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Given my knowledge of Nat and her compulsion to turn nearly each of our interactions into a fight, I did my best not to move. After spending a weekend with this woman in my arms, I knew she was a light sleeper. I also knew she wouldn’t appreciate me watching her in a moment of vulnerability, so I kept myself as still as possible as she continued to breathe on top of me. I wanted to appreciate her beauty in this manner, curled into me, just for a little longer, so I limited my touch to a few soft grazes of her hair where it brushed against my chest.
Thankfully, she didn’t move in response to my touches, and it was another few minutes—or it could’ve been an hour for all I was paying attention—until she finally stirred into wakefulness. I let my hand drop to the side and quickly shut my eyes, feigning sleep as I felt her moving around, her smooth skin brushing over my body as she pulled herself up from on top of me.
I thought she might ‘wake’ me up, but she didn’t. She just let her hair graze over my chest as she moved toward the bathroom. Although a large part of me wanted to get up and go with her, to hold her hair for her as she let the soap rinse off her shoulders, I knew the quiet she was craving right now. It was the reason why I never allowed anyone to stay with me overnight.
I brought my hands up to my face, rubbing hard. I was looking forward to my own time in that shower, to have that time to clear my damn head.
* * *
Once the plane landed, the captain and crew offloaded our luggage into a Bentley, and the driver guided Nat and me to the back seat. After we were seated, I braced for what was to come while we began driving through the fields outside of Verona.
While in thought, I glanced over and watched as Nat’s thumbs scrolled absent-mindedly over her phone, moving from window to window on the device in a more scattered manner than I’d ever seen from her.
I couldn’t resist touching her, so like a fucking schoolboy, I reached over and gently squeezed her knee. She looked sexy as fuck in the fashionable knee-length, belted, burgundy sweater dress she wore with her tall boots from the previous day.
I chuckled when she startled slightly, looked up at me, and gave me a strained smile. I tilted my head toward the window of the car as we rapidly drove away from the ancient walled city. “You’re missing it, you know,” I said.
She gazed out her window briefly before shrugging and turning back to me. “That’s why I have you, to let me know when there’s something to see.”
I eyed her. “If you want to convince me that you’re working, you’ll have to do a better job pretending to concentrate. I don’t think you’ve read through an entire email since we’ve gotten into this car.”
If I hadn’t spent so many hours concentrating on her face over the last few days, I wouldn’t have noticed the soft pressure she put on the inside of her cheek with her teeth. Finally, she locked her phone, tucked it away, and set her chin into her hand as she looked out the window.
“Hey,” I said, reaching up to drag my finger along her collarbone, “I don’t mean to give you a hard time.”
“For once?” A dry chuckle accompanied the question, but she still didn’t look at me.
“I feel like I should be asking you that.” I reached for her chin and turned her to face me, my fingers as gentle as I could make them. “You’re the one who hasn’t let up on me for a second since the first time we—”
“Screwed, and you answered your cell phone mid-thrust?” she said as if daring me to contradict her.
I rolled my eyes. “We’ve been over this. Yes, it was a shitty thing to do, and I’ve deserved every second of shit you’ve given me since.” I sighed, blowing a hard breath through my teeth as I wondered how to proceed.
Fuck it. She was in a weird state of mind. We both were, and right now, we were headed into a lion’s den. I reached down and threaded my fingers through hers, leaving the grip loose so she would be free to pull her hand away if she felt the need. “What’s going on with you?” I finally asked.
I couldn’t go into this fuckery without her head in the game. I needed her at my side and ready to roll with this shit.
Nat blinked at me, her blue eyes filled with uncertainty I’d never seen, before looking down at our hands. Fuck. Her silence filled me with trepidation, but I held off pressing her for more information, doing my best to maintain a patient front so she would confide in me.
I had to hope to God this wasn’t a mistake. In all of this madness of this crazy idea of mine, I never once thought I’d lose Nat before exiting the damn car.
“Real estate is all about dealing with curve balls,” she finally spoke. “You have to be able to contend with clients changing their minds at the last minute, property owners accepting a different bid, and any number of variables that change the equation.”
“Now we’re speaking my language,” I answered, running my thumb gently over her wrist. “Dealing with the unexpected is something I know all too well. Where you lost me is why you’re thinking about that now.”
She nodded. “In my professional life, dealing with the unexpected is everything I live and breathe. In my personal life, though…” She bit down on her lip, tugging at the same lip that I’d sucked on eagerly the night before. “Well, my enjoyment of sex is not the only reason I don’t keep people around for more than a few times. That’s all, I guess.”
“I thought you just enjoyed the thrill of having different partners,” I said, grinning at her, hoping to keep the humor present.
“That too,” she said throatily, her mouth spreading into that familiar, seductive smile that always seemed to burn the clothes straight off me. “But,” she swallowed hard before looking out the window again, “I’m not a big fan of the whole meeting-the-family factor, especially when the family I was born into is nothing to brag about. Except for my brother, of course.” I heard the smile in the softening of her voice. She turned back and faced me with that level gaze that had become deeper and cooler than the lake we were heading toward. “I’d just like to know what I’m getting into, especially because all you’ve given me about your mom is a few cryptic hints. I know I should have brought this up before, but it didn’t bother me when you asked. I can’t honestly explain why it’s bothering me now, but it is, and I need more details before I am introduced to your family. Mainly, your mother, since she’s the only reason I have this rock on my hand.”
I pressed my lips together before turning fully to face her. “One of the reasons I wanted you to come with me, rather than anyone else, is because it couldn’t be clearer that you wouldn’t marry me for my money—or rather, my father’s money. It will burn Heidi to think that we didn’t sign a prenup. It’s simply a role to play that I need you for, to be the woman who will not take anyone’s shit, and I know you don’t. Heidi won’t know what to do with herself when her insults fall dead at your feet.”
“Who the fuck is Heidi?”
“The woman who calls herself my mother,” I answered.
Natalia sat perfectly still as she processed what I was saying, and I could see the wheels turning in her head as she thought about the implications. Of course, there were many more layers to the relationship with my mother that I hadn’t revealed. Still, given Nat’s ability to read the people around her, I knew she’d immediately understand my mother’s motivations. There was no need to go into personal details. I just needed Nat bulletproof and ready to handle the woman’s bullshit when it came her way.
