The Rebel's Return (Red River) (9 page)

He shut the book abruptly and then covered his face.

“That picture was right before you burst into tears because you were too scared to go on the Ferris wheel. Yup, you wailed like a little girl afraid of spiders.”

Christ. “You bring up my most humiliating moments.”

His father shrugged and then motioned for the book. Aiden didn’t pass it over. What the hell else was this man going to show him? In a way he was glad for his father’s stupid commentary because it allowed him not to think of what had just happened. He didn’t believe in much, but he’d felt something. Maybe if his mother was around or something, maybe he’d felt her… That was dumb. He stood abruptly. He needed to get the hell out of here.

“Sit your ass back down while I show you pictures.”

Aiden fell back onto the couch. “What the hell is with the nostalgia? You never showed us pictures when we were younger.”

His father looked over at him, that damn sheen back in his eyes. “I know, because I was weak, and selfish. But you need to know. You need to know the kind of person your mother was. You need to know the kind of family she built. You need to know all this because if I die…”

God. “You’re not dying. You’re going to honk that stupid horn in a few weeks when you’re all done radiation, and you’ll be fine. You’re being dramatic.”

“If I die, I need to know that at least you’ll know what we did as a family.”

He held his father’s stare for too long a moment and then settled back into the couch. “Okay. Show me the next one, but it had better not involve me crapping myself or humiliating myself.”

“Fine. That might take a few minutes. Sit tight.”

Chapter Nine

The day of her date with Aiden, the sun shone with extra brightness, the air was filled with a special, breezy warmth, and the birds chirped as though she were in a Cinderella movie. It was almost as though the universe wanted her to get together with Aiden again.

You’re an idiot, Natalia.

What was she doing was making up all sorts of reasons and looking for signs that would tell her it was okay to trust him again?

She zipped up her sweater and glanced down to make sure her running shoes were tied. She needed no accidents today. Jogging would be the perfect way to release some of the tension brewing inside her body. Things were going very well for week five. She was going to do this. Rolling her shoulders, she looked out to the empty path and took a deep breath. One earbud in and—she jumped when she felt her earbud pulled out. Aiden was there, blocking her view of the path. She had to admit he was a much better view.

“Good morning. I was hoping I’d find you here. I’ll join you for your jog.”

Oh God, no. “I like jogging on my own.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes. I do.”

“Maybe, but you’re afraid you can’t keep up with me.”

Dammit, of course that was the exact reason. She wasn’t admitting that, though. “You’re taller than me, so your strides will be longer. We aren’t good jogging partners. Go find someone taller. Evan Manning jogs on this trail every morning. Go find him.”

“It’s Friday. He’s having breakfast with his brothers.”

“Join them.”

He winced. “I haven’t been back to John’s since I drove the car through their front window.”

She rolled her eyes and tried not to feel sorry for him. “I’m sure he’s forgotten by now. He lets Jake in there.”

“Jake wasn’t driving. Let’s go. Time to jog. I’ll go easy on you.”

She took a deep breath. She could do this.

Fifteen minutes later she was dying. She was frantically trying to find a way out of this. She was going to have to orchestrate some sort of accident. She would either have to fall into the river or pretend to fall on some uneven piece of pavement. Yes, it was the only way, she thought, half-delirious now as her lungs burned. She hated jogging. It always beat her. Damn. Jogging. She eyed the river again and then the man beside her who hadn’t even broken a sweat and barely looked winded. God.

She was about to pitch herself onto the soft grass but she caught sight of her cousin, power walking her way toward them. Could this day get any worse?

Her cousin must have spotted her at the same time because she gave what looked like a very snide wave—if a wave could actually be called snide.

“Is that Francesca?” Aiden whispered to her. She could hear panic in his voice.

“The one and only.”

“Is she just as…uh, is she just like before?”

“Worse,” she said, slowing her jog. So maybe that was the one good thing that came out of running into Francesca.

“Aiden McCann, is that you?”

She heard Aiden grunt under his breath, and they both stopped. Francesca was dressed in black leggings and a red sports bra, with matching red lips. “Yeah. Hi.”

“Hello yourself,” she said, giving him some sort of waving pat that ran down his torso. Natalia could have sworn she saw him flinch. She hated that Francesca was seeing them together. She was going to have a field day with this one. She knew all about their relationship, everything he’d said to her, everything he’d done. “I never thought I’d see the two of you together again—and being civil, too.”

Natalia didn’t say anything, because what was she supposed to say? She was standing beside the man who’d broken her heart.

“Nat is an impossible woman to resist, and I had to beg her a few times to agree to go jogging with me.”

Her cousin’s red mouth formed a surprised
O
. Her gaze darted between the two of them.

“Well, that’s nice. I should probably keep up with my power walk. Have to make sure I fit into my wedding dress for next weekend!”

“Oh, you’re getting married?”

“What? Natty didn’t tell you? Your father didn’t tell you, either?”

“Nope.”

“He must have missed the local news segment on the upcoming wedding,” Natalia said under her breath. Francesca looked puzzled while Aiden chuckled beside her.

“Yes, I’m marrying Franco Benito.”

“Who?”

She almost would have laughed at Aiden’s expression except she knew where this was going. Francesca thought the entire world knew who her rich fiancé was.

“Yes, you remember Franco, don’t you? His parents own that chain of grocery stores. The Benito Bros.”

Aiden gave her a deadpan expression. “No…I don’t think they have any of those in Toronto.”

She shrugged. “Well, they’re very popular around the area. I thought his name would have rung a bell since he and Natty dated for a year after you left.”

She was going to push her in the river. Natalia shrugged when Aiden looked at her.

“We really need to get going now,” she said, clutching Aiden’s arm, distracted momentarily by the thick bicep under her fingers.

“Who is Franco?”

Natalia frowned. “He was insignificant.”

“I wouldn’t say that. I mean, it was a tragic thing that happened, and I, for one, will never forgive myself, and I know Franco feels the same way. It was a crime of passion.” She sighed theatrically. Natalia also noticed how Francesca leaned over, purposely showing off her cleavage as she pretended to tie her shoelace.

“What was the crime?”

“Oh, that’s not my place to say,” she said with a fake pout.

Natalia rolled her eyes. “See you later, Francesca.”

She tugged on Aiden’s hand and marched in the opposite direction. Then she broke out into a run. She was suddenly filled with renewed energy.

“So what the hell was that all about? Is it just my imagination, or is she even more irritating than before?”

She smiled. Somehow Aiden had figured her cousin out for the two-faced person she was right away. Once they were well down the trail, Aiden slowed the run to a walk.

“You couldn’t keep up, could you?” she said, holding her waist, trying not to look winded.

He grinned. “No, I wanted to talk to you and knew you wouldn’t be able to run and carry on a conversation.”

She let out a gasp of outrage and charged for him, not even bothering to think that would put her in bodily contact with him. Sure enough, her hands landed on his very well developed pecs and his arms wrapped around her waist. Oh God. Aiden, close up. His eyes were as blue as the clear fall sky, and she was forgetting why she needed to be careful. How often did a guy like this come into her life?

“Why would you go out with one of the Bernini brothers?” he said in a raspy voice.

She burst out laughing. “Benito.”

“Same thing.”

“I have really, really bad taste in guys,” she whispered and took a step back.

He winced. She maintained eye contact, not able to look away from the emotion she saw in his. There was that…something again. Regret maybe. Affection, attraction for sure. But it was the other that gave her hope that maybe he deserved a second chance.

She took another step away from him. “I, uh, should get going.”

He gave her a nod. “See you tonight, Nat.”

Chapter Ten

“Omigod!” Natalia yelled at the reflection in her washroom mirror. She tore out of the washroom and ran into her bedroom where Sabrina was shuffling through her closet. Sabrina turned to her, eyes widening as she spotted the horror.

“I have a dent in my hair!” she yelled, pointing at what Sabrina was already staring at. “I never should have taken your advice to curl it.”

Sabrina approached her cautiously. “I didn’t actually say to
curl
it. I said to give it waves…not…what is this?” she whispered, picking up the offensive chunk right by Natalia’s forehead.

“I don’t know,” she moaned. “I can’t get it out. And I don’t have time to wash it. He’ll be here in like ten minutes. This is all stupid Francesca’s fault for keeping me so long, blabbing about her perfect dress. Omigod, what am I going to do?”

Her friend had the good grace not to remind her that minutes before, Natalia had been drilling into her that this was not a date, and it didn’t matter what she looked like, and blah, blah, blah because she was a total hypocrite. It mattered a whole hell of a lot.

“Okay, stop panicking. I can fix this.”

Natalia crossed her arms. “No one can fix this.”

Sabrina yanked out a red cowl-neck cashmere sweater and thrust it at her. “Wear this. It’s perfect with the dark jeans you’re wearing. Put this on first, and then I’ll fix the dent.”

With a skeptical stare, she did as she was told. A minute later, her friend was ushering her into the washroom and commanding her to sit on the edge of the tub. “Okay, all I need is five minutes, a brush, and some pins.”

Natalia waved her hand at the mess on her countertop. “Everything is there.”

“Good. Now close your eyes and trust me.”

“This might be a good time for me to tell you about my theory.”

Natalia felt the curling iron tighten around her hair. “Perfect timing. Just keep your eyes shut while you speak,” Sabrina said.

“Sometimes I wonder if Aiden lied to me…about why he left…and the whole cheating thing.”

She held her breath and waited for her friend to reply. She was dying to see the expression on Sabrina’s face but resisted.

“Why do you think that?” Her voice was soft, cautiously optimistic.

She didn’t have much to go on. “I don’t know. It’s a gut feeling. He always changes the subject when I bring it up. Who knows, maybe it’s wishful thinking.”

“You need to ask him, Nat,” she whispered.

“But if I’m wrong, then I’m getting my hopes up all over again, and I’m worried it’ll open up an old wound I clearly have trouble getting over.”

Sabrina sighed theatrically. “You’re right. Except your instincts about people are usually good.”

“Oh, you mean except for the time I didn’t notice my cousin and boyfriend betrayed me?”

She didn’t have to open her eyes to know that Sabrina was wincing. “Yes, besides that time.”

She had to laugh. “Only you could say that while meaning the best for me.”

Five minutes later, Natalia opened her eyes to see that her friend had indeed worked a miracle. She’d somehow worked the crazy curls into soft, natural looking waves, and had pinned back the offensive pieces at the front. “I owe you one. You have no idea.”

Her friend gave her an odd smile. “Once this drama with Aiden is all over, I’ll collect.”

“What does that mean?”

The knock at the door caused them both to jump, and she made a mental note to find out what Sabrina was up to tomorrow. “Okay, you need to hide,” she whispered, shoving Sabrina into the hallway.

“Why? Are we sixteen?”

“No, but if Aiden knows you’re here, then he’ll assume that I think this date is a big deal and I needed my best friend here for makeup and hair and clothing advice.”

“But…you did. And why’s that so bad?”

Aiden knocked again, and she could feel sweat threatening. “Sabrina…”

“You know, I’ve realized life is too short to play games with your feelings and—”

“Omigod, stop. Hide in my bedroom,” she hissed. What was going on with her friend? Seriously, she chose now to impart her philosophy on feelings and…the third knock. Okay, deep breath and she yanked open the door and wanted to cry. Aiden was standing there, looking like every single memory she ever had of him and her future all wrapped up in an impossibly hot package. His dark hair looked slightly damp, definitely dishevelled. His jeans. Oh, his jeans. Nice enough that they weren’t ratty, but worn in the most
delicious
places, and clung to his lean hips and long legs. His leather jacket hugged his broad shoulders, and the varying shades of navy checks on his button-down shirt enhanced his eye color. And the fact that it was a button-down told her he’d cared enough to dress up.

“Hi, Nat. You look beautiful.”

She couldn’t speak. His eyes were telling her so much more than his deep voice. How was she going to survive this date and then let him go? Getting close to Aiden again was her biggest fear. And yet, not letting him close, and then watching him leave Red River, seemed to be even worse at this point. “Hi,” she said, busying herself with getting a long, open cardigan wrap and purse. He held the door open for her, but before she shut it, he yelled, “Bye,” to Sabrina.

She frowned at him, just as Sabrina yelled, “Bye,” to him.

“How did you know Sabrina was here?”

He gave her one of those mischievous, lopsided grins that showcased the dimple and the cockiness. She should find the entire thing revolting, but she didn’t, sadly. She followed him out to the back parking lot and stopped when she spotted the motorcycle. Oh no.

She shook her head and stopped walking. “Nope.”

“What?”

“Not getting on the back of that thing.”

“Why?”

Because it was like heading straight back into the past. It also involved body parts being smashed together in an entirely irresistible way. She wasn’t prepared for any of it. “We’ll take my car,” she said, pointing to her pink SUV.

“I will never again enter that vehicle.”

She frowned at him. “You have a thing against Volkswagens?”

“I have a thing against pink.”

“Well, then I guess I’ll go back upstairs.”

“Get your cute ass on the back of my bike, Nat.”

She feigned horror as a delicious heat wracked her body. Good Lord, the man could bark out orders and be unbelievably hot at the same time. “I find that offensive.”

His lips twitched. “Hot ass?”

She closed her eyes and prayed for self-control. “All of it.”

She opened them when she felt him take her hand and gently tug her in the direction of the bike. “See, I’m thinking you don’t want to be close to me because you won’t be able to control yourself.”

“Ha,” she scoffed, holding out her hand for the helmet. But he didn’t place it in her hand, he put it on her head, with an adorable little smirk. She stood there for a moment, fighting an internal battle with herself. The past was the past. What would one night do, really?

Twenty minutes later she realized one night could be absolutely devastating. Her arms tightened around Aiden’s rock hard abs as he pulled into the driveway of a house that held her best memories of the two of them. He parked, and she let go of him, angry. She scrambled off the bike and glared at him.

“Why are we here?”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t been here in ten years?” he asked softly. It was dusk, and a thin fog had settled around the old Colonial home that was perched on top of the hill that overlooked Red River. The windows were still boarded up, the weeds still overgrown, but they were different.

“I came here every day for a month after you left,” she whispered, hating that tears sprang into her eyes. “I thought you’d come back, and I was so pathetic that I actually wanted you to come back. You. The guy who I thought was my soul mate. The guy I thought I was going to marry. I defended you to everyone when we were going out. Everyone had said you were going to hurt me, and I refused to believe it. I was the only one who believed in you, and in the end you lied to me, Aiden.”

She was floored when she spotted tears in his eyes. He walked forward slowly until he was a breath in front of her. “I never deserved you. You were always too good for me, Nat, but none of my feelings for you were a lie. I was just too screwed up to do the right thing. But I’m a different guy. I’ve grown up,” he said gruffly. “Come here,” he said, tugging her hand.

She followed him up the porch, surprised when he opened the door. The house wasn’t pitch black yet. It didn’t look dirty and dusty. He led her to the room they always went in, and she stopped in the doorway, catching her breath. Aiden walked through and began lighting the candles and lanterns that were scattered about the room—some on top of the fireplace and in front of it. Some on the blanket laid out in front of the fireplace. She swallowed against the lump in her throat. The blanket had dishes and takeout containers of food, a bottle of wine, and a vase with pink roses in the middle. The room was clean, the hardwood floors shiny. He had gone to so much trouble, and now he was standing in the middle of the room, hands in his pockets, watching her. That hint of vulnerability that had always been her undoing shone in his blue eyes, in the slight tilt of his mouth. “This place cleans up nicely, eh?”

She bobbed her head up and down. “You did all this?” she whispered.

He gave her a nod before he went to light a fire in the old hearth. “Don’t worry, I had this thing inspected by Jake, and it’s safe for a fire,” he said once he’d lit it. “Come sit. You hungry? I hope you still like Chinese.”

She would have eaten anything with him right now. She sat down beside him on the blanket and didn’t say a thing as he poured them a glass of wine.

He lifted his glass to hers. “To second chances, and the woman kind enough to give me one,” he said in a raspy voice.

Tears sprung to her eyes. Oh God, she really was giving him a second chance, wasn’t she? “Aiden…”

“Here, eat.” He proceeded to fill her plate with copious amounts of food. “I hope it didn’t get too cold. I had to bribe them to let me use their takeout bag to keep everything warm.” Aiden was never nervous. He never babbled, but he was now.

Since it appeared she could no longer resist him, she wanted to know about him. His life in Toronto, his business. “So, tell me about your business, what you and Dylan created.”

He gave her a nod, finished chewing, and then spoke. “We didn’t know what to do at first. We had no money. Hadn’t done any post-secondary. We had a friend who lived in Toronto at the time—a crappy basement apartment in the worst neighborhood in town. We crashed there. Both of us found a job at a big mechanic shop and took on as many shifts as we could and tried to save our money. It was the turning point for us. We knew there was no money to waste on drinking, going out, it was make money or basically die.”

“Did you miss home?”

He reached out to cup the back of her head, and it took all her self-control not to lean into him, curl up on the blanket beside his hard body. “I missed you every single day. I’d look at your picture every night before I went to sleep and every morning when I woke up. It reminded me to be a better man, to maybe make something of myself to get you back.”

“Aiden,” she whispered not knowing whether she believed him.

He reached into the back of his jeans and pulled out his wallet. Her heart hammered in her chest as he slipped out a small wallet-sized picture. It was the two of them in the photo booth from the Red River fall fair. She’d been sitting on his lap, his head resting on her shoulder. She had been laughing. The picture was bent at the corners, worn. “Told you.”

She wanted to believe in him, wanted to read more into what he was saying. “Then why didn’t you come back?”

“After we worked there for six months, we both knew we’d never get ahead. It wouldn’t be enough. We each enrolled in some online entrepreneurism programs, with the goal of our own startup. We had the idea for the Mobile Mechanic, but we had no idea what to do with it. After another six months, we came up with a business plan. We worked our asses off, day and night, saving money, planning out the business. Then we needed some venture capitalists to make it happen.”

Somewhere along the way, he’d reached out to hold her hand. At first, it had sent that familiar jolt of recognition, of life, but now, he was rubbing her palm with his thumb, and it was sending a ribbon of desire through her core, making her have to focus very hard on what he was saying.

“Dylan and I were lucky that we found the right guys. The next two years, all we did was work. Got up at four every morning and went to sleep at eleven every night. We did nothing except build our business. We needed to prove to everyone that we weren’t failures. We slowly got rid of a lot of the anger we had and grew up. Dylan and I wanted to help our dad.”

“Then how could you stay away from him for so long?” She hadn’t meant it in a judgmental way. She knew his relationship with his father was complicated. She knew about how unstable Mr. McCann was. He’d always been so good to her, but it wasn’t that way with his sons.

He let go of her hand to run his hands through his hair. “We haven’t gotten along for years. We take care of him because of guilt, I guess. Yeah, he wasn’t great, but there’s a part of me that feels bad for leaving him all alone. But there was no way we could stay here. We would have screwed up the rest of our lives. We both needed to get away from Red River, and him, to figure out how to get our crap together.”

“Have you ever thought about moving back?”

He looked over at her, and she felt a warm heat spread through her body. “These last few weeks, I’ve thought about it every day.”

She looked down for a moment. “Your father would really like it.”