Nic

by J. M. Stewart

  “Jesus.”

  His whispered, panic-filled curse cut through the roaring blood in her ears, but the strike never came.

  “Open your eyes, Sarah. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  A soft click drifted from somewhere in the distance, and the room flooded with light, snapping the darkness shut. Her mind still in a fog, she opened her eyes and dropped her hands to her lap.

  Across the room, wearing a white T-shirt and navy pajama bottoms, Nic stood beside the bedroom door, his chest heaving. He had one arm wrapped around Ella, who clung to his left thigh. Lacey had one arm wrapped around his hips. Both girls peered at her with eyes wide as saucers.

  The fear on Lacey’s face brought her screeching back to reality, and the last vestiges of Anna’s dream evaporated. Her nightmares had returned. She hadn’t had one since she left Los Angeles two weeks ago. When Tony had found her.

  The terror released its hold on her chest as she stared at Lacey. Her daughter clung to a man she didn’t know but who made her feel safer than her own mother.

  “Oh God.” Anna drew a shuddering breath, her tears renewing themselves and dripping one by one down her cheeks.

  Lacey moved from behind Nic, hurling herself onto the bed and into her arms.

  Anna hugged her tightly, kissing the top of her head, and stroked her back in an effort to soothe the fear she’d caused. “Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry.”

  Lacey peered up at her, her little brow furrowed with concern. “Did you dream about Daddy again?”

  Almost six years old and her sweet baby girl had already seen more in her life than she should have.

  “Yeah, I did. I’m so sorry.” Anna looked up. Nic now had Ella in his arms, both of them staring at the bed with wide, shell-shocked eyes. She shook her head. “How did you even get in here?”

  His expression softened, the sympathy in his gaze threatening to unravel her. “It took a lot to convince her, but Lacey let me in.”

  Lacey. Anna’s heart stuttered. He knew her daughter’s name. She distinctly hadn’t introduced them, she never did, which meant Lacey had told him herself. It said a lot about his character if her daughter had trusted him in a terrifying moment.

  She glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand. 2:47 AM. She’d woken him in the middle of the night and terrified his daughter. He’d probably thought someone had broken into his house, and no doubt now regretted helping her.

  She dropped her gaze to her lap as her cheeks caught fire. “I’m sorry for all of this. I’ll understand if you want me to leave.”

  Nic remained silent, and seconds ticked out. She wanted to look at him, but the idea of what she’d find on his face terrified her. When the bed shifted, she jerked her gaze up. Nic had crossed the room and now perched on the edge of the mattress. His large form beside her ratcheted up her heartbeat a notch, more out of instinct than actual fear. He held her gaze, seemingly unperturbed.

  “I’m not asking you to leave.” With Ella seated on his lap, he reached out to stroke Lacey’s back. “Sweetheart, why don’t you come with me? You can sleep with Ella in her room. I’d like to talk to your mom for a bit. Would that be okay with you?”

  She didn’t know what to expect from her daughter at this point, but Lacey nodded.

  Nic pushed to his feet and held out his hand, meeting Anna’s gaze over Lacey’s head. “I’m going to put them to bed. Why don’t you meet me in the kitchen? It’s downstairs to the right.”

  He didn’t wait for her answer but took Lacey’s hand and led both girls out of the room.

  Five minutes later, Anna leaned back against the counter in the kitchen. She couldn’t seem to stop shaking, and her mind was going in circles. Nic would no doubt have questions she didn’t want to answer.

  She turned to pace another direction, almost tripping over the small dog asleep on the dark floor. The two of them followed her down here and promptly took a seat at her feet. Having apparently found her boring, they lay down and went to sleep. The smallest of the two, a black and tan Chihuahua, opened an eye and grumbled.

  “Sorry, boy.” She smiled down at him then turned to take in the space around her. The kitchen wasn’t what she’d expected. Being a wealthy restaurant owner whose brother worked as the head chef, she’d expected a professional kitchen. One of those huge stoves with ten burners, miles of counter space and stainless steel everywhere.

  Instead, soft earth tones warmed the space. The walls were the color of coffee laden with cream, the polished wooden floor and the cabinets a lovely contrast of black coffee. The kitchen could easily fit three or four adults at one time, much larger than the barely-bigger-than-a-closet sized spaces she’d always had. A simple smooth-top stove stood on one wall, along with a two-door refrigerator littered with pictures and alphabet magnets that spelled E-L-L-A. Lush, green houseplants dotted the counter. The space came complete with a center island and a couple of stools. Homey, like the rest of the house.

  The people who must have lived here were her fantasy of the perfect family. For sure they’d laughed and teased each other as they made dinner together. The way it ought to be. She wanted that kind of life for Lacey.

  She turned, intending to head for the large picture windows overlooking the backyard, only to come up short. Nic stood in the kitchen entrance, leaning a shoulder against the arched frame, his arms folded. He was so big he filled the entire doorway, but it was his calm expression that increased the hammering of her heart. Whenever Tony got that look, good things never followed. It had always been the calm before the storm.

  “Care to tell me what happened? When I finally got inside your room, I’m not sure who your daughter was more afraid of, you or me. Took quite a lot to get her to trust me enough to let me approach you.”

  She folded her arms, needing something to do with her shaking hands, and looked down at the floor, following the lines of the wood with her eyes. “I haven’t had one of those in a while. I’m so sorry I frightened your daughter.”

  “Who is it I remind you of?”

  Anna jerked her gaze to his. Of everything she’d expected him to say, that soft-spoken question hadn’t been one of them. To top it off, he had a knowing look on his face, like he saw too much. Her heart pounded from the vicinity of her throat.

  “You took one look at me sitting on the bed beside you and couldn’t get away fast enough. I might have put it off as having caught you in the middle of a bad dream, but you’ve looked at me like that twice now. Something about me makes you afraid.”

  He pushed away from the doorway, and on instinct, she flinched and scooted back into the counter as far as she could. He was right. He was about the same size as Tony, and right now, her nerves were frayed to the limit.

  Nic halted two steps away. His eyes widened slightly before he recovered himself. He held up his hands. “Honey, I’m not going to hurt you, but I’m guessing someone has. Am I right?”

  Her heart lurched. She couldn’t tell him. She couldn’t. Hers and Lacey’s lives might very well depend on it. Tony would find them, and she wouldn’t bring that horror to this beautiful little town, to his daughter.

  When she didn’t answer, he started in her direction again, his steps casual but cautious. His gaze never once left hers. He stared at her like he expected her to bolt from the room, which wasn’t far from the truth.

  He finally came to a stop in front of her but didn’t touch her. “Would you like some tea?”

  Tea? At three in the morning? Caught off guard, she blinked, then gave a slight shake of her head. “I’m sorry?”

  “Tea.” He crossed to the stove, picked up a small, red teapot, and moved to the sink, shooting her a smile as he filled the kettle. “It calms my nerves after a hectic day. I’m guessing yours are shot right about now.”

  She folded her arms across her stomach. “I’ve completely upset your entire night.”

  He turned on the burner beneath the teapot, pulled two mugs off a round rack, and up-righted them. He then opened a cab
inet and pulled out a yellow box of chamomile tea, setting a bag in each cup. When he finished, he turned and leaned back against the counter. “Oh, you scared me, I’ll give you that. I thought someone had broken into the house. It doesn’t happen often around here.”

  She dropped her gaze, her trembling, nervous fingers toying with the edge of her faded T-shirt. “I’m really sorry. I must be making quite the impression on you.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  Did she? With everything inside of her. She also yearned for warm arms to crawl into and a place she’d feel safe. She ached to give Lacey what these people had found. Would she, though? “No, but thank you.”

  He’d been kind to them. He deserved more, but her daughter’s safety depended on her keeping the secret. Tony had gotten a little too close last time. She couldn’t let it happen again, and that meant keeping her secrets to herself.

  The problem was, the softness in his gaze called to a long dead part of her, a place she’d walled off a long time ago. Deep down inside lived a little girl with a heart full of romantic dreams, of a knight on a white horse, who’d come rescue her. Dreams of waking from the hell she’d become imprisoned in.

  It didn’t help any that the entire kitchen filled with his scent. God, he smelled good. Tony had always reeked of alcohol and the spicy cologne he practically bathed in. Nic smelled of soap and warm, sleepy male. The muscles of his arms bunched and shifted as he moved and unruly butterflies took flight in her stomach, like she was a giddy high school girl face to face with a crush.

  “You have to trust somebody sometime.”

  Another softly spoken but blunt observation that left her dangling off the edge of a cliff, vulnerable and uncertain. It unnerved her he seemed to be able to read her so well. It unnerved her he even wanted to.

  Three years on her own were clearly getting to her.

  “No. I don’t. It could get my daughter killed.” As he lived and breathed, Tony would use her love for Lacey against her. Or he’d simply kill Anna, leaving their daughter with a man who’d make her life miserable. He could easily bury Anna’s body, and nobody would be the wiser. Nor would anybody care. She had no family, no distant relatives. If she disappeared, nobody would search for her or even fight for her. She was 100 percent totally alone.

  “Not under my watch, it won’t.”

  The steely bite to Nic’s words wrapped around her. They suggested romantic notions like, you’re safe with me and I’ll protect you, and oh how she ached to believe him.

  Her frayed nerves finally snapped. She jerked around to face him. “What are you, some sort of Boy Scout? I appreciate your kindness. I really do. I can never repay you. But I don’t need you to fix me. I’m fine on my own. What I need from you is a job. My daughter and I will be out of your house in the morning.”

  Without waiting for a reply, she shoved away from the counter and stalked from the room. She needed to get away from him. His chivalry made her want more from this life than what she’d become trapped in. She longed for nothing more than to cross the space and push herself into his arms, for the safety those eyes promised she’d find there. Something about Nic made her want to trust him. Some part of her instinctively already did and it left her shaking in her shoes.

  Chapter Three

  Nic pushed the spatula through the scrambled eggs sizzling in the pan. Dino and Rocco sat like little vultures at his feet, waiting for any scraps he might drop on the floor.

  “You should come see my Unca Luc. He’s got a doggie. Bwuce. He likes to play fetch. Do you like doggies?”

  Across the kitchen, Ella babbled at Lacey. Nic glanced to Nonna’s ancient mahogany table, where both girls had spread out coloring books and crayons. Ella’s long-winded story about Luc’s dog, Bruce, did little to get a response from Lacey. Quiet, so much like her mother. Her sad eyes suggested she’d seen too much in her short life. It filled him with questions he didn’t know if he wanted answers to.

  Sarah hadn’t come down yet. Not surprising considering how late they were up. He hadn’t slept worth a damn last night, had lain in the dark, staring at the shadowy ceiling above him. The look on Sarah’s face when he’d finally gotten into her room had haunted him. He would never forget the terror in her eyes when he approached the bed, or the way she’d scrambled to get away from him like he was going to slit her throat.

  It could get my daughter killed.

  Someone had obviously hurt her. Domestic abuse happened in rampant numbers. The thought of a man raising his fists to her, or, God forbid, Lacey, made him yearn with everything inside of him to find the son of a bitch responsible for the fear written in their entire demeanors and give him a taste of his own medicine.

  His heart thumped a dull beat in his chest. He hadn’t quite picked up the pieces of the wreck his ex-wife had made of his heart. Neither he nor Ella needed to get involved with a woman who had complicated written all over her. And yet…

  He didn’t have the strength or the will to push Sarah out of his house. God forbid someday Ella end up in Sarah’s position. If she did, he hoped like hell someone would reach out to her as well.

  The back of his neck prickled with the sensation of being watched. Dino let out a low growl, and Nic darted a glance over his shoulder. Sarah stood in the kitchen entrance, hands fisted at her sides, back ramrod straight.

  He shot her a smile, hoping to set her at ease. “Morning. I hope you’re hungry, ’cause I actually cooked.”

  She stared at him, her expression blank and unreadable, but didn’t say anything. So far, he’d figured out she held her cards close to her chest. Was that natural for her? Or something the asshole in her life had taught her?

  He turned off the burner and busied himself with divvying out the eggs between the four plates he’d set out earlier. “I’m a nice guy. Someday, you’ll realize I’m telling you the truth and not feeding you a line. We’re a rare breed, but there are a few of us left in the world. Grab a cup of coffee and have a seat. Breakfast is ready.”

  He tucked a piece of toast and a couple strips of bacon onto each plate and carried two of them to the table, setting one in front of each of the girls.

  “T’anks, Daddy.” Ella smiled up at him then turned to Lacey, beaming with pride. “My daddy’s a good cook.”

  “Eat up, ladies.”

  He normally didn’t do the whole big breakfast thing. Being from Italy, Nonna had always served a more continental breakfast: pastries and muffins from the bakery in town or toast with jam and orange juice. But Sarah and Lacey needed all the help they could get. He had an awful feeling Sarah had sacrificed one too many meals so Lacey could eat. She was the kind of thin so popular in models these days. The unhealthy kind.

  He turned to head back to the stove. Sarah hadn’t moved an inch, but as his gaze met hers, she lifted her chin and padded to the coffee maker. There, she pulled a mug from the rack on the counter and filled it. When he came to a stop beside her at the sink, she flinched.

  Determination swelled inside of him like a locomotive pushing him forward. Maybe he’d regret it at some point in the future, but he couldn’t handle watching her cringe every time he came near her. She deserved to know not all men would hurt her.

  He held out his palm. “May I have your hand?”

  She turned slowly toward him. Her gaze dropped to his extended hand then rose to meet his. Those ice-blue eyes scanned his face, but she didn’t move otherwise. Nic simply waited. He’d had enough animals over the years to know if they were scared, you let them approach you. Right then, Sarah reminded him of a terrified dog who’d been beaten.

  “…and you should meet Alyssa. You’ll like her…”

  Talking around her mouthful, Ella’s quiet babbling filled the silence that rose over the room, but the small space surrounding the stove filled with a palpable tension. After several seconds, Sarah squared her shoulders and set her palm on his. She didn’t grasp it, nor had she stopped trembling, but she’d taken his hand nonetheless.

/>   He set his other hand on top, met her gaze, hoping she’d find whatever she searched for in his, and lowered his voice. “You flinch when I come near you. I hate knowing I scare you. I don’t know who hurt you…”

  A soft pink flush rose in her cheeks, confirming his suspicions. She opened her mouth, but he shook his head, halting the words before she could say them.

  He tightened his grip on her fingers, enjoying too much the feel of her hand in his. “I’m not going to ask. When you’re ready, you’ll tell me. But you have my promise. I have never in my life raised my hand to a woman, nor will I ever. If you ask me, any man who does is a coward. I will never hurt you.”

  She shook her head, dropping her gaze to the floor. “I can’t guarantee I’ll ever be able to get there. Trust doesn’t come easily for me.”

  He flashed a smile. If he played his cards right, it would lighten her load, even if only a bit. “I don’t expect it to. I intend to prove it. To earn it. All I ask is you give me the chance. I’d also like to make you an offer.”

  She hesitated before nodding. “Okay.”

  “As long as you need the room, it’s yours. Since my gut tells me it’s a matter of pride for you—”

  She shook her head, took a step back, and pulled her hand away. “I appreciate your kindness, but I need to earn my own way.”

  He nodded but caught her hand again, refusing to allow her to retreat any farther. “You can pay me three hundred a month in rent. Ella and I moved in here when Nonna died last year. Luc and I grew up in this house. I can’t bear the thought of parting with it, but the place is too big for Ella and me. No pressure, but promise me you’ll think about it, okay?”

  When she gave a gentle nod, he released her hand and stepped back. At the very least, she wasn’t shaking anymore. A step in the right direction.

  “Can you keep an eye on the girls while I shower? Go ahead and eat, then the shower is all yours. I’m usually into the office by nine. You can come with me. Julie and Beth usually show up about ten.” More positive than he’d been when he woke this morning, he pivoted on his heel, striding toward the kitchen exit.