Every morning he was the first to wake up. It was his favorite time of day, when the early-dawn sunlight cut through the tall windows like shards of glass, bathing Nikki’s beautiful skin with golden rays. She looked positively angelic, lying in a bed of Egyptian cotton sheets. He loved the way her dark hair spread like a halo over several pillows, just as he loved the fact that she clung to him during the night instead of the top sheet.
This morning, just like all the rest, one glance at her Coke-bottle curves increased the length of his erection. But he wouldn’t wake her. Not yet anyway. Right now, he just wanted to drink his fill of her. He stared at her bare face, mesmerized by its sun-kissed perfection. Her eyelashes were incredibly long and had a natural curl. Her nose was a bit short, straight at the base and small at the tip. Her lips were one of her best features—full, lush and always soft, begging to be kissed.
Then there was her neck—incredibly long and sensuous. It could bring out the vampire in any man. Without thinking, he reached out and lightly brushed his finger across her collarbone. Almost immediately, he noticed the quick acceleration of her heartbeat from the pulse in her neck.
I wouldn’t mind doing this for the rest of my life.
Hylan’s fingers stopped midstroke. Where had that thought come from? He tried to shrug it off. But it wasn’t working, maybe because it was the truth. “What have you done to me?”
At the sound of his voice, Nikki’s eyes fluttered open. She smiled when their gazes locked. “How come every time I wake up you’re staring at me?”
“Because you’re beautiful,” he said and then pressed a kiss against her lips.
She giggled and turned her head away. “Stop. You know I have morning breath.” She turned away and started to climb out of bed.
Hylan wasn’t having it. He whipped an arm around her waist and dragged her back. “You have no such thing.” He pinned her beneath him.
Nikki pushed at his chest in a futile attempt to get away. “Liar.”
“Look who’s calling the kettle black.” He kneed her legs open.
“Why, Mr. Dawson, you sure are horny in the mornings.”
“Last time I checked, Mrs. Dawson, so were you.” He entered her with one swift thrust of his hips.
Nikki arched her head back against the pillows. What she was feeling went beyond pleasure as her body responded with its usual quakes and tremors.
Hylan feasted on her neck while her breasts jiggled against his chest. He was addicted. There was no point in denying it anymore. Never in his adult life had he ever spent this much time with one woman—nor had he wanted to. Somewhere along the way while they were playing house, it all started to feel real to him. He wanted this woman more than he wanted water to drink, food to eat or even air to breathe.
Nothing about the way they met or had fallen in love made sense. Wait. Did I just say love?
Hylan’s steady, deep strokes slowed as he lifted his head and stared down at her.
Nikki noticed the sudden change in their lovemaking and lowered her head so she could return his curious stare. “Is something wrong, baby?” she panted.
His confusion was etched into the small lines in his face.
“Baby?” she asked again.
I love her, he repeated to himself. He couldn’t believe it. A smile blossomed across his face and his hips returned to their regularly scheduled program. “Nothing’s wrong, baby. Everything is just perfect.”
She smiled before her eyes fluttered closed again so she could luxuriate in the wondrous feelings he was arousing in her. More than once, he brought her to the brink of ecstasy only to change the rhythm and prolong the ecstasy. He finally allowed the slow building of her first orgasm. She thrashed mindlessly and clawed at his back.
Hylan grabbed her legs, jacked them up over his shoulders and started pounding away. He could feel her body’s juices drip down the lower part of his groin and he could feel her vaginal muscles pulse to his rhythm.
“Hylan,” she recited while she struggled to catch her breath. And then, “I’m coming.” She screamed his name one last time before her body exploded and she went limp in his arms. Seconds later, she heard Hylan’s mighty roar and felt him collapse behind her.
He gathered her close and returned to raining kisses along the nape of her neck.
“I love you,” he panted softly.
Nikki’s eyes fluttered open as a smile caressed her lips. “I love you, too,” she said, and meant it.
Later that afternoon, Hylan and Nikki flittered around the kitchen, trying to figure out what to make for lunch. What started out as a friendly debate over whether to grill or just throw together a salad, ended in a food fight. It seemed like it was going to be the one contest that Nikki could win. She managed to dodge ingredients like sliced cucumbers, lettuce and cherry tomatoes while Hylan was nailed with a couple of globs of raw hamburger meat.
“Oh, you think you’re funny,” Hylan said and grabbed fistfuls of iceberg lettuce, launching them at her.
“You’re cheating,” she shouted. Nikki ran to the refrigerator and grabbed the first thing she could lay her hands on—eggs.
“Whoa, whoa,” he said, holding up his hands. “What do you think you’re going to do with those?”
“What do you think?” Nikki laughed and then launched the first egg torpedo at him.
He ducked and heard the splat against the cabinet behind him. “Ah. It’s going to be like that, huh? Well then I got something for you,” he said, and then quickly launched two ground beef cannonballs at her.
Squealing, she took off running. One hit the refrigerator with a thunk! The second one nailed her right shoulder.
“Yeah, baby!” He pumped his fist in victory.
But Nikki didn’t waste any time launching her counterattack. While Hylan was doing a premature victory dance, she pumped four eggs in quick recession, each one found its mark on his head, face and chest.
He roared as his hands fell down to block his face, it was already too late. Egg yolk dripped down in front of his face in a slimy curtain. “I’m going to get you!” And he took off after her. Seeing his massive form race toward her, Nikki screamed, dropped the carton of eggs and ran like hell.
Ding-dong!
Saved by the bell. “Time out. Time out. There’s somebody at the door.” She turned, holding her hands up in a tee formation, signaling time out but still found herself in the midst of an all-out assault. Hylan had the presence of mind to tuck and roll so that when they tumbled to the floor, he absorbed most of the impact.
Nikki shrieked with laughter when Hylan proceeded to try and tickle her to death.
Ding-dong!
“Th-the door,” she panted. “We’ve got to get to the door.”
“Screw the door. Do you give up?” It was clear that he wanted to win.
“N-no!” She laughed and giggled and tried wiggling away.
“What?” He redoubled his efforts, tickling her sides, her lower belly and even under her arms.
She swatted at his hands. “No fair.”
“All is fair in love and war, sweetheart. Now let me hear you say it.”
“N-no!”
“We can stay like this all night. Do you give up?”
Nikki laughed so hard, she started to ache. Tears rolled in fat droplets down the side of her face. She wasn’t going to be able to hold out much longer.
Ding-dong!
“All right. All right. I give up,” she shouted.
Again Hylan’s fists pumped in the air. “Victory! Yess!”
Still laughing, Nikki pulled herself up and then punched him playfully in his chest. “You’re a cheater is what you are.”
Ding-dong!
“And I told you that there was someone at the door,” she pouted as she rose to her feet.
“Aw. You’re not going to start crying now, too, are you?” He poked out his bottom lip.
Nikki marched over to the front door. “I’m coming. I’m coming.” She snatched open the
door, but the smile on her face evaporated. “Mom! Dad!”
Chapter 15
“Don’t forget me,” Barbara piped up, waving from behind their parents.
Nikki just stared. “What are you guys doing here?”
“What do you think we’re doing here?” Her mother frowned. “What do you mean? You ran off and got married and we haven’t seen you for almost two years.”
Her father nodded. “Since you refuse to bring this young man home to meet us, we figured that we’d come here. Now are you going to invite us in or leave us standing outside, looking silly?”
Nikki’s thoughts were tripping over themselves as she continued to stand and stare like the village idiot.
“Who’s at the door, honey?” Hylan asked, walking into view while still wiping food from his head and face. “Oh, hello.” He smiled. “Can we help you?”
“Oh, my. He is handsome,” Mrs. Jamison said, pushing her daughter out the way and storming into the house so she could take a good look at her son-in-law. “You’re so tall,” she commented, making a circle around him.
“Um…thanks.” He eyed the woman who was giving him a 360-degree inspection. Then he caught the resemblance. His questioning gaze then swung to the still shell-shocked Nikki.
“Your parents?” he asked.
“What—you didn’t think she had any?” her father snapped. His dark eyes raked over Hylan and didn’t appear to like what he saw.
Ella clapped her hands once and then threw them around Hylan and gave him a bear hug. “It’s so nice to finally meet you.”
Hylan, not sure what to do, awkwardly lowered the towel from his face and hugged the woman back. “I-it’s nice to finally meet you, too.”
“Uh-huh.” Wilbur Jamison rocked back on his heels. “Seems to me that the man didn’t even know who we were.” His disappointed face shifted to his older daughter. “Which is understandable since he did not grant us the common courtesy of introducing himself and asking me for my daughter’s hand.” Hylan groaned. Oh this about to be a nightmare.
“So are you going to give us a proper introduction or not?” Wilbur asked Nikki.
“O-of course.” Nikki fluttered a weak smile. “Mom, Dad, this is my—” she cleared her throat “—my husband, Hylan. Hylan, these are my parents, Ella and Wilbur Jamison.”
Hylan tilted his head. “How do you do?”
Barbara reached over and tapped her older sister on the shoulder. “Don’t forget about me.”
“Oh um, and this is my baby sister, Barbara,” she added.
“Ah. You’re nearly as beautiful as my wife,” he teased.
Barbara fluttered her lashes demurely. “Good going, sis,” she whispered conspiratorially.
Nikki avoided her sister’s twinkling gaze and said, “So, um, come on in,” she finally said, pulling the door all the way back so everyone could enter. “Hylan, maybe you could help them with their bags.”
“Good idea.” He pried himself out Ella’s arms and rushed out the door to the cab. All the while, his mind was racing. What the hell were they going to do now?
Barbara gushed at her older sister as she gave her a soft jab of her elbow. “His pictures don’t do him justice,” she whispered.
Guilt and shame continued to pile onto Nikki’s shoulders. The only reason she’d told her parents that she’d gotten married was because Barbara had called the house one day and actually spoke to Mahina. Mahina had referred to her as Mrs. Dawson and before she had a chance to talk to Barbara, she had already called and told her folks. So the lie just continued to grow.
“Why didn’t you guys tell me that you were coming?” she asked, still trying to stifle the panic that was rising in her chest.
“Because you would have told us not to come,” her mother reasoned.
Damn right.
“This is a gorgeous place,” he mother continued, looking around. “Not to mention that it’s smack dab in the middle of paradise, too.” She glanced at her husband. “Your father thought that you were shut away in some shack.”
Wilbur harrumphed and stiffened his back. “Well, something had to be up. The child was behaving strangely. Stranger than normal, that is.”
Nikki’s chin came up at the backhanded barb. “As you can see, I’m fine. So if you came all this way to—”
“Now, now,” her mother stepped in. “Everybody just take a breath. Nobody came here to do anything other than welcome that nice young man into the family.” She smiled and pushed back Nikki’s hair from her face. “Surely, you know that we’ve missed you.”
Nikki smiled, but it was heavy—just like the guilt that continued to pile on.
Hylan returned to the house with his arms loaded down with bags. “I guess I’ll just take these up to the guest room,” he said.
“I’ll help,” Nikki offered. She needed a few minutes to apologize for this latest development.
“We’ll all come,” Nikki’s mom announced. “Since we’ll need to know where we’ll be sleeping for the next two weeks.”
“Two weeks,” Hylan and Nikki thundered.
“Is that a problem?” Wilbur asked, his brows hiking in suspicion.
Nikki and Hylan’s gaze jerked toward one another.
“Um, no. Two weeks is fine,” Nikki lied. “We’re thrilled to have you.”
“Great.” Ella clapped her hands together gleefully. “See, Wilbur. I told you that everything was going work out just fine. This is going to be the best vacation. Who knows, we probably will never want to leave.”
Hylan and Nikki looked as if they’d both been handed a death sentence.
“Well, lead the way, Mr. Dawson,” Wilbur said, grabbing the bags that he’d carried from the cab.
“Okay,” Hylan said, then, under his breath added, “This should be fun.” He turned and led his new in-laws up the main staircase.
Barbara looped her arms possessively through Nikki’s and leaned in close to whisper, “I can see why you’d want to keep him hidden away. He’s fine.”
Nikki didn’t respond. There was no way she was going to be able to keep a fake marriage together under her parent’s watchful eyes—especially her father. He was like a human detective. Nothing ever got past him.
Sensing that her older sister was worried, Barbara added, “Don’t worry about Dad. You know that his bark is worse than his bite. He’s just hurt that he wasn’t invited to your wedding. To be honest, so was I,” she whispered as they climbed the stairs.
“What?”
“C’mon. What were you thinking? I know that you were really down and out after your play…um, didn’t do so well.”
“You mean when it bombed,” Nikki corrected.
“Yeah. When that happened, I know that you were at a low point in your life, but I never once thought you would just pack up and leave the way you did. In some ways I was angry, but in other ways I so admired you for it.”
Nikki couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You admired me?”
“Are you kidding? I’ve always admired you. You’re never afraid of taking risks. They don’t always work out, but hey, it’s better than always doing the safe thing—the sensible thing.” Barbara huffed out tired breath. “When you left, you weren’t ashamed of us or something?”
“What? No. Of course not.”
Barbara fell silent for a moment. “You know, growing up I always imagined that we would be each other’s maid of honor. Sort of a sister thing. You know.”
Tears burned Nikki’s eyes. “Look, Barbara. I—”
“But you know what?” her sister said. “All that matters is that you’re happy. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a smile like the one you had when you opened the door. You were positively glowing. You’re not pregnant, are you?”
Nikki nearly tripped over her own feet. “What?”
“Whoa. Be careful,” Barbara said, catching her by the arm.
“Are you okay, hon?” Hylan asked even though he was several feet down the hall from h
er.
“Oh she’s fine. I caught her,” Barbara said cheerily and then added for her sister’s ears only, “He’s definitely a keeper.”
Nikki lowered her voice. “What makes you ask if I’m pregnant?”
Barbara clasped her hands together. “Did I guess right?”
“No,” Nikki said, feeling her face drain of blood. But as she was doing the calculations in her head, she didn’t know whether she was trying to convince her sister or herself.
“Well, if I lived in the middle of paradise with a husband that looked like that, I’d be trying to pump out a house full of babies.”
Hylan’s new father-in-law didn’t like him. That much was clear.
It didn’t matter how nice he was, how many jokes he tried to crack or how he took each of Wilbur’s backhanded remarks with a smile, Wilbur Jamison had made up his mind. Things only got worse when Hylan’s family dropped by once again. It seemed word had gotten out about the Jamisons’s visit and everyone figured that they would drop by and make their own introductions. Before Nikki and Hylan knew it, they were hosting a full-fledged house party.
Nikki, however was on pins and needles because there was no way to control or stop her mountain of lies from slipping into her parents’ ear. And she didn’t have that long to wait.
“Let me get this straight,” Wilbur said suddenly. “You mean to tell me that Nicole has been living here on the island by herself for the first eighteen months of your marriage?” His gaze stabbed Hylan just as he was handing Rafiq and a couple of cousins bottles of beer. “Where the hell were you all that time?”
“I, um—” he looked to Nikki “—I was working in Atlanta.”
Wilbur glared. “Now I may be getting on in years, but back when I was still working a nine-to-five, I still came home to my wife and family every evening.”
Body Heat Page 12
