Chapter 6

“Are you okay, Mr. Wilson?”

At the voice from his office doorway, Aiden lifted his gaze, leaving the latest spreadsheet glowing on his monitor. In a black satin skirt and russet blouse beneath a charcoal heavy-weave jacket, Eva Graham leaned against the doorframe. While she wore a grin, it was slight. And worry hovered in her dark brown eyes, glimmering in an early morning orange sunbeam.

After being pummeled by line after line of summer storms, it was the first sunshine in two weeks. Which meant there’d been no sign of Anna and Rory in the evenings.

Also shimmering in the returning sunshine, Kim’s—no, Eva’s—thick tresses brushed her shoulders. With a low sizzle, the ring unfurled. After a quiet exhale, Aiden flashed her a smile.

“Yeah, doin’ just fine.” He dragged fingers through his hair while reclining in the chair. “Thanks for asking. How’re you, Miss Graham?”

“Uh, well, Mr. Hawthorne ... He’s on travel, sir.” As she spoke, her fingertips played with a dangling dark strand. “So ... Um, do you need help with anything? I noticed they haven’t given you an assistant.”

Even as the ring coiled, Aiden batted it away while managing a low snort. “At this point, I’m surprised to find my office still here.”

“They ... She shouldn’t treat you this way, sir.” With the grin gone, she knitted her thin brows. “It’s not—”

“—fair? It is, actually. When I arrived, Madame Dumont expected a lot. I failed.” When her glossy red lips parted to retort, Aiden held up a hand. “No. Let me finish. I did fail. So now, I must prove myself. And I’m also ... Um, working through some personal stuff.”

“Your late wife?” she whispered.

“Yes, I guess. Sorta.” He shrugged. “It’s complicated.”

“Well sir, if—” Eva pushed from the frame

“Thank you, Miss Graham.” Once again, while crushing the ring in its dark corner, Aiden flashed her a smile. “I appreciate it. I really do.”

While turning away, the young woman only nodded. With every soft click of her black heels fading in the distance, Aiden’s chest tightened further. The farther she moved from him, the deeper the heat from the ring seared into his mind’s fist.

“Fuck it,” Aiden murmured before calling after her. “Yes! Yes, Miss Graham. I could use your help.”

At his call, she whirled so fast, Kim’s face flickered into existence before fading once more. But she’d been smiling. From the ring, music filtered through his ghostly hand. It grew louder with each step bringing her closer.

To where she belongs.

Aiden’s eyebrows lifted.

As the morning wore on, Eva’s smiles grew wider, despite the work Aiden heaped on her. And he couldn’t help but return those beguiling grins, even as she faux-grumbled. Although ignoring the ring’s ever louder griping, he was careful to avoid any touch. Simply having Eva around seemed—right.

At the meeting, she strode through the waiting crowd to slip into the chair beside him. He managed only a swift nod at her before Madame Dumont arrived.

In her characteristic high heels and curve-hugging gray dress, she marched to her seat. However, just as she reached for the armrest, her eyes swept over Aiden. Then inspected Eva, who leaned in close to pick at Aiden’s sleeve. Although he looked down, expecting to see a piece of fluff in her fingernails, there was nothing. Eva grinned. The little imp.

With her eyebrows tightening, Madame Dumont’s eyes clouded.

When he let his smile widen, Madame Dumont’s fingers slipped on the chair. With a huff, she sat and began the meeting. Though her gaze never returned, he maintained the smile. Being rejected was one thing. To be replaced, another.

By the evening, after letting Eva depart, Aiden was whistling as he packed up the last of his work. At least merit meant something to Madame Dumont. He’d kept the office, because, as much as she may have disliked him, he was doing a good job. And with Eva by his side until Dennis returned, he’d hacked through a month’s backlog of data. In a single day.

A tune still whistled from him as he headed home.

After devouring a small dinner, he drove himself to exhaustion in the gym. The soft warm breeze that greeted him as he stepped onto the rooftop pool deck brought a smile to his face. For the first time in a fortnight, he could swim laps without wind-driven icy rain pelting him.

He could also stay around to enjoy the hot tub. As he settled into the bubbling waters, a lengthy sigh slipped from him. And the ring? His eyebrows lifted. It’d been champing at the bit, hoping every night to see Anna once more. While taking a long sip of whiskey, he rolled his head back to inspect the twinkling stars.

“It’d only been a fluke, old friend.” He chuckled; he’d never called the ring friend before. “You’re getting rusty. They’ve got their own agenda. You saw it as well as I did. And I’m no pawn”—he emitted an icy chuckle—”at least outside work. Besides, Anna wasn’t who you thought—”

At the familiar laughter and giggling, Aiden’s chest tightened. Rory and his prancing wife, hand-in-hand, again holding half-empty wineglasses, sauntered onto the pool deck. Despite their slurred voices carrying on the wind, he couldn’t discern words. As the ring perked, ghostly tendrils appeared, but Aiden clamped it in its dark corner.

One by one, faint images solidified as he took another sip. Kim’s smile. Eva’s smile. Merging. Easing apart. Both sets of twinkling eyes. Anna’s sparkling gray-green pools.

“Oh, come on. Not tonight,” he said under his breath. “It’s been a good enough day already.”

Although upon spotting him, Anna fell silent, Aiden only closed his eyes and reclined in the jets. They could have all the fun they wanted. But he’d not be their spectator, willing or unwilling. Nor an actor in their little play. With the foamy jets muffling their voices, he soon drifted into blackness.

At a soft splash, he awoke with a start. As his fingers clenched the tumbler resting on the tub’s rim, he pried open his eyelids. Across from him, Anna, in a curve-hugging red one-piece, slipped beneath the bubbles to the neck. Illuminated only by the distant pool’s dim glare, those wide jade orbs glinted.

Although he remained silent, Aiden’s teeth clenched. His mind was a steel clamp around the awakening ring.

After a nervous glance at Rory, who was once more leaning against the pool’s near side, she swallowed. At the gentle wave of water flowing towards his foot, Aiden pulled his leg away. With lips pursed and eyes narrowed, she again eased a leg towards him. But once more, he moved from her. Crushed against its cage’s wall by his mind, the ring’s murmurs increased.

“I’m tired of the kinky experiment, Anna.” After a curt exhale, he glanced at her husband. “Yours and Rory’s.”

Time slowed as the tip of her tongue slid around those glossy red lips. With a sigh, she reclined, sipping her wine. While tracking him over the rim, she remained silent. When Aiden started rising from the water, she coughed to clear her throat. He paused.

“What if it isn’t about Rory and me anymore?” Her voice was only loud enough to be heard over the jets. “What if...? Look, something happened, Aiden. When we touched. I know it did. These past weeks, I’ve ... Um, I’ve sensed you. At least, I think so. It’s, um, weird.”

With a long groan, he dropped back into the sudsy whorls. When faint tendrils slithered to life around her, he only sighed. So, not a fluke. And he was no pawn. Not in their game, anyway.

In the darkness, the ring dropped from his mind’s opening palm to clatter on the distant safe’s icy floor. As his heartbeat rose, the expected flames emerged. Although still low, they were pulsing higher. When its incessant rumbling intensified, a rising melody appeared. The same ancient tune. Catherine’s theme.