He smiled at me. “I know Blaze more than anyone. And I could always tell when he’s joking and when he’s lying. When he said he liked you, that wasn’t a joke, kitten. Unfortunately for him, you’re mine. He can’t have you.”
“He visited me, you know,” I said.
Nick’s eyes widened. “When?”
“About two weeks ago, in Manhattan.”
“How did he know you were there?”
“He didn’t. He saw my uncle’s photo in a magazine. Thought he was me. Austin looks like Ken Clarke.” I giggled. “Blaze went to the restaurant and asked for the chef. Luckily, Austin was out of town and left me in charge. So when he complained about the steak, I went to him.”
“And then what happened?” His expression was serious.
“He talked me into calling you. He talked some sense into me, actually.” I raised a brow at him. “Don’t tell me you doubt him?”
Nick shook his head. “I’m a jealous guy. I would always doubt anyone when it came to you. But no. Blaze wouldn’t do to me what I wouldn’t do to him.”
“He was a far better brother than Beatrice was a sister.”
“When we broke up, my parents were disappointed. Beatrice was happy, of course. Having you in the family sort of put a lot of pressure on her to shine. She was always used to being the darling of the family, the apple of the eye of our parents, the princess of her brothers.”
“Still, she gave me the worst heartbreak of my life,” I murmured. “Did you tell her exactly what Margot did to you?”
Nick shook his head. “No. One hundred percent of the time, Margot and anything else that had to do with her don’t even cross my mind. Telling anybody what she did sounds like a waste of time.”
“Well, maybe Beatrice would understand you more if she knew.”
“I’m her brother. She’s supposed to choose me over her friends. Isn’t that common sense?”
Unfortunately, common sense is not that common. Apparently, so is sense of loyalty to family. Some people aim to please friends at the expense of their own flesh and blood. What kind of person does that?
Nick did not deserve this from somebody he considered as family. Last night, if I had decided to commit suicide because I thought he was dead, what would he have done? How would he have felt? I guess that didn’t matter to Beatrice at all.
“Maybe someday, she’ll realize the importance of family.”
Nick shook his head. “I’m not going to hold my breath for that. What she did to you was way below the belt. Now, I’m angry! Blaze hadn’t even gotten me this worked up since I met him. And he was a menace!”
“I don’t want you to fight because of me.”
Nick shook his head. “We’re not fighting because of you. We’re fighting because what she did was appalling. You don’t do that to anybody. Family or not. You just don’t fucking do it to anyone.”
Nick’s face was red and I understood exactly what he felt. I was mad at Beatrice, too. But no matter what a bitch she was, no matter how many lies she said to me or about me, she was still Nick’s family. She was a jealous person. Jealousy doesn’t have a cure. Sometimes, you just have to stay out of the person’s way, out of her radar and above her league.
Nick took a couple of deep breaths and then he managed a gentle smile. “I’m not going to ruin my first day back with you by thinking of ways to murder Beatrice.”
I giggled. “Yeah, let’s figure that out later.”
I gave him a hug and then I pulled away from him to stand on my feet.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“To take a shower. I must be reeking of alcohol,” I replied, laughing.
“You don’t,” Nick said. “But now that you mentioned shower, why not take a bath together?” Without warning, he swept me off my feet and carried me to the bathroom.
He settled me beside the tub and then he turned the water on. He grinned at me. “When you left, I realized we never used the tub together. I regretted that. Now that you’re back, I’m never going to miss this chance again.”
After brushing our teeth, we took our clothes off and hopped in the tub. Nick opened the curtain to reveal our view of the ocean.
He leaned on the tub facing the view and then he pulled me so I could lean my back on his chest.
I felt the warm water against my skin and smelled the scent of relaxing lavender bubbles. I savored the feel of Nick’s arms around me.
He leaned down and gave my shoulder a lingering kiss. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you, too. And I’m sorry I didn’t write you back. You must have gotten tired of writing to me and I don’t blame you.” I looked at him as I said that.
“What?” Nick blinked back at me. “I never stopped writing you. I promised you I wouldn’t.”
I shook my head. “The last one I received was three weeks ago.”
“No. I sent one every week. The last three weeks, I was in London. I sent it by post from there. Whenever I’m here, I send it to Brett’s office. But I was stuck in London in the last couple of months.”
“Oh,” I said. “I—I thought you gave up on me… on us.”
He raised a brow. “Is that why you suddenly came back? If I’d known that would do the trick, I would have stopped sooner.” I pinched his arm. “Ow!” He laughed and then hugged me to him.
“I’d been through dark times in the past six months. Things were a mess for a while. My uncle didn’t want to compromise my safety. We’ve taken too much caution. I didn’t want to jeopardize your safety, too, before they solved the case of my father’s murder,” I said.
“I could take care of myself, kitten,” he whispered against my ear, giving me a ticklish kiss on the neck.
“I know. But I didn’t want to take chances. I would have come home sooner. I would have contacted you sooner, too,” I said. “But I was also busy figuring out what to do with my life.”
He gave me a gentle squeeze. “And are you done figuring out what it is you wanted in life? Because you should know that as of last night, I have absolutely no intention of letting you get away again.”
I turned around to smile at him. “Can you give me six more months?”
He raised a brow. “Why six months?”
“My father sent me to New York. He was trying to make amends with me, trying to be a father for once. It turned out I have an uncle. Austin. I live with him in Manhattan. He’s a chef and owns one of the biggest restaurants in the city. My father sent me to him, enrolled me in culinary school.”
Nick smiled back at me. “Well, that explains how you could have forgotten me the past six months. I’m sure you were happy, being in the kitchen more than half the time.”
I nodded. “Happy in a way. Sad in many ways. But no, I never forgot you.”
“I know you hated your father, but I also know you love him in a way. His death must have been difficult for you. The minute I learned about it, it was too late. You’ve left. Brett assured me that you were safe and taken care of. No matter how many times I begged him to tell me where you were, he wouldn’t tell me. He said that if I really loved you, I wouldn’t compromise your safety. So that was it. I really love you. I had to make do with passing love letters and trinkets to you, without guarantees that you were ever getting them or reading them.”
“I got all of them. And I read them all, over and over. They gave me strength to move on during those difficult times.”
“It’s safe for you to stay here now. What’s the six months for?”
“I still have school. I want to finish what I started.”
“Well, that makes sense. I hope your uncle doesn’t mind frequent visits from his niece’s boyfriend.”
“You’re going to fly to New York?”
“Yeah. Maybe I should deliver my letters in person this time, so we’re sure you get them on time.”
“Oh, Nick! It’s going to be tough on you.”
“Tough? Oh no. The past six months without you—that was tough and pure misery. Flying to New York as often as my schedule permits for the next six months will be pure bliss.”
I smiled. “I would love that. And Austin is the coolest uncle on Earth. I’m sure you two are going to get along just fine.”
“That’s good to know. Sometimes, Brett still does not warm up to me.”
I laughed. “He’s just being protective. But he likes you simply because I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he said. He leaned forward and kissed me on the lips.
After the kiss, I leaned my head against his shoulder. “How did you find me? I have been trying to call you since the other day before I came back. Your phone was off.”
“I must have been in the plane. I just landed yesterday afternoon. When I turned my phone on, I received a lot of messages from that real estate broker. I immediately went here, tried to clear things up but she was persistent. She made a mistake of coming here. And once she had seen the house, she was convincing me to sell. I had to go down their office so I could file a complaint.”
“She would be persistent. Your house is beautiful,” I whispered.
“It was gloomy here for a while,” he whispered. He sighed and added, “Don’t walk away from me again. Okay, babe?”
I smiled. “Okay.”
“Good.”
“So, was it just by chance that you found me by the beach?”
“No, I was looking for you. Brett called me when he couldn’t get a hold of you. He said you were coming to see me so he thought we were together. Your phone was off.”
“I dropped it the moment I heard Beatrice said you were gone.”
“I owe you a phone then.” He said it lightly but I knew he was controlling his anger toward his stepsister. “I looked all over town for you. I was psyched that you were looking for me. For the past six months, that was the first time you ever showed me any positive response at all. I looked for you for hours. I went to Rhythemes, to Margaret’s diner. I even waited for an hour here, in case you come. Then finally, I went to the beach. I didn’t know why, but something just made me drive there. I saw you leaning on the wall I vandalized. When I approached you, you couldn’t even recognize me. You were blinded by tears. You were talking to yourself.”
“I was devastated,” I said.
“I figured that out. But I couldn’t figure out why. Then you passed out. I carried you to my car and brought you here. You woke up as I was taking you to bed. You stared at me for a long moment but I wasn’t sure if you really recognized me. You were crying. And then you told me you were sorry. You told me you loved me.”
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I remembered the things I said to him. I thought I was saying it to him in a dream because he was gone.
“I meant them, you know. All the things I said to you last night. I meant every word.”
He gave me another squeeze. “I know, kitten. When I heard those words, I came undone. I was lost for words. All I could do was kiss you, make love to you.”
“I thought I was making love to you in a dream.”
“You weren’t.”
“It felt so real. It was pretty intense.”
He chuckled. “I’m sorry, babe. I think I got a little carried away. I remembered I was a little rough. But you have to remember, I was in a dry spell for more than six months.”
I laughed. “Seriously? You didn’t try to hook up with somebody else?” I asked, looking back at him.
He raised a brow at me. “You’re not seriously asking me that question, are you?”
“I am. I know the answer. But I will ask anyway.”
He laughed. “Of course not! We separated. But I refused to accept that we broke up. So no. I never cheated. We’re still together, albeit we’re taking some time off. I can’t imagine myself being with somebody else other than you now.”
“Me too,” I said. “I love you, Nick.”
“And I love you, too, kitten. More than anything, more than anyone, more than air itself. When you walked out the door, I think that at that exact moment, I stopped living. Maybe Beatrice wasn’t entirely wrong after all. If she meant that figuratively, she was right. I was dead.”
I leaned toward him so I could kiss his lips. “I’m here now, babe. I meant it when I said I never stopped loving you.”
He smiled and nodded. “And I meant it when I said I’m never letting you go ever again. I never stopped loving you too. And I don’t think I ever will.”
He leaned forward and gave me a thorough, head-spinning kiss. I spun around gently so I could face him. He nuzzled my neck and I let out a loud moan. It seemed that the steam around us was getting hotter, and our kisses were getting more urgent, more demanding.
Soon, we were kissing face to face. I mounted him, our arms all over each other.
“You seemed to be in doubt… that last night was… real. Allow me… to refresh your memory,” Nick said between kisses.
He leaned forward and devoured my lips once again. Within a few minutes, we were one and I was screaming his name over and over as I rode him through our passion, and once again he pushed me to the edge of oblivion.