Wandering with You ✔️

Chapter 26.3

Thomas made her forget about Khai, but not her money.

"Come back to bed," he said to her, reaching out with a slim white hand.

A split-second before he caught her, Nadia darted away. She bent down to grab her track pants off the floor and hiked them up.

"I don't think I can sleep yet," she said, wiggling her hips. "Do you mind if I use your iPad? Skype doesn't work so well on my phone."

"Call in the morning; it's late." He rolled on his belly and hugged the pillow. The cushion hid half his face as one blue eye devoured her. Suddenly self-conscious, she reached for her hooded jumper and fumbled to pull it on.

"You don't need that."

"Thomas — please!" Her words came out on a laugh and became muffled as she struggled with the sleeves. "I really need to make a call."

When her head poked out, she saw his dark-blonde lashes flutter against his cheek. He stretched out on the mattress, one long, toned leg jutted out from beneath the white duvet and the muscles in his back bunched into hills and valleys.

Perhaps she should just go to bed. No. Her mind still raced a million miles an hour. It would be best to use her nervous energy up while it lasted. Too easy to chicken out in the morning.

"Hmm," he mumbled in a drowsy tone. "Any time. Do you remember the pin?"

Nadia swallowed at his dreamy smile. "Um, yeah."

"Mmm ... Night, night, then."

She hesitated at the landing when he called out to her. "Feel free to wake me up when you're done. There are lots more things I want to do to you."

A shiver shook her frame, and she grinned. "Round three it is. I'll leave you to rest up first, stud."

His throaty chuckle followed her as she tiptoed down the stairs, her body tingling.

The call to Khai's mother went better than expected. It only took her a minute or two to redirect Cheryl's cold civility from herself to Khai, and a handful more for the woman's assurance she would 'See to things.' They spent another awkward half-hour or so talking after this. Cheryl had been like a second mum. There was more to a breakup than the end of one relationship and such repercussions rippled out with unanticipated consequences. Did this also explain why she'd hung on so long?

Nadia's chest ached, and her lips trembled as the stilted conversation wound to a close, an upbeat series of beeps signalling the end of the call and a period of her life. Nadia sniffed and rubbed her burning eyes. Skype tones were too damned happy.

A wall clock ticked the seconds away, distracting her. She refused to look – aware enough of the early hour. From outside, the swish of street cleaners crept under the curtains, and a metal clang echoed off the cobblestones as a bin tipped over. The city stirred.

On a yawn, she lifted the tablet off her lap and leaned over to place it on the coffee table. As she did, a notification slid across the screen and disappeared again. Her eyes narrowed. Who the hell was Beatrice?

She yanked the iPod back, index finger hovering. Don't, she told herself. Of course, Thomas knows other women, duh! Despite this, she felt a sinking sensation and her heart-beat spiked. Instinct told her to put the iPad away and go upstairs. Insecurity got the better of her, and she gave in to the urge, tapping the monitor and clicking on the Gmail icon. The latest email in a thread popped open.

'Darling, 

New York is divine, but I miss you. I've booked the Miraflores Belmond. Meet me there in two days — and don't keep me waiting. Do I have a treat for you *wink wink*

Bee oxox

Nadia's heart crashed down into her guts, curdled, and shot up as bile. The tablet fell to the floor as she sprinted to the sink and heaved.

When her stomach had emptied, she scrubbed her face with a damp tea towel. How could Thomas? After all his promises. He was no better than Khai. No — worse. At least Savannah had known about her.

Shaking, needing to do something, to break something, she snatched at a mug and raised her arm to smash it against the wall.

Icy clarity froze her mid-action. If she woke him, he'd come racing down, naked and beautiful, with all the right words spoken in his sexy British accent. She would probably swallow anything he said. He could tell her the sky was green, and she would believe it.

Nadia placed the mug on the bench and wiped away her tears.

This trip had been a disaster since before it began. She needed her friends and family. A fresh start around people she could trust.

Time to go.

Hollow, she floated on silent feet through the apartment and gathered her belongings. A little over an hour later, she cried herself to sleep against a greasy headrest as the first bus to Lima wove into the mountains.

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