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“Aren’t you working today?”
“Yes, but it’s Sunday and I need some time off. I’d like to spend that time with you.”
He saw the indecision in her eyes. Her desire to get out into the sunshine and climb The Nut warring with her newfound wariness and the need to keep those high walls firmly set around her heart. He held his breath.
“All right,” she finally conceded. “How long have I got to get ready?”
He let out his breath quietly, secretly giving himself a high five. “There’s no rush. I have to organize the picnic. And I’d like to do a few hours work first. Why don’t we leave around eleven?”
“Sure.” She gave a delicate shrug and her tank top slipped down to reveal a bare shoulder. Nico had to close his eyes and look away as the urge to lean in and kiss that soft skin almost overwhelmed him. He had a lot of work to do before Lacey would welcome that kind of advance. But now Lacey had agreed to his plan, Nico felt suddenly energized, his lack of sleep no longer dragging him down. This was good.
“That’ll give me time to pop into town and visit Linc. I hear they might release him tomorrow, if everything continues to look good. His mum will stay with him until she’s sure he’s a hundred percent better,” Lacey said with a yawn.
“Great,” he said, almost bouncing off the bed. Now he needed to create a picnic to end all picnics. It was often said that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach, but Nico understood it wasn’t the food that was the way to a man’s heart, but the fact it was cooked with love. He needed to show her how much he still loved her. Preparing her favorite foods might not win her back, but it was a way for him to show how much he cared.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
WIND WHIPPED THROUGH Lacey’s hair, and she had to tug it out of her eyes so she could take in the amazing view. Her lungs were still burning from the steep climb to the top, and she rested her hands on her knees for a second to regain her breath. She was glad to see that Nico was also sucking in great gulps of air, as his chest rising and falling with the exertion of their ascent. At least she wasn’t the only one suffering. Smudge bounded up to them with a carefree bark, and then sat with his tongue hanging out and a great big smile on his face. His jubilant mood was infectious. There was nothing Smudge loved more than a walk with his two favorite humans.
They’d marched straight past the spot where the chairlift stopped at the top edge closest to the town and followed a path along the top to the opposite side of the large plateau, so they were now overlooking the ocean, with a grassy meadow, punctuated by hillocks of tussocks behind them.
“Wow. I thought I was fit, but this was a challenge,” she said, straightening up and doing a small twirl to take in the vast scenery spread out below them. Sometimes, it was easy to forget how beautiful this country was. When you lived on the coast and drove to work everyday through the rolling hills, it was easy to become blasé about it all. Lacey needed this to remind her just how lucky she was to be living in this little slice of paradise. So wild and isolated, brilliant blue sky draping overhead, a salty tang in the air, waves crashing on the rocks a few hundred feet below and the fresh wind taking the sting out of the sun’s hot rays. It suddenly hit her how blessed she was to be alive on such a day as this.
“You’re not wrong.” Nico flashed her a smile and thumped his chest, as if his heart was beating too fast, and she smiled back. It was almost like they were the old Nico and Lacey once more. Back to the happy, in-love couple, sharing their delight of the outdoors on a spectacular summer day. Almost like they were back before the time she’d found out he was a liar. Even if it was a lie of omission.
As soon as that wordliarpopped into her mind, it was as if a gray curtain came down, and everything around her dimmed a little. Bugger. She’d been having such a good time. This had almost been the perfect cure to help lift her spirits. The climb to the top had taken them less than fifteen minutes, but they’d walked along the beach first so they could appreciate the large rock from afar, and so Smudge could have his playtime on the sand. That dog was at his happiest when he was wet, salty, and covered in sand from head to tail.
Lacey stole another surreptitious glance at Nico. He stood beside her, tall and broad shouldered, hands on hips, scanning the horizon with his indigo eyes. Her gaze roamed up his tanned forearms to where his biceps bulged nicely out of the arms of his T-shirt. She knew in intimate detail what lay beneath that T-shirt. The muscles of his chest and pecs, the ridges of his defined abs, the dips and curves of his ribs and then down to the spot near his hips where his washboard stomach sloped down to… Nico turned his head slightly, his gaze following the coastline that wound its way east, and Lacey caught sight of the large dimple in his cheek, and his scar that she always said made him imperfectly perfect. Every single time she looked at Nico she got a jolt of appreciation. Appreciation for his superb male form. Just looking at him set off a low thrum deep inside her, a delicious warmth spreading through her body, down her arms and up her legs to her belly, where it unraveled as it went lower. At least the desire, that maddening attraction, hadn’t been dampened by the gulf that’d opened up between them.
What on earth was she doing? Sometimes it was even hard to remember why she was mad at him. She really did love Nico, with all her heart. So, maybe it was time to put her doubts and misgivings aside. At least for the next few hours she decided to embrace the day. Embrace this opportunity to spend time with Nico, just him and her together, and for once, not let her roiling thoughts damage the time they had to share.
He turned and noticed her staring, giving her a curious glance.
“I’m starving,” she said, deflecting any questions. All she wanted was to enjoy this moment. The hard stuff could wait till later. “And I’m dying to know what you’ve got in that backpack.” She peered around his broad back to the large bag he had slung over his shoulders. It looked heavy, stuffed full with goodies. Secrecy had been the name of the game while Nico had been packing the picnic. He’d told her to stay out of the kitchen even after she returned from seeing Linc as he toiled over their food. And he’d also popped out for fifteen minutes, not telling her where he was going, so she was desperate to know what he’d created. The walk and the fresh air had amped up Lacey’s appetite, and her stomach rumbled loudly.
Nico laughed and said, “I know, I know. You’re always hungry. Let me set it up, then.” He lowered the bag to the ground and pulled out a checkered rug, flapping it around in the breeze until he found a relatively flat spot on which to set it down.
Lacey sat eagerly on one corner and placed her water bottle on the other, to stop the rug flying away in the breeze, then watched impatiently as Nico unpacked the food.
First, out came the plates, cutlery, and two wineglasses. Then a potato and egg salad, a homemade hummus dip—she knew it was homemade because there’d been no dip in the fridge this morning—with carrot and cucumber sticks, and a fresh fruit salad for dessert were all placed on the rug. Lacey watched with ever-widening eyes. Nico was a good cook, but he rarely took the time nowadays to create in the kitchen. This was a feast for the eyes and the senses. Nico hadn’t forgotten Smudge either. He pulled out a dried pig’s ear—Smudge absolutely loved to chew on the sinewy, dehydrated meat, but Lacey found them icky; it reminded her too much of the animal it came from—and handed it to Smudge, who took it gently from Nico’s fingers and found a spot to lie down amongst the tussocks and started chewing.
“Would you pour us a drink, please?” He handed her a bottle of chilled chardonnay—how the hell had he kept that cold for the past two hours?
She was so absorbed with pouring the wine that she hardly took note of what was on the plate Nico handed her a minute later. Then she looked down at the sandwich.
“Salmon and brie, with sliced avocado,” she said, a little breathless. It was her favorite combination from the little Burnie Bakery in the main street, and he’d faithfully recreated it for her.
“I got the fresh bread from Margie,” he admitted.
“I was wondering.” There was only a little corner store in Boat Harbour, and they barely catered for the basics, like packaged, sliced white bread. Not like this homemade multigrain stuff, sliced in thick, rustic slabs. Margie was the queen of baking and loved her bread-making machine. Herb often declared that her bread would be the death of him, and the only reason he had to ride thirty miles every day was to work off all those carbs.
Lacey took a bite and let the flavors melt on her tongue. “Oh. My. God. This is amazing,” she said, her mouth still full of food. “But what have you got?” She leaned over to see what was in his sandwich.
“Sadly, we were out of sliced beef,” he said with a grin. “But luckily salmon and brie is my second favorite combination.” Nico always ordered beef and mustard from the bakery, and she loved him a little more, because she knew that salmonwasn’this favorite. But he was eating it just for her. They ate in silence for the next few moments, Lacey lost in the sensation of eating her delicious sandwich on top of a hill surrounded by the ocean and the sky and the wind.
Nico coughed, and she tensed as he opened his mouth to speak. “So, I’d like to know your take on all those interviews we did yesterday. We haven’t really had a chance to discuss it yet.”
“Sure,” Lacey said, popping the last bite of sandwich in her mouth, and dusting off her fingers and reaching for the potato salad. “As long as I can eat and talk,” she added with a cheeky grin. She was happy for him to direct the topic onto safe matters, like work. They both understood there was an underlying current of things left unsaid that’d need to be aired sooner or later. After all, that was why Nico had brought her here, wasn’t it? So they couldtalk. But if Nico wasn’t ready to address that issue just yet, she was fine with it too.
