country if they weren’t hunted’ made bloodlust less distasteful or less alien to his otherwise citified, sophisticated lifestyle. As a result, he hadn’t introduced her to a single one of his hunting buddies and kept his gun in a friend’s gun safe.
But, with a sinking feeling, Hannah knew that wasn’t the reason he didn’t shower and get into bed with her.
She turned over and smothered a sigh. Their breathless, dizzy dance was over and their relationship was moving to the slowing rhythm of the last waltz.
Chapter Three
Back home in London on Tuesday morning, Nico ran eight kilometres on the treadmill in his bedroom then jumped into the shower, still breathing hard. He was tight for time and performed his hamstring stretches at the same time as soaping up.
Emelie, his younger cousin who lived with him while ‘doing uni’ would be getting Josie up and dressed. Nico would then enjoy breakfast with his daughter before Tilly, the nanny, arrived at seven-thirty and Nico zipped off to work. He loved Josie as fiercely as any parent had loved any child, ever, but he had to earn money. A Josie-centric mini-economy of home and household depended on it.
His new boss at SLS, Anders, had not so far shown himself to be overly sympathetic to Nico’s situation as a lone parent. Or sympathetic to any staff member’s needs outside devoting themselves to SLS.
He hadn’t minded spending the two-hour flight home from Stockholm last night typing emails ready to send on landing, along with a text to Rob Goodbody. Saw Hannah. Seems OK. Afraid she realised you’d sent me but no explosion ensued. Call me if you want to chat more. Once home, he’d been too tired to do much more than fall into bed but now Hannah’s clumsy but well-meaning attempt to feed him revolved in his head. After towelling off, he forced himself to stand naked before the bathroom mirror.
Shit. He was thin. Unhealthily so. He was saved from puniness by his exercise habit but his cheekbones jutted, his jawbone was a blade and he could count every rib. Angry with himself he shaved, dressed in a white shirt and charcoal trousers then went online and booked a haircut at Trimsters Male Grooming at two. He could use the lunch hour he didn’t usually take.
He paused. Stared at his reflection again. He’d get his hair cut and eat. If he got stern with himself he could eat sensible food three times a day and he should do, for Josie’s sake. He knew this. He knew about structuring his diet and pacing food intake, writing down what he ate so as not to kid himself about calories required for healthy weight. He needed to accept that Loren was not going to be an easy ex and find ways to live with life’s stresses other than undereating.
Inside, he acknowledged that he’d called his parents lately, instead of FaceTiming. Yeah. He’d known he looked skinny and they’d freak.
He jogged downstairs and made himself a bowl of granola. Black coffee only breakfasts would now be out because they were a bad example to Josie. He sighed. No: they were out because he needed to be healthier. Then he heard Josie coming down the stairs, chattering to Emelie about it nearly being Halloween. He checked his phone calendar. October thirty-first was Saturday and Trick or treating was scheduled from six p.m. with two of her friends and their mums. The mums were dressing up too, apparently, but Nico planned to simply wear dark clothes and carry the haul of sweets the kids accrued. He was used to being in the background especially when, like in this situation, he was the lone male. The mums sometimes tried to include him in the conversation but he was always too conscious of them making an effort to find subjects he’d be interested in to feel comfortable with that. A couple had hit on him and he wasn’t comfortable with that either. Imagine starting something with one of Josie’s friends’ mothers and then it ending and affecting Josie’s friendships.
He didn’t enjoy Halloween and taking kids door-to-door to ask for sweets. The Swedish Allhelgonadagen, All Saints Day, was more his thing, the opportunity to remember those who’d passed and the earthly feel of welcoming winter. Josie would have been aghast at missing out, however, and she hadn’t settled at school this term so wanting to be with school friends should be viewed as a positive.
Just as he was wondering whether Josie minded that