Solving For Nic (27 page)

When he reached past her to turn off the water, she was clinging to him. Or they were clinging to each other. She couldn’t let go of him. As long as they were touching, the world stayed away. Lizzie would have given anything to stay in that moment with him and escape the rest of the world.

Nic toweled her dry, then dried himself with the same towel. There was something so intimate about him using the same towel. She shivered a little, tears pricking her eyes. She turned away and dove for her toothbrush before he noticed the emotions overwhelming her again.

She ran the brush under water and watched him in the mirror as he stepped back into his jeans. Such a shame. She paused brushing her teeth when he shoved his arms through the sleeves of his T-shirt and pulled it down to tuck it into his jeans. It was a crime to cover his body in clothes.

His eyes met hers in the mirror and she turned bright poppy red. “You just brought me to my knees and you’re blushing?”

She almost went to her knees again, as his words set her insides on fire. The sound of his voice was enough now. He stepped up behind her. “Don’t look,” she said, her words slurred around the toothpaste. She rinsed off the tooth brush and tapped it on the sink. He was watching her. “Don’t look!”

“You don’t want to spit toothpaste out in front of me?”

She shook her head.

His smile was incredulous. “Toothpaste? Seriously? When a minute ago you—”

“Okay! Shut up.” She grabbed a handful of water and swished it around in her mouth. She spit it out as daintily as she could, but she shouldn’t have worried. He swung her around and crushed her mouth with his so fast and so hard, she lost her balance. He caught her and set her on the vanity, never breaking contact with her mouth.

“Cinnamon,” he teased against her lips as he plundered them, making noises deep in his throat as if she was the best thing he’d ever tasted. He lifted his head, his eyes warm, scorching her as they searched her face. “You knew I didn’t send those roses, didn’t you?”

She nodded, sliding off the vanity. “I don’t know how she knew to send them here, unless she’s having Rogan followed.” She grabbed her Princeton T-shirt she’d slept in last night and started to pull it over her head.

“I’m sure they are.” He caught hold of her shirt while he spoke and pulled it back off her.

“What are you doing?” she sputtered, whirling around.

“You don’t wear another man’s clothes.”

Suddenly, Lizzie wasn’t cold anymore. “Have you lost your mind? It’s my shirt.”

He’d already shrugged out of the cream cotton long-sleeved shirt he’d been wearing earlier over the V-neck T-shirt. He held it up for her so she could put her arms through it.

She huffed in indignation, then shoved her arms through the soft cotton sleeve. She choked back the sigh of pleasure as the fabric moved over her skin. It was warm and it smelled like him. She’d never admit it but she should’ve stolen it herself.

“Caveman,” she called him, pouting so she wouldn’t smile.

The Caveman refused to let her do up the buttons. She stood still while he closed up the front of the shirt, then rolled up the sleeves.

“Possessive much?”

“Very much,” he warned her, his fingers sliding up the exposed skin of her neck, his thumb skimming up her throat until it pressed under her chin, tilting her head back. “You keep pouting, and I’ll show you how possessive I can be. If you don’t want to wear my shirt, fine.” His smile was one shade away from evil. “Give it back.”

Arrogant jerk. He knew she wouldn’t part with it now. “It’s mine now,” she warned him. “You’re never getting it back.”

He leaned to kiss her and stopped midway. His eyes widened. “Why do you have a Princeton T-shirt?”

A chill flickered down Lizzie’s spine making her nervous. Unsure what to say, she answered with a question. “Because I’m in graduate school?”

He straightened, his expression closed off as he backed away from her. “At Princeton?”

She nodded, stepping into the cut off shorts she’d been wearing earlier. “It’s not a secret.”

“Why Princeton?”

“Do you know who John Nash is? They made a movie about him when I was a kid. Had the
Gladiator
guy in it.”

“It sounds familiar.”

“The movie made me curious so I read his biography. He went to Princeton.”

“You wanted to go to Princeton because of some guy in a movie?”

She smiled sadly. “He’s not just some guy. He’s one of the most brilliant mathematicians in the world. He won a Noble Prize.”

“You’re studying math? At Princeton?” Shock rippled off him in a freezing cold wave.

She’d gotten over the way people reacted when they found out what she did but with Nic, it felt like the world was coming to an end. “Or I discovered life on Mars. Which is easier to believe?”

He ignored her sarcasm. “So zeroes, complex planes and some hypothesis destroying the Internet wasn’t the tequila talking?”

“No.”

“The mathlete T-shirt. Not ironic?”

Her hands went to her waist. “I told you I wasn’t a cheerleader. You never asked any other questions.”

His eyes were so hard, his gaze felt like cut glass scraping over her skin. “You knew I had no idea. Were you having a laugh at my expense or was it like your virginity and none of my business?”

Lizzie took a deep breath and folded her arms across her chest. A blue pill would come in handy right about now because she wanted to be anywhere else.

“Has anything been the truth from you, Lizzie?”

Screw the blue pill. She wasn’t running anymore. “I tried to tell you I wasn’t that girl.”

“You deliberately misled me. What else have you lied about?”

She swallowed a painful lump in her throat. “I’ve never lied to you.”

He pushed his hands through his hair then shook his head again. Then he found his shoes and started putting them on. “I’ve told you before, lies by omission are still lies.”

Her lungs weren’t working. She needed fresh air. She needed to get away from him because she was either going to fall apart or murder him or both. She wasn’t sure which. She knew he was leaving so she was determined to beat him to it. She headed straight for the door then stopped.

Lies by omission?
Seriously? Who the hell did he think he was?

She spun around and faced him. “I may not have told you all my dirty secrets, but you didn’t tell me yours either. At least my secret wasn’t that I was already in a long-term relationship.”

It would have been an impressive exit if his hand hadn’t shot out and slammed the door as she opened it. His hand stayed flat against the door over her head.

“Run that by me again?”

All the hairs at the back of her neck rose. She turned around and he was closer. This time, she didn’t care. “Did you think Angie wouldn’t tell me? Because the second you shut me up in the car with her, she threw Xia Chang at me.”

“What?” The word escaped on a choked breath as he moved away from her like she’d burned him. “What did she say?”

“What do you think? She was manic telling me about the woman you really love and how she’s the only long-term relationship you’ve ever had. You play around with other women when you aren’t in Hong Kong. Xia overlooks it because you always go back to her.” Lizzie squeezed her eyes shut. The words hurt so much she needed a minute. “You were going back to Hong Kong because you were done with me.”

“And you believed her?” He wasn’t looking at her now. His fists were thrust in his jeans and his back was to her.

“I didn’t want to but there are photographs all over the Internet. I can see why you would be in love with her. She’s perfect for you.”

“Yes,” he agreed, cutting her to the bone. “She is. She trusts me and she doesn’t hide who she is from me but—”

He stopped at her strangled gasp. She turned away before he could see her, and leaned against the door, willing herself to stay on her feet. He hadn’t denied any of it. Pain burned down her skin. The last spark of hope flicked out. She’d hoped maybe Angie had been lying to hurt her. The little spark had been the only thing anchoring her to the ground. Now it was gone.

It was shockingly anticlimactic. The world didn’t have the decency to end. How could the earth keep spinning while she bled out?

She could feel the doorknob under her fingers and wrenching it open was easier than she expected.

Nic watched Lizzie stumble out of the room. Despite all his instincts telling him to stop her, he stayed rooted to the spot. Betrayal had blindsided him and he just couldn’t move. He should be used to it by now. Everyone eventually destroyed his trust in them. Maybe he expected too much from people.

Coming from his sister, it was more than he could bear. He’d practically given Andreas Maretti two billion dollars because he didn’t want Angie’s family to lose everything. He’d invested money in Angie’s husband’s company. He’d let Angie work for his company although it meant employing additional people to make sure she didn’t make things worse.

She was the one person in the world he considered family and what had she done? Minutes after he’d confided in her that Lizzie meant something to him so could she please make an effort to get along with her? She’d told Lizzie a pack of lies and destroyed something Nic was only beginning to appreciate. He imagined he could feel the knife Angie had plunged into his back when she told Lizzie all the lies.

But the real gut wrenching betrayal was Lizzie believing them.

She should’ve known better. She should have trusted him.

She should have answered his phone calls. Instead she’d run away. Again. Like she was trying to do right now.

“Stop!” He’d followed her into the hall without realizing that he’d moved.

She froze in front of the door.

He cleared his voice and softened his tone. “The pictures. Were they of the Black and White ball?”

She nodded but kept her back to him.

“It was business, Lizzie. A charity fundraiser. I’m on the board. I couldn’t get out of it.”

“Oh.” Sarcasm drowned her usual sunny tone. She turned and leaned back against the door. She was pale and the pain in her eyes took his breath away. His first instinct was to kiss her and make all this go away but he was pretty sure if he touched her right now she would scratch his eyes out. “That makes it so much better.”

He took a step toward her, trying not to let the smug satisfaction coursing through him show on his face. She was so jealous she was trembling. The hope it gave him was like a shot of adrenalin straight to his heart. “If you had answered my calls, I could’ve explained but you didn’t, did you? You grabbed hold of everything she said and used it as another excuse to run.”

“That’s not true. I didn’t run.”

“You always run, Lizzie. Look what you’re doing right now.”

“I’m leaving because you’ve turned me into the person your sister accused me of being. How could you? How?”

Her knees gave way and she started to slide down the door. It broke something in him watching her. “It’s not what you think,
bella
.”

“No!” She waved her arms at him as if trying to ward him off. “I don’t want to hear it. I want you to go.”

Nic wasn’t going anywhere. He took a few careful steps toward her. “You are so beautiful, Lizzie, it’s hard to look at you straight on.”

“Don’t.” Her reply was muffled but he heard the sob.

“The first time I saw you, you took my breath away. You were dancing with your father and I couldn’t believe innocence like that still existed. I asked you to dance to prove to myself it was an illusion, but you made me forget my own name. You have no idea what you did to me. What you still do to me. I lay awake at night and I can feel you all around me. Taste you, smell you. Then I open my eyes and none of it’s real. Because not once have you ever trusted me enough to be honest.”

Lizzie gasped as his words hit home. “No.”

“Angie lied to you.” The words were jagged as they ripped out of him. “You believed every word of it without giving me a chance to defend myself.”

Had she hurt him? It hardly seemed possible. Annoy him? Maybe. But hurt him?

Well, she had and the guilt hurt worse than anything.