Taste (5 page)

Having heard his explanation, I was actually relieved that he had thought of it.

Then my breath hitched and my body went solid when I was hit with the Mack truck of realizations.

I tilted my head up to meet Aiden’s eyes and whispered, “my company,” before my vision went black, my body went slack, and I passed out.

After I’d come to on the couch outside Harrison’s office, with a very worried Aiden hovering over me, Harrison handed me the folder of information he’d collected on both Gavin and Special Agent Mark Barrett Lucas. He promised us that he’d look deeper into Gavin’s business dealings without raising alarm with the FBI and also find out whether Gavin had made any moves involving Jacobs Publishing.

It didn’t put my mind at ease but at least it meant—with Harrison and Aiden’s help—I could get some warning if Gavin did make a move against me.

When we left Harrison’s offices, Aiden told me he was taking me out for dinner before heading to the airport later that night. We parked the car in my underground parking garage then walked hand in hand around the corner to a great hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant.

Once we had been seated at a table in the back of the room, we ordered drinks and quickly chose a selection of entrées to share. I knew I was being quiet, and once our drinks had been delivered, Aiden wasted no time in getting me to talk.

“Are you sure you’re okay? I could call the captain, take a few more days . . .”

I reached across the table and put my hand over his. “I’m okay, I promise.”

Aiden looked into my eyes for a beat too long, and I knew by his tightened jaw that I was doing a shit job in hiding all of the indecision warring inside of me.

My mind was in overdrive. I needed to talk to my mom about Gavin and to my legal team to determine how much power he had now that he’d married my mother. When my father had died, the company was split fifty-one to forty-nine between my mother and myself. Mom decreed that I was to have operational control of the company on her behalf. This was because my mother had no interest in publishing; it was a passion that only my father and I shared, and she would never have dreamed of taking that—and the last part of him—away from me.

Aiden flipped his hand over and laced his fingers in mine, then lifted them up to his mouth and placed a soft kiss on my knuckles. “Aly, you fainted in shock. You’re not fine.”

“It was a surprise. I didn’t even consider that Mom wouldn’t protect herself or the company.”

“She probably wasn’t expecting an impromptu wedding,” Aiden replied, taking a swig of his beer bottle. “She also doesn’t suspect her husband.” His tone changed when he said that, and I couldn’t help but wonder if there was a double meaning behind his words.

“I should’ve told her.”

“You probably should’ve said something,” he conceded. “Even if you only have suspicions, it’s always better to tell someone if you are having doubts rather than keep it to yourself.” His eyes dropped from mine and he took another long drink, focusing his attention on anything other than me.

“Is everything okay, Aiden?”

His head jerked back only slightly before he let go of my hand and rubbed his palms over his face then through his hair. It was then that I noticed how tired he looked. “It’s fine, beautiful,” he said, with a small smile. I could tell that he wasn’t committed to it.

“I’m sorry. You didn’t sign on for any of this,” I started to say, just as a waitress placed a selection of small plates on our table.

Aiden looked down at his watch then back at the food before raising his eyes to mine again and changing the subject. “We should eat. I’ll have to leave for the airport soon.”

My heart sank. He looked weary. His eyes were tired and his jaw was tight, but I realized it was more than that. When I thought back over our weekend together, he’d been distracted. He’d still been his usual attentive self—now more so than in the past because of the step forward we’d taken in our relationship—but even still, I still sensed there was something he was holding back, something he
wasn’t saying. Looking at him now I could see it clear as day, but rather than push him, I decided it was better to give him time. I knew Aiden and I trusted him, because he had never given me a reason not to. I knew he would tell me what was troubling him when he was ready and in turn, I hoped that whatever it was, we’d be able to work past it. That included whatever effect Barrett . . . Mark . . . whatever his name was, had over me.

Then again, I also felt guilty for subconsciously being distant from him—from
us
—since Friday night as well. I was worried that Aiden had read more into it than what it really was.

Before we’d left, Harrison had handed me a piece of paper with Barrett/Mark’s address on it and now that I was acutely aware of its presence in my pocket, I couldn’t put him to the back of my mind like I had been doing since I saw him again. I planned on spending the next two weeks before Aiden’s return expelling the man from my head so that the next time Aiden and I were together, he would have my full and undivided attention.

He deserved nothing less than all of me, that I knew for sure.

“Okay,” I replied, and sent him a full-on genuine smile. “What should we try first?”

He grinned back at me and for the first time since we left Harrison’s office, it was genuine.

After we’d finished dinner, we made our way back to my apartment building, a comfortable yet uneasy silence stretching between us.

“Aiden?” I asked when we reached my front door. He must’ve been a million miles away, because his head jerked in surprise when I spoke.

“Sorry,” he said with a frown. “I’m just tired.”

I opened the door and we both walked inside, I dropped my purse on the couch and walked toward the kitchen to make a coffee. “Would you like a drink?” I asked, turning around to see him standing next to the front door with his bag he’d packed before the meeting. “Aiden?”

“Aly, I think it’s time that I left,” he said, and I stopped breathing.

“You’re leaving?”

“I need to get to the airport, and I think it’s best that I catch a cab.”

“Oh.” My voice was soft, not at all hiding my shock. “Did I do something wrong?” I walked toward the door, stopping in front of him and he dropped his bag to the floor before lightly placing his hands on my hips.

“You didn’t do anything, Aly. It’s been a long weekend, and I just think you need some space to deal with everything that’s going on around you.”

“No . . .” He took a step forward and slid one of his hands up the side of my body until he was cradling my jaw in a move that I’d come to love. He stared at me for a long time, his eyes scanning my face while he ran his thumb over my cheek. It was like he was committing it to memory.

“I want you to know something, and I want you to promise me you’ll remember it.” His voice was as gentle as his touch, and I couldn’t help but lean into his hand.

“Okay,” I answered on a whisper.

He took a deep breath and the look in his eyes intensified. “I’ll fight for you, Aly, till I know there’s nothing left to fight for. I’ve waited a long time to have you here in my arms, giving me a shot, and I’m not the type of man to walk away. But you’ve got to sort out whatever it is that you have with the man who has you holding back from me, from us.” He paused and gave me a gentle squeeze before tearing at my heart a little more. “But don’t for one minute doubt my feelings for you. I’ll wait a lifetime if it means making you mine.”

“No . . .” I whisper hoarsely, the lump in my throat threatening to suffocate me. “I need you, Aiden. I don’t know why he does this to me.”

“Then find out, beautiful, because I finally got you, and I’m not going to lose you now.”

“You won’t,” I replied instantly, but my cracking voice gave me away.

“Aly, take some time. You know where he is. You can get the answers you need now, and when you know who you truly want, then I’m only a phone call away.”

“And a flight,” I joke half-heartedly.

“And that.” Then he gave me a slow, gentle kiss, his tongue sweeping into my mouth before he pulled back. He took a step back then bent down, picked up his bag, turned to open the door and walked through it.

And in doing so, the cataclysmic time bomb that had been silently ticking away in my chest was detonated, blowing everything I thought I knew it wanted into smithereens.

Aiden hadn’t called me. I texted him to check that he’d arrived safely, hoping that it would spark a conversation. It didn’t.

I’d met with my legal team on the Monday morning, and they’d told me the news I didn’t want to hear. If my mother chose to sign over her voting rights to Gavin for whatever reason, he would have the power to remove me as the head of the company if he wanted to. In order to stop this from happening, I needed to make sure my mother didn’t give Gavin any power within Jacobs Publishing.

But before I confronted her with my doubts about her new husband, I needed proof.

To get that proof, I needed to talk to the man who had plagued my thoughts since the moment I met him.

Tuesday, I’d sent Aiden a text and got no reply—again. I knew what I had to do. It was exactly what he’d told me. In order to get Barrett out of my system, I had to confront him. I needed to find out exactly what had happened between us and why I was inadvertently involved in whatever scandal he was investigating. He was also the only man who could give me the ammunition I needed to protect both my mother and my father’s legacy.

On Wednesday, I gave up. It was inevitable. I needed to see him—for my own sanity more than anything else, because if I kept spending my nights staring at that damn piece of paper with his address on it, then I
would
end up losing my mind.

Grabbing the address, I stood outside the dark brown wooden door of Barrett’s apartment. My clammy hands fisted at my side as my heart pounded in my chest. The anger and hurt I’d felt was still strong, yet I found myself more desperate for answers and if I had to be honest, I was also anxious to see him again.

Most of all, I wanted to know how spending only a few hours with this man had turned my life inside out.

Before that trip to Vegas, I’d been comfortable, settled. I had my work, and I had Aiden—albeit I hadn’t been honest about my feelings toward him. I was happy, I was good. Everything was right in my world.

My thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and in front of me stood the man of the hour. He wore a fitted navy blue tee and loose-hanging sweat pants sitting low on his hips. I’d never seen him so casual, and I stared at him unwittingly for a few seconds until he cleared his throat.

My eyes shot up to his face to see his blank ones, making it impossible for me to read him. His closed off expression brought all of my anger back tenfold. Without waiting for an invitation, I stormed past him and into the apartment.

“Alyssa, what—”

I whirled around to face him. “You don’t get to talk right now. I’ve come here to get answers. I need to know about Gavin Barnes, I need to know why you were investigating him, and I need to know it all so that I can protect myself and protect my mom. That is why I’m here.”

His head jerked back and his blank façade cracked when I caught his lips twitching. “I see.”

“So will you tell me the truth this time,
Mark
? Or are you going to keep lying to me, like you’ve done from the very beginning?”

He gritted his teeth when I said his first name, but didn’t say anything to me. He swept his arm out in front of him and gestured toward the living area. My anger depleted slightly when I saw his jaw tighten but then I remembered what he did, the way he made me feel, the things he made me want and then finally, how used I’d felt when I’d found out the whole thing was a lie. When all of that came back to me, my anger returned.

I strode over to the leather couch and sat down, my arms and legs crossed in a purposeful closed-off stance.

He walked over toward the corner of the lounge and stopped in front of a glass liquor cabinet. “Would you like a drink, Alyssa?” he asked. His voice was low yet warm, and it brought back memories of the things he’d said to me on the plane, the reaction he could elicit from me whenever he got close.