I open my mouth to ask for coffee, but Aiden stops me. “We won’t take up too much of your time.”
Estelle shrugs. “It’s fine. It’s not like I have anything else to do on a Friday night other than binge-watch Stranger Things.”
Aiden doesn’t respond to her comment and instead asks, “Were you home all evening?”
“Yes, of course. Where else would I be? I’ve become a pariah since the accusations against me began.”
“Your friends deserted you?” I scowl. People suck.
Aiden reaches under the table to squeeze my thigh. He’s not being sexy. Oh no, Mr. Detective is telling me to shut my mouth. “You’ve been home all evening? You haven’t gone out at all?”
“No.” She looks to me. “Did something happen?”
“It’s no big deal. We were followed.”
Her eyes widen. “And you think I followed you?”
I don’t. I tilt my head toward Aiden.
“What kind of car do you drive?” he asks.
“Well, we have several. Do you want to see them?”
Aiden nods. We walk to the garage and once again I have to remind myself to not stare like some plebeian. There are ten cars in the garage. Ten! Aiden takes his time examining each and every one. He kneels down to look under the chassis and lays his hands on the hoods to make sure they’re cool.
While he does his thing, I apologize to Estelle. “I’m sorry. Someone went into overprotective mode when we were followed.”
She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. “I remember those days well. Phillip was the same way. Always thinking men were trying to steal me away.” She giggles.
“You really loved him.”
“Yeah.” She sighs with a dreamy smile on her face. “He was my world. I know the age difference freaked everyone out, but he was only fifteen years older than me. And he was a stone-cold fox, no matter what his age was.”
Aiden clears his throat. “I think I’ve seen enough, Mrs. Bostwick.”
“Let me see you out.”
Instead of walking through the house, she opens the garage door and leads us to the driveaway where Aiden’s SUV awaits.
“I’ll send you those recommendations tomorrow,” I tell her. She thanks me and waves as Aiden helps me into his vehicle.
“What now?” I ask as he starts the vehicle.
“Now, I take you home and do dirty, dirty things to you.”
Oh goodie. I may clap.
He speeds the entire way to my house. Looks like I’m not the only one excited to move on to the sexy portion of our evening. After he parks in my driveaway, he turns to me and growls. “Don’t move.”
I may be an independent woman, but I’m not ashamed to admit him ordering me around in a growly voice has every single nerve in my body coming to life. He sprints around the front of the car to reach my door. He yanks it open and pulls me into his arms. He doesn’t let me down as he walks to my front door.
“I can walk.”
“Not letting you out of my arms.”
I’m not stupid. I don’t complain. Instead, I fish the key out of my purse. He grabs it from me and unlocks the door. When the alarm beeps, he sets me down in front of the panel.
“So much for not letting me go.”