The Seduction of Destiny Rhode [The Seduction 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (14 page)

“You have no business judging me on this, Ronan!”

“Really? ’Cause I thought you were the one doing the judging here, Aiden.” He swung again, missing and allowing Aiden an opportunity, which he took, ramming into him with his full body and moving them both across the floor until Ronan’s back met with the wall.

“I’m not going to let you hurt her. Your ass is fucking fired, Ronan!” He must have thought that would be the end of it, because he turned to walk away.

Ronan jumped him from behind and had him down on the ground swinging his fists hard and fast.

“You don’t fire me. Only she does.”

“Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! What the fuck are you doing?” Destiny screamed upon entering the room, but it took a moment before her voice registered on Ronan and he realized what she was witnessing.

He climbed off Aiden, but couldn’t look at Destiny. He took a few steps away, keeping his back to her, wiping blood from his lip, choking on the dust they had stirred up.

“Des, I’m sorry.” Aiden’s pathetic apology only pissed Ronan off further.

“What happened?” The pain and concern in Destiny’s tone, however, did him in.

He turned to face her.

“Disagreement.” He looked to Aiden, hoping that regardless of what had gone on between them that they were still on the same page about protecting Destiny. “Got out of hand is all.”

“Out of hand?” Destiny looked at him, incredulous.

Aiden was quiet for the longest time, and Destiny’s fawning over his superficial wounds wasn’t helping Ronan calm down.

“I fired him,” Aiden calmly stated then looked dead into Ronan’s eyes as if challenging him.

He could have walked away there and then. He could have stopped this entire insanity in that moment, but he didn’t want to. He looked at Destiny, dressed today in a baby blue, form-fitting, sleeveless dress, her hair up as always. He loved how soft she looked. He had the most primal urge to pull her to him and make her promise she’d never leave him.

That should have scared the shit out of him, but for some reason, surrender was the more prevalent emotion.

“I told him he didn’t have the authority to fire me, only you did.” He met her gaze with his own and saw the confusion raging within.

She had her hand on Aiden’s back. She looked between the two men before stating, “He’s right, Aiden. I thought we had this worked out. If you’ve got a problem with Ronan, we should talk, but you don’t get to fire him.”

Ronan really shouldn’t have taken so much childlike joy in her defense of him, but he did.

“There are a ton of other contractors we can hire, Des. I think Ronan has fulfilled his potential here.”

She stepped away, and a feeling akin to relief washed over Ronan when he saw her finally stop touching the son of a bitch.

“Yeah, but, you said he was the best, and he’s already done a ton of work and has everything under control. Why would hiring a new contractor midstream make any sense at all?”

She searched Ronan’s expression, clearly looking to understand what was going on, but how could she?

“I just don’t think he’s the right man for the job anymore,” Aiden snapped.

He hated the look on her face. Hated the way she looked so torn and confused.

“Fine.” He couldn’t believe he was about to do what he was. “I’ll quit, but keep my guys on. Kirkland is a good foreman, and he can run the renovation without me. There isn’t any point to wasting time and money replacing my whole crew and stopping the plans we already have in motion.”

“But, Ronan, I don’t want you to go,” Destiny pleaded with him.

“And I don’t want to come between your friendship with Aiden. However misguided, I do understand that he’s genuinely looking out for your best interest.” He turned to walk away. He needed to leave before he lost control, grabbed her and fucked her right there on the ballroom floor.

What he was doing was for the best anyway. Aiden really was right, she wasn’t his type. He had no business messing with her head or her life. For him it was a few months of pleasure, but for her, it would probably end up meaning more, and when he walked away for good, he would only hurt her, the very thing he swore he would never do.

He refused to look too closely at the way his heart ached as if it was being ripped from his chest in that moment. It was probably just aches from the physical altercation. It had nothing to do with his growing need for a feisty redhead who brought him more pleasure and satisfaction that any woman he remembered. Absolutely nothing to do with that at all.

“Aiden Grand, I want an explanation! And one that makes some kind of sense, or I’m running after that man and I’m begging him to stay.” Destiny was furious. Beyond that, she was confused and hurting and desperate to run after Ronan anyway.

“Let him go, Destiny. He’s not who you think he is.”

“I think he’s a kind, gentle, interesting man, and I think he’s doing great work on my hotel, at your request, might I add.”

Aiden flexed his fingers and grunted in pain.

“You okay?” She really was concerned.

“No. I’m too damn old to be brawling like a kid!” He stretched out his arms and rolled his neck as if trying to see if everything still worked.

“Then why were you?” She reached out to touch his brow which was cut, but he pulled away from her. “You’re bleeding.”

He swept away the trickle of blood with his fingers. “I’ll live.”

“Fine.” If he wanted to act like a child, so be it, but he wasn’t evading her questions. “So tell me what the fight was over because my gut says it wasn’t over you firing him.”

“No, I fired him during the fight. The fight was over you.”

“Me?” She was skeptical. “How is that possible?”

He looked at her through narrowed eyes. “You have an effect on people, Des.”

“I don’t bring men to blows.” She placed her hands on her hips.

Aiden went into the corner and brought out two chairs that would have been used for banquets in the past but were now simply stacked along the wall. The dust-filled air with its slight hint of mildew reminded her once again of how much she’d taken on, how much she still needed to accomplish, and that her advisor had just fired her contractor.

“Here, sit.” He gestured to one chair and waited.

Wanting answers, she decided to simply go along with him and took the spot he provided. He took the other chair which he placed so he’d be facing her.

“Destiny, I realize I’m not your father or brother, and I have no right to tell you what to do with your personal life, but Ronan, he plays hard. I just think you should be careful.”

She didn’t like that he was butting into her personal business, but decided to let it go because she wanted to know what the fight was about.

“Is that what you fought over? Your wanting me to stay away from him?”

“Sort of.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows along his legs. “He asked me about what happened with you and me, and it got heated from there.”

Her stomach flipped. “He had no right to talk to you about that.”

Ronan had proven a very good listener. Too much so. She found herself telling him things about her past she’d never told anyone before. Something about lying sated in that man’s arms made all her defenses useless. So when he asked her something, she’d tell him all of it. However, her affair with Aiden had been off-limits, so she wanted to know what Aiden had told him. At the same time, she didn’t quite feel brave enough to hear it.

“Destiny, I don’t want to give you the wrong impression here. I
love
my wife and I would
never
cheat on her…” His face turned red, and he closed his eyes as if just realizing what he said.

“I get it. You aren’t like me.” Destiny sat back in her chair and folded her arms over her chest as if that could somehow protect her heart.

“I didn’t mean it like that. God, I’m making a complete ass out of myself today.” He lowered his head. “Destiny, I cosigned the loan at least in part because I felt guilty about pushing you into our affair all those years ago, and I wanted to make it up somehow.”

Her shoulders sank. She went numb. She literally felt nothing in that moment.

Aiden looked back up at her.

“That’s what I told Ronan. That’s what we were fighting over. That and the fact that I really do think he should stay away from you. Please say something.”

“What do you want me to say?” She stared into nothingness, so damn tired and drained she wasn’t even sure she cared. “You felt sorry for me, and you cosigned an enormous loan… God, I’m pathetic.”

“No, you aren’t.” He reached out to touch her, but she pulled away.

She shook her head. It didn’t matter, she supposed. This new person she’d been trying to represent herself as—the woman in charge, the woman who was capable and going to change her life—she was a fraud. Deep inside, it drained her to hold everyone at bay. It made her tired to her soul to try and be in charge all the time. That wasn’t who she was. Who she was, was a 1950s sitcom mom, only with no husband, white picket fence or small children to raise. In other words…
useless
.

“Des, when we were together, I was an arrogant kid. I had no clue what marriage and commitment even were. Cassidy has taught me about that, and as I learn from her and I grow more in love with her every second of every day, I realize how wrong it was of me to chase you like it was some game. I’ll be honest, you weren’t the only married woman I ever slept with, but you were the only one that being married seemed to matter to. I didn’t understand that. I was an ass. I hurt you. Please let me do this to make it up to you even in some small way.
Please
.”

He looked so desolate. Part of her wanted to comfort him and assure him everything would be fine, but wasn’t
she
the injured party here?

“Aiden, it takes two willing people to have an affair, otherwise it’s rape. Eventually, I consented, and if I’d truly loved my husband or valued my marriage, I wouldn’t have and it wouldn’t have mattered how often you asked. In truth, I’m sure I was sending you mixed signals because I wanted you, I just…”

She pushed back loose tendrils of hair from her face. How had this become all so complicated?

“I never blamed you, Aiden. I blamed myself.” She reached across and placed her hand on his knee. He placed his hand atop it.

“But
I
blamed me, Des. I saw what our affair did to you. It took your joy. That’s not what sex is supposed to do to someone.”

“Aiden, my life was so screwed up.” In truth, it was still screwed up. “We can’t take it back, but we can move on from here with the air cleared. Aiden, I’m going to make this place work, somehow, but I don’t want you involved if you don’t believe in me. If this is just about guilt for you, then…”

“It’s not, Des. I
do
believe in you. I cannot believe what a mess I’ve made of all of this when all I was trying to do was make things right.”

She had a lot to digest, but she had faith that she and Aiden could find their footing again and work things out. They would probably be all the stronger now that the truth was out and they could each stop dancing around the other trying to figure out what was really going on. As painful as it was to realize he’d helped her out of some misplaced sense of guilt, it was better than thinking he was looking to start something up with her again. While she hadn’t been in love with Oscar any longer by the time she met Aiden, she did think that he and Cassidy were the real deal. She was thankful she’d been right on at least that mark.

“We’ll figure it out, Aiden, but right now, I need to go to Ronan.” She had no idea why. She was so confused, and all this with Aiden made her more uncertain that she and men were ever going to be a good idea. Still, something called to her. She just
had
to go to him, that’s all she knew.

She stood up only to have Aiden pull her back down.

“I can’t stand by and watch you get hurt again.” He stared into her eyes with such intensity she couldn’t dismiss him.

“Aiden, it isn’t any of your business. I’m not your personal charity case.” Although she did
feel
an awful lot like that at the moment.

“There are things about him you don’t know.”

“How do you know that? How can you possibly know what we’ve shared, what he’s told me, what we’ve done together? Aiden, I appreciate everything you’ve done, but back off this.”

It always surprised her when she found her backbone. It was always there, she supposed, but she just wasn’t always in touch with it.

He held his hands up in surrender. “I can’t fight you both.”

“It’s not your place to try. I’m not your responsibility. Cassidy and Bella are.” She stood up and ran her hand over his head the way she would one of her kids. “You’ve got a good heart, Aiden. If I need you, I’ll holler, but I’m lonely, and I like him.”

He looked up at her, and she shrugged.

“Fine, but if you find you
do
need some help…” He brought the backs of her fingers to his lips.