Chapter 4
If Nat hadn’t already been annoyed at the world – heatwave, broken lift, difficult landlord – she might have laughed at his typical Italian male assumptions. But unfortunately for Alessandro, she was.
‘I don’t need a man to deal with stuff for me,’ she said sharply.
Frankly she was sick of men. It was because of a bloody man she was in this pickle to start with. Eternal spinsterhood was looking like a damn fine alternative these days. Although the presence of a six-foot-nine Neanderthal next time she visited her half-complete unit did hold some appeal.
He held up his hands in surrender, clearly not wanting to get into a debate about gender roles, which was a good thing because she was suddenly in the mood for a fight and they should be trying to preserve oxygen.
Changing tack, he asked, ‘Have you not got family here you can stay with?’
Nat shook her head. ‘All my family live in Perth. In Western Australia. I’ve only been in Brisbane for six months.’
‘You are a long way from home, Nathalie.’
His accent softened her name and gave it an exotic edge plain old Nat had never possessed. Coming from his lips it sounded all grown up. No girl-next-door connotation. No one-size-fits-all, unisex, if-only-you’d-been-a-boy name.
In one breath he’d feminised it.
And right then, sitting on the floor in the gloom of a broken-down lift, she could see how women fell in love at first sight.
Not that she was doing that – she wasn’t quite that stupid.
Not any more. After Rob she knew better than to get involved with a man who was in love with another woman.
Even a dead one. And Alessandro Lombardi was obviously still deeply in love with his wife.
He’d let down his guard enough before to give her a glimpse of the heartbreak behind the gaze that looked as if it had been hewn from arctic tundra, and she’d be ill-advised to put herself in the middle of all that unresolved grief.
Raising an eyebrow, she injected a note of sarcasm. ‘I’m a long way from home?’
‘Touché,’ he murmured then chuckled. Actually chuckled. The sound slithering across the floor of the lift like a serpent, inching up her leg, under her skirt, gliding across her belly and undulating up her spine, stroking every hot spot in between.
She was one giant goosebump in three seconds flat.
The ease with which it had enveloped her was shocking but she clamped down hard on her errant body. So not going there. She shifted her gaze to the floor – a much safer place for it – and they sat in silence for long moments. Nat tapped her phone screen to check the time.
How much longer?
‘So,’ he said, ‘why did you leave Perth? Was there a reason or did you have a crashing desire to see more of your country?’
Nat wasn’t sure why he felt the need to converse but maybe making small talk would halt errant thoughts from evolving. ‘I had a fancy to see the sun rise over the ocean.’
It was flippant but the subject definitely didn’t fit under the category of small talk.
‘I get the feeling there may have been a man involved?’
She shot him a sharp look to find him watching her intently and her breath stilled in her throat as he said, ‘I recognise the signs.’
Nat contemplated another snappy quip but the world of understanding in his words compelled her to answer without any obfuscating. ‘There was.’
‘What happened?’
She regarded him for a few moments. ‘I think this is where I tell you it’s none of your business, isn’t it?’
A small smile played on his mouth as she called him on his hypocrisy. Shrugging, he said, ‘Just trying to pass the time.’
Which was reasonable enough but didn’t explain why she felt the need to answer, to open up to him.
One look at the sexy Italian doctor and she lost her mind.
She didn’t bother to point out they could pass it just as easily by talking about his stuff because, frankly, she was tired of listening to men talk about women who used to share their lives.
‘It became… untenable.’ She waited for the barb in her chest to twist again, like it always did when she thought about Rob and their crazy crowded relationship. Her, him and his ex-wife.
Curiously it didn’t.
He didn’t say anything, so she continued. ‘So, I left. I didn’t plan to leave Perth but then I hadn’t planned on it being so hard to still move in the same circles.’
She glanced at him, wondering what he was thinking, wondering if he empathised. Was that why he’d moved to the other side of the world? To escape the memories that were there, waiting around every corner? ‘When the property settlement came through I just… left. Took my half and relocated.’
‘That took courage.’
‘Yeah, well, it doesn’t seem so brave now I’m being kicked out of my apartment.’
He crossed one outstretched leg over the other. ‘Do you have a plan B?’
‘The rental market in Brisbane is tight. I only need a couple of months but no one’s going to be keen to rent to me for such a short time.
I don’t really know anyone well enough to crash with them for long periods of time, apart from Peyton, who I went to school with in Perth.
She works in Audiology and part time in the operating theatres at St Auburn’s.
I stayed with her for a couple of weeks when I first arrived but her husband walked out over two years ago and she has a three-year-old with high needs. I can’t impose on them again.’
Nat took a breath as the weight of her problems seemed to squeeze her lungs. ‘The short answer is, I don’t know. But I’ve put out some feelers so I’m sure something will show up. It’ll work out; it always does.’
As soon as the words were out the lights flickered on in the lift and the air conditioning whirred to life. Nat laughed. ‘See?’
He smiled, which made her a little giddy, then, as the lift shuddered and began its descent, he vaulted to his feet and held out his hand. Nat hesitated for a fraction before taking it, letting him help her up, the lift settling on the ground floor as she rose, causing her to stumble once again.
Involuntarily she placed her hand against his chest to steady herself, aware that his other arm had come around to help, cocooning her against a solid wall of man.
Nat copped a lungful of something spicy and for a brief, dizzying second, she considered pushing her nose into the patch of neck his skewed tie had revealed to see if she could discern the exact origin.
His lips were close and his gaze seemed to be suddenly fixed on her mouth and all she could think about was kissing him. The strong thud of his heart directly below her palm seemed to travel all the way down her arm, rippling through every nerve ending in her body.
The very loud ding of the lift saved her from totally losing her mind. ‘Oops, sorry,’ she apologised, pushing away from him, uncharacteristic colour creeping into her cheeks, as her pulse hammered at her neck and her temples.
The doors opened and a small crowd of maintenance people as well as department staff were there to greet them, clapping and cheering, and Nat’s blush intensified. Smiling awkwardly at the attention she did the only thing she could – high-tailed it out of the lift without a backward glance.
Alessandro had not long been home with Julian, early that evening, when the doorbell rang. He opened it to a middle-aged woman and ushered her in. Debbie Woodruff was the tenth applicant for live-in nanny he’d interviewed.
He had no intention of the crèche being a long-term solution for Julian. Yes, it was open twenty-four hours a day and Julian seemed to like it there, at least when Nat was on anyway, but he’d already been dragged halfway round the world. His son deserved stability.
And that was one thing he could give him.
Debbie seemed very nice and was plainly well qualified. Julian was polite, as always, saying please and thank you as Camilla had taught him, eating carefully, playing quietly. But he wasn’t enthused. And Alessandro had to admit he wasn’t either.
He wasn’t sure what he wanted. Someone to love Julian, he guessed. Not for it just to be another job. A pay cheque. What his son needed was a mother.
His mother.
Guilt seized him as he saw Debbie out. The one thing Julian needed the most, and he couldn’t give it to him. It was his job. He was the father. He was supposed to provide for his son.
Alessandro entered the sitting room. Julian looked at him but didn’t smile or acknowledge him.
He sat next to his son and wished he knew how to bridge the gap.
Wished his father had been around to be a role model for him, instead of the distant provider.
Wished he hadn’t let Camilla alienate him from his own son.
Glancing at Julian, he asked, ‘Did you like her?’
Julian shrugged. ‘She was okay.’
Hardly a glowing endorsement. ‘Have you liked any of them?’
There was no response to that one, just Julian looking at him with those big, solemn eyes. ‘Who do you like?’ he asked in frustration.
‘Nat,’ Julian said, and turned back to the TV.
Of course.
Nat, who couldn’t mind her own business. Nat, who spoke her mind. Nat of the lift. Nat, who he’d dreamt about every night since they’d met.
Why did it have to be her?
But… Alessandro looked down at his son and sighed. Julian wanted Nat. So, Nat it was. That he could do.
Hopefully.