Hot Christmas Nights: Tuscan Nights / Christmas Tango / Tied Up in Tinsel

Nyla tilted her head to the side, considering his words. “Why is that?”

He didn’t answer, just continued to stare at her. She decided to press him on it.

“You once told me that you were always home studying because you didn’t like opening up to people, but you always seemed to open up to me. Why?”

After several moments passed, he finally said, “You made it easy.”

He set his food on the nightstand between the beds and folded his hands over his flat stomach.

“You never treated me like I was weird just because I preferred looking through a telescope instead of watching a basketball game or doing other things that ‘regular guys’ did. You got me. You understood me better than my own family did.” He looked up at her and, with a grim smile, said, “You can probably do without my poor, neglected son monologue.”

A sad smile formed on her lips. “It couldn’t have been easy living in Cameron’s huge shadow.”

He shrugged. “It wasn’t so bad.”

Nyla wasn’t fooled by his nonchalance. She’d observed early on how differently Aiden was treated from his older brother.

“I love Lynda and Russell, but I could tell from early on that they had crowned Cameron the golden boy. I’m smack in the middle of five kids, so I know about having to grab whatever attention you can, but with it being just you two boys, it’s so obvious. Having them dote on him the way they do must be hard for you.”

“I’m used to it,” he said with another lift of his shoulders. “My earliest memories are of spending countless hours at Cameron’s elementary-school basketball practices. The focus of the Williams family has always been about nurturing Cameron’s talent and his career.”

“Even though his career only lasted a few years,” Nyla said.

By the time she and Cameron started dating, his NBA career had already been cut short by injury. He’d transitioned to the business side of things, working as a scout for Atlanta’s professional basketball team, where she’d worked as a senior account executive in the corporate ticket sales department. Even though he was no longer on the court, Cameron’s larger-than-life personality kept him in the spotlight.

The shadow he continued to cast was far and wide, leaving very little light to shine on all Aiden had achieved in college and graduate school. His tolerance of his family’s disregard of his many accomplishments made him that much more extraordinary in Nyla’s eyes.

“You really are special, you know that? Most people would be bitter, but you’re not.”

“Not too bitter. I have my moments,” he said, a wry grin tipping up the corner of his lips. “I can’t really complain, can I? Just look where I am.” He gestured to their surroundings. “I’m spending the holidays in Rome. And I’m with you.”

His penetrating gaze locked on her, making the confines of the small hotel room even more apparent. “Seeing Rome at Christmas is one thing, but having the chance to spend the holiday with you—anywhere—means even more. I know I’ve said it already, but I can’t say it enough. Thank you for doing this, Nyla.”

“You’re welcome,” Nyla said, her voice suddenly huskier than it had been a minute ago. She averted her eyes, concentrating on her dinner. She glanced up to find that, thankfully, Aiden had gone back to his. He picked up his drink, took a sip and started choking.

“Good God!” He held the bottle out and stared at it. “What the hell is this?”

A peal of laughter tumbled out of Nyla’s mouth. “It’s soda. I know it has a bit of a bite, but it’s really popular here.”

“A bit of a bite? It damn near snatched my lips off.” He set the bottle on her side of the nightstand. “You can have the rest of that. I’ll stick to water,” he said, tipping back the half-full bottle of water he’d taken from her apartment earlier. “Good call on dinner, though. Whether it would make me give up Big Macs entirely is debatable, but I can stand to eat a meal like this five days a week.”

“I told you,” she said with another laugh. “Just wait until tomorrow. Your taste buds are in for the experience of a lifetime.”

His gaze dropped to her lips. “I hope that applies to more than just my taste buds,” he said, his voice low, husky.

It was obvious they were no longer talking about food. The air in Nyla’s lungs constricted as she stared at Aiden’s mouth. He swept his tongue along his bottom lip, clearing a droplet of water. A tingle started in her belly and moved lower.

“You’ll have to wait and see,” she returned in an equally hushed tone.

The lightheartedness of a few moments ago evaporated. In its place stood a heady dose of desire. It pulsed around them, saturating the air, and bringing the reality of their impending night together in this small hotel room into stark relief.

A silent warning rang through Nyla’s head. This felt all too similar to what she’d experienced three years ago, when their playful banter soon escalated into something much more serious.

Yet, in the face of every consequence she’d suffered for falling for Aiden once before, the yearning to climb into bed with him and explore all the new dips and contours of his body was so strong Nyla could barely stand it. The devil on her shoulder urged her to give in to the impulse. Everyone thought they’d done more than they had anyway; couldn’t she give in this one time?

What was she thinking?

Nyla jumped up from the bed. Avoiding Aiden’s eyes, she said, “If you don’t mind, I’ll go first in the bathroom.” She grabbed her toiletry bag from where she’d tossed it on the dresser.

“Nyla?” Aiden called. She looked back at him. “Ignoring this won’t make it go away,” he said.

She tried to tear her eyes away from the truth staring back at her, but she couldn’t, because it was true. This feeling wasn’t going away. It hadn’t lessened one bit in the three long years they had been apart. She wasn’t foolish enough to think that it would do so now that she was right here with him again.

But she only had to ignore it for two days. And she would ignore it. The high price she’d paid for disregarding her common sense and giving in to her feelings for Aiden had burned her once. She would not get burned again.

Without another word, she slipped into the bathroom.

* * *

Aiden stuffed the empty food cartons in the trash bin at the end of the narrow hallway and headed back to their room.

Their room.

His steps slowed as he came upon the door. He captured the handle, then released it, his hands falling to his sides, his limbs suddenly so heavy it felt as if the entire weight of the world was pulling him down.

He took a couple of steps back, until he reached the wall opposite the door. He stared across the hallway to the room he would share with Nyla, and thumped the back of his head against the wall.

How was he supposed to get through tonight? His eyes fell shut as a pain-filled groan climbed from his throat. His skin felt tight, his stomach a jumble of knots. Every fiber in his body hummed with electricity just at the thought of being in that room all night with Nyla.

Why did she have to be every single thing he could ever want in a woman? Everything.

And it had nothing to do with the fact that she was beyond gorgeous—which she most definitely was. He’d dated attractive women in the past. Even though he suspected that some of them had only shown interest in him because of his connection to Cameron, Aiden was pretty confident that a couple of them had been genuine. Yet not one of them had ever elicited the feelings within him that Nyla had.

Nyla’s beauty radiated from the inside out. It was in that reassuring smile that came so readily, in her uncanny ability to sense when he needed to get something off his chest, or when he needed someone to silently be there, just so he knew he wasn’t alone.

What he’d told her earlier was the truth. She got him.

When others in his family brushed off the rejection he’d received on a paper he’d submitted to an academic journal, Nyla provided a shoulder to lean on. Even though she’d only known him for a few months at the time, she somehow understood what was important to him better than people who had known him his entire life. That’s just the kind of person she was: unique and special and giving.

And she was on the other side of that door.

“Just tell her how you feel,” Aiden whispered.

But he didn’t have to tell her. That was the thing that was driving him crazy. He would bet his last dime that Nyla knew exactly how he felt about her. She just wasn’t ready to face it, just as she hadn’t been able to face it three years ago.

She’d allowed others to shame her into thinking that she had taken advantage of him. Cameron, his parents, her parents, many of her friends; they had all put the blame at Nyla’s feet. She had even convinced herself that she had somehow led him on, as if he wasn’t mature enough to recognize that the attraction that had exploded that last night between them hadn’t been building for months.

He never should have let her get away without owning up to the fact that she had been just as attracted to him as he had been to her. She’d wanted that kiss. She’d wanted even more than just that damn kiss.