Page 26 of Captured Pawn
As soon as I realized it was Nick below, I jumped to the side, making sure he wouldn’t see me if he happened to glance up in the direction of my room. Regardless, I had the perfect bird’s-eye view as he argued with a beautiful woman who looked vaguely familiar.
Was this his sister? Was she upset he’d raided her closet?
Taking a small risk, I reached to crack open the balcony door… just an inch or two… enough to try to capture some of the conversation below.
“…can’t shut me out like Matty did.”
I caught a few words in the woman’s voice. That she referenced my brother’s name made me desperate to know more.
Nick’s lower voice was harder to hear. All I could make out was, “Go home, Angela.”
“Hey, you called me, remember?”
“That was before I knew you had been helping Matt.” Nick had raised his voice again, clearly agitated.
“What, are you jealous?” the woman spat back.
My tummy turned as she reached out to grab onto both of Nick’s forearms, trying her best to hold him near her. My mind raced, trying to make sense of who this woman was who had known my brother.
Worse, my brain tried to tell me I had a stomachache because I was hungry, but I knew that was a lie. For the life of me, I had no idea why it bothered me that the beautiful woman below was practically throwing herself at Nick. Hell, it should make me happy. The more distracted he was, the better my chances of getting the hell out of here.
I leaned in closer to the open door, trying to capture more of their conversation, but they’d both lowered their voices. Things took a more intimate turn when Nick suddenly grabbed his blonde guest by the bicep and started leading her away from the main house.
I told myself to go back to the bed and lie down, or better yet, jump in the shower, but my body didn’t listen. Instead, I moved to the other side of the balcony door so I could keep an eye on the couple in the distance until they finally disappeared around the corner of what looked like a quaint beach cottage.
Fine. This was good news. Clearly from the status of the frequently hard cock I’d felt when he was around, Nick was in need of a booty call. Better the mystery woman serviced his needs than me. Maybe he’d get it worked out of his system and would be more reasonable about letting me go home.
And maybe monkeys would soon fly.
Angry at the latest turn of events and helpless to stop them, I slammed the patio door closed again, this time yanking the heavy sun-blocking curtains across the door to block out all traces of the outside world. If Nick wanted to waste the afternoon away fucking some blonde chick, why should I care?
The only problem was… I did care.
* * *
Hours later, I felt marginally better after having a long soak in the tub and a short nap on the bed. Dressed in a pair of shorts and T-shirt Nick had borrowed from his sister, I’d been lounging on the loveseat near the fireplace. I was reading a romance novel from one of the bookshelves, when a sharp knock announced the arrival of what I hoped would be my dinner.
Unsure why she wasn’t coming in like normal, I crossed to the door as I heard the lock open. I swung the door open, expecting Margaret. Nick stood there instead.
As tempted as I was to slam the door in his face, I caught a whiff of the heavenly pasta dish on the tray he was carrying, and my rumbling stomach objected to the idea.
“May I come in?”
His question caught me off guard. “Since when do you bother to ask?” I sassed back.
My barb had him barging past me in his normal pushy way.
A new security guy I hadn’t seen before stood guard in the hall, blocking any chance of escape so I closed the door behind Nick, following him to the table. Once he’d set the tray down, I could see it was fettuccini alfredo, a Caesar salad, and what looked like fresh baked Italian bread on the menu. That there were two portions of everything told me he planned on joining me.
“Sit,” he ordered as he began taking the many plates and bowls off the tray, setting the table for our meal.
I wasn’t sure why he was being so accommodating, but I was hungry enough I didn’t really care. I snapped up a crouton from my salad and popped it in my mouth before taking a seat at the table, grateful for the set of his sister’s clothes so I wasn’t still stuck in a robe. Once he finished setting the table up, he sat across from me.
We ate in silence for several long moments. I’d expected him to start barking orders like normal so when he politely asked if I’d had a good day, I couldn’t ignore it anymore.
Setting my fork down, I leaned back in my seat and looked him in the eyes. “Alright, what’s going on. Why are you trying to be nice to me?”
At least he had the decency to look sheepish, even though he had the balls to try to deny it. “Believe me, I’ve been extremely accommodating to you all along.”
