Page 47 of Her Big Fat Dreamy Billionaire Ex

That rat. He should have known Grams was behind the power outage. What in the world did she do? Get an electrician to cut the line? He wouldn’t put it past her. He held in a frown. “Nope. Not wrong. You have excellent powers of observation.”

He and Grams exchanged a look, but she faltered and looked away. “Let’s go sit on the deck. Brittany, you can tell me all about yourself.” She looped her arm through Brittany’s and tugged her through to the back of the house. Brittany flashed a worried glance at Aiden, but he just shrugged and followed after them.

He and Grams often sat out on the deck after the sun went down. They would look out at the moon over the ocean and enjoy the night breeze. He pulled over another chair for Felicity and sat down.

Grams leaned back and looked at Felicity. “Oh, I forgot I made brownies. Felicity, would you be a dear and go inside and get them?”

“Sure.” She stood, crossed the deck and disappeared into the house.

Grams patted his arm. “And Aiden, go help her. I haven’t cut them apart yet.”

He raised an eyebrow but did as he was told. When he walked into the kitchen, Felicity was searching through a drawer. She looked up at him and smiled. “I’m glad you came. I can’t find a knife.”

He slid open the drawer and pulled one out, handing it to her. “Sorry about Grams.”

Felicity gave him a nod and took the knife. “Don’t worry. She’s harmless.”

“I think she cut your power.”

Her eyes widened and she met his gaze. “What?”

“I know it sounds crazy, but I think she did something to your power so you’d have to spend the night here.”

“You’re right. You do sound crazy.” Felicity laughed and shook her head. “Grams is persistent, but she wouldn’t go that far. It’s just a coincidence.” She stuck the knife into the brownies.

He wanted to argue with her, but he held his tongue. Wouldn’t do any good. Felicity was pretty headstrong. Funny thing was, he liked that about her. “How was your date?”

“It was fine.”

“Just fine?”

She gave him a flat look. “Do you really want me to tell you how my date with another man went?”

He took a step back. She was right. What was he thinking? He was dying of curiosity, but the last thing he wanted was for her to say she’d enjoyed her time with Harold. He swallowed and shook his head. “No.”

Felicity sighed and pushed back a strand of hair. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how to get rid of this awkwardness between us.”

“I’m so glad it’s not just me.” Aiden gave her a smile and she returned it.

“I feel like I’m stumbling around in the dark, afraid to walk into a wall.” She looked down at the counter.

He took a step toward her and put his hand on her shoulder, ignoring the feeling in his chest as his pulse increased. “I don’t know why this is so hard. We’ve been friends for a long time.”

She let go of the knife and turned to face him. “I know. We should be able to remember how things were before.”

That was the problem. Aiden remembered all too clearly how things were. The feeling of euphoria when he was with her. The stolen kisses when Grams wasn’t looking. The way she fit into his arms like she was meant to be there. Before he could stop himself, he reached up and brushed his knuckles across her cheek. An electricity jolted through him and his skin felt alive. “I remember,” he said, his voice coming out husky.

She blinked up at him. “Yeah. Me too.” Her voice barely carried over the inches between them.

He lowered his hand to his side but didn’t step away from her. The same question that had plagued him over the past five years flashed into his mind, and before he could stop it, it was out. “Why did you leave?”

Felicity flinched and looked down. She didn’t answer him right away, and he worried he shouldn’t have asked, but he also really wanted to hear her answer, so he let the silence stretch. Finally, she said, “A lot of reasons.”

“I’m sure that’s true.” He waited for her to continue, but when she didn’t, he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I know we had a misunderstanding about that day.”

Her lips tightened. “We did.”

“I thought we were just going down to the courthouse to elope. I think your exact words were, ‘I’m tired of all these wedding plans. Let’s just get married.’”

---