AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He walked out on his bride and slammed the door shut on his dreams of a memorable wedding night.
Chapter Eighteen
Britt kicked off her sandals, slipped off the wedding dress, and tore the frangipani from her hair, crushing it in her palm in the process. She stared at the furrowed flower, limp, lifeless, and sank onto the bed, letting the petals drift from her fingertips to the floor.
She was like that flower: all pristine and showy on the outside, a crumpled mess on the inside.
As if getting through the ceremony hadn't been hard enough, pretending she didn't want a real wedding night had almost driven her insane.
Nick wanted her.
She wanted Nick.
Where was the problem?
A sharp pain shot through her chest as a timely reminder of exactly what the problem was: her heart. Her stupid, impressionable, break-me-now heart that jumped up and said, 'pick me, pick me' every time Nick Mancini looked her way.
It had been the same ten years ago and nothing had changed. She'd been home just over a week, long enough to realise singing the 'I'm only doing this for business' tune wouldn't cut it with Nick.
Not this time.
He'd let her walk away back then, he'd let her do it again once this was all over, so why was she falling for him regardless?
With a frustrated groan, she headed for the bathroom. A good, long soak might ease her tension. Yeah, right, like trying to date other guys had eradicated Nick from her memory banks in the past. Not a chance in hell.
While the bath filled she paced the bathroom, fiddling with the luxe toiletries, picking them up, putting them down, trying not to stare at her reflection as she did so. The odd times she caught a glimpse in the disastrously monstrous mirrors, she didn't like what she saw.
A woman in sexy lingerie with thoroughly kissed lips, shining eyes, and a glow no amount of blush could induce.
A woman who'd bought the sheer ivory lace demi cup bra and matching panties edged in rosebuds in the hope the man she still fancied might get to see it.
A woman who was kidding herself.
That stung most of all, the fact she was a smart, astute businesswoman, yet here she was playing silly games.
She wanted Nick.
Pretending otherwise was delusional.
Her job and the promotion might be the reason she’d returned to Australia but right now, this very second, Nick was her motivation for staying in this suite when she could've escaped.
She hated manipulation, hated lies: dear old Dad had seen to that. So why was she wasting time lying to herself now? She'd be gone in a few months, back to her orderly life. Why not make the most of the time they had?
If she slept with Nick or not, spending the next eight weeks with him would break her heart regardless. At least this way she'd have some fun.
After closing off the gold taps, she carefully slipped out of the lingerie—she had high hopes for the stuff now—and dipped under the lavender-scented bubbles to her neck, resting her head against the rim and sighing with pleasure.
Closing her eyes, the lavender scent infused her senses, soothing, relaxing, helping her mind wander. And wander it did, taking a stroll down memory lane, to the first time she’d had sex with Nick.
She remembered how he invited her to dinner at the plantation when Pa had taken a business trip to Brisbane, the lukewarm pizza they'd fed each other while sitting on the frayed love seat on the back veranda, the icy cola fizzing up out of the can and dousing her in stickiness, Nick's tongue licking it off her…
He'd made her first time beyond special. He'd been caring and gentle and amazing, treating her virginity like a precious gift she'd given him. She'd never forgotten it, never forgotten him, and it was time she stopped pretending she didn't want to recreate the magic they'd once shared.
Sinking underwater to sluice away her memories, she thought she'd done a fair job by the time she resurfaced.
Until she opened her eyes and saw Nick leaning against the bathroom door, staring at her with barely disguised lust in his incredible dark eyes, looking like a man in definite need of a bath.
Chapter Nineteen
