CHASING TROUBLE

Nicholas found his gaze locked onto her wide eyes. Her face tilted, lips parted in frozen shock. And then he saw the color creep over her cheeks and her throat move, and the compulsion to cover her parted lips and kiss her so thoroughly that she couldn’t stand sent a rush of heat flooding through him. Because, in that brief moment of triumph, Nicholas’ strong suspicions were confirmed. His mouth curled into a slow smile. Caroline’s attraction to him was still there. He could practically taste it, and he was going to use it to his advantage.

A warm beat echoed in Caroline’s head. She didn’t know if it was shock at her son’s daredevil antics or being trapped in Nicholas’ stare that was causing it. At that moment, all she knew was that he was gazing at her as if he wanted to eat her whole. She was brought back to her senses by her son, merrily jiggling between his parents’ crushed bodies, oblivious that he’d been nanoseconds from a fractured skull, waving his arms around and smacking her in the face.

“Charlie,” she chided, disentangling an arm from Nicholas’ hold to gently take her son’s wrist. Charlie grabbed her hair with his other hand. Before she could remove it, Nicholas took the offending hand.

“Leave Mama’s hair alone.” He pressed even closer to her to unpluck the little fingers clutching her hair. Sensation brushed from the tips of her hair and danced into her skin. Her already thrashing heart went into overdrive and she held her breath, trying her hardest not to inhale his scent.

He smoothed her hair back into place and looked down at her. His eyes glimmered, a smile spreading over his face before he finally stepped away from her with a murmured, “That was close.”

She breathed deeply and swallowed, jiggling Charlie on her hip, trying her best to look serene, trying her best to appear oblivious to the current of heat that had just passed between them.

But she couldn’t deny the expression in Nicholas’ eyes, not when she’d seen it so many times before, right before he would crush his lips to hers and right before he had made passionate love to her.

She tightened her hold on Charlie and willed her heartbeats to stop crashing against her chest. It was a look he must have given to hundreds of women in his time. If she hadn’t been so naive and ready to fall in love, she would have known she was nothing special to him a long time ago and better protected herself. Romance and love had never been on her radar. She couldn’t make the same mistake twice.

He’d turned to the smartly dressed man who’d appeared from the house. Nicholas introduced him as Angelos, his butler, and then they were swept inside. Caroline tried to pay attention but she was too taken with the house interior. Even Charlie stopped wriggling in her arms to gawp. It was almost exclusively white, from the thick, high walls to much of the furniture. Only the hard floor beneath her feet differed in being a pale, warm gray. And yet there was nothing cold about it.

Where her home had defined rooms with doors leading from one to the other, this had defined spaces reached through open arches, and she followed Nicholas through one into a huge living space with four separate sofa areas. No longer waiting for Nicholas to guide her, she shifted Charlie in her arms and headed for an arch.

Stepping through it, she found herself in a vast living space that extended seamlessly to an equally vast terrace. Open-mouthed, she slowly craned her neck from left to right, taking in the long infinity pool that lapped inside and then seemed to stretch out.

The hairs on the nape of her neck rose before Nicholas’ voice rumbled in her ear. “What do you think?”

“It’s stunning.” She replied,

He grinned and stepped onto the terrace, beckoning for her to follow. “Let me show you the rest of it.”

Caroline tried her best to pay attention to the tour itself rather than her tour guide, but her attention grew increasingly fractured. Not only did she have to concentrate on holding a bored baby in her arms but Nicholas kept close enough to her that her senses threatened to go into overdrive. At one point he even rested a hand on her back when showing her the playground he’d had installed for their son and then, when he took Charlie from her, his eyes held hers with the gleam in them that never failed to make her belly melt. She could only manage appreciative murmurs at the soft play room for Charlie.

When they returned to the house , a matronly figure stood with the butler waiting for them with a small suitcase at her side. Nicholas shook her hand, and made the introductions. “Caroline, this is Seema. I’ve employed her as Charlie’s nanny for your stay here.”

Nicholas watched Caroline’s eyes widen before her gaze darted from him to Seema then back again.

“Pleased to meet you,” she murmured, extending a hand.

“Pleasure to meet you too,” Seema replied, shaking the offered hand. Then she spoke to their son. “You must be Charlie.”Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

To his surprise, Charlie shied away from her and buried his face in Nicholas’ shoulder. No amount of coaxing would get him to look at her.

“This isn’t like him,” he said to Caroline. “Usually he’s so sociable.”

She shook her head tightly. “He always needs time to get used to new people.”

“He took to me straight away,” he pointed out.

She shrugged. “You’re the only one. Maybe it’s because on some weird baby level he recognised you as his father.” Then, as Nicholas was puffing up with pride at her observation, she addressed the nanny. “Don’t worry, he’ll be comfortable with you very soon but he’s in a home that is strange to him. I’ll take care of him tonight and then tomorrow we’ll introduce the two of you again.”

Seema looked to Nicholas for approval. His orders to her had been clear-she would be responsible for his son’s routine that week and for how long they were going to stay, especially with regard to evenings and nights. As he could also feel Caroline’s laser stare piercing through him, he nodded.

“Angelos will show you to your room and make you familiar with everything. If we need you this evening we’ll let you know.” He told Seema. She bowed her head and disappeared with his butler.