Page 61 of Vistaria Has Fallen
“You are not superstitious?”
“I thought I was a realist. You are teaching me otherwise.” Before she couldrespond or untangle his meaning, he hugged her tightly, holding still for a breathless moment. She closed her eyes and enjoyed his scent and the heat of his flesh against her cheek and chest. It was a moment she knew would stay with her forever.
Then he let her go and lifted her up and onto her feet. She sighed at the loss of contact.
He picked up her hands. “Realism says we must eat soon andI’m sure you would sell your soul for a shower, yes?”
“Yes!”
He tugged on her hand. “Come.”
She followed him from the dining room. His wide, bare shoulders were complemented by a lean, muscled back and tight waist and hips. He did not have the distorted size and shape of a dedicated body builder, yet he clearly worked his body hard.
The house was made almost entirely of glass between the blackpillars and beams. Natural light flooded the house, warming the tiles underfoot and feeding the tubs of plants.
Nick led her into a spacious bedroom. A thick Persian carpet covered the tiles, and a low bed with a dark green quilt nestled right up against the glass wall. The floor of the room lay at the same level as the ground outside, making the room part of the glade.
On the other side ofthe room another door was set in the only solid part of the wall. Nick crossed over to open it. A bathroom, she realized, when she stepped inside. It was a bathroom with a difference. The wall with the door held the essential plumbing and equipment—sink, toilet, cabinetry. Opaque glass blocks, that had a showerhead and taps inset, made up the far half of the wall to the left. The rest of the room,all of it, was clear glass walls. Thundering down the mountainside, directly outside the wall, was the waterfall she had seen earlier. It was close enough that spray landed against the wall from the impact of the water at the bottom of the stream.
Nick turned on the shower, then tested the water.
“It’s...stunning,” Calli managed.
He glanced over his shoulder at her. “I never tire of it,” headmitted. “I built the house with this one room in mind and the rest just formed around it.” He flicked water at her. “Nice and warm,” he promised.
She undid the leather thong that held her braid and shook out her hair.
Nick watched with narrowed eyes. She had seen that expression before, when she had done something that jolted him into a new perspective that gave him pause for thought.
“Youlook wild, with your hair loose,” he said. “Why do you tie it up all the time?”
“At home, it’s to keep a professional image. Here, it’s because of the color.” She stripped and stepped into the spray of water and gasped at the heavenly warmth.
Nick frowned.
“Too much realism for you, Nick?” she asked.
His frown deepened. “For this moment, yes,” he said. He removed the last of his own clothingand stepped into the water. He wrapped his arms around her and she felt his head rest against hers. He sighed.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I shouldn’t be so practical.”
“Don’t apologize. I’m the fool, trying to leave the world at the door.”
“You can do that,” she assured him. “We can be what we want, no limits, just for this short while and the rest of the world can go hang. Then after,you can get on with your life and I’ll be safely back in the States.”
“Okay,” he said heavily.
* * * * *
Nick left the bathroom before her, explaining that he wanted to start dinner. When she emerged later, wrapped in a big bath sheet, she found her backpack sitting on the end of the bed. Next to it lay a white glossy box.
She walked over to the bed and rummaged through her backpack. She glancedat the box curiously.
“I saw it in my dreams,” Nick said from behind her.
She whirled. He wore blue jeans and a black sweater. Unlike the business suits and shirts she had seen him until now, the sweater emphasized his shoulders.
“What was in your dreams?” she asked.
