The Awakening Aidan - By Abby Niles Page 0,48
of her mate should’ve become easier, lessened some of the compulsive tendencies she’d acquired from his death.
A movement to her left broke into her thoughts. Aidan trudged across the beach toward her, balancing two coconut cups with tiny colorful paper umbrellas in the crook of one arm and a cooler in the other. The wind blew up his hair and her insides gave a funny jump of affection. Jaylin swallowed and glanced away. Lust she could deal with. Butterflies and roller-coaster dips in the stomach she couldn’t. And after reminding herself about her mother, how could she possibly still feel anything?
Her heart was becoming her worst enemy.
Aidan sat down beside her and handed her a drink. She took a sip, the wonderful coconut taste shocking her conflicting thoughts right out of her head. “Wow, Aidan. You missed your calling in life. You should’ve been a bartender.”
He chuckled. “Pretty damn good, right?”
“I’ve had plenty of piña coladas, but this is excellent.”
“It’s the secret ingredient.”
“Which is?”
“It wouldn’t be a secret if I told you, now would it? Besides, then you’d be able to make them yourself and I can’t have that.”
“It can’t be that hard to figure out.” She took another sip. She tasted the coconut and a hint of pineapple, but there was something else she couldn’t put her finger on. “What is that?”
“All I’m going to say is you can’t get a drink to taste like that by using premade bottle mixers. All fresh ingredients, baby, with a little added bonus.”
She swished another mouthful around and then gave up. “If you won’t tell me, you’ll unfortunately have to keep going back and making me more.”
He opened the cooler. “You can have as much as you want.”
The appearance of a full pitcher of the drink shocked a laugh out of her. “You’re always prepared, aren’t you?”
“Most of the time. I’ve been caught unprepared a few times and hated the outcome.”
Her smile faded, noticing the seriousness of the words under his carefree attitude. Their conversation from the night before came to mind. “Is that what happened with your career? You were caught unprepared?”
Sighing, he slumped back against the chair. “Already? Really?”
“I can’t help that your ‘unprepared’ comment made me think of last night. I’d like to know what happened.”
“There’s really not much to say. I took my dad’s obsession and magnified it. Little business takeovers didn’t appeal to me. Large corporations did. The harder and more complicated the takeover, the more satisfaction I got.”
“Is that how you got a reputation as a bad guy?”
“Businesses feared me. Knew if I got my sights on them, willingly or not, I would one day own them. I ate that up, thrived off it.”
“What changed?”
“My last takeover. Funny enough it wasn’t a huge corporate invasion. It wasn’t even an actual takeover. I saw a little homemade product that promised a fortune, and went after it in a way I’m ashamed of today.”
“What in the world did you do?”
“I sold out morals for money.”
She wished she was surprised by the admission, but after having a small taste of the other Aidan O’Connell, she knew he was capable of almost anything when something he really wanted was denied him. “I need more details here. Give it to me from the top.”
He winced. “I’m not sure if I want to tell you, Jaylin. You’ll hear what a slimeball I was.”
“I saw firsthand what a jerk you can be, Aidan, and I’m still here. Why? Because I know that isn’t who you want to be anymore. I promise not to judge you for past mistakes. Okay?”
Surprisingly, she realized she meant it. As much as she could use what he said to make it easier to walk away, she wouldn’t. Whatever he’d done hadn’t been done by the man sitting beside her now.
He stayed silent, his expression tense, lips pressed together.
“You can tell me.”
He looked at her, finally nodding. “I used to be a cold son of a bitch, Jaylin. I embraced it, feeling it was exactly what I had to be to succeed. All it took was one tiny woman to open my eyes to the monster I’d become.”
“A woman?” She shoved back the flare of jealousy that ignited in her chest. Now—or even ever—was not the time for such emotion.
“Tracy Platt. She was the manager of a family-owned general store out in Podunk, America. Population one thousand eighty. I was on my way to a business meeting on an especially difficult takeover. I’d taken the car for a change,