I waved it off. “I’m fine.”
“How’s your noggin?” I asked.
He knocked on it with his fist and said, “Probably hollow.”
And then he made me a coffee and passed it to me.
I only remember bits and pieces of my dream, but I remember the most horrifying part. Someone was in our apartment in San Diego and they were chasing me. Aiden jumped in to save me and they stabbed him.
***
On the ride, Aiden starts getting alpha with Kieran, leaving me to suspect Aiden doesn’t like the way Kieran is being with me, so Kieran goes quiet and sulky like a moody goth teenager. I guess Aiden is the only one allowed to be alpha with me. An eyeroll-worthy thought.
We get to the convention center and Aiden says he’s got an issue he has to deal with and so he is dropping us off. He says he’ll be in touch and meet up with us soon.
Kieran and I are there at the entrance.
“Do you have any idea the panels and the booths you want to check out, or…”
“How ‘bout you go your way, I’ll go mine. We’ll compare notes later?” he suggests, barely looking at me.
“Okay, uh… do you wanna exchange cell numbers?”
He rolls his eyes and begrudgingly pulls out his phone.
Alrighty then.
***
I’m actually happy to explore this on my own. It’s really cool to see some of the big brand names. There are some awesome exhibits. By noon, I’ve got a tote bag filled with pamphlets and swag and I’ve sat through several great demos and presentations.
And then I feel a tug on my waistband.
I jolt.
Aiden is beside me and he’s got my belt loop of my black dress pants.
Yep, that seems to be one of his signature moves.
“Oh, hi,” I say excitedly. ”Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Quick meeting at the CC New York office. A bit of family shit. Touched base with Jude, too. It was the security asshole. Caught him goin’ in your room with the surveillance this morning. The cops are gonna be executing a search warrant of the guy’s apartment any time. How’s everything so far?”
My mouth drops open. I hope they find Grams’ tiara and I get it back. “What about your phone cloning thing?”
“Jude’s still on that case.”
“I hope he figures it out.”
“He will,” he tells me, with a smile. “He’ll do his best to find your jewelry, too. Now, I’m all yours. What are we doing next?”
I then excitedly babble about my morning and start to show him stuff as we walk through the convention center, and then I narrowly avoiding bumping into two different people, I’m so excitable, telling him about panels I want to attend that afternoon. I’m giggling when he saves me from the second collision by grabbing two of my beltloops and steering me over to a group of tables near a coffee booth.
“You’re a hazard,” he says, with humor.
I giggle. “I’m a marketing nerd. I get excited.”
He’s smiling, shaking his head. “Been to so many of these. Not a big deal to me anymore.”