He placed his forehead against mine, locked his arms around my shoulders. The softness in his eyes betrayed his emotions, and I felt as if mine were open to him as well. At last we came together both crying out in each other’s arms, echoing the sound and rhythm of the ocean that we had carried with us from our day at the seaside.

He fell alongside me and I curled into the hollow of his arm, placing my hand upon his chest. We lay for a long while without speaking. I felt at peace, for the first time in a long time. I chose not to say anything for fear of breaking the spell that held us both in that perfect place between reality and fantasy. His fingers traced absent minded circles around my shoulders. In this way, lying in his arms fully at peace, I drifted into a dreamless dose.

Chapter Nine

I awoke a little while later feeling happier than I had in a long time. Across the hall I heard the shower running. I knew that I probably needed to go home. We had only napped for about twenty minutes, and it was still a few minutes before midnight. I wanted to get a proper night’s sleep before our meeting with the senior partners tomorrow.

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and stood. I grabbed Aiden's lined shirt and pulled it over my head, deciding to head to the kitchen. When he came out of the shower I would tell him then my intentions. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought that I would become Aiden Player's girlfriend.

Briefly I considered joining him again in the shower, but decided against it. That would probably just get us started again and put us in a distracted mood for the rest of the weekend.

I felt like I had a silly grin across my face as I headed down the hallway. I wasn’t sure what to do with myself as I waited, when I spied a bowl of fruit on the counter in the kitchen. Absently I picked up a banana and peeled it as I wandered over to the patio window.

I stood there looking out enjoying the view of the ocean as I ate the banana. The feeling of a silly school girl had taken over me as I played over the events of the day, wondering if he had planned the whole thing or if he had taken a leap at the spur of the moment. Our chemistry felt undeniable, especially after the love making that had just taken place.

How could I have held him at arm’s length for so long, I wondered.

And why did I become so laser focused on something I wanted in the realm of my career, but couldn’t have admitted even to myself, that I had wanted Aiden from the moment I saw him.

I wandered back into the kitchen to throw away the banana peel. As I did so something caught my eye, a shape that triggered something in my brain and caused me to take a second look. Lying just on the top of his full garbage can was a small brown pill bottle. It looked empty at first glance, and I momentarily thought about leaving it alone. But I knew that he had never been on any kind of medication as a child. Out of empathy or curiosity I picked up the bottle and read the label.

Amphetamines.

My heart dropped into my stomach and my pulse began to race.

I should not have looked, and I knew that.

But now I had.

The place where the name had been printed had been marked over with a black marker, which made me wonder if he had gotten them illegally.

This didn’t seem like Aiden at all.

My mind whirled at what this meant, as I questioned what to do. I needed to ask him what this meant. I needed him to tell me that I was misinterpreting what I saw. I needed him to prove to me that he was still the same person that I had known and had come to know again, the same person that I had fallen in love with. I reeled at the realization of the implications.

The water stopped, and a few minutes later I heard Aiden walking down the hallway. For a split second I debated on throwing it back where I had found it, but I couldn’t let it go.

I had to know.

I straightened up and held the bottle out as he stepped into the kitchen. He had changed into a pair of jeans after his shower and he held his tee shirt on his left hand about to pull it on. He stopped when he saw me. At first he had a smile on his face to greet me, but I saw it fall as he recognized the item that I held in my hand.

"Is there something you want to tell me about?" I asked, trying to keep my tone even but sensing the accusatory edge in my voice as I spoke.

His eyebrows pulled together as his face grew dark.

"Where did you get that!" he demanded.

"Aiden, is there something going on that I should know about?" I said while holding the bottle out in front of him like a teacher who had confiscated a note.

"What the hell, Blair!" he exclaimed. "Were you going through my things?"

"It was right there,” I insisted, pointing to the top of the garbage can. "It was right on top. I just saw it there."

He turned around and stormed out of the kitchen pulling his shirt on roughly. I followed him to the living room trying to get a gauge on his reaction. Clearly he was upset.

"Aiden,” I said, softening my tone. "I'm not accusing you of anything. I just want to know what is going on. I'm just worried. That's all."

I approached him as he had his back to me and tried to put my hands on his back, trying to regain some of the intimacy we had just shared a few moments ago. He flinched as I touched him and he crossed the living room to his shoes.

"I think I should take you home,” he said without looking at me.

"Aiden,” I said. "Talk to me, please."

"There's nothing to talk about!" he exploded. I took a step back at his reaction. "Get your things. I'm taking you home."

I stood for another moment, helpless and utterly at a loss as to what to do next.

"Aiden," I said. "I'm confused. Help me understand. If you want an actual relationship, then we should be able to talk about these things. We have to be able to communicate, even about the unpleasant stuff..."

The look in his eyes as he turned to me took my breath away. He stood and walked towards me across the living room, staring me down with his fingers flexing at his side.

"Now you want a relationship?" he demanded, not at all the way I had imagined this conversation would go. Before I could reply he continued his voice rising in volume with each word. "What about professionalism! What about your career! Or how about, you know... basic privacy!"

"I wasn't trying to invade your privacy!" I said before he could get any further.

"Could have fooled me!" he shouted.

"I'm telling you I saw it lying on top of the garbage can when I threw away the banana peel!"

"So you've helped yourself to my food too! Anything else you'd like to go through? How about the cabinets in my bathroom! Or did you do that already!"

"Aiden, calm down!" I said. "I was waiting for you to get out of the shower to tell you my decision! I just saw it there, Aiden. I should have left it there, but I didn't! Now that I have found out, I just want to know what is going on with you!"

"What makes you think anything is going on! How do you know it is even mine?" he asked.

"Who else would it belong to?" I said. I felt as if his reaction was a little bit over the top. This didn’t seem like that big of a deal, unless there was something else going on that I didn’t know about. "Aiden! I just want to know what's going on! Besides, if you’re on some kind of medication maybe this is something the law firm should know about!"

As soon as the words were out of my mouth I knew I had made a mistake. I hadn’t meant for it to sound like a threat. I flung my hand over my mouth, as if to push the words back in, as if to take back the moment.