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And remained oddly grateful that he was the one she trusted enough to break down in front of.
“I’m sorry for that.” Her voice was quiet and muffled against his chest, but her tears had subsided to a series of soft hiccups.
“Why are you sorry?”
“Because the front of your shirt looks like you just came in out of a downpour.”
“I’ll dry.”
“Ferdy never liked—” She stopped at that and he waited, curious if she’d keep going. It was only when she let out a small sigh that he knew she was ready to share. “Ferdy didn’t like tears. And it was okay because I’ve never been a big crier anyway. But there, in the first few weeks of my pregnancy, before I even knew I was pregnant, I was crying a lot. Hormone central, really.”
He let her talk, and tell him of an afternoon on the couch watching an action movie her jerk ex wanted to watch, when she’d started crying.
“And he was all like, what the hell are you crying about? And that only made me cry harder.”
Nikolas had never considered himself a particularly violent person. He knew how to take care of himself, but his glib tongue and easy smile usually got the job done far easier and without any bloodshed. His or anyone else’s.
However, in that moment, picturing her curled up on a couch watching some bloody, gory action flick and then being reprimanded for showing any sort of emotion, Nikolas would have gladly gone several rounds with the bastard.
He continued stroking Nova’s back, glad he could give her some comfort in the midst of an emotionally stressful situation. But it was only when her hands went slack against his chest, a sign that she’d drifted off to sleep, that he finally spoke.
“He doesn’t deserve you. He never did.?
?
* * *
Nova wasn’t sure how long she’d slept but when she woke she was curled up on the big couch in Nikolas’s living room and there was a blanket over her. Which was a far cry from the small love seat she’d fallen asleep on.
Or the strong chest she’d fallen asleep on, for that matter.
Sitting up, she glanced around. A light burned over the stove, giving enough glow to extend to the living room that she could see by. Other than her shoes, which were set neatly against the base of the couch, she was fully dressed.
A light still spilled out of his home office and it drew her. She padded to the door, still in a sort of hazy waking state, and still curious about the time.
So it was a surprise to walk in and see Ferdy’s face smack in the center of the large monitor Nikolas kept above his desk.
“What are you doing?”
Nikolas glanced up. His shadow of a beard had grown darker over the past few hours, giving him a dangerous, roguish look, but it was the sharp glint in his eye that really stopped her. She shifted gears, no longer curious to what he was doing and very concerned that something had happened. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ve been looking up your ex. That guy is serious trouble and I haven’t even found the really incriminating stuff. All I’ve been able to hunt up is innuendo and suggestion.”
“Where’d you find him?” She moved closer into the room, her gaze fixed on the monitor. It was strange to see Ferdy’s face again after so many months of only seeing him in nightmares.
“You’d be amazed at some of the dark holes those in less savory businesses deal in.”
“The dark web? What Harley Watts used to send the message to the Colton Oil board?”
“You know what the dark web is?”
“I’ve read at least a thriller a week for the past months. Yeah, I know about the dark web.” She perched on the edge of the love seat. “How much time do you spend on the fringes of the internet?”
“As little time as possible, but I do use the tools at my disposal and this is one of them.”
“I had no idea you were such a rebel.”
Although she’d meant it as a joke, the comment came out a bit more pointed than she’d intended.
