it was easier to pretend I didn’t like you in that way.”
Nick nodded solemnly and stopped his pacing. “I’m not sure what to do with this information.” Her stomach felt as though it turned to stone as he walked to the door. “I need to go,” he muttered.
“Okay.” She didn’t have chance to say anything else, but kept her eyes on the door as he walked out. The door didn’t click and she stared at it, wondering if he’d just not closed it properly in his hurry or if he was still there. Her heart rate sped up as it opened again.
Stepping back inside, Nick closed the door calmly behind him, then turned and swore as he leaned heavily against the door.
Lexie crossed the room and placed her hands on his chest, gazing at him softly. “Will you stay?” she whispered.
He nodded slowly, and his eyes locked with hers before their lips met. His arms circled her waist and tightened to pull her close. He kissed her with an intensity that thrilled and terrified her in equal measure.
Pushing the fear aside, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to have exactly what she wanted.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Lexie felt as though she’d only just fallen asleep when Nick gently woke her.
“I have to go,” he said.
Her face was squashed into the pillow and she groaned as she forced her eyes open. Nick sat beside her on the bed, fully dressed.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I need to get home and check how my mum is.”
“What time is it?”
“Early. Go back to sleep. You don’t have to check out until midday, do you?”
“No.” That sounded right; she wasn’t quite awake yet and everything was hazy.
“I’ll be back in Lannick tomorrow evening. I’ll give you a call, okay?”
“No. Not okay.” She wiped the side of her mouth as she sat up, sure she’d been drooling. As she reached for her phone with one hand, she used the other to hold the bedding against her chest. Although there wasn’t much need to be modest – Nick had definitely seen it all now. “It’s only seven,” she said, squinting at the display on her phone. “Why are you up so early?”
“I want to check how Mum is. You can go back to sleep.”
Lexie shook her head as she fought to wake up fully.
“I’ll catch up with you back in Lannick,” Nick said.
“Wait.” She put a hand on his arm to stop him as he began to rise from the bed. “Do you really have to leave or are you just worried I’ll throw you out again?”
A sad smile played at his lips. “A bit of both.”
Shuffling closer to him, she rested her chin on his shoulder. “I wasn’t going to kick you out.”
He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “You made it clear that you don’t want a relationship. I was fully aware of what I was getting into last night, so you don’t need to feel bad.”
She looked at him in earnest. “It’s not that I don’t want a relationship with you. Part of me is desperate to be in a relationship with you.” She swallowed hard. “But I’m also really scared.”
His eyebrows knitted together. “Why?”
“Because I don’t want to get my heart broken again. Last time … with Ryan … he hurt me so much, and it took me a long time to get over it. I hate the thought of going through that again.” Nick opened his mouth to speak but she spoke over him. “Don’t say you’d never hurt me. It’s not something you can promise, because you don’t know what will happen.”
He shook his head. “That’s not what I was going to say.”
“What then?”
“I was going to say …” He paused, looking uncertain. “When you told me about what happened with Ryan and the pregnancy, it didn’t sound as though he was the one who broke your heart …”
“What?” Lexie’s chest tightened, predicting what he was about to say.
“Your mum––”
“Don’t call her that,” she said, her chin twitching.
He nodded. “You’re right – she doesn’t deserve the title. But what she said to you and how she treated you was awful.”
As her eyes filled with tears, Lexie buried her face in Nick’s shoulder. He ran a hand over her hair, then wrapped her in a tight embrace as her shoulders shuddered with a sob. After crying quietly into his chest for a couple of minutes, she got herself under control again.
“It’s completely understandable that you don’t trust people not to hurt