‘I know what you told me,’ he said, as he tore a handful of sheets from the roll, folded them into a square and pressed it to his lip. ‘But mmf mff mffer.’
Holly snatched the improvised compress from his hand.
‘I can’t understand a word you’re…’ She frowned. ‘You’re bleeding.’
Nick gave a hollow laugh. ‘I told you that twenty minutes ago. Heck, baby, that’s what tends to happen when you sink your fangs into somebody’s face.’
‘Don’t call me that,’ Holly said quickly. She turned on the faucet. It made a gurgling sound, spat out a few drops of water, and went dry.
‘Don’t call you what?’
‘Baby.’ She grasped his chin, put the folded paper towel to her lips to moisten it, and dabbed at the cut on his mouth. ‘I don’t like it. I never did.’
‘Seems to me there was a time you liked it a lot.’
Her gaze flew to his. His eyes were locked on hers, and what she saw in their hazel depths—the shared memory of nights, and days, of breathtaking passion—made her heartbeat stumble.
‘Well,’ she said, lying through her teeth because he was right, there’d been a time his nickname for her, murmured in that soft, gravelly whisper of his, had been enough to make her melt, ‘you were wrong.’
Nick’s jaw tightened. ‘Yeah.’ He jerked the compress from her hand, balled it up and tossed it into the sink. ‘I was wrong about a lot of things.’ He looked at her again. Even in the near-darkness, she could see the arrogant little smile that tilted across his lips. ‘But not about what happened a few minutes ago.’
‘That I beat you up, you mean?’
‘That you were mighty cooperative for a woman who thought she was in the grip of a guy who’d just broken into her house.’
Holly felt the colour bloom in her cheeks. ‘I’m sure you’d like to think so. But I wasn’t cooperative, I was shocked.’
‘Shocked,’ he said, folding his arms.
‘Of course. You took me completely by surprise.’
‘You’re telling me that if a stranger comes along, scares you senseless, then grabs you and kisses you, shock will make you kiss him back?’
‘No! Certainly not.’ Holly glared up at him. ‘I mean, as soon as you kissed me, I knew you weren’t a strange…’ She stopped and cleared her throat. ‘Look, you’re twisting this thing around to suit yourself. All I’m saying is that you can’t compare a man forcing a woman to kiss him to what happened just now.’
Nick gave an evil chuckle. Oh, hell. Holly had all she could do to keep from slugging him again. He’d set her up, and she’d gone for it. She’d walked right into that one.
‘Okay,’ she said coldly, ‘your lip’s stopped bleeding. It’s time to say goodbye.’
‘Goodbye,’ he said, and opened the freezer.
‘Dammit, Nick—’
‘We’ve only dealt with one wife-inflicted wound. There’s still another to go.’
‘Ex-wife, if you don’t mind.’
‘I don’t mind at all.’ Nick slammed the freezer door shut. ‘There’s no ice.’
‘There’s plenty outside,’ Holly said sweetly.
He touched his hand to his head, hissing when his fingers came in contact with his scalp.
‘What’d you hit me with, anyway? A brick?’
‘Did I hit you really hard?’
‘Did you…?’ Nick gave a sharp laugh. ‘No, of course not. I just rolled up my eyes and passed out for kicks.’
Holly felt a tiny twinge of guilt.
‘Let me see your head,’ she said.
‘Why? So you can check the damage and cheer?’ He took a step back as she lifted a hand towards him. ‘Don’t bother. I don’t need—’
‘Don’t be such a coward, Nick. Bend down and—’
‘I wasn’t a coward.’ His hand clamped down on her wrist; his tone was chill and hard. ‘It wasn’t me who was afraid of change.’
‘It wasn’t change,’ Holly said quietly, ‘it was destruction.’
They looked into each other’s eyes for a long minute, and then Nick’s hand fell from hers.
‘Forget the bump,’ he said. ‘I’ll take care of it.’
Holly clucked her tongue. ‘Stop being a baby and let me see it.’
‘I am not a baby. I am a sensible man who knows better than to offer my skull to the woman who just whacked it.’
‘You are a baby.’ She rose on her toes. Her fingers moved lightly in his hair, and he held his breath, wondering how in hell the impersonal touch of a woman he hadn’t seen in years could be sending chills down his spine. ‘Or did you hope I’d forgotten the time you got that tetanus shot and passed out?’