Page 48 of The Cinderella Secret
“Yes, of course,” said Evan.
“So awesome,” said Aiden again. “What did Jacks and Nika say?”
“I didn’t tell them,” said Evan, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t want them to know, in case you didn’t like it.”
“I love it,” said Aiden, grinning. He wanted to hug Evan, but he wasn’t sure where Evan stood on the physical contact thing. “Thank you.”
Evan shrugged. “Just make sure that you don’t get caught running around in red pajamas and fighting crime.”
“I promise nothing,” said Aiden, deciding to take a risk and tossing an arm around Evan’s shoulders. Evan looked embarrassed but didn’t pull away.
18
Ella – The Bank
Ella waited at the bank and checked the time on her phone. Aiden was late. As usual. Behind her, the contingent of her uncle’s lawyers sat with stiff backs on the hard benches of the bank office. Ella stood, staring out the window at the bustling city street seventeen floors below them, and tried not check her phone again.
The elevator dinged and the door slid open. Aiden strolled out, looking as if he’d just rolled out of a menswear magazine—custom suit in dark blue, a pin-stripe shirt, and a tie with a pink fleck that tip-toed up to the line between quirky and stylish. Those damn blue eyes of his had never looked better.
Last night, she had tucked Lilly into bed and gone to lie down next to her grandmother.
“I think you were right,” Ella had said into the darkness. “I think I do like Aiden and, even worse, I think he’s a good person.”
“Nobody’s perfect,” said Nai Nai.
“It’s very inconvenient,” said Ella, not mentioning that she also felt like she was cheating on Number Nine.
“Meh,” said Nai Nai.
“That’s not helpful,” said Ella. “What am I supposed to do next time I see him? Or the other fifty times I see him in court? How am I supposed to beat him when I can’t even be mad at him for being a stuck-up rich bastard?”
Nai Nai had shifted in bed, itching her scalp with one bony finger. “I don’t think you have to be mad at someone to win an argument with them.”
“If I beat him, he’ll never like me back. It will cost his entire family a lot of money.”
“Better lose then.”
“But if I lose, Uncle will never forgive me.”
“Better win, then.”
“Nai Nai!”
“You young people always panic about things. You’re smart. You’ll come up with another solution.”
Ella had gone to bed buoyed with that advice but woke up with the leaden truth that Aiden Deveraux was not meant to be hers. No matter the outcome of the case, Aiden Deveraux was never going to be any more acceptable to her uncle than Number Nine was.
“It’s a crush,” she said to her reflection as she got dressed. “Just a crush. You’ll get over it.”
And then he walked off the elevator and her heart gave a funny little bounce.
He hadn’t gotten two steps off the elevator and someone called his name. Aiden pivoted and smiled in his easy way, going toward the young man who’d called his name. Ella watched in annoyance as the two laughed and joked and went back toward an office and then disappeared further into the bank’s interior toward the vault.
Ella thought about going to stand next to her team. There was no point in loitering. He obviously didn’t feel the need to seek her out. She glanced at Tic, Tac, and Toe and decided to stay where she was. It wasn’t like there was going to be small talk.
She was checking her email when he returned. She heard him inhale as if to speak.
“Are you really going to try and talk to me?” she asked without looking up.
