In the back of my mind I hadn’t stopped thinking about his kiss and then some from last night. We hadn’t even been alone for ten minutes and here we were nearly making out in the shadows of the parking garage like a couple of teenagers.

"Aiden," I whispered against his lips, breaking contact. "Aiden stop."

Instantly he took a step back with his hands out to either side.

"We can't do this," I stuttered, though my voice didn’t sound convincing even to myself.

"I’m nothing if not a gentleman,” he said with a small smirk. "I'll tell you what Blair. I'm going to let you call the shots."

"Okay good,” I said. "My first call is that we can be friends."

"Very good. Friends." He nodded and extended a hand. I took his and we shook on it. "I don't buy it though." He muttered still holding firm to my hand.

"What do you mean?" I asked, pulling my hand back with some difficulty.

"You have feelings for me."

He arched his eyebrow and gave me a side glance, letting back some of the playfulness that had been missing.

"Feelings of friendship maybe," I insisted.

"Sure, sure." He shook his head. "Friends with benefits," he muttered.

"Aiden, seriously."

I lightly punched his shoulder. I didn’t feel quite as overwrought as I had this morning but the sense of caution hadn’t left me.

"I want us to be friends. I want us to stay friends. We are friends anyway. No matter what. Okay?"

He nodded at last, accepting my words. "Okay,” he said.

"Besides, we have a case to focus on, and don't forget we are competing with each other."

"No, of course. We mustn’t forget that,” he joked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said.

Why was I stalling?

"Come have dinner with me tonight,” he said. "Just as friends of course. There's something I want to do."

"I can't actually. My mom's in town."

I hoped this didn’t sound like an excuse. For once it wasn’t.

"Oh, really! How is your mom?"

As our friendship had developed as children our mother's naturally had formed a relationship over the years. Now they remained close friends and often spoke of each other. I had felt better about moving five states away knowing that she had a close friend nearby in Aiden's mother.

"She's good,” I said. "She started her own business after I left for school. She runs an online boutique out of the garage. She had it revamped for storage."

"Ah, she always did strike me as someone who could pull that off. What did your dad think about it? Is he still in human resources?"

"Oh," I said. "They divorced a couple years after high school."

"Damn, I'm sorry to hear that. I guess my mother never mentioned it."

"That's the real reason she started the business. She needed to support herself but she didn't want to work away from home."

"Wow,” he said.

"Hey listen. Speaking of which, I'd better get going. My mom is waiting. I'll tell her you said hi, okay?"

"Yeah sure."

He smiled and started to walk towards his car.

"Maybe some other time?" I asked.

"What?"

"Dinner."

"Definitely."

He flashed me his charming grin and headed on down the length of the ramp, giving me one last wave as I opened my car door. I tried to ignore the feeling of euphoria still lingering from the stolen kiss as I press the gas pedal and left the parking lot.

When I arrived back at my place, I found that my mother had made herself quite at home already. She and Kelsey both perched on the couch with hot cups of tea. When I opened the door, she put down her tea and stood with her arms open.

"Mom!" I said rushing to give her a hug.

"Hi, Blair!" she gushed. "It's so good to see you!"

"You too, Mom."

I held on to the hug longer than I expected. All the turmoil and confusion seemed irrelevant since she had arrived and I felt a small spark of peace. I finally felt that I could push my emotions and stress aside for a bit and just enjoy a good visit with my mother. She stood back and held me at arm’s length.

"Let me get a look at you. Are you eating enough?" she asked.

"Of course, Mom,” I said.

"I don't know about that," Kelsey piped in. "The way she pours over her work, sometimes I have to remind her."

I gave Kelsey a glare. They both sat back down as I put away my brief case and took off my jacket.

"Are you finished for the day?" Mom said. "Or is this just your lunch break?"

"I'm done for the day,” I told her. "I'm sorry I left you stranded at the airport. The case had been rescheduled to today, but the good news is that it's been rescheduled again."

"Don't worry about the airport. I wasn't there long. What does it mean that it is rescheduled again?"

"That means I can actually take a few days off while you’re here,” I said. "Maybe the three of us can have a day out. Tour the city, go to the beach. That kind of stuff."

"That sounds wonderful! So tell me everything about your new job."

"It's great, really,” I said. "Of course I can't go into much detail, but we are working on a real case. They had us start out with the hardest case they could find. I really like the mentality of the partners. There is a real sense of mentorship there."

"So you’re doing the case all by yourself?”

“No, one of the partners heads the team. It’s been great.”

“I'm glad that you like it."

"How is Aiden doing?" Kelsey asked. "Is he doing okay with the case being delayed?" As she spoke I noticed Kelsey giving me a knowing look. I tried to ignore the raised eyebrow aimed at me. It occurred to me that she still didn’t quite know the details of what had happened. That would have to wait.

"Aiden?" Mom asked looking from me to Kelsey. "Aiden Player?"

"Yep." Kelsey nodded. "He is competing with Blair for the position."

I glared at her for saying that since I hadn’t told my mother that part yet.

"Well, we’ll just have to see him while I’m here."

"Mom, seriously?"

"Yes, seriously,” she said. "Call him right now and arrange it in a few nights. I would love for us to have a night out together, just like old times."

Great.

"Mom, I see him every day. Do I have to?"

"Yes you do. I insist."

She gave me the look. No matter how old I was or how long I had been away from home, the mom-look would always bend my will.

"Fine," I grumbled. "I'll text him, okay?"

"Whatever you decide,” she said.

I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text over to his cell, and I put the phone back in my purse.

"Are you going to wait for him to answer?" my technologically inept Mother asked.

"No, I'll just check later,” I said. "He'll probably message back sometime when he gets this one."

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving,” Kelsey said.

My mother solved her by making her a suggestion.

"I had thought that maybe I would make my famous gumbo recipe since you haven't had it in a while. We could have a nice girl’s night in."

"Homemade food sounds amazing. I'm going to change and then we can run to the grocery store."

I ran back to my bedroom and peeled off my work clothes leaving them in a pile at the foot of my bed. Without much thought I pulled on a pair of cutoff jeans shorts, and my white tee shirt. I walked back to the living room only to have my mother look me over, placing her hand over her mouth.