Aphrodite's Garden (A Fast Break Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page A

complicated. If Venus really be the goddess of love, then could she be guiding events here? It seemed more than mere coincidence, and at once, it seemed the stuff of insanity. Who in their right mind would buy into this?
    So, Aimee did the only thing she could. She looked up at him and laid it all on the line. “Ken, Venus thinks she’s Aphrodite.
    She told me that you were my soul mate.”
    “She told me the same thing. What do you make of it?” He brushed her hair back from her face and cupped her cheek. Big mistake. Aimee stepped back out of his reach. She had to keep a clear head. No touching. That’s what Venus had advised.
    Not until she had the roses. But looking into his eyes, the importance of the roses waned. A voice inside her head told her, in the scheme of things, he was much more important. Astounding. In all her adult life, nothing other than her son had ever held greater importance than roses.
    All she could say was, “I don’t know. What do you think?”
    “That you must be thinking I’m pathetic. What kind of man would chase a vision instead of finding a real flesh and blood woman to share his life?”
    “Why would you?”
    “I’ve asked myself that question hundreds of times. With you standing here before me, I know why.” He took her hands in his and said, “I was waiting for you.”
    This time when he touched her, she didn’t move away.
    Instead, she stepped closer and rested her cheek against his heart.
    In that moment, she felt an overwhelming sense of belonging . . . of coming home.
    “Aimee,” he whispered her name on a sigh as he enfolded her in his arms.
    This would never work. She had to consider the roses. She couldn’t walk away and deny others the happiness they would bring them on their special day. It would be so easy to choose Ken and let the issue of the roses drop. Everything within her screamed that she should. But to do so would be to turn her back on her gift and the responsibility that came with gifts. She had no doubt that Ken was indeed her soul mate. But regardless of how much she wanted to be with him, she had to be true to herself.
    Aimee pushed against his chest, and when he loosened his hold a bit, she moved out of his arms. “I have to go.” She took another step back, toward the door, toward the rest of her life without him.
    “Why?” he asked.
    If she had to explain this to him, she knew it could never work between them. They didn’t have a chance at happily ever after if he couldn’t come to her on his own. He had to understand that the roses weren’t just a business for her. They were part of who she was. Without them, a part of her would die. “Goodbye, Ken. Enjoy your roses.”
    *
    “That is the most bizarre and twisted thing I have ever heard,” Becky said.
    Aimee tossed the mangled carnations onto her work surface. “I can’t do it. I can’t work without roses.”
    “You gave up your soul mate for flowers?” Aimee looked at her friend. She’d spiked her short red hair so that it stood out at odd angles from her head. On anyone else it would look odd, but on Becky it worked. “I’m surprised you aren’t interested in committing Venus. She has to be certifiable.”
    “Too many coincidences for this to be a coincidence.” That actually made sense. She really was losing it. “I might as well go home.”
    “But you can’t! Tomorrow is the parade and the kick-off for National Rose Month. There are all these orders to fill.”
    “I’ll have to give everyone a refund. The ladies from the Garden Club will be so disappointed. They’ve been planning this celebration for months. I think they were hoping for a miracle.”
    “You give up too easily. Come on, girl. Work your magic.”
    “The magic is in the roses.”
    Becky leaned across the counter and placed her hand over Aimee’s heart. “The magic is here.”
    Aimee shook her head. She wished she had it within her.
    She wished she could take carnations and daisies and make the kind of