Page 22

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

F lushing his life down the drain? Who was she to tell him that? She’d run away from anything resembling an issue – or a commitment.

If you couldn’t commit, where could you be in your life? Drifting from one thing to another, alone…

‘Are you happy alone?’ He shook his head. ‘Even introverts need someone to rely on.’

‘Technology is something we can depend on. If we rely on someone else to sustain us… Robert, we aren’t set in stone or made of concrete. We’re bound to come and go. If everything you are depends on this other person, you become so fickle.’

Dickheadson’s words came to him then. The one thing his boss had said that had been true. Oh so bloody true. Robert had been a shite husband.

He placed his elbows on his knees. ‘It’s commitment that ensures we each hold ourselves responsible and go the extra mile. When Anne wasn’t happy, I was supposed to level up and give her the comfort she needed. I failed. I was a bad husband. And the only thing I can do now is find her justice. So I’m going to do it. Because I committed to her. And I hold that commitment to a high standard. I don’t run away.’

‘You make yourself miserable. She’s gone . It’s time to move on.’

Robert jerked his head towards her. ‘Excuse me? I lost my wife !’

‘You did.’ Nina nodded. ‘Yet here you are. Instead of grieving, you’re trying to find her killer. Even when you’ve been told it was an accident. What if it was an accident?’ Nina waved her hands. ‘Have you thought about that?’

Robert fisted his hands. He knew Anne. They didn’t have secrets. He might not have been there for her, but they hadn’t been so far apart that they didn’t know each other. ‘She had no reason to be there in the middle of the night.’

‘Why would someone hurt her? Did you stop and even think what motive I might’ve had to kill her? I think your mirror has cracked and you can’t see what’s clearly staring back at you.’

Before he knew what he’d done, Robert had taken Nina’s shoulders in a tight grip. ‘Shut up.’

Instead of shoving him away, Nina smirked at him. ‘You wouldn’t be angry if you didn’t agree with me.’

‘Like I don’t know you, you don’t know anything about my marriage.’ Nor did she, apparently, understand what love or marriage even meant. She was a vagabond going through life with a fucking backpack.

‘I know your marriage wasn’t perfect, otherwise you wouldn’t be here, doing the things you’ve been doing. I saw you with Billy. You’re inherently good. You want to help, save others. I’ve met people like you. You wouldn’t have gone against the institution you spent fifteen years of your life serving – on sick leave or otherwise – to find out what happened that night. You just said you weren’t a good husband. So now you’re projecting that guilt into solving a case that might not even exist.’

‘What are you? A people reader? After spending so much of your time avoiding people, you think you know them?’ He had to get up, leave. This woman was driving him crazy. They couldn’t have been more dissimilar. And yet her words held some truth.

Robert rose from the sofa and stalked to the window. Sometime after she’d returned, Nina had drawn the curtains. It held some of the cold at bay.

He couldn’t see outside, and he didn’t need to. All that kept flashing in front of his eyes was Anne’s tear-streaked face after that second miscarriage. And then him turning his back on her.

Could what Nina said hold some truth to it? Was he lying to himself? Looking for someone to blame for Anne’s death when the simple explanation was they had grown too far apart? Maybe she’d met someone who was truly there for her and she’d died in that fire because… her lover had also been there. Or she’d been at the club to let loose, despite how adamant he’d been that it wasn’t the sort of place she’d go.

He didn’t know because he’d stopped being there for Anne when he’d left her weeping in their flat. When he’d taken the night shifts.

Robert crossed his arms over his chest. ‘I’m there for everyone except Anne.’

A hand landed on his shoulder. ‘Robert?—’

He dug into his pocket and handed his wallet to Nina. ‘Open it.’

Nina frowned but flapped the slim leather case open. She gasped when she saw her picture inside, taken from one of the CCTV shots. ‘Why do you have my picture in your wallet?’

‘Finn asked me that. Anne didn’t want me carrying a picture of her in my wallet. After the honeymoon, I stopped pushing the matter. Maybe the truth is that Anne and I had grown so far apart that there was no going back for us. I barely shed tears at her funeral. I just thought if I avenged her death that there would be some explanation for it, that I’d right all my wrongs.’

Nina was still staring at her photograph. Then she snapped the wallet shut and dropped it into his pocket. ‘In this life, we’re alone. We aren’t otters or wolves.’

Robert sighed, his heart thudding now for an entirely different reason. Perhaps she was right. They were ships adrift at sea, floating side by side until the waves inevitably pushed them apart.

He reached for her just as she did for him. Her hands fisted the lapels of his coat; he looped his arms around Nina’s waist and smashed her to him.

Their lips met in a frantic dance, just like they had in the alley. He hungered for her, craved her taste. Spice and fire – that’s what she tasted like.

He angled his mouth and nibbled at her lower lip. Nina groaned and gave him his way.

Robert’s hands slid down her back, over the softness of the leather coat she wore everywhere, then to her arse. He squeezed, earning another moan from her lips.

‘Robert.’ She kissed the spot between his lips and cheek, then his jaw. Her hands found the zip of his jacket and pulled it down.

His hands fell away when she stepped back. When the zipper unlocked from its holder, Nina gazed up at him, the question in her eyes so evident, she needn’t have spoken it aloud.

Was he sure about this?

Robert bobbed his head once and reached for Nina’s coat. Within a minute, they were both shivering at the sudden chill cooling their skins. Then Robert wrapped his fingers around Nina’s wrists and tugged, and she tumbled into him, her palms flat on his chest.

She must’ve felt the pace of his heart thump, thump, thumping so fast because in the next instant, Nina had clutched his T-shirt and ripped it over his head. Robert had no clue how she’d managed it, considering they were wrapped up in each other.

Once again, he swooped down, this time grabbing her arse and lifting her. Their lips fused together again, and Nina gripped his hair, smashing them so close, Robert could barely breathe.

He backed away from the windows, even if the curtains were drawn. Besides, he wasn’t going to fit on the sofa, and they weren’t a pair of teenagers.

When Nina lost her own T-shirt, he almost stumbled. If the woman was gorgeous before, she was stunning now. Her smooth skin exuded warmth, the sort you felt when snuggled under a fuzzy blanket. He broke their kiss and bent his head to press a kiss at the spot right between her neck and shoulder.

Nina shivered, a giggle escaping her lips.

Robert smiled and pecked that spot again. Again, she jerked, pressing her thighs further into his sides.

Robert placed an open-mouthed kiss on her collarbone, trailing up, up, up until he found her earlobe. ‘You’re incredible.’

Nina tugged at his hair, urging him to turn. She kissed him before pulling away. There was a joyful glint in her eyes. And too much awareness.

Tonight, he’d make her forget.

Robert picked up his pace, all but striding into the bedroom. He hadn’t been in here before. Nina had made the bed and drawn the curtains.

He grinned at her, and when she reciprocated, Robert dropped her on the bed. She bounced, her arms falling wide apart.

Before she could so much as protest, Robert pounced.

That cream bra accentuated her rich skin tone. He licked a vein skirting the top of her breast and caught the first taste of her skin. Delectable. Then he nipped at the soft swell of her breast.

She moaned, arching her back. He kissed the spot between her breasts and found another vein to chase. He bit; she squirmed.

‘Robert, please, let’s— Oh!’

Robert grinned. So she was sensitive, eh? He kissed the warmth of her belly, the softness of her belly button and then reached the barrier of her trousers. A smirk formed on his lips. ‘I don’t think you need these.’ He twisted the fastener of her trousers free and peeled them off her.

When his gaze found her lying there underneath him in nothing but her bra and panties, his dick hardened.

Nina snapped her legs closed, pushing off the bed. ‘I… I wasn’t prepared for a date. I?—’

He shut her up in the best way possible – with a kiss. Wrapping her in his arms, he pressed kisses to her lips, cheeks, nose, eyes and forehead. ‘You’re so gorgeous, I can’t find the words.’

She found his trouser zip, and he helped her discard them. But when she reached for the elastic of his pants, he stilled her fingers then lifted them up and pressed kisses to her knuckles. Then gave her another peck on the lips. ‘You sure, baby?’

Nina groaned. ‘Get naked and quit asking me that.’

In the next moment, Robert lost his pants and pumped his cock, much to his lover’s befuddlement. ‘I— Oh wow.’

Nothing like a starstruck woman to bolster a man’s ego. ‘Why, thank you.’

Nina narrowed her eyes. ‘You’ve got the tools, but it still remains to be seen if you can actually use them well.’

‘I’ll show you well.’

She squealed when he pushed her back into the mattress, this time pinning her down with his weight. He found the clasp of her bra and freed her gorgeous breasts. Finally, finally he found her nipples. Brown, beautiful, inviting. He groaned at the feel of her; massaged his hands up and down her torso as he feasted.

She bucked and then wrapped her legs around him, begging him to come closer, to let her taste him.

Robert gripped her panties and pulled them away to find her wet and needy. She jerked off the bed when he kissed her there. If he’d thought she was hot before, this sent him over the edge.

Glorious. Incredible.

‘Please, Robert. Now, please. I can’t – can’t…’

It had been long enough for him that he couldn’t wait either. He snatched up his wallet and found the one condom he carried in it. Hell, he hadn’t even bought that one for himself. But it fit, and it hadn’t expired. Thank God. He didn’t know what he’d do if it had.

Nina snatched the packet from him, a grin on her face. ‘Lie down.’

‘As if.’ He reached out to grab the packet, but she swatted his hand away.

Then she reached out and massaged his cock, rubbing her thumb over the head. He dropped his head at that sensation. ‘Don’t toy with me.’

‘Oh, I intend to.’ Her lips closed around his member.

‘Fuck, Nina!’ He cupped her face. ‘Later, baby. Please.’

If he’d wanted to see the haze in her eyes before, he found it now. But he knew it was just a mirror of what lay in his own. He was drunk on her, salivating for her.

When she finally rolled the condom on, he cradled her shoulders and laid her down – then, angling himself against her centre, pushed home.

They both moaned together, then he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her lips. Nina shifted under him, wrapping her legs around his waist.

The motion caused him to slip further into her. Another moan. To kill him off, she squeezed him. Fuck!

Well, he could play too. Robert found her clit and pressed down.

‘Oh, Robert!’

He smirked then moved his hand so it cupped her arse.

Nina wiggled under him. ‘I see you’ve got a preference.’

‘When it comes to you, I’m still deciding what that is.’ He nipped at her left breast then began to move.

Nina pressed her head into the mattress and matched him thrust for thrust. The tension welled up. She was good, and so tuned in to her own sensuality… It coaxed his own pleasure higher.

He loved it. He loved how she knew what she liked; he loved how, for once, she was letting him in, letting him explore. Wrapped around him, saying she wanted him, needed him. He found her clit and rubbed circles. She bucked, her walls clenching around him.

The tension reached a crescendo then, and they let go together, each shouting the other’s name as the tidal wave carried them, letting them surf and then drown in each other.

Robert fell beside Nina, panting. Their eyes met, and Nina leaned in, pressing a kiss to his lips. ‘I think you’re a great carpenter.’