Billion Dollar Boyfriend (Celebrity Love)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

And then there he was. Aiden walked outside of the terminal doors and into Shelby's field of view. They'd been apart for less than a week, but she still felt her pulse quicken at the sight of him approaching. He had a bag slung over his shoulder and pulled his suitcase by the handle, and he was headed in her direction.

Shelby opened her door and sprang out of the car to meet him. Aiden released the suitcase handle and set his bag on the pavement the instant he spotted her. It only took a few seconds before she flew into his waiting arms.

"I'm so happy to see you and to be home." He pressed his lips against her forehead.

"Welcome back." She tilted her head up toward him, and his mouth found hers.

It didn't matter that they were outside where anyone could see them, on a sun-soaked morning in Orange County. Aiden was free to be himself here, and neither of them were in danger. Maybe that was why their kiss felt buoyant to Shelby, as though both of them were light enough to float among the clouds. When they broke apart, the sheer jubilance Shelby saw on Aiden's face made her grin and lean in to his waiting lips again. His hands tangled in her hair and their kiss was hungrier this time. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him closer to her.

"Want to get out of here?" he asked, once they came up for air.

"You're reading my mind."

She plucked his bag up from the ground before he could, and Aiden grabbed the handle of his suitcase. After depositing his luggage in the trunk of her car, they got inside of the vehicle.

"Your house?" Shelby suggested.

"It's closer than your place, but there's no food there right now. We may need to stop for a few things or go somewhere later to get lunch."

"I thought of that already," she told him. "Look behind you."

Aiden craned his neck to glance at the back of the car, where a few grocery bags lined the floor and the seat.

"You're incredible." He leaned over and dropped a soft kiss on her shoulder. "Thank you."

"I thought getting groceries might be the last thing you'd want to do after hours on a plane. This should hold us until tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, hmm?" His mouth quirked up into a smile. "I hope that means you're staying with me tonight."

"There's nowhere I'd rather be."

"Not even Paris?" he teased.

"Nope," she replied, and she meant it. "I want to be here, in our real lives, with you. No hiding out, and no disguises."

"Amen to that."

Aiden pulled his sunglasses out of his bag. They weren't aviators like he wore in London when he was in public as Tristan, but the familiar sunglasses Shelby recognized from the times they'd driven together or been outside in the daytime here in L.A. She watched him put them on, then settle into the seat. His posture was relaxed, and he seemed carefree in a way she hadn't witnessed in weeks.

"You look happy," she said.

"I am," he agreed. "I feel like a weight has been lifted off of me somehow. One that's been there since I was eighteen."

"It must be a relief to know your parents' killer is convicted and behind bars."

"It is, even though I know it's still not completely safe for me in London. I may never know who fired a gun at me, and there's too much that comes with being there. But I don't need to be there ever again if I don't want to, and it's one less danger to have weighing on my mind. I'm happy to be home, and to be with you. Life feels pretty much perfect right now."

"Only pretty much?" Shelby joked. "We're going to have to fix that and make it absolutely perfect."

She started the car. Aiden reached for her hand before she could shift out of park.

"It will be absolutely perfect once we're out of this airport and back to our normal lives, as long as you're with me."

Shelby squeezed his fingers. "Let's get out of here, then."

It was almost an hour later when the white stucco exterior and red tile roof of Aiden's house in Santa Monica came into view. Shelby signaled to turn and slowed the car, waiting for the oncoming traffic to clear. When she glanced at the rearview mirror, she noticed a van that looked like the one she'd seen at the airport approaching behind them. Its signal light was also on, but the driver pulled the van over to the shoulder of the road.

"Weird," Shelby commented, looking forward again. "I thought you couldn't park on the street here."

"You can't, but people try to all the time on a nice beach day like today. The public parking lots are probably getting full." Aiden dug his keychain out of his bag and pressed a button on a small remote. The gate in front of his house started to swing open. "We could hit the beach later if you're up for it."

Shelby steered the car into the driveway and pulled up beside the house. As the gate closed behind them and they opened the car doors, neither of them noticed the window of the van parked on the street roll down, or the red-haired woman sitting in the driver's seat.