He studied me closely. “What does that mean, exactly?”
I folded my arms and regarded him with a smug smile. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Reluctantly, Nick grumbled his agreement, then pulled me in for another kiss and quick grope that had me slapping his hand away.
“For fuck’s sake, someone will see,” I protested, my gaze sweeping the corridor.
Nick chuckled but let me go, his expression growing more serious.
It suddenly hit me that I hadn’t asked about the call to his mother. I lifted my hand and smoothed the creases on his brow. “What happened when you phoned Chloe?”
He reached for my hand and brought it to his chest. “First off, I’m sorry I didn’t let you come with me. I should have.”
My heart dropped. “Why? What happened?”
“Nothing.” He ran the back of his fingers down my cheek. “It went okay. I mean, I bawled like a baby afterwards, but Chloe was... good, actually.” He sounded surprised. “She said whatever happens from here on in is up to me. I told her we’d be there tomorrow at eleven.”
I blew a long-held sigh of relief. “That’s good then, right?”
He nodded. “But I realised while we were talking that wanting to prove I could do it on my own is just repeating the same old shit from my childhood. When no one has your back as a kid, you spend your time constantly looking to prove that you don’t need it. That you’re fine on your own and as good as anyone else. That you don’t need anyone to keep you safe.”
“Oh, baby.” I freed my hand from his and cupped his cheek, kissing him lightly on the lips.
He returned a grim smile. “I thought I’d got over a lot of that after being married to Davis for so long, but apparently not. Maybe it sneaked back after Davis had his accident. I’m sorry if I shut you out.”
“Shhh.” I put a finger to his lips. “You didn’t shut me out. You said what you wanted at the time and that’s what’s important,regardless of any concerns I might have. You listened to them and that’s all I ask. I don’t need to live in your pocket, Nick, and by God, you wouldn’t want me to. The same applies to you in mine, just so you know.”
His answering grin was back to the one I cherished.
“So now we’ve settled that, I have a very exciting book to collect, a wealth of stalls to drag you around, and then—” I leaned closer. “—I’m going to take you to bed andreallythank you.” I pulled away and watched his pupils bleed black to the margins of his grey eyes.
He looked me up and down and blew out a long, slow breath. “In that case, we better get a move on. You know what they say about letting opportunities pass you by when you’re older. Leave it too long and you end up having a nap instead.”
I laughed. “Speak for yourself.” I gave him a none-too-gentle shove toward the foyer. “Some of us have better staying power than others.”
He shot me a wicked look over his shoulder. “Some of us have the benefit of a little help.”
I rolled my eyes at his reference to my recent prescription for the odd occasion when nature needed a little help or when I wanted to cover a marathon and not just a sprint.
I gave him another shove. “Don’t think I haven’t seen you eyeing those pills covetously. Methinks you should make your own appointment.”
Nick made a kissy face. “Already have.”
I blinked. “You have?”
He linked arms as we made a left turn into the large hall and leaned closer. “Can’t let you have all the fun.”
CHAPTER SIX
NICK
Three hours browsinga book fair turned out to be more fun than I’d expected. I even found myself lingering over a table of old maps and sailing charts from the nineteenth century, much to Mads’ amusement. I couldn’t even say why they interested me, other than it was less about the maps themselves than the annotations made by those who’d used them—corrections, additions, notes about potential food and water sources, the best anchorage spots, cautionary notes about the wildlife, and so on.
It offered a glimpse into the past and the minds of those intrepid sailors back in the day, and I’d been captivated. This fascination hadn’t gone unnoticed by Mads, who presented me with one of the charts as a present at the end of the day. When I’d opened my mouth to protest, he’d narrowed his eyes in a familiarI fucking dare youlook, ensuring I promptly shut it again.
I was ridiculously touched and excited by the gift, but what gave me the greatest joy was seeing an electric sparkle light up Mads’ eyes when he took possession of the Hallas book. He practically vibrated with pleasure, and when it became clearwe’d achieve nothing more in the day until he’d had a little time to peruse it cover to cover, I bundled him into the on-site café and found a corner table for him to drool in peace.
While he was occupied, I grabbed a coffee and scrolled my phone at a table close by, having been given the stink-eye by Mads for even looking like I might consider handling liquids anywhere near his precious new book. When his initial curiosity was finally sated, we left the fair with our bounty, which also included a fifty-dollar mystery box of modern crime fiction for me and a mixed box of old Bibles and random non-fiction academic tomes for Mads. Back at the motel, we made good use of Mads’ new prescription as he punished me for the audacity to buy him an expensive gift, and I returned the favour, equally enthusiastically.
