He had never really noticed her before other than as his friend’s younger sister. But sitting opposite her in his office, watching her drum up the courage to ask him to help her, had shifted something in their relationship. A subtle shift that made him aware of her in ways he had not been before—or at least not consciously. Aerin was not supermodel-gorgeous, but she had a girl-next-door natural beauty that was equally breath-snatching. Her golden hair was straight and fell past her shoulders to the middle of her back in a silken skein. Her body was as slim and finely boned as a ballerina’s, her eyes a smoky grey-blue. Her ski-slope nose was—unlike his—perfectly aligned above a full-lipped Cupid’s bow mouth. A mouth that promised sweetness and sensuality in its plump curves. A mouth that was forbidden territory for someone like him.
He could look but not touch and not taste. That would be crossing a line he had sworn he would never cross. He wasn’t interested in complicating his life with a young woman who had fairy dust in her eyes. Aerin was after perfection in a partner, she believed in for ever love and had waited this long to find it. Thirty years old and still a virgin? How could that be possible in this day and age?
He had lost his virginity the month after losing his family. Back then, sex had been a mind-numbing escape from pain and in a way it still was. He never allowed himself to get close to anyone other than physically. His relationships were transactional and brief. No promises, no strings, no emotions other than lust, which wasn’t an emotion in his opinion but a physical drive. He dealt with it efficiently and, of course, respectfully and always consensually but that was as far as it ever went. He had sworn off ever falling in love and did everything in his power to keep the armour around his heart in place. Armour so thick and strong and such a part of him now, he was barely aware of it being there.
But sweet untouched and innocent Aerin with her heart-shaped face and kissable mouth was a threat because he already had a relationship with her of sorts. A hard to define relationship but it was long-lasting, and he didn’t want to compromise it or his relationship with her brother, Tom, and his parents, who he also considered friends. Too many people would get hurt if he didn’t keep the boundary lines in place. And the last thing he wanted was to hurt anyone, especially people he cared about. He had paid a high price for relaxing his guard when he was fifteen.
He wouldnotdo it again.
Aerin Drysdale was off limits to him in every way. Too sweet, too innocent, too good for a man who had such dark secrets in his past.
CHAPTER TWO
AERINHADAwork meeting the following day with her business partners, Ruby and Harper. Ruby was only just back from a brief honeymoon having got married to Lucas Rothwell a couple of weeks ago. And Harper had recently become engaged to Jack Livingstone, the father of her surprise baby, Marli. Witnessing her friends’ blissful happiness only made Aerin’s single status all the more painful. Day in day out, she was surrounded by happy couples; her parents were as in love after thirty-seven years of marriage as they were when they first got together. Her brother Tom and his wife, Saskia, had been married six years and, although they were struggling with some fertility issues, she knew they were a match made in heaven and would stay together for ever.
Aerin believed in true love and desperately wanted it for herself. She had planned her future since she was a little kid. She was meant to be married with two kids by now. No way did she ever think she would still be a virgin so close to turning thirty but there hadn’t been anyone she was even mildly attracted to...until now.
But shewasn’tgoing to think about Drake Cawthorn as a potential partner. He was a stand-in date, that was all.
‘So, did you ask him?’ Harper asked with a teasing waggle of her eyebrows.
‘Ask who?’ Ruby said, having a turn at cuddling baby Marli, who was soundly asleep.
‘I told Aerin to ask Drake Cawthorn to be her stand-in date for her reunion weekend,’ Harper explained to Ruby, then, turning back to Aerin, asked, ‘So, did you ask him?’
‘I did.’
‘And?’ Both Harper and Ruby said in unison and with almost identical expectant expressions.
Aerin leaned forward to put her electronic planner on the table in front of her. ‘It took some work, but he finally agreed.’
‘Oh, wow,’ Ruby said, eyes gleaming with excitement. ‘This could be the start of something.’
Aerin rolled her eyes in an expressive manner. ‘I don’t think so. Drake might be handsome in a rugged way, but he doesn’t tick any of my other boxes.’ There was a part of her that was starting to wonder if there was anyone out there who could tick all her boxes, but she didn’t want to admit it to her friends. She barely wanted to admit it to herself. She had clung to the hope of finding a perfect partner so ardently and passionately for so long, it would make her look foolish to back down now. Surely the right man was out there for her? How could she lose faith now?
‘How well do you know him?’ Ruby asked. ‘I knew Lucas since I was a child and yet I didn’t truly get to know him until he whisked me away to his private Greek island.’ She gave a blissful sigh as if just thinking about that trip brought back a host of wonderful memories.
‘I know him well enough to know he’s not the settling down type,’ Aerin said. ‘My brother had enough of a job convincing him to be his best man. Weddings bring him out in a rash.’
‘I guess handling all those messy divorces would make anyone in his line of work pretty cynical about relationships,’ Harper said. ‘Oh, well, at least you don’t have to suffer the pitying looks from your school friends now. An experienced man like him is sure to do a good job of pretending to be your love interest.’
‘But how are you going to convince your friends he’s the real deal?’ Ruby asked. ‘I mean, are you going to kiss and hold hands and stuff and act all lovey-dovey?’
Aerin could feel her cheeks heating up enough to warm the room. The entire planet. ‘We haven’t actually discussed that angle yet. I guess we’ll sort that out on the flight to Edinburgh.’
‘And will you be sharing a room?’ Harper asked with another waggle of her eyebrows.
‘We’ll have to otherwise no one is going to be convinced we’re together,’ Aerin said.
‘I guess you could say you’re waiting until you get married,’ Ruby offered.
Harper gave a wry laugh. ‘We’re talking about Drake Cawthorn here. Who’s going to believe a worldly playboy like him would wait to sleep with his intended bride? Or even that he’d propose marriage to someone in the first place?’
‘Good point,’ Ruby said. ‘But miracles do happen. Look at us two. I didn’t dare hope I could be as happy as this. Lucas is everything I could have wished for in a husband.’
‘Jack is too,’ Harper said with a dreamy sigh. ‘We want the same for you, Aerin. It would be so wonderful to see you settled with the man of your dreams.’
Aerin wanted it too, so badly it was an ache in her heart. But Drake Cawthorn was hardly the man of her dreams. He was the complete opposite of what she wanted. She wanted someone loving and romantic, someone who believed in marriage and commitment and for ever love. Not a hardened cynic who thought marriages should only be conducted between two people with a get-out clause in place.