Page 36 of Two Hearts' Subterfuge

And geez she’d looked great.

His body had responded like a lightning bolt as soon as she’d touched him. He should have known it was her since there’d never been any one else that he’d reacted to as strongly as he had Aylin.

But now he needed to figure out what was going on. As far as Ben knew, her half-brother had never been taken into custody.

Even though she was in the spotlight, Ben had heard that she never went anywhere without bodyguards.

She was probably getting tired of living that kind of life.

And maybe that’s why she was here, Ben realized, finally glancing over at Rene’s old shop which had recently been sold.

Duh, he thought, slapping his forehead. His mom had already told him this afternoon, but he just hadn’t been paying much attention.

Aylin was the one who owned the shop.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The following day after bundling up in her warm winter coat, Aylin walked outside onto the path that led to the lakefront just as she had ten years ago. Turning, she glanced over at the window where Danny and Jake were eating lunch with Ben.

Lifting her hand, she waved.

Danielle was the first to notice, waving back.

But where had Ben gone? He no longer appeared to be seated at the table.

“So, you’ve been here for an entire month working inside the boutique?” Ben asked, tugging on a winter coat as he joined her, after walking from around the side of the Inn.

“I have,” she answered.

They took a long moment to stare into each other’s eyes, both grinning.

“Would you like to begin where we left off ten years ago, and go for a walk together?” Ben asked, reaching for her hand.

“I would,” she replied, slipping her hand into his. “Even though I arrived right after Christmas, I still haven’t even been over to see the beach at Dragonfly Pointe.”

“I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw you standing here that morning,” he said as they started walking toward the path. “And then you were snatched by that jerk.”

“I try hard not to think about what would have happened if you hadn’t been there that morning,” she confessed. “I still had my phone, so it could have been tracked. But one thing Ash knew a lot about was technology. They would have gotten rid of my phone.”

He nodded. “We have plenty of surveillance here at the Inn, but that wouldn’t have done much good with their tightly knit plan. You would have been flown away on the chopper by the time anyone even realized you were gone.”

“And now your dad and mine have a plan,” she said.

“I think I might even know what it is,” he admitted, grinning. “Dad and Mom have been manipulating me all along. I’ll bet they even arranged for me to buy that particular house that I bought only a few weeks ago. Especially since the realtor who called me was someone they work with regularly.”

She gave him an impish grin. “They might have said something about that when they were with me in the restaurant yesterday while I was eating lunch.”

“So, I’m your bodyguard,” he muttered.

“I think you’re actually supposed to be my boyfriend,” she admitted.

He laughed. “I’m totally fine with that as long as you are.”

“Totally,” she answered in a breathless voice.

They both laughed, heading along the lakefront path toward the beach.

“Since you’re dressed for a short hike, how about climbing with me to the top of Crystal Rock?”

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