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Chalisa’s gaze was drawn from her brother-in-law’s straight to Aiden’s. He didn’t look fazed or afraid. He should be. If she said the word to Kingston, Aiden would be mincemeat.
He slid his hands into the pockets of his joggers—casual, unaffected, tough, perfect. He looked like a male model masquerading as a security expert.
Who was Aiden Porter really? She had naïvely believed he’d let down his guard and let her into his heart, but all she knew was a mask.
“You can tell him the truth, love,” Aiden said, smiling at her as if he didn’t have a care in the world, confirming that she, and their time together, had meant nothing to him. Of course they hadn’t. She was simply another protection detail, another kiss, another woman who adored him.
Life-altering kiss? Why had he said that if he’d only been toying with her?
He was still toying with her.
She gripped the necklace in her pocket and had to keep reiterating to her heart that she meant nothing to this man. If their kiss and time together had been life-altering, he would’ve come for her or at least called or texted her in the past three months. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t known where she was. His pilot and employee Paul had watched over her for almost six weeks. She’d let herself believe that meant something, but now she knew it was only Aiden being a chivalrous protector of women. He wouldn’t be dating the likes of Jezebel Noir if Chalisa had been anything more than a fling. Was he still with the gorgeous actress? Chalisa suddenly missed her phone. She wanted to Google him.
“Aiden didn’t disrespect me,” she said to Kingston. At least not in the way the general was intoning. Aiden had stolen her heart in under two hours, then shattered it completely, so she couldn’t say he had respected her either. She was only a job for him, though she hadn’t paid him to rescue her, so maybe not even a job. A diversion then? A liability? Another successful mission to add to the thousands he’d performed. Another kiss to add to the thousands he’d experienced. Ugh. She suddenly wanted to brush her teeth.
“Well, now.” Aiden grinned and nodded. “Shall we get this show going? Mercedes?” He smiled at the gorgeous billionaire. Their hostess.
“Oh, my.” Mercedes put a hand to the diamond necklace decorating her throat. She was in a floor-length white dress, leaning against a tall, handsome blond man as if she were exhausted or recovering from the flu. “You two obviously have some history.” She grinned and beamed up at her boyfriend or bodyguard or whatever the guy was. Any weakness seemed to disappear. “Oh, Shawn, this is off the charts, and I love it! They have a rocky and romantic history. But I’m not sure how much of this we should put on the show.”
Rocky and romantic? Mercedes Belle had no idea.
“The producers will do a fabulous job cutting or using whatever they need,” the blond—Shawn, apparently—assured her.
“Auntie!” Hope had waited far longer than she was capable.
Chalisa didn’t care about the reality show right now, and she couldn’t handle looking at Aiden and his handsome smirk and closed-off blue gaze for one more second. She turned and hurried to her family, Kingston shadowing her. Hope flung herself from her grandma’s arms into Chalisa’s. She held the little girl tight, savoring the smell of sweet baby lotion and the rightness of her niece in her arms.
She got hugs from her mom, her sister, and a side hug from Kingston. She completely ignored Aiden, Mercedes, and the rest of the crew. She needed this sense of home, this peace, acceptance, and love. Maybe she should move back to Magna. Would the loneliness of aching for Aiden be less in this idyllic paradise with her family surrounding her? It couldn’t this week. Not with him here. Oh, this was a nightmare.
“What on earth was that about?” Reagan whispered into her ear. “You looked at that far-too-handsome stud like you loved him, and then you actually hit him.”
Chalisa was grateful that none of her family knew the true story. Jenn had kept her silence. Bless her. Great friend.
“Nothing. He protected me. That’s all it was.”
“That is not all, and I need to hear that story. You would never hit somebody, and I’ve never seen you look at a man like he hung the moon.”
Chalisa risked a glance at Aiden. He stood next to Mercedes and the blond. His eyes met hers and, in that instant, his blue gaze was unmasked, focused on her. Lighting her up from the inside out.
The entire world melted away. The past three months had been horrific without him, but all that mattered was they were about to be reunited. She wanted to shout that she forgave him, she loved him, and they would succeed at this reality show and have an incredible time together growing closer, getting to know each other, talking for hours, kissing for hours. They’d earn a million dollars for her charity, and then they should spend a few extra weeks on Magna with her family. She could show him all the beauty and adventures on this perfect island and they’d fall even deeper in love as he grew to love her family as well.
“Auntie!” Hope grabbed her cheeks and demanded her attention, rambling on about her horse, her puppy, her dada, her mama, and her grammies.
Chalisa focused on her niece. She should be grateful for the break from concentrating on Aiden. He wasn’t rushing across the space to swoop her in his arms. They had no future on Magna or anywhere else.
He didn’t love her. She had to get that through her head.
She had no clue how she would be paired with him for the next week. Her heart was already breaking wide open. She hadn’t known twenty minutes ago it would be possible to suffer any more heartbreak because of that enticing, misleading, handsome, irresistible jerk of a man.
Turned out she was wrong. Again.
Chapter
Two
Aiden was certain Mercedes Belle and his good friend Cash Trapper were playing the worst prank of his life on him. He was being paired with Chalisa for this reality show? His Chalisa?
He couldn’t do it. He was the strongest person mentally and physically that he knew. Possibly stronger than his hero and mentor Sutton Smith, or his idol and older brother Ike. But not as strong as his beloved, deceased father. Nobody was.
