Nina turned in his direction, purposefully showing him the emotion in her eyes when she replied, ‘Thank you – for … everything.’ She shook her head. ‘You don’t deserve this.’
‘It is you who doesn’t deserve any of this. I’m choosing it,’ he said firmly. ‘I’m choosing you – every time, Nina.’
She tried to smile but couldn’t quite manage it.
When his Maps told him he was a quarter mile from her address, he started to see the cars and news vans parked on the side of the road. The neighbourhood had not been designed for traffic of any kind, so many of the vehicles were illegally parked half in the road, making two-way traffic flow nearly impossible.
Nina put her seat back, hiding. ‘Just keep driving. Linda will follow.’
‘Hotel?’
‘Yeah,’ she rasped.
He dislodged his phone from its holder on the dash and passed it to her. ‘Put the one you want to stay at in.’
She quickly rerouted them and passed the phone back to Mav, who remounted it in its holder.
But when they drove past her house, he didn’t look at the dozens of people standing outside her home or sitting on her little walkway and lawn, he glanced back down at Nina. She wasn’t even crying. She was pale and defeated, her eyes empty.
Chapter 25
‘Once you’ve written your public statement, send it to me and I’ll edit it or approve it. Once we’ve nailed it down and you’re safely back at the ranch, we’ll both post it. You, to social media. Me, to my firm’s pages. After that, the media will pick it up and distribute it for us.’
‘Okay.’ Nina knew she should have said more, or maybe profusely thanked Linda for her help, only she couldn’t find any remnant energy. She felt so heavy, so tired.
‘This is going to be hard, Nina,’ her attorney warned for the dozenth time. ‘But we’ve got this.’
Nina nodded.
Linda smiled kindly. ‘I’ll be in touch almost every day. Given your celebrity status, things are going to move really quickly at first. But given that you don’t want to settle, things will slow down towards the court date. They always do.’
‘Thank you,’ Nina managed.
‘Get some rest.’ When Mav started walking her to the door of the suite he’d booked, Linda waved him away. ‘I know the way.’
Mav extended his hand, and when Linda returned the shake, he gently closed both of his over hers. ‘Thank you. We appreciate your help.’
‘Oh, trust me, this one is going to be my pleasure,’ she reiterated.
Nina waited until she heard the door click softly closed, but the moment it did, she fell apart. It was as if the lock clicking into place had the opposite effect on her, unlocking everything she had held back during the interview and the follow-up meeting with her attorney.
She didn’t sob. She only curled into a ball on the bed and let her pent-up tears flow freely and silently, blurring her vision.
Mav didn’t say anything.
Neither did she.
What was there to say? She felt as if she had come into his life under false pretences, and she had made things so difficult for him. For Poppy. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t meant to fall in love with him. She had.
Her shame was so immense just then, that she was the one who broke the silence first. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered, knowing that the words weren’t adequate.
Mav kicked off his boots. She heard one and then the other as they dropped to the floor. He climbed onto the bed behind her and moulded his big body to hers, one arm pulling her close, his legs folded beneath hers. He kissed the side of her hot, damp face, and he whispered, ‘I’m not.’ He moved his arm to trail his fingers down her bare arm. ‘I’m angry and stressed and sad. But I’m also the happiest I’ve ever been. Because whatever happens, I found you.’
Nina thought about that, and as much as she wished she could change things, it was also exceptionally humbling to realize that the worst thing that had ever happened to her had also resulted in the best.
‘What do you need, Nina?’ he asked, interrupting her thoughts. ‘Food? Wine? Sleep? Markus? I can call him. He’ll come.’
Even the thought of food made her warring stomach sick. Sleep wouldn’t come. Markus needed time to decompress with Juan, just as she did with Mav. ‘I want you to love me so hard that I forget everything else, even momentarily.’
