Elastic Hearts (Hearts #3)(41)

“I want to take you to dinner,” he said, voice low. The only thing I could do was nod. I would have agreed to just about anything. “Somewhere public, where I don’t feel like ripping your clothes off, but you know how the media will get if we do that.”

I smiled at the thought. “And let’s be honest, regardless of where we are, you’d still want to rip my clothes off.”

His eyes darkened. “Who wouldn’t?”

My smile dropped momentarily thinking of Gabriel. He obviously wouldn’t. Not that it mattered. Not that I cared at this point. But, God, how many women could a man have sex with in order to stay satisfied? Wasn’t one enough? I tried to lift my lips back into a smile before I gave my thoughts away, but Victor noticed. He brought my hand up to his mouth and kissed the back of it, his soft lips moving down to my wrist, over my pulse as he kept his eyes on me.

“If you were a cockatoo, your flock would’ve killed you already,” he said, lowering my hand, but keeping it in his. I frowned, shaking my head as a laugh escaped me. I was glad for the distraction, so I went along with it.

“Random. Why’s that?”

“They try to hide their ailments, but the flock usually notices, because they feel it, and they gang up on them and kill them off.”

“That’s harsh,” I said, raising my eyebrows. “And you feel something? In me?”

He chuckled. “I can make a million jokes about that statement, but I won’t. And yes, Nicole, I feel something, in you, for you. I thought that was clear.”

His admission was so natural, so nonchalant, but my veins thundered at the words nonetheless. He picked up my hand and kissed it once more before turning to get out of the car. “But the flock still would’ve killed you.”

I got out and walked beside him down the side of the house. I inhaled the smell of the ocean.

“You would let them?” I asked as I walked behind him. “The flock, I mean. You would let them kill me?”

“It would be one against a flock of birds, because you’d probably be crying in a corner.”

“So you would let them kill me.”

He shook his head and stopped walking. I could sense him smiling before he turned to look at me. “I wouldn’t.”

“Do you do this much for all of your clients?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood with a smile. I half expected him to joke about how much they pay him, but instead he brought a hand down and held the side of my face, dipping his closer. I felt like I was going to seriously combust right there if he set his lips against mine. He didn’t, though. Instead he kissed my cheek, then the corner of my mouth before moving on to the other. He backed away from me slightly, gazing into my eyes with an intensity that made my heart flip.

“I think you know I don’t,” he whispered, still holding my face. “And I think you know this has passed the client boundary by now.” He paused, dropping his hands from my face. “All jokes aside, I’d do anything to make sure you were safe, Nicole.”

I felt his words roll through me as he turned around. It took me a second to get my feet to move and follow him down the side of the house, toward the door.





MY SISTER’S HOUSE was a mess. I should’ve called ahead of time and let her know I was bringing someone with me, but I didn’t have any time to process the fact I was bringing someone with me. When Nicole called me I had just left the courthouse. I didn’t have time to do anything other than haul ass to the ice cream shop and pick her up. Once I got there and saw the impending breakdown written all over her face, I thought she’d be a sobbing mess, but she wasn’t. It surprised me and disappointed me, which caught me off guard. I hated dealing with emotions and shit. Why the hell did I feel so desperate for hers? Probably because she didn’t give them to me.

“Estelle?” I called out, picking up the sweater by the door. I turned to Nicole, who was standing behind me, looking nervous. “Sorry. This place is a mess today.” And almost every day since Oliver went back to work, really. I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like when they started having kids. A shiver ran through me and I shook it off. Nicole laughed.

“Did you see something that creeped you out?” she asked.

“Hey,” Estelle said, appearing in the hallway. “I didn’t hear you.”

I didn’t say anything, I let my eyes do the talking as I looked at every surface of her crazy house. She rolled her eyes.

“Don’t start with your shit, Victor,” she said. “I need your help to set this up so I can pick up before Bean gets home.”

“What you need is to hire somebody to help you pick up this insanity,” I said, walking in all the way. “Oh, this is Nicole. Nicole, this is my messy little sister, Estelle. She’s an artist,” I said by way of explanation. It seemed like most artists were messy. Then it hit me. Shit. Nicole was in the fashion business. Was she this messy?

“Oh,” Estelle said, her eyes widening as she looked from me to Nicole and back to me. “That’s fine. Sorry about the mess.”

“Totally fine,” Nicole said, waving her words away. “This is my house on a good day.”

My head whipped to her. What? She shrugged in response, a little smile forming on her face. I sighed and looked back at Estelle, who was still studying the hell out of Nicole.