Page 41 of Mateo & Nicole
By the time they returned, he was mentally spent. He didn’t want to face Nikki for fear she’d notice and demand that he open up to her. He had to be stronger than this. She deserved a better person who didn’t immediately get tugged back into a storm where he had no right being.
Mateo dismounted his horse and offered to brush down the others, sending Daniel and his other men to dinner. He took his time, focusing on clearing his head from everything related to Caroline.
Then his phone buzzed, and all his dismal thoughts came roaring back to the surface. He gritted his teeth and pulled out his phone. Thankfully, it was a message from his sister wondering if he was going to eat dinner with them or if she needed to save him a plate so Roman didn’t eat everything.
He sent off a quick reply and pushed out a deep breath.
“Everything okay?”
Nikki’s soft voice had him flinching far more than it should have. She was behind him. How long had she been there? Shoot! Had she noticed his reaction to his phone?
Slowly, he turned to face her, noticing the lines drawn between her brows. He smiled and nodded. “I’m okay. It’s just been… a day.”
Even he could see that she didn’t believe him. It was clearly written on her face. He’d gotten to know the little nuances of her expressions. When she was worried, it wasn’t easy to rid her of those emotions. And right now, the woman he cared about was concerned for him.
Nikki reached toward him, and he welcomed her into his arms. She held onto him, resting her cheek against his shoulder and breathing deeply. “I’m sorry.”
Those two words normally would give him a bit of peace. But all he felt right now was guilt. He should be confiding in her. He should be telling her what he was dealing with, and yet he was being a coward.
No.
He was being stubborn.
Caroline didn’t deserve to infiltrate the joy he’d found with Nikki, so he would protect what he had at all costs. No matter what it took, he’d keep Nikki shielded from the woman who had influenced their lives for the worst.
Nikki pulled back to look at him, the concern still etched into her face. She did smile, though. And it appeared that she wasn’t going to push him on what he was dealing with.
“I’m the luckiest man alive,” he said, brushing his lips to her forehead. “Because I have you.”
19
Nikki
“Now we get to celebrate!” Nikki whooped. “No more wearing your sling.” She nudged Paxton with a laugh. “What do you want to do?”
Her son grinned up at her, though he held his arm to his side with a noticeable amount of caution. “Do you think Mateo will let me start my riding lessons again?”
Nikki ruffled her son’s hair. “It wouldn’t hurt to ask.” Though, deep down, she wasn’t sure how Mateo was doing. Lately, he’d been distracted. It wasn’t that he was distancing himself from her. There wasn’t a single day that they didn’t spend some time together. She’d gotten to know him on a much deeper level than she had when they were younger.
There was just a niggling feeling of discontent that refused to disengage from her mind. Mateo was struggling. And he wasn’t willing to open up to her.
“What’s wrong, Mom?”
Nikki startled and glanced down at her son. It was then that she realized that she’d been frowning. Hmm. She needed to get better at hiding her concerns from her son. He was already too intuitive for his own good. He had a knack for seeing when she was down. Forcing a smile, she reached for him and tickled him until his own worry lines disappeared from around his brows.
“How about you and I get some ice cream on our way home from the doctor?”
“Can we get something for Mateo?”
“Sure, buddy. What do you think he’d like?”
Paxton made a show of considering the question and what his answer should be. He tapped his chin and stared up at the sky before holding up his finger. “I know. We should get him a giant cookie.”
She laughed. “Yeah? What kind. The bakery has sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles?—”
“Definitely chocolate chip,” Paxton said with finality. “He likes chocolate chip cookies like me.”
Nikki couldn’t contain her additional laughter. If there was any proof that Paxton had begun to accept the relationship she had with Mateo, it was how close the two had continued to become. There were only a few short-lived moments when he didn’t seem sure about them. It usually only occurred when Mateo completely blocked out the world and it was just him and her.
