What would happen with his business if he stayed? With a factory opening in Singapore and more caryards opening around the county, business had never been stronger. How could Brad run the corporation without him? They had executives and a bunch of staff to help do the job, but they were responsible for running the company. Nick and Brad oversaw everything.
And now Nick had left Brad to do things himself with a pregnant wife to look after. Nick could do a lot away from the office, but it wasn’t the same as being amongst it all. He should be in Singapore overseeing the work. Producing their own cars had been a dream come true. They were going to give other car companies a run for their money. Their sleek new vehicles would be on a lot of people’s wish list.
But he knew he couldn’t do both, something had to give. For now, until he worked something out, he would do what needed to be done on the farm.
Later that afternoon, after giving Percy a hand even though he insisted he had everything covered, he checked on Ava’s car and the road into town. He went to the house and found Ava back in his t-shirt, curled up and sleeping on the couch. Even in her sleep she looked sexy as hell, and he couldn’t help but let his eyes wander over her exposed legs. Legs that he’d dreamed of being wrapped around him. His stomach clenched at the thought.
Not wanting to wake her, he quickly showered and went into the kitchen to prepare dinner. He pulled out two T-bone steaks from the freezer, put them in the microwave to defrost, and grabbed a premade bag of salad from the fridge.
As he was taking the steaks from the microwave, Ava walked into the kitchen. She yawned and stretched her arms above her head, hiking the hem of her t-shirt dangerously close to exposing whatever color panties she’d changed into. And dammit he wanted to know.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said, his voice gruff, as he carried the steaks outside to the barbeque and away from the woman who kept giving him a mega hard-on.
Unfortunately, she followed and leaned against the veranda railing, watching him cook.
“I thought you’d like to eat before I take you home,” he said as he threw the steaks on the grill.
Her eyebrows lifted, but she didn’t demand to be taken back straight away.
He seasoned the meat, and it sizzled and popped on the heat. “I have some bad news for you.”
She narrowed her eyes. “The rain’s stopped, I can leave. How can there be bad news?”
“Your car’s missing all four tires.”
“What?” she yelled, shoving away from the railing.
“Your car’s missing all four—”
“I heard you the first time!”
Nick couldn’t help but snigger.
“Oh, you think this is funny, do you?”
He wiped the smile off his face, but his lips still twitched. “Not at all.”
“I thought you’ve been checking my car?” she said with an accusatory tone.
“I have. They were on yesterday.”
She paced the small veranda, and Nick’s gaze dropped to her toned, tanned legs. Once again he imagined how they’d feel wrapped around him as he pressed her up against the wall… He shook his head, trying to dislodge the image.
Then, with her hands on her hips, she stopped in front of him, glaring. “Are you listening?”
No, his brain had shut off and another organ had been doing the thinking. God, this woman was driving him insane. The sooner she left, the better off he’d be. Or the sooner they screwed, he’d feel even better. And the longer she stayed, the more tempting it was, and damn the consequences.
“Who would want to steal Mercedes tires? It’s not like many are driven around here.”
“It was most likely a couple of kids. They’ll sell them.”
“Kids? What kind of delinquents are running around Sunland Valley now?” She huffed.
Nick laughed. “They’ve always been here. Weren’t we delinquents once?” He flipped the steaks and leaned back on the veranda railing. “How many times did we break into Sunland Valley High, steal all the toilet paper, and TP the classrooms?”
Ava smirked.
“Or when we used to steal the bike tires from Principal Mooney’s bike and roll them down his driveway,” he said.
Averting her gaze, she bit her lip to stop from laughing but couldn’t hold it back. “God, we were bad. How did we never get caught? And you should have known better, you were older. What a bad influence you were.”
Laughing, Nick lifted the steaks from the grill, placed them on two plates, and carried them to the kitchen. Ava followed.
“Never got caught?” They sat at the dining table, and he poured them some wine. “Man, I got busted so many times. I was lucky my old man was friends with Sergeant Finlay or I would have been in deep shit.”
Ava blinked with surprise. “But I never got in trouble?”
“That’s because whenever the cops came knocking on my parents’ door, asking to see me, I told them I was the only one involved.”
“I didn’t know you did that.” She smiled then shuddered with a laugh. “My father would’ve killed me.”
“I copped an ear bashing from my parents. Then they had me shoveling cow shit for the next week. And now you’re defending those delinquents.”
“You know I’m a lawyer?”
“It was all you ever wanted to be. I just assumed.” He’d looked her up a time or two—only out of curiosity—but he’d keep that to himself.
“I’m surprised you remembered. My specialty…divorce.” She raised her glass like a toast.
“You sound like you’re happy about people getting divorced.”
“Not at all,” she said. “People shouldn’t marry at all, and if they’re stupid enough to do so, they should see me first. I’ll set them up with a perfect pre-nup no one can dispute.”
Nick sat back in his chair and took a big swallow of wine. “You don’t believe a marriage can last?”
“Besides your parents, I’ve never seen it happen. Or rather, I’ve never seen a happy one last.”
“So cynical.”
She twirled the stem of her glass between her fingers. “Have you been married?”
He nodded.
For a beat, her eyebrows rose, then she dropped her gaze to her glass. “Unless you’re a cheating arsehole, I’m assuming you’re divorced. And I bet it ended badly.”
When he didn’t answer, she took his silence as agreement.
“You’re not the only one. It happens all the time. If you ever have the crazy notion to do it again, come and see me.”
He wouldn’t be heading down that road anytime soon, but he didn’t discard marriage altogether. His marriage may have been a disaster, and he’d take full responsibility for his part, but he’d seen plenty of happy ones.
“Marriages aren’t all bad. Brad’s happily married, and my parents were too.”
Ava examined his face, and when she must’ve decided he was telling the truth, she said, “You’re right. On a rare occasion, it can happen. I’d still strongly advise a pre-nup.”
He couldn’t disagree with her there. If he hadn’t had one when he’d married Kate, he would’ve lost a shitload of money and property. Kate still became a wealthy woman after the settlement, but she quickly blew it away.
“How long where you married?” Ava asked.
“Two years.”
She topped their wine glasses. “What happened?”
Straight to the point. Ava never did tiptoe around things. “I made the mistake of marrying for lust rather than love. She’d been in love. It didn’t take her long to realize her feelings weren’t reciprocated.” After Ava, his heart couldn’t open up to love again.
She made a tsking sound and shook her head. “That must’ve gotten ugly.”
He laughed without humor. “To put it lightly.”
“How long did it take her to realize you weren’t in love?”
If they were going to talk about this, he needed something stronger than wine. He stood an
d went into the kitchen to fetch a bottle of Jack. When he got back to the table Ava’s brow rose like she was still waiting for an answer. Or was surprised he needed extra-strength liquid to continue the conversation.
He poured the whiskey into two fresh glasses, handed one to her, and tossed his back. “I think Kate always knew deep down it wasn’t love-hearts and roses. Maybe she hoped in time it would change. I hoped so too.” He shrugged then poured more whiskey and tossed it back again while Ava still sipped on her first. “I tried to give her what she needed…”
“You can’t force what’s not there,” she finished for him.
He nodded. “I never should have married her in the first place.”
“We all make mistakes. Where is she now?”
This was the toughest part about their marriage. If he’d loved her like she’d needed, maybe she wouldn’t have spiraled out of control. “The Burrows.”
Ava’s eyes widened. “The rehabilitation clinic?”
“Yes.”
“Drugs or alcohol?”
“Drugs.”
She sat back in her chair and blew out a long breath. “That’s intense. How long has she been there?”
Nick rubbed the back of his neck. “Six months next week.”
Ava whistled. “She must be dealing with some bad demons to be in there so long.” Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him. “And you feel responsible.” She said it like she could read his thoughts, because it was a statement not a question.
He couldn’t help but feel responsible.
Leaning forward, she slid her hand on the top of the table toward Nick’s, and then, as if realizing what she was doing, pulled back. “Unless you held her down and pumped the drugs into her, it’s not your fault.”
“After we got married I found out that she’d been using drugs for years. I should’ve known how bad she’d gotten, tried harder to make our marriage work. Instead, I spent most of my time at work, ignoring what was happening at home.”
“It was her choice to deal with it that way. It’s not your fault.”
The tight feeling in his gut when he thought of Kate loosened slightly at hearing Ava acknowledge he wasn’t to blame for his ex-wife’s addiction. He smiled his gratitude.
“What made you decide to end the marriage?”
This was the part that had been seared into his brain. He wanted to reach in and tear the memory out and never relive it again. “I got home one night and she’d thrown a party. I went looking for her and found her in our bedroom.”
“Uh-oh,” she said like she knew what was coming, but she really had no idea.
“She was on our bed…sniffing blow off some fat, old, rich guy’s dick.”
Ava’s mouth dropped open.
“I later found out that her advertising business had gone broke and she had no money. And she didn’t want to ask me for more because she knew I’d ask questions, so she found some rich bastard to fund her addiction.”
“Oh my God!” Ava slumped back on the chair. “Gives a whole new meaning to the term blow job, doesn’t it?” Her lips twitched, and she bit her bottom lip to stop herself from smiling.
Scrubbing his face with his hands, Nick tried to hide his own smile. It definitely hadn’t been funny at the time. It had made his balls shrink so far into his body he was worried he’d never see them again. At the sound of Ava’s laugh his shoulders shook and he couldn’t help but join in.
“I haven’t been able to look at fat, rich guys the same way again.” Their laughter grew louder.
When they sobered up, Ava slid her hand across the table and this time didn’t pull back. She placed it on top of his and squeezed. “She’s in the best place to get help.”
“Yeah, I know.” He’d do whatever it took to get her better. And based on the monthly reports the clinic was sending him, she was doing well and would be ready to be discharged in a couple of weeks.
They took their dirty dishes into the kitchen and loaded the dishwasher. It had grown dark and he was supposed to have driven Ava into town.
“I’ve had a few drinks, I can’t take you home. Is there someone you can call to come and pick you up?” It surprised him that Ava hadn’t already demanded to be taken into town. All she’d wanted to do was get off the farm.
She glanced out the window, tugging at her bottom lip in thought, not looking impatient to leave. “Do you mind if I stay another night? It’s late.” He must have had a surprised expression on his face, because she quickly added, “I don’t want to bother anyone at this hour, and I’d like to see Maggie before I go.”
“Sure.”
They stared at each other for a beat. Tonight, he’d opened up about Kate like he’d never done before. Ava was always a good listener and could make light of things to ease the tension.
The temptation to haul her into his arms was strong. He itched to touch her, mold her body against his and claim her lips. But he had to resist the urge. If he went there with her, could he drag himself back out?
“Well, I’ll see you in the morning,” he said, then shuffled toward his bedroom.
“Good night,” she called after him.
“Night,” he answered without turning back.
* * * *
Ava sat in the living room, not yet ready for bed, her mind racing with the crazy couple of days she’d had. Never in a million years did she think she’d be alone with Nick in this house again. During the last two days, they’d gone from hating one another to wanting to crawl over each other to… What were they now? After he’d opened up about his ex-wife could they be friends? He didn’t look at her like he wanted to be friends, and with the way her skin flushed hot, she didn’t think she could put him in the friend zone either.
Her mobile rang, stopping her from analyzing her reaction to him too closely. It didn’t matter anyway; she’d be gone in the morning. Padding on bare feet to where she’d left her phone on the coffee table, she picked it up to see Jade’s smiling face. Ava smiled back at the photo. God, she missed her friend. She hadn’t spoken to the girls since leaving Brimland Point.
She swiped the screen to accept Jade’s Facetime call. Her pretty face and big smile filled the screen. She’d tied her red, curly hair up in a messy bun and springs of curls framed her face.
“Ava, I’ve missed you!”
Ava laughed. “Missed you too, honey.”
“How did things go with Isabella?” Jade asked.
“It hasn’t.” Ava got herself comfortable on the couch and told her about the storm.
“Who’s this friend you’re staying with?”
Before she could come up with a fabricated friend—because she’d never told the girls about Nick and didn’t want to explain him to her now—Jade’s eyes widened, and she whispered, “Who is that?”
Ava’s stomach dropped. There could only be one person standing behind her.
Tilting her head to look at Nick over her shoulder, her breath caught in her throat. He stood at his bedroom doorway only wearing black boxer briefs that clung tightly around an impressive package, scratching his hard, tanned chest. Bed hair made him look hotter than hell, and she wanted to run her fingers through the messy locks.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” He jerked a finger toward the kitchen. “Need a glass of water.”
“Ava!” Jade’s voice was high-pitched. Ava swung back to look at Jade. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”
No, she didn’t want to introduce Jade to Nick, because she couldn’t trust what might came out of Jade’s mouth. But because she couldn’t say that without Nick overhearing, she sighed and called him, stopping him before he reached the kitchen. “Come and say hi to my friend Jade.”
Walking back, he stood behind Ava and bent down to get in line with the camera on the phone. Their faces almost pressed together, and his warm breath fanned along her neck. Ava shivered.
“This is my friend Nick. Nick, this is Jade.”
“Hi, Jade.” Nick waved.<
br />
Jade gave a little finger-wiggle wave back. “Nice meeting you, Nick. Are you and Ava having a lovely time being stranded on the farm together?”
Ava threw Jade a warning glare, but Nick chuckled low and deep. Her heart accelerated. If she moved a little closer and tilted her head just right, his mouth could… God, she was Facetiming Jade and picturing making out with Nick. What was wrong with her?
“It’s been interesting getting reacquainted,” he said.
“Oh, reacquainted? So, how long have you known each other?” Jade raised an eyebrow, giving Ava an accusatory look.
“About ten years,” he answered.
“Ten years!” This time Jade’s eyebrows propelled into her hairline, and her mouth dropped open.
The only male friends Ava told the girls about were the ones that lasted one night or two. It wasn’t surprising Jade found this bit of information shocking. Then she pinned Ava with a questioning stare, like she was one of her kindergarten students needing to explain themselves to get out of trouble.
Either Nick sensed something between Ava and Jade or he just wasn’t into any more chitchat, because he chose that moment to take off. “I’ll leave you two alone. Nice meeting you, Jade.”
Jade’s blue eyes sparkled with excitement as she beamed back at him. “Bye, Nick.”
Placing a finger on her lips, Ava stopped Jade from blubbering anything until he got his water and went back into the bedroom.
“What the hell have you been hiding from us?” Jade burst out as soon as he closed the door.
“Shush.”
Ava glanced over her shoulder to check that he was really gone. But just to make sure he didn’t overhear them, she went into the kitchen. Knowing Jade and the questions she no doubt would fire at her, she could be there for a while, so she decided to make hot chocolate. Propping the phone against a sugar canister, she maneuvered around the kitchen, gathering ingredients.
“Will you stop moving around and explain why you’ve never mentioned Mr. Hotness before? And the real reason you’re staying with him.”
Chasing Trouble Page 9
