For 100 Days(50)

He smiles as he chews a bite of his Benedict. “I can’t think of a single thing I need to be doing, business or otherwise. Except you, Ms. Ross. Which I mean to take care of just as soon as we finish here. You’re going to need sustenance for all the things I have in mind.”

I feel my cheeks flood with warmth, but I can’t resist teasing him. “Oh, now I see what’s going on here. This amazing meal isn’t so much about impressing me with your culinary skills as it is fueling me up for a marathon in your bed.”

He chuckles, his eyes riveted on me. “Marathon, yes. Without a doubt. The bed is optional.”

I laugh with him, though inside my nerve endings thrum with anticipation. He leans forward to cup the side of my face in his palm, dragging me toward him for a long, slow kiss. Like always with Nick, just the barest touch, the briefest brush of his lips over mine, sends a rush of adrenaline through my veins. I can’t curb my response to him and there’s a part of me that doesn’t even want to try. I melt, I ache, I want . . . always for this man.

“God, you taste good,” he murmurs against my mouth as he deepens his claim. “I could eat you up right here and now.”

Yes. Yes, please, Nick. I start to say it, ready to give in to him—but at that same instant a cell phone trills with an incoming call. Nick’s phone is on the countertop where it’s been since I arrived. It rings again, vibrating against the black granite.

On a low growl, he slowly pulls away from me to glance at the device. I can’t help looking too—just a reflexive flick of my gaze to the name and photo illuminated on the display.

Lily Fontana.

She’s pretty. Jet black hair and milky white skin. A heart-shaped face that I put around my own age. Her smile is confident, her exuberant expression just as lovely as her name.

“I have to take this,” Nick says, holding the phone toward his chest. “Will you excuse me for a minute?”

I nod, because what else can I do? He walks away, into the living room to speak while I try not to feel awkward and out of place in his kitchen.

“Hello, Lily. Word travels fast, I see.” His voice is low, but it carries through the penthouse. “Yes, I got in this morning, actually.”

Although his tone with her is authoritative and firm, there is also a familiarity to their conversation—an intimacy—that kindles an unpleasant jealousy in my gut. I force myself to keep nibbling at my breakfast, even though my mouth feels parched and my stomach feels full for the weight of my disappointment.

“No, you’re right,” he tells Lily. “I should’ve called to let you know my plans had changed.” He listens for another moment, then exhales a short sigh. “Ah, damn. That’s tonight? No, I can’t make it. There are other things that I’ve already committed to do.”

As he says this, he walks back into the kitchen where I’m idly pushing my eggs around my plate. Our gazes connect, but I can’t hold his intense stare. Not while he’s got another woman on the other end of the line, pressing him to be somewhere else instead of with me. A very pretty woman whose face is now seared into my mind.

“I understand, but Mayor Holbrook’s gala is the least of my concerns. Tell him I’m still in London. Hell, tell him to make an appointment with me during business hours like everyone else.” Nick stares at me as he speaks to Lily, and there is no mistaking the sensual heat that’s still present in his eyes—all of it focused on me. “I’m sure there will be other opportunities for him to pick my pocket about the upcoming campaign. Well, what’s he going to do, tie up the permits on the rec center? If he does, I’ll just work around any roadblocks as they come.”

Nick pauses to listen some more, then gives Lily instructions to convey his regrets to the mayor and to shuffle a couple of meetings on his calendar for the week ahead. He ends the call and sets the phone back down on the counter.

“My assistant,” he informs me. “Lily likes to run a tight ship. She’s good at keeping me on track, but I don’t always make it easy on her. Needless to say, she isn’t happy that I cut London short without telling her I was back in the States.”

“Oh.” His assistant. I nod, astonished at the depth of my relief. But I can’t pretend I’m not also aware that he has business obligations waiting for him. Ones that evidently involve rubbing elbows with the city’s elite. I finish off the last swallow of my mimosa, feeling the gap between our two worlds more clearly than ever.

“What is it, Avery?”

I glance up at him, unnerved as always by those penetrating oceanic blue eyes that seem so adept at seeing through me. Seeing past the mask I’ve been able to hold up around everyone else. Nick’s sharp gaze sees too clearly. Still, I attempt to deflect him. “What do you mean?”