by V. K. Sykes
Another flicker of a smile. She was making progress.
“Hey, I think you just called me cheap,” he said.
“Hardly. Nobody likes a good bargain better than me. But why do I get the feeling you like asking questions but not answering any in return?”
“Not everybody likes talking about themselves. And, just to be clear, asking questions is my job. I don’t do it for fun.”
She’d sensed from their first meeting that Nick had posted Do Not Enter signs around his emotional perimeter. The occasional hint of sadness in his eyes made her wonder what tragedy or loss he had suffered to have erected that kind of fence. “What do you do for fun, Nick?”
He gave a short, humorless laugh. “You mean, what did I used to do for fun? Back when I actually had some free time?”
Despite his sardonic tone, she detected no real bitterness, and didn’t respond to his rhetorical question.
“Stuff guys are supposed to be into,” he continued. “I played a little amateur football. Surfed some, when I was stationed in San Diego. Drank beer and chased women.”
Sadie’s ears perked up. That explained the way he carried himself, and the aura of command that was obviously second nature to him. “You were in the service, then?”
“Eight years in the Marine Corps. 24th MEU.”
Double wow. She sucked in a breath. “Iraq?”
Nick went oddly still. Several very long seconds of silence made Sadie feel awkward, curious, and intensely aware of everything about him.
“Maybe you don’t like to talk about it, but I’m interested if you want to,” she said in a tentative voice.
He offered a brief smile that never touched his eyes. “My unit had two deployments in Iraq—Fallujah and Ramadi. Then another in Afghanistan, in Helmand Province.”
Sadie’s throat grew tight. He’d been in the center of it all—the places where the fiercest fighting had occurred. Who could know how that had affected him?
“You clearly did more than your share, Nick.” She instinctively used his first name. “You should be very proud.”
Even though he didn’t move, his posture seemed to relax and the charged intensity in the atmosphere surrounding them lost its substance. “I am. Even after three tours over there, I didn’t want to leave the Corps. But I didn’t have a choice. I had to come home.”
“Home to the States?”
He shook his head, and the sadness was back in his eyes. “Home to Vegas. When my dad died several months ago, there was nobody else to take care of my mom. She’s not well.”
“I’m so sorry.” She reached across to stroke his hand with a light, sympathetic touch. He jerked slightly, as if surprised by her gesture of sympathy.
“She’s been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. And she’s only sixty-two, which makes it even worse. If I hadn’t come home, she’d have had to be institutionalized.” He shook his head, looking grim. “There’ll come a time soon enough when I won’t be able to take care of her any longer, but I’ll be damned if I’ll see her in some facility one day sooner than she has to be.”
Sadie had an aunt with Alzheimer’s, but she was in her eighties and had several children to look out for her. Nick’s mother had no one but him, and he obviously hadn’t let her down. He was a hero in more ways than one.
“She must be grateful. I don’t know how many men would do what you’ve done.”
He scoffed, as if to deny any sacrifice on his part. “I don’t know how anyone could do anything else.”
From the look on his face, she could tell he didn’t want to pursue that particular line of conversation. Modest and heroic. Sadie had never met anyone like him.
“You must have to hire people to look after her when you’re at work, don’t you?” she asked. “Since you said you work really long hours.”
“Mom can still manage to do a lot of things for herself. But, yes, I have a couple of people who cook for her and clean up when I’m not there. And they get her to bed when I have to work late.”
Her heart ached for him, and for how complicated his life must be. “It’s a tough situation for you.”
“Not really. Not compared to what she’s going through.”
Sadie didn’t know how to respond to that, but she had to turn the conversation soon or she’d burst into tears. When she was young, her father had tried to break her of her tendency to cry easily, scolding her for what he called a lamentable lack of emotional discipline. But Nick’s selfless, quiet courage seemed to blow through all her meager defenses. She had to pull back before she dissolved into a puddle and ruined their evening.
She touched his hand again and then drew it back across the table. “I have to say this wasn’t the conversation I envisioned on our way here. But I’m really glad we had it, Nick.”
He nodded, looking relieved that she’d brought the subject to a close. “I never talk to anyone about Mom, except for her doctors and her caregivers. But talking to you was...okay.”
Her throat constricted again. “Anytime, Nick. I mean that,” she managed.
A few seconds of silence, then a hint of mischief crept back into his gorgeous dark eyes. “Ah, Sadie?”
“Yes?”
“What kind of conversation did you envision?”
She laughed, more than ready to humor him. She wanted to do whatever she could to cheer him up. “Oh, I thought we’d start with something light, like the latest developments in particle physics research. Then maybe we’d move on to the origin of the universe and unification theory.”
Most regular guys would be flummoxed by her remarks, but he didn’t even flinch. “Well, you’ll be miles ahead of me, of course, but fire away. I always wanted to know more about unification theory.”
He must be pulling her leg, but he didn’t seem to be laughing at her at all.
“Fire away?” She didn’t bother to hide her surprise. Baseball? Yes. NASCAR? Certainly. But physics? Not so much.
“I’m not an uneducated dolt, Sadie. I did learn a few things at university.”
Even with her mighty mathematical brain, Sadie had to quickly re-compute her internal model of Nick Saxon. “I’m sorry. I just assumed you’d gone straight into the military. Especially since you spent eight years in the Marines.”
“I’m a little older than I look, if that’s what you’re getting at. But don’t worry about it.” Suddenly, he switched into interrogation mode. “Now, Ms. Bligh, how about giving me the real answer to my question?”
She stared back at him, feeling shy and more than a tad foolish. What the heck was she supposed to say? That she wanted to leap his bones? Obviously she did, but she couldn’t help wondering if he would think her more than a little slutty if she said so. Suddenly, it mattered very much what Nick Saxon thought of her, especially after that last conversation.
Then again, he’d just offered up the opportunity for her to state precisely what she wanted from him, and this might be her only chance. Men like him—honorable, kind, and handsome as sin—didn’t come along very often, at least not in her life. What kind of idiot would she be if she let this chance slip away?
She sucked up her courage and took a swan dive off the high tower. “All right, then. If you insist.” The words came out way too close to a croak. She took a deep breath, willing the tension out of her voice. “What I’d envisioned was that you would charm me out of my pants before we finished our second drink. Then you’d rush me back to my hotel room for a long night of unforgettable, unimaginable passion.”
She put on a little huff for effect. “There. Satisfied? Now it’s your turn. Why did you drag me here?”
Now that I finally discovered some guts, don’t leave me hanging here, Saxon.
He looked smug, sexy, and arrogant all at the same time. And the big jerk was making her wait while her insides churned and beads of perspiration broke out along the nape of her neck.
Finally, he put her out of her misery, giving her a bone-melting smile. “Great minds really do t
hink alike, don’t they?”
She sucked in a deep breath, unable to hide the nervous excitement bolting through her. Though she’d been salivating over the thought of a naked Nick Saxon for the last twenty-four hours, it had only been a fantasy. But now, could it be that the dark, mysterious, and impossibly gorgeous sheriff wanted to make love to her?
No freaking way.
She’d come to Las Vegas hoping for a bout of totally uninvolved sex with a stranger. Until a half-hour ago, the hard-ass sheriff who dragged her off the table yesterday would have been perfect. But now the sheriff wasn’t a complete stranger any more. Now, he was Nick Saxon, war hero and devoted, self-sacrificing son.
And that seemed to change everything.
* * *
A little later, they barely made it to Nick’s car before he did blow through all her defenses with what Sadie could only describe as a soul-shattering, toe-curling kiss. When he opened the door to hand her into his big SUV, she glanced up to thank him. Whatever it was he saw in her eyes at that moment, it launched him like a missile.
Yanking her up onto her tiptoes, he claimed her mouth, the insistent pressure of his tongue pushing past her willing lips. His hands spread low at the base of her spine, smoothing the soft fabric of her dress before he tugged her tight against his groin. His erection rocked into her, pressing against the perfect spot, making her damp and hot and barely able to hold herself upright. As if he could sense that, his big hands slipped down to cup her bottom. He cradled her against him, kneading her flesh in a gentle, seductive rhythm.
Nick deepened the kiss, turning it hot and wet. He explored every part of her mouth with a deliberate and sensual intent that soon left her aching and frantic. She had to feel more of him—all of him. So she slipped her hands inside his jacket and reached around to stroke the long, hard muscles of his back. Just standing in the grubby parking lot, with several layers of clothing between them, she could tell his body was so much more, so perfect compared to the few men she had slept with.
And, God help her, she hadn’t known it was possible to feel totally possessed by just one kiss.
Too soon, Nick loosened his grip and pulled back. Sadie hugged him even harder, plastering her cheek into the warmth of his chest, some part of her afraid that if they stopped they would never start again. Murmuring her name in a low voice, he put a finger under her chin and gently tilted her face up to look into his.
“Car sex with you would be amazing, and I’m tempted as hell, but not in the parking lot of Billy Jack’s.”
She flushed, this time with embarrassment. “Darn,” she said, trying to cover. “I still have that on my Vegas to-do list. Can I get a rain check?”
He clamped his hands on her ass and boosted her into the passenger seat. Even that bit of masculine impatience made her heart race with excitement, which was really pretty pathetic when she thought about it.
So stop thinking and just feel.
“I can’t wait to see that list,” Nick said as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “I think.”
Sadie grinned and clicked her seatbelt into place. After all those heavy moments in the bar and especially after that kiss—which had knocked her completely off balance—maybe it was better to keep things light. At least for now.
“I hate these gas-guzzling SUV’s,” she said, determined to get a rise out of him. “Don’t you care about the environment, Saxon? Haven’t you ever heard of global warming?”
He threw her a get real look. “I live in Las Vegas and I fought in Iraq. Trust me, there’s nothing I don’t know about heat.”
They bantered like that all the way back to the Desert Oasis, but it still took way too long for Sadie’s liking. At least Nick drove with one hand resting on her thigh, his warm fingers playing with the edge of her skirt. And for all her efforts to play it cool, every time she looked at his strong profile, his hard, beautiful mouth curving into a sexy smile, her heart pounded so loudly she thought he might just be able to hear it.
Finally, he wheeled into the hotel’s massive parking garage. From there, he explained, they could access one of the service elevators, and that would keep the number of prying eyes to a minimum.
As he ushered her inside, Sadie giggled softly at the thought that she’d have to amend her Vegas to-do list to insert ‘clandestine’ into ‘wild, crazy sex’.
Nick pushed open a door that led into a service corridor near the hotel’s sprawling kitchens. “Something funny, little lady?”
“I was just thinking about my to-do list, and how important it is to be flexible. Keep an open mind. Don’t judge a book by the cover. Let the universe unfold. All those clichés.”
He stopped at a bank of three elevators and punched the call button. “I guess that means I didn’t exactly sweep you off your feet the first time we met.”
Sadie pretended to take his statement seriously. “Oh, I don’t know. You clearly had a certain something that can appeal to a woman’s baser instincts.” The doors opened and Nick ushered her inside the empty elevator. “I’m sure Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun had legions of women lusting after them. Why, if you were to do a historical survey of all the conquering—”
She gasped when he pushed her up against the back of the elevator and swooped in close.
“You know, Sadie Bligh,” he said in a low, growly voice that made her legs go weak, “sometimes you really do talk too much.”
* * *
Nick liked hearing Sadie talk, but not right at that moment. And the easiest way to shut her up was to kiss her again. He’d been planning to do exactly that since the moment he’d savored her lush, soft mouth in Billy Jack’s parking lot.
As she nudged even closer into his embrace, the sensation of her full breasts pressing into his chest fired a wave of lust straight to his groin, turning him rock-hard in an instant. Instinctively, he gripped her ass and pulled her tight against him, lifting her onto her tiptoes again. A little moan vibrated from between her soft lips.
God. What he planned on doing as soon as he got her flat on her back might not be totally legal, even in Nevada. That’s how hot she’d stoked his fire.
From the surf chicks of La Jolla to the party girls of the Vegas Strip, Nick had sampled his fair share of women with killer bodies. Sadie Bligh, as sweet and sexy as she was, would look completely out of place in a group photo of those women. But from the moment he’d pulled her floundering butt off the Pai Gow table, she’d been driving him crazy and causing him all kinds of trouble. So, here he was, risking his job—thanks to a hot little number who’d breezed in from Chicago and switched his hormones onto full burn.
He let his hands roam over the generous curves barely covered by her silky dress, aching to peel it away so he could see her, touch her, taste her. If they were anywhere more private than the elevator, he’d have her clothes off in a lot less time than it was taking them to reach the thirtieth floor. But even though things were getting hotter by the second, his brain kept telling him to slow down. Nick barely knew the woman now clinging to him like Velcro, and his brain insisted that something about her was... not off, exactly, but not totally right.
Go to hell, brain.
Nick broke the kiss as the fast elevator shushed to a stop. The instant the doors slid open, Sadie unstuck herself, grabbed him by the wrist, and pulled him down the hall toward her room. He grinned and let her take the lead. Like a Marine, she was a woman on a mission.
Sadie swiped her card through the reader and yanked him into the room. Before he could flip on the lights, she latched on to him again, clamping her arms around his neck in a death grip as she wrapped one leg high around his hips. Then, surprisingly, she froze in his embrace, tremors vibrating through her limbs.
“Babe, what’s up?’ he murmured as he ran a soothing hand down her spine.
She swallowed, loud enough for him to hear. “Sheriff, I’m afraid that’s as much assertiveness as I’ve got in me. I’m counting on you to take charge from here. As loathe as I am to confess
it, I must admit that I flunked out of Seduction 101.” Her warm breath whispered across his skin in nervous puffs.
He smiled and cradled her close, charmed by her unexpected vulnerability. Sadie knew what she wanted, but wasn’t quite sure how to pull it off. For all her bravado and promises of sin-filled lists, he could tell this kind of behavior wasn’t her usual style. In fact, the tension in her body suggested exactly the opposite.
Reaching inside the bathroom, he flicked on the lights and closed the door until only a sliver of illumination slanted into the dark bedroom. Too much light equaled too many inhibitions. Despite her wild woman routine, he figured Sadie’s self-confidence was a mile wide and a half-inch deep. That was something he hoped to change before the night was through.
“I don’t have any problem taking charge,” he said. “But I think you already know that, don’t you?”
He felt her lips curve in a smile against his neck.
“Sheriff, that’s exactly the answer I was hoping for.”
* * *
Sheldon sure as heck never kissed like this.
Sadie knew she shouldn’t have an image of sex with her ex-boyfriend darting through her brain—not with Nick’s tongue stroking between her lips and his soldier’s hands inside her dress—but she simply couldn’t help making the comparison.
A rising star in the physics department, Sheldon Armitage had a gift for math almost equal to hers. He’d made even the Higgs Boson particle seem like a romp in the park. As a lover, he’d been gentle and kind, and sex, though infrequent, had seemed satisfactory during their three-year relationship. All their friends had assumed they would eventually marry. Sadie had thought they might someday, too, but when Sheldon took a four-month assignment at CERN in Switzerland, word quickly reached her through the academic grapevine that he was working on more than the Large Hadron Collider. His extracurricular project’s name was Yvette, and she was a French graduate student in physics.
Although hurt, it hadn’t taken Sadie long to acknowledge that she had recovered from Sheldon’s amorous betrayal in a matter of weeks. She had told herself it was because she was so focused on her research for the Eagleton Prize. She didn’t have time for a relationship, much less marriage. Now Sadie knew better, because what she had felt for Sheldon—at least physically—paled in comparison to what she felt at this moment for Nick. It was like comparing steamed broccoli to double-chocolate cake.
