Page 1 of Falling for Nicole
Prologue
Nicole
If you’d asked me previously what the day of my mum’s funeral would be like, I never would have described today. Yes, it was sad—devastating, actually—but after everything she’d been through, there was something…refreshingabout it. I know people won’t understand me when I say the biggest thing I’ve felt all day has been relief.
My mum was my best friend. She’s been there for me every single day, and supported me through everything. The last thing I ever wanted was for her to leave me, but watching what that disease did to her over the past few years has killed me. She was the most kind and caring woman. She didn’t deserve any of it.
The relief is for her, not me.
She doesn’t have to suffer anymore. The treatment, the sickness, the pain…it’s all gone. She can find some peace at last. I like to think she’ll find her parents up there and they’ll be together once again.
I look out the window, up at the dark, star-filled sky as I fiddle with her charm bracelet that’s been around my wrist since the day I lost her. It’s full of our memories together, and as painful as it is at times to remember those days, it also brings me a huge amount of comfort. I wouldn’t change anything about life with my mum. Of course, I wish we’d had longer together—who wouldn’t?—but we had a good life. She made sure of that.
Everyone says that as one door closes, another opens…So I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when my best friend Lilly’s waters broke during the wake. Out of death comes life, and not long after saying our final goodbyes to Mum, we were saying hello to two tiny little bundles of joy. Natalie and Nathan arrived a little unexpectedly; Lilly was adamant they’d stay put a few more weeks.
Lilly had dropped in a few hints that she and Lucas were thinking of naming their daughter after my mum, but hearing them announce it once we were allowed in after their birth cut me up. Mum would have been so in love with them. She never made a secret of her excitement about being a grandmother one day. It guts me that she’ll never get to experience it now.
I sit in the passenger seat of arguably the most expensive car I’ve ever seen, let alone sat in. It’s obvious that the driver has taken its owner’s advice on board, because he’s driving remarkably slowly and cautiously. It wasn’t what I was expecting at all.
“I’m never having kids,” is suddenly announced from beside me.
I drag my eyes from the stars and look at Declan’s dark profile. He’s Lilly’s twin brother, and the one person in the world I don’t want to be anywhere near, let alone stuck in a car with.
“The whole thing was beautiful. It’s incredible that our bodies are capable of such things.” My mind wanders back to assisting Lilly before Lucas arrived. It really was the most amazing experience—one I didn’t realise I wanted to go through myself, but seeing childbirth first hand brought thoughts of my future to the forefront.
“Beautiful? I never want to see anyone in that much pain ever again. It was horrendous. I never want a woman to go through that because I was careless enough to knock her up.”
I’d seen a different side to Declan in the past few hours as his concern for his sister overtook his need to be an arsehole, but it seems he’s starting to transform back to his usual, charming self.
“Whatever,” I mutter. “Left here.”
He looks around as we pull on to my street. I’m under no illusion that the place I live is a shithole. It was all Mum could afford when we moved up here. We had plans of going somewhere nicer once I was working, but all that went to the wall when she was diagnosed with breast cancer while I was at college. Plans for university, good jobs and a nicer house evaporated with that one hospital appointment.
I let out a sigh as Declan continues driving past the run down terraced houses that showcase a range of abandoned items in the small front gardens.
“Here’s good.”
Bringing the car to a stop a few doors down from my house, he pulls the handbrake but leaves the engine running. I hate myself for the words that are about to fall from my lips, but as much as I might not like Declan, I’m not an arsehole. Unlike him.
“Would you like to come in? Get a few hours’ sleep?”
I feel his stare turn to me but I refuse to look at him.
“You inviting me in forcoffee, Ginge?”
I swallow down the groan that wants to escape my lips at the use of his nickname for me. “No, arsehole. I was inviting you in so you don’t have to spend the night in this car. I thought you might prefer a bed to the backseat—”
“Backseat, bed, I’ll take whatever I can get.”
The amusement in his voice makes me look at him. “Do you know what? Fuck you, Declan. Sleep out here in the cold. I hope you fucking freeze to death.”
I fling the car door open and snatch my bag from the floor. Anger runs rampant through my body and white noise fills my ears.
I fucking hate him.
It takes me three attempts to get my key in the lock. I’m not only angry but also exhausted, and those combined allow for my emotions to begin getting the better of me. A lump forms in my throat and my eyes start to sting.
I’ve just turned the lock when I feel him. His heat warms my back and I spin on the spot, looking up at him with narrowed eyes.
“What?” I snap.
“Is that invitation still open?”
He continues staring into my eyes, and his arm comes up. My heart races as my imagination runs wild about what he’s about to do, but when I hear the door click open, I realise he’s just finishing the job I started.
“I didn’t think you wanted me to stay out in the cold.” The arrogant smirk on his face snaps me from my trance and I step back into the hallway.
He walks in after me and it feels like he’s a lion about to pounce on his prey. Tingles shoot between my thighs as I continue retreating from his piercing blue eyes. I despise my traitorous body in those few minutes. I hate this guy standing in front of me. I shouldn’t be feeling myself getting wet the longer he pins me with his darkening stare.
