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I take a deep breath and glance at the clock. It’s time. I need to get downstairs and face Aiden.
If I know one thing about Aiden, it’s that he will not abide tardiness.
I take one more deep breath and blow it out, giving myself a last once-over in the floor-length mirror before making my way down to the lobby.
The elevator drops me on floor two and then I head to the marble staircase that will lead me to where he said he’d meet me.
With my hand on the railing, I practically tiptoe down the stairs, praying to God that my dress and feet don’t get tangled up. The last thing I need to do is take a fall and end the night before it’s even begun.
Most of the way down, my eyes are trained on my feet for obvious reasons. But when I lift my head, I find Aiden at the bottom, staring up at me with a look that has my belly flopping and my toes curling. There’s no way to misinterpret that look.
Hunger.
“Cassidy, I…” His eyebrows furrow and his mouth pinches.
The shift in Aiden comes so quickly that I’m left a little off-kilter.
“We need to get going,” he says, turning his back on me.
I start to internally panic. Something is most definitely wrong.
“Is everything all right?” I call out, and he stops.
He shakes his head before twisting around to face me once more. “No. I mean…yes. Everything’s fine. You just…caught me off guard.”
I blink a few times, trying to read the room. His emotions have been all over the place in a matter of seconds. I’m not sure where we’ve landed.
“I caught you off guard. How?”
I walk down a few more steps but stop when I’m almost at eye level with him. The advantage of looking down on him helps me feel more secure.
For years, when I’d go toe-to-toe with a man, I was always being looked down on. It made me feel small and helpless. Right now, that feeling is absent. Not that Aiden ever made me feel that way. He didn’t. The awful boys I encountered left me feeling insecure, and it's difficult not to revert to those same insecurities, even after all this time.
“I just…you look…” He shakes his head again. “Ready?” He turns his back to me once more, and I’m growing angry with each dismissal. This reaction is not what I was expecting.
Cool indifference is the worst reaction he could have to me.
I stand on the bottom step for a moment, disappointment washing over me.
The high I was feeling moments ago dashed away in a heartbreaking beat. The way he’s acting is so similar to my father all those years. If he wasn’t screaming down at me, he was ignoring my existence. And here’s Aiden, doing practically the same.
This is how tonight’s going to go?
Wonderful.
29
CASSIDY
We’re in the back of a Town Car, the partition between the driver and us is raised. We’re alone and the air feels thick with emotion. Stifling.
Aiden hasn’t said a word since the stairs, and I’m not sure how I can fake happiness tonight. This is awful.
“Is there something wrong, Aiden? Did I…do something to upset you?”
His eyes narrow in on me, lips pursing. “No, why do you ask?”
I huff out a laugh. “Well, you just got weird back there.” When it appears he doesn’t know what I’m talking about, I explain. “Back at the hotel. You were rude, Aiden.”
