She filled her suitcase, not caring what went in, then stood in the middle of her bedroom, casting about for more.
Her eyes fell on the desk in the corner. She hesitated only a moment before sitting and ripping a page from a spiral-bound notebook. Any letter she produced would fall miles short of Nick’s, but this would serve as a declaration, at least. An assurance, something he could hold on to while she was away.
She uncapped a purple pen and began to write.
An Inexhaustive List of Things I Love About You...
23.
Deep in the steel mill’s underbelly, Nick stood staring into the vat of molten pig iron. With the visor of his heat-reflective shield up, the air boiled against his cheeks, a physical force, like a hell-spawned demon roaring in his face.
Which wasn’t far off.
It was funny. He’d stood here so many times, contemplating the open maw of the blast furnace and presuming to understand longing. He’d waded to the fringes of the fire, trying to cauterize his internal wounds, all the while believing he’d never see Aubrey again.
That alone had been crippling. But having her back, having todenyher, plunged him into a fresh new hell he never could have imagined.
Days had passed, but the echo of her touch still reduced him to a mess of need-soaked nerve endings. Jesus, the way her hands had gifted every inch of him with heat.Someone should touch you.By the time she’d gotten to his zipper, his blood had bellowed with the sheer fucking agony of having to refuse her.
Itstilldid.
“Hey, man.” Jackson appeared, his heat shield firmly in place. The reflected glare of thousand-degree metal obscured hisexpression. “You taking a sample, or trying to decide whether to throw yourself in?”
Nick grunted. Good question. He had no idea.
But it cost him nothing to reassure his friend, so he went through the motions, his mind approximately eight thousand light-years away.
God, Aubrey hadn’t only smelled like paradise, she’d tasted like it, too, in that all-too-brief moment when he’d had his mouth on her neck. His senses had ignited with salt and sunshine and something else he’d wanted to plunge into and suffocate in. Later, he’d put off brushing his teeth until the last possible moment, loath to lose whatever traces of her lingered.
That had been after he’d taken a shower, of course. A very, very long shower. One in which the water had sluiced over him in icy sheets once he’d finished himself off for the second time.
Now he tipped his ladle, trying to focus on the dribble of red-hot iron. Still, Aubrey persisted, draped across his thoughts like a fire-haired goddess.
He shuddered. He couldn’t believe he’d turned her down. How.How?Had he lost his mind?
“Hey. Earth to Nick.”
He turned. Jackson again. What were they supposed to be doing? He’d already forgotten.
Jackson gestured. “Put your heat shield down, my man. You’re cooking yourself. Your eyebrows are all curly.”
Nick stared stupidly, then snapped the visor down. “Uh. Yeah. Thanks.”
“Where are you today?”
He pretended not to hear over the roar of the furnace. He returned to his sample, blinking the sting of sweat from his eyes.
Jesus, he needed to get his shit together. Make a plan.
Right. A plan.
Because when it came down to it, he had two options. He could let Aubrey stay in Henderson while finishing this statement of hers, but it would only be a matter of time before his control snapped and he went over there begging for a redo. She’d probably tell him to get lost, but if not, he’d end up buried too deeply in her to ever recover. Worse, he’d prove, once and for all, that he was no better than his piece-of-shit father. Not to mention he’d jeopardize her thing with Gallant, which he would never forgive himself for.
Or... He could do his best to get Aubrey back to New York. Back to the life she wanted and deserved. Back to the job that fulfilled her.
Nick stopped mid-task. Really, what was there to consider? If he had a shot at making her happy, he had to take it.
His attention shifted to David Ballard, whose name rolled around in his head like a rotten grape. Last night, Nick had researched the guy on the internet, in between fielding increasingly demanding messages from MontanaBirder81.
