Page 38 of Love Over Time

She pulled away first. “Let’s go upstairs, darling.” Her voice was pure honey and sin.

We had a plan before, but somewhere between her soft lips and her hips pressing against me, my cock came up with a plan of its own. I swallowed hard and nodded.

She lowered her gaze, a tint of red covering the apples of her cheeks. “For that, you’ll need to release me first.”

I dropped my hands from her waist and stuffed them in my pockets, glad for the tuxedo jacket hiding my erection. She gripped my bicep and ushered me toward the door. The women began their gossiping before we even crossed the threshold, while the men just glared. No doubt they thought we’d left the dance floor to continue our kiss upstairs. I sure as hell wanted to. How was she so calm?

“How about a drink?” She raised an eyebrow.

“What would you like?” I asked.

“French 75,” she said to the bartender. He nodded and reached for a bottle of champagne.

“Whiskey for me,” I added to her order and pulled her to me.

“Watch it.” She stepped back.

“What is it?”

She blew out air and pressed two fingers to her temple. “Nothing. For a moment, I forgot I was allowed to step on the rug.”

She had perfected her Nikki act so much that sometimes I forgot about all the shit she’d had to put up with when she lived at Cavalier Manor, how cruel Francesca was to her and Lisa. I was an asshole for not considering how it would make her feel to return to this place.

I cocked my head to meet her gaze and cradled her neck. “She can’t hurt you anymore. I promise. I won’t let her.”

She cupped my jaw, flashing me one of her Nikki Swift bright smiles. “Are you up for this or not, darling?”

One of these days, we had to find a way to reconcile our feelings, to put the past behind us. We hadn’t gotten a chance to talk about us. Like usual, we’d let our resentment get the best of us, but we still had time. Nikki and I deserved a second chance. She had to know that. Did she not feel it every time we touched? I rubbed my thumb over the dip of her waist, and her breath hitched.

“You’re affected by this as much as I am.”

“It doesn’t matter.” She curled her hand into a fist and pressed it against my stomach to push me away from her.

The bartender set our drinks on the bar and moved on to the next guest. I picked up my glass and sipped, welcoming the warm calm the whiskey sent through my body.

Nikki wrapped her fingers around the champagne flute and met my gaze. “Meet me upstairs.” She practically glided out of Dad’s study as she made her way toward the grand staircase, making polite conversation with the other women also going to the restroom. That was it. Nikki had done her part. If I disappeared now for a few minutes, no one would wonder where I was. I could go upstairs and access the tunnel in Mom’s bedroom. At least that was the tunnel I thought I’d seen in my dream.

I finished my whiskey with one last swig and went upstairs. A few giggles came from the settee below the banister, but they were muffled by my heart thrashing in my ears. In the hallway, to my right, Nikki kept a group of women enthralled in whatever story she was telling them. All this sneaking around wasn’t how I’d wanted to do this, but Jonathan left us no choice. I went left, straight to the bedroom at the end of the corridor. Mom’s room looked exactly the way we’d left it the day Nikki and I broke in. She was really gone. My chest hurt. Breathing hurt.

Ignoring the sour taste in my mouth, I went in her closet and pushed open the hidden door that led to the tunnel, which went from Mom’s room directly into the kitchen. The familiar cool breeze greeted me, a mix of wet dirt and old wood.

In my dream, Mom had stood in a circle of light, maybe a few steps in from the entrance. I ducked under the doorframe, tapping the floor as I went, looking for anything loose along the edge of the wall. Several feet into the tunnel, I spun in place. She’d been standing right here. I walked up and down to gauge the distance and make it match the one in my dream. Had she been hunched or standing tall? Reaching?

I reached, and my hand touched the ceiling before my arm was fully extended. This place had seemed so big when I was little. Then I felt it. A loose brick at the top. Critters crawled over my hand. I shook them off and removed the shards of stone. To my amazement, an envelope fell out. I had no idea what Mom had left here, but I was relieved…relieved because now I knew for certain my dreams were littered with memories. What else had I made myself forget?

“Henry?” Nikki called from Mom’s bedroom. I stuffed the envelope inside my jacket and went back out.

“You were gone a long time. Where did you go?” She sat up on the bed, probably not the best place for her to be right now.

I dusted my pants with my hands and pointed toward the closet. “I wanted to check this passage, see if maybe Mom left any more clues for us.”

“Did you find anything?”

“No. Another bust.” I didn’t want to deal with the Pandora’s box I’d just found. Not when Nikki sat on a bed, in a dark room, away from the crowd. I stepped toward her, aching to touch her exposed legs and see if her skin was as soft as I remembered.

As if reading my thoughts, she jerked to her feet. “We should go. Someone might notice we’ve been gone a long while. You know, longer than necessary.”

“I’m sure there are several people downstairs keeping time. Thanks to you. That was quite a display.”

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