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It was chilly outside, but I’d come out prepared wearing leggings, a woolly sweater, and thick socks. The entire house was dark, and it seemed as if no one was awake. There were a few owl noises that scared me but I braced myself through the darkness and headed out to the pool area.
From a few feet away, the sound of someone wading through the water was unmistakable, and I wondered who would be stupid enough to swim on such a chilly night. When I drew closer, there was a big white towel on one of the pool-side chairs and large slippers. The wheelchair beside the chair told me exactly who it was sitting down there.
Other than a single light at the end of the pool, everywhere was dark, but the light was bright enough that I made out the features of Christian floating by the edge of the water.
He’d stopped moving, and he was just staring into space, still as a statue, and I couldn’t help but wonder just what was going through his mind.
“Are you going to stand there and peep all night, or are you going to come out of your hiding?” His deep voice pierced through the silence and for a second, I thought he had been talking to himself until his words registered and I smiled with chagrin, walking out into the open where he could see me.
He smiled as well when he saw me smiling and I stepped closer to sit down on the chair closest to him.
“Why aren’t you in bed?” He asked, turning to me and resting his hands on the edge of the pool with his jaw resting on top of his folded hands.
“I could ask the same of you?”
I could not stop smiling, and he was smiling at me, too. I was a goner for this man and I did not know how to stop my fall.
“Fair enough. But you’ve been busy all day, you should be resting.”
His words hinted at what we’d been up to earlier in the day in his workshop, and I could not help the blush that crept up my cheek.
“I could not sleep.” I finally admitted it because it was the truth and saying anything else would be lying. It was also the safest way to not admit that I could not sleep because thoughts of him had kept me up.
I did not know what to call us now. Sleeping with him had kind of blurred things between us. I loved being here and did not want to have to quit. Other than that, I would miss him and be slightly heartbroken. I loved the sereness of this place. It was so different from the noisy bustle of New York City that going back to that life would seem almost alien to me.
“What about you?” I asked him when his pointed stare was making me hot all over. “Isn’t it too cold to be swimming? Especially at night.”
“Pool heater.” He said and his next words felt like a bomb to my chest. “And to answer your first question, I could not sleep because I was thinking about you.”
I am almost too stunned to say anything to that. Never had I imagined that he would admit that out loud. We’d skated over talking about our feelings in bed or after we’d had sex. Now that he was admitting to it, it made this even more serious.
“You shouldn’t say things like that?”
“Why not? It’s the truth.”
“I’m your nurse. You’re my patient.”
“Doesn’t change how I feel.”
Before I looked away, I held his gaze for a minute and did not know what to say. I felt the same way too, but I could not talk about it. Not like this. I did not know how serious. I finally succumbed to the urge to google him a few days ago when I was jealous of him and Elaine, and I saw he dated only supermodels and extremely beautiful women, whose net worths were in the same category as his. My net worth was nowhere close to one percent of his. Even if you included my mother’s insurance, which was mostly spent paying her medical bills.
“Why were you crying the other day in the woods?”
His next question surprised me and while I was glad for the change of subject, I was afraid to talk about my mother before I burst into another fit of tears.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, but I wondered if you’re still hung up on your ex.”
I turn to him with a puzzled expression, wondering how he knew about my ex. He must have seen the question on my face because he answered before I even asked.
“Alba mentioned your boyfriend had just broken up with you before you moved here.”
“Oh,” I muttered, wondering what they had been saying about me for Alba to bring up my ex.
“No. The breakup with my ex hurt nothing other than my ego. And I was lonely, so it had been a little kick in the butt. I was crying because of my mom.”
“Oh. Is she alright?” He asked,
“She’s dead.” A wealth of grief settled over my mind at my words, but for the first time, I did not feel any urge to cry.
