CHAPTER SEVEN

ALICIA

“The point that I’m trying to make here, Emmy, is that he’s treating me like a child. Did you know he even locks the doors when they’re having their meetings?” It had been more than a week since we’d arrived in the Hamptons, and I still didn’t know why we are in danger, or when I could go back to the city.

So instead of doing something productive, like finishing the order for bracelets that I was due to deliver in a couple of days, I was in the kitchen with Emilia, lamenting the loss of my freedom for no apparent reason.

“He’s just trying to protect you, Alicia,” she said, bringing a spoon to her lips to taste the stew she had brewing. Muttering to herself softly, she said, “Needs more curry powder.”

“You mean he’s being overprotective,” I said. “I’m not some innocent flower that he needs to protect, yet he’s not giving me any information about our situation.”

I might’ve understood his need for keeping some of the more grueling details from me, but keeping it all from me was ridiculous.

Emilia pushed ahead in her defense of my father’s actions. “True parents will do anything to protect their children.”

“Since when aren’t you on my side anymore?” I asked her. “You always used to be.”

Emilia tsked and waved her mixing spoon at me. “This isn’t about sides. It’s about safety. Your father obviously thinks it’s safer for you not to know about whatever is going on.”

A shudder ran down my spine as I remembered the murderous glint in the eyes of my attacker that night. “I guess, but not knowing doesn’t make me feel safer. I still feel nervous, even now that we’re here.”

Emilia smiled a sympathetic smile at me, her eyes soft and worried. “That’s okay. It’s natural to feel that way in your situation, I should think. Just remember that no one knows you’re here.”

I sighed. “I know, but I can’t shake the feeling that it’s even worse than what Daddy has been letting on.”

“It could be.” She nodded. “But your father has a plan, honey. You know that. Now, close that window. It’s getting chilly in here.”

Hopping down from my stool, I crossed the room and did as she asked, still feeling worried. “Yeah, I know he does. Nick and I have run through it a few times. Doesn’t it seem extreme to you, though? Having a helicopter on standby in case anything happens?”

Emilia’s eyes glazed over, seeming distant for a moment before she refocused her attention on me. “Your father would do anything to protect you, Alicia. You should be grateful for that.”

Her voice was hard and firm. “I have to go. The stew will be ready in a few hours, and I must get on with my other chores since none of the support staff are around.”

“Can I help?”

“No, you stay here,” she said, already heading out the door. “Relax. Maybe get some of your own work done, like you were saying earlier.”

Great. Alone again. My father was away more than he was here. Emilia never seemed to have time to hang out, although I understood how busy she was with all of us here and no one around to help her. The support staff hadn’t been informed that we were coming here, to keep the people who knew our location to a minimum.

Mostly, Nick and I were the only ones around. And yet, he still hadn’t so much as touched me, despite all the opportunities he’d had to do so. If he were anyone else, I would’ve let it go, but he wasn’t. And I couldn’t.

The more I got to know him, which was inevitable in our close quarters, the more I liked him. Unfortunately, the more I liked him, the more my attraction to him grew. My battery-operated boyfriend wasn’t going to have any battery power left soon, and it didn’t look like Nick intended to step up and take his place anytime soon, much to my eternal regret.

“Speak of the devil.” I smiled when he entered the kitchen. A confused expression flashed across his features when he scanned the kitchen and realized that I was alone. Then, he smiled—because he could actually do that. His smiles were beautiful, but very rare, which made me treasure each one even more.

“You weren’t speaking to anyone, which means you were having one of your crazy internal dialogues about me.” He tapped my forehead as he said it, walking past me while nodding knowingly.

“You don’t know me well enough to know that,” I told him, but clearly, he did.

Turning as he opened the door to the fridge, he shot me an incredulous look. To anyone else, his expression might not have changed, but I was starting to pick up on the nuances of his features, learning what each tick or twitch of his jaw meant. How his eyes grew ever so slightly darker or lighter, depending on his mood.

“Are you sure about that?” he asked. “Because I’d be willing to bet that you were thinking about me when I walked in.”

“I was, actually. I was wondering if you’d like to come have some hot chocolate with me.” The windowpanes rattled under the driving wind that had been picking up all day. “There’s a cold front rolling in. I thought it might be nice to have some hot chocolate.”

Nick froze. “Rule number four, I don’t drink on the job.”

“A drink drink sure. I can understand that. This is not that.” Walking to the pantry to gather all the items I needed, I realized that he’d skipped ahead from rule number two to rule number four. “So, the first rule is that you don’t get personal, the second one is that you always know what you’re walking into, and the fourth one is no drinking on the job.”

“Uh- huh.” Nick eyes narrowed onto mine. I noticed that he had been keeping us at opposite ends of the room a lot lately. He was doing the same now, watching me from almost all the way at the door. “Why do you ask?”

“Isn’t it kind of obvious? You skipped the third rule.” The sweet scent of the melting chocolate in the pot wafted up at me. I closed my eyes and breathed it in. How could he resist it?

“Because no situation has called for me to tell you about it yet.” He shrugged, his eyes darting to the door. “That it?”

I didn’t want him to go yet, but I could see that he was about to if I couldn’t keep him talking. Well, talking as much as Nick did, which wasn’t much. “What is it? The third rule?”

“Predictability gets you killed.” He was already turning to leave.

Stirring the chocolatey goodness in the pot absently, I blurted out the first thing that popped into my head to keep him around. “So, you consider yourself to be a spontaneous person?”

“It’s not about me,” he said, crossing his strong arms over his chest. God, how I wanted them wrapped around me instead, but that wasn’t happening anytime soon, from the look of things.

I nodded. “I get that, but I still want to know.”

“I don’t break the rules.”

“And yet I saw you drink water the other day, so if hot chocolate counts as drinking on the job, doesn’t water?” There. Take that flawed logic!

Nick’s lips twitched, and I held my breath, silently begging for another rare smile. “I am a human being, you know?”

“Well, color me shocked. I was starting to think you were a robot.” I laughed, adding whipped cream to my steaming mug of heaven. Carrying the mug to the kitchen island, I hopped back onto my stool and waited for his response.

Finally, he broke out in a half-smile, shaking his head at me. “I’m not.”

“Are you sure? Because that sounds like something a robot would say.” I enjoyed how easy it was to joke around with him.

“I’m sure.”

I conceded the argument with a shrug. “Whatever you say. But you still haven’t answered my question.”

“The spontaneity thing again? I’m spontaneous in my decision making. For instance, I map out several different routes to a location and then decide on the fly which route to take.”

“That’s your definition of spontaneity?”

Nick tilted his head, curious. “Yeah. Why? What’s yours?”

“I don’t know. Deciding to go to the beach in the middle of the night. Going to the airport and booking a flight to the destination at the top of the board. That kind of thing.” Then I saw an opportunity and took it quickly. “Ditching whatever it was you were about to do and having amazing hot chocolate with me instead.”

He shook his head, a wry smile on his lips. “You’re nothing if not determined. I’ll give you that. But I really need to get back to work.”

My elbows rested on the island, my hands cupping my mug in front of my lips. “What you really need is something sweet.”

A strange look flashed across his handsome features. “Fine.”

Nick stalked forward suddenly, his eyes on mine until he slowed to a stop closer to me than he’d ever been before. From this close, I noticed specks of gold in his eyes, and his masculine scent enveloped me.

Slowly, with determined movements, he raised a hand and swiped a dollop of cream from the top of my hot chocolate. He brought the treat to his mouth, sucking his finger between his lips as he licked it off.

Oh. My. God. I fanned myself mentally, completely unable to tear my eyes from him.

“There,” he said softly, but he didn’t move away from me.

My hand moved of its own accord, reaching for his. I knew I shouldn’t do it, but I couldn’t stop myself, completely swept up by the moment. I braced my hand against his, guiding the finger that had just been in his mouth to mine, and I lightly sucked at its tip.

Nick’s jaw dropped, and a low moan sounded from his chest. In that instant, something between us shifted. Electricity sparked the air between us, and the energy changed from light and joking, to hot and heavy.

My heart beat faster. Nick’s gaze darted between my eyes and my lips, his pupils dilating as he leaned forward.

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. He was going to kiss me. I knew it.

Finally.

My tongue darted out, wetting my lips in anticipation. I leaned forward, too, until there was only a fraction of an inch separating his lips from mine. His breath fanned my face, smelling sweet from the dash of whipped cream he’d had.

My heart was pounding, and my entire body hummed to feel his lips on mine. To taste and explore him. To touch him and feel the hard lines of his body with my fingers, to drag them through his hair like I had been itching to do.

My eyes fluttered closed, my breaths coming fast. Nick’s breathing was as ragged as mine.

I knew it. I knew he wanted me, too!

I could practically feel his soft lips on mine. We both leaned in to close that last bit of space between us when a loud bang sounded from outside, breaking the spell between us.