A Stranger on the Beach(105)

Aidan stared as Caroline huddled with her lawyer. She wore a dark suit and had her hair pulled back in a twist. Her face in profile, the fine tilt of her head—everything about her still called to him. But he was wiser now. He leaned into his anger to fight the attraction, and it worked, mostly. Aidan had come close to spending his life in jail for a murder he didn’t commit because of this woman. She’d used him; she’d played to his weaknesses and set him up for a terrible fall. His deliverance had come at the very last moment and as a matter of sheer luck. His new lawyer didn’t get to court on time, which meant his plea hearing got postponed for a day. In the meantime, the police found Jason Stark alive, or else Aidan would be in jail for a murder that never happened.

The judge walked off the bench, and the court clerk announced a fifteen-minute recess before Caroline’s case would be heard. Aidan watched as she went over to hug her sister, who sat in the front row. Then she turned, and before he realized what was happening, Caroline was coming up the aisle directly toward him.

He’d come to watch her take her punishment. He’d never really imagined that they would speak. But now that it was a possibility, he wanted that closure. He had questions. He would demand an apology. He stood up and went toward her, expecting her to back away. But she stopped.

Their eyes met, and words deserted him.

“Aidan,” she said. “I’m so glad to see you.”

He hadn’t been expecting that.

She looked to the front of the courtroom. Her sister and her lawyer had noticed that they were talking and watched them with worried expressions. The lawyer stood up and started walking toward them.

“Let’s go outside for a minute,” Caroline said.

“Are you allowed to?”

She looked like he’d punched her.

“I am, until I plead guilty. This is actually my last chance for a while. Come on.”

He held the door for her. She glanced back over her shoulder. They took the elevator down to the lobby and walked out onto the busy Brooklyn street. There was a park across the way, and they crossed to it. Aidan noticed the lawyer following a discreet distance behind them. He obviously didn’t trust his client not to up and run.

It was a gray November day. The leaves were off the trees and the wind was bitter. As the air filled with fumes from a passing bus, Caroline breathed in with a longing that Aidan recognized. He’d felt it himself not that long ago, staring out the window of the patrol car as they carted him off to jail. That desperate love for the outside world, right when you were about to lose your freedom. He wanted to take some satisfaction in this moment, to feel a sense of triumph at her fall, but he couldn’t. Caroline had lost in the end, as she deserved to. But that didn’t mean that Aidan won.

“Why did you come today?” she asked, as they walked.

“I want to see you pay for what you did to me,” he said, and realized how true that was.

She turned on him angrily. That wasn’t the answer she’d been looking for, apparently.

“What I did? Here you are, walking free. Jason and I are both going to jail. My daughter hates me. My sister hates me. I’ve lost everything I ever owned. I’m the one who’s suffering.”

He stared at her in disbelief.

“Are you serious, playing the victim here? I went to jail, Caroline. You would have let me rot there forever for a crime that didn’t even happen. You branded me a murderer. What did I ever do but love you, and try to help you? I thought we had something real. But you set me up. What I thought was the start of an incredible relationship was just another con job to you.”

“No. I honestly did care for you, Aidan.”

“Don’t lie. You lied enough already. This whole thing was a setup from the beginning. You went to Harbor Gourmet and had them put me on your bartending gig, so you could lure me to your bed and use me as your patsy. You got me to follow your husband, so you could tell people I was stalking your family. Then you drugged me. You planted all sorts of evidence to frame me up for murder. You even defaced your own car. That ‘Die, bitch’ thing? You did that yourself, to make it look like I was crazy, didn’t you?”

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. But she didn’t deny it.

“You’re not even sorry,” he said, and he was shaking with anger.

“I did what I had to do. Jason was in a lot of trouble with the Russians. I was trying to save his life. Besides, Aidan, you brought this on yourself. Do you know how I found you? You would stand outside my house, casing it. You scared me. I thought you were one of the Russians. So, I investigated. I asked around about you.”

“And found out I was an outcast with a criminal record. The perfect fall guy.”

“You put yourself in this situation.”

“By looking at your house? That land belonged to my family. It’s no excuse for what you did to me. You’re evil, plain and simple. I wish you would admit that to yourself.”

“Oh, please. You made your choices. Everything that happened, you wanted. I wanted it, too. We had real chemistry. We’re more alike than you think. Remember that. From the beginning, I felt like I knew you. We were never really strangers.”

She took a step toward him, looking up into his eyes as she leaned in to kiss him. Her soft, warm lips, the sweetness of her mouth, were as intoxicating as ever. Time stood still as he breathed in the scent of her perfume. He could have held her forever. But there was only one thing left to say.