Chapter Twenty-Five

For several minutes Mel stared at the route Aiden had taken, struggling to make sense of what she’d just heard. Was he really trying to imply that he, hot shot racing driver whose looks, money and talent were the envy of every man in this room, was so desperate for company he simply went with what was on offer?

It was nearly impossible to believe, yet the gaunt look in his beautiful eyes when he’d spoken suggested he’d been brutally honest with her. And when she recalled his conversation about his childhood, how neither of his parents had shown him any attention, maybe she could see how it could be true.

Was it possible Aiden didn’t realise he was worth so much more than he was telling himself?

‘Ah, I have you to myself again.’

As Carlos drew alongside her, Mel was still reeling from the implications of her conversation with Aiden to pay him much attention. Aiden was going to sleep with Devon because she was available and he was lonely. Yet he wanted Mel to stop him.

‘I think your feelings are no longer for this racing driver, but for another,’ Carlos murmured, taking her hand and leading her towards a quiet corner. ‘Perhaps the driver who was born with … let me think about your English phrase. How about, born with the silver steering wheel in his arms, eh?’

‘You might be right,’ she admitted slowly, still staring at the door through which Aiden had long since disappeared.

‘About the silver steering wheel, or the feelings?’

She let out a shaky breath and gave him a small smile. ‘Both, but if you tell anyone about this, I’ll chop off your balls and hang them in my car over the rear-view mirror.’

He winced dramatically. ‘Your car? I thought you couldn’t drive?’

‘I still can’t, but I’m having lessons again.’ Thanks to Aiden, who with his gentle teasing and warm hand on her thigh, had somehow managed to rid her of her fear of sitting behind the wheel.

‘You take a test?’

‘Soon. Perhaps in a few weeks,’ she answered distractedly, conscious that if Aiden came back into the room now and saw her talking with Carlos he’d be livid. Even though Carlos was only flirting with her because he didn’t know how else to talk to women. And Aiden only wanted her because …

It was the question she always stumbled over. Why would Aiden want her?

‘Ah, I think I’ve been given the evil eye again.’

Mel followed the direction of Carlos’s gaze and immediately her heart plummeted. There was Aiden, his face a mask of controlled anger, glaring at them both. He’d wanted her to care enough to stop him from sleeping with Devon, Mel thought miserably. Now it looked like she didn’t even care enough to stop from going off with his rival.

‘I’m sorry, Carlos, I have to go.’

She didn’t wait for Carlos to reply. Maddeningly her progress towards Aiden was hampered by people wanting to talk to her and by the time she’d smiled and made her excuses, Devon was back at Aiden’s side. Clutching his arm in a clear gesture of ownership.

Squaring her shoulders, Mel ignored the queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach and marched towards them.

‘Hi there, Devon. Did you manage to get your interview?’ she asked sweetly.

For a second Devon looked puzzled before clearly remembering what she should have been doing with Aiden. ‘I did, thank you. Aiden’s been very accommodating.’

Mel almost choked but Aiden remained rigid, his expression bearing no hint of his previous vulnerability. ‘Well, I’m afraid his accommodating has come to an end. I’m here to take him away.’

‘The only place I’m going is upstairs to my room,’ Aiden replied coolly before tugging on Devon’s arm and nodding in the direction of the exit. ‘Shall we?’

Pain seared Mel’s heart as Aiden turned his back on her and began to walk away. Devon, in her ridiculously high shoes, struggled after him.

‘Aiden, wait.’

He stilled and turned towards her, his eyes sweeping the room. ‘If you’re looking for company, I see Carlos is still here. Enjoy the rest of your evening.’

She watched bleakly as they walked out together. Devon with her stupid bum, wriggling away in a dress that was two sizes too small. Aiden with his lean athletic body, stiffly setting the pace.

As Mel’s heart slowly shrivelled in her chest she felt an arm around her shoulders. ‘Oh my goodness. What’s wrong my love?’

Sally looked worriedly into her eyes.

And Mel burst into tears.

Aiden couldn’t hear a word Devon was saying to him. His mind was stuck on the image of Mel and Carlos together. Again. After everything he’d said about wanting her to care about him, it looked like she really didn’t give a toss.

Well, sod it. He was tired of going after a woman who clearly wasn’t interested in him. It was time to spend the night with one who was. He didn’t have his brother with him, cramping his style – Tom was hopefully fast asleep with the sitter back at his apartment – so Aiden had a night to do what he liked. To indulge in the carnal joys of the flesh.

Stepping into the lift, he pulled Devon towards him and kissed her. It wasn’t a kiss of passion. Nor had it anything to do with liking or caring. Or wanting. Instead it was a statement of his intentions. A warning to give her the chance to back out. From the way she coiled herself around him like a python, he didn’t think backing out was what she had in mind.

The lift opened at his floor and almost gratefully he pulled his mouth away. Taking her hand he marched them both up the corridor towards his room. She talked incessantly, interspersed with the occasional giggle though thankfully she didn’t seem to need any reply from him. Just as well, because his mind was still downstairs.

Why the hell was he bringing Devon into his room when his heart was tied up with Mel?

But Mel didn’t want him.

He came to a halt outside his door but the anticipation, the throb of desire, was missing. All he felt was self-disgust. Devon was looking up at him with big blue eyes and he knew, just knew, that if he slept with her tonight he wasn’t only sending all the wrong signals again, he was demeaning her. Demeaning himself.

Carefully he opened the door and drew her in before closing it behind them. ‘Devon, I’m sorry but I don’t think this is a good idea.’

Surprise, quickly followed by shock, flickered across her face. ‘What do you mean?’

Shit. He wasn’t used to bringing women to his room and then turning them down. ‘I mean I’m not the type of guy someone like you deserves. You’re worth more than a quick tumble between the sheets, and that’s all it will ever be between us.’

‘I see.’ Her bottom lip wobbled slightly and her eyes told him she clearly didn’t see. ‘So is this not now, or not ever again?’

He exhaled and let go of her hand before walking slowly to the desk where he grabbed automatically at a bottle of water. ‘Seriously, Devon, this is for your own good. Don’t you want a man who’ll actually take you on a date? Ring you up just so he can hear your voice? Buy you flowers for no other reason than he saw them and thought of you.’ Jesus, where was all this coming from? Aiden couldn’t remember ever doing any of it, so why did he suddenly have the urge to do it all? But not with Devon.

‘Well, yes.’

She looked so stiff and awkward standing in the room, not knowing where to put herself, and Aiden cursed himself again for leading her on. He really was a bastard. ‘Then you should see this as a lucky escape. Go and find yourself a man who’ll do all that for you. Who’ll treat you properly.’

Nodding once, Devon stalked to the door. As she opened it she gave him a final withering glance. ‘You know what. You’re right. You don’t deserve me.’ With a flick of her blonde hair, she was gone.

Aiden slumped onto the bed and hung his head in his hands. The bugger of it was, she was absolutely right.

And if he didn’t deserve Devon, there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d ever deserve Mel.

Mel didn’t manage much sleep. Each time she shut her eyes her brain decided to torture her with images of Aiden and Devon together. Her blonde hair draping over his naked chest as she slid her tongue over his skin. Him smiling into her eyes as she moved lower …

It explained why the reflection she stared at in the hotel mirror the next morning was far too pale. Why her eyes looked scarily bloodshot and weighed down by dark circles.

In an effort to perk herself up she showered and washed her hair, but the end result was still the same. She looked plain, washed out and every one of her thirty years.

Briskly she collected her belongings and set off down the corridor. Time to go back to her little house for a few days, away from anything that reminded her of Aiden Foster. Before the whole blessed Grand Prix circus started up again.

At the sight of the man waiting for the lift, she faltered. It looked like she wasn’t going to get away from Aiden any time soon.

She debated turning round and waiting in her room until he left, but that seemed too cowardly. Besides, she wasn’t the one who should be embarrassed.

‘How was your evening?’ she asked coolly as she drew up alongside him. He was wearing jeans and a plain dark T-shirt and though he still looked sexy, he clearly hadn’t managed much sleep either. Of course in his case it wasn’t because he’d been imagining people having sex, but because he’d flaming well been having it.

‘I’ve had better evenings.’ She didn’t get a chance to ask him what he meant by that because he immediately came back at her. ‘How about yours? Did you manage to catch up with your charming ex again?’

His grey eyes were like flint as they bore into hers. How could he care enough to be jealous, but not enough to stop sleeping with someone else? ‘Carlos and I are just friends, Aiden. I’ve made that mistake once. I’m in no hurry to repeat it.’

‘Friends?’ His right eyebrow shot up. ‘How can you be friends with someone who treated you like he did?’

‘I’ve forgiven him,’ she replied quietly, wondering how they’d got onto this topic. ‘I realised he wasn’t really to blame. It’s not like he set out to hurt me. Just that he couldn’t resist a prettier face.’

‘He wasn’t to blame?’ Aiden raised his hands, as if he wanted to shake her, but then restlessly shoved them into his jeans pockets. ‘It’s about time you took a good look at yourself, Mel.’ His eyes flicked over her shapeless jumper and standard chino trousers. ‘Despite all the dowdy clothes you wear, designed to deliberately put us males off, you’re an incredibly attractive woman. What Carlos did to you, cheating on you with other women, reflects badly on him. Not on you.’ For a moment his eyes softened. ‘You need to start believing in yourself again. Stop blaming yourself for not being pretty enough, or whatever crap you’ve got going in that head of yours, and start blaming Carlos for being a selfish prick.’

She stood, stupefied, and Aiden had to practically drag her into the lift when it arrived. While he fended off questions from the other lift goers with the casual grace he was renowned for, his words went over and over in her mind.

When the lift doors pinged open and they all strolled out into the lobby Mel clutched at Aiden’s arm, holding him back. ‘Is that really what you think I’ve been doing? Blaming myself?’

His expression told her he couldn’t believe she was asking such a stupid question. ‘Tell me, how did you dress before you met Carlos? Or while you were dating him, for that matter. Like this?’ His hand waved pointedly at her baggy jumper.

‘I don’t remember what I wore.’

‘Well, I bet it wasn’t what you’ve got on now. Do you remember the night you put that sexy little purple dress on?’ For a tantalisingly brief moment his face lit up with one of his brilliant smiles. ‘Hell, you knocked me for six. That’s the woman you really are. The one standing in front of me now is lovely, but her? She’s smoking hot.’

Mel’s heart flipped slowly in her chest and she found she couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe. She liked the way she dressed now … didn’t she? It was easy. Comfortable. Following Carlos’s betrayal it was how she’d wanted to be seen. Professional, one of the guys. A girl men would find easy to talk to and not feel threatened by, but not attracted to. She’d never thought of it as punishing herself though.

The sound of the lift doors opening again brought Mel out of her trance and she watched as Devon sauntered out. Looking every inch a woman, the blonde wafted by in killer heels, white skinny jeans and a tight pink T-shirt. Next to her Mel felt drab and sexless. As she drew closer to Aiden, Devon gave him a frosty stare before click clacking across the lobby, her pink floral bag bouncing off her hips with each stride.

Mel glanced up at Aiden’s stony face. ‘She looks upset with you.’

‘She is. The evening didn’t go as she’d planned.’ He shook his head, as if trying to get rid of an unpleasant mental image. ‘I’m hoping it’s just her pride I’ve hurt.’

Mel’s mouth went suddenly dry. ‘Why didn’t it go as planned?’

He stared at her with stormy eyes. ‘I might be a feckless sod, but it turns out even I can’t sleep with one woman while my mind is obsessed with another.’

As Mel’s mouth gaped open he turned on his heel and stalked towards the reception desk.