Page 42 of His Housekeeper's Twin Baby Confession
But maybe not today, she told herself weakly. Surely another few days couldn’t hurt?
Telling herself that maybe a nap would help ease the queasiness, she went up to the room she’d used before. She dithered on the threshold when she couldn’t see any of her bags or other things.
Curious, she went up to Massimo’s room—and there they were. Already laid out by the unseen hands that did this kind of thing in his world. The unseen hands that had used to be hers.
All the beautiful clothes she’d been given were hanging up in his dressing room...laid out in drawers. Her toiletries were lined up in his bathroom beside the other sink.
Overcome with another wave of fatigue, Carrie put it down to the whirlwind of the last few weeks and took off her clothes to slip into a robe. She washed her face and climbed into one side of Massimo’s massive bed. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.
When Massimo returned to the apartment later that evening it was quiet. Very quiet. He moved through the downstairs rooms and they were empty. The chef had left, having been instructed that they would be fending for themselves.
The new housekeeper had also left.
The apartment was exactly as it had always been after he’d been away on trips before.
He’d never invited a woman into this space unless it was just for the night, but he couldn’t see any traces of Carrie anywhere and that was disconcerting. She’d left more traces of herself when she’d been his housekeeper. Shoes by the front door. Flowers on the table. A throw over a chair in the kitchen.
But he realised now that she’d been tidied away by the staff—just as his things were tidied away all the time. So that wherever he went it was always pristine.
For the first time in his life he resented that. He wanted to walk into a room and see a book left open on a table. Or cushions out of place. Signs of life.
Massimo smiled a mirthless smile when he thought of his little brother, who would undoubtedly have welcomed this desire for a little messiness.
He took off his jacket and draped it over the back of a chair. Then he undid his top button, pulled off his tie and left that hanging over another chair. He had a sudden urge to find Carrie and bring her here, into the living room, so they could really mess it up by making love on every couch and chaise longue. Ricardo would approve.
But when he stuck his head into the kitchen it too was silent and empty, except for the hum of the appliances. Massimo had never really noticed that before...
A thought occurred to him. Maybe she’d gone out? To do this...pottering. Her independence was something that he liked about her, but an uneasy sensation moved through him as he went to her bedroom and found it untouched.
For a second he imagined that she’d changed her mind and just left...and the lurch in his gut was not welcome. It shouldn’t bother him if Carrie had decided to end their relationship. It had transgressed so many boundaries that he had no right to expect her to stay.
But he wasn’t ready to let her go.
Not by a long shot.
He went up to his bedroom. He hesitated at the door for a moment, before telling himself he was being ridiculous and opening it.
The first thing he saw was a shape in the bed.Carrie. She was here. Just asleep.
He walked over and looked down. She was on her back, one arm flung up by her head, her hair spread out around her head in a halo of gold waves. Her face was clean of make-up. He could see the spatter of freckles across her nose. The sun-kissed glow.
He ignored the sense of relief.Notrelief. Desire.
He sat down on the side of the bed and she stirred, eyes flickering and then opening. She saw him and it took a second for her to come wide awake.
She sat up, slightly groggy. ‘I fell asleep...what time is it?’
Massimo noticed that actually, underneath the sun-kissed glow, she was a little pale. ‘Are you okay?’
She frowned. ‘I think so... I was just really tired all of a sudden, so I lay down.’
‘Are you hungry?’
She absorbed this—and then, with almost comical speed, she went green and leapt out of the bed and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
Massimo winced at the sounds that ensued. He would have gone in, but he had a feeling Carrie wouldn’t appreciate it.
She emerged a few minutes later with her hair pulled back, looking very pale.
