She cleared her throat where the entire Cassavetes family stared at her, Alex included, and reminded herself that appropriate hadn’t been what she was going for. She was aiming for chaos. She saw this as an opportunity to pay Alex back for ruining a perfectly good score the other day. And if her actions also pointed out to him that she would never be the type of woman he could take home to Mom…well, so much the better.
She swallowed hard. Only now that she was here and saw what a nice, normal family he had, she found herself wishing she could be that type of woman.
“Sorry I’m late, baby,” she said, forging ahead with the role she’d decided to play as she toddled over to Alex on her black stiletto heels and pressed a loud kiss to Alex’s frozen mouth.
He looked like someone had just blindsided him with a two-by-four. Which, considering that had been her intention, was a good thing.
The older man she guessed to be his father coughed into his hand. “Aren’t you going to introduce us, Alex?”
Alex looked like he was incapable of taking a breath just then. Nicole smiled at him, then turned and thrust her jewelry-laden hand at the elder Cassavetes. “Hi, I’m Nikki. Nikki Bennett. I’m sure Alex has told you all about me.”
The younger woman gave a short laugh where she and her mother had come out onto the back patio with her. Nicole glanced at her, liking her on sight. There was an amused but curious expression on her face, but not a trace of harsh judgment.
The woman stepped forward. “Hi, I’m Athena. Alex’s sister. It’s nice to meet you, Nikki. Alex hasn’t brought anyone home in ages. And apparently he leads a much more interesting life than we thought.”
Nicole grinned. Oh, yes, she thought. I definitely like her.
“And you must be Mrs. Cassavetes. What a pleasure to meet you,” Nicole said, having to pick up the woman’s hand where it lay motionless at her side. She pumped it enthusiastically, wondering if she’d accidentally sent Alex’s mother into cardiac arrest. She fought a frown. Definitely not what she wanted. In fact, she was a little disappointed to discover that she wished his mother would somehow see through her getup and find a way to like her.
Alex finally seemed to snap to as he grabbed Nicole by her upper arm. “If you’ll excuse us a minute…”
He roughly steered Nicole toward the house. She fought to keep her balance on the ridiculous heels, reminded of why she preferred flats to these dangerous contraptions.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked as he guided her inside the house, through the kitchen and into the hall, showing no signs of stopping. She eyed the front door, half afraid he was going to throw her out. Instead he pushed her up the steps and into the middle bedroom on the second floor, then slammed the door closed.
Nicole looked around the room done in whites and neon blues, taking in the flag she guessed to be Greek that hung on the wall behind the single bed bearing a navy-blue bedspread.
She turned to face Alex and felt a little jolt of fear. He looked angrier than anyone she’d seen in her life.
“What in the hell are you doing here? And why in the hell are you dressed like that?”
ALEX WATCHED Nicole spread her arms wide and smile. “Surprise!”
Oh, he was surprised, all right. And majorly pissed.
Alex paced back and forth across his childhood bedroom, trying to reign in his anger. He’d come so close to throwing her taut-looking butt out of the house it was scary. He slanted a glance at her, taking in her tight skirt, the way she was all but falling out of her top and the sexy red hair…and felt the incredible desire to tackle her to the twin bed behind her and have sex with her in those slutty shoes.
He stopped in the middle of the room and closed his eyes, cursing up a blue streak in Greek.
When he opened his eyes again, Nicole was smiling at him, a cocky hand on her hip. For God’s sake, she looked like a five-dollar whore. And she had come to his parents’ house looking that way. Purposely. He shook his head, unable to grasp her motivation.
He forced himself to stare past her at the wall full of certificates and shelves of trophies. He motioned with his hand. “Talk.”
He swallowed hard, discovering that even her choice of perfumes was over the top, yet oddly appealing.
“Hmm. When you closed the door, I didn’t think talking was what you had in mind.”
No, murdering her was closer to what he wanted to do.
But now…
Oh, the hell with it.
Alex grabbed her wrist and tossed her to the bed, then launched himself on top of her. Instantly she spread her thighs and curved her legs around his back. He swore savagely then kissed her. Angrily. Hungrily. One hand groping for her luscious breasts, the other diving to see if she was wearing any panties.
She wasn’t.
“Surprise,” she whispered again.
His groan was so loud he was afraid his parents would hear.
His parents? Hell, the whole neighborhood might have heard it through his open window.
Alex stared down into her dark, fathomless eyes, his blood thundering through his veins at a record pace. Despite the trashy trappings, he saw not the red wig or the offensive jewelry, but the woman beneath it all. The woman was a dazzling array of vivid puzzle pieces. The problem was that he couldn’t seem to make them fit. And his frustration with failing had him tightly in its grip.
Nicole tunneled her hand inside the front of his slacks and grasped his throbbing arousal, making him grit his teeth.
“Come on, Alex,” she whispered into his ear then nipped his lobe, causing him to shudder. “Tell me about the fantasies you had when you were a teenager in this bed. Have you ever had a girl up here? Did you ever get caught doing things you shouldn’t have been doing?”
Her suggestive words further stoked the flames burning out of control in Alex’s groin. He possessively grabbed the bare, swollen flesh between her legs. She gasped and softly cried out, “Yes.”
Alex took in her flushed face, eyeing the way she repeatedly licked her lips, and he bucked when she ground against him.
“No,” he growled.
He rolled to stand next to the bed, staring down at her longingly, wanting to take her and take her again, but knowing he shouldn’t. The sound of something dropping came from the direction of the hall. No doubt his mother and sister had their ears pressed against the door, listening. He refused to give them anything else to hear.
Capturing Nicole’s unfocused gaze, he pointed a finger at her, then jabbed a thumb into his chest. “You and me, we need to talk. Later. At the loft.” Then he turned to the door. “And take off that damn wig and ridiculous jewelry.”
DINNER WAS A TRIAL in patience at best, a complete fiasco at worst. Oh, everything looked the same, with the added exception of their unexpected guest. His mother put the roast simmered in red sauce along with manestra—a ricelike Greek pasta—on the table. There was also salad, tiropitas—cheese pastries—and a plate of broiled sausages and broccoli. Red retsina wine was poured into stubby glasses and bread was passed around.
And with every breath Nicole went out of her way to say the wrong thing, move the wrong way and generally make Alex’s blood pressure rise higher and higher.
At first his mother hadn’t known what to do with her, but as the meal went on she seemed to look at Nicole in a way that spoke of understanding and maybe even a bit of baffled affection. During the course of the dinner, even his father seemed to laugh at Nicole’s jokes instead of at her. And Athena…Athena had shocked the hell out of him by joining in the outrageous behavior, the two women seeming to bond on a level he couldn’t hope to understand.
Three hours later he slammed the door to the loft, watching Nicole walk blissfully into the apartment in front of him. Early evening sunlight slanted through the windows, filling the dark room with an orange-yellow glow.
“Where’s the jewelry, Nicole?” he said evenly, trying to move beyond her offensive display at his parents’ house and return to a neutral
topic so he might regain his temper.
She leaned a hand against one of the black steel support columns and reached to slip off her shoes. Damn it all, but it was all he could do not to tell her to leave them on.
“You asked me to take it off, remember?” At least she had done that much, but she had kept on that seductive wig. “It’s in my purse.”
What she carried wasn’t a purse, it was a suitcase. A backpack designed to hold everything she needed so she could bolt at the drop of a hat.
And, unfortunately, Alex was this close to dropping that hat.
He was…humiliated. Ashamed. And pissed as all get out that she’d done what she had. As the oldest, he’d always strived to make his parents proud of him. Especially after he moved to Manhattan and refused to go into business with his father. Yes, he’d taken both his previous girlfriends home for an occasional dinner. But they had dressed the part and had been courteous and respectful to his parents.
Nicole had seemed to take everything his parents believed in, crushed it into a ball and thrown it back into their faces.
“I’m going to take a shower,” she said with a smile. “Wanna join me?”
Alex was too afraid he’d drown her under the penetrating spray even as he slammed his body into hers.
“You’re still upset.”
He threw his keys to the counter then put down the bag of leftovers his mother had sent home with him, just like she sent home every Sunday. “Upset doesn’t begin to cover it, Nic. Take your damn shower. Hopefully by the time you come out I’ll be calm enough to talk without wanting to kill you.”
A shadow entered her eyes but she wisely chose not to say anything as she grabbed her backpack then disappeared into the bathroom.
Alex crossed to his bed. It was left unmade and he could swear he still smelled the evidence of the sex Nicole and he had had that morning. He turned and sank down into the mattress, rubbing the heels of his hands against his closed eyelids.
Christ, what was he going to do? Not just about what happened today and the inevitable questions his parents would ask him about the strumpet he’d brought home to dinner. But about the entire situation, period. Had he known there was even a chance this would have happened, he never would have pulled Nicole in on this case. Essentially she’d undone what had taken him thirty-two years to do. In one afternoon she had stripped away his good son persona and made him look like a lust-crazed fool in front of his family.
He pulled in a deep breath then let it out in a long sigh.
“Damn.”
He’d forgotten Athena had wanted to talk to him. Just another reason why he should be upset with the woman in the other room.
He sat there for so long trying to make sense out of her and the inexplicable things she did to him he didn’t notice her come out of the bathroom until she stood in front of him.
His jaw tightened as he lifted his head and stared at her bare, moisture-covered body, wearing nothing but the Tiffany jewelry she’d lifted the other day and a decadent smile.
He sat paralyzed, shocked and angry and wanting more than anything to push her away.
“You’re still mad.”
He glared at her.
She stepped closer, moving her legs to either side of his so that her smooth vulva slit open invitingly.
No…he wasn’t going to give in to his lust for her again. He needed her out of his life. Now. Tonight.
She pushed at his shoulders, causing her breasts to sway in front of him.
“Shh. Don’t say a word. You’re so tense.” She began unbuttoning his shirt. “And I know just the thing to relax you….”
Alex wanted to grab her arms and shake her. Rip the stolen jewels, the evidence of her illegal activities, from around her beautiful neck.
He wanted to slam into her like there was no tomorrow.
A low sound of frustration and anger and need swirled up from his chest and exited his mouth in a low roar as he grabbed her and pushed her into the mattress. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing to me? Any idea at all?”
She gave him a naughty, knowing smile as she flattened her hands against his chest, then slid them down to where he was rock-hard. “Mmm. I think I have an idea.”
Before he could take a breath, she was cradling him in her damp fingers. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard, the red-hot sensations collecting inside him nearing the boiling point.
She ripped open his shirt and pressed her wet breasts against his bare chest, multiplying his heartbeat by two.
She pushed his legs open where he hovered over her then slid down, leaving him supporting his weight against his hands. He heard his zipper slide down then felt her hot, hot mouth taking him in inch by shuddering inch.
Dear God…
Alex caught the rumpled top sheet in his fists and strained against orgasm. She licked and squeezed and sucked until his blood roared past his ears, until his breathing was little more than ragged gasps, and until he was a blink away from coming.
Then she released him.
She slid back up until her head was even with his again then laced her arms around his neck and kissed him. He felt her breath against his ear. “Tell me what I do to you, Alex.”
At this point he was beyond words. He was too busy shaking out of his pants. “Shut up and give me a rubber.”
She reached up and produced a packet from under one of the bed pillows, her smile pure sin as she handed it to him.
“Put it on,” he ordered.
He felt her shiver, her reaction to his domineering demeanor turning him on even further.
Nicole spread her legs wider and ran the unsheathed length of him through her hot dripping channel. Dear God, but Alex wanted more than anything to pump into her wicked flesh, pregnancy and STDs be damned. He wanted to feel her. All of her. Pure, burning and unfettered.
Sandwiching him between her swollen folds, she began rolling down the condom, taking her time about it all, a teasing gleam in her eyes that told him she knew what she was doing.
A gleam that left when he savagely thrust into her to the hilt.
Nicole’s eyelids fluttered closed and she arched her neck, a low, almost silent moan escaping her mouth. He thrust again. And again. His movements wild. Utterly selfish. Totally greedy.
Her flesh clenched around him and shudders racked her frame. She was climaxing. The quickness amazed him. And sent him hurtling over the edge right along with her.
9
SOMEWHERE AROUND MIDNIGHT Nicole lay with her head at the foot of the bed, her feet resting against the iron headboard while Alex was stretched at the right angle, his feet next to her head.
When they’d returned from his parents’ earlier, she’d thought for sure he was going to ask her to leave. Pack up her things and take a hike. Which wouldn’t have been too difficult because everything she owned she either wore or had in her backpack. The prospect of his actions disturbed her in a way she wasn’t equipped to deal with. When relationships went bad, she was usually the first one out the door, no questions, no recriminations, no drawn-out goodbyes.
But the thought of never seeing Alex again…
She felt a chill even though the night was warm and the fan rattling nearby did little more than regurgitate the warm air.
What she did know was that she wanted to stay until whatever was happening between them played out to its natural conclusion. So she’d taken a shower and formulated a plan to seduce him, all the while afraid it was too late. That she had gone too far.
She turned her head to stare out the window at the dark night beyond. She wasn’t really sure why she’d done what she had today. She’d merely wanted to make a point of sorts. Only the point itself was a little blurry.
Had she been trying to prove to him that no one controlled her? Or had she been paying him back for having followed her to Nessbaum’s? For making her feel guilty about doing something she did every day of the week without an ounce of remorse? Or had a small part of her been trying to f
orce him to end whatever was happening between them because she was incapable of walking away?
She felt oddly…sad at the possibility. It didn’t help that her entire body throbbed and ached. She’d thought everything would be okay if she could entice him into sex. But the end result was far from okay. While a part of her was strangely glad that he couldn’t resist her, another questioned the roughness of his lovemaking. He’d slammed into her again and again with little shame, taking her breath away. He’d stroked her breasts roughly, his movements speaking of his need for possession and absolute submission to his needs. And she’d given him everything he demanded. Hoping in some kind of twisted way that the answers she sought lay in this new dimension to their relationship.
Instead she now felt oddly…empty. As if what she’d done and his resulting actions, had destroyed whatever tentative bonds had been developing between them.
Only she didn’t know what those bonds were and what they meant. She did know that this morning she’d felt a slight panic at his leaving her to go to his parents’ for dinner. Not because he hadn’t invited her. They’d only known each other a few days so she could understand that. Rather she’d felt almost…scared, somehow. As if his contact with his normal life, his family, would spotlight all her faults and failings and he would return to the loft and find her lacking.
So what did she do? She’d acted on that fear. Not in a positive way. Rather she’d basically guaranteed that what she’d feared would happen, did happen. A sort of self-fulfilling prophecy.
Emotion clogged her throat, momentarily choking off air.
She was startled when Alex reached out and rested his hand against her thigh. She’d thought he was asleep.
The light touch was reassuring somehow, though he said nothing.
Nicole stared at the Tiffany jewelry she’d taken off earlier and put on the bedside table. It looked surreal in the dim light from the full moon filtering in through the window. “My mom had this really pretty brooch,” she whispered, her voice raspy from having cried out so often during the past few hours. “She didn’t have much jewelry. She wasn’t a jewelry-type person, you know?”
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