Safe by Rachel Hanna Read Free Book Online Page A

shoulders like he was afraid he might lose his “man card”.
     
    “Aidan, I am so sorry.”
     
    “It’s been a long time, Carly. No need to talk about this.” He waved his hand in front of his face.
     
    “I think there is,” she said reaching out to touch his arm.
     
    Aidan pulled his arm away and took a step backward. “Carly, I can’t do this right now.”
     
    “Okay. I understand. Let me just say this: What I did to you is the only regret I have in my life. And, when and if you ever want to talk about it, I am willing.”
     
    Aidan didn’t respond, and they both sat down in the rustic cedar log chairs. Carly closed her eyes and breathed in the smell of burning leaves from properties nearby. Off in the distance, she could hear a stream trickling. It was so quiet there, and her mind needed that right now. Trying to push the images of a man being shot in front of her out of her mind had become increasingly hard over the last twenty four hours. She started to worry that she wasn’t as strong as she thought she was.

Chapter 8
     
    After lunch, Carly decided to spend some time reading in her room. Things had been cool with Aidan for a couple of hours. He had a sandwich while standing in the kitchen as she sat at the table alone. She didn’t know what to say or do. Her cowardly way of “breaking up” with him allowed her to never see the pain in his face.
     
    As Carly sat on her bed reading, she noticed the big jetted tub in her bathroom through the door that was cracked open. She had tried to imagine this safe house pit-stop as a mini vacation, and what better way to enjoy a vacation than with a bath in a jetted tub?
     
    Carly turned on the water and slipped out of her oversized sweatshirt and yoga pants. Sliding into the warm water, she closed her eyes and settled in for a long soak. Her mind wandered to Aidan. She thought about how handsome and masculine he had become. He was no longer the boy she remembered from school. He was strong and independent and capable.
     
    She had often wondered what made her choose a life without Aidan. Part of it had been her parents splitting up, which had rocked her world. She had wanted to escape her tiny town and look for bigger things. For some reason, in her undeveloped brain, she hadn’t seen that she could have freedom and Aidan at the same time.
     
    Meeting Ethan had been the icing on the cake. Here was a man that took her willingly, just as she was. He didn’t know about her family, her small town, her flaws and faults. Aidan had known her deeply, and she couldn’t pretend with him.
     
    As a grown woman in a frightening situation, she realized that she was paying the price for her mistake of turning Aidan away all those years ago. He was a man who wanted to stand by her. He wanted to be her friend and her boyfriend. They had forged a bond that spanned an ocean, and she pushed him away.
     
    Now, she was married to someone she really never knew. She was married to a murderer.
     
    ***
     
    Aidan paced the floor in the living room as he listened to the jets running in the tub upstairs. How could she be taking a bath and relaxing when he was feeling so on edge? They had come so close to talking about the past - the big elephant in the room - and he had stopped her. Why?
     
    He told himself that he had a job to do. Simple as that. He wasn’t going to get reeled in by that woman yet again. She had hurt him - almost destroyed him - once upon a time. Why let her in again? Getting close to Carly meant one thing:  pain.
     
    If he focused on her again, he wouldn’t be able to do his job effectively. These past ten years had been a work in progress. He had learned how to do his job, but he had also learned how to block out emotions … or so he thought.
     
    What did she look like in that tub? His mind began to wander. Was her skin as soft as he remembered when he held her hand in high school? Were her lips still warm? Did they still taste like a mixture of