Entangled (The Accidental Billionaires, #2)(3)

I started jogging toward my house, wearing a silly grin on my face because I could feel the stone he’d given me against my skin as I made my way back home.





CHAPTER 1

SKYE





The present . . .


My heart sank as I realized there was only one seat available at the dinner table.

That’s what I get for running late. Shit! Shit! Shit!

Every chair was taken except the one next to him.

Aiden Sinclair.

The man I’d been trying to avoid ever since I’d come back to Citrus Beach, California, permanently with my daughter, Maya.

He was the thorn in my side.

He was the only part of moving home, after almost a decade away, that I hated.

He was dangerous.

And I never let myself forget that for even a moment.

I sighed in resignation as I looked around the enormous table—like I was suddenly going to see another vacant place.

Not going to happen. My timing and my luck had never been all that good, so why should that change now?

“Come sit next to Aiden, Skye,” my best friend, Jade Sinclair, requested from her spot next to her billionaire fiancé, Eli Stone.

Jade and Eli were the reason I was here. The only reason. We were two weeks away from their wedding ceremony, and this was an impromptu get-together for everyone involved in planning the festivities or included in the wedding party. Eli’s home in Citrus Beach had been the logical place to meet up, since his house was bigger than Jade’s.

Honestly, almost everyone here had the last name of Sinclair except for Jade’s fiancé; Eli’s mother; Jade’s twin sister, Brooke, since she was wedded to Liam Sullivan now; and . . . me.

I was still Skye Weston, even though I’d been married and divorced. I’d changed my name back to my maiden name soon after my ex-husband had been put in prison for life.

I looked around the table again, amazed that one family could take up so much space. I was the only child of a mother who had been a single parent; the Sinclair family was so different from my own.

I’d been an only child, a lonely kid.

Even now, my daughter was really all I had.

How could a family this size not take up a lot of room? Jade had four brothers and a twin sister. Her half-siblings, cousins, and a bunch of other family hadn’t even shown up yet from the East Coast, and the large dining room was full.

I started making my way slowly down the table reluctantly after I shot a fake smile at Jade. I didn’t want her to know that sitting next to Aiden would be torture for me.

“Sorry I’m late,” I said in a voice loud enough to carry to my best friend. “I got hung up at the restaurant.”

When wasn’t I delayed by work at the Weston Café? I’d put every available moment and penny into getting the little diner I’d inherited from my deceased mother to turn a profit.

The only thing more important than work was my daughter, Maya.

I finally sat my ass down and smiled at Seth, another one of Jade’s older brothers, who was sitting on my left.

I completely avoided looking to my right, since I was determined to ignore Aiden.

“How are you doing, Skye?” Seth queried politely.

“I’m good,” I lied.

I’d be doing a lot better if I wasn’t forced into sitting next to Aiden.

I hated myself for the fact that I could feel Aiden’s presence, and that just a whiff of his masculine scent made my body suddenly come alive after a very long absence of experiencing any kind of desire.

I can’t show any reaction. I can’t.

I momentarily contemplated asking Seth if he wanted to change seats, but I knew it would look childish. The last thing I wanted was for Aiden to know that he bothered me at all.

It was exactly two weeks until Jade and Eli’s wedding, and it wouldn’t be the only time Aiden and I would have to be in close proximity to each other. But it was only fourteen days. For the most part, I’d managed to stay out of his company since I’d returned to Citrus Beach almost a year ago . . . until today.

“You look exhausted,” Aiden commented gruffly. “But you smell like fresh lemon. How does that happen?”

I chastised myself silently for the shiver that slithered down my spine from hearing the sound of Aiden’s sexy baritone. Grudgingly, I turned my head toward him. “Lemon supreme pie was the special today,” I snapped.

It was embarrassing that I hadn’t had time to go home and wash the smell of citrus fruit from my skin, and change out of the jeans and T-shirt I’d worked in all day. But I’d already been late getting here.

“It wasn’t a criticism,” he answered huskily. “You smell good. Lemon pie is my favorite.”

“I know,” I said automatically, and then wanted to kick myself for remembering.

My brief relationship with Aiden had ended almost a decade ago. Shouldn’t I have forgotten all that minor stuff?

“Someday, you’re going to have to explain why you hate me so much,” Aiden said in a low voice as he leaned in close to my ear.

I looked around the table. There were so many conversations happening, and being at a table composed mostly of Sinclairs was deafening. Nobody was paying the least bit of attention to us.

Honestly, I had plenty of reasons to hate Aiden. “You know exactly why,” I said sharply back at him. “Let’s not go there right now, okay?”