He felt as if he were moving in slow motion as he came around the table. Nicola’s eyes widened as he approached and he couldn’t look away from her. He sat down and when his thigh brushed against her, she jumped out of her seat.
“I’m going to go see if your mother needs help with anything in the kitchen.”
Lori beamed after her as Nicola hurried off. “Isn’t she sweet? I think she and Gabe are really hitting it off.”
Smith shook his head. “I don’t think so, Lori."
Lori frowned. “What do you mean? They were totally flirting earlier and now she’s using Mom as an excuse to go spend more time with him in the kitchen.”
“Marcus, you got any theories on why she left in such a hurry?”
He took a long swig from his beer. It was either that or tackle Smith across the table. Or go inside and pound the hell out of Gabe for flirting with his woman.
Hell, he’d happily take on every last one of his brothers right now if it meant he could work through some of the frustration coursing through him at being this close to Nicola but not actually being in any position to tell her how he felt, how sorry he was for ruining everything.
Clearly, Smith had put two and two together. And it didn’t seem that he liked the idea of Marcus hooking up with Nicola much at all.
Smith could go screw himself.
Fortunately, Lori was still clueless. He didn’t think Chase and Chloe had linked him with Nicola yet, but they still looked worried about him.
Only Sophie was safe to talk to right now. “How’s the new project going at work, Nice?”
She made a face. “Don’t call me that in front of our guest. It’s embarrassing. I have a name, you know.”
“What’s that again?” Zach teased as he came and sat down, shoving his phone into his pocket. “I kind of remember it starts with a letter toward the end of the alphabet.”
She punched Zach in the arm before answering Marcus’s question about her latest research project at the San Francisco City Library.
“Remind me again why I thought it would be a good idea to get a grant to pull together a bibliography of the greatest love stories of all time.” She sighed. “I thought it was going to be so romantic.”
Clearly surprised, Chloe said, “How can love stories not be romantic?”
“Well, most of the famous love stories are completely tragic, for one.”
“Oh, you mean like Romeo and Juliet?”
Sophie nodded. “At this point, I’ve pretty much decided never to fall in love. Not if death and betrayal are what’s waiting at the end of the rainbow.”
Marcus was a week too late for Sophie’s epiphany. Especially because he had a bad feeling that every second that passed without being able to properly talk with Nicola pushed them one step closer to being another one of those love stories gone tragically wrong.
Just as he’d known she would, Lori argued with her twin more for the sake of arguing than because she wanted to be right about this particular issue.
“You’re the one who’s tragic,” Lori said, and then, “Trust you to ignore all the really great love stories, like Pride and Prejudice.”
Sophie scowled at her sister. “As far as I can tell, the way things ended in that story was nothing but blind luck.” She turned her scowl into a smile for Chase and Chloe. “Like the two of you. I still can’t believe you met on the side of the road in Napa and now you’re getting married. It’s so beautiful.”
“Hear that?” Chase said to his fiancée, clearly bemused. “Our relationship is nothing but blind luck.”
“If the worst day of my life turning into my best is blind luck, I’ll take it,” Chloe said softly.
They all knew about her previous marriage, how bad it had been, that her ex had hit her and she’d had to run. Marcus knew that, by comparison, he had nothing to complain about.
Still, he’d clearly been messed up enough about what had happened with Jill to completely blow a great thing with Nicola.
Sophie sighed wistfully as Chase kissed his fiancée. “What about you, Marcus? Do you have anything new going on lately?”
* * *
Nicola walked out into the backyard with a large tray of cut vegetables and dip just as Sophie asked Marcus what was new in his life. Thank God she was wearing flats, otherwise she surely would have tripped over her heels and the food would have scattered all over the neatly mowed lawn. She somehow managed to keep moving toward the table.
“I’ve been spending time in the city the past few days.”
“Really? Why didn’t you come by the library, then?”
Right then, Marcus turned his gaze from Sophie to her and what Nicola read in them had panic bubbling up even higher inside her. Oh God, he wasn’t going to say anything, was he?
She shook her head at him, as a silent signal that she prayed he’d understand.
We’re done, remember? Done!
He hadn’t wanted to tell anyone about her while they were together, had been just as on board with hiding their temporary relationship from everyone this week as she was. There was no reason to blow everything up now, just because it was uncomfortable having to be in the same place for a few hours after their no-strings fling had ended badly.
Finally, he said, “I had some unexpected things to take care of in San Francisco.”
“I’ll bet you did,” Smith muttered, shooting a look at Nicola.
Smith had been perfectly nice—had actually been flirting outrageously with her—until Marcus had arrived. Since then, every time she looked up he was frowning at her.
Oh no. He couldn’t have figured out that she was the woman Marcus had brought to his house that night, could he?
Up until now, she’d thought the only one who knew about the two of them was their mother. Nicola had been stupendously nervous when she’d finally met Mary. Fortunately, his mother was as fantastic in person as she had been on the phone. And, amazingly, she didn’t allude to Marcus or their obvious affair in any way. Instead, she simply said, “It’s lovely to finally meet you, Nicola,” then welcomed her into the house as if she were part of the family.
But now, as Nicola chewed on the fact that Smith might have figured it out, she could feel her face flaming as she put down the platter. “There’s more to bring out from the kitchen,” she said, wanting nothing more than to escape again.
Unfortunately, Lori said, “No way. You’re our guest. You need to come sit down. I’ll help Mom.”