Page 9 of I Dream of Danger
“Alzheimer’s?” Nick asked
She hung her head.
“Tough,” he said.
You have no idea. She lifted her head, nodded.
They sat in silence, looking at each other. Finally, he gave a sigh and shifted in his chair. Elle panicked.
He was leaving already! He’d just arrived! She hadn’t seen him in five years. She was still gulping up details about him every time she dared look at him. The hard cut of his jaw, the two wiry white hairs mixed in the thick black hair of his temples. His hands, bigger than she remembered. Clean but callused, with a strip of thick yellow callus on the edges. Judo calluses, or some kind of martial art. She’d read about that.
The shoulders that stretched beyond the shirt seams. He was unshaven. His stubble was thicker than she remembered. He was one of those men who should shave twice a day.
That was new. So many things about him were new.
Including the fact that he was sexy as hell.
That was new, for her. As a child, as a young girl, Nick was…Nick. The person she loved most in the world after her father. Always there, always dependable, always fun. With a natural authority that made her feel safe and protected. The two men in her life, looking after her. Her father, with his understanding of the law, his status as a well-respected judge—nothing in society could harm her while he was around. And Nick—always strong and tough, with quick reflexes, always alert for trouble. Nothing in life could hurt her while he was around.
It was only now, alone, that Elle understood what a privileged childhood she’d had. And Nick had been a big part of that.
Nick wasn’t her brother. She had no idea what feelings you could have for a brother because she’d never had one, but she instinctively understood she never thought of Nick as one. Nick was her friend, her protector.
And, foolish girl, she thought he’d always be there.
It hadn’t even occurred to her that someday he’d fall in love and leave. She didn’t know if he’d fallen in love, but he’d definitely left.
He’d definitely had women. Tons of them. She’d never seen male genitalia in person, but in her Dreams…Nick was the epitome of maleness. She’d seen him with women, she’d seen him in bed pleasuring himself…
She swallowed, hoping she wasn’t turning red. She’d always been an open book to him. Please God, let him not understand that she was remembering the violently arousing image of him having sex with other women and with himself.
Sitting across from him, she totally understood why women fell for him. As a girl, her feelings had been starting to turn. But now she was a woman, and what he evoked in her was sexual desire, of a scale and intensity she didn’t know how to handle.
Nick shifted in his chair, huffed out a breath. “Well,” he began. “I guess I’d better be?—”
“Where did you come from?” she blurted.
“What?”
“Where were you today? Or yesterday? When you decided to come?”
“Are you asking why I came?”
“No.” And she wasn’t. Why he came was clear to her, at least. They were linked by a thread that had become thin and stretched over time, but still held. She’d needed him desperately and he came. That was bedrock for her. She didn’t even question it.
He wasn’t answering her question. She tried another tack. “I can’t let you leave without feeding you. Dad would—Dad would have been appalled.”
His hard look softened. “Honey, it doesn’t look like you have much food in the house.”
Elle swallowed, lifted her head. “Dad was very, very ill the last couple of weeks. I didn’t have time to do any food shopping.” She pulled her cell out of her pocket. “I can call Foodwise, though. Jenny would gladly send us a meal. Promise you’ll stay at least to eat.”
There were still a couple hundred dollars left on the checking account. The undertaker’s bill would come later and plunge her into the red, but for the moment, she more than had enough to cover a meal. Two meals, even. She didn’t even think of ordering a pizza or a burger and fries. Nick deserved better than that.
He dipped his head. “Okay.”
Elle beamed at him. He wasn’t leaving right this minute. She still had time with him. There was so much to memorize. The lines beside his mouth, brand new, that disappeared when he smiled. How the tendons in his neck stood out when he turned his head. How she could see his pectorals through his shirt.
How utterly handsome he was.
