  &quot;Hey. You okay? Don't be scared.&quot;
      It's Alexi. I would know that sexy tone anywhere, and as my eyes adjust, I can see his tattoo peeking up under his jacket collar to confirm I'm not imagining things. Bringing me back to the here and now even though my body is poised and caught in an instinctive ready to run mode. Heart hammering through my chest as I try to work him out, steeped in mistrust. Guarded and nervous.
      &quot;So, you're talking to me now?&quot; It's a knee-jerk reply, covering my thundering heart rate and shaking limbs, ignoring his question and I pull away from him, so his hand no longer moulds to the base of my spine, aiming to walk away and give him a dose of his own medicine. Put distance between us so he can't see how rattled I am. How emotionally fragile this is making me.
      Two of us can be cold and uncaring. If he can't touch me, he can't feel

  &quot;I can't do this, Lexi.&quot; My heart is hammering through my chest and I have checked my appearance three dozen times in the full-length mirror of the bedroom we stayed in for the rest of the night. Obsessed with my appearance as anxiety strangles the life out of me. Trying to focus on something I can control and getting a little preoccupied with its importance.
      We were busy most of last night, making up for our strained day with lots of gentle lovemaking, kissing and caresses, and I'm aglow with his attention today. Cheeks flushed, skin dewy, and a twinkling happiness in my eyes I've never seen before. I felt completely chilled when I got up this morning, well almost completely. That was until he dumped this little announcement on me that we're having a cosy family brunch at Mummy's house.
      Ugh.
      Last night was a repeat of the night he first made love to me, aft

  Somehow, we managed to pack, navigate to the airport and fly to JFK as a group with very little meaningful chatter. Mostly small talk and nursing hangovers from our heavy night previously; a sombre mood, and the strained atmosphere is so thick it's almost opaque around us. Gino seems very aware of my turmoil about being Mrs, and after a brief joke about a shotgun wedding, Alessandra elbowing him hard in the ribs, no one brought it up again.
      Alexi didn't react, just kept his eyes on his phone, which he used so he didn't have to talk to me after we left our room. He seemed completely disengaged, from all of us, abnormally sombre and quiet and disinterested in anything. He even bailed on dinner with our companions and left the three of us to eat while he was in the room, working apparently.
      Consumed with a text conversation with God knows who, he left me to sort myself out, fo

&quot;Hey. You okay? Don't be scared.&quot;
      It's Alexi. I would know that sexy tone anywhere, and as my eyes adjust, I can see his tattoo peeking up under his jacket collar to confirm I'm not imagining things. Bringing me back to the here and now even though my body is poised and caught in an instinctive ready to run mode. Heart hammering through my chest as I try to work him out, steeped in mistrust. Guarded and nervous.
      &quot;So, you're talking to me now?&quot; It's a knee-jerk reply, covering my thundering heart rate and shaking limbs, ignoring his question and I pull away from him, so his hand no longer moulds to the base of my spine, aiming to walk away and give him a dose of his own medicine. Put distance between us so he can't see how rattled I am. How emotionally fragile this is making me.
      Two of us can be cold and uncaring. If he can't touch me, he can't feel how much of an effect this place and his mood is having on me.
      I haven't felt this alone an

Chapter 110