Ripped (Miller Sisters 1)

‘I have to.’

‘Why?’

‘Because—’ I breathed and sent clouds into the freezing air. ‘Because I can’t bear to watch him picking up another woman. I can’t bear to think of him with someone else.’

‘And doesn’t that tell you something?’

‘Yes! It tells me I totally fucked up my New Year’s Resolution before the first chime of the clock!’

‘So maybe you should rethink your resolution.’

I thought of all the pain and agony that went with relationships. The hope and then the horrible let-down. ‘No. I’m just not putting myself through that again.’

‘Through what? You just spent five days in bed with the guy. Five days. You laughed. You talked. He listened to you, which is more than Charlie ever did. He likes you for God’s sake—’

‘He’s come here because he’s looking for a date.’

‘He’s looking for you.’ She said it quietly. ‘Hayley, this super-hot guy is walking across the room right now looking for you and you are not going to hide.’

‘I’ll mess it up. Look what happened with Charlie.’

‘Charlie is a dickhead,’ Rose said calmly. ‘You picked him because— Well, frankly I don’t know why you picked him. We both know that when it comes to relationships our psychology is a bit warped, but he was totally wrong for you and Nico isn’t. You two have something. Don’t throw that away.’

‘He probably isn’t looking for me. I’m leaving and if you love me you’ll let me go.’ I winced as her hand locked around my wrist. Honestly, if the police ever ran short on handcuffs they could use my sister.

‘I love you,’ she said sweetly, ‘which is why I am not letting you go. I’m not going to let you blow this.’

‘I’m scared.’

‘Yeah. I get all that. But it’s OK to be scared, as long as you do it anyway.’

I thought about pointing out she hadn’t done it since Mr You Know Who had broken her heart in two, but I decided that mentioning his name twice in one evening after five years of silence on the subject was a risk I wasn’t prepared to take. And anyway, this was my panic. I didn’t want to share it. ‘He’ll mess me up.’

‘Maybe he won’t.’

I’d never heard my sister sound so serious. ‘What’s happened to you? You were the one who thought my New Year’s resolution was a good one.’

‘That was before I saw you with him.’ She took a deep breath and smiled. ‘If you run away from Nico Rossi then you are batshit crazy.’

I made a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a sob and saw Nico standing in the doorway. Those dark eyes were fixed on my face and he didn’t glance left or right at the women who were staring at him hopefully.

Rosie released my wrist and my blood had a silent party, relieved to finally be able to flow around uninterrupted. ‘Excuse me. There’s a good dance floor going to waste,’ she murmured and slid past him with a smile.

Nico nodded to her, his gaze still fixed on me.

There was nowhere I could go. I was trapped on the terrace and now I was shivering. It had stopped snowing, but t

he air was freezing.

He strolled across to me, removed his jacket and draped it around my shoulders. ‘I thought you might be in need of a jacket.’

It felt warm and familiar and smelt like him. My tummy tensed. I was terrified I was going to give away how I was feeling. It had just been sex. I’d broken our rules. I felt like a snail without its protective shell, exposed and just waiting to be crushed under someone’s heavy boot.

‘What are you doing here?’

‘I came to find you.’ He sounded so sure and confident. ‘There are things I need to say. Preferably before the clock strikes midnight.’

‘Why? Does your Ferrari turn into a pumpkin at midnight?’