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It wasn’t so much a noise as it was a keen awareness that made her glance to the side. All notions of relaxation or quieting her thoughts enough to sleep evaporated when she spotted Zeph.
He was bent over at the waist, wearing nothing but dark silk pyjama bottoms, elbows on the railing while his thumbs dug into his temples. He hadn’t seen her yet, probably because long strands of his hair obstructed his view. Calling herself shameless and a few other derogatory names didn’t stop her from ogling his beautifully muscled torso. His trim waist. The perfect symmetry from head to toe.
Then worrying about his obvious distress.
Turn away. Go back to bed.
Resignedly, she wasn’t alarmed when her feet wouldn’t move. Nor was she surprised when his head swung towards her a second later, his hands falling away from his head when he saw her.
For several seconds, they stared at one another across the small expanse of dark, swirling water that separated their balconies.
‘You’re having trouble sleeping too.’ It wasn’t a question but an even observation.
She dragged her gaze from the wisps of silky hair that trailed down his chest and disappeared into his pyjama bottoms. Myriad excuses rose to her lips, but in the end she just shrugged. ‘Like you said, a lot has happened today. It’s a lot to process.’
He gave a solemn nod, his gaze taking her in from head to toe before reconnecting with her eyes again. The atmosphere thickened between them until her heartbeat thudded in her ears.
‘Is your headache still bothering you?’ she asked before she could bite her tongue.
The corner of his mouth crooked. ‘I don’t think it’s going anywhere any time soon.’
She didn’t realise her feet were moving until she was at the far end of her railing closest to his. He too had wandered close as he spoke. She only needed to stretch out her hand to touch him.
Not that she wanted to, she assured herself.
Her fingers tightened around her glass as she watched him massage his temples again.
Don’t do it.Don’t!
But her heart rate was rising and that soft part of her heart was loosening even further.
‘Let me help,’ she offered before she could change her mind. ‘My grandfather suffered from headaches. They were mostly migraines but if what you’re feeling is even close...’ Her voice trailed away as his eyes zeroed in on her in that ferociously specific way again. That way that alarmed her into believing he could read her every thought, decipher her every emotion.
Breath held, Imogen stood there suspended in strange expectation.
After an age, he nodded. Then he did something completely unexpected.
Reaching out, he touched a switch on the wall next to him. She gasped as the balcony slid smoothly sideways, a part of it seamlessly unfolding to latch on to and meld with his.
Zeph looked as surprised as she did.
‘Did you know that was there?’ she asked.
He shook his head, a little bemused. ‘Not consciously. I guess muscle memory just kicked in.’
Her heart stuttered. ‘That’s good, I guess?’ Her voice wobbled because in that moment she knew this might be the way his memories returned. Between one thought and the next. One unconscious gesture and another.
Staring thoughtfully at the button, he nodded, oblivious to her suddenly rioting emotions. ‘It can’t hurt.’
And then his gaze was returning to her, his left hand extending to help her across the short distance. Their gazes fell on his new ring at the same time and that peculiar sensation kicked hard inside her again.
The fantasy whipped up, teasing her with possibilities she had never let herself entertain in the almost two years she’d been Mrs Diamandis. Because it’d been useless.
They were enemies.
Her family had ruined his a long time ago and, to this day, Zeph suffered nightmares about it. Nightmares he had no clue how to decipher.
Pushing the guilty morsel of thought away, she followed him into his room.
