Her mother sighed.
“He’ll be here any minute,” she added. “I think you should answer the door.”
Caroline felt a familiar sensation in her stomach. She couldn’t blame her mother. This was a problem of her own making.
She had ignored Brad’s messages during their trip. Even seeing his name on her phone had pulled her out of the cocoon she and Niklas had formed. But when Niklas saw Brad’s message on her screen in the Kauai hotel room, she opened it in front of him.
It was closer to a love note than Caroline had thought Brad was capable of, but she felt nothing except a slight aversion to the idea of seeing him again. Niklas’s feelings had been a little stronger.
Her mother was watching her carefully. Her face softened.
“I’m sorry, Caroline,” she whispered.
The doorbell rang. Caroline walked out of the kitchen and back down the hall to the front door. She took a deep breath and turned the knob. She was going to see Brad, whether she was ready or not.
She opened the door and swallowed hard.
Brad stood in front of her, still dressed in a suit and tie from work, with an enormous bouquet of red roses in his hand. She didn’t like roses, a detail Brad either didn’t remember or decided to ignore.
“Hi, Caroline,” he whispered. He fixed his eyes on her, and his smile grew. “You look beautiful.”
This wasn’t going to be easy. They had spent four years together. Fun years, at least at the beginning. She just didn’t love him. She had told him as much before she left. But seeing her with Niklas would hurt him. He’d try to hurt her back.
Caroline smiled a little. “Thank you.”
He leaned forward for a kiss, but she stepped aside.
“Don’t,” she said, a little harsher than she meant to. He recovered quickly and stepped inside.
“Can I give you these?” he asked, handing her the bouquet.
Caroline sighed. What the hell was the right move here?
“Thanks,” she said, taking the flowers.
“I’ve missed you,” he said. “You left some things back at my place. Jewelry. You can come get it after dinner.”
Why hadn’t she noticed Brad’s methods of getting his way more clearly before? He wanted her to come home with him, and he was trying to lure her there. Always with an agenda, never fully revealing it.
Brad cleared his throat and shut the door behind him.
“Let’s go see your parents,” he said, holding out his hand for her to take it.
No discussion or questions. Nothing about the break she had made with him months ago. Not even, how was your trip? In a matter of minutes, he had just reinserted himself into her life. Or, rather, he thought he had.
Where was the backbone she had found these past months? Caroline stood in her parents’ front hall, holding the bouquet of flowers and listening to Brad trying to push his way back into her life. She could assert herself better than this, couldn’t she?
Caroline looked down at his hand and shook her head. His eyes grew wider, as if this were the last thing he’d imagined she would do. Which said a lot about her, none of it good.
“No, Brad,” she said, deliberately raising her voice. “We’re not going to see my parents. My mother was mistaken when—”
Brad was no longer paying attention to her. His eyes drifted up, over her shoulder, and he stared. She didn’t need to look. She recognized the footsteps. Niklas stopped behind her, his body skimming hers, his heat pulsing through her clothes. His breath caressed her neck, and his hand slipped around her waist.
But Caroline knew better than to call these gestures affection. Niklas had sized up his opponent and carefully chosen his play, all in the few moments it had take him to walk up the dated suburban hallway. He knew competition when he saw it, and as he had mentioned earlier, he worked well under pressure.
Caroline frowned. She wanted to handle this herself. But Niklas had his own agenda.
“You must be Brad,” he said, offering his hand. “Niklas.”
In his bid for the upper hand, Niklas had bet that this was Brad that he faced. He had even chosen his position carefully: on Caroline’s right side, so he could shake hand and keep his arm around her.
She looked up at Niklas and saw a hint of a smile on his face as his guess was confirmed. He kept his gaze steady, focused on Brad, refusing to acknowledge the roses in her hand. He looked relaxed, even amused by the situation. He was good, really good. Even Caroline would have believed the act if he weren’t holding onto her so tightly.
For the first time in Caroline’s memory, Brad opened his mouth, but nothing came out. After a beat, he shut his mouth but continued to stare at Niklas. His brow furrowed briefly, making his own calculations. Then something flashed through his eyes. He shook Niklas’s hand.
“I didn’t catch your last name.”
Caroline stiffened. A hint of recognition. That’s what Caroline had just seen in his eyes—Brad was trying to remember where he had seen Niklas before. He had only a passing interest in hockey, certainly not enough to recognize players’ faces. It was more likely that Brad remembered Niklas from the string of front-page stories covering the abuse accusations.
Back in Stockholm, seeing the photos had hit Caroline hard, even after she knew him. If the photos had been her first impression of Niklas? She might not have given him a chance.
Niklas’s fingers dug into her side, but his face betrayed none of his emotion.
“Niklas Almquist.”
Brad had graduated at the top of his law school class for a reason. He didn’t forget names or other details easily. She caught another flash in his eyes as he made the connection. Then he had the nerve to smile. In that moment, all of Caroline’s murky feeling for Brad gelled into a single assessment: This was a game for Brad, too, but the prize wasn’t Caroline. The prize was winning itself, without regard for who he hurt along the way. Including her.
“Niklas Almquist,” Brad repeated, his voice smooth and easy now. “I thought I recognized something about you.”
Every muscle in her body tensed, on alert for the sly insults waiting on his smiling lips. She knew this man too well. He would go for Niklas where it hurt the most. She shifted to somehow warn Niklas, but he was a step ahead of her. His hand stroked her side, easing her back against his powerful body.
Brad continued his pursuit.
“I’m surprised you’re still here in Detroit. It must be tough getting cut from the Red Wings,” he said. “But then again, a reputation like that is hard to shake.”
His gaze moved to Caroline as he spoke this last sentence. He kept his eyes on her, waiting for a reaction. Niklas’s hand gentled, caressing her, leading her away from her instinct to counterattack. Brad was looking for weakness, and she wasn’t going to show him any.
Niklas took a deep breath.
“It’s tough coming back to Detroit, but for Caroline, I’d do just about anything.”
Niklas finally met her eyes and smiled. This performance in her parents’ front hall was for Brad, but the warmth and tenderness in his gaze told her his words were genuine.
Caroline sighed, letting go of her frustration at being outmaneuvered by Niklas. He had foregone defending his reputation in favor of showing his devotion to her. He had set himself at her feet, right in front of Brad.
The move was a direct hit. Caroline didn’t have to look at Brad to know this. This simple gesture was exactly what Brad would never do for her; he had made this clear when Caroline left for her trip. Brad hadn’t even considered following her. Niklas knew all of this, and he had used it to his advantage. Still, even in this power struggle, Niklas’s affection rang true.
When she looked back at Brad, his veneer of calm cracked. He seemed to sense he had lost this round, but the furrow between his eyebrows suggested he didn’t quite understand how it had happened.
“Nice to finally meet you, Brad,” said Niklas, extendi
ng his hand again. “I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”
Once again, Niklas was on top of his game. If Brad was still considering staying for dinner, Niklas had just revoked the invitation.
Brad seemed to struggle with whether or not he should shake Niklas’s hand. After a brief pause, he reached out his own hand for a quick shake. Caroline hid her smile. Brad was doubtless perceptive enough to understand that a physical challenge in the form of a handshake was pointless against an athlete.
But as she watched the scene unfold before her, she couldn’t let go of the fact that she had so easily stepped out of the ring, letting the men take over. She didn’t want Niklas solving her problems for her.
“We can talk more when you come for your things,” Brad said.
Before she thought better of it, Caroline found herself nodding, as if she were giving out some sort of consolation prize in this battle of wills. Ugh. They all stood silently in her parents’ front hallway. She could almost see Brad’s thoughts as he raced through various exit strategies, calculating the risks of each.
“I’ll call you,” he finally muttered before he turned and walked out.
Caroline stared at the front door as it closed. She looked up at Niklas, but he wasn’t looking at the door. Instead he frowned down at the flowers in her hand.
“That’s the second time I’ve seen some other guy give you flowers in front of me.”
Caroline shrugged.
“There are things I like better from a guy than roses.”
She glared down at the bouquet in her hand.
But her comment didn’t make a dent in Niklas’s expression. She bent down to set the flowers on the floor and stood back up, coaxing his gaze onto her instead.
“You’re right, Niklas,” she said. “You do work well under pressure.”
He raised his eyebrows.
“Brad? That guy can say whatever the hell he wants about me,” he said, resting his hands on her arms. “I thought he was going to go after you,” he added softly. “If he had, I’m not sure I would have been as calm about it.”
That was Brad’s miscalculation, one he would probably never fully understand. Niklas’s weakness wasn’t his own reputation or problems. It was her.
Caroline took a deep breath. “I appreciate your support, but I could have handled Brad myself.”
Niklas pulled back and looked at her, his eyes wide. “Of course I know that. I’m talking to the same woman who put the Greek hotel owner in his place when he double-charged us, aren’t I?”
Caroline felt the corners of her mouth turn up. Niklas laced his hand through her hair at the base of her neck.
“Caroline, I came out because I had to see the guy you spent the last four years with,” he said gently. “Not because I didn’t think you could handle him.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and urged him down for a kiss, but he broke it off quickly.
“Your parents,” he whispered. “I’m not sure this will make the best first impression. And I don’t think your mother is my biggest fan. Yet.”
Caroline laughed and released him, letting her hands drift over his broad shoulders, down his hard biceps and around his waist.
“Did you tell my father you play hockey?”
Niklas nodded but didn’t say anything.
“Well? How did he take it?”
“Fine.”
Caroline raised her eyebrows and stared at him.
“I’d rather not go into detail,” Niklas added.
She glared at him. “You know you’re only making me more curious, don’t you?”
“All right,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I made it clear I was getting out of hockey. I told him that if we were to take our relationship further, I had more than enough money to take care of you, no matter what we do next.”
“What?” said Caroline, dropping her hands from his arms. “That makes me feel a bit like an animal up for auction. We don’t even know what’s happening next week.”
Caroline took a couple short breaths, and Niklas looked at the floor.
“I thought you might say something like that,” he said.
Caroline gave him an exasperated sigh. He took a deep breath and met her eyes again.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with us,” he said quietly. “But your father really wants to know you’ll be okay.”
Caroline shook her head.
“No. He wants me to get married and have someone else to take care of me. Basically do what my mother did. Get married, settle down. Preferably with Brad. That’s probably why I stayed with Brad so long—I was trying to be a good daughter. But I’m done with that.”
“So you bought a ticket and left town to be on your own for a bit?”
“Yep.”
Niklas leaned his forehead on hers.
“And then I came along and ruined it?” he asked.
She heard an apology behind his teasing.
She tried to soften her voice. “I just need to do some things on my own. I wouldn’t be happy if my whole life were dependent on you, and I don’t think you would be, either.”
Niklas nodded slowly.
“I agree, Caroline. But we can sort that out for ourselves,” he said. “What I said to your father—that was for him. That’s what he needed to hear from me.”
He found her hand and covered it with his. Caroline let out her breath. They could work this out later.
“Okay,” she said. “My parents are probably trying to listen in from the kitchen right now.”
He smirked. “If they are, it’ll save us some explaining.”
As if on cue, her mother walked down the hall toward them, followed by her father.
“Where’s Brad?” she asked.
“He didn’t stay,” Caroline answered.
Niklas bent down and picked up the bouquet off the floor.
“But he brought you some flowers,” he said.
Her mother’s eyes widened, and her father repressed a laugh. Finally, Caroline detected a hint of a smile on her mother’s lips.
“Just for me? How thoughtful of him,” she said. “Shall we eat?”
Chapter 6
CAROLINE FROWNED WHEN they pulled up at a market on the drive home. Between the dinner with her parents and the time change, she was ready for sleep.
“I’ll be right back,” said Niklas as he jumped out of the car, not bothering to wait for her response.
She leaned back into the plush seat and sighed. They had survived dinner. Niklas was right: He performed well under pressure. Unfortunately, her own performance left something to be desired. Standing in her parents’ front hall with Brad at the door, she had felt the uncomfortable pull of her old life. If she hadn’t met Niklas, would she have followed Brad back to his place? “For her jewelry?” Or would she have found a way to handle him on her own terms?
Her car door opened, interrupting these thoughts before they grew darker. Niklas offered her his hand to step out. He closed the door behind her and led her around to the back of the car. Gently, he leaned her against the trunk. He placed his hands on the car, one on each side of her, so that their bodies almost touched. His lips met hers for a soft, warm kiss. He rested his cheek against hers and whispered, “I have something for you.”
She looked around at the quiet parking lot. “Here?”
Niklas glanced around, too, and chuckled. “Not so romantic, I guess, but it will have to do.”
He kissed her again and straightened up.
“Wait here,” he said and reached down around the driver’s side of the car for something on the ground. He reappeared with a long, slim, white bouquet in his hand.
“Calla lilies,” she said, smiling a little.
Niklas wrinkled his forehead for a second.
“Is that what these are called?” he asked. “I just thought they looked like your type of flower. I hope I’m right.”
Caroline nodded.
“They’re beautiful. They grow around my grandparents’ place in Mexico,” she said. She took the flowers in one hand and searched for the belt loops of his jeans with the other. “You didn’t have to get me flowers just because Brad did.”
Niklas stared down at her. “And that little shit in Stockholm, whatever his name was.”
“Yes, Ludvig, too,” she said. “But it’s not a competition, Niklas.”
“I hope not,” Niklas chuckled. “I thought I already won.”
When she glared up at him, his smile grew wider.
“Joking,” he whispered.
She gave him a little shove, trying to hide her smile, but he caught her and pulled her closer. She set the flowers on the trunk of the car and wrapped her arms around his neck. His large body pressed against hers, and their lips almost touched.
“Thank you,” she said.
Her voice came out huskier than she had intended. She strained to close the last distance between their mouths, their lips brushing together.
“I don’t want you to think that there’s another guy out there who would do more for you than I would.”
“I already know that, Niklas. No flowers required.”
His eyes crinkled at the corners as he took in her words. His head dipped down to hers, tasting. He took his time, kissing her slowly, with the warmth and tenderness of finding each other again. Relief rushed through her body as it relaxed into his. Niklas broke off the kiss and eased her head against his chest, stroking her hair.
“We made it through out first day in Detroit,” he said, his muscles relaxing against her.
Caroline sighed.
“I still would have felt better handling Brad by myself,” she said quietly, “to prove to myself that I have some backbone, that I can speak up for myself.”
Niklas lifted an eyebrow. “Do you really need to prove this to yourself?”
He sounded genuinely incredulous, and when she didn’t answer right away, he added, “Because you had no problem busting my balls all summer. It’s one of the things I like about you.”
Okay, that felt a little better. But was she still that same person she had been all summer? After the evening at her parents’, she wasn’t sure. Niklas sounded less doubtful.
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