Bottom Line: Callaghan Brothers, Book 8 (25 page)

Aidan didn’t believe that was the only reason.  He’d seen how people looked out for her.  That wasn’t the sort of thing a community did unless they truly cared.  Conlan O’Leary had even said they called her an angel.  The only one who couldn’t see how special she was, was Mary.

They rode a while in silence, then she said, “Does it bother you?  Not being a part of it?”

“No, not really.  It used to.  But now I have you, and that’s all I need.  Besides,” he said with a grin, “I prefer a quieter environment.”

“I know what you mean,” Mary said with a wry grin of her own.  “Growing up, I always wished I had lots of brothers and sisters.  Now, after this afternoon, I’m kind of glad I was an only child.”

“I
don’t need to go to the office today,” Aidan protested as Mary politely but firmly pushed him out of the flower shop.  It was her first day back since her surgery, and Aidan was worried that she would overdo it.

For someone used to taking care of herself, it was a bit overwhelming.  She loved that he wanted to pamper her, and his concern was appreciated, but after two weeks of being waited on hand and foot she was more than ready to get out of the house and
do
something.

“Yes, you do.  I’ll be fine, Aidan.”

He didn’t look convinced.  “It’s only for a couple of hours,” Mary said reasonably, “and if anything happens, Andrew is here.”

Aidan zeroed in on that with laser-like intensity.  “What do you think is going to happen?  Are you sure you’re feeling up to this?  Did the walk over here tire you out?”

She smiled patiently, stroking his arm in calm, petting motions.  “Aidan.  I’m fine.  The walk was wonderful.  And I’m not going to overdo it today, I promise.”

He still looked skeptical, but acquiesced.  “Okay, but if you start feeling bad, I want you to call me right away and let Andrew take you home.”

“Okay.”

“I mean it, Mary.”  He stroked the backs of his fingers over her cheek. 

“I will,” she promised. 

Aidan looked over Mary’s head to where Andrew was watching with undisguised amusement.  “You’ll make sure she doesn’t do anything too strenuous?” 

Andrew nodded. 

“And you’ve got my personal cell, yes?”

Another nod, this one accompanied with an ill-concealed grin.

“Alright, then,” Aidan said, exhaling.  He cupped the back of Mary’s head with his hand, then kissed her soundly right there in the front of her flower shop in a clear show of possession.  “I’ll see you later.  And don’t even think about doing anything when you get back home this afternoon.  I’m bringing dinner.”

“Good Lord, woman, that man has it bad for you,” chuckled Andrew, shaking his head as he joined Mary in the window and watched Aidan walk away.  They weren’t the only ones following him with their eyes. 

“Well,” Mary said on a sigh as two older women simply stopped on the sidewalk and stared, openmouthed, as Aidan inclined his head and wished them a good morning, “I guess everyone knows he’s been staying at my place.  My reputation’s shot to hell.”

Andrew laughed.  “About damned time, too.  You were making the rest of us look bad, you know.”  At Mary’s disbelieving look, he said, “Oh, come off it.  You know it’s true.  And you wouldn’t have a problem with your rep if you’d just marry the man.”

Mary’s eyes grew to the size of saucers.  “You know about that?”

“Yes.”  Andrew’s eyes sparkled.  “He’s laid public claim, darlin’.  You and your rich boy toy are the hottest thing to hit Birch Falls in years.”

“You are taking way too much enjoyment out of this.”

“I’m just happy to see you finally getting what you deserve, Mary,” Andrew said, still smiling but his tone more serious.  “If anyone deserves a happy ending, it’s you.  And you can’t get much happier of an ending than Aidan Harrison, sweetheart.”

“You knew, didn’t you?” Mary asked, lifting one of the gardening aprons from a peg behind the counter and slipping it over her head.  Andrew raised an eyebrow and pinned her with a look.

“I know lots of things.  Which one are you talking about?”

Mary rolled her eyes.  “About Aidan.  You knew who he was, didn’t you?”

“Of course I did. 
Everyone
knows who Aidan Harrison is.  Hell, Mary.  A millionaire moves into the next town, one who just happens to be one of the most eligible and sought after bachelors in the country, and people tend to notice.”  He gave her a stern look, but his eyes twinkled with amusement. 

Mary blushed, wondering once again what Aidan saw in her. 

“Then again,” Andrew drawled, “maybe it’s that demure naïveté that snagged him in the first place.  He’s probably never met anyone as completely unaffected as you before.”

The rosy tint upon her cheeks darkened.  “I’m not sure how to take that, Andrew.  It sounds nice when you say it, but it feels kind of insulting.”

Andrew laughed.  “Definitely not an insult, Mare.  Don’t you know how attractive you are?  Soft spoken, gentle, kind.  You couldn’t give two shits how much money someone has or what they do for a living.  No wonder Harrison has it bad for you.  You must be like catnip to him.  Irresistible and intoxicating at the same time.”

Embarrassed, she turned away.  “I cannot believe you just called me catnip,” she said, lifting up a plastic pot of the stuff and frowning at the small green spiky leaves.  It wasn’t the most attractive of plants, but it was a huge favorite with local cat lovers.

He laughed again.  “Just saying.”

It didn’t take long for Mary to lose herself among the plants.  The humid heat of the greenhouse, the smell of damp earth, the scents and colors of hundreds of blooms bursting all around her was a balm to her soul.  This was where she felt most at peace, her hands deep in potting soil, nurturing and tending to create something beautiful.

It had been nearly a week since she’d been at the store, and it was clear that her plants missed her.  Andrew did what he could, and Becky, the shy high-school girl with glasses, was still learning.  It would take several days to get things back to where they should be, and Mary was looking forward to it.  It was nice to feel needed, even if it was only by her plants.

And Max.  Max needed her.  But did Aidan? 

Mary’s thoughts returned unerringly to him, just as they had from the very first night they’d met.  There was something about him that made it all but impossible
not
to think of him.  Aidan Harrison had somehow burrowed deep into her mind and her heart (not to mention her body) and conveniently set up shop.

He said he loved her.  He said she was his heart.  He even said he was going to ask her to marry him.

But he hadn’t, had he?

He said he was waiting for her to be ready, but was that really true?  Or was he, on some level, biding his time, waiting to see the results of the biopsies before taking that last, final step? 

Oh, he was pampering her, taking care of her, saying and doing all the right things.  He even took her to meet his sister.  And he had shown her the ring.  But none of that was as irreversible as a proposal, was it?  Maybe he would find out something else about her and just stop coming by again.  It had been so easy for him to do so once.  What guarantee was there that he wouldn’t do so again?

And, if she hadn’t been in the hospital when he’d finally called, would she even be thinking about this?  Or would Aidan be spending his nights elsewhere?

The thought was too painful to contemplate for more than a brief moment or two.  No matter what, Mary knew she was in love with him.  It was one of the things that was making this so hard.  If she didn’t want him so much, didn’t want the fairy tale ending so badly, she wouldn’t be feeling so conflicted.

When she was with him, it was impossible to doubt anything he said.  One look from those golden eyes, one masterful stroke from those long, skilled fingers and she was lost.  She wasn’t complaining; she’d never felt as good as she did when she was in Aidan’s arms.  But it tended to wreak havoc on her normally logical, reasonable thought processes.  Here, at least, in the peaceful quiet of her little sanctuary, she could try to be objective.

“Time’s up, Mare.”  Andrew stuck his head through the inner greenhouse door.  “Time to go.”

“In a little bit,” Mary called absently.  Perhaps it was cowardly of her to attempt to hide behind the trio of enormous weeping ficus trees she’d been trimming, but she was not an overly proud woman.  She thought she’d gotten away with it, too, until she felt the brush of familiar fingers at her elbow.

“Nice try, baby,” Aidan murmured in her ear, making her nipples instantly harden.  “I knew I couldn’t trust you.”

“You can trust me,” she sniffed indignantly, wishing it sounded a bit more mature and a smidge less petulant.  “I just lost track of time.”

He chuckled, his hands tracing along the sides of her waist, hesitating along the swells of her breasts before beginning their descent.  “You know, you’re sexy when you’re in your element like this,” he crooned, moving closer behind her. 

His fingers played about the waistband on her pants, skimming along her skin.  While the apron covered her fully from the front, only thin strings tied at the back.  Before she could fully realize what he was doing, her pants were down around her ankles and those wicked fingers were probing her slick folds.

She inhaled sharply, and before she’d let the breath back out, he was sliding into her.

“Aidan!” she hissed, grabbing on to the bases of two of the ficuses, “we are in a
greenhouse
.  Made of
glass
.”

“Mmmm,” he said, leaning over to kiss her neck.  “Good thing the windows are foggy then.”

He slid in and out of her as if they had all the time and privacy in the world, long, lush strokes that filled her deeply.  When he felt her tensing around him, he wrapped his hand around her mouth and pumped hard and fast, throwing her over the edge.  The rush of wet heat deep inside her told her he’d followed right after her.

Aidan gracefully pulled up her pants and did up his own before turning her around and kissing her passionately.  “Who knew that plants could be so arousing?  I think we should have a whole room filled with nothing but plants and pillows and a Liberator chair or two.  What do you say?”

He pushed from behind, his larger, harder body like a sexy bulldozer until she was out of the greenhouse and back in the shop.  Mary was speechless.  Aidan grinned at her as if he hadn’t just made love to her in the middle of the afternoon in her own greenhouse where anyone might have walked in and seen them. 

Although she had to admit, it
had
been exciting.

“Come on, baby, a deal’s a deal.  Half days this week.”  Aidan had deftly managed to remove her apron and was holding out her coat for her to slip her arms into while Andrew and Becky watched.  Andrew looked amused.  Becky looked star-struck.

Aidan gently pushed her out the door.  “Don’t you have anything better to do, like run a multi-million dollar resort or something?”” she griped, but there was no bite to her words.  It was hard to come across as genuinely annoyed when all she really felt like doing was purring. 

He gave her a crooked smile.  “Better?  No, Mary, there is nothing more important to me than taking care of you.  Besides,” he added with a wink as he pulled away from the curb.  “that is exactly where we’re going.”

“I’m not dressed to go to the Celtic Goddess!” she panicked, looking at the dirt still under her fingernails.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

No amount of cajoling would get him to change his mind.  Thankfully, he did allow her to dash into a woman’s restroom just off the gleaming gold and white marble lobby to attempt to scrub out some of the potting soil and run a brush through her hair.  She glanced in the floor to ceiling mirrors, feeling woefully underdressed in her jeans and sweater amidst all the marble and crystal. 

“Aidan, I am not happy about this,” she said, looking more than a little uncomfortable when she emerged and sought out the comfort and shadow provided by a massive potted fern.

“What?”

“I don’t belong here, Aidan, not like this.”

He frowned.  “Why not?  You’re beautiful.”

“I’m in jeans and you’re in Armani,” she hissed.  “Which one of us do you think stands out?”

For the first time, he seemed to realize she was uncomfortable.  “Lex wears jeans all the time.”

“Lexi could make a paper bag look attractive.  And she’s the reason this place even exists.”

“You’re with me, Mary.  No one would dare say anything.”

“That’s kind of the point, Aidan.  I am with you.  I don’t want to humiliate you.”

Mary never saw a man go so completely, eerily still before.  “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

Aidan stared at her in disbelief.  “Do you think I fell in love with you because of what you wear?  Or because of your hair or your makeup or any of that other bullshit?  I fell in love with you because you are
real
, Mary.  Because you are more beautiful and sexier to me in those jeans than any other woman is in Dior.  And the only way you could possibly humiliate me is by leaving me hanging here, Mary.  People are starting to get concerned that I’m getting a little too friendly with this fern.”

Mary allowed him to tug her out of the shadows.  She noticed one or two curious glances their way, but no one was stupid enough to glare outright.

In the elevator, Aidan caged her body into the corner.  “You are mine, Mary, and I want everyone to know it.”

It was hard to breathe with him that close, but she didn’t need air, not when Aidan’s scent was filling her lungs.  “Maybe next time you’ll allow me to change out of my dirty work clothes first?”

“I like you dirty,” he growled, pressing his body up against her.  “Have you ever had sex in an elevator, Mary?”

“Uh... no.”

He grinned lasciviously as the car stopped moving and a soft chime announced their arrival.  “We’ll put it on the to-do list then.  Right now, though, there’s something I want to show you.”

Aidan’s office, like his townhouse, oozed good taste and money.  He held the corner office on the top floor, with a stunning view of the valley and the ridge of mountains that rimmed it.