AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But before he could reassure her, Izzie shook her head and started walking. “I can’t talk about this now. Not here.”
He fell into step beside her. “Tonight.”
“I’m going to my parents tonight. My sister Mia’s coming into town for the weekend and I had to promise to come for dinner-which I can’t do tomorrow or Sunday.”
In a normal relationship, she’d ask him to come with her. In a normal relationship, he’d do it.
They weren’t normal, of course.
“Call me when you’re done and I’ll meet you at your place.”
She hesitated, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. “I need a little time, Nick. Just a little time. Can we…maybe take a break until tomorrow?”
One night. She wasn’t asking for much. But the thought of going without her tonight nearly killed him.
“All right, Izzie.” He caught her arm, holding her elbow before she could stalk away. She looked frantically from side to side, as if to see if anyone was watching, but Nick didn’t release her. “Don’t panic,” he ordered her. “Don’t see trouble where there is none.”
She flashed him a grateful smile, murmured, “I’m mentally kissing you goodbye,” then tugged her arm free and walked away.
He mentally kissed her goodbye, too, until she disappeared into the bakery.
SPENDING FRIDAY NIGHT with her family actually turned out to be a very good experience. Izzie had been half-dreading it, since she’d felt like an alien among all of them since the day she’d gotten home. But something about this gathering was different. Maybe because Mia was home and therefore got a lot of the attention. Or because Gloria’s boys were there-the grandsons always caused everything else to cease to exist for her parents.
Or maybe it was just because Izzie forced herself to relax. Not having to talk a lot meant she didn’t have to watch every word she said. Didn’t have to worry about letting something slip regarding her dancing-which they all assumed she’d given up entirely because of her knee.
Not being so on edge actually allowed her to relax and, to her shock, even enjoy herself.
She was still mulling it over the next day, remembering the smile on her father’s face as he talked about returning to work soon. When he told her he’d been talking to his brother-who was about to retire-about coming to work with him at the bakery, Izzie began to see a silver lining in the cloud of her life. With another member of the family coming in to the business, the pressure would be off Izzie to stay involved. Maybe she could get back to something like a real life of her own.
Whatever she did-staying in Chicago or going back to New York, continuing to strip or giving it up-loving Nick or letting him get away-she knew she did not want to be a baker for much longer.
Nick tried reaching her a couple of times Saturday but she’d missed his calls. Not intentionally-the first time she’d been in the shower and the second she’d been waiting on customers at the bakery. By the time she had a minute to call him back, he’d been the one who hadn’t answered.
Still, not having spoken to him for more than a day-since that tense moment on the street when she’d realized Tony had stumbled onto the truth of their relationship-she was a little nervous. Heading to work at Leather and Lace, she immediately scanned the parking lot for his car, but didn’t see it. She was early-probably two hours earlier than she needed to be, and she knew it was because she was hoping he’d be here.
“Hi, Rose,” someone said as she came in the back door.
“Hi, Bernie. How’s the week been?”
The bouncer shrugged, offering her one of his big, boyish grins. “Knocked a few heads together, wiped up the ground with a drunk or two. You know, the usual.”
Laughing, she began to walk past him.
But he stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. He glanced at the big canvas bag she carried, which was filled with some street clothes and supplies. “Can I help you in any way, Rose? Carry that? Get you some dinner?”
She shook her head. “You are so sweet, but no, honestly, I’ve got it.” The guy had been tripping over himself to take care of her since her first night at work. If he’d ever made a move on her, she’d suspect it was because he was interested. But he’d never been anything but a nice-if overprotective-friend.
Still smiling as she walked toward her dressing room, Izzie acknowledged just how comfortable she felt here. The club staff was like a second family already. Bernie and Harry. Leah and Jackie and the other dancers. They were all people she cared about, who seemed to care about her.
She didn’t want to give this up. Which was another reason she didn’t quite know how to deal with Nick’s seeming inability to watch her perform. It was as if ever since he’d become her lover, he no longer liked her doing her job.
