‘Nico…’ It was the first time she’d said his name, and she could tell he noticed, although his stance didn’t change. Something in his eyes, his mouth… It was as if she’d ignited a spark between them simply by saying his name out loud.
Somehow it had just slipped out, an intimacy that wasn’t warranted and yet bizarrely still felt right. He had seen her sleep, after all. ‘You’re scaring me, you know,’ she confessed. ‘By everything you’renotsaying. What did you mean, the dresses upset me? I mean, yes, I wasangryat you,’ she continued, her voice getting stronger. Maybe there was no big mystery here, after all. ‘For over-reaching, as you said. I rememberthat. But… I wasn’t upset.’
At least, not in the way his tone had implied—unreasonably and unsettlingly, as if she’d had some kind of breakdown. She hadn’t…had she?
She leaned forward, trying to make out his expression from across the room, craving some clue to what had happened, needing to fill in the blank space she was frighteningly aware still loomed in her mind. Nico simply stared at her without saying anything. The kettle started to whistle, and he turned round to make her tea.
Ashley leaned back against the pillows and closed her eyes. This felt like some surreal dream: the room cast in shadows and pools of light, a man she’d only met that morning making her tea at her own kitchen sink. And the dresses… Where were the dresses? Why had Nico had them removed?
He walked silently across the room and handed her a mug of tea. ‘Thank you,’ Ashley murmured, and took a sip. It was sweet and strong, like something she’d take for shock. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he sat back on the loveseat.
‘I feel like I should apologise,’ she ventured as she lowered her mug. ‘But I don’t know what for.’
Nico shook his head. ‘You don’t need to apologise.’
She tried to smile. ‘You know you’re just freaking me out even more when you say stuff like that?’
He smiled faintly at that, his eyes glinting in the darkness. ‘I don’t mean to.’
Ashley shook her head. ‘Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?’
He shrugged one powerful shoulder. ‘Maybe we just got off to a bad start.’
She managed a laugh at that. ‘Asif.Nico, you came into my office this morning and told me you were destroying my company. You gave me five minutes to clear my desk. You told me I’d had a part in ruining yourlife.’
All of those were necessary reminders, because for a few minutes while she’d sipped the tea, and he sat there looking so approachable and relaxed, it almost felt as if they were getting along. But they weren’t; they couldn’t be. Not if he was still intent on destroying her company and strong-arming her into presenting some kind of united front to boot, just so he could save face. ‘What’s changed?’ she asked.
Nico was silent for a long moment. ‘I don’t know,’ he admitted. ‘I don’t know if anythinghaschanged. Maybe…’ He released a pent-up breath as he raked a hand through his hair. ‘Maybe nothing has,’ he said, like a concession. ‘But… I’m telling you, you can wear whatever you like tomorrow night.’
She supposed she should count it as a victory, Ashley thought, even if right now it didn’t feel like one, not remotely. ‘And Infinite Innovations?’ she pressed. ‘My employees, the inventions… You’ll keep them on if I go tomorrow night?’
‘Don’t press your luck,’ Nico warned her, but Ashley thought she heard a smile in his voice. ‘One step at a time.’
Ashley managed a smile back, and Nico felt a pulse of relief that things felt normal again. The whole surreal episode had been extremely disturbing, mostly because he didn’t understand it, and also because he didn’t like seeing anyone—bizarrely, Ashley Woodward in particular—that upset. She’d seemed so…broken…over dresses. There was too much here that he didn’t understand, and he didn’t think Ashley herself could be the one to explain it to him, because he was pretty sure she didn’t know either.
How could she not remember how upset she’d been, crying as if her heart would break, and then seeming so unnervingly lifeless when he’d carried her to bed? It was almost as if she wasn’t eventhere. Then sleeping like the dead for hours, only suddenly to twist and twitch in a nightmare as she’d moaned, ‘Don’t make me…don’t make me…’
How was he supposed to respond tothat? What was he supposed to think of Ashley Woodward now? Either she was playing some elaborate and twisted game, or…there were a lot of things she didn’t remember.
‘Okay,’ she said, putting down her mug on the bedside table. ‘One thing at a time. I’ll show up tomorrow night in sweatpants.’ She smiled to show she was joking, but Nico wouldn’t have been surprised if she would do such a thing simply out of pique. He also knew he wouldn’t mind…not any more.
She lay down with her head on the pillow, tucking her hand under her cheek, her knees tucked up towards her chest as she eyed him speculatively. Her bathrobe gaped open again and Nico tried not to notice that if he let his gaze drop he’d be able to see the shadowy curves of her quite perfect breasts. It had been hard enough to avert his gaze the first two times.
‘Tell me something about yourself,’ she said, and he started, surprised.
‘You want to know something about me?’
A smile played about her lush mouth. ‘Well, you waltzed into my life this morning…’
‘I’m pretty sure I didn’t waltz,’ he felt compelled to object, and she laughed softly.
‘Okay. But I feel like it would be better for both of us if we knew something about each other.’
Theydidknow something about each other, Nico thought darkly. They’d once spent half an hour sharing life stories, teasing, laughing, flirting. And now Ashley looked at him the way he would a kindly stranger. Which was, he supposed, better than she’d looked at him before, as though he was a monster.
‘Where did you grow up?’ she asked.
He paused, instinctively reluctant to impart any information, and yet wondering if some of his answers might stir her memory. Finally he said, ‘Brooklyn.’
