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Chloe didn’t even try and translate this cryptic utterance.
‘And I’m going Chloe’s way so that’s her problem solved,’ Nik announced in a tone that brooked no argument.
Not from where she was standing!
‘How do you know which way is my way? That is,’ she continued, lowering the levels of antagonism in her voice, ‘I wouldn’t dream of bothering you.’
‘Nonsense!’ Tatiana sent her brother a warning glare. ‘He’s fine with it, aren’t you, Nik?’
Chloe clenched her teeth as, with a totally unconvincing display of meekness that made him look even more like a wolf, he tipped his dark head.
‘Absolutely.’ Slower than Tatiana to jump back squealing when he shook the umbrella, sending a spray of cold water droplets that hit everything in the immediate area, Chloe was the only one close enough to hear his not at all meek-sounding addition. ‘My way is whichever way you’re going.’
She brushed her ear where the sensitive flesh still tingled from the touch of his warm breath and glared at him, while he continued to look smugly satisfied with himself.
‘Well, that’s sorted, then,’ Tatiana said, looking relieved. ‘You will text me when you get home safely?’
Chloe promised.
She gave a sigh and rubbed the tip of her nose with her finger. The truth was, there was a part of her, a clearly twisted part of her, that had...enjoyed their flirtation. No, that was the wrong word. It hadn’t been flirtation; that was far too gentle. Combat probably better described the heart-thumping, skin-tingling adrenaline charge of their exchanges tonight.
She had felt what...? Like a woman. Her eyes flew wide with shock as the recognition of her too-long-suppressed sexuality crashed through her.
‘Are you all right?’ Nik asked.
‘I’m fine!’ she lied.
She read criticism in his eyes as they swept her face. ‘You look like you’re in pain.’
‘The only pain around here...’ at the last second she managed to apply the brake to her runaway tongue and lowered her eyes, muttering ‘...is a slight headache.’
Actually pain was pretty accurate for what she felt, as though the circulation were returning to a limb deprived of blood. It hurt and so did this—the part of her that had been in hibernation since the accident had finally woken up and it was tingling!
She wasn’t ready yet; she wanted that part to go back to sleep. It was such awful bad timing! At this point an affair of any kind, let alone the sort of superficial no-strings fling Nik Latsis had in mind for them, was the last thing she needed.
She lifted her chin, defiance sparking in her eyes, as she thought, I deserve more than that! I deserve better than Nik Latsis!
Even if she had been in the market for a man, which she wasn’t, he would not have made the shortlist. If she had needed reminding, and she didn’t, how shallow he was, tonight would have driven the point home to her.
Yes, she was attracted to him, it was actually too exhausting to try and pretend otherwise, but in her defence he had more sexual charisma in a single hair follicle than most men had in their entire bodies. Although attraction hardly came close to describing the visceral reaction he evoked just looking at him... Then don’t look! she told herself.
She needed to stop over-analysing everything. Nothing was going to happen between them because it couldn’t. She brushed her leg with her hand, not that the numbed scar tissue registered the touch. She found herself wishing fiercely for a moment that the numbness went even deeper, that she could anaesthetise the emotions that tonight had reawoken in her.
She squared her shoulders. If he had been the Nik who had vulnerabilities, and not this insensitive, slick predator, she might have been in trouble, but he wasn’t, so she was completely safe.
As safe as being circled by a tiger, she thought, injecting as much grateful insincerity into her smile as she could.
‘I hope it’s not too far out of your way, Nik.’
It was Tatiana who replied. ‘Don’t be silly, Chloe...’
‘Looks like that’s settled, then.’ Nik walked ahead and left Chloe to walk beside his sister. When they reached the open front door she realised with a stab of shame that she didn’t have a clue what the other woman had just been saying to her.
This had to stop, she told herself. Nik Latsis was the past, not a mistake because the last few months had taught her that thinking about mistakes meant you couldn’t move forward. She had moved forward and she would continue to do so.
‘It’s stopped raining.’ Nik, who had walked outside ahead of the women, lowered the umbrella he had raised and held up his hands to the sky. He grinned, twirled the umbrella and stamped in a puddle.
Fighting the urge to run out and join him, Chloe was conscious of an ache in her chest. She snatched a quick breath, knowing that the image would stay with her, but not knowing why...or at least not asking herself why.
