Page 36 of Lost Room Lawyer
“Apartment door locked—uh, I mean, villa door.”
I laughed and placed Canonica’s house key in the cup holder. “Yes, all good. How about you?” I asked, nodding toward his phone.
“I was just texting my mom. She’s asking if we’re going to see each other today.”
“That’s nice,” I said, starting the car.
The idea of having dinner with the family today still hadn’t fully sunk in. If I had the choice, I would have taken Nico with me to my city apartment and had one more round with him. But the dream was clearly over.
It was shortly after noon when we set off. The traffic took longer than expected, so we didn’t get back to Zurich until evening. The drive was smooth. We talked about Canonica, meandered off-topic, and discussed everyday things.
I enjoyed the casual conversations with Nico. Over the past few days, it had become obvious that he was a very multifaceted young man with interests in all sorts of things. He wasn’t just a keen listener. He was someone who abruptly thought about things, formed opinions, and tried to view even the smallest details in the larger context.
“Should I drop you off at home? Or are you heading straight to your mom’s?”
“At home is fine,” he said. “I’ll cook today.”
Rush hour traffic in Zurich was a nightmare. Of course, I could have dropped Nico off at some train station, as I had no real reason to head back into the city myself, but I owed him this ride.
When we finally stopped in front of his house, I heard his stomach growl, but Nico just yawned and gave me a tired but contented smile.
“Take the day off tomorrow,” I said. “You’ve worked enough.”
“It didn’t feel like work.”
“No, neither did it for me,” I admitted. “It … was fun.”
“Yeah, I think so too.” Nico suddenly became serious and furrowed his brows. “Do we … uh … need to talk about it?”
I pressed my lips together, knowing it would have been the right thing to do, but I didn’t want to overanalyze what we had—whatever it was between us. It meant too much to me. Of course, I would never admit it, but I was fully aware of it. “No, I think we’ll just leave it as it is for now.”
A tentative smile spread across Nico’s face. “Okay, then … Friday again? There’s that hearing, right?”
“Yes, I’ll get everything ready. You’re coming, of course.”
“Cool.”
For a moment, we sat in silence. I had my head slightly tilted, looking at his folded hands in his lap, with his phone wedged between them. Slowly, my gaze traveled over his body, his neck, his chin, his lips, and finally to his eyes. By now, I knew him too well and could see that he wanted the same thing as I did: a kiss.
Damn it!I had lost count of how many times we had kissed over the past few days. Never before had I wanted it more than now. I was about to step out of my comfort zone—what was the big deal?—when someone tapped on the window.
“Holy!” Nico jumped in surprise.
“Yo! Dude!”
As far as I could see, it was his roommate outside; he was wearing a baseball cap and had the collar of his parka turned up. Nico opened the car door but remained seated.
“Hey, Dominic!”
“Hi! I bought everything you asked me to. Got to run an errand, but I’ll be back for dinner. Oh! Is that Corvo! Yo! Good to see you!”
I suddenly felt terribly old. “Hi, Mick,” I said, as nothing better came to mind.
“Thanks,” Nico said to Dominic, gesturing for him to hold on for a moment.
So much for the kiss.
“Sorry,” he said, forcing a smile. I watched warily as he slid a hand into his neck and scratched his skin with his nails. “See you on Friday?”
