The Love Affair(Good Wife Better Mistress)

Nothing happened between Conrad and me."

With Alex's support, Gaby doesn't need Nicole's consent. She has full confidence she'll find the pills—she saw Nicole put them in her pocket. She's eager to humiliate Nicole and take revenge.

Gaby feels the warmth of Nicole's skin through her pocket. The smooth silk of the pajamas is wet and cold against her fingers, but Gaby doesn't feel the hard bump of the pill bottle. She looks at the pocket; it's lying flat against Nicole's body, but the pills should be causing a visible lump. Gaby is confused and checks again, but she finds nothing.

"How is this possible? I clearly saw Nicole put the pills in this pocket," Gaby thinks, "Did I see wrong?"

Determined, Gaby reaches for the other pocket but finds nothing; she's starting to feel fl.u.s.tered.

"That's impossible!" she exclaims, "I saw her take the pills!"

Nicole quietly exhales with relief. She has no idea where the pills might have gone. She looks at the man who is still holding her hand tightly, but his face reveals nothing.

Alex turns to Gaby, "I want to see your apology on Facebook by tomorrow."

"Alexandro, I saw Dr. Meyer give her birth control pills, and I saw her put them in her pocket. I know they're there! Perhaps she's hidden them somewhere else!"

Gaby reaches for Nicole's collar with the intention to search inside her clothes. Alex's face darkens and he turns around, blocking Gaby with his back. He embraces Nicole, shielding her with his body.

"That's enough!" he growls, "Go back to your room if you don't want to be completely disgraced."

Startled by his tone, Gaby runs back to the house with her head lowered and eyes red.

"No one is allowed to talk about what has happened here in private, or to speak to the press," Mr. Romano warns the servants before returning to the house Mrs. Candela.

The servants shuffle away in silence, and the garden becomes quieter. Nicole can hear the splashing of the nearby fountain and the sound of a heartbeat. Her face is pressed against Alex's chest, and through his shirt, she can hear his rapid and powerful heartbeats. It sounds like his heart might jump out of his chest.

He didn't kick her when she was down. Instead, he helped her. The pills were definitely in her pocket, and she wonders if he took them as he kissed her. The speculation makes her heart beat faster.

But why did he help her? Usually, he's content to make her look bad in front of his grandfather. Usually, he wants Romano to know how ridiculous it was to pick Nicole to be his wife. Does he have some hidden new motivation?

Though Nicole still wears sodden clothes, Alex embraces her tightly. He has never held a woman so close before and doesn't want to let her go. The water from her clothes seeps onto him, but he doesn't care that he's getting wet.

As he holds her, he thinks. He wonders what means she used to get birth control pills without his knowledge, and he's unable to restrain his desperate anger. He's furious that Conrad gave her the pills. Does she see the way Conrad looks at her—as if he wants her for his own?

"There better be nothing between them," Alex thinks, "Otherwise I have no idea what I'll do to them."

He feels himself losing control. He's now gripping her so tightly she seems to be struggling to breathe, but he doesn't want to loosen his hold on her. The seductive fragrance of her hair does nothing to appease his anger.

He lowers his head and asks her frostily, "Did he touch you? Is that why he brought you pills—to cover up your indiscretions?"

Her behavior in the last few days has made it clear that she's no longer deeply attached to him.