.”
His groan rumbled as the elevator glided down a floor to where they’d booked a seat at the Garden Café. The food was listed as a gastronomical delight, something which Ned, the head chef, was apparently very proud of and strictly ensured it maintained that standard.
A waitress approached and took them to their table, then asked if they’d like drinks. Aiden ordered a beer and Luna decided on a vodka and pineapple juice. It wasn’t until the waitress hurried off with their drink orders that Aiden asked, “Have you considered visiting your parents while you’re in Sydney?”
Her stomach knotted with guilt. “I hadn’t thought about it,” she said tightly. How could she tell him too much time had passed since she’d last seen them? She’d be nothing short of an intruder now, an ungrateful brat of a child who’d left the people who loved her and never looked back.
But the truth was she’d be forever grateful to them for taking her in and showering her with affection, for making her a part of their family even if she’d always felt a little detached. That a further disconnect had engulfed her when Aiden had dumped her had never been any fault of her parents.
It had been her own insecurities, a fear of abandonment that had been thrust right to the forefront of her mind.
He frowned faintly as he sat opposite her at the square table, a flickering candle casting his gorgeous face in and out of shadow. “That’s a shame. They always doted on you.”
She licked her bottom lip. “That was never in any doubt.” She distracted herself with the menu, but decided she wasn’t all that hungry. She looked up. “Would you share a pizza with me?”
He grinned. “Like the good old days.”
She nodded. “Except back then it was because we were too broke to get a whole meal to ourselves.”
“And yet life couldn’t have been better.”
She blinked at him. “It was...uncomplicated,” she agreed.
His face sobered and he leaned over the table to reach for her hands. His hands dwarfed hers and it took everything she had not to recall how adept they were when he asked, “Do you ever wish you could change the past?”
A lump filled her throat. She swallowed past it, almost too scared to learn the truth. “Do you?”
You were the one who walked away from everything that was good in the world.
“Yeah,” he conceded hoarsely. “All the time.”
She knew he wasn’t just talking about them. He was talking about his parents, too. He would have done anything for them to be alive right now. She didn’t doubt for a second if his mom and dad hadn’t been in a car accident, she and Aiden might be together now.
He’d changed after they’d died. He’d become distant, emotionless.
Unforgiving and hard.
“I’m sorry about your parents,” she said softly. “I-I never really got a chance to be there for you after they died.”
“You tried,” he conceded. “But I turned you away.” He blew out a heavy breath, then squeezed her hands before he released her. “I never did apologize for how I treated you.”
“You were hurting,” she said softly. “I think you wanted everyone else to hurt, too.”
He shook his head. “No, that was never my intention.”
The waitress returned with their drinks, placing them on the table before asking if they were ready to order. Luna abstractedly asked for a pepperoni pizza with cheesy garlic bread to share, before the waitress nodded and hurried away.
