time she’d seen it, and she couldn’t help noticing that he didn’t have a single piece of holiday décor up – unlike her own house, which was already cluttered with pumpkins and fall flower displays. She caught a glimpse of Aidan through the window, pacing in front of the boat, and wondered what it was he actually did for a living. Something to do with finance, she thought one of his siblings had mentioned. Clearly, he was doing well, to be able to afford rent on a fortress like this, but he hadn’t said anything about it to her. Usually guys couldn’t wait to brag about their successes, but she already knew, Aidan was a private kind of guy.
A private kind of guy who was expecting her to do her job, not dawdle around, speculating about him.
Stella forced her focus back on the task at hand, and worked away for the rest of the afternoon, until everything was up and running. The sun was sinking lower over the woods when she stripped off her gloves, and went to find Aidan. He was in his office, frowning at his laptop screen.
“All set,” she said.
Aidan looked up. “Oh. Thanks.”
“I should give you a quick rundown,” she added. “So you can actually use it this time.”
“Great.” Aidan followed her through the kitchen to where the main panel was installed, and listened politely as she took him through the new sequence.
“On, off, up, down.” She pointed.
He finally cracked a smile. “It’s a little simpler than the last one, at least.”
“But it won’t order your groceries,” she quipped. His smile grew.
“I’ll have to live with that.” He paused. “Listen, I picked up a couple of books that Matty might like, if you don’t mind…”
Stella almost dropped her toolbox in surprise. “When did you meet Matty?” she asked.
“Just the other day,” he said. “He was cutting through here to get to the pond, carrying a whole library around in his backpack.”
Stella cringed. “I’m sorry, I told him about using the long route—”
“It’s fine.” Aidan cut her off. “Really. We got talking about the boat,” he added, smiling. “The kid seems to know everything.”
“Tell me about it,” Stella agreed.
“Anyway, I saw these at the bookstore…” Aidan went over to the side table and picked up a couple of beat-up paperbacks. “If you want to pass them on. I wasn’t sure, so it’s up to you.”
Stella slowly took them from him, her mind racing at the sweet gesture.
And as for her heart…
She felt a sudden rush of courage. What was she waiting for? Jenny was right. A guy like Aidan didn’t waltz into her life every day. Literally. Was she really going to ignore the breathless sparkle of electricity between them, or the way her body had fit in his arms, just right?
“Listen, about the other night…” she found herself saying. “I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t be,” Aidan answered quickly. “I shouldn’t have assumed… I was just, caught up in the moment, and we’d been having fun—”
“I did.” Stella said quickly. “Have fun. I just, well…” She tried to find the right words to describe her warring instincts, but eventually just let out a defeated laugh. There was no point in dancing around it, he may as well know what he was getting himself into. “The truth is, I’m pretty rusty at all of this,” she admitted.
“All of what?” Aidan looked at her quizzically.
“This.” She pointed back and forth between them. “Dating. Flirting. Men.”
He smiled. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Well, you shouldn’t.” Stella said, rueful. “Being a single mom isn’t exactly a ticket to a wild social life. Since Matty was born, I’ve kept things pretty low-key. I didn’t want things to get confusing for him,” she explained.
“That makes sense.” Aidan nodded slowly.
“But… If you wanted to go out sometime…” Stella said, her heart pounding fast again in her chest. He could have changed his mind, figured she was more trouble than she was worth now that he’d had a chance to think about it—
But Aidan smiled. “I do. Want to.”
She exhaled in relief.
“How about Friday night?” he asked.
“I’d love to,” she said immediately, then remembered that the date was circled in red on her calendar back at home. “Wait, oh no, I can’t!” she exclaimed. “Matty has a school trip, and I got roped into chaperoning,” she explained, cursing Mindy McDonnegal and the PTA. “We’re going to Boston, to the Science Museum, and I don’t think I’ll be much company after a day wrangling forty teenagers. And then