Call Her Mine (Harmony Pointe #1)- Melissa Foster Page 0,71

Aurelia in his arms. More money, more hotels, none of it would mean shit if his life with them fell apart. It didn’t take much for him to realize what he had to do.

“But Garth and Miller can,” Ben relented. Miller Crenshaw was another lead director at their firm, with skills equivalent to Garth’s.

Aiden’s eyes narrowed. “What are you saying?”

“That maybe it’s time to stop being a control freak and let others lead. We’ve groomed them to step up to the plate. Let’s give them a shot at the big game. We can oversee it from a broader perspective, let them do the travel, work with the teams to analyze what needs to be done. Hell, we can still make the final decisions, but have them do the intricacies that we usually handle.”

Aiden slid his hands into the pockets of his slacks. “This is a trick, right? Because you won’t even let anyone make you coffee.”

Ben grinned. “I’ve changed.”

“I hear diaper duty and a good woman will do that to a man. You sure, Ben? This isn’t the type of thing you can take back once it’s done.”

“Sure we can. We own the company. We can do anything we want. But we won’t have to. Garth and Miller have been loyal employees. They’ve earned this, and so have we.” He patted Aiden on the back and said, “I met with that investigator I told you about, Mason Swift, and hired him to find Bea’s mother. You want to call him about Remi?”

“No. I’ve got a guy. I already sent him a message. I’m thinking about getting her chipped, like you would a pet.”

“Dude . . .” Ben laughed, and then he said more seriously, “Think I can do that to Bea? For when she’s a teenager?”

It was after five o’clock when Ben finally left the office. He stopped on the way out of Sweetwater and picked up peanut M&M’s, bubble bath, and a bottle of wine, excited to share his decision with Aurelia. He drove to Harmony Pointe thinking about all the trials and tribulations Aiden had experienced while raising Remi and what his own parents had gone through with him and his sisters, and he had no doubt that he’d come to the right decision. Handing management of this new takeover to trusted employees was absolutely the right thing to do. There was too much on his plate for him to give his full attention to business development, especially when he’d rather give it to his girls.

As he drove down Main Street, passing the park, it was easy to picture Aurelia standing before a crowd in the gazebo, dressed in one of her period costumes as she read a passage from a classic novel. He used to love watching her when she was unaware of his presence. It had been easy to slip between the rows of books and watch her from afar, openly admiring her confidence as well as her beauty. She didn’t need a stage to command the attention of customers. When she read, her inflection alone had stopped people in their tracks. When she’d told Ben she was doing readings, he’d thought she was nuts to put herself out there like that. People could be harsh critics, and New Yorkers weren’t known for their gentle ways. The first time he’d gone to see her read, he’d done so wanting to protect her from those critics. But within the first few minutes, he’d known she was meant for that very spotlight. Aurelia didn’t merely read the passages. She became the characters, as if the words had awakened another person lying dormant inside her. She was captivating from start to finish. He’d never wondered if he’d return for a second reading. He’d known he wouldn’t miss a single one.

He passed Chapter One, smiling to himself. Aurelia had found her new beginning all right, and he was so fucking thankful it included him and Bea. He parked around back, grabbed the goodies he’d bought, and took the steps two at a time up to her apartment door.

“Rels?” he said as he threw open the door.

“Shh!” Piper shushed him from the couch, where she was feeding Bea—and sitting next to Remi Divine.

“What the . . . ? Remi? Aiden is out of his mind with worry. What are you doing here?”

“Long story,” Remi said with a sigh. She had a dark baseball cap pulled low over her forehead, and she wore a pair of torn jeans and a flannel shirt