Maya clutched her purse to her chest. “How sick?”
“She has pancreatic cancer.”
“Cancer?” The words felt like an anchor around her heart, but she managed to ask, “What stage?”
“Stage three. Sophia has been undergoing treatments the last month and, needless to say, it’s taken its toll.”
“Months? How long have you known about her condition?”
“Maya...”
“How long?” How long had her family had been keeping her in the dark? Why they hadn’t told her Sophia was dying?
“Two months.”
“And you didn’t think to inform me sooner? She’s my mother.”
“Whom you’ve been estranged from for five years,” Thomas retorted with a huff, “along with the rest of this family.”
“You’re not my family.”
“I may not be a blood relation, but I care about Sophia. Raven and I have been carrying the load because her treatments are expensive even with insurance, not to mention the laboratory visits, PET scans and medications. And besides, it’s been tearing Raven up seeing Sophia like this and not having anyone to talk to beside me. She needs you.”
“She’s always needed me,” Maya responded tightly, “and I’ve always been there, but what do I get out of it? The short end of the stick.”
“I—I thought you were going to let go of the past, Maya. You came today.”
Guilt surged through her. Her mother was sick and this wasn’t the time or place to take score on who’d harmed who. “Thank you for telling me.” She started toward the door.
“What are you going to do?” Thomas inquired.
Maya had no idea. Today had been hard enough as it was. She needed a few minutes to digest everything he’d told her and come up with a plan. “I don’t know, but I’ll be in touch.”
When Maya finally made it back to her hotel room, she was mentally and emotionally exhausted. Confronting the members of her family who’d hurt her and feigning to be the happy aunt had been hard enough. But finding out her mother had cancer was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Not only did she have a splitting headache, but her feet were aching from the new designer sandals she’d bought to ensure she measured up to her mother’s scrutiny. All she wanted to do was run a hot bath, take some ibuprofen and go to bed. In that exact order.
Maya had kicked off her shoes and was unzipping her dress when there was a knock on her door. She glanced down at her watch. It was seven o’clock. She was in no mood for company after the bomb Thomas dropped on her. And who knew she was in town anyway?
Padding to the door in her bare feet, Maya swung it open in frustration. The person on the other side was someone she never thought she’d see again, not after the one night they’d shared.
“Ayden?”
“Hello, Maya.”
At six foot three, weighing about 210 pounds of solid muscle, Ayden looked as yummy as he ever had. Maya was dumbfounded to see the man she’d once adored standing in the flesh in front of her. How could she not be enthralled by those hazel eyes, his strong nose and the light stubble surrounding the best mouth and cleft chin in Texas? He was impeccably dressed in a dark suit with a purple-and-white-striped tie.
“Wh-what are you doing here?” She pulled back her shoulder blades to project that she wasn’t taken aback by seeing him after all this time, when she definitely was.
“I came to see you.” He rewarded her with one of his sexy smiles. “May I come in?”
“I don’t think so...” Maya responded, and began to close the door. What did you say to the man you’d once slept with, but hadn’t seen in five years?
“Maya, please.” Ayden stuck a foot in the door to prevent her from shutting it. “I wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t important.”
“All right, but only for a few minutes. It’s late and I’ve had a trying day.”
“Thank you.” Ayden brushed past Maya, and she caught a hint of his cologne that was so uniquely him. Her stomach clenched in knots like it always did whenever she was around him. And her nipples puckered to attention underneath her dress.
Maya closed the door and turned around to face him. “I repeat, what are you doing here?”
“Is that any way to greet an old friend?” Ayden teased.
Maya folded her arms across her chest because, with Ayden’s radar, he might see he’d aroused her, and she’d be mortified if he knew she was still attracted to him. “We were never friends, Ayden.”
“Weren’t we?” he asked, stepping toward her. “You knew all my secrets. I told you everything.”
“And you knew nothing about me.”
“That’s not true,” Ayden said. “I know your favorite color is green. I know Pretty Woman is your favorite movie because you’re a closet romantic. I know you write in a journal when you think no one is looking. I know you run when you need an outlet to ease tension.”
Maya chuckled inwardly. She was surprised he knew that much, but she supposed he would have had to pick up on something. She’d been his executive assistant for half a decade. “All right, you know a few things about me.”
Ayden raised a brow. “A few? I think I know a lot more than that.”
His implication was clear. He’d known her in the biblical sense and there was no getting around that. But why bring it up? It was over and done with. Finito. He’d made sure of that.
“Why are you here? Clearly, you sought me out. How else would you know I’m back in Austin?”
“I admit I had an investigator try to find you. They informed me you were back for your niece’s baptism,” Ayden replied. “How did that go? Have you ever been back since...”
He stopped. Have you ever been back since the night we slept together? That was the question he couldn’t bring himself to finish. At least he had the grace to stop before he embarrassed them both.
“Why would you have an investigator look for me? I don’t appreciate you treating me like one of your females,” Maya stated.
Ayden was notorious for having the women in his love life investigated to be sure they had no ulterior motives. But Maya, why her? It wasn’t like she was one of them. All she’d wanted out of today was to make peace with her family and move on with her life, but now that wasn’t possible. First, because of her mother’s illness and now Ayden’s surprise visit. He wanted something, and despite her anger at his invasion of her privacy she was curious
