As soon as he spoke, I realized I didn’t have food poisoning and wasn’t coming down with something. I was attracted to this man. It had been so long since I’d been attracted to anyone that I’d completely forgotten what the symptoms were.
I blinked and smiled, hoping to disguise the arousal volcano that had just erupted inside of me. “Hi. I’m, Skye.”
“Are you with hospice?” he asked.
I nodded.
He took a step toward me and held out his hand. “I’m Nick. Naomi’s son.”
He didn’t work here; he lived here. He was the billionaire, and Naomi was his mom.
I lifted my arm and placed my hand in his. As his large fingers enveloped mine, tingles raced up my arm and spread throughout my entire body. Instead of dropping his hand right away, I held it for a few seconds, loving the way his calloused, warm touch enveloped me. The funny feeling in my belly moved even lower, causing my sex to clench in need.
Embarrassed by my body’s involuntary response, I pulled my hand away like I’d just touched a hot stove. “Nice to meet you.”
This was ridiculous. If I was turning into a lovesick teenager over a couple dimples and a handshake, I was in bad shape.
A sense of déjà vu washed over me as I stood in the kitchen with Nick. There was something about him that was so familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
“How is she? Naomi?”
His question caused the feeling that I knew him to intensify. “Good. I think she’s tired; it’s been a long day. But she’s awake now if you wanted to go see her.”
He didn’t respond.
Unable to ignore the sense that I knew him from somewhere, I asked, “Have we met before?”
“No,” he stated firmly.
His immediate and blunt reaction took me aback. It took me a second before I realized what my question must have sounded like. He probably thought I was hitting on him, which was embarrassing on a personal level and unethical on a professional one. Humiliation swept over me as he took another step toward me.
“I would have remembered if we had.” The intensity in his stare and the low, gravelly voice had my cheeks flaring once again with heat.
Clearing my throat, I lifted the cup of water. “I was just getting this for your mom. I better get back.”
I was sure it was my imagination, but for the briefest of seconds, I was sure I’d seen a flash of disappointment in his eyes. I quickly dismissed the idea that it had even been there at all.
“If she needs anything, or ifyouneed anything, let me know.”
It was the same offer that Jada had given me, but this one hit differently. Before running it by my brain, my body started making a list of all the things it needed. Unable to speak due to the large lump of lust that had formed in my throat, I nodded. It was probably a good thing that I hadn’t tried to reply verbally. I was scared that if I had, I would have blurted out my list of needs, which included NSFW requests.
Unaware of the inappropriate turn this conversation had taken in my head, his lips curled in a friendly smile. The sight caused my heart to pound faster than Thumper’s foot when he saw Miss Bunny.
As I walked back, I did my best to recalibrate myself. That interaction had come out of nowhere, and I was sure it was just the product of exhaustion and stress. Or maybe this was the first stage of menopause. At thirty-four, I was a little young, but it wasn’t impossible. Maybe hormone flare-ups were the first signs that I’d hit that milestone in my life.
By the time I’d made it back to the room, I’d talked myself into thinking that whatever had just occurred was an anomaly. A fluke. My palms were still tingling from our handshake, but other than that, I’d almost been able to recover from that unsettling and exhilarating interaction. Almost.
