Baby for the Billionaire(34)

Her heart began to fill with relief. “No, I guess it doesn’t.”

“I was the one who broke it off. Brenda was a fling, that’s all. I would never have married her.”

“Never?”

“Never.” He reached out and put his hand over hers. “I’m glad I’m married to you.”

She ignored the warmth of his skin against her own. “Why?”

He blinked. “Why?”

“That’s what I said.”

Withdrawal came over his face before he turned back to put the key in the ignition. “There’s a whole heap of reasons.”

Yes, and none of them were love.

He glanced back at her. “Sasha, don’t let her get to you. She’s someone from my past and I can’t change that. But don’t let her into our future, okay?”

He was right.

“Okay.”

He waited a moment more, his eyes reading hers as if to be convinced, then he started up the engine and headed for home.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with me to my parents’ place?”

Sasha placed her hairbrush down on the dresser and looked at Nick. “No, I’d only be in the way.”

The Valente men were getting together at Cesare’s apartment now that Alex was back from London. And Isabel was having Sunday brunch with a friend, so it was no use going with Nick just to sit and listen to the men talk business.

“You wouldn’t be in the way,” he said, a touch of gruffness to his voice.

Tenderness filled her but she tried not to show it. She’d accepted what he’d said about Brenda and it was forgotten. Now she just wanted to get on with her life.

With Nick.

“No, I’ve got lots of things to do here.”

He went to kiss her then stopped to hover just above her lips. “So you’re okay about Brenda?”

“Yes, I am.”

And she was.

He kissed her then, a long lingering kiss that was meant to reassure her.

And it did.

Until she answered the phone an hour later and a woman asked to speak to Nick.

“He’s not here at the moment,” Sasha said, her fingers tensing around the handset. “Do you want to leave a message?”

“Tell him it’s Brenda.” The woman’s pause was definitely for effect. “I’m returning his call.”

Sasha held on to her composure. “His call?”

“Nick called me a little while ago and said to call him back. I thought it was from this number. This is his parents’ old number, right?”

Her words implied that she knew his parents’ number very well.

Sasha drew herself up straighter. “Yes, this was Cesare and Isabel’s house. It’s mine and Nick’s now. I’ll pass on the message that you called.”

Her hands were shaking as she hung up the phone and for a moment she felt a silly sense of triumph. Then it hit her.

Nick had called Brenda.

To meet with her?

Or to tell her to leave him alone?

All at once Sasha’s doubts rose again like weeds in a garden. She tried to mentally cut them off at the roots but they went too deep.

Was Nick lying?

She’d believed him about not being in love with Brenda, but was she being a fool to be so accepting? Had she wanted to believe him because of her love for him? Had it blinded her to his faults? Made her weak to his lies?

No, she didn’t want to believe any of that, but the scenario was all too familiar. Memories of her parents’ marriage were always at the back of her mind, her father always so glib at assuring her mother he was working when he was out with his latest girlfriend. Her mother always accepting his assurances. Sasha was certain her mother hadn’t always believed him, but she’d forgiven him anyway.

Was this the same situation between her and Nick?

Was she like her mother?

And was Nick more like her father than she wanted to admit?

All at once she had the urge to go see her parents. Perhaps by merely being around them she’d find she was just being silly.

An hour later her mother’s eyes lit up with surprise when she opened the door. “Darling, what are you doing here?” she said, giving her daughter a kiss. “And where’s Nick?”

“He had to go see Cesare about work,” Sasha said, stepping inside.

“Men! Your father’s not here either. He went into the office to fix something or other. On a Sunday, too!”