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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Icy
“I see you’ve started smoking again,” Nick says icily.
My eyes stray from his, my cheeks burning with embarrassment. “Y-yes. I’m sorry. I just couldn’t help myself.”
“Yes you could. We both know that you did this on purpose. You willfully disobeyed me because you wanted to break my hold over you to give you some independence. I’m right, aren’t I?”
“Yes. Are you angry with me?”
He doesn’t answer. Slowly, he walks toward me and stops just a few inches from my face. For a second, he towers over me like some kind of dark angel. Then he slips his finger under my chin and tilts my face upwards so that he can see my eyes.
“No, I’m not angry with you,” he says softly. “If you want to smoke and it genuinely makes you feel good, then do it. I’m not going to stop you. I’ve always said you’re free to do exactly as you please. I want you to be your own woman, Carly. But let’s get one thing straight, okay? Just now, you told me to be myself; well, so should you. There’s no point hiding anything from me, because I’ll always find you out.” He releases my face, slides his hand down my shoulder and reaches inside my bag. Pulling out a cigarette, he places it between my lips. Then he takes out my matches and lights it for me.
“Thanks,” I say.
There’s a tense silence. He continues to stare, his eyes transfixed on my mouth as I suck hard on the cigarette and blow smoke through my nostrils. It’s pretty clear what he’s thinking, and my sex slickens at the thought of what he’d like to do to me. Right now, I want nothing more than to take this upstairs, but I hold back because I enjoy teasing him. The hungrier he is for me, the better; it means that when I’m ready to submit, he’ll give it to me rough, just the way I like it.
“You really know how to turn me on,” he whispers.
“Do I?”
With a low growl, he grabs my free hand and presses it against the throbbing bulge in his dressing gown. My nipples harden and I have to squeeze my thighs together to keep under control. Grinning broadly, I ease my hand away.
“You’re a monumental tease,” he rasps.
“So I see. And it looks like you’ve got something pretty monumental going on down there.” I laugh at my own joke.
Nick doesn’t see the funny side. His face continues to smoulder and he looks almost in pain.My God, he’s really getting me wet. This has a stop.
After a few more puffs, I extinguish the cigarette and run my fingers through my hair. “Listen, I should probably go. It’s getting late and I promised to pick my father up from the hospital.”
“No problem. Just give me a second to cool off and I’ll drive you.” With a loud sigh, Nick slinks away and goes back upstairs to get changed. A short while later he returns to the living room dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. Fleetingly, my eyes travel over his body, focusing on the way the clothes cling to every inch of his muscular frame. A wave of excitement shoots to my crotch.Good Lord, the man is a god.
“What?” Nick smiles. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Oh, nothing,” I grin. “I’ve just never seen you dressed so casually before. It makes a nice change.”
“Glad you like it.” He shrugs on his jacket and then pats down his pockets to check that he’s got everything. “All right, darling. Ready to go?”
“Yes.” Buttoning up my coat, I follow Nick out the house into the street. The sky has darkened and the wind is blowing pieces of dirt and grit all over the pavement. Shivering a little, I walk up to the Jaguar and get in. Almost instantly, we’re on the move, heading in the direction of south London.
“Let’s have some music.” Nicks turns up the stereo on “Talk to Me, Talk to Me,” by Little Willie John, and for the rest of the journey, he serenades me to a succession of slushy ‘50s love ballads.
Around three o’clock, we arrive in Tooting. Once we’ve parked up, I lead Nick into Queen Victoria Hospital and we take the elevator to the Churchill Ward on the third floor. As soon as the doors open, I head straight for the reception, where I find Issey and a male nurse deep in conversation. Clearly, something has set the cat among the pigeons and I just hope it isn’t my dad.
“Hi, Issey, good to see you again. I’m here to collect Steve Singleton.”
Issey throws up her hands despairingly. “Oh my goodness, I’m so glad you’re here. Steve has been a nightmare. I can’t tell you how much disturbance he’s caused today. We’ve been trying to contact you all morning but your phone was off.”
“Sorry, my battery died. What exactly has he done?”
Issey sucks her teeth. “More like whathasn’the. Steve’s been screaming to go home all day and he’s hurled abuse at every single member of staff, including Dr Noble. He’s also broken a door and two wheelchairs. No word of a lie, if you hadn’t come, we would have had no choice but to call the police. He can’t be allowed to upset the other patients like this. There’s people here recovering from strokes and it just isn’t fair for them to be exposed to this kind of drama.”
Nick and I exchange worried glances. “I’m so sorry,” I stammer. “Where is he? Can I see him?”
“Of course. Maybe you’ll be able to talk some sense into him.”
