Ayden's Secret (4 page)

Charlie cried freely. She hadn’t cried over Michael in a few years, but Stephanie was so much like her sister, wide eyed and innocent. Charlie always had to look out for her. Explain the world to her. Ayden knew that; he knew all her secrets, her fears. Well, almost all of them. The safety of his arms was almost as overwhelming as her sister’s memory. Charlie remembered how he held her all those years ago. She had to get it together. She had to stop crying. As long as Ayden saw her as a broken soul, he would never see her as a real woman. She took several deep breaths and pulled herself together.

“I need a shower.” Charlie pushed out of his arms gently. “It’s so humid around here my hair will be sticking out all over the place from now on.”

He tucked a soft tendril behind her ear and pushed the long soft bangs to the side. “Showers at the end of the hall. You want me to wait up for you?”

“No, I’ll be fine. It’s been a long day. I should probably get some sleep.” Charlie drew another deep breath. Only this time it shuddered because of his touch not her tears. He was so attentive. Why no woman had snatched him out from under her was beyond comprehension.

“Long flight?” Ayden pressed his forehead to hers. He couldn’t resist touching her. He had held her before, but this felt different.

“No, I took a bus.” Charlie reluctantly pulled away from his gaze and started away.

“Bus?” Ayden didn’t like that one bit. Charlie was afraid of people, of crowds and strangers. He was amazed she would go to an airport and take a long flight. The fact that she rode a bus didn’t add up.

“Not all the way. I sold my car, picked up another one, then dumped it and rode the bus the rest of the way.” Charlie didn’t give him the chance to probe farther. She headed up the steps quickly. It was only a matter of time before he stewed in that revelation and came after her.

***

She was right. The knock on the bathroom door sounded and she waited. The door opened, and she knew he was there.

“Charlie, what the hell is going on?” Ayden stood in the bathroom looking at the shower curtain waiting for a reply. He looked around, and then his thoughts began drifting from anger to inquiry. On the floor were her clothes. The jean shorts, a thong, a pretty silk bra and the Tshirt. It was then he fully realized she was naked in there. He was so steamed that she hadn’t told him why she had tracked him down in the first place he just barged in.

“I told you. I need a new start.” Charlie’s body was on full alert. He was right on the other side of the curtain. She was naked. God she wished he would draw the curtain and step in the shower with her.

But she knew better.

“Charlie.” Ayden wanted it to sound angry, but it sounded weak and strangled, lustful.

The way he said her name spread like fire from her head to her toes. She took a deep breath and drew the curtain back peeking out at him. “What?”

“Nothing.” Ayden had to get out of the bathroom. He could see her face. She was looking at him, and he had his fingers on her pajamas. He would have to get answers tomorrow. “Good night, darlin’.”

“Good night, Ayden.” Charlie sighed. He was stroking her pajamas when she looked out at him. Then he ran, the big bad Wolf. Wasn’t it supposed to be the other way around?

***

Ayden hit the shower again. Another cold one was in order. He hit the CD player and listened to the King. “Devil in Disguise” filled the bathroom, and Ayden thought how appropriate the song was for the moment. Indeed Charlie looked, walked, and talked like an angel. However, she was hiding something. He knew her well enough to know that. He hoped that none of the scenarios he had running through his mind were true. A woman only ran if she was afraid. That meant there would be a man involved. The thought of a man hurting Charlie made his body itch with anger.

Ten minutes later, he was in the hall. Her door was closed. He opened it without knocking. She was asleep, her blonde hair spiraling around her head. Her lips parted. Damn if she didn’t look like she wanted to be kissed even in her sleep. Satisfied that she was safe he returned to his own bed, where he tossed and turned all night. He was dreaming of Charlie one minute, kissing her, touching her. Then he began dreaming of losing her, finding her like he found Michael, like he found the others.

***

Down the street, another man tossed and turned. Malcolm finally left the couch and opted for the recliner. It was then he heard Evelyn.

“What the hell are you doing down here?” Evelyn seemed shocked to find him in the living room. Stephanie and Malcolm had arrived this morning with Megan and Chase.

“Joshua said I had to sleep on the couch.” Malcolm gave her a look of duh!

“Joshua said.” Evelyn rolled her eyes. “Two things. First, you tell anyone where my snacks are I will break your legs.”

Evelyn pointed to the top of the entertainment center. Malcolm cautiously walked over and reached up grabbing the bag on top of the console. Cautiously he handed the cookies to Evelyn who despite her size looked every bit as menacing as her husband at the moment.

“Thank you.” She opened the bag. Chewing on a chocolate chip cookie, she spoke. “Now. You go sleep with Stephanie. I’ll handle Joshua. He likes you. He will kick his own ass if he finds out she is waiting on him.”

“You sure about that?” Malcolm was a little frightened, both by the prospect of getting drug out of bed in the morning, and by the wild look in Evelyn’s eyes as she devoured the cookies. “You okay, E?”

“Put these back up there, and remember, tell no one you saw this.” Evelyn nodded and handed him the bag of cookies. He placed them back on top of the entertainment center, and she followed him up the stairs to the end of the hall. He paused but she pushed him, hard. “Go.”

“Okay.” Malcolm opened the door and stepped inside. Ayden was probably right Evelyn was tougher than all the men.

***

Evelyn crawled back in bed with Joshua. He was awake, and she was about to put the Big Dog on a leash.

“Did he just go in my sister’s room?” Joshua growled.

“I told him to.” Evelyn pulled him back down as he started to sit up. “Now you listen to me, Joshua Daniel Young. Your sister is waiting on you to give a seal of approval, so she can tell that poor guy yes. He asked her to marry him, and she hasn’t replied because she thinks you don’t like him.”

“I like him. I respect the hell out of the kid, but she’s my little sister.” Joshua growled.

“No, honey, she is a woman. Remember when we were going to go to New York and I asked if I could sleep with you?”

“Yeah.” Joshua grumbled.

“Don’t turn into your mother, honey.” Evelyn eased the pain of those words by punctuating them with a cookie flavored kiss.

When Joshua came up for air, he had forgotten what he was upset about to begin with. Evelyn had a way of putting things in perspective.

***

Across the hall, Malcolm slid next to Stephanie under the blankets. Pulling her close to him and nuzzling into the back of her neck.

“What are you doing?” Stephanie was alarmed. Joshua would kill him.

“Sleeping with you.” Malcolm could feel her heart racing. “Don’t worry, I have permission.”

Stephanie rolled to face him. “You do?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t disrespect your brother’s rules. It’s his house.” Malcolm’s own heart was racing now. God he hoped Evelyn was right. Even their dad had told him numerous times that Joshua would come around. He was more like his controlling mother than he would ever admit. Once he realized it, he would let go and accept his little sister was a grown up.

“Do you love me, Malcolm?”

“You know I do.”

“So if I said I was ready you would…”

“Hold up, ready for what? Are you saying yes?” Malcolm smiled. She was saying yes. He could howl at the moon right now, jump out of bed, grab her ring and wake the house.

“Oh, I mean ready, ready.” Stephanie felt his whole body tighten at that.

It took a few long minutes to process. Ready, the word just pounded in his head.

“No. We can’t do that. I mean we can, but you have waited, we have waited. Not till we get married, Stephanie. I promised you I would wait. It was important to you when we met, important the past two years. When I take you, it will be on our bed, in our place. Not here.” Malcolm had to use every moral fiber in his body to restrain.

It had been two years, and Stephanie ran hot and cold all the time. He knew how important it was to her to wait till she was married. Joshua approved of him, not of him deflowering his little sister in his house.

“So I can’t touch you at all?” Stephanie had decided earlier that she indeed wanted to get a feel of him before marriage.

“I’m going back to the couch.” Malcolm strangled on his words, kissed her on her forehead, and darted for the living room.

The couch was uncomfortable. It hurt his back, but it was safe. Now, instead of fearing Joshua, he had Stephanie to fear. The woman was after him. He was raised in a very strict home, with high morals, and one of the things he liked most about Stephanie was that she held to her values. Though it was tempting, he would hold out, or they would elope this week.

Ayden awoke in a sweat, angry and snarling ready to attack. He looked at the clock, eight a.m. He felt like he just closed his eyes and already he had to get up and face the day.

He opened the bedroom door and smelled the coffee. That was usual since he had the timer set. The smell that came from Charlie’s room was new, faint. The door was open and she was gone. Ayden had never been much of a morning person. It took two hours and three cups of coffee before he felt right. He grumpily tromped down the stairs expecting to see her at the kitchen table. He hoped she made breakfast. He was surely in no mood to cook. Instead, he saw her in the living room. The couch was pushed back and she was on her toes bent over at a very suggestive angle with her fine ass in the air and her arms stretched down palms flat on the floor.

Evelyn had tried to convince him to do yoga at her studio. He thought it was a load of crap, just stretching. He took one lesson to shut her up. He was glad he did now because he knew Charlie was in a down dog and damn if it didn’t hit every canine bone in his body.

He continued to watch her as she lowered her hips to the floor and pushed up arching her back. He could have stood there all morning just watching her. Already his bad mood was beginning to lift. Her body was so long, lean and beautiful. Maybe there was something to all that stretching after all. He preferred to run, or hit the gym, or do good oldfashioned work. That left his muscles tight and bunched, and though he stretched, he wouldn’t say he was flexible. Not like that.

Charlie heard a knock on the door and stood. Ayden crossed the floor, and she realized he was there. Was he watching her? She had decided last night to talk to him today. To tell him that she was going to stay here in North Carolina until she knew for sure he didn’t want her. She wanted to talk before breakfast, before his family was around them again.

Ayden opened the door with a scowl on his face. It was Ethan.

“You guys coming down for breakfast?” Ethan smiled and wiggled his eyebrows at Ayden. He turned his gaze to Charlie. Then he blushed. “Didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”

“You didn’t.” Ayden realized that he was in a pair of boxers and nothing more. Charlie was in a pair of shorts that looked like underwear more than shorts, hell they may have been underwear for all he knew, and a little spaghetti strapped shirt. “We’ll be down in a few.”

“Take your time.” Ethan winked and turned before Ayden could shut the door in his face.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think.” Ayden closed his eyes, knowing the impression Ethan had gotten.

“About what?” Charlie was drinking in the sight of him. His body glistened like he was wet. His hair clung to his forehead. He looked like he just tumbled out of bed with a woman. Except he was still hard, tenting his loose cotton boxers, dangerously close to slipping out of them.

“You’re not dressed, and I opened the door.” Ayden really needed his coffee. Charlie had him all messed up this morning.

“Ayden, you’re the one almost exposed.” Charlie smiled. Here he was trying to be noble. She pulled her gaze away from his crotch and settled her eyes on his face.

Ayden looked down and grimaced. Shit. He tried to play it off. “It’s morning.”

“Can I make you some coffee? You look like you just ran a mile. Are you feeling okay?” Charlie pushed the couch back in place and rolled up her yoga mat. She swallowed hard. She was always thinking of him this way, but getting to see him live and in person with bed rumpled hair and fresh morning wood, he might just steal her breath.

“Fine.” Ayden headed to the coffee pot and poured his own coffee.

“You want to know why I’m here, right?” Charlie placed the mat under her arm. He was cranky and agitated. This was the Ayden she knew.

“Yes.” Ayden took a sip of the coffee. It tasted good, refreshed his brain a moment. He wasn’t going to act embarrassed though he was. Charlie apparently had some new effect on him, and he couldn’t control it. Well, she always had this effect on him, but now he couldn’t control it.

“I’m here to start a new life. I left Vegas and I left without a trace. I am never going back there. I’m here, and I plan to stay here until I figure out a few things.”

He was listening.

“I don’t have to stay here, in this house with you if that makes you uncomfortable, but I will be here in the area for now.” Charlie wasn’t lying, but she didn’t want to freak him out with another profession of love, or worse.

She told him once years ago, and he was a gentleman about ripping her heart out. Every year he came back to see her and never mentioned anyone else. She knew it would be hard for a woman to understand him. He was a complicated man. He took his time, always processing. He still used some southern words like darlin’, but he could change his accent without notice. His hair had been in several styles over the years, long when he worked narcotics, short for white collar crimes. He had so many faces, but so did she.

Grace suggested she let him get comfortable around her again. Megan suggested she show him exactly what he had been missing. Evelyn said she needed to take control.

Stephanie didn’t say anything. Of course neither did Charlie. She didn’t see how she was going to get control with Ayden. He was always in control, except this morning.

“You can stay here, you know that. What brought this on?” Ayden was relaxing into the role of investigator again. It was strange having her around like this. They were familiar with each other but not intimate. They had shared intimate moments in the past, like when she cried herself to sleep in his arms, but they had never kissed or fooled around. That made him think. “Man troubles?”

“In a manner of speaking I guess you can say that’s true.” Charlie waited while he formulated his next question. His body was starting to relax, and she knew he was gaining control. Then she said it was man trouble and his left bicep flexed.

“Who? Did he hurt you?” Ayden was cool and even in his tone, but he could feel his muscles twitching, itching for a fight.

“No, just broke my heart a little.” Charlie left on that note, leaving him to think about that one. Maybe he could figure out it was him.

In her room, she dressed for the day. She had just slipped her feet in the sandals when he knocked on her door.

“It’s open.” She stood in the mirror applying mascara.

“I called and told Evelyn we would be going out for breakfast instead.” Ayden leaned in the doorway. She smelled like vanilla, like cookies almost.

“Why?” Charlie turned to face him. He was showered, shaved, and dressed.

“I thought we could catch up. I missed our annual talk remember?” Ayden missed more than the talk.

He wasn’t prepared to admit that yet. He didn’t know how the day got away from him. He enjoyed seeing her every year. This year he missed it, and this year she needed him. Charlie never talked about a man in her life though he was sure in the course of ten years she had to have seen someone. Apparently, that bastard broke her heart. Ayden wished he could kick the guy in the ass. Couldn’t he see how special she was?

“There isn’t much to talk about.” Charlie shrugged. “At least on my end. I’ve been doing the same thing as last year. Same show, same apartment, same life. That’s why I had to change. I’ve been dancing all my life, performing on stage. I want to be real again, a real woman, not a fantasy.”

“You are a real woman, Charlie. This guy, the one who broke your heart, he was a fool, darlin’. You deserve a good man, one that can give you everything you want in life.”

“I think so, too.” She smiled and looked him over from head to toe. She knew she deserved him. He, however, didn’t know he deserved her. Ayden was always too humble, not realizing his power over women, over her. Maybe that meant she had a power over him. Maybe Evelyn was right. “So, you don’t mind me staying here a couple weeks?”

Ayden shrugged. “Don’t see why not.”

“Well, I figure I have thirty days. If I can’t accomplish my goal in thirty days, I’m leaving.” Thirty days should be enough time for a man who has known her more than ten years to make a decision.

“What’s your goal, darlin’? Maybe I can help.” Ayden decided she may just need a new start. Hell he did. When he was seventeen, his mother signed the release for him to join the Navy right out of high school. At nineteen, he was creeping into foreign countries. At twentyfive, he was tracking down a serial killer, and the last ten years he had been dealing with the horrors of humanity. He knew about needing a fresh start.

Charlie blinked at him a couple times trying to gather her thoughts. She didn’t want to come right out and say it. Luckily, a knock sounded on the door downstairs, and she didn’t have to explain anything for now.

“I’ll be downstairs, darlin’. Take your time.” Ayden turned and headed down the hall. He wanted to fight away the smile on his face. Thirty days. She would be here a month. He could really get to know her in that time. Maybe they could find a start together.

***

Ayden opened the door and found Stephanie arms crossed foot tapping.

“Hey there.” He gave her a quizzical look.

“Is Charlie here?” Stephanie entered the room looking around for her. “I need to talk to her. I can’t talk to them, you know. But I think I can talk to her.”

“She’s upstairs. Can you talk to me?” Ayden didn’t like the desperate look on Stephanie’s face, like she was frustrated, maybe even mad.

“Ha!” Stephanie glared at him. “You wanna explain to me why my fiancé hauled ass out of my bed last night when I offered him sex?”

“Charlie!” Ayden called for her. “Go on up, honey.”

Ayden knew breakfast was out of the question now. “Tell her I went to Evelyn’s to eat. You guys are welcome to whatever I got here. Take your time.”

“Thanks.” Stephanie looked defeated. She headed up the stairs to talk to the one person who wasn’t related to her. The only other person being rejected by the man she loved. If Charlie had been dealing with Ayden for years, surely she had a plan. Maybe Stephanie could use that plan on Malcolm now.

***

Ayden approached the house down the street to find Malcolm on the porch stairs head in his hands. When he looked up, Ayden knew immediately the man had not slept a wink. “Rough night?”

“Damn couch.” Malcolm groaned straightening his back. “I could have slept in the bed, man. I could have just snuggled in and held her, but oh no. No. She decides last night was the night. After two years. Her brother finally trusts me one inch, and that girl tries to run me a mile.”

Ayden laid a hand on his shoulder, nodded, and then sat next to Malcolm on the stairs. “Women!”

“I didn’t know what to do. If I stayed, she would regret it. So I left, and now she’s pissed.” Malcolm put his face back in his hands. “Joshua has been trying to catch me all morning. He knew Evelyn said I could stay with her, but I was on the couch when the boys came down this morning. Little monsters put cheerios in my nose.”

“Kids tend to take advantage like that.” Ayden laughed. “So did she say yes, or did she just try to get in your pants?”

“Pants!”

“I don’t know why you’re complaining. I’d love to have a woman trying to bed me down.”

“You do.”

“Who?” Ayden looked seriously at the kid.

“Charlie. Stephanie explained in great detail how the woman has been waiting ten years just to touch you.” Malcolm stood. “She came here for you.”

“Well I’ll be damned.” Ayden scrubbed his own face now. Shit. “She still thinks she’s in love with me?”

“Yep.” Malcolm was ready to go crawl in Stephanie’s bed and take a mid morning nap. “So, how do you feel now?”

“Pretty fucked up.” Ayden laughed. He did feel all messed up inside now. He had definitely noticed Charlie this time around. Hell he always noticed Charlie, but he would never hurt her. She didn’t know him. She knew the FBI guy, but he could change that and hold her at bay until he knew if she was safe to touch. Damn, he was the fool, and she let him believe it was someone else. Or maybe it was someone else and they were both fools. That he had to find out.

“There you go. It feels great to be wanted. God, after two years I’m chomping at the bit to touch her. But, I know how important it is to her to wait till she’s married.” Malcolm ground his teeth. “I’m a fire fighter, but Stephanie seems a little too hot to hold right now. She may just consume me. Make me forget all the promises I’ve made the last two years. Not a good way to start a marriage.”

“I agree. A man has nothing if he doesn’t have his word.” Ayden respected the kid. Malcolm was a good man. “But that said. You don’t have to do it all to get the job done.”

Ayden winked and smacked him on the back as he entered the house. His stomach was growling, his eyes were dry from lack of sleep, and Charlie wanted him. She was probably formulating a plan. He’d wait and see what she came up with. One good thing about being from the south, he had patience. A lot of it. His step dad was a real good man and taught Ayden how important patience was when he didn’t force a relationship with him. The man wasn’t his father. He wasn’t Noel’s father, but he loved them both as though he had planted both their seeds. He’d have to give him a call today.