Three
“We’re cleared for takeoff, Mr. Sutherland.”
“Thanks, Leslie,” Aidan said, and buckled his seat belt.
The flight attendant walked toward the front of the plane to take her own seat behind the partition that separated the passenger compartment from the crew’s quarters. Checking his wristwatch, Aidan realized he had six long hours to kill before they would land in California. He made himself comfortable in the sleek leather chair and stretched his long legs out.
As the powerful Gulfstream engines began to roar and the jet took its place in the middle of the runway, it occurred to Aidan that he should’ve asked Ellie to come along on the trip. At least he’d have someone to talk to during the long flight. It didn’t hurt that she was beautiful to look at, too.
She was also smart. And funny. They always laughed a lot when they traveled together. And if she were here, Aidan wouldn’t have to wait four days to make love with her.
But since he was forced to wait, he had nothing but time to consider all the potential problems involved with walking into fatherhood. There were plenty. He had never planned on taking this path, but the bottom line was, this was for Ellie and the child who would know both of his parents.
And it meant he could finally have Ellie naked in his bed.
Since she wasn’t there, he opened his briefcase and got to work on several of the projects he’d neglected lately. By the time they were flying over California hours later, he was almost caught up on everything.
He looked up as the flight attendant walked into the passenger area. “Guess it’s time to buckle up. I can feel the plane starting to descend.”
“Yes,” Leslie said. “We should be landing in about fifteen minutes.”
“Thanks.”
*
Ellie always spent a few hours each weekend in her office, catching up on business journals and studying the stock market. She enjoyed learning new things. Reading articles about business trends and developments helped expand her mind and broaden her horizons and made her better at her job.
Her girlfriends thought she was crazy. Serena urged her not to read the whole weekend away and told her that if she changed her mind, a few of them were meeting in the bar for cocktails and dinner tonight. Ellie wasn’t sure she wanted to go out. She had too much to think about.
But that was the problem. With Aidan’s proposition still fresh in her mind, she couldn’t concentrate on anything else, especially business. Her brain kept bouncing from one idea to the next to…Aidan.
She finally gave up, pushed the books aside and left the office. As she strolled through the lush coco palm grove to the cozy cottage she called home, located on the edge of the resort grounds, she decided the only way she was going to be able to truly relax was to go swimming.
She slipped on her bathing suit, threw on a short cover-up, grabbed a towel and walked down to the beach. The numerous pools scattered around the resort were beautiful, but they were much too lively for relaxation. Ellie preferred to swim in the calm waters of the bay.
The sun was nearing the horizon, but the air was still warm. She touched the clear water with her toe and found it was the perfect temperature, refreshing without giving her a chill. Dropping the towel on the sand, she walked straight into the bay until the water reached her shoulders. Then she plunged her entire body under the water and swam underwater for as long as her breath lasted. Surfacing, she began to swim with slow, easy strokes that stretched her muscles in all the right places.
Ellie had always loved the water. Once upon a time, she had been an excellent swimmer and had even daydreamed of swimming in the Olympic Games. But then her mother died and swimming became a luxury she couldn’t afford.
Ellie and Brenna were the only people besides the mortuary director who had attended their mother’s funeral. That was when it hit the two girls that they were completely on their own. Their father had no interest in taking custody of them and their mother had no other living relatives. Ellie was thirteen and scared to death to go into foster care, so sixteen-year-old Brenna decided she would do whatever it took to keep them living together in their mother’s small house in the same working-class neighborhood where they’d always lived.
Brenna had an after-school job that brought in a few hundred dollars every month. Their eccentric mother had always kept a large stash of money—almost seven thousand dollars—in a safe place in her closet. They lived frugally, only spending money for food and the barest essentials, and managed to stay under the radar for almost four years, until Ellie’s junior year in high school. That’s when a school counselor grew suspicious of her living situation and contacted the authorities.
Terrified of what might happen next, the girls packed their mother’s car with whatever they could grab and in the middle of the night and drove out of town. They headed south and stopped when they reached the outskirts of Atlanta.
For the next eight months, they lived off the grid, sleeping in their car when they couldn’t find an available shelter. Brenna took day jobs cleaning houses and Ellie spent hours in the local library studying for her GED.
They’d survived, Ellie thought as she swam through the balmy water. More than that, they’d thrived, depending on each other and building a bond stronger than most sisters could claim.
A few hundred yards from shore, she stopped, treaded water and stared up at the vivid streaks of orange, pink and purple that filled the sky as the sun sank into the sea.
Looking back at the resort, she still couldn’t quite believe that this was her life. She’d come a long way from those days of living in a car. Life hadn’t exactly been easy-breezy back then, but she and her sister had stayed together and they had endured.
Soon after Ellie obtained her GED, she turned eighteen and they didn’t have to worry about the authorities anymore. They’d rented a small apartment, Ellie had enrolled at the local college and Brenna had started her own housecleaning service.
As she turned and paddled back to shore, Ellie continued to dwell on the strange path her life had taken. She had missed out on so much during those years. Childhood friendships, boys, shopping, cute clothes, the prom, sporting events—all the fun things that normal teenage girls did. But it couldn’t be helped. She and Brenna had realized early on that they couldn’t afford to stand out, couldn’t afford to have anyone examine their lives too closely.
So there would be no boyfriends, no close girlfriends, no activities that might draw attention. Instead, Ellie had escaped into books, newspapers, magazines, blotting out the hard times while soaking up every morsel of information she could get. And once she got into college, it was as if she was making up for all the time she’d lost in her last year of high school. She’d made some nice girlfriends and even dated once in a while. But more than anything else, she studied constantly, couldn’t learn fast enough. Her so-called photographic memory, along with a near fanatical need to succeed, helped her graduate in three years. She had been so captivated by the inner workings of corporations that she had already obtained her MBA when most of her peers were wondering what to wear to the homecoming game.
Now she was happily employed by the Sutherland Corporation, where she was considered brilliant, independent and overachieving—in a good way. She had great friends and she’d dated a few men. She had the means and opportunity to have a child and give that child everything she hadn’t had while growing up.
She reached the beach, grabbed her towel and patted it against her wet skin. The sand was still warm on her feet although the sun had set long minutes ago.
“That’s enough reminiscing,” she muttered aloud as she brushed the water off her arms and legs.
Why had she dredged up all those ancient memories? She rarely thought of the old days anymore. Did they have something to do with Brenna’s ultrasound picture? Or were they somehow connected to Aidan’s proposition? Were the memories a reminder of how tired she was of always missing out on all the fun?
Because it suddenly dawned on her that if she said yes to Aidan, she wouldn’t only be doing it to get herself pregnant. No, she would also be doing it because sex with Aidan would be exciting and fun.
And after all these years, Ellie deserved to have some fun. Didn’t she?
And speaking of fun, she thought as she grabbed her towel off the sand, her girlfriends would be in the bar at seven o’clock. With a determination she hadn’t felt in a while, she wrapped the towel around her waist and walked briskly toward home. If she took a speedy shower and dressed quickly, she could meet the girls in time to buy the first round of drinks.
*
Aidan never saw the sneak attack coming. In retrospect, he figured that’s why they called it a sneak attack.
It was two days into his California visit and his cousin Cameron Duke was throwing a pool party in the backyard of his home overlooking Dunsmuir Bay. Aidan lazed on a comfy raft in Cameron’s pool, a cold beer perched in the handy bottle holder. The cacophony of kids screaming joyfully, a dog barking, Sally taking orders for sangria, all faded into the background as Aidan tried to remember how long it had been since he’d been able to relax like this. Six months? Longer? Hell, the corporation had been in high gear and he’d been working nonstop for the last year at least.
The sun was warm, the water cool, and as the noise level began to die down, Aidan wished again that he’d brought Ellie with him to California. She would’ve enjoyed herself and fit right in with this lively crowd. But more than that, he wanted her with him right now, here in the pool, her body wet and slick against his….
Suddenly without warning, the air was filled with screeching banshees as a giant gush of water exploded all around him. Seconds later, more water engulfed him as kids and grownups cannonballed into the pool from every angle.
“Hey!” He scrambled off the raft, grabbing the beer bottle as pool water surged from one end to the other, splashing the deck and creating a mini-tsunami.
“Good save,” Brandon shouted above the uproar of the skirmish. “Never waste a perfectly good beer.”
Aidan laughed. “My philosophy exactly.”
Brandon was the biggest of the three Duke brothers, a former star quarterback in the NFL. Sitting on his broad shoulders was Samantha, his brother Cameron’s adorable, curly-haired three-year-old. She laughed and splashed and occasionally smacked the top of Brandon’s head like a conga drum.
Abruptly, little hands latched on to Aidan’s shoulders. He turned and found Jake, Cameron’s five-year-old son, grinning maniacally at him.
“Piggyback ride!” the little boy cried.
“Uh.” Aidan looked around to see if there was a parent nearby. The pool was filled with them, but they were all busy with the other kids. Damn. Aidan was on his own.
“Okay, kiddo,” Aidan said. “Guess you’re stuck with me.”
Jake didn’t seem to mind. “Go! Go!”
“Okay, okay,” Aidan muttered. “Hold on tight,” he warned as the boy climbed onto his back. Then Aidan glanced around for somewhere to put the beer bottle he’d saved only moments before, setting it down safely on the flat tile surface that surrounded the pool.
He took off slowly and jogged around the pool, being careful to keep Jake’s head above the water line. Looking around, though, he wasn’t sure it mattered. All these Duke kids swam like fish, even the youngest ones.
After a few minutes, Aidan glanced back. “Had enough?”
“Nope,” Jake said, slapping Aidan’s back. “More.”
A half hour later, Aidan came to a stop on the shallow-end steps. “I’m worn out, kiddo.”
“Okay, you better rest,” Jake said. The little boy wrapped his arms around Aidan’s neck and hugged him, pressing his cheek to Aidan’s. “Thanks, Uncle Aidan.” Then he hopped off and swam away.
Aidan swam to the side of the pool and grabbed his beer, refusing to admit how much he had enjoyed the squirmy little kid hanging around his neck.
*
Three hours later, after Aidan had eaten his body weight in grilled burgers, the best potato salad he’d ever had and Sally’s cherry cobbler, he glanced around the spacious patio. The grownups were still gathered at the table talking while the little kids fought mightily to stay awake, but failed miserably.
Five-year-old Jake, the oldest of the kids, had decided to take a trip down the jungle gym slide and had promptly tossed his cookies. Without batting an eye, Cameron rushed him into the house to clean him up.
For some reason, all the efficient family activity reminded Aidan of Ellie and her ability to keep things running smoothly under any circumstance. Of course, everything lately reminded him of the woman waiting for him back home on Alleria. He couldn’t wait to go home and get her naked. There wasn’t a question in his mind but that she would want the same thing.
A few minutes later, Jake came running outside in fresh pajamas and shocked the hell out of Aidan by climbing onto his lap. Now the little guy was sound asleep in his arms. Talk about a sneak attack. Aidan couldn’t quite fathom how all these protective feelings for this scrawny little guy had cropped up.
Was this the kind of emotional stuff that dads went through? he wondered. Was this what he’d signed on for with Ellie? No, he realized quickly. If Ellie said yes to his offer tomorrow, Aidan would one day become a dad in name only. He would be there for financial support and the occasional family gathering. He rubbed his chest absently, relieved that he wouldn’t have to deal with these overwhelming feelings of fear and concern and love and—
“Here you go.” Cameron handed him a heavy crystal glass of single malt scotch. “Don’t worry about waking up Jake. I swear that kid can sleep through earthquakes and enemy fire.”
Cameron sat and both men sipped their drinks in companionable silence, watching the activity around them.
“Time for jammies,” Brandon’s wife Kelly announced, and scooped tiny Robbie up off the lawn, where he’d been speed crawling, trying to make his escape. The kid put up a halfhearted fuss but after a moment, he laid his head on Kelly’s shoulder and closed his eyes.
“This one’s zonked out, too,” Adam said, and carried T.J. into the house. His wife Trish was already inside taking care of the latest addition to their family, two-month-old Annabelle.
Cameron shook his head. “Never thought the day would come when there’d be more kids than adults at a Duke brothers party.”
“The kids are great,” Aidan said, and took a sip of scotch.
Cameron laughed. “Spoken like a die-hard bachelor determined never to have any of his own.”
“Hey, I meant it,” Aidan protested, then shrugged sheepishly. “Is it that obvious?”
“I recognize the code words.” Cameron relaxed in his chair. “Kids are great as long as they’re someone else’s, right?”
Aidan chuckled. He might’ve been guilty of uttering those very words on more than one occasion. Oddly enough though, tonight he had liked the feel of Jake, trusting and sound asleep, tucked up against him. Wow. He couldn’t believe he’d just had that thought.
“I was never gonna have any of my own, either,” Cameron said. “None of us were. Hell, my brothers and I made a sacred pact when we were young. No marriage. No kids. Ever.”
Aidan frowned at the familiar sentiment. “So what happened?”
“Julia happened,” he said simply. “And Jake. Mom had something to say about it. Come to think of it, my brothers added their two cents’ worth, too.”
“Sounds like a united front. What’d they all say to change your mind?”
Just then, Julia stood and eased little Jake off of Aidan’s lap and into her arms. “I’ll take him in to bed.”
Cameron jumped up. “Let me do it.”
“No, you stay and talk to Aidan,” she said, and reached up and kissed him before walking away.
Aidan took another sip of scotch and wondered how quickly he could leave to get home to Ellie.
*
At fifty thousand feet, Aidan stared out the window at the cloud cover below. He and his father and taken care of their family business so Aidan had left a day early, anxious to get back to the island. So far, he’d spent most of the flight reminiscing about the last few days with his father and Sally and the rest of the Dukes. It was still a little weird to realize that he and his dad and brother were suddenly part of a great big loving family they’d never known until two years ago.
And he wondered what it said about him that he could still feel the imprint of little Jake’s slippery wet fingers clinging to his shoulders in the pool. The kid had gotten to him, along with the rest of the brood.
Who’d have guessed that he and Logan would end up with a loud, active extended family after all these years? Growing up, it had been the three of them alone: Aidan, his brother and their dad. But now things were changing. Their family was changing and growing. Was that change another reason why he’d made up his mind so easily about offering to father Ellie’s child? He wasn’t prepared to answer that just yet.
To divert himself, he stared out the windows. The cloud cover had dissipated and he tried to guess what area of the country they were flying over.
“Looks like Louisiana,” he murmured, gazing down at the verdant surface a mile below. Rivulets intertwined like snakes through miles of lush growth and trees, emptying into small lakes and ponds. Bayou, he thought. Definitely Louisiana. That meant he had another two hours in the air before they reached Alleria.
He leaned both arms on the high back of the leather seat and thought of his own unhappy youth. His mother had walked out on the family when he and his brother were seven years old. Both Aidan and Logan always vowed to stay single because women couldn’t be trusted. Their mother wasn’t the only woman in the world who’d proven that theory true.
And after hearing his cousin Cameron’s story about what he’d been through with his own miserable father, it just went to show that there were plenty of men who couldn’t be trusted either.
Hell, Aidan knew that. But it hadn’t hit so close to home before. Cameron Duke’s old man was a son of a bitch.
Aidan realized that he and Logan had really lucked out in that realm. Their father Tom was the best dad any kid could ever have.
But their mother was a mess. Not that she had ever beaten them, or starved or lashed out at them. No, his mother’s sins were ones of neglect and abandonment. She just didn’t care. She’d never even taken the trouble to figure out which of them was Aidan and which was Logan. She used to look at one brother or the other and say, “Which one are you?”
That was pathetic, but it wasn’t criminal.
So yes, their dad was the best there ever was. But Aidan still had his mother’s genes. He’d always worried that he might turn out like his mom and be a terrible parent who only cared about his own selfish needs. But it didn’t have to be that way, he realized now. He knew himself, knew he would never be like her. By making his offer to Ellie, he knew her child would be in good hands. Ellie would make a wonderful mother and Aidan would be there to support them both.
Aidan shook away all thoughts of his mother and focused instead on his dad. It had been so good to see him interacting with Sally and all the Dukes, almost as if they’d always been a family. They had welcomed all three Sutherland men unconditionally, but Aidan got a special kick from seeing his dad so happy.
“I have your lunch ready for you, Mr. Sutherland,” Leslie said.
“Thanks.” Beyond grateful for the distraction, Aidan put aside all those thoughts and sat to wolf down the perfectly cooked pasta and salmon Leslie had prepared. While he ate, he flipped through a business magazine and made some notes. Afterward, he put the finishing touches on some contracts he’d brought with him, then slid his briefcase away for the rest of the flight.
Aidan poured himself a glass of wine and tried to relax. The plane was over the Gulf of Mexico and he couldn’t wait to get home. He was getting more and more anxious to see Ellie again and he’d convinced himself that she’d made her decision to take him up on his plan.
He almost laughed when he thought about how he’d planned to find a woman while he was in California. Who knew his feelings would change so drastically in a week? Now all he could think about was Ellie. He couldn’t wait to see her again.
He recalled her nervousness about “getting naked” with him and chuckled, thinking he could hardly wait to calm her nerves.
Unbidden, an image of little Jake popped into his head. Weird, wasn’t it? Aidan was a man who had never wanted children and yet he was willing to father a child for his business associate. He squirmed a little uneasily in his seat. Fathering a child and being a father were two different things though, he assured himself. The baby would be his blood and would have his full support throughout his life. That didn’t mean he would be interacting with it on a daily basis.
And at that thought, another memory of Jake, curled up and asleep on his lap, zipped through Aidan’s mind. He scowled and pushed it out again. He wasn’t interested in being anyone’s dad. But he was most definitely interested in Ellie and in making sure she had the best for the little family she wanted to create.
Of course, on the off chance that she was still feeling ambivalent, he would be happy to make the decision for her. The thought of getting her naked had become a bit of an obsession with him, so if she needed persuading, he was the man to do it.
He sat back in his seat and smiled at the different ways he’d be willing to use to convince Ellie to agree to his offer.
*
“I’ve got to go inside,” Ellie said, sitting up on her beach towel and stretching like a sleepy cat. She’d been daydreaming for the last hour about Aidan. Oh, who was she kidding? She’d been thinking about him all weekend, wondering what it would be like to have sex with him. She would find out soon enough and the thought made her equally nervous and thrilled. He would be back tomorrow and she couldn’t wait to see him again.
But she had to make sure their arrangement remained strictly business. Yes, she would enjoy herself with Aidan, but she would never allow herself to slide into a state of pure unadulterated passion from which she might never recover. The danger was self-evident; she was, after all, her mother’s daughter.
So to maintain the business aspect of the deal, Ellie had spent all day yesterday preparing a computerized list of objectives, rules and contingencies. Once Aidan was back in the office, she would present it to him and explain everything in detail so that they were both on the same page going forward.
She spent a long moment adjusting her eyes to the sun, then stood and began to gather her things.
“Are you sure?” Serena asked, not moving an inch from her beach towel. “It feels so good to lay here and do nothing.”
“That’s all I’ve done today,” Ellie lamented, as she tossed her sunblock and paperback novel into her small carryall. “I’ve become a slug.”
“I’m so proud of you.” Serena sat up and used her hand to block the sun from her eyes. “And I love that new bikini of yours.”
“The one you forced me to buy?” Ellie laughed.
“Yes, and you’re welcome,” Serena said. “It looks fantastic on you.”
Ellie felt positively decadent after four hours of doing nothing but swimming and sunning on the small patch of beachfront at the far end of the resort area. Few guests ever ventured down this way so the Alleria employees were welcome to sunbathe here. It was the first time Ellie had ever taken advantage of that perk; the change was thanks to Serena.
Also, thanks to Serena, she’d spent way too much money on a flattering two-piece bathing suit they’d found in one of the resort’s fancy shops. That was after Serena had taken one look at Ellie’s serviceable one-piece tank suit and been horrified.
“You’re a bad influence on me,” Ellie said as she reached for her towel and shook the sand off.
“My work here is done.” Serena sighed and stood up. “Guess I’d better get going, too. I need to prep a few things for my staff meeting tomorrow morning.”
Ellie left Serena at her house and kept walking until she reached her own cottage another few hundred yards away. Her feet were gritty from the sand and her skin was drenched in sunblock, so before going inside, she stopped to use the outdoor shower near the kitchen door.
She tossed her cover-up onto the veranda and stepped under the stream of cool water. She savored the feeling as it splashed against her warm skin, trying to imagine how it would be if Aidan were showering with her. Wonderful, she thought, and slowly ran her hands along her arms and legs and stomach to brush off the sand.
*
Aidan dropped off his bag and briefcase in his suite, then jogged over to the business offices to find Ellie. She always spent Sunday afternoons at her desk, catching up on business news and any loose ends that needed to be nipped before the work week started.
She wouldn’t be expecting him a day early and he figured he’d be catching her off guard. He wondered if he would be able to tell by the look on her face whether or not she was willing to get naked with him—as she put it. Or would they have to discuss things further? Somehow he knew she’d made up her mind. Ellie rarely hesitated when it came to decision making, although, granted, this situation was a unique one.
He strolled past her secretary’s desk and went straight to her office door. It was closed so he knocked, then immediately opened it and walked in. “Ellie, I’m back. Did you have a chance to…”
She wasn’t at her desk.
Okay, not a big surprise. It was Sunday afternoon, after all. So maybe she was doing laundry or cleaning her house. He crossed the busy lobby and headed outside, taking a shortcut through the main pool area and past the tiki bar. The din of music and laughter faded as he made his way across the property to the residence cottages on the other side of the coco palm garden.
As he neared Ellie’s house, he heard a woman singing. One of her neighbors, no doubt. Not a bad voice, he thought, although it sounded a little garbled, like the singer was under water.
None of their guests ever stayed over here in the residence cottages, so it had to be an employee. At least it wasn’t Ellie, Aidan knew that much. His prim, proper, straight-laced senior vice president would never…
He stopped in his tracks as he caught sight of the dazzling backside of a woman standing under an outdoor shower, wearing what could charitably be called a string bikini.
His mind shut down as raw primordial need took over. Words formed in his brain, but he couldn’t utter them aloud. Sexy. Gorgeous. Body. Want. Now.
Mine.
The woman continued singing, completely oblivious to Aidan’s presence. As his mind slowly clicked back into working order, the term poleaxed came to mind. He was pretty sure this was what it felt like to be smacked over the head with a two-by-four. He’d never seen anything so stunning in his life.
As the woman rubbed her hands over her skin, Aidan had to bite his tongue to keep from offering to do it for her. Finally she reached for the spigot, cut off the water and turned.
And Aidan felt his chin hit the ground.
Ellie?