Nico felt something he had never felt in his life before and it ripped through him like shards of glass, cutting, wounding, making him bleed inside.
Jealousy.
It was an emotion he had never had time for, but it was very real now, and he felt his jaw ache as he clenched it in something he hoped was a passably indifferent smile.
So she had a guy over. So she had cooked him dinner. That didn’t mean she’d moved on fromhim, did it?
He found that he was clutching the flowers so tightly that the stems were breaking and he hurriedly thrust the bunch at her, which took her somewhat by surprise.
‘I haven’t brought these because I’m trying to woo you back to the workplace,’ he muttered.
His mind was occupied with the fair-haired guy who was still looking at him with open curiosity.
He looked like a kid. Fresh faced despite a certain seriousness lurking beneath the surface, something shadowed and disillusioned that spoke of life more eventful than would appear superficially. He wasn’t a kid. He was a man with a backstory. He was a three-dimensional guy standing in the doorway of a woman he realised he’d always thought of ashis. Jealousy tightened its grip.
‘I suppose you’d better come in and tell me why you’re here.’ Grace stood aside reluctantly, shooing Tommy back into the kitchen, relieved when he did as she signalled although she made sure to funnel Nico away from the kitchen into the sitting room. She stood back and watched as he swung round to look at her for a few tense seconds.
‘You moved fast.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘Who is he?’
‘Nico, what are you talking about?’ She narrowed her eyes and folded her arms.
He dominated the small sitting room, standing there, towering over her, his aggressive masculinity threatening every part of her and making her feel unprotected.
‘The man,’ Nico grated. ‘New Internet sensation?’
‘For heaven’s sake!’ Grace looked at him narrowly. ‘Are you...jealous?’
I should have told you... I shouldn’t have been so buttoned up.
‘Jealous? I’ve never been jealous in my life before!’
Nico raked his fingers through his hair and stared at her before swinging away to drop into one of the chairs. He immediately leaned forward, hands on his thighs.
‘I think I need a drink.’
Grace hesitated.
Of course, the last thing she wanted orneededright now was this man in her house, sending her already frazzled nervous system into yet more freefall.
And she certainly didn’t need to feel thisguiltabout drawing the lines she had drawn.
He made her feelalivebut was feelingalivea good thing? Hadn’t it been so much easier to live life on one level? Not too high, not too low? The excitement flooding through her made her want to cry because it was a rushing tide she couldn’t hold back.
‘You need to tell me why you’re here, Nico,’ she finally managed to say.
‘Okay. You’re right. I’m... I suppose you could say...’ he looked at her with smouldering accusation in his deep, ink-black eyes ‘...that I’m jealous.’
‘You’rejealous?’ Grace quietly shut the sitting-room door behind her. If she knew Tommy, he would finish his chicken pie and reach for his mobile and probably, given what she now knew, immediately get in touch with his girlfriend for an hour-long conversation.
She sidled towards one of the chairs and then perched on it. Her tummy was full of butterflies. She had no idea where this was going but there was no way she could walk away from this edge-of-the-seat thrill sensation swirling inside her.
She linked her fingers and leant towards him.
‘You asked me what I was doing here and whether I shouldn’t be at that restaurant with a woman and the answer is yes. That’s where I should be. That’s where I was up until an hour ago but I found that it wasn’t where I actually wanted to be.’ He shook his head as though clearing it and continued, voice low, ‘I couldn’t get you out of my head, Grace. Where I wanted to be was withyou. I came here because I had no choice. I thought about you...and another man and it drove me nuts.’