~Aiden

I scribbled on the papers quickly as I flipped from page to page. It was already past eight and I had a ton of papers to sign that should have already been completed before ten in the morning.

The thought of Breanna sitting at home, all alone, waiting for me to get there angered me. I was still confused about her action and quitting just like that.

It's not like her.

I sighed and finished filling out a few more paperwork before I called it a night. I had someone more important waiting for me. When I reached her house, I knocked on the door softly, not wanting to scare her awake or anything with the doorbell. The door opened slowly, revealing Breanna peeking behind the door at me.

My heart tightened in my chest, seeing her current state. She looked beyond exhausted. The blonde hair dye was vividly wearing out from the roots that now looked their natural brown color. I gently pushed the door open, making her step back.

“My love,” I called softly.

She looked up at me hesitantly, and I walked further inside, closing the door behind me.

“I'm sorry. I didn't know I'd be so late,” I said, hoping that she wasn't upset with me.

Breanna shook her head.

“No, it's fine,” she said quietly.

I walked towards her and grabbed her hands.

“And I don't know how much I can apologize for whatever I did to get you this upset...” I said softly.

Breanna pulled her hand back from mine with a small frown on her face.

“Don't apologize. It's not your fault. None of this is,” she said softly.

I leaned down and kissed her lips softly. When I pulled back, I made her look me in the eyes.

“Well then whose fault is it?” I asked. “Breanna, what's going on?”

“Aiden please, not now.”

“We have to talk about whatever this is, Breanna,” I said in a tight tone.

She frowned, pulling her face from my gentle grip.

“I know. Just, not now,” she said, placing her hands on my chest.

I pulled her hands from my body and pressed kisses to the back of her hands.

“When then?” I asked.

She stayed quiet for a moment before she moved her hands from me again and placed them behind my head so she could pull me down to kiss me. When her tongue slid past my parted lips, I responded to the kiss, pulling her body flush against mine, hard. My hands dropped to her legs, pulling one of them up to my waist as our tongues battled with one another.

I groaned when she pressed her pelvis against mine, grinding into my erection. When she did it again, realization dawned on me that she was trying to distract me from furthering our conversation. Though it was the hardest thing I'd ever have to do, I pulled back from the kiss and grabbed her hips tightly.

“Breanna,” I called, sounding out of breath.

She dropped her hands to my belt and began to quickly work on getting it loose.

God.

Even though I really wanted this, the desire to understand whatever was eating her up was greater.

“Aiden,” she almost moaned as she wiggled her hips, so she could slide down my body, onto her knees in front of my crouch.

She looked up at me through her thick lashes as she began to unbuckle my pants. I closed my eyes.

Breanna, Breanna, Breanna.

When I looked at her again, I took a deep breath, closing my eyes.

“Get up,” I said softly.

Instead of listening to me, she remained on the floor and began to unzip my pants.

“Are you sure?” she asked seductively and then cupped my cock.

I jerked back, glaring at her.

“Up,” I said sternly, feeling extremely aroused, but annoyed at her intentions.

Breanna sighed, standing from the floor. She didn't say anything, just kept staring at my chest blankly. I leaned down and kissed her lips gently at first before my mouth became hungry for more. I pulled back, remembering the issue at hand.

“Talk to me, my love,” I said, almost sounding a little desperate.

Breanna swallowed, moving back from me, and then walking towards the living room. I was quick to follow after her, not wanting to lose sight of her anymore. She sat on the floor in front of the couch, leaning her back against it. My brows scrunched together in confusion.

“Why are you on the floor, Brie? Sit on the couch,” I said, stooping down beside her.

She closed her eyes and then took a deep breath.

“No.”

“Breanna please sit on the couch.”

“I can't sit on the couch, Aiden. I can't.”

“Help me understand why you can't then,” I said stiffly. “Because I don't understand anything that's going on here.”

She pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them.

“Breanna” I called when she did not respond.

“Aiden, we can't see each other anymore” she whispered.

Taken aback by her response, my eyes widened.

“What?”

“We can't see each anymore, Aiden” she repeated.

“What does that have to do with sitting on the couch?” I asked.

“If I sit on that couch with you, I'll feel comfortable in my arms and I'll fall asleep” she explained.

My brows scrunched together in confusion.

“That's good, right? You need sleep, my love. You look ex—”

“I don't. I'm fine,” she said, sounding annoyed with me.

I frowned.

“You are not going to be fine if you continue like this. And you need to talk to me, Brie,” I said.

She sighed exasperatedly.

“I'm fine, Aiden. And there's nothing for us to talk about,” she said in a finalizing tone.

“What is going on with you, my love?” I whispered, still confused.

“Thank you for the flowers and the chocolates. But this has to stop, Aiden. We can't—”

“Hey, if this has to do with something I did, just tell me and we can fix that. I won't ever do it again to upset you this much that you'll quit your job. Breanna you love your job. Just please talk to me. And come back to work—”

“No!” she yelled, surprising me with the volume she used.

I blinked.

“I just... don't want to anymore, okay?” she said softer this time.

I took a deep breath.

“Why don't you want to anymore? And when was the last time you had a good night's sleep?” I asked quietly.

She was quiet for a moment before she shook her head.

“Last week? I don't know...”

“What's going on Brie? Talk to me, I'm begging you.”

“Aiden, it's hard to explain... I...”

“Well then try, damn it, Brie. Anything apart from this will make me feel like I matter” I said, starting to feel more frustrated with her hesitancy.

Breanna huffed, standing up.

“Get out. Aiden leave. I don't want to talk about this and if you can't understand that then—”

I grabbed her arms gently.

“Breanna, please. Just... talk to me,” I said, looking at her pleadingly.

She stared at me for a minute before she released a sigh. Then she moved closer to me to rest her head against my chest and then wrapped her arms around me.

“Aiden, I'm sorry... I'm just... it's not okay that I messed up this big. I know that we need to talk, but I find it hard to come up with the right things to say to you. I can't. I just...” she shook her head against my chest.

She messed up?

Wait is she pregnant?

I wasn't sure how I was going to ask but before I could start thinking about anything else, I felt my shirt damped. I wrapped my arms around her.

“Hey, it's okay. You know you can talk to me about anything right?” I asked gently.

She was quiet, except for her sniffing. Breanna nodded slowly.

“Come on. Let's sit down. You don't have to fall asleep if you don't want to” I said gently into her hair.

When she murmured a soft “Okay,” I led us over to the couch. I sat down and pulled her into my arms.

“Whenever you're ready, my love. I'm not going anywhere, okay?”

It didn't take her long to break down again. I sighed and hugged her tightly.

“It's okay. And you don't have to talk about it if you don't to, hm?”

“Aiden” she croaked out almost immediately and pulled away from the hug. “Aiden he knows.”

I gave her a confused look.

“Who knows what?”

“Miles Herve. He knows about us.”

I held my breath and fought back my cuss. I chose my reaction carefully with the way she was staring at me with absolute fear in her eyes.

“When?” I asked.

“The party” she whispered.

“Did he... see us together?” I asked tightly.

Breanna shook her head.

“I... I didn't...” she stammered and huffed a bit.

“Breanna it's—”

She clutched my hands in hers and lowered her eyes.

“I didn't mean to Aiden, I swear...”

“What is it, my love? Tell me.”

She met my eyes for five seconds and then shut them and let the tears fall.

“I accidentally handed the chip with the photos of us together to him.”

I flinched a bit.

“I was so excited to have dinner with you at your house that I forgot to cross-check and foolishly handed everything to him. Aiden I... I know it's no excuse for what I did but—”

I cut her off with a soft kiss, swallowing the rest of her words. When I broke the kiss, she sucked in a sharp breath.

“It's not your fault. If anyone should be blamed, it's me. I took all those pictures and videos. I should have used another camera or another memory card. It's not your fault, you hear me?”

She shook her head.

“Aiden I handed it to him” she sobbed. “I...”

“It's not your fault, my love. It's not” I cut her off.

She sniffed.

“That's why you quit?” I asked after a while. “Because Miles knows?”

She let out a miserable half laugh, half sigh, and shook her head.

“I quit because it'd make dealing with his threat much easier.”

My jaw ticked.

“His threat?” I questioned. “Miles dared to threaten you?”

She lowered her eyes.

“He said he's going let the board know and have your position as CEO handed to him...”

That bastard.

I scoffed nastily.

“If I don't sleep with him” she added in a tone barely above a whisper.

My eyes flamed.

“What?” I fumed.

That son of a bitch!

“Breanna, did he touch you?” I asked tightly.

She flinched, her fingers instinctively grazing her cheeks. I slowly nodded and pulled Breanna closer to me to kiss her on her forehead.

Miles Herve was a dead man.

I'm gonna kill him.

I quickly got up when Breanna gripped my arm.

“Aiden please” she sobbed.

“Give one reason why I shouldn't put him in his place right now?” I fumed.

“I...”

I clenched my jaw and shook my head before taking murderous steps toward the front door.

“Aiden no, please.”

“He's going to be sorry he put his hands on you. I'm going to make sure that he is—”

“Aiden!” Breanna called out, coming after me.

I stopped, took a deep breath, and released it.

“What?”

“Aiden...” her hands hug weightlessly at her side. “Miles was the dad that gave Roman that brownie.”

My anger instantly drained.

“What?”

“Miles triggered Roman's allergy attack, Aiden” she whispered.

Oh my God.

“Breanna I...”

She shook her head and held out her arms to me. I pushed my revenge to the back of my mind and gathered her into my arms.

“I am so sorry, my love. This is all my fault” she sobbed.

“No, no. Please don't say that” I rubbed her back.

She sniffed and led me back to the couch.

“How did you know it was him?” I whispered.

“The idiot called me to brag about. I have it all on tape and he didn't even feel any remorse dragging my little boy into this, Aiden. I can't believe what a cruel person he—”

“Wait, you have it on tape?” I asked.

It took a second for Breanna to process what she just said and reply.

“Err yeah um... When Emmett used to work for the CIA, he told us to always record conversations with unknown numbers. So I record all unknown numbers on impulse” she explained.

“All unknown numbers?”

“Yeah.”

“Meaning you recorded our first conversation?” I arched an amused brow.

Breanna let out a soft laugh and I smiled.

“Hey look. I can still make my girlfriend laugh” I teased.

She smiled and shook her head with a sigh.

“Aiden I'm... I-I feel like... something bad is going to happen” she whispered.

I rubbed her arm and waited for her to calm down a bit before I spoke up.

“Nothing is going to happen, my love. I won't allow it.”

“But my love, a-are you sure?”

I smiled at her and nodded my head.

“A hundred percent” I whispered, gently kissing her.

She let out a relieved sigh and nodded.

“Okay.”

I smiled and took her hands in mine.

“Now tell me, what would you like to eat?”

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

~Aubree

“What about this one?” the shop attendant asked.

I cocked my head.

“No.”

She sighed.

“Don't you have anything rocket science themed?”

“Like a rocket ship or an astronaut?”

“He has too many of those” I groaned.

The woman sighed.

“Okay. How about you take a walk and when you come back, I'm sure we would have found something to suit your nephew's liking, ma'am.”

You'd better.

I exited the store and trekked into the food court at the mall. I stopped next to an ice cream cart and snagged a scoop of vanilla perched on a waffle cone.

Food.

I needed food to distract myself and pass the time. I paid for my ice cream and meandered down the shops at the mall, licking the ice cream.

I paused by a little bench and checked my phone. A breath loosened in her chest.

Still nothing.

No emails, no texts, no missed calls.

“Does he think I'm stupid?” I muttered under my breath.

What kind of husband went away on a trip and didn't call... not once during his travels to check on his pregnant wife?

“You had it wrong this time, Aubree” my conscience mocked.

I rolled my eyes. I swear, Beckett is not going to have it—

“Shit!” I swore as I stumbled into a trash can.

The hot singe of metal on my skin had me jumping back, only to have a piercing pain stab my foot.

“Damn it!” I swore again.

Propping one hand on a water station, I tried to lift my left foot, only to end up hopping around on one leg like a very pregnant flamingo, trying to balance her belly and the ice cream in her hand. As I craned my neck to examine the damage, the ice cream avalanched off the cone, hit my belly with a splat, and then landed on the ground.

“No,” I whined, staring forlornly at the sticky white trail on my dress.

“Ma’am, are you okay?”

I looked up into the blinking eyes of the ice cream cart guy.

“I’m fine. I just need to sit d—oh, wow, okay,” I said as the guy took my elbow and waved off a couple occupying a nearby bench.

Wincing, I held my stomach as I lowered myself.

“I stepped on something, but I can’t see over my bump so I don't know what it is” I muttered.

“Here. Let me look.”

The guy crouched beside me. And that’s when I heard the voices.

“Is she okay?”

“Does she need a doctor?”

“Is she in labor?”

Oh God.

This was ridiculous. A crowd had formed around me, people passing me water and concerned glances, all because I was seemingly a fragile flower of a woman carrying a gigantic ticking bomb in my body.

The ice cream cart guy whistled as he dipped his visored head, examining my foot.

“It’s a nail Got you pretty good.”

I groaned and he stood and took my elbow. Then, in a bold move of overconfidence, wiped at the ice cream dripping down my swollen belly with a fat stack of napkins.

I cringed at the clammy, intrusive touch of his hands.

“Hey no. That’s okay. You don’t have to—”

“Let me get this cleaned off, then I’ll help you back to your—”

“Move,” a deep voice rumbled from somewhere high above. “Now.”

I recognized it instantly.

Oh, thank God.

I sent a look of relief up over the guy's shoulder. It was Riccardo, approaching in a quiet, dangerous stride. He knelt beside me, a muscle jumping in his bearded jaw as he stared the guy down and said in a cool growl of authority, “I got her.”

The guy scoffed.

“What are you, a doctor?”

“He is” I gripped Riccardo’s hard bicep to hold him back, my lips fighting a smile.

He was watching the guy like he’d kill him if he touched me again.

“Thank you for your help, sir,” I said to the man.

The ice cream cart guy skedaddled, nearly tripping over his own feet in an attempt to get away. Riccardo turned his attention to me, worry burning in his blue eyes.

“What happened?” he asked, his voice low and ragged.

“Pregnancy brain,” I lied, keeping my face even. “I crashed into a trash can, and I think there’s a nail in my foot.”

His blonde brows drew together.

“Let me see if I can get it out.”

I flung an arm across my face, covering my eyes dramatically.

“Do it.”

With Riccardo's expression determined, he propped my leg up so my calf rested on his massive thigh. After snagging a bottle of water from a nearby vendor, he poured it over my foot and cleaned out the dirt. He worked gently, his big hands careful as he examined the injury.

I hissed a breath when he pulled the nail from my heel. Then Riccardo took off his shirt and wrapped it around my cut.

“Got it,” he said, lifting his eyes to me.

He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear.

“We’ll find a first aid kit back in my car. I don’t want that to get infected.”

I bobblehead nodded, feeling lightheaded at his worry.

“Okay.”

Shoving up, he stood. I held out a hand, waiting for him to help me up beside him. Instead, he simply scooped me up in his arms, one hooked under my knees, the other looped behind my back.

“Rick!”

Embarrassed, I ducked my head against his chest, heat in my cheeks.

“Put me down. Everyone’s watching.”

“So? You’re hurt” he said it like nothing mattered.

Except me.

“I'm not hurt, Rick.”

His grave, bossy tone had me smiling.

“Besides, that shirt was two hundred dollars.”

“Again I ask, so?”

“So you’re carrying me. It’s kind of redundant, you know. To clean and wrap my foot and then carry me” I chuckled.

He tightened his hold, his face blazing with protectiveness.

“You know I like carrying you.”

Resting my head on his mile-wide chest, I bit back a grin.

I liked it too.

I liked the way I still looked beside him. So petite next to this giant of a blonde man. I liked the way everyone's eyes widened at Riccardo’s appearance. People practically drove out of his way as he stormed to the parking lot. But best of all, I liked the way he still treated me even though I'd been shitty and unfair to him.

So unfair.

I lifted my head to look at him.

“You're not here with Trisha” I stated.

His eyes blazed with humor and something else I couldn’t place.

“Yeah. I'm still not over how careless she was with Oliver.”

“I thought she was without fault?”

Riccardo grunted.

“You don't know the half of it.”

Well, well, well.

When we got to the car, he set me down in the seat and proceeded to look for the first aid kit. Riccardo cussed under his breath when the usual spot he hid the first aid kit had been replaced by makeup supplies and a note.

“Unbelievable” he muttered passing me the note.

“Hi babe. So I moved your hospital stuff to make room for my emergency makeup kit. If you're looking for it, it's at the hotel. Love, Trish” I read, looking up.

Riccardo was not happy.

“I'm sorry Aubs” he sighed.

“No, no. It's okay” I waved my hand, chuckling a little. “I'll just call Les to—”

“No, no. Lemme go get the kit at the hotel and I'll fix you up real quick.”

“Rick—”

“No Aubree, I insist. Please” he cut me off. “You know I'm not going to stop until I know you're okay.”

I sighed and nodded.

This will end badly.

“Okay.”

The drive to The Palm was short and quiet. Rick got down and carried me again. Through the entire elevator ride and down the corridor to his suite.

“So, what were you doing at the mall without your girlfriend?” I asked as he walked with me to his suite.

“I don't need my girlfriend's help to pick out a present for my nephew's birthday, now do I?”

I smiled.

“You do not” I chuckled.

When we got to his suite, he set me gently on my feet to retrieve his room key from the pocket of his shorts. But he didn’t let me loose. He kept me tucked protectively in the crook of his arm, staring down at me, the expression on his face was one of primal need.

Why is he looking at me like that?

I cleared my throat, twisting into him.

“Ricky, the key—”

Before I could process what was happening, his mouth was colliding with mine. I whimpered as my hands, my nails, clawed at his shoulders, wanting more. My body crackled all over, fireworks sparking as Riccardo’s tongue stroked over mine, fierce and eager and hungry.

I let out a broken moan.

No. No. No. No.

But I was such a terrible human being because I did not pull away. No. Instead, I pressed myself up on tiptoes and deepened the kiss.

I was going to blame it on the hormones either way.

Opening my mouth, I sucked in Rick's tongue. Because believe it or not, after all this time, this man’s kiss was still one of my favorite substances on the face of the planet.

In response, a growl tore out of Riccardo. He grabbed me by the ass and slid me up his body until my trembling legs were slung around his waist and my arms looped around his neck.

I was back in his arms again. Back where I belonged.

Thank you so much for reading! ✨