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So why was he fantasising about the idea of more, now? Why was he pushing out of bed and dragging jeans on, intent on finding her before he could even work out what he wanted to say?
Because she drove him wild, and in a way he completely welcomed.
Fall was coming. Life would have to go back to normal. But not just yet, surely? She was still sporting a bruise on her cheek. Her emotional injuries, though not visible, would still be just as apparent.
What he needed was a reprieve. A temporary reprieve to keep her in his life, just a little longer. Until he was ready – until they both were – to do what they’d agreed to right from the beginning.
Maddie was so engrossed in her own thoughts she didn’t hear him enter at first. Nico was almost behind her when she shifted, lifting her face to his. His hair was tousled, he wore no shirt. Just a pair of low slung jeans that showed the muscles of his torso and the bones of his hips so her mouth went dry for a whole other reason now. Dark hair arrowed towards his pants.
“It’s early.” He smiled. Was she imagining the way it didn’t reach his eyes? Was he feeling this too?
“I was up.” She turned back to the counter, opening the milk and pouring a glug into the tea. “Do you want a coffee?”
“I’ll make it.”
He moved behind her, reaching for a cup, placing it in the machine, and all the while she observed him surreptitiously, as though she could store up enough sightings of him to somehow get her through this.
“How did you sleep?” His voice was deep and sexy, coated in the desire that was so much a part of them.
“Yeah, fine.” It was a lie. All night she’d been conscious of the meaning of this day.
“Did you?”
She sipped her tea rather than answer.
“I’ve been thinking.” The coffee machine came to life, making a low noise in the background. “What if you don’t leave today?”
Everything inside Maddie froze to a halt. The world stopped spinning. The rain fell, but silently. There was nothing, just a void and her and Nico standing at its centre.
She stared at him, saw the way his face was held, waiting for her response. Waiting, and yet she found she couldn’t speak. It was everything she wanted. Everything she’d been silently hoping for, thinking about, wishing could happen.
Her smile was radiant and he returned it.
He expelled a soft breath. A sigh of relief? “I don’t have to go to the States yet. I could push it back by a week or so. What do you say?”
The world began to turn once more with an almost deafening screech. Or was that her blood rushing through her body? Her smile dropped, her heart felt like it had a stitch right in its centre.
“Do you mean you want me to stay for another week?”
He lifted his shoulders. “Yeah. Why not?”
There was something in his manner, something so casual and relaxed, that it sparked anger within her. Anger! At Nico! She couldn’t believe she could feel that towards him and yet she did. It burned through her, accelerated by the sheer tonnage of her disappointment.
“A week.”
He put a hand down and Dante loped towards him, nuzzling his fingers with the tip of his nose. “What do you say, boy? Do you think Maddie should stay here a little bit longer?”
“I’m not…” She swallowed, confusion flooding her. What did she want? More of Nico? Definitely. But another week? Was there any point delaying the inevitable? Was a week enough to stave off this deep hurt inside her chest?
Of course it wasn’t. And the fact he felt like it would be offended Maddie on every level. “And then what?” The words were hollow so his expression sobered, his eyes finding hers, trying to read her. But she didn’t want to be read, she wanted to be heard.
“What do you mean?”
“What do we do after that week?”
Silence.
A silence that filled her with pain, and the longer it stretched the worse it got because it should have been a simple answer. If he loved her, the answer was ‘we keep going, more of this’.
