Page 91 of The Vow We Made
I grimace. “Why should it be important if she has money or not? He’s not exactly struggling himself,” I half glance towards the telly. Now is not a good time for Ross Poldark to take his shirt off when I can’t give him my full attention.
“Please tell me I’ve already filled you in about his Thai girl.”
That’s got my attention back to where it should be. “No you have not! What happened?” I reach for the TV remote and turn it off.
Ross will have to wait and even Aiden is shocked. “Bloody hell Vick, are you really choosing me over Aidan Turner? Now that’s a first,” he smirks again.
“Why have Aidan Turner when you have Aiden James at home?” I lean in for a kiss, nipping his bottom lip as I pull away.
“Fuck Luke, he can sort himself out. I’m taking you to bed.”
He’s about to lift me from my seat when I slam on the anchors. “Oh no you don’t. You haven’t told me everything yet.”
“Tease.” There he goes again, dropping the tone of his voice and giving me his heavenly browns, spiked with humour.
“I like to keep you on your toes, Doctor James.”
“Hmm,” he growls. “I suppose I have no choice?”
I shake my head and raise my brows. “So come on.”
He feigns innocence. “What?”
“The girl in Thailand? You can tell me, Luke won’t mind.”
Aiden gives me the side eye. “He bloody well will, but as he isn’t here, there isn’t much he can do about it.”
I giggle. “Who was she then?”
Aiden narrows his eyes. “I’m just trying to think how to put this politely. Is alady of the nighttoo strong?”
The smile over my face is not because I’m finding this funny; I just can’t believe what I’m hearing. “Holy shit, she was a prostitute?”
“She certainly was and a clever one. Luke did the most stupid fucking thing and proposed to her.”
“Oh my God, he didn’t!”
“I’m afraid so. If the boys had been there, we could have stopped him, but he’d not long finished uni and wanted a couple of months to travel. He must have been early twenties.”
“Poor thing,” I muse.
“Stupid fucking idiot more like,” Aiden groans. “And needless to say, she disappeared with his engagement ring and all the money he had left.”
“I feel sorry for him. She was obviously his first love.”
“You’re wearing rose-coloured specs again. Nobody pays for love, except Luke, which is why he’s been so cautious with the whole settling down thing. This woman seems to have everything going for her and he wants to give it a go.”
“Wow, this is a big thing for him.”
“It might even be thereal thing.” I get up to make us both a coffee while Aiden shouts after me, “Can I tell him it’s a yes? For dinner I mean.”
“Go ahead,” I call back, heading to the kitchen in a better frame of mind.
He’s definitely more animated and maybe my worries say more about me than him. Perhaps subconsciously I’m guarded. I don’t want to end up with another Andy and I’m sure no one would blame me for being cautious, but I also know Aiden isn’t anything like him. Not in the slightest.
* * *
When the doorbell rings, Aiden and I watch our host walking backwards. “Showtime,” he sings before spinning around mid-step and making his way to the door.
