All of Me? The Trust Me? Trilogy (8 page)

I watch intently as his face lights up, and his bright blue eyes sparkle. He walks over toward me, taking me in his arms. I wrap my arms around his neck, and in this moment I couldn’t be any happier. The elation that I feel is beyond words, and to think I could have thrown this all away. The man I love so deeply leans in and kisses me with so much passion that my knees feel weak.

“Uh-hum,” Sarah clears her throat. “You have plenty of time to make out later, but for now we have stuff to do so Aiden if you don’t mind,” Sarah says, interrupting our moment and gesturing for him to leave. He laughs and kisses me quickly and then turns to go. I can’t help but feel a little pissed at Sarah for disturbing us, but I guess we do have the rest of our lives to make out together, and that thought makes me undeniably happy.

***

“Baby, I know this will let your mom down, but I want you back at work as my PA, seeing as I’ve lost Tori. I know you have issues with Father, but you know the job well, and I need you with me. It’s not the same without you.

He lovingly strokes my cheek. I must admit I have missed working there, and even though Alistair is a pain in my ass, having Aiden and Brielle more than makes up for his shortcomings.

“I’ll call Mom right now,” I say, getting excited at the thought of being back with Aiden and the job I love.

I pick up my cell and dial Mom’s number
.

“Hi, Mom, it’s me.”

“Hi, sweetheart, how are you? How’s my Aiden?”

“Your Aiden is fine, so am I.” I roll my eyes and watch Aiden smirk.

“Good to hear. Are you coming into the salon tomorrow?”

“That’s why I’m calling, Mom. Aiden has asked me to come back to work with him, and I said yes,” I say, feeling slightly guilty for the short term notice I’m giving her.

“Oh, honey, I loved having you with me every day but, I know you belong in an office, not sweeping up hair. It was only going to be a short term thing.”

“Thanks, Mom, I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me,” I say, feeling like I have the best mother in the world.

“Don’t be silly, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Now you tell that Alistair to behave himself and don’t take any of his
shit
.” She has a very stern tone in her voice.

“I will, Mom, have a good night.”

“Goodnight, sweetheart.”

“Night, Mom,” I say and hang up my cell.

Aiden takes my cell from me with a smirk. He reaches over and places it on my bedside table, turning back toward me. His bare masculine chest connects with mine as he leans into kiss me. I welcome it as I quickly roll over so I’m on top of him. I’m in a playful mood, and he chuckles, moving my hair away from his face, and then leans in kissing me gently.

“Aiden.”

“Mmm,” he murmurs in return.

“I love you.” I gaze into his bright blue piercing eyes feeling such a deep connection with him it takes my breath away.

“I love you more.” He pulls me in for another deep passionate kiss.

***

I wake to Aiden softly snoring in my ear. He’s curled up behind me, holding on with a very tight grip. I turn off the alarm, and he wakes suddenly. His arms let go of me, making it easier for me to turn around.

“Morning beautiful.”

I lean in and kiss him. “Morning, my moronic smart-ass man.”

He chuckles. “Haven’t heard that in a while,” he says, putting his arm around me again and pulling me to him. My head nuzzles into his neck, while he yawns.

“I know, I thought it was time for it to make a come back.”

“I guess we’d better get up.” He unwraps his arm from around me and sits up in our bed. We get dressed and make our way to the kitchen.

We head outside to greet Mike who, as always, is patiently waiting for us.

“Good morning, Miss Taylor, Mr. O’Connell.”

“Morning, Mike,” we both say in unison and laugh at our cheesiness.

We enter the car and Mike pulls out into the traffic.

“We’ll be going straight to the office today, Mike. Jeni has decided to come back and work with us again.”

“Oh, that’s great news. I’m happy we can get back to a normal routine then,” Mike says chirpily.

“Sure is, and I couldn’t be happier. I’m a very lucky man, Mike.” Aiden wraps his arm around my shoulders pulling me closer to him, and I rest my head on his shoulder for the entire ride to work. We head through the main foyer to the elevator. My nerves flood over me and those darn pesky butterflies are wreaking havoc in my stomach. Aiden pushes the button for the elevator and we step in.

“Will your father be in today?”

He takes my hand in his, entwining our fingers. “I have no idea. I probably should’ve called him to see how he was doing, but it really pisses me off the way he treated you, I just can’t be bothered with the
bullshit
. I’m over him at the moment. I really want to leave the business and start up on my own. I can’t stand the way Father dictates everything, including who I should or shouldn’t be with. He has no right to talk to you or me the way he does, and to be honest, I would rather have a company of my own that I can run the way I think it should be run.”

I certainly understand his reluctance to stay in the family business, but I’d feel responsible if he left. “Guess we will find out if he’s here when we walk in.”

The doors open. Brielle is sitting at her desk; she looks up casually then jumps up and runs toward us.

“Oh my God, Jeni, you’re here. Does this mean what I think it means?” She raises her eyebrows while gently biting her lip waiting for my answer.

“Yes, we’re back together, and you’ll have to put up with me back here at work.”

She then hugs me tightly. “It’s about time. I was starting to get really worried that you two would never work it out.”

“Is Father here?” Aiden asks.

“Yes, and he’s in a really great mood today,” she says in the most sarcastic tone.

I roll my eyes.
Is he ever in a good mood?

We walk towards our desks. Alistair comes out of his office, sees me, and immediately his face turns bright red and his lips purse together as he furrows his brows.

“What is
that
doing here?” he says, waving his hand in a shoo motion toward me.

Aiden glares at him as his eyebrows crease together. His nostrils flare, and he lets out a small grunt. .

“Jeni is my fiancé and my PA, Father. How many times do I have to tell you stop calling her
that
? She has a name, it’s Jeni. Get used to it,” Aiden says, kissing my cheek.

“I recall, not that long ago, picking you up from the floor of your apartment in a drunken stupor because
it
left you. Don’t you remember that, son? Don’t you remember how utterly devastated you were and who it was that put you back together, or has your memory gone out with your common sense?”

“I wondered how long it would be before you brought this up and threw it back in my face. Father, I’m grateful for the way you helped me back on my feet when Jeni and I were having… difficulties. But we’ve worked through our problems, and I’m ecstatic to have her back. I love her unconditionally, and I won’t have you bringing up all this
shit
just to make her feel bad. So, Father, just
stop
! I reiterate Jeni is my fiancé.”

“We’ll see about that,” Alistair mumbles under his breath and storms off like a child back into his office.

Aiden kisses me on the cheek and looks at me with a half-smile as he walks to his office. I sigh as I can feel the hatred leaking from Alistair’s pores towards me. I make my way to my desk, sit down, and turn on the computer.
Nothing’s changed!
Bree looks at me, giggles, and gets back to work. I can’t help but feel a little dejected knowing how badly I hurt Aiden. I can’t believe that I put him through hell just because I was having a mini breakdown. I will never forgive myself for that, and I know in my heart I will make it my life’s work to make sure he never feels that way again.

The elevator chimes making us both look up. A delivery driver enters with a huge bunch of pink roses.

“I have a delivery for—”

“Yep, over here,” I interject as he walks over with the flowers in his hands, which I then sign for.

“Everything’s back to normal,” Bree states in a low tone.

I place them on my desk in their usual spot and take out the card to read.

Welcome back, baby. I’m so glad you’re here with me where you belong. I will love you, forever. Yours always, Aiden xoxo

Walking to Aiden’s office, I knock on the door.

“Come in.”

I open the door. He’s looking at me with that all too familiar sparkle.

“Thank you, I love them.” I continue walking toward his desk. He stands and meets me half way. He wraps his arms around me and holds on to me tightly.

“I told you you’d get flowers every Monday, and I intend to keep that promise.”

I lean up to kiss him and our lips meet briefly until we’re interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Sorry to interrupt, but Mr. Takahashi is on the line,” Brielle says as she peers through the slightly open door.

Aiden’s brow is slightly furrowed, and his lips are pursed, looking slightly irritated that we got interrupted. I quickly use my thumb and wipe my lip gloss from his lips.

He walks back to his desk. “Can’t leave Mr. Takahashbrown waiting now, can I?”

I slide back into the job easily; I remember how to do most of my work as the day progresses. Lunchtime comes around all too quickly and Bree does a lunch run down to the café. She leaves and I make my way to the kitchen to make coffee for us all. I place a mug into the coffee machine and press the button for black coffee for Aiden. Alistair walks in. I try not to look at him while he waits, tapping his foot impatiently on the ground. I decide perhaps I should say something.

“Alistair, I’m well aware of how little you think of me, but I would like to try and at least be civil to each other, for Aiden’s sake. He loves us both, so I suggest we try to get along if nothing else. What do you say?” I hold my hand out for him to shake.

He stiffens his posture and an intense, fevered look crosses his face. He leans in very close to me knocking my hand out of his way, his voice almost a whisper.

“Listen here, it’s not that I think little of you, it’s that I don’t think about you at all. Ever since you slimed your way into my son’s life, everything has turned sour for me. You’re like a noxious weed that keeps spreading her roots into everything,
fucking
up the path that I’ve laid out for my son since his birth. You’ll be his undoing and that’s on your shoulders not mine. If you really love him, let him be free of you and your tangled mess of a life.” He walks off leaving me in the kitchen deeply hurt.

I exhale and steady myself on the kitchen counter while I come to terms with everything he’s just said. I swallow a lump in my throat as I knew he hated me, but I guess I didn’t realize how much until now.

I should tell Aiden what he said, but I know he’ll get angry with Alistair, and who knows what could happen. I take Aiden’s coffee and walk out to his door. I knock.

“Come in.”

“I thought you might like some coffee.” I walk in and place the mug on his desk. He briefly looks up, smiles, and turns back to the computer. I turn to walk back to my desk.

“Sorry. Thank you, baby.”

“It’s all good,” I say, shutting his door. I don’t like not confiding in him. I’m conflicted and I feel like I am betraying him by not telling him, but at the same time I know that if I do tell him that it would cause too much anguish.

***

Alistair walks from his office and I see from the corner of my eyes he’s staring directly at me. I don’t look up while he approaches my desk.

His loud stern voice fires up. “Have you finished that proposal yet?”

“I’m finalizing the last of it now,” I say quietly.

Alistair throws his hands up in the air flexing his fingers in frustration. I flinch away from him and a smirk crosses his face while he watches me squirm.

“
Get it done, I won’t tell you again,
” he yells at me, his look is cold and hard and he pounds his fists on my desk loudly making me flinch again. I see another smirk cross his face; I think he knows he’s found a weakness because since the
incident
I’ve been jumping at loud noises and quick movements. I have a feeling now that he can see a weakness he’ll exploit it to its maximum potential. I turn back to my screen and keep typing.

He walks away with fluid cocky movements, almost a skip in his step. I notice Brielle watching me closely. She walks toward me as soon as he enters his office and closes the door.

“Jeni are you alright?”

I nod my head; no words seem to be coming from my mouth. I try to keep it together by thinking of Aiden and how much I love him but the memory of Jason’s pounding fists comes flooding back. My heart pounds dramatically and my jaw tightens as I feel the pain in my once fractured eye socket, the emotional turmoil of being helpless and the torment of blaming Aiden for not being there overwhelm me.

“Jeni? Jeni?” She touches my shoulder and I flinch away. She puts her hands up in a surrendering motion causing me to quickly snap out of it.

“I’m fine,” I say lying to her, trying to show her that her concern isn’t necessary.

“No you’re not, what’s going on? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. You’re barely holding it together. Jeni, talk to me, please?”

I swallow a lump down my throat and decide I should probably tell someone what’s going on and Bree is like a sister to me.

“When your father yells at me I relive it… the assault, over and over again. He’s so loud and obnoxious he frightens me.”

Bree face shows understanding; she strokes my hair and talks in a gentle tone.

“Does Aiden know?”

“No, and I don’t want him too. His relationship with his father is precarious at the best of times. It’s already fragile and in some ways it’s completely broken. I don’t want to damage his relationship with him any more than it already is. Please don’t say anything? Promise me, you won’t?” I beg her.