I am an idiot and clearly put myself in a stupid situation, making a complete fool of myself.
“Nothing,” I answer, glancing at him. “We’re just friends.”
“Just be careful,” she replies, touching a strand of curls that hangs on the side of my head. “I don’t feel right leaving you here with these two. This island does things to you.”
“I can handle them,” I answer with a laugh. This time the guys look over at us, and we both grin back at them.
Ellis and I stand together as Zara and Alistair take off, and at the exact moment I feel him turning toward me ready to say something, I give him my shoulder and head toward the office. I need time to cool off, a moment to come down from the initial resentment so I can have a real conversation with him. Like I said, Ellis is the one person here I don’t want to hate.
He doesn’t follow me to the office. I half-expect him to, but he goes back to the house instead. When I enter the office, I find Nash bent over his laptop again. When his eyes flash up to see me, they soften when he realizes it’s me and not someone else.
“I really don’t want to talk right now, Hanna.”
“Okay,” I reply, walking over to the empty table and leaning against it, crossing my ankles and looking down at him.
“Then why are you still here?” he says in a low growl.
“Because I don’t believe you.”
“Believe me. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“About what happened in the house?”
His fists slam against the table. “Jesus Christ, Hanna. I’m serious. Get out.”
It takes everything in me to keep from flinching. There’s not a part of me that’s not still scared of Nash in some way, his volatile nature, but in my first week here, I’ve learned what Zara never told me about him. He’s just as scared as I am. And that gives me a sense of comfort and power.
I have never felt this intense draw toward someone, the sudden need to shelter him, fix him, nurture him. It’s the only thing keeping me in here right now. The old Hanna would have bolted the moment he told me to get out.
“How long has this been going on, Nash?”
With his elbows on the table, he runs his hands through this hair. “There’s nothing going on.”
“Then, what was that in the house? Because two days ago, you assaulted my clit with your mouth in my room, and now you’re hooking up with Ellis, so tell me, Nash. What exactly is going on?”
He bolts out of his chair, looking at me with wild eyes. I knew that would get his attention.
“I didn’t hook up with Ellis. He just…he gets in my head. He makes me think I want this shit, but I don’t. I just…you don’t understand him, Hanna. He has a way of controlling people.”
“There was something before this week, wasn’t there? Between you two.”
His shoulders soften, and I sense the resignation in his stance. More than anything, Nash looks tired, so I do what comes natural, pushing off the table and crossing the room, I place myself between him and his desk. Then I wind my arms around his neck, pulling his face down to rest against my shoulder. He folds easily, taking a deep inhale as his arms wrap me up tightly.
Something splinters around my heart as he relaxes into my body as if he’s trusting me with his heart.
“Please talk to me,” I whisper.
“We ran into each other in Amsterdam. We were friends. It was great, and then it got intense, banging girls at the same time, then fooling around with each other, and it all happened so fast, I freaked out and left. I think he’s fucking with me as payback. He’s still mad that I took off.”
I stroke the back of his neck as folds into me. He’s so much taller and wider than me, but he seems to fit so easily into my arms.
There are a hundred questions floating around in my head at the moment, questions like… How far did things go between them? Were feelings involved? Is Nash really gay…or I guess, bisexual? And if he didn’t want this to happen again, why did he hire Ellis to come here?
I’m not going to ask Nash any of these questions now because I know better. I have him in a moment of sweet vulnerability, and it feels so good to hold him like