“Chris is having a brunch thing tomorrow,” Ella said, collecting her things. She gave Alice a hopeful smile. “There’s some kind of sports game on TV, but I usually just hang by the pool during all of that. Want to come to my place around eleven? He’s sending a car for me—isn’t that ridiculous?”
Alice paused. “All right,” she agreed slowly. “My flight back isn’t until Saturday.”
“Then I have time to talk you around.” Ella grinned. “I have excellent powers of persuasion.”
Alice smiled softly. “I wouldn’t bet on it.”
She drove back to her hotel deep in thought. Ella’s proposition was ridiculous, of course, but there was a certain neat symmetry to it that Alice couldn’t help but find appealing. Right then, their lives—and identities—were tangled in all kinds of difficult ways, and the challenge facing Alice now was how to extract herself from whatever world Ella had created, without jeopardizing the contacts or reputation she’d managed to achieve, in Alice’s name. Or was that Angelique?
Sighing, she parked and strolled into the hotel. She would have to find some way of taking her identity back that didn’t do Ella any harm. Despite everything, she was still loath to report her to the police, and if she—
Alice stopped, noticing a rather familiar body slumped on one of the couches in the lobby. He was unshaven and clearly jet lagged, but her heart leaped just the same.
“Nathan?”
He jolted awake, blinking at her. “Hey, there you are.”
“What are you doing here?” She took a step closer, reaching out a hand to help him up. He glanced around, disoriented, before turning back to her. Then he stopped, giving her one of those half smiles that still did curious things to her.
“Looking for you. I figured you might want my help tracking Ella down.”
Alice looked up at him. “But you said I had to stop.”
“Which would have been the sensible thing, sure.” He tugged her closer. “But since you seem determined to find this woman…”
“I did.” Her reply was muffled as she pressed herself against his shirt. God, it felt good to be near him again. Bracing herself for disapproval, Alice closed her eyes and admitted, “I spent the evening with her.”
Nathan exhaled, but Alice felt no tension in his movement. Instead, his tone was even. “How did that work out for you?”
“No bloody idea.” Alice drew back and gave him a rueful smile. She paused. “I’m sorry, about the lies, I really am. But none of this was about you.”
He sighed again. “Yeah, that was kind of hard to take.” He held her close, resting his chin on the top of her head. “So, how about we make more things about me? You know I crave the attention.” His tone was joking, but when Alice checked the look in his eyes, she saw that he was truly sincere. He meant it.
She smiled, realizing what it must have taken for him to come all this way. She mattered to him, after all. “I can definitely manage that. How does the rest of the week sound? You can help me decide what on earth I’m going to do about Ella.”
“I take it throwing her in jail isn’t an option?” Nathan hoisted his bag up onto his shoulder.
Alice laughed.“I’m afraid not. But hey, you can use your imagination.”
“Great,” Nathan drawled. “But when this is figured out, I want to get, far, far away from her. I’m thinking a hammock somewhere…You in a tiny bikini…”
Alice raised an eyebrow. “If it’s really important to you, then I’m sure I’ll find the strength.” She grinned. Alice held out her hand, and he took it. “I have to warn you though,” she sighed, nudging him in the direction of the elevators. “The beds here leave something to be desired.”
“I haven’t slept in days. I’ll be out in a flash.”
***
Despite her own hectic day, Alice only drifted in and out of sleep, watching Nathan’s body beside her as dawn light began to seep into the room. He lay with one arm thrown across her, rolling to unconsciously mirror her position should she turn away.
So this was it.
Alice felt a slow warmth spread through her that had nothing to do with the sun spilling through the ugly drapes or the heat gently radiating from Nathan’s bare skin. This was what she’d been watching all these years, the intimacy to which she’d only ever been a spectator. He was hers, enough to come all this way for her, at least, and stay—not because he agreed with what she was doing but because he’d thought that she might need him. She watched him shift, stretching as he woke.
He yawned. “Man, you were right about this mattress.”
Alice smiled as he tugged her closer. She rested her head on his chest, tracing slow circles above his heart.
“So what’s the plan for today,” he asked, the words vibrating gently against her.
Alice paused. “I’m meeting Ella,” she ventured, but aside from a slow exhale, Nathan didn’t offer any argument. Alice pulled away slightly, so that her face was on the pillow next to his, just inches away.
“And?”
This time, she was the one to sigh. “And…I don’t know. She doesn’t have any answers for me,” Alice admitted.
“I’m sorry.” Nathan gave her a faint smile. He reached over, toying with loose strands of her hair.
“Sure you are,” Alice lightly replied.
“No, I am. I know you wanted…something from her.”
Alice gave a rueful shrug. “But it doesn’t work like that, does it?”
Nathan was the rare exception, but Alice knew the truth: people didn’t come through with the answers or explanations that would make everything all right. She still hadn’t heard a word from Julian about his drunken advances, and some painful instinct told Alice that even if he did try now, it was already too late. Just like that, a friendship could be over; and equally fast, something new could be forged.
But what of Ella now?
“I can’t report her,” Alice said, still almost whispering in the stillness of the early morning. “I can’t be the one to send her to prison. It’s just so…extreme.”
“So what will you do? You have to end this somehow,” he pointed out, serious. “Before she gets you in real trouble again.”
Still, Alice didn’t have a solution. “She has a life here,” she told him, a little wistful. “A flat, and a kitten…I’m meeting her friends, for brunch.”