She and Jack could wait—she looked back at him—they really could. She didn’t want anything to get in the way of Lily’s fun, least of all their romantic entanglement.
It had taken twenty-four years for her to meet the right man; she could at least wait four days before risking it by exposing the truth in her heart.
* * *
‘Do you think she finally got over the fact that we’re not sleeping in her bubble room tonight?’ Jack asked Sophia as he sipped from the glass of wine in his hand and tried his hardest not to pull her to him, even though the urge had been with him ever since they’d put Lily to bed.
She smiled around her own glass, her eyes flickering with the flames of the roaring fire that bathed the suite’s living area in its ambient glow, a striking contrast to the view beyond the glass. The floor-to-ceiling windows allowed for a seamless view over the Icelandic landscape, atmospheric and beautiful in its own cold, almost brutal way. The snowstorm that had hit shortly after they’d arrived continued to whip the flakes up into a frenzy and gave the impression of a life-size snow globe at work, blanketing the rugged hillside and making him glad they’d arrived before the worst of it.
‘She was asleep before her head hit the pillow, and what a waste that would have been if we’d gone tonight. She’ll realise that tomorrow.’
He nodded. ‘True.’
‘And it’s hardly the weather for it,’ she murmured, cupping her wine glass in her hands, the sleeves of her white high-neck jumper drawn into her palms and making her look far too sweet and vulnerable, and so utterly desirable. ‘The forecast looks good for tomorrow though.’
‘Hmm?’ He’d been so caught up in her he’d missed the last.
‘The forecast,’ she said, one brow lifting, her eyes dancing. ‘I said it looks better for tomorrow.’
He swallowed. ‘Yes...yes, it does.’
He was finding it harder and harder to keep both his desire and his love for her in check, but he didn’t feel ready to confess all. He had been, but that was before she’d accepted the offer of a separate hotel room.
Now he was starting to doubt so much and being uncertain wasn’t an emotion he was accustomed to handling. In business and in his personal life, he depended on his steadfast control, his clear head, his ability to detach himself from the emotional and form decisions, take action based on facts.
With her, it was becoming nigh on impossible to remain detached and to trust his instincts, which he knew were clouded by his own feelings for her.
And the fact was she’d accepted the offer of another room.
He’d booked it while they were apart and he’d done it out of courtesy, wishing her to have the option. But the hope that she would turn it down and admit that she wished to stay with them had been there. It was still there.
‘It’s not really a hardship staying here either,’ she said softly, her eyes sweeping the room, with its salvaged hardwood floors, sheepskin furs and glazed concrete walls. It was an eclectic mix of industrial chic and natural materials working together in harmony to give a sense of high-end luxury.
‘You approve?’
‘You asked me the same question on the plane...’ Her eyes came back to him, her smile teasing.
‘I know. Call me soft, but I care for your approval.’
She studied him quietly and he would have paid his fortune to know what was going through her mind. She wet her lips and leaned forward to place her glass on the coffee table formed from lava rock and rich wood.
‘I should probably head back to my room.’
‘What if I said I’d like you to stay?’
Even in the low light of the fire he could make out the flush of colour to her skin, the nervous flicker of her eyes as they came back to him. ‘If I stay much longer I won’t leave and then we’ll have some explaining to do to Lily.’
Lily. Was that all she was worried about?
All? You should be worrying too.
But he didn’t want her to leave.
‘And you need to get some sleep too,’ she pushed. ‘When was the last time you slept?’
Truth was, he didn’t know, not properly at any rate. ‘I dozed on the plane from Tokyo.’
‘That doesn’t count.’ Her eyes raked over his face and then he saw it. She was worried about Lily, but she was worried about him too.