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She leaves me feeling stunned. Of all the things I’d expected out of this week, closure with Cheryl was absolutely nowhere on the list. I don’t quite know what to make of it. The emotions are too complicated to fall firmly into good or bad. I have so much history with her, and so much baggage.
Maybe I should get a therapist when I get home.
There’s a sharp knock on the door and then it opens a crack. Nick’s searching brown eyes appear and I almost melt in their gaze. Then I remember that I’d come back here in the first place to escape him.
“Evie—” he starts, coming into the room and closing the door behind him.
I cut him off. “No, wait. Let me explain.”
He looks like he wants to talk but he stops himself, allows me to go.
I open my mouth, still unsure of what I’m going to say. But as I start talking my words to Cheryl come back to me and pour out in a way I didn’t anticipate. “I’ve been really happy this week,” I say.
“Me too,” Nick agrees. His expression is unreadable and even though I don’t immediately continue he gives me time.
“I like you a lot. The sex is amazing.” I could do this forever. I stop the words before they escape this time. “Things are going really well so what’s the point of putting any labels on it?” I pause and he continues to stare at me with those eyes like melted chocolate.
“I didn’t mean to freak you out earlier,” I finish lamely. “It was a slip of the tongue.” Another long pause. “So casual?” I ask, my chest tight. The words sound flimsy but the question is now finally out there.
Nick’s expression remains the same. And then, like someone presses play on the remote that controls him, he reanimates. The corners of his eyes crinkle, his lips tug upward.
“That sounds good to me,” he says.
Of course it does. Nick isn’t a man who makes wild commitments to girls he barely knows. He’s definitely not one to fling around love. Maybe all along he’d only intended this to be through our wild European adventure. He’s certainly never said anything to the contrary.
Nick walks across the room slowly and wraps his arms around me. He kisses me once on the lips and then just holds me, as if sensing this is what I need right now. I rest my head against his powerful chest and settle for breathing him in. I’ve been going too fast, rushing forward, making assumptions.
The only thing I should be certain of is that this feels nice in the moment.
And that next week we’ll be going home.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
NICK
I sit at a beachfront bar at sunset, drinking dark liquor and thinking darker thoughts.
The scene around me is a complete contrast. Couples walk hand-in-hand against the purple and red backdrop. Rowdy groups of travelers migrate from one bar to the next. Everyone is having a good time except me.
I take another sip of my drink, swirl what little remains in the glass. I guess I wouldn’t enjoy this scene even if I were in a better mood. Nick Madison has never been sand and sunlight. The city kid in me has never felt fully comfortable on a beach.
Unfortunately I can’t exactly blame the city for my discomfort at hearing Evie say the word “love”. The sound of it had struck me like a viper, its sweet poisons shooting straight up my veins.
Evie had read my mind instantly, and my mind had been saying No. Stop. Absolutely not. I’d felt like a complete asshole as she ran from me. But at the same time it had taken forever for me to get out of my chair and go after her. I couldn’t bear to see her, to feel my own weakness reflected back at me in her beautiful eyes.
What happened to the man who didn’t cuddle? What happened to the guy who kept the world at arm’s length and was happy to do so? How had this naive girl from Boston dropped into my world and undone everything I’d worked so hard to create?
I had gone back to that room on the plane fully intending to tell her that I was falling for her.
Let’s just say I’m glad I let her talk first. The humiliation of hearing her say words like “temporary” and “fun” were bad enough when I was the only one in on the joke.
I didn’t trust myself to speak. Instead I’d taken her into my arms and held her tightly, knowing that it wouldn’t be too much longer before I had to let her go.
You can do anything you want to do, a little voice inside my head tells me.
But who would be doing it? Would it really be me, Nick Madison, CEO and kingpin. Titan of industry. Billionaire.
Or would it be Nicky from Jersey whose Dad is in prison for making all the same bad decisions. Trash destined for a life of brushes with the law and half-fulfilled dreams.
