“China,” she murmured. “Right. Spend a lot of time there?”
“There’s very few places I haven’t been, Mary. Half of my adult life has been following Lexi around the globe.”
Yep, surreal. “I’m from Kentucky,” she said lamely.
“I can honestly say I’ve never been there,” he said, turning his attention to the other foot. “Maybe you can take me there sometime.”
“It’s a lot like Pennsylvania,” she said dreamily, “but greener. And with more horses.”
He laughed at that. “So back to your conundrum. What’s got your puzzler puzzled?”
Mary chuckled before sighing. “You’ve got everything, Aidan. Wealth, power, a good family, friends who’d do anything for you. What could you possibly see in me? I mean, not to be self-deprecating or anything, but I’ve seen pictures of some of the women you’ve dated. I’m so far below their standard I’d need a satellite to reach them. I own a tiny business in a small town that probably doesn’t even register on most GPS’s. My only family is my man-crazy mother. I’ve got no money, no influence, no connections, - ”
Aidan pressed a finger to her lips. “You’re right. You have none of that. But you do have the one thing that no one else does.”
She blinked, doubtful that she could have anything Aidan Harrison couldn’t get a hundred times over. “What’s that?”
“My heart. It’s yours, Mary. And it doesn’t care about any of that other stuff, because the truth is, I have more than enough of all those things. The one thing I don’t have, and the one thing I want more than anything else, is you to share it with me.”
Mary heard the words, and realized that they were exactly what she needed to hear. And he might not know it yet, but he did have her. It only took a couple of hours and one truly amazing foot massage for her to realize that she was his, had been from that very first night.
He didn’t have to know that yet, though. The pain of those three weeks without him was fading, but she was still afraid to hope.
“You know, I’ve been thinking about what you asked me earlier – if knowing who you were would have made a difference.”
“Yeah?” he asked warily. “And what did you come up with?”
“Well,” Mary said slowly, keeping her expression contemplative, “I’d like to say that no, it wouldn’t have, but I don’t think that would be true.” Aidan’s magical hands stilled. She paused, choosing her words carefully. “I mean, if I knew you were on the Forbes list of the wealthiest men in America, I definitely would have gotten out the better sheets.”
Aidan’s eyes flashed to hers. Could he see the mischievous glint in them, or the barely-there quirk at the corner of her lips that she tried so hard to hide?
“Better sheets, huh?”
“Oh, yeah. Definitely would have gone with the higher thread count.”
“I see,” he said somberly. “Anything else?”
“Well, I probably would have put out the good towels in the bathroom, too.”
“Good towels?” he asked, his thumbs making those wonderful little circles again.
“Yep. Satin stripes and everything. And of course I would have made sure I bought Starbucks coffee, or at least Dunkin’ Donuts instead of the generic stuff.”
“You really have been holding out on me, haven’t you?”
“Afraid so. And – this is actually kind of embarrassing – I probably wouldn’t have taken that picture of you drunk and naked and posted it on my Facebook page....”
Aidan’s eyes widened, but he was smiling. “I hope you’re kidding about that last one.“
She laughed. “I am. I don’t even have a Facebook account.”
Aidan shifted and gently tugged so that she was snuggled up against him. “Seriously, Mary. Are you alright with this? Are you angry with me for not telling you the truth?”
“It’ll be a struggle, but I think I can somehow come to terms with the fact that my boyfriend is an obscenely wealthy and powerful man,” she grinned. “And no,” she said more seriously, “I’m not angry with you. It’s not like you lied to me or anything, and you had your reasons, didn’t you?”
“I never meant to hurt you, Mary.”
“I know. And it was kind of a test for me, too, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” he admitted. “I had to know that it was me you were interested in and not all the baggage.”
“Baggage,” she chuckled. “Is that what you call having an estimated net worth in the hundreds of millions, being one of the youngest men ever to appear on the Fortune 500 most successful execs list, and earning the title of “most eligible bachelor” for the past seven years running?”
“Seven years?” he grinned. “Really?”
“Uh-huh. You were also voted ‘the man I’d most like to see naked’, and rated an unprecedented eleven out of ten on the lickability scale.”
“Someone’s been doing her research, I see. Tell me, were those last two actual polls or did you create those yourself?”