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“Perhaps.” He stood up, looking towards the house. “Are you able to carry Maddie’s basket inside, Jack?”
Jack nodded, concern obvious on his sweet little face. “Is she going to be okay?”
Maddie reached out, curving her fingers around Jack’s wrist reassuringly. “I’m going to be fine. I just need to rest it.”
“Go ahead and ask your father to call Alessia.”
“Who’s Alessia?” Jack and Maddie asked in unison.
There was a slight hesitation. “She’s…the local doctor.”
“No, Nico,” she rushed to contradict that. “I don’t need a doctor. Really, it’s nothing serious.”
“It may need to be set. You don’t know it’s not broken, do you?”
“Well, no, but I really don’t this it is. I’m sure it’s just that I twisted it.”
“Twisted ankles can still be broken. Come on.” He bent down, lifting her to his chest as though she were as light as half a feather. There was something about his protective instincts that spoke to her, and made her feel immeasurably safe and secure. He held her to his chest and her hands linked behind his throat, holding him there, her ear pressed to his heart, listening to it, her own slamming into the walls of her chest.
But at the door, she spoke quickly. “I really don’t want to interrupt you guys. I didn’t know you had company or I wouldn’t have come here. Could you possibly…drop me home?”
He stopped walking, fixing her with a look that was mocking at the same time it was somehow affectionate – affectionate in a way that caused a strong sense of longing to overtake her for a moment. But longing for what?
“You don’t want to meet my family?”
“Your family?” Alarm shunted along her spine. More people? “Who else is here?”
“Just my cousin and his wife and children.”
“Oh,” she nodded.
“And Jack you’ve already met.”
“I just don’t want to intrude,” she insisted.
“You’re not.”
She bit down on her lip, casting her eyes through the door. She could see only the beautiful piece of art that hung there, nothing else.
“If you really wish to go home, I’ll take you, but I’ll stay with you until the doctor’s been.”
“So either way I’ll be interrupting your afternoon?” She prompted with a shake of her head.
His grin was magnetic. “I like being interrupted by you.”
Something shifted inside of her, getting rid of her inhibitions, forcing her to be open to this. Paranoia about Michael had made her hesitant. She looked up at Nico now and felt…safe. And happy, despite the throbbing in her ankle.
“So?” He prompted, his eyes roaming her face inquisit
ively. “What’s it to be, cara.”
Cara. Dear. Sweet. Her chest flooded with emotions and a warning light flashed in her brain. She couldn’t let herself become used to this. But the part of her that was capable of analytical thought registered that he was waiting for her to speak, giving her all the power in this situation. He might have wanted to force her to come inside and rest on his sofa, but he’d laid out an alternative, and was leaving the choice to her.
It was an easy choice then.
“Inside.” Her eyes held his for a second too long, but she found it hard to look away.
His expression shifted, showing true pleasure for a moment. “My cousin is only here for lunch. They won’t stay long.”
