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“Is she in danger?”
“No, but I promised to keep her safe.”
And she wanted him to keep her safe. If only.
“Okay. I’ll take the first shift tonight. Dallin will run you to the Westin in Carlsbad. Paul checked in. He needed to sleep. He decided that would be easier than driving to your house in Newport.”
“That’s great.” How had he forgotten his pilot couldn’t just keep flying? “Thank you.”
“I’ll work out a schedule and install cameras and sensors before I fly out to meet Mercedes in the morning.”
“Thank you again.”
“That is a very impressive lady,” Nick said.
“I know.” He nodded and climbed into the vehicle. Not even his trusted man needed to tell him how impressive Chalisa was. He knew. He’d actually rather forget. Or would he? He rubbed at his chest.
Thankfully, Dallin didn’t want to chat on the way to the hotel, and Paul already had a room set up for him. He checked in and before he knew it, he was pacing the luxurious hotel suite.
He kept pulling his phone out, not to respond to the hundreds of texts and missed calls and thousands of emails, but because he wanted to check in with Nick and see how she was doing. Then he’d groan and slip it back into his pocket and do some more laps around the room, staring without seeing as the sun sank into the ocean and the pool lights and walkway lights came on.
The tenth time he pulled his phone out, he scrolled through recent calls, and then he hit Sutton’s number.
As soon as it rang, he realized it was almost midnight. Sutton answered. “Aiden.” His voice sounded pleased and not tired at all.
“Sutton …” Why had he called? Though he revered the man, Sutton wasn’t his dad.
“Everything all right?”
“No,” he admitted.
“What can I do?”
Aiden felt emotional. He had the plan in place to take over Sutton’s spot as the security expert. Sutton didn’t care one bit about that. He cared about Aiden. Why had his dad cared so much about the path and the plan? Enough to train Ike and Aiden from childhood and force Aiden to take the vow and repeat it on his deathbed? His dad had loved them. He’d been trying to protect them from heartache. Heartache like he felt right now.
“I fell in love,” he heard himself say. He started pacing again, semi-humiliated he’d admitted that to Sutton, but his icon was obviously in love with his wife.
“Congratulations,” Sutton said heartily. “Who is the lovely and blessed young lady?”
“Sutton,” Aiden groaned and then he rushed out what only Ike and Chalisa knew. “I made a vow to my dad at eighteen and renewed it on his deathbed to never form emotional attachments or get in a relationship. I promised to only focus on my purpose and path of protecting and serving others.”
“Pardon me?” Sutton actually sounded … upset. Usually nothing could ruffle him. “Eisenhower did what to you?”
“You know how he trained Ike and me. You know what he envisioned for us.”
“Certainly, but I never imagined he’d take away your opportunity to love and be loved, to have a family and true happiness.”
Aiden’s neck grew warm. There was a reason he didn’t tell people about the vow he’d made. It could sound extreme to someone who wasn’t part of the family. Ike thought it was extreme as well. Chalisa had been understanding but that was Chalisa. He sank onto a couch, leaned his head back, and blew out a breath.
“Aiden.” Sutton’s voice was the calm, smooth Brit again. “Your dad was gutted when your mum died. I can understand the damage done to him emotionally could cause him to exact such a vow from you, but I don’t feel you should take that as binding. He was brilliant and incredible, but in certain areas he was never right in his mind after he lost your mum.”
Aiden sat straight up and clung to the phone. “You think my dad was … off?” If anybody but Sutton had said those words, he would’ve found them and beat them at any style of fighting, he’d let them choose the manner in which he decimated them.
“You don’t?”
Rubbing at his chest again, Aiden thought through millions of interactions with his beloved father. Eisenhower was brilliant with sparring, swords, pistols, protection details, military maneuvers. He’d been kind and loving with Aiden and Ike. But … his eyes had taken on a maniacal light when he talked about avoiding relationships and locking their hearts, keep their emotional barriers impenetrable.
“I don’t know what to think right now,” he admitted. His world was spinning.
