US with her.
The whole geography thing didn’t really matter as long as Nicole ended up somewhere with…me.
CHAPTER 32
Nicole
AFTER I USED the bathroom in the east wing, I rifled through the fridge in the sitting room and found myself a cold bottle of water.
I was a little sweaty, so I’d taken the time to cool off and fix my makeup.
Honestly, I’d just needed a few moments outside the crowd to digest everything Damian had said to me.
He wants me to stay. He doesn’t want me to go. And what in the hell did he need to tell me that he hasn’t already said?
I took a few gulps of the water, and a couple of deep breaths.
My heart had been doing a happy dance when Damian had asked me to stick around, but my head was telling me I needed to hightail it back to California before Damian Lancaster had a chance to break my heart.
“Who am I kidding?” I said aloud to the empty room. “It’s already going to break my heart to leave him.”
And it certainly wasn’t going to get any easier if I stayed for a month or two longer, because I’d know the end was coming. I’d probably be doing a countdown to my broken heart every single day.
What am I expecting? A declaration of his undying love and a confession that he can’t live without me?
I let out a long sigh, hating myself for allowing Damian to get close enough to break my heart.
I should have known that I wasn’t the kind of woman who could do a wild fling. Not with somebody like him, anyway.
Bottom line: I loved Damian so much that it was going to shatter my heart into thousands of little pieces to say goodbye to him, whether that happened tomorrow, or in a month or two.
I downed the rest of the water and dropped the bottle into the trash, wondering if Damian wanted me to stay out of a misguided sense of gratitude.
Does he just want to help my company expand because I’d helped him out of a tight spot?
That was possible, although I had to admit that I didn’t think that was the entire reason for his offer to hang around.
There was some mind-blowing passion and sex involved in our relationship, and I had no doubt that Damian cared for me.
Unfortunately, that just wasn’t enough.
I needed to get back downstairs. Nothing was going to be resolved before Damian and I had a chance to discuss it later.
I was heading toward the door when I heard a muffled noise coming from the master suite Damian had used when he’d stayed here.
It had almost sounded like…a feminine laugh.
I shook my head, and was determined to ignore it when I heard a deep, male voice, too.
What the hell?
I stepped nearer to the closed door, wondering if the old estate had a resident ghost or two, and I listened.
There was a giggle.
And then a moan.
Followed by that deep voice.
I couldn’t make out words, just muffled sounds.
I should go. It’s none of my business if somebody found their way upstairs, right?
The problem was that nobody should be up here. The stairs were blocked off, and only the family was allowed upstairs.
Well, and me. I was allowed past the chain, but only because Barnaby knew me, and I’d already been a guest here.
I slid a little closer, close enough to put my foot on the bottom of the door and apply a little bit of pressure to it.
I had to know if someone had snuck up here to steal something. There were priceless furnishings everywhere.
If I could do something to protect Bella’s home, I would.
The door wasn’t completely latched, so it opened a crack.
In for a penny, in for a pound.
I grasped the doorknob and pushed the door open wide, ready to run if I saw anything I couldn’t handle.
There was only a male and a female in the room, and the two of them didn’t appear to be stealing anything.
If they were, they were doing it half naked on the bed.
The pretty brunette female was half out of her pink ballgown, while the male was bare from the waist up. His lower body was covered by a sheet, so I didn’t know if he was completely nude.
And I really didn’t want to know.
I’d obviously interrupted something very intimate, and my cheeks flushed as I grabbed for the doorknob to close the door again.
I could tell Damian, and let him decide if he wanted to investigate.
I was way