Okay, then.
After that, Nico tried to sleep but she kept glancing at the clock, wondering whether or not he would come, knowing how she would feel if he didn’t. And hating herself for it.
Finally, she must have drifted off because the next thing she knew, when she opened her eyes, she saw Charles standing at the door and peering through the peephole.
“Charles, what are you—”
Before Nico could finish, Charles opened the door, and Rocco, who’d been sitting propped up against it, fell into the room.
Nico threw off her covers and jumped out of bed. She marched over to Charles, glaring at him. “You promised you wouldn’t open the door.”
“I promised I wouldn’t open the door if he knocked on it.” Charles looked down at Rocco lying on his back, gazing up at them. “How long have you been sitting out there?”
That’s whenmaybebecameyes.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
ROCCO AND NICO
Rocco downshifted the Aston Martin to slow down as they approached yet another small cobblestoned village. The snowcapped mountain peaks lay ahead in the distance, but they loomed larger now that they were closer. Soon they would look as though you could reach out and touch them.
He glanced over at Nico, who was gazing out the window at the passing landscape.
“Do you need to—want to stop?” he asked.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m fine.”
Was she? Fine? She’d been quiet the entire drive.
She looked fine, he thought, glancing over at her and shifting in his seat, feeling that telltale tug in his pants. This was bad. Real bad. It wasn’t as though she was wearing anything sexy. She was wearing a baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants. Even so as he pulled on his jeans, which were becoming unbearably tight, he wished she were wearing something else.
Like what?
Maybe a tent.
“Do you mind if I open the window?” she asked, pulling at the bulky collar of her sweatshirt. “It’s hot.”
It is.
“No, that’s fine.” He inhaled and exhaled so heavily he spotted her looking over at him out of the corner of his eye.
Once they’d passed through the village, he shifted up to sixth gear.
What had he been thinking? Was this a mistake? How in hell was he going to sleep under the same roof knowing she was in the room next to his?
Of course, they’d be in separate bedrooms. They weren’t a couple. As far as the world and his family were concerned, they were teammates. And only teammates.
He knew why he’d asked her. He wanted to be with her. But now he felt how badly he wanted to be with heralone. How was that possible with his family around? It wasn’t. But he couldn’t not visit his family. They were expecting him. Maybe he could cut short the stay with them and go somewhere else with Nico. Alone.
He opened his window even though the car was moving at top speed and the wind was equivalent to a snowball hitting his face.
That snowball might as well have been the cold, hard truth.
His desire for her wasn’t the only reason he’d asked her. He didn’t like hearing that she’d be alone. Didn’t like? It was more than that. It hurt—physically hurt—when Charles had told him. Yes, he wanted to be alone with her. But if that’s all he’d wanted, he could have found time during the break to do that without inviting her to come to his family home.
I must want her to know them. Want them to know her.
He groaned.
