Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty-Eight

N ick did the one thing guaranteed to blow away the cobwebs of confusion threading his thoughts into a muddled jumble.

He hit the road.

Slamming his visor down, he glanced over his shoulder, let out the throttle and savoured the roar of the motorbike as he pulled out onto the open highway.

It had been way too long since he'd done this. Putting his past behind him came at a price and, while slaving his guts out to make a success of his business had worked, he missed the simple things in life.

Like making pasta from scratch, cooking the rich, creamy sauces Pa had shown him, growing the herbs to complete any good Italian meal, taking off on a whim and riding as far as a tank of petrol lasted.

And he'd missed Britt. He'd missed her more than he'd imagined, hadn't known how much until she'd strutted back into his life.

He'd had the simple life once, but had moved on. For what? Fame? Fortune? To impress a bunch of rich phoneys who hadn't given him the time of day until he'd proven he could be responsible by marrying?

He'd been a fool.

None of it mattered, not anymore.

Britt wanted him.

But at what cost?

He couldn't let her give up her dream for him and, as much as he appreciated how far she was willing to go to give them a chance, it scared the hell out of him. They'd been married less than a month and she was willing to lay it all on the line for him?

Old doubts crept under his guard, crawling under his skin until he itched to pull over and scratch them away.

What if he wasn't good enough for her?

What if he couldn't be the man she deserved?

What if she didn't need him as much as he needed her?

Yeah, the same old doubts, undermining the confident, successful man he'd become. Crazy. But so was their unrelenting passion that hadn't waned in ten long years.

Were they merely making up for lost time? Fulfilling a fantasy they never really had first time around? Confusing a sizzling attraction for a deeper emotion they would need as a solid foundation to build a real marriage on?

The roar of the wind filled his ears, not loud enough to obliterate the endless questions and doubts whirling through his head. He glanced down at the speedometer, muttering a curse as he realised he'd momentarily lost concentration.

All this mulling was pointless anyway. Until he cleared the secrets of the past, he couldn't make way for the future.

If they were to have any future, he had to tell Britt the truth.

All of it.

Making an impulsive decision that had landed him in more scrapes as a youngster than he cared to admit, he slowed, checked for traffic, and made a U-turn.

Time to pay his past a visit.