"She's leaving."
"Fuck."
Aidan's lips twisted. "Exactly."
"What's your next move?"
"Nothing."
Thornton's impassive expression didn't change. Nothing, where his twin was concerned, still meant something.
Although he and Aidan had always presented a united front in public, one little-known secret about them was how intensely competitive they were with each other behind closed doors. Even Ethan didn't know about the hours Thornton and Aidan used to spend playing chess against each other in their younger days, and later on, this had progressed into high-stakes games on whose I.T. venture could generate more sales or whose start-up funding had reported more gains at a given time frame.
The Aidan Blackwood everyone knew seemed like an open book; a gentleman whom no one would hesitate to trust and ask help from. Thornton used to believe the same thing, too...or at least he had until they started playing those games, and he had come to realize just how much of his real self his twin kept hidden.
The real Aidan was a sly, cunning trickster made tougher by his subtly forceful nature and rock-solid composure. The first few times they had played against each other, Thornton had been chagrined to realize how his older twin was often ten steps ahead of him, and how the other man's genial demeanor was nothing but a mask.
The quiet charm and impeccable manners. Even those damn smiles that Blake often urged Thornton to try for himself.
Ha!
Thornton nearly snorted at the memory. Everything about Aidan's "public" persona was a sham, and Blake, just like the rest of the town, had completely fallen for it. Control meant so damn much to his twin that if and when Aidan were to fall in love, Thornton had always imagined it would be with a girl who was malleable and uncomplicated. Someone who would never be so troublesome to upset his twin's perfectly mapped life.
But looking at Aidan now...
The mask was definitely off, Thornton thought, and as for the reason behind it...
Aidan saw the way his brother was looking at him and had no trouble interpreting the disquiet in Thornton's gaze. "You looked her up."
"I'm sure you did as well."
"Naturally."
"And you know about the man in her life?"
"He's immaterial." Aidan genuinely didn't give a fuck about Jack-what's-his-face. "It's her..." His jaw clenched, and a rare trace of frustration underscored his tone when he spoke again. "It's Serafina I can't figure out. There are things at play...and I just fucking wish they were things I could fix for her. But I can't."
The next move had to come from Serafina.
No fucking ifs and buts about it.
She had to want him enough to make the first move.
It was the only way they'd have a fighting chance.
And until then...
AIDAN WAS ALREADY BEHIND the wheel of Blake's SUV when he got the call from the repair shop. He had asked Tommy to give him a heads up if and when Serafina came for her rental, and it was just as he expected.
She was going to leave without saying goodbye.
And because his hands were still fucking tied...
Aidan's grip on the wheel tightened when he finally saw her rental drive past him. He waited for a beat before trailing behind her. The airport might only be a forty-five-minute drive away, but Aidan wasn't too keen to leave anything to chance. The weather was dangerously unpredictable this time of the year, and Aidan had borrowed his sister-in-law's SUV to make sure Serafina arrived at the airport in one piece.
Memories of Serafina flashed endlessly in his mind while Aidan tailed her slow-moving car, and a sardonic smile played over his lips. Although his brothers had the occasional tendency to rib him over the girl he dated back in high school, Aidan had never really wanted a woman to the point of thinking of her even when she wasn't around.
Serafina, however...
He had hungered for her from the very first time he saw her walk inside the diner, and everything that happened afterwards had only made Aidan want Serafina even more. She had become an instant obsession, and every fucking little thing about her had fascinated him.
He wanted her like he had never wanted a woman before. Needed her like he had never needed another person before. She was it for him, and Aidan just wished...he just fucking wished he had the slightest inkling if it was the same for her.
A fucking sign.
It might be a cliché, but at this point he would settle for anything.
Any fucking sign would do.
He just needed something to hold on to.
Needed something to help him survive the empty days ahead.
But all hope died when they made it to the airport, and all Aidan could do was watch from a distance as Serafina took her luggage out of the backseat and handed the keys of her rental to one of the parking attendants.
Look back.
That was the only sign he could hope for at this point.