After blowing Dad a quick kiss, I picked up the stack of papers on the desk and opened up all the bills. I sat down and logged into my bank account to pay the electric and cable bills that were due. Once I had all that paperwork cleared up, I began to file the papers. As I placed the last one in the appropriate folder, a piece of lined paper dropped to the floor.
Aiden’s phone number and flight information.
I sighed and picked it up. He had seemed very disappointed at my refusal, and I supposed I should at least text him and wish him a safe flight. Maybe we could make plans to have coffee or something when he returned. That was safe enough, wasn’t it?
Pulling my phone from my purse, I added Aiden Hunter into my contact list and hit the “send message” button to create a text. I stared at the blank screen for a moment before typing “Have a good flight!”
I didn’t hit send.
Instead, I deleted the text and stared at the blank message screen again. Maybe I shouldn’t send him anything. Maybe I should keep our brief encounter just that—brief. Sending him a message would give him my phone number, and doing that wasn’t the safe way to go. I still didn’t know much of anything about him.
He’s probably a drug dealer.
I shook my head. The thought wasn’t fair, and I knew it.
Fair or not, the logical and safe thing to do was to forget all about my weekend with the handsome, tall, and muscled stranger. I wasn’t a love-struck child, and I wasn’t a character in a romance novel. Real life just didn’t work that way.
I woke early the next morning, and my very first thought was of Aiden. There were fleeting images of him in my head, walking along a sandy beach with waves crashing around his tattooed feet.
Had I been dreaming about him?
Unable to go back to sleep, I gave up and made coffee. It was still dark outside, and I wasn’t hungry yet. I flipped on the television, which was tuned to one of those home and garden channels and showing one of those house-hunting programs. Coincidentally enough, the couple on the show was looking for a house in Miami.
“Figures,” I mumbled as I stared at the screen. The realtor was discussing all the wonderful sights in the area, the beautiful beaches and fantastic restaurants within a ten-minute walk of the million-dollar condo in question.
Did Aiden live in a pricey complex like that?
“Not going to happen,” I mumbled out loud. I tossed my phone onto the coffee table and hauled out my laptop to check my work emails. There were usually a few I could get out of my inbox before Monday morning, and I liked to have those taken care of before getting into work the next day. Along with a few notices about a weekend upgrade that had apparently gone horribly wrong, there was a meeting request from my boss to discuss project initiatives for the next year.
The meeting was set to last for three hours.
Not only did it double-book me for two of the hours, it also ran through lunchtime. There was no mention of bringing lunch in, and my schedule for the rest of the afternoon wouldn’t even leave me time to run to the refrigerator to grab a packed lunch.
“Bastard.”
It would be the sixth time he’d done the same thing to me since he’d started working there. He would schedule half-day meetings with no break and then expect everyone to just deal with missing lunch. Word at the water cooler was that he was watching for people who left early, too. It pissed me off, but of course I hadn’t said anything. I’d fantasized about rubbing tar into his perfectly ridiculous hairstyle, but I hadn’t said anything.
“You know what? Fuck him.” The harsh word felt strange coming out of my mouth, but I didn’t care. I opened up a new email and quickly typed up a message to Chia Head saying I was taking the week off. I clenched my teeth as I hovered the cursor over the send button.
I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t.
Why not take the chance?
It was Aiden’s voice, not my own, in my head. I looked at the clock and then again checked the piece of paper Aiden had given me. He said his flight didn’t leave until noon, and it was only a little after nine o’clock now.
Up on the shelf, Wonder Woman seemed to be leaning forward, urging me to do it. If I squinted my eyes, I might have imagined Princess Leia nodding. Buffy co
uld have been thinking about sharpening some new stakes, just in case.
“I could get fired,” I said to the girls, then rolled my eyes at myself before they had the chance. I wouldn’t get fired for such a thing. It seemed to take a major act of God to fire the idiots who didn’t get any work done at all, and I always had great reviews.
I picked up my phone and stared at it for a moment before I typed another message.
I’ve decided to go with you.
Again, I did not hit the send button. It didn’t matter if I wanted to go; I couldn’t. The very thought was insane.
Wasn’t it?