Summer's End (Wildflowers #5) - Jill Sanders Page 0,32

with almost a groan.

“Okay, go meet Elle, then come back. We have time.” She glanced at the clock that hung over the bar area.

“That I could do.” He nodded. “Half an hour. Tops,” he promised and stood up. She watched him disappear.

“You’re one lucky woman,” an older guest said from a few feet away from her in the water.

Aubrey glanced to where Aiden had just disappeared. “Yes, I sure am.” She thought about their relationship for the next half hour while she waited for him. She watched guests come and go and ordered a cocktail for herself to enjoy by the pool.

She had just jumped in the water again when Aiden rushed back, tossed his backpack down by her things, and jumped in beside her.

“Awwww,” he sighed just before he sank below the water. “God, I needed just a few minutes of downtime,” he said after surfacing and pulling her close. She tensed slightly and glanced around. It was a hard habit to break, being concerned about who saw them together. Instantly, she convinced her body to relax into his arms. After all, everyone who mattered already knew about them. “I’ve got one more meeting before I can head home, shower, then come back and get you tonight.”

“I could—”

“No.” He shook his head. “Don’t reschedule on me,” he warned.

She shook her head. “No, I was going to suggest that I meet you at your place to save time.”

“No.” He smiled at her. “I’ll pick you up. Let’s do things the proper way. I’ll pick you up, drive, pay for the meal”—he leaned closer and lowered his voice— “and kiss you goodnight on your doorstep.”

She chuckled but held onto him as he kicked them towards the deeper end of the pool.

“Ten minutes,” he warned before kissing her.

Almost exactly ten minutes later, his phone rang, causing him to jump from the water and answer it. His eyes moved over her while he talked on the phone as she walked out of the pool and sat in a lounge chair.

“I’ve got to go.” He stood over her, pulling on his shirt.

“Go.” She waved him away playfully. “I’m going to nap for half an hour then head up myself.”

Instead of going, Aiden sat beside her and reached out to run a finger up the outside of her thigh. “I’m looking forward to tonight,” he said softly. Just the sound of his voice had her melting.

“I am as well,” she agreed. She melted further when he leaned in and laid his lips gently over hers.

“Until then,” he said softly before leaving her to relax in the sun. The only problem was, that kiss had done so much to her that she no longer was tired or relaxed. She was too wound up to lie back.

Pulling out her phone, she figured she would entertain herself with social media and the news for a while. It had been so long since she’d had time to just browse online. Half the time, she forgot her phone could even do anything other than remind her which classes she was supposed to be teaching or what events were coming up.

She had spent less than five minutes scrolling through her emails before seeing one from Terry. Over the years she’d heard from him a handful of times. Each time she’d block his email, but he always seemed to surface. She knew that after that day, long ago, Terry had been fired from the company. It was a little shocking to see his name in her inbox again, but she figured she’d laugh at his next attempt. Instead, the simple image of an old article shocked her to the core.

It was image of her, back when she was eight-year-old. She was clutching the small bag with nothing more than a pair of Cinderella pajamas and a stuffed dog that was missing one of its eyes, which her mother had given her on her first birthday.

“Billionaire Harold Smith wins custody of his daughter, shortly after the girl’s mother, Nora Murphy, committed suicide. Murphy, an exotic dancer at the time, was found dead from suicide with ten pounds of cocaine on her person. The suspected drug use had sparked the legal battle over the child in the first place.”

Aubrey sat up and shielded her eyes. Ten pounds of coke? She frowned down at the screen. That wasn’t right.

Chapter 10

Aiden knocked on Aubrey’s door at exactly seven o’clock that evening. He was sore, tired, and starving. But most importantly, he couldn’t wait to see Aubrey