Nicholas

 

 

"Why are you dressed, Sophia?" I stop just inside the door of my apartment and arm the alarm. "I told you I didn't want you sneaking off."

"I waited for you." She slides her coat over the blouse and skirt she's put back on. "It's not exactly sneaking if you wait."

My throat works on a hard swallow. She's different. Something changed between the time I left to talk to my brother and now. It was no more than ten minutes, but Sophia went from being open and willing to be guarded. "Did something happen while I was gone?"

She looks up at me, her eyes haunting. "I looked at the time. I have to be in the office early today because Mr. Foster has a conference call."

"It's hours until daybreak." I press the pad of my thumb against her lower lip. It's pale now. She didn't take the time to apply any lipstick. She looks disheveled and beautiful. All I want is to take her back to my bed. "You can sleep here for a couple of hours and I'll make sure you're back at your place in time to go to work."

Panic flashes across her expression as she steps back. "I need to prepare for that call. It's not as simple as dialing him into it. I have files I need to pull. Gabriel likes everything to be in its place when he arrives in the morning."

It's bullshit. Something spooked her while I was gone. "What did you see, Sophia? Did you find something?"

"Nothing," she spits out too quick, too eagerly.

I trace a path around the room with my gaze trying to find something that could have caused her to retreat like this. "You saw something while I was gone. I want you to tell me what it was."

With a muted curse, she shakes her head. "Are there things in here I shouldn't see?"

Other than my next manuscript, there's nothing that I'd want to shield from her. I keep everything I treasure in my office. I have items stored there that I haven't looked at in years. Those are the things I have no intention of ever showing anyone. "I can't think of anything."

Her eyes give her away. They dance between my face and the area near the piano. I turn to look in that direction. "What is it? Is it something over there?"

"It's nothing." She tries to take a step around me, but I move to block her.

"I don't play games." I look down and into her pale blue eyes. "You're running because something freaked you out. I want you to tell me what that is."

"I said it's nothing," she hisses between clenched teeth.

I pull her closer to me. "It's written all over your face. Spit it out. What the fuck happened after I went to the lobby?"

"Nicholas," she says my name, exasperation marking her tone. "Have you ever been in love?"

I don't have to turn back to the piano to know what she saw. It's the picture of Briella and I. Anyone looking at that picture could see what we shared. "Yes, I loved a woman once."

"That woman?" Her hand flies in the air past my head. "Is that the woman you love?"

I don't take comfort in the obvious pain in her tone. I know Sophia's falling for me. She's on the brink but I've already taken the leap. I'm crazy about her, every single part of her including this jealous streak I see now. "I loved her once. It was a very long time ago."

"You don't love her now?"

It's a simple question with an answer that is complex and complicated. I open my mouth to respond but the words aren't there. I've never said aloud that I don't love Briella. I haven't considered whether I still do or not. "It's not easy to explain, Sophia."

"It is easy. Do you still love Briella?"

Irritation mixes with anger inside of me. I try to level my voice but it's fucking useless. There's no way she would know Briella's name unless she pried that frame apart.

"Fuck," I mutter under my breath as I turn and stalk toward the table. I hear Sophia's heels clicking on the hardwood behind me.

"Nicholas," she says my name quietly. "I…I was just so…"

I scoop the frame into my hand and turn it over. The normally visible corner of the paper isn't in view. She opened it. She read it. She put her hands on the one thing I haven't touched since that day.

"You opened this." I wave the frame in the air in front of her face. "Did you open this? Did you fucking read the note, Sophia?"
Her gaze follows the path of the frame. "I saw there was something in the frame. I wanted to see what it was."

"You had no right." My heart races, my vision blurring. No one on this earth knows I have that note. They can't know. "What the hell were you thinking touching something so personal?"

Her bottom lip quivers but she stills it with a bite from her top teeth. "I was curious. It's the only picture you have on display that isn't of your family."

She's right. I don't have dozens of photographs of friends. There isn’t one picture from any of my book signings in my place. I like things simple and for me that includes reminders of the people who matter the most to me; my siblings, my mother and Briella.

"You didn't think to ask?" I clutch the frame to my chest. "Why didn't you just ask me who she is? Why touch things that don't belong to you?"

She shifts, inching more to the side. "I think I should go."

I reach forward to grab her arm to halt her in place, but she sidesteps me. "You're not leaving. You need to answer my question."

"I didn't think you'd tell me the truth."

"I'm not a liar."

"I didn't say you were." She tilts her head and studies my face. "I asked you earlier if you love her still, and you didn't answer. You're not a liar, Nicholas. You're an avoider."

It's nothing but a stall tactic. She wants to get out of here without telling me why the hell she thought it was okay to take this frame apart. "Why did you read the note? Answer me, Sophia."

A single tear falls onto her cheek. "I don't want you to break my heart."

Fuck. Fuck this beautiful woman.

I toss the frame onto the chair and pull her into my chest. I cradle the back of her head as I feather kisses over her cheeks. "I'm not going to break your heart. I want in it, Sophia. I want in your heart and I want you in mine."
"What about her?" I watch her index finger rise in the air as she points at the frame. "What about Briella?"

I close my eyes and swallow back the rush of emotions that flood me. "Briella died, Sophia. Her father killed her."