Page 115 of Heating Up (Nugget)
He took a deep breath because he worried that part of what she said was true. “You wanted to mold me into something I’m not and I let you try. It was wrong of me. I should’ve told you from the start that I like who I am. But I didn’t want to disappoint you . . . my family. They love you, you know?”
“What about you, Aidan? Do you love me?”
He brushed away a curl that had plastered itself against her wet cheek. “A part of me will always love you. But I’m not in love with you.”
“Were you ever?”
If she’d asked before he’d met Dana, the answer would’ve been an unequivocal yes. Now, he honestly didn’t know. In the early days, he’d been enthralled, obsessed . . . but they’d been so different. Then later, he’d wanted to do right by her when her mother had died and she had no one. He’d wanted to make his family happy. And he’d wanted to believe in the illusion that they were deeply in love. But it had been a mistake. A big mistake. Just then, an image of Dana wanting to know every detail of his arson cases hit him like a blast from a high-pressure fire hose. Her love of plain-Jane neighborhood restaurants. Her passion for her job. And her total lack of pretense.
“Perhaps I was lying to both of us.”
“I came here for nothing,” Sue said, her eyes welling all over again.
“I sent you an email, Sue. If you’d only read it, it would have saved you the cost of a plane ticket.”
“I read it. It was vindictive, not the Aidan I know and love.”
“It was the truth, Sue. Unfortunately, the Aidan you know is the one you made up for yourself.” He held up his hands, palms out, in a surrender motion. Truce. “I’ll take part of the blame for that and I’ll buy your ticket home.”
She wiped her face with the back of her hand. “I wanted to see Sloane and meet her fiancé.”
That was Sue, always digging in her heels. “I’d prefer that you didn’t, but it’s a free country.”
“Why? Because it’ll make trouble withDana?” She spat out the name like it was a curse word.
“Yes,” he said, and didn’t feel he owed her any more explanation than that.
It had killed him to see Dana walk out that door, miserable and defeated. Hell, it left a little hole in his gut every time Griffin so much as smiled at her. If Griff should suddenly announce he was leaving Lina and wanted Dana back . . . ah, jeez, Aidan couldn’t even consider it. The bottom line was, he’d do anything to spare Dana hurt or humiliation.
Sue grabbed her purse off the floor, rummaged through it until she found her phone, and made a big production of dialing. “Hi, Sloane, it’s Sue. I’m at Aidan’s house.” Then she began sobbing uncontrollably.
Aidan gently took the phone from her. “It’s me.”
“My God, did you know she was coming?”
“Nope. I wasn’t home when she got here, but Dana was.”
“Oh boy. How’d she find your house?”
“Beats the hell out of me, but knowing this town, it wouldn’t have been difficult.”
Sue had pulled herself together enough to make it to the bathroom, where Aidan could hear the water running.
“She wants to see you and meet Brady. My guess is she wants to work you over . . . get you to persuade me to take her back.”
“You don’t want her back, Aidan?”
He pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a frustrated sigh. “You once asked me why I didn’t marry her. The reason I didn’t marry her, Sloane, was because I didn’t love her . . . not like that. I couldn’t answer then because I didn’t fully understand it . . . not like I do now . . . because of Dana.”
Silence, then Sloane finally said, “Are you saying you’re in love with Dana? Because, Aidan, you hardly know the woman.”
He took the phone with him outside because he didn’t want Sue to hear. “I know that not one day with Sue ever filled my heart the way it does with Dana. You and Brady only knew each other a couple of months, right? How did you know with him?”
“I just knew,” she said, so emphatically that it made Aidan want to laugh.
“No doubts, right?”
“None whatsoever.” Her voice hitched, like she suddenly got what Aidan was trying to tell her. When it’s real, no hesitations.
