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from him—from us —since Friday night as well. I was worried that Aiden had read more into it than what it really was.
    Before we’d left, Harrison had handed me a piece of paper with Barrett/Mark’s address on it and now that I was acutely aware of its presence in my pocket, I couldn’t put him to the back of my mind like I had been doing since I saw him again. I planned on spending the next two weeks before Aiden’s return expelling the man from my head so that the next time Aiden and I were together, he would have my full and undivided attention.
    He deserved nothing less than all of me, that I knew for sure.
    “Okay,” I replied, and sent him a full-on genuine smile. “What should we try first?”
    He grinned back at me and for the first time since we left Harrison’s office, it was genuine.
    After we’d finished dinner, we made our way back to my apartment building, a comfortable yet uneasy silence stretching between us.
    “Aiden?” I asked when we reached my front door. He must’ve been a million miles away, because his head jerked in surprise when I spoke.
    “Sorry,” he said with a frown. “I’m just tired.”
    I opened the door and we both walked inside, I dropped my purse on the couch and walked toward the kitchen to make a coffee. “Would you like a drink?” I asked, turning around to see him standing next to the front door with his bag he’d packed before the meeting. “Aiden?”
    “Aly, I think it’s time that I left,” he said, and I stopped breathing.
    “You’re leaving?”
    “I need to get to the airport, and I think it’s best that I catch a cab.”
    “Oh.” My voice was soft, not at all hiding my shock. “Did I do something wrong?” I walked toward the door, stopping in front of him and he dropped his bag to the floor before lightly placing his hands on my hips.
    “You didn’t do anything, Aly. It’s been a long weekend, and I just think you need some space to deal with everything that’s going on around you.”
    “No . . .” He took a step forward and slid one of his hands up the side of my body until he was cradling my jaw in a move that I’d come to love. He stared at me for a long time, his eyes scanning my face while he ran his thumb over my cheek. It was like he was committing it to memory.
    “I want you to know something, and I want you to promise me you’ll remember it.” His voice was as gentle as his touch, and I couldn’t help but lean into his hand.
    “Okay,” I answered on a whisper.
    He took a deep breath and the look in his eyes intensified. “I’ll fight for you, Aly, till I know there’s nothing left to fight for. I’ve waited a long time to have you here in my arms, giving me a shot, and I’m not the type of man to walk away. But you’ve got to sort out whatever it is that you have with the man who has you holding back from me, from us.” He paused and gave me a gentle squeeze before tearing at my heart a little more. “But don’t for one minute doubt my feelings for you. I’ll wait a lifetime if it means making you mine.”
    “No . . .” I whisper hoarsely, the lump in my throat threatening to suffocate me. “I need you, Aiden. I don’t know why he does this to me.”
    “Then find out, beautiful, because I finally got you, and I’m not going to lose you now.”
    “You won’t,” I replied instantly, but my cracking voice gave me away.
    “Aly, take some time. You know where he is. You can get the answers you need now, and when you know who you truly want, then I’m only a phone call away.”
    “And a flight,” I joke half-heartedly.
    “And that.” Then he gave me a slow, gentle kiss, his tongue sweeping into my mouth before he pulled back. He took a step back then bent down, picked up his bag, turned to open the door and walked through it.
    And in doing so, the cataclysmic time bomb that had been silently ticking away in my chest was detonated, blowing everything I thought I knew it wanted into