Glancing casually around her surroundings, she could see that first class was half empty and that the only person sitting across the aisle was an older man who was already asleep. But the flight attendant had been just up the aisle when he did this. “Ever been to Oakland?” he asked her curiously, and she was glad they were off the topic of his annoying publicist.
“Yes, I have a few times actually. My ex is kind of a big-time sportscaster. Well he was,” she said. “He got tickets to sporting events everywhere, and we went to a few Giants home games whenever they played the Angels.” She smiled, trying to ease the sudden hardened look on Abel’s face now. “That’s how I know the drive is so beautiful.”
Nellie had no idea how many details of her divorce Abel knew about. If she had to go by his stern expression, he at least knew it’d been bad. It was so bad that the scandal of her ex not only leaving Nellie but getting her own sister pregnant while they were still married pretty much ruined his career. When the word got out, the network he worked for got so much hate mail demanding that such an offensive man be taken off the air or that people would boycott the shows he broadcasted that it sent the network into a tailspin. It wasn’t nearly as big a scandal as say Tiger Woods, because Rick was just a broadcaster, but the show he did was syndicated, so it wasn’t just local. He was quickly given paid leave, and his contract that was supposed to have been renewed later that year, wasn’t.
The only reason Nellie had even brought up Rick was because of Abel’s question. She had every intention of sparing Abel the details. She certainly wouldn’t be telling him about how her loathsome ex had had the gall to call her recently and ask if there was any way she could get him an exclusive with Abel. He was now working for a small cable sports show, but an exclusive with Abel just before what was being billed as one of the most anticipated fights of the decade would do wonders to get his career back on track—a career he insinuated might still be intact if she hadn’t given that interview right after they separated, letting the world know just what a bastard he really was.
Of course, that call had ended with her hanging up as he started trying to despicably lay the guilt on her, as if somehow he’d been the victim.
“Thinking about him still upsets you.”
Abel squeezed her hand. His comment was more of an observation than a question. Nellie hadn’t even realized her expression must’ve gone taut, but Abel was staring at her with a knowing look, brow raised. “I’d say still disgusts me is a better way to phrase it.”
That seemed to ease his expression, and then he smirked. “That bad, huh?”
Nellie shrugged and glanced out the window. “I try not to think about him at all, but every now and again, I remember.”
“Sorry I trudged up hurtful memories.”
She turned back to him. “Not hurtful,” she smiled weakly. “I haven’t hurt in a long time. In fact, I don’t remember ever crying for him really. It was . . .” She shook her head, remembering that she was supposed to spare him the details. “Never mind, you don’t wanna hear about all that.”
This conversation was veering into the off limits. It was personal—way too personal—Abel certainly didn’t need to hear all this.
Just as their flight took off, Abel leaned into her. “If you’d rather not talk about it, that’s cool, but I don’t mind hearing about it. We do have over an hour to kill, and I don’t know about you,” he glanced around, “but I’m too wired to sleep like everyone else on this flight seems to be doing.”
Hesitating for a moment, she finally smiled. She supposed she could give him the short version. Since he likely read the sports section, he may’ve heard about it anyway. “I don’t know if Noah told you, but my ex got my sister pregnant while we were still married.” By the widening of his eyes, she could tell that this did surprise him. She nodded. “They’d been having an affair off and on for years, and supposedly they were going to get married as soon as our divorce was over. That’s what hurt most. That she would do that to me. The fact that Rick cheated wasn’t a surprise at all. I’d suspected for some time but was in denial. I’d gotten so comfortable in my established little cocoon of a life I was afraid of what the truth would do to it. But deep inside, I knew I was never enough for him—”
“Did he tell you that you weren’t?” Abel’s brows pinched now as he searched her eyes.
“No,” she admitted. “But from the very beginning, I got the distinct feeling that I wasn’t the only one.” She lifted and dropped a shoulder. “Woman’s intuition, I guess.”
“Just because the guy was an asshole who didn’t appreciate what he had doesn’t mean you weren’t good enough for him, Nell.” Nellie’s attention was brought to his moving Adam’s apple as he swallowed hard. “He sounds like a fucking prick. That alone tells me he was never good enough for you. I’m sorry for what he put you through, but I’m glad he’s in your past. He does not deserve to spend his life with a woman like you.”
As Nellie’s insides began to warm and her heart began to swell from hearing the conviction in Abel’s voice, she had to remind herself of something. The story of what Rick and her sister had done to her had been enough to have so many people up in arms that Rick had lost his job over it. Abel was one of the most intense persons she’d ever met. Of course, the story would piss him off as well.
“Well, thank you,” she said, rubbing her hand over his hand, the one that was squeezing hers a bit tighter now. “Overall, the whole experience made me a much stronger person. That’s for sure.”
“What about your sister? Have you talked to her since then?”
The flight attendant came around and asked if they wanted anything to drink. Nellie asked for iced tea while Abel asked for water.
“Believe it or not,” Nellie said, shaking her head. “I offered to let Courtney move in with me.” Apparently this surprised Abel more than her husband cheating on her with her sister because he looked stunned. Nellie sighed, nodding. “She’d already sold her condo and was making arrangements to move in with Rick when he left her hanging out to dry. Not only had he changed his mind about the marriage but he also decided that since he was divorced now he wanted to stay single and out of any relationship for a while.” A short scoff escaped her just as the flight attendant came over with their drinks. They took their drinks, and Nellie waited for the flight attendant to walk away before continuing. “His no-relationship crap lasted about a month before he moved with another woman in Seattle. Courtney had been staying with our parents and apparently had high hopes that once the baby was born Rick would change his mind. But he moved in with this woman just a few months after my nephew was born.”
“So let me get this straight.” Abel said, closing the cap on the water he’d just poured into his cup of ice and sliding his hand back into hers. “You offered to not only let your sister, who got knocked up by your ex and had been having an affair with him for years, move in but also her son—you’re ex’s kid.”
“I don’t see it that way,” Nellie explained. “Gus is my nephew first—not Rick’s son. I know technically he is, but that’s not Gus’s fault. He didn’t choose to come into this world under these circumstances. To me, he’s just my nephew. He’s an innocent baby and a part of my family now. I love him.” She sighed, knowing what she would say next would possibly make her sound like the most pathetic and stupidest person on the planet, but it was the truth and she thought Abel, having a brother he was so close to, would understand. “And despite everything that’s happened, I still love my sister. Aside from my parents and my brother who’s always stationed in some far-out place, she’s the only family I have in this country, well, besides Gus now. It’s why I offered to let them move in with me.”
Abel lifted a skeptical brow. “So why didn’t she?”
Nellie glanced away, unable to look at him when she told him this part. “She moved to Seattle to be near Rick. She said that even if they weren’t together she still wanted Gus to be around his dad.”
She g
lanced back at him, and Abel looked as disgusted as she thought he would. “She took her son away from the only real family he has to be near a man who tore your family apart and then just walked away? A man she knows is now living with another woman already?”
It got even more complicated than that, and since Abel was already disgusted, he’d be even more so if she went on, so she nodded and left it at that. This time he looked away and cleared his throat. “So are you really never gonna marry again?”
Nellie tilted her head, looking at him. “Is that what Noah told you?”
“Something like that. He said basically the same thing you did on the cruise: that you’re not looking to get into anything serious right now and all that. Only Noah said you said possibly ever.”
Taking a deep breath, Nellie sipped her tea. She needed to be careful here. He could be testing her—making sure they were still in agreement since things had gotten a bit heavier than she’d first anticipated they would. When she’d put it out there for him on the cruise, she wasn’t even sure any of this would continue afterward. And even when they did, she thought their booty calls would be maybe once or twice a month if she were lucky.
She also never expected to be sitting here, talking to him about her divorce. But she wouldn’t take his interest in it to be anything more than killing time as he’d put it, when he said he wouldn’t mind hearing about it. So she answered very carefully. “First of all, I never say “never.” But I married really young and missed out on a lot. I remember hearing my single friends talking about traveling and doing all kinds of exciting things. You know letting loose and really living during that time in their lives between being teens and becoming adults.” He was staring at her, focused on her every word now, and it made her nervous. “It’s not that I regretted marrying young, but since things worked out the way they did, I figure that this is my chance to make up for it. So jumping into a serious relationship hasn’t made my to-do list just yet.”
Still staring at her very closely, Abel straightened out a bit before his next question. “What exactly does that mean to you? Letting loose?”
This time she cleared her throat for the first time, realizing she didn’t even know what she meant when she said that. She’d used the term so loosely, but it was just a figure of speech. Although when she’d told Roni that it was what she was doing with Abel, she knew what she wanted Roni to think it meant to her. It was likely what he wanted it to mean as well. She remembered his apprehension on the cruise and the entire months leading up to it when the sexual tension between them had begun to feel unbearable. It wasn’t until she’d made it clear what she was game for that he was interested. In case he was asking because maybe she’d begun to give him the impression that perhaps the rules had somehow changed, she played it safe and went with that. “Just enjoying my freedom, I guess. I have no one to answer to now, and I’m taking full advantage of it.”
Again that beautiful Adam’s apple on his big thick neck distracted her. She’d expected a smile maybe, at the very least a slight show of relief in his eyes. But there was neither. She sensed he had more to say or ask, but he didn’t. Instead he finally pulled his penetrating gaze away and sat back, taking a drink of his water.
It seemed he was done killing time with small talk or talk of her divorce. Without letting go of her hand, he laid his head back on his seat and closed his eyes.
~*~
They each checked into their respective rooms at the hotel, but Abel had no intention of sleeping alone that night, not for their entire stay for that matter. They would be there for three nights, so it’d be the first time they’d be spending this many days and nights of letting loose together. And if Abel got his way, it wouldn’t be their last.
The young male attendant behind the counter had recognized Abel immediately, and he was a talker. The last thing Abel wanted was for this guy to go spreading the word about him and Nellie checking into one room only as he would’ve liked. The press would begin hounding her in no time. So they went through the motions of checking in separately for appearance’s sake.
The moment the elevator doors closed, Abel pulled Nellie to him and kissed her. “Stay in my room tonight,” he whispered against her lips. “Only reason I had them book two rooms was because of the damn paparazzi; otherwise, I would’ve just gotten one.”
He waited to see if she’d protest in any way about his presumptuous admission. “You sure no one will catch wind of it?” she asked, staring at his lips.
Abel couldn’t help smiling. “I honestly don’t give a shit for my sake. I just want to avoid your life being turned into a circus.” Feeling his smile wane a bit, he added, “For as long as I can anyway.”
Lifting her gaze from his lips to his eyes, she stared at him momentarily without saying a word. He wanted her to get that this thing they had wasn’t going away anytime soon. And while he kept reminding himself that he’d already tasted firsthand his reaction to knowing she might still be living it up with other guys, getting her to change her mind about that eventually might be easier than pulling back now. Because with every moment he spent with her now, the likelihood of that happening was beginning to feel impossible.
The anxiety mounted as he waited for a response to his last comment. Would she remind him again of the unspoken rules? Point out that he was starting to sound as if he might be breaking them? Already he’d asked her about her ex more than once. He’d even taken it a step further by asking if she was seriously thinking of never remarrying. She, of course, reaffirmed her desire to make up for what she’d missed out on when she’d been tied down to one guy the first time. What had been the most galling was that serious relationships were not on her to-do list.
“Don’t worry about me.” She smiled, easing his anxiety a bit. “I’ve had my share of the press, and I think I can handle them.” The elevator came to a stop, and she began pulling away from his embrace. “But I know how private you are and how much you’d prefer to stay out of the headlines, so I think it’s best if we’re careful.”
She started out the elevator doors as soon as they opened, leaving him wondering one thing. “But you’re still staying in my room, right?”
Glancing back at him as she pulled her luggage along behind her, she winked. “Try and keep me out.”
The huge and very relieved smile was instantly plastered on Abel’s face. Then it hit him. “You had your share of the press?” He asked as he took her in from behind. He’d told her to dress comfortably since it was a redeye, and she hadn’t disappointed, wearing a very short pair of denim shorts. He somehow got the feeling she hadn’t worn them when she was married to her idiot ex-husband.
She turned to him just as they got to the door of one of their rooms. “It’s more about my ex, and I’m done talking about him for today. Maybe another time I’ll tell you about it.”
“Good enough,” Abel said, slipping his key in the door.
He was done talking about her ex too. There were obviously not so much as kindling embers left on that torch. The moron had snuffed that out for good. That’s all that mattered to Abel anyway. He had better things he wanted to do with his tongue now than stand there and talk about that asshole. He opened the door and held it open for her, already excited about the night ahead of him.
***
It was nice to sleep in for once. Abel thought about the last time he had with a smile. He’d woken up next to Nellie then too. He could certainly get used to long exhausting nights. He could also get used to waking up next to Nellie. At least he had the next two mornings to do just that. The memory of Nellie jumping out of bed to answer Logan’s call the last time he woke next to her killed his smile.
They had a free day today since his run wasn’t until tomorrow, and he was determined to show her a good time. He’d tell her so as soon as she was back from the bathroom. If she was so hell bent on making up for lost time, maybe he could help her do just that. She wanted to experience all kinds of exciting things? No reason why he couldn?
??t give her a hand there, starting today. Maybe that would be enough for her. I have no one to answer to now, and I’m taking full advantage. He didn’t even realize he’d been gnashing his teeth until he heard the shower turn on.
Jumping out of bed, he thought about her comment last night. He’d make an extra effort to not make her feel tied down. Even though his suggesting that she stay in his room wasn’t exactly freeing, she’d accepted happily. She could’ve told him she’d prefer her own room, but she agreed to spend the night in his. And yet here she was already starting up the shower in his room when she could’ve easily said she’d go back to hers for that.
He felt even better about it when he saw she’d left the bathroom door half open. If that wasn’t an invitation, he didn’t know what was. He wasn’t even in the door yet, and he was already at full attention.
“Want some company in there?” He paraded his naked ass shamelessly in the already fogging bathroom.
“Absolutely,” she murmured with what he’d normally refer to as a sexy smile, but on Nellie it was beautiful. “This shower was made for two.” She motioned to the second shower head.
Abel glanced at it, but his eyes went immediately back to her. The more he was around her, the more he thought she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever laid eyes on. Even with her hair soaking wet and not an ounce of makeup on, she was absolutely beautiful. It still staggered him that it’d taken him this long to notice.
As soon as he was in the shower with her, his hands were all over her wet body, and he kissed her softly. “You,” he said, kissing her bottom lip softly. “Are so,” he brought his hands up to her face, cradling it as he kissed her again, “fucking beautiful.”
She did that thing she always did when he told her so, closing her eyes for a moment then smiling softly—timidly. “Thank you,” she whispered then leaned against his body, making that vulnerability she made every attempt to hide so evident.
He kissed her deeper now, but unlike the first couple of times last night when he’d eaten her up like a starving man—every inch of her—now he wanted to take it slowly. All the times before when he’d told her how beautiful he thought she was, it’d made him nervous—nervous that she might pick up on something he let escape each time—something he apparently had no control over. Now he wanted her to pick up on it. He wanted her to know that she may not have to answer to him and he wouldn’t ever ask to tie her down if what she wanted was to fly free. But at the very least, as long as she was involved with him, she’d have mercy on his heart. The simple fact that he was thinking of Nellie in terms of what she did to his heart as opposed to other parts of his body, scared him breathless.