Carved in Stone (The Stone Series) (19 page)

             
Aidan’s lips twitch, suppressing his smile as he peers down at me while Caleb chuckles in irritating amusement. Exasperated, I huff, shaking my head in response.

             
“All kidding aside, did you get what you needed?” Caleb asks Aidan.

             
“Yes,” is Aidan’s short and bizarrely odd reply.

             
“Good. Well this is my queue to leave,” says Caleb tuning towards me.

             
Placing a chaste kiss on my cheek, which emits a childish growl from Aidan in response, Caleb says smiling. “Always a pleasure catching up with you Gabby.”

             
“Same here Caleb. Take care,” I say returning his smile.

             
“We’ll be leaving now too,” says Aidan gruffly, placing his hand to middle of my back and applying pressure as he moves us towards the exit. “You must be starving. I know I am.”

             
His tone is a little short, his expression impassive as he stares straight ahead so I don’t bother asking if we’re saying our goodnights to anyone on the way out, it’s patently apparent Aidan has no intentions of doing so as he walks us both briskly towards the elevator.

Chapter Sixteen

              Rather than having dinner out at a restaurant, Aidan suggested briskly when we were seated in his car that we grab some dinner on our way back to his house. His sudden pensive mood had me agreeing with the takeout plan because whatever was weighing on Aidan’s mind meant he probably wasn’t going to be the best of company out in public. 

             
After him asking me for my preference of cuisine, again in a brisk tone, me replying in a chirpy voice that I was more than happy to go along with his choice, then him countering back with a cynical arch of his brow, an infuriatingly blank stare in my direction and little else, I was ready to scream!               It felt like we were in a Ping-Pong match. When a few moments of awkward silence between us followed, Aidan sighed dramatically then promptly pulled his phone out from the inside pocket of his jacket and dialed a number.              

U
gh! And to think, men call us women difficult!

Someone was not a happy
little camper - Aidan was the tall, dark and broody type – apparently.

             
A small part of me really wanted to snort and roll my eyes at his sudden surly mood but to be honest, I was exhausted from all the drama of the last few days; I just wanted to get home, eat some food and curl up in bed. And I could feel the start of a pounding headache coming on so I rubbed tiny circles along my temples in the hopes of warding it off.

             
Forty minutes later we arrived back at Aidan’s house with an assortment of Mexican dishes packed in various styrofoam containers, the heavenly smell wafting through the kitchen. I had to admit, I was touched by Aidan’s thoughtfulness, even in his current broody mood he remembered Mexican was my all time favorite food. During the drive home he had mumbled something about wine, having a preferable bottle of something or rather (it all sounded like blah, blah, blah to me) back at his house that would compliment the meal.

             
With barely a word spoken between us since we left the cocktail party, together we silently walked into the kitchen where I proceed to pull out plates and cutlery to serve the food on. I couldn’t stop thinking about all that Sebastian had told me earlier. There were several things I really wanted to ask Aidan about but his sullen mood kept my mouth firmly shut and besides I wasn’t altogether convinced Sebastian was meant to disclose that level of intimately personal details about their family anyway.

             
We ate dinner in virtual silence, neither of us saying much of anything, which only highlighted the stark contrast to the aloof Aidan sitting across from me now and the easygoing, playful Aidan earlier this evening. I wanted the easygoing Aidan back; I like playful flirty Aidan with his warm tender affectionate manner, he made me feel special and wanted. Brody aloof Aidan sucked!

             
So after we’d eaten the majority of the food on our plates I was done, I couldn’t hold it back any longer. If I kept biting my damn tongue I’d end up taking a whopping big chunk out of it!

             
Swallowing the last bite of the delicious burrito and washing it down with another long sip of wine, (Aidan was right; the wine perfectly complimented the Mexican food – the know-it-all) I decide to clear the air.

             
“Okay, I’ve had enough!” I say throwing my napkin on my plate.

             
Aidan puts his wine glass down, looks at me then stares down at my now empty plate then returns his gaze back to mine briefly before turning his attention back to his own nearly finished meal.

              “I don’t mean the food,” I say pushing my plate to the side. “ I mean I can’t take any more of this silent treatment.
What
is your problem? Have I pissed you off somehow?”

             
Pushing his own plate aside he drags his fingers through his thick gorgeous hair. “Nothing’s wrong Gabriella, I’m just tired.” His dismissive tone only serves to piss me off more.

             
“I call bullshit! You’ve barley spoken a word to me since we’ve left the cocktail party and what’s with you and Caleb. That little exchange you both had going, I just don’t get it. One minute it appears like you’re both good friends and the next, it’s like he’s your bitter enemy.”

             
“It nothing…nothing you need to concern yourself with.”

             
“Well it’s obviously something Aidan because you’ve been in a shitty mood since we’ve left the hotel.”

             
“Leave it Gabriella,” he warns. “Can we just enjoy the rest of the evening in peace?”

             
“No Aidan,” I fire back instantly, my voice tight with anger. “Not if that peace means you practically ignore me while you stew in a shitty mood all night! If that’s the case I may as well go back to Mia’s tonight.”

             
“I’m not taking you to Mia’s. Your staying here with me,” he growls frowning, his emerald green eyes ablaze.

“Then tell me what’s wrong!” I shout.

Taking a deep breath, I attempt to soften my voice. “Aidan, this is what couples do; they talk about what’s on their minds and what’s bothering them.”

             
“You want to know what’s bothering me?” he spits each word out harshly while glaring at me, his eyes narrow and hard.

             
The expression on Aidan’s face would be enough to caution anyone with half a brain, but at this point I didn’t care that I was poking a sleeping lion. My temper had zoomed past ten and was fast approaching nuclear, I’d had enough of all his secrets, his infuriating, complex mercurial personality and if we were ever going to move forward in our relationship then Aidan had to start opening up to me. He had to start trusting me or else there was no future for us.

             
“Yep…bring it on,” I taunt squinting my eyes back at him and openly prodding that fortress where he kept all those hidden emotions so tightly bound.

             
Hell, at this point of our relationship it should be a natural progression to share our feelings, our thoughts and concerns to one another, and yet he had me so freaking afraid to even say I loved him in case he shut down on me.

             
“Alright, but first answer me this Gabriella, do you want to be with Caleb Norwood?”

“What! No
, of course not. Are you crazy?” I screech incredulously, my head literally spinning in confusion.

“If you don’t want him
Gabriella then would you mind telling me why is it, that I constantly find the two of you alone, seemingly all cozy and him flirting openly with you. Hmm…why do you think that is?” He finishes caustically.

             
What!

             
What the fuck has Caleb got to do with any of this?

             
“What! Ohmigod! Firstly, I can’t believe you just said that to me,” I practically shriek in disbelief.

“What the fuck has Caleb got to do with this?
How did we get from me asking you why you’re all broody to me supposedly flirting with Caleb, which you know in your heart isn’t true? Are you nuts! No wait …don’t answer that”, I yell holding up my hand. “You’d have to be to say something like that to me.”

             
Snorting he growls back, “The guy’s all over you and you go and kiss him – what the fuck is that Gabriella!”

             
“He kissed me Aidan! It was a kiss goodbye on the cheek, nothing more. Ohmigod you were right there standing with us. And if you remember buster, it was Caleb who instrumental in getting us back together.”

             
“Yeah, Norwood’s a regular cupid,” he spits, pushing his chair back, grabbing his plate and throwing into the kitchen sink.

             
The loud clatter from his plate and cutlery hitting the stainless steel sink causes me to jump flinching, the following span of silence deafening between us, the atmosphere abruptly feeling oppressive and suffocating.

             
Massaging my fingers over my temples I try to relieve some of tension there, I wonder how an evening that started so well between us could end so horribly bad. And than the thought suddenly occurs to me, this is Aidan’s way of evading the real reason he’s upset. He’s deflecting to avoid disclosing the real reason for his broody withdrawn temperament.

             
“This really isn’t about Caleb, is it?” I softly say as he walks back over, lowering himself down in the chair next to mine.

             
“No,” he replies wearily, avoiding my gaze while running his hand across the back of his neck. The action itself speaking volumes, Aidan has no problems being the powerfully confident and aggressive businessman out there in the world but when it comes to real intimacy within our relationship, he is clearly uncomfortable.

             
“Then what’s this all really about Aidan?

             
Staring at me intently, I can almost see the cogs working behind his eyes, deciding whether he should be truthful and forthcoming, allow himself to open up and to trust me enough to share that piece of himself. And I want his trust more than anything; I want him to love me enough to trust me with his heart and his soul.

             
My heart literally aches with the fierce all consuming love that I have for Aidan. The yearning desire I have to know him, to understand him, be connected, and unequivocally bound to him in every sense. Absently my hand rubs slowly over my chest as if to lessen the discomfort, unwittingly holding my breath as I watch in fascination the instant Aidan’s expression changes from mildly impassive to one of steely determination, his decision made.

             
Reaching out, Aidan cups both of his palms on each side of my face, drawing me closer to him, his gaze causing me to hold my breath in it’s brutally fierce resolve.

             
“Move in with me.”

Chapter
Seventeen

              What?

             
“What?” I rasp in disbelief. If I thought my head was spinning before, now it’s downright spiraling like a lone towel in the rinse cycle of a washing machine. Aidan has to be joking, maybe this is another one of his avoidance techniques – ‘drop a bombshell of Gabriella and she’ll forget all about pressing me into spilling my guts to her’.

             
“Move in with me Gabriella,” he repeats.

             
The burning intensity of his gaze together with the unyielding line of his mouth sobers me instantly.

             
“You’re not kidding are you?”

             
“No, I’m not.”

             
“Your really serious,” I breathe in barely a whisper.

             
“Yes I am. I’ve never been more deadly serious about anything in my life.”

             
“Ah… how did we get from fighting about Caleb to me moving in with you? You’re not really upset about Caleb kissing me on the cheek are you?”

             
“Fuck yeah! I’m crazy jealous when it comes to any man touching you, especially Norwood. Don’t be naïve when it comes to him, Gabriella, if given the chance he would take you to his bed in a heartbeat.”

             
The muscle tic in his jaw tells me just the thought of Caleb and I like that is enough to drive him crazy mad.

             
“Well that may be the case with Caleb,” I snap back, my irritation igniting again. “But for fuck sakes, give me a little credit here,
I’m
not the kind of woman who would jump into a man’s bed because he said a few flattering words and showed me a little attention and insinuating it is just plain insulting.”