He agreed with a nod. “I still have the house in Vegas, but I’ve put it up for sale. I bought this place a week ago.” He smiled. “I thought it suited me better and that it was time for a change.”
Cora gave a slight shake of her head. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I’m ready to talk now.”
She approached cautiously and stopped only a foot away. Her hands hung loosely at her sides and she drew in ragged breaths. A single tear ran down her cheek as she dropped to her knees. “Ready to talk about what?”
He drew in her spicy scent and desire curled through him. Weeks he’d been without that intoxicating aroma. His cock hardened under fierce need for her. A sense of rightness overtook him. His body ached to be connected to her. His heart reached to hold her.
Not yet.
He’d prepared for this night, thinking over every moment and each word he would say. Now, with Cora there and with the swell of emotion, his mind went blank. He couldn’t find the right words or the perfect thing to say to her to fix what he’d done.
Words could never fix this; only action could repair the damage.
Aidan cursed the way her eyebrows squished together. He didn’t want to cause her any more pain or confusion. He wanted to ensure she never hurt again. With his focus on that purpose, he turned to the box on the dark wide-plank floor and pushed it toward her. “Look through that.”
She scooted forward on her knees and peeked inside the box. With a gasp, she lifted her head and touched her parted lips. He nodded in understanding of her surprise. “That’s my life with Lily.”
Cora watched him, not even breathing. “Why do you want me to look at this?”
“Because I need you to,” he mu
rmured.
He couldn’t hide from her any longer. Cora had given all of herself to him, without ever asking for anything in return. She needed to know him, all the little pieces that made him who he was. For her, he had faced his demons. To understand him, she needed to hear about the demons that consumed his life.
Cora regarded him and her gaze clouded, going distant. After a gulp, she grabbed out the picture frame that Aidan had kept of Lily in the kitchen. He studied Cora’s face as she looked to the photo. Her eyes softened with her smile. “Lily was very pretty. She looks happy in this picture.”
Though a pang thumbed his heart, he managed, “She was happy.”
Cora peeked up through her long lashes, her gaze softened. “Aidan, this hurts you. Why do you want me to look at this?”
“Because I hurt you.” He shifted in his seat, his muscles rigid. “I need you to understand Lily.” Cora had protected him from the torment of his past. Tonight, he faced what haunted him.
Her teary eyes searched his before she sighed dejectedly. “Okay.” She placed the picture frame on the floor next to the box and pulled out the photo album of Aidan and Lily’s monthlong trip to Europe—a trip that had been filled with laughter, love, and adventure.
“Europe, hmm?” Cora flipped through the pages. “I’m jealous.” She studied each picture in the way he expected from Cora … carefully. She took her time and Aidan wondered over what she thought of when she looked at him holding Lily or posing with her in front of well-known sights.
After a few more flips of the pages, she lifted her head with beaming eyes. “Tell me about your trip.”
Aidan smiled softly. While some women would be bothered, Cora seemed more focused on Aidan’s experience. Why hadn’t he seen that before? All the questions she’d asked over the years had been done in a cautious way, never to dig too deep or be too personal and obvious, but she asked enough to know him better. “Lily and I had worked a case that was especially hard on her, because it involved a child.”
He remembered how long Lily slept after that case, and the dark circles beneath her eyes. “We went there to unwind and reconnect.” He looked to the picture of Lily standing in the bustling flea markets. “She loved Athens.” At the memory of her rushing around and buying silly little things and then getting drunk later, he grinned at Cora. “She especially enjoyed the taverns.”
“She sounds like my kinda gal.” Cora laughed.
Aidan nodded. “You would have liked her, I’m sure of that.” In fact, they were a lot similar, only Lily hadn’t been as humorous as Cora. She had an old soul. Cora, though, beamed with an inner glow that brightened his life. She made him laugh, and that had been exactly what he needed during his dark days.
After she flipped the page, he said, “In that next picture, we spent the day visiting all the ruins …” Lost in thoughts of Lily, Aidan spent the next hour sharing story after story about their life. He went through all the special moments behind the pictures. He shared what made their relationship what it was, and why it’d been so hard for him when Lily had died.
By the time the box was empty and everything was all in a pile, Cora heaved a sigh. She picked up the original picture of Lily, and Aidan knew why she was drawn to that picture. It was his favorite of Lily, too. Lily hadn’t known he had taken the picture that day at a picnic for a fund-raiser with his law firm, but she’d been laughing.
The picture had captured Lily’s soul.
Cora ran her fingers over the picture before she placed the frame in her lap. Her features were gentle, as was her voice. “I’m sorry you lost her, Aidan.”
He shook his head slowly, resting his arms on his legs. “That’s not why I showed you this.” He paused, forgetting everything he had planned to say. He spoke from his heart. “I showed you this so you’d understand what I had. I need you to feel that helplessness I felt when she died.” He scrubbed his hand over his face, avoiding her gaze. “I had to accept that in a world where all I crave is control, that one time I had none.”