Читать книгу Hot Christmas Nights: Tuscan Nights / Christmas Tango / Tied Up in Tinsel - Farrah Rochon - Страница 9

Chapter 3

“Can we at least both agree that it makes more sense if I took over at the wheel? You’ve been driving all day.”

“And you’ve been baking all day.”

Nyla flipped her hands in the air. Two hours into their three-hour trek down to Rome and she was still trying to convince Aiden to let her take over driving duties.

“I’ve been driving in Italy longer than you have,” she tried.

“Let’s see. There’s a road. It has lines on either side. As long as I stay between the lines, I think I’m good.”

The look she sent him was sharp enough to cut through leather. Not that it mattered; with his eyes focused on the highway he wasn’t looking at her anyway.

“Fine,” Nyla said, settling back in her seat. “If you want to continue driving, you’ll have to tell me the story behind that picture on Facebook.”

He glanced over at her and laughed. “How exactly does that work? If I don’t tell you the story, will the car magically stop moving?”

“Aiden,” she said in a warning tone.

He let out a sigh. “Were you always this bossy?”

“Come on.” Nyla pinched his arm. “I want to know how a picture of you stripped down to your skivvies ended up on Facebook.”

“I lost a bet,” he said. “I tried to get that stupid picture blocked, but no matter how many times I reported it, they never took it down. I had to threaten my friend Mike that I would post a video of him singing ‘Dancing Queen’ in drag on YouTube. He’s in his last year of law school and is clerking for the Georgia Supreme Court. He definitely doesn’t want links to that video showing up in the judges’ in-boxes.”

“Ouch. That’s cutthroat,” Nyla said with a laugh. “Knowing you, I should have guessed that the picture was the result of a bet, though I must admit I was sort of hoping you’d developed a bit of a wild side.”

He glanced at her. “I may not make a habit of swimming in the Atlantic in my underwear, but I’m not the quiet guy I used to be, either. There’s a little wild in me.”

She studied him for a moment. “How much?”

“Just enough.”

The effort it took to ignore the tingles those two words set off in her belly was exhausting. Yet she still spent the last hour of their drive contemplating what a little wild would look like in Aiden.

By the time they reached Else’s, the snow was once again falling, covering Rome in a rare blanket of pillow-soft whiteness that made it seem even more romantic and magical. Nyla declared it the first Christmas miracle of the season when they were able to find street parking across from Else’s building in the Trieste District.

Several of the balconies of the high-rise were trimmed with twinkling Christmas lights, but Else’s, which she could see from street level, was bare. The window beyond, which led to her living room, was completely dark.

She tried Else’s number again as she and Aiden crossed the street. She breathed a sigh of relief when her friend answered on the third ring.

“Thank goodness I finally got ahold of you,” Nyla said. “I’m just outside your building. I hope you don’t mind company for a couple of days.”

Her steps halted as Else spoke.

“You’re kidding me,” Nyla said.

“What’s wrong?” Aiden asked.

She held up her index finger, asking him to wait. “No, no. It’s okay,” Nyla spoke into the phone. “The trip down to Rome was very last minute. I came on the off chance that you’d be here. Enjoy Thailand.”

“Thailand?” Aiden asked when she ended the call.

“Yes.” Nyla blew out a sigh. “She was invited to spend Christmas there with a couple of fellow faculty members. She offered to call the landlord of the building, but she said there have been several break-ins in the area and they’re hesitant about letting people into the building who were not previously on a visitors’ list.”

Nyla rubbed the bridge of her nose, trying to ease the headache that had suddenly formed between her eyes. She slipped her cell phone into her pocket before hunkering in her coat, pulling the hood over her head.

“As far as contingency plans go, what are your options?” Aiden asked.

She shook her head. “Finding an available hotel room this close to Christmas will be impossible, and that’s not considering how outrageous the cost will be even if I do find one.”

In a low voice, he said, “You can always stay with me.”

Nyla looked up at him from underneath the brim of her hood.

There was a time when spending a couple of nights in the same place with Aiden wouldn’t have been a big deal. She’d done so not too long after she and Cameron first started dating. After a freak rainstorm made the roads too treacherous for her to drive home, Nyla had spent the night at his parents’ house.

She and Aiden had stayed up way too late debating politics. He’d played the devil’s advocate just to get a rise out of her. Nyla had held stubbornly to her positions for the very same reason. Talk of politics had soon turned to other things they disagreed on, like his affinity for fast food. Eventually, they began to discuss things they had in common.

That was the first time she’d started to see him as more than her boyfriend’s younger brother.

She should have tried her luck with the rainstorm.

Nothing that would have happened on the slick roads that night could have been worse than what eventually resulted from the lapse in judgment she made when she allowed herself to fall for Aiden.

It was going to be hard enough being around him for the next two days. The thought of spending the next couple of nights with him made Nyla’s breath catch in her throat and her skin warm, despite the snowflakes fluttering around them.

She was being ridiculous. This was Aiden. Kind, sweet, nerdy Aiden. Quiet, unassuming Aiden.

Grown and much-sexier-than-he-had-a-right-to-be Aiden.

No, she wasn’t being ridiculous. She’d managed to fall for him back when he was quiet, nerdy and unassuming. The fact that he now had the physical qualities she attributed to her ideal man made these feelings of attraction coursing through her impossible to ignore.

“What about that eight-hundred-pound gorilla?” she asked. “European hotel rooms are notoriously small. It could get pretty cramped with the three of us in there.”

“You’re the one who has a problem with it. I’m ready to face the eight-hundred-pound gorilla head-on. Don’t you think it would make the next couple of days less awkward?”

Nyla predicted it would do just the opposite. Resurrecting those past mistakes had trouble written all over it.

She shook her head. “No. Not yet.”

She knew they would eventually have to confront it. Maybe.

It would be idyllic if they could spend the next two days as they had done back when they were just two friends enjoying time together. Aiden would go back to Zurich, she would return to her quaint apartment in San Gimignano and they would stay in touch via Facebook, this time with memories of the Christmas they shared in Rome.

But, as she knew all too well, the ideal rarely happened.

Sooner or later, she would have to confront her past mistakes. If not over the next few days, then when she left San Gimignano, which looked as if it would be even sooner than she’d anticipated.

Nyla hunched her shoulder. “I guess there isn’t much choice. It’s much too late to try to find a hotel room.”

“Neither does it make sense for you to look for one,” Aiden said. “I’m pretty sure the room has two beds if it makes you feel any better.”

Just the mention of beds made her stomach flutter; she felt like a teenage virgin preparing to spend the night with her high-school sweetheart.

Nyla mentally rolled her eyes. She was neither a teenager nor a virgin, and at five years his senior she had already been out of high school before Aiden even entered. It was time for her to face this like the adult she was.

“Come on,” she said, starting for the rental car. “It’s already late and if you’re going to see Rome in a day and a half, we’ll have to get started early in the morning.”

As they headed for the hotel, Nyla took in the charming lights and holiday decorations draped along the buildings. Because Italy’s national colors were red, white and green, many of the businesses really played it up during Christmastime. She truly loved this city, with its rich history and many legends that Aiden was so fond of teasing her about.

Maybe when Murano kicked her out of her apartment next month, she could move in with Else and look for a forno here in Rome.

Get a grip.

The likelihood of finding an available storefront was minimal at best, and the probability that she would be able to afford it was zilch. Besides, those euros she’d managed to save over the past couple of years would stretch much further in the United States than they would in Europe.

The Hotel Villa delle Rose was within walking distance of Termini Station, the transportation hub that would take them just about anywhere they wanted to go in the city. They checked into the hotel and went up to the room, which thankfully did have two beds.

“Are you hungry?” Nyla asked. “It’ll probably be a chore to find something opened this late, but I’m starving.”

“Let me take a guess...no McDonald’s?”

“You’re in Italy, Aiden! There will be no Big Macs while you’re here with me.”

They found a small trattoria a couple of blocks down from the hotel. Just as they walked up to the door, a hand appeared from behind a curtain and turned the open sign to closed. Nyla thumped on the door until a balding man who was nearly as wide as he was tall appeared.

She explained their plight in Italian, describing their drive down from Siena in the cold and snow. After a few minutes of listening to her whine, the trattoria owner agreed to whip up a quick carbonara and pack it in takeout containers. Nyla grabbed two bottles of chinotto, the bittersweet citrus soda popular among Italians.

She knocked Aiden’s hand out of the way when he tried to hand over his credit card.

“Hey!”

“You’re paying for the hotel. The least I can do is pay for the meal.”

“Are you forgetting that the only reason you’re here is that I begged you to come? You shouldn’t have to pay for anything.”

Nyla put a hand up. She wasn’t arguing with him.

It was after 10:00 p.m. by the time they arrived back to their room. She sat, cross-legged, in the middle of the bed, balancing the aluminum container in her lap. Aiden butted his back against the headboard, his feet crossed at the ankles out in front of him.

They were just two friends having dinner in the hotel room they would share for the next two nights. She could handle this.

God, please let me be able to handle this.

“Give me a list of what you want to see tomorrow,” she said as she twirled fettuccini around her plastic fork. “Other than the Colosseum.”

Aiden shrugged. “The normal sites, I guess. The Forum, the Vatican. According to the website, the Vatican will be open for touring up until Christmas Day.”

“Most of the touristy spots should be,” she said.

“Well, call me a typical tourist, but I’m excited to see all the places I’ve seen on TV and in the history books.”

“I was the same way the first time I visited.” She tapped her fork against her lips. “Come to think of it, I’m still that way. There’s so much to see and do in this city, and to be here at Christmastime, and with snow? You are one lucky man, Aiden Williams.”

His steady gaze caught her eyes and held them. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

It took some effort to tear her eyes away from his. Nyla pulled in a shaky breath.

“I, uh, I do have a couple of places that are off the beaten path that I think you’ll enjoy,” she said. “If we have time we should check them out.”

“We should make them a priority,” he said in that same low voice. “If you think I’ll enjoy them, then I know I will, seeing as you know me as well as just about anyone.”

Nyla tilted her head to the side, considering his words. “Why is that?”

He didn’t answer, just continued to stare at her. She decided to press him on it.

“You once told me that you were always home studying because you didn’t like opening up to people, but you always seemed to open up to me. Why?”

After several moments passed, he finally said, “You made it easy.”

He set his food on the nightstand between the beds and folded his hands over his flat stomach.

“You never treated me like I was weird just because I preferred looking through a telescope instead of watching a basketball game or doing other things that ‘regular guys’ did. You got me. You understood me better than my own family did.” He looked up at her and, with a grim smile, said, “You can probably do without my poor, neglected son monologue.”

A sad smile formed on her lips. “It couldn’t have been easy living in Cameron’s huge shadow.”

He shrugged. “It wasn’t so bad.”

Nyla wasn’t fooled by his nonchalance. She’d observed early on how differently Aiden was treated from his older brother.

“I love Lynda and Russell, but I could tell from early on that they had crowned Cameron the golden boy. I’m smack in the middle of five kids, so I know about having to grab whatever attention you can, but with it being just you two boys, it’s so obvious. Having them dote on him the way they do must be hard for you.”

“I’m used to it,” he said with another lift of his shoulders. “My earliest memories are of spending countless hours at Cameron’s elementary-school basketball practices. The focus of the Williams family has always been about nurturing Cameron’s talent and his career.”

“Even though his career only lasted a few years,” Nyla said.

By the time she and Cameron started dating, his NBA career had already been cut short by injury. He’d transitioned to the business side of things, working as a scout for Atlanta’s professional basketball team, where she’d worked as a senior account executive in the corporate ticket sales department. Even though he was no longer on the court, Cameron’s larger-than-life personality kept him in the spotlight.

The shadow he continued to cast was far and wide, leaving very little light to shine on all Aiden had achieved in college and graduate school. His tolerance of his family’s disregard of his many accomplishments made him that much more extraordinary in Nyla’s eyes.

“You really are special, you know that? Most people would be bitter, but you’re not.”

“Not too bitter. I have my moments,” he said, a wry grin tipping up the corner of his lips. “I can’t really complain, can I? Just look where I am.” He gestured to their surroundings. “I’m spending the holidays in Rome. And I’m with you.”

His penetrating gaze locked on her, making the confines of the small hotel room even more apparent. “Seeing Rome at Christmas is one thing, but having the chance to spend the holiday with you—anywhere—means even more. I know I’ve said it already, but I can’t say it enough. Thank you for doing this, Nyla.”

“You’re welcome,” Nyla said, her voice suddenly huskier than it had been a minute ago. She averted her eyes, concentrating on her dinner. She glanced up to find that, thankfully, Aiden had gone back to his. He picked up his drink, took a sip and started choking.

“Good God!” He held the bottle out and stared at it. “What the hell is this?”

A peal of laughter tumbled out of Nyla’s mouth. “It’s soda. I know it has a bit of a bite, but it’s really popular here.”

“A bit of a bite? It damn near snatched my lips off.” He set the bottle on her side of the nightstand. “You can have the rest of that. I’ll stick to water,” he said, tipping back the half-full bottle of water he’d taken from her apartment earlier. “Good call on dinner, though. Whether it would make me give up Big Macs entirely is debatable, but I can stand to eat a meal like this five days a week.”

“I told you,” she said with another laugh. “Just wait until tomorrow. Your taste buds are in for the experience of a lifetime.”

His gaze dropped to her lips. “I hope that applies to more than just my taste buds,” he said, his voice low, husky.

It was obvious they were no longer talking about food. The air in Nyla’s lungs constricted as she stared at Aiden’s mouth. He swept his tongue along his bottom lip, clearing a droplet of water. A tingle started in her belly and moved lower.

“You’ll have to wait and see,” she returned in an equally hushed tone.

The lightheartedness of a few moments ago evaporated. In its place stood a heady dose of desire. It pulsed around them, saturating the air, and bringing the reality of their impending night together in this small hotel room into stark relief.

A silent warning rang through Nyla’s head. This felt all too similar to what she’d experienced three years ago, when their playful banter soon escalated into something much more serious.

Yet, in the face of every consequence she’d suffered for falling for Aiden once before, the yearning to climb into bed with him and explore all the new dips and contours of his body was so strong Nyla could barely stand it. The devil on her shoulder urged her to give in to the impulse. Everyone thought they’d done more than they had anyway; couldn’t she give in this one time?

What was she thinking?

Nyla jumped up from the bed. Avoiding Aiden’s eyes, she said, “If you don’t mind, I’ll go first in the bathroom.” She grabbed her toiletry bag from where she’d tossed it on the dresser.

“Nyla?” Aiden called. She looked back at him. “Ignoring this won’t make it go away,” he said.

She tried to tear her eyes away from the truth staring back at her, but she couldn’t, because it was true. This feeling wasn’t going away. It hadn’t lessened one bit in the three long years they had been apart. She wasn’t foolish enough to think that it would do so now that she was right here with him again.

But she only had to ignore it for two days. And she would ignore it. The high price she’d paid for disregarding her common sense and giving in to her feelings for Aiden had burned her once. She would not get burned again.

Without another word, she slipped into the bathroom.

* * *

Aiden stuffed the empty food cartons in the trash bin at the end of the narrow hallway and headed back to their room.

Their room.

His steps slowed as he came upon the door. He captured the handle, then released it, his hands falling to his sides, his limbs suddenly so heavy it felt as if the entire weight of the world was pulling him down.

He took a couple of steps back, until he reached the wall opposite the door. He stared across the hallway to the room he would share with Nyla, and thumped the back of his head against the wall.

How was he supposed to get through tonight? His eyes fell shut as a pain-filled groan climbed from his throat. His skin felt tight, his stomach a jumble of knots. Every fiber in his body hummed with electricity just at the thought of being in that room all night with Nyla.

Why did she have to be every single thing he could ever want in a woman? Everything.

And it had nothing to do with the fact that she was beyond gorgeous—which she most definitely was. He’d dated attractive women in the past. Even though he suspected that some of them had only shown interest in him because of his connection to Cameron, Aiden was pretty confident that a couple of them had been genuine. Yet not one of them had ever elicited the feelings within him that Nyla had.

Nyla’s beauty radiated from the inside out. It was in that reassuring smile that came so readily, in her uncanny ability to sense when he needed to get something off his chest, or when he needed someone to silently be there, just so he knew he wasn’t alone.

What he’d told her earlier was the truth. She got him.

When others in his family brushed off the rejection he’d received on a paper he’d submitted to an academic journal, Nyla provided a shoulder to lean on. Even though she’d only known him for a few months at the time, she somehow understood what was important to him better than people who had known him his entire life. That’s just the kind of person she was: unique and special and giving.

And she was on the other side of that door.

“Just tell her how you feel,” Aiden whispered.

But he didn’t have to tell her. That was the thing that was driving him crazy. He would bet his last dime that Nyla knew exactly how he felt about her. She just wasn’t ready to face it, just as she hadn’t been able to face it three years ago.

She’d allowed others to shame her into thinking that she had taken advantage of him. Cameron, his parents, her parents, many of her friends; they had all put the blame at Nyla’s feet. She had even convinced herself that she had somehow led him on, as if he wasn’t mature enough to recognize that the attraction that had exploded that last night between them hadn’t been building for months.

He never should have let her get away without owning up to the fact that she had been just as attracted to him as he had been to her. She’d wanted that kiss. She’d wanted even more than just that damn kiss.

Aiden started for the door, but once again stopped before opening it.

If he went in there demanding she acknowledge feelings she wasn’t ready to admit to having, it could ruin these few short days he had with her.

“Dammit.”

He couldn’t bring it up again. Not yet.

But he would. Eventually, they were going to talk this through.

Shaking his head, he finally opened the door. Upon entering the room, he was met with the sound of the shower. His mind instantly conjured the image of Nyla standing naked underneath the spray of rushing water, her body glistening with rivulets of steamy moisture running down her skin. He nearly lost all feeling in his legs. Aiden fell back on the bed, covering his eyes with his forearm.

He would give up every single comic book in his Marvel collection—including the 1941 mint-condition Green Lantern—to be able to step inside that shower and have her wrap her arms around his neck. He wanted to feel her lovely, soft breasts pressed against his naked chest. He would give anything to wedge himself between her slick, soapy thighs and finally, finally discover what it felt like to make her his.

A groan tore out of his throat.

He could forget reenacting his favorite scenes from Gladiator at the Colosseum tomorrow. Pent-up lust would have him dead by morning.

“Hey, you okay?”

Aiden sprang upright. He hadn’t even heard when she turned the shower off. She was dressed in calf-length pajama pants and a black-and-pink tank top with a glittery martini glass on it. She looked ridiculously good with her soft brown skin freshly washed. She smelled delicious, like peaches, as if she’d rubbed a bit of Georgia on her skin.

“Aiden?”

He shook his head. He had to snap out of this.

“I’m good.” He grabbed his bag and headed to the bathroom, taking the quickest shower known to mankind. He wasn’t wasting any of this short time he had with Nyla.

When he reentered the room she was already in her bed, under the covers. She had the bedside lamp on and was flipping through the magazine that was on the table.

“You read Italian, too?” Aiden asked, gesturing to the magazine.

“Enough to get by.”

“You speak it like someone who’s lived here your entire life.”

“Working in Leoncini’s, I had no choice. It’s not as hard to pick up as you may think.” She pointed to the window. “It looks as if the snow is letting up. That should make it easier to get around tomorrow.”

Frowning, Aiden walked over to the window. “I was kind of hoping it would stick around for another couple of days. It would be my first white Christmas.”

“I didn’t think about that. Coming from Atlanta, you rarely get to see snow. I guess I’ve taken that for granted. It doesn’t snow often in San Gimignano, but the winter I lived in Paris was just awful.”

Aiden crossed his arms over his chest and leaned his shoulder against the cold windowpane. “What’s your ideal Christmas?”

“Hmm, that’s easy,” Nyla said, setting the magazine aside. She scooted up in the bed and brought her knees to her chest. “Back when I was eight or nine, my family started spending the holidays in the Smoky Mountains. My dad would rent a cabin and we would drive out there as soon as Christmas break started.

“We would sit around the fireplace and have eggnog and rice crispy treats. My mom would read ‘’Twas the Night Before Christmas’ and we would decorate the tree with garlands made out of popcorn. It was the corniest, most Leave It to Beaver thing you’ve ever seen, but I truly did love it.”

The light in her eyes dimmed. “I talked to my younger sister, Rae, just before you showed up at the bakery earlier today. They were heading out for the cabin. I’ve gotten used to not being around for birthdays or the big Fourth of July family picnic, but there’s something about not being at the cabin with everyone at Christmas that just slays me.”

“You miss them, don’t you?” Aiden asked.

She nodded. “I do. My younger brother and his wife have had two girls in the last sixteen months, and my other sister-in-law is going to have a baby any day now.”

Hearing the sadness in her voice triggered a deep ache in his chest. The thought that he had in some way contributed to the sorrow she was feeling caused him physical pain.

“Why haven’t you gone back, Nyla? Is it really because of what happened between us? You’ve allowed that to keep you away all this time?”

“You say it as if it was just this thing that happened, Aiden. As if it was no big deal.” She looked up at him, her deep brown eyes teeming with regret. “Everyone was there. My family, my coworkers, lifelong friends. Everyone I know witnessed that attorney coming to the church and telling me that Cameron didn’t want to marry me because I was sleeping with his baby brother.”

“But you weren’t sleeping with me. It’s Cameron’s fault that he didn’t give you a chance to explain. And are you seriously still giving him a pass, even after you found out that he was stepping out on you at the same time?”

She flinched. “One has nothing to do with the other.”

“How can you say that? He cheated on you the entire time you were together, Nyla. He’s cheated on every woman he’s ever dated.” The hurt that flashed across her face triggered a pang in his chest, but this was something that had bothered Aiden from the very beginning. “I still can’t figure out why you were ever with him in the first place. It’s common knowledge that Cameron has been a womanizer since birth.”

“I knew your brother had flaws when I started dating him, Aiden. Maybe I was naive to think he would give up his old habits once we got engaged, but all of that is beside the point. It doesn’t matter what Cameron was doing.” She pointed to her chest. “This is about what I did. Was I eventually grateful that I didn’t marry him after learning that he was still seeing other women? Of course I was. But that doesn’t erase the fact that I was unfaithful to him, as well.”

Aiden pitched his head back and groaned up at the ceiling. “You weren’t unfaithful. It was one kiss, Nyla.”

“It was more than just a kiss,” she whispered. “We both know that. If I hadn’t stopped us...”

An instant ache settled in his groin at the mention of that night. The memory of how close they had come to finally sleeping together was one he’d had to endure much too often these past three years.

It hadn’t been just about sex. He wasn’t the renowned ladies’ man his brother had been, but getting sex had never been a problem. It had been all about Nyla, about being with her in the most elemental way. They had been connected on an emotional level for months leading up to that night. He’d needed that physical connection.

“Does this mean we’re finally tackling the eight-hundred-pound gorilla?” Aiden asked.

She blew out a deep breath and dropped her forehead to her knees. “Please, Aiden. This is awkward enough as it is. Bringing that up will only complicate things.”

“Maybe it would do the exact opposite. You ever consider that? We’ve been tiptoeing around this ever since I found you on Facebook, Nyla. Think of how much simpler things would be if we just got everything out in the open.”

His skin tingled with expectancy as he waited for her response.

“You should try to get some sleep,” she said. “You’ve had a long day and we have a lot to see tomorrow.” She clicked off the bedside lamp and huddled back under the covers. She turned on her side, facing the opposite wall.

Aiden ran both hands down his face. He stared at her stiff form, highlighted by the moonlight streaming through the window.

Everything within him was clamoring for him to press her about this. The only reason he hadn’t brought it up in the past few months was that she could have simply stopped responding to him on Facebook. But she was here now. They could finally hash everything out, face-to-face.

But he couldn’t do it. Not yet. She would only clam up and go back to blaming herself.

Shaking his head, Aiden trudged over to his bed and slipped under the covers.

“Good night, Nyla,” he whispered into the stillness.

After several weighty moments, she answered, “Good night, Aiden.”

He turned onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, knowing sleep wasn’t about to come his way, not with Nyla lying just a few feet away from him. After several minutes passed he heard a slight snore coming from her side of the room, and couldn’t help the smile the sound brought to his lips.

What he wouldn’t give to crawl into that bed with her. To wrap his arms around her, pull her against him, feel the rhythm of her breaths as she slept soundly. He wanted to wake her up in the middle of the night and make love to her, the way he’d dreamed of doing for years. He wanted to keep her in this hotel room for the next two days and show her just how much they belonged together.

Instead Aiden turned onto his side and stared at the few snowflakes still falling softly outside the window. It wasn’t his ideal scenario, but at least he had this time with her right now. He would take what he could get.