once. Who was to say he wouldn’t do it again? And this time, he’d be walking out on a kid, much like Aidan’s mother had done to him and Logan. No, Blake was absolutely the wrong choice for father material.
And hey, they had an agreement together. A binding legal document. So maybe it would be better if he stuck to the status quo and didn’t say a word to Ellie. Why give her a chance to change things when everything was working so well for both of them?
“Hell.” He tried to focus on something else, like the clean, briny smell of the fishing boats moored in the marina. The pungent scent reminded him of the first time he and Logan came to the island. They were on a fishing holiday and the bluefish they caught in Alleria Bay were the finest anywhere. They stayed a week longer than they’d planned and when they set sail for home, they were the new owners of the island.
Aidan slowed his pace as he approached the resort. He’d trusted in his luck back then, he reminded himself, and it had turned out well. He’d have to trust to his luck now, too. It wouldn’t be easy, but he knew what he had to do. Ellie had to be the one to make the choice. And for Aidan, that meant standing aside to give her the room to do so.
He stopped abruptly at the water’s edge. Something he’d refused to dwell on too heavily was the fact that Ellie hadn’t gotten pregnant yet. Ellie hadn’t brought it up and Aidan had simply figured they would continue having a good time until she announced she was pregnant. But now he wondered if maybe she was blaming him for not getting her pregnant immediately. Maybe she was ready to chuck Aidan and try this with someone new.
“That’s ridiculous,” he said aloud, immediately brushing that thought aside. Ellie wasn’t the type of woman who would do something like that. But even if she was having second thoughts, Aidan refused to believe she would ever do anything so crazy as to choose Blake over him. Yet the fact remained that it was still her choice to make.
As he walked slowly across the white sand toward the terrace, Aidan reached an uncomfortable conclusion. He had started out wanting what was best for Ellie and the baby. Now he had to face the possibility that it might not be him.
*
“You want me to what?”
“I want you to go to Blake if you want to. It’s your decision to make.”
Ellie stared at him as if he’d just sprouted a second head. Maybe he had. He couldn’t quite believe he was saying the words either. But they had to be said.
“It’s my decision,” she murmured.
“Yes. I shouldn’t have followed you outside the other night,” Aidan said solemnly. “It wasn’t my place to interfere. Blake has offered you a choice and you need to do what’s right for you.”
Ellie searched his face for so long, he was about to start squirming. This wasn’t easy for him, but it was the right thing to do.
Finally she said, “But you and I have an agreement.”
“That’s true,” he said. “But you’re running the show here, Ellie. I shouldn’t have watched you and Blake when you were talking—it’s just that that guy really bugs me and—never mind. Not the point. It was wrong of me to intrude. And if Blake cares about you…”
“You said he was a liar and a jerk,” she reminded him. “Did you change your mind about him?”
“No, I didn’t change my mind about him,” Aidan said, resisting the urge to scowl. “I still don’t like him. But this isn’t about me. Look, I’m just afraid I might’ve pushed you into something you weren’t ready for. So if you want to reconsider Blake, or any other guy, I need to give you the space to make a measured decision. It’s your choice to make.”
“I don’t know what to say,” she murmured, looking pensive.
He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss away every last ounce of doubt she’d ever had about herself. But he stayed on track and bit out the next words. “You have every right to go back to Blake if that’s what you want.”
“What do you want, Aidan?”
His jaw clenched and he pressed his lips together tightly, then forced himself to say the words. “I want you to do whatever will make you happy. You deserve to be happy, Ellie. And