Solving For Nic by Lexxi Callahan Read Free Book Online Page A

you wish for?
    She swallowed hard on a hysterical laugh. It had all been too much. She’d miscalculated in a big way. She’d wanted him out of her system and all she’d done was make things worse.
    He rolled her to her back then, his gaze skimming over her in the low light. She forced a smile. Then the Rolling Stones started singing “Angie.”
    Nic groaned. “She wouldn’t be calling this late if it wasn’t important. I’ll be right back.”
    He slid out of bed and a few minutes later she could hear him speaking in low tones to his sister. He was speaking in Italian, which Lizzie found oddly endearing. When he ended the call, he didn’t come straight back to bed. She listened to him pour himself a drink in the quiet suite.
    She feigned sleep when he returned and slid back into bed. She tried to stay relaxed as he pulled her into him. The warmth from his body and the strange safety she felt with him curved around her lulled her into a strange place between dreaming and consciousness.
    Later, when she was sure he was asleep, she eased away from him, flinching as the slightest sound echoed through the quiet room.
    Reality hit her as soon as her feet touched the floor. She’d had sex with Nic Maretti. In real life. Not a dream.
    She’d expected to be elated, but she wasn’t sure how she felt.
    Now what?
    Panic?
    He was asleep now, but what about when he woke? What would she say? She didn’t know how to handle the morning-after part.
    Panic was the correct answer and it clawed deep when it hit.
    What if it hadn’t been great for him? She couldn’t face finding out something so important to her was an ordinary hook up for him. She couldn’t stay. She needed to be anywhere else in the world. Her heart and her pride wouldn’t survive an awkward scene.
    She eased out of bed and into her clothes. She could leave a note, but she had no idea what to say. She’d text him later, tell him what a great time she’d had. She fastened the straps on her heels in the elevator on the way down. It wasn’t morning yet. Maybe her bridesmaid dress wouldn’t be too out of place when she walked through the lobby.
    He’d be relieved, she assured herself when a valet put her in a taxi. She was saving him the awkward morning-after scene where they pretended it meant more than it did. He’d want to see her again and she’d say absolutely. Then he wouldn’t call and she would pretend it wasn’t eating her alive. No, she couldn’t. She had school to think about. She had her life all planned. Nic didn’t fit anywhere in her plans. Not that he would want to. She wasn’t his type.
    No. She refused to be sorry about any of this. Now if she could stop crying, things would be perfect.

    Dawn crept through the windows of the hotel suite and his cell phone was buzzing somewhere in the room. Nic didn’t move. He’d been awake for a while, lying in bed with his eyes closed. He couldn’t bring himself to look at the empty pillow next to him. The idea made his stomach clench and all of him ache.
    He wasn’t sure when she’d left. He remembered pulling her tight into his body as she’d gone to sleep safely wrapped in his arms, her even breathing lulling him into an uncharacteristically deep sleep.
    The anger and emptiness churning in his stomach was real. He didn’t like the unfamiliar hollowness slowly expanding in his chest.
    He straightened, swinging his legs around until his feet touched the floor. This was why he had rules. He did not spend the night with his lovers. It gave them the wrong idea.
    But he hadn’t wanted to let Lizzie go. The sex had been amazing. Her lack of experience had been refreshing. He’d wanted to hold her and feel her heart beat while she slept.
    The irony was not lost on him. The girl who made him forget all his rules had walked out on him. It made him feel…foolish and that other thing he refused to deal with. Abandoned .
    No. He pushed out of bed and headed for the shower, anger churning away the other