Solving for Nic (Self Made Men...Southern Style Book 2)

by Lexxi Callahan

  He had to be teasing her. “You? Played football? Seriously?”

  “I was the kicker.”

  It was easier to picture him in rugby shorts and socks than football pads but she could believe him as a kicker. “I'll bet you dated all the cheerleaders.”

  Her heart raced at his slowly, sexy smile. “A few. Were you a cheerleader?”

  A cheerleader? Her? No, they hadn't let math geeks on the squad at her school. “No, Jen and I went to high school in Toulouse. The cheerleaders there are picked at birth.”

  “Toulouse?”

  “Small town between Slidell and Baton Rouge. We lived there after Katrina for a few years.”

  “You lost your home in the storm?” The gentleness in his tone soothed along her skin, beating back the chill that always accompanied the memories of Katrina. Lizzie never talked about the days following the hurricane. She didn’t want to think about it and talking about them dragged it all up again.

  “We were lucky. We got out of the city and stayed at a friend's farm. We always stayed there in the past when there were storms. They have horses and we'd ride, have a big BBQ and go home.”

  “Katrina was different?”

  Lizzie pushed the fish around her plate and let the candlelight flickering off the china distract her. “It kept coming. It was a category three when it destroyed the farm but we were lucky. Mr. Masters has a helicopter and he flew us to Atlanta. We stayed there until Dad and Stefan found a place in Toulouse. We lived there until Mom and Dad compromised on moving to Slidell. Dad wanted to build our house back in the city but Mom refused to live on that side of the Pontchartrain again.”

  She focused on Nic, not wanting to think about Katrina. She had no right to be upset anyway. They’d been lucky. The X on their house hadn't had a body count.

  “No cheerleading?” he teased, distracting her from the memories tightening her throat.

  “No cheerleading,” she agreed, the nightmare of Katrina sliding away.

  Jet black eyebrows narrowed at her. “What have I told you about looking at me like that?”

  “Like what?”

  “Like you're starving.” His voice was hoarse again.

  She glanced away, the dark magic swirling around them becoming too much for her. “Nic, please tell me I’m not the only one feeling this. I think I’m losing my mind.”

  She was reaching for her wine glass when his fingers caught hers. “No,” he rasped. “You’re not.”

  She watched, fascinated as he stroked his thumb across her knuckles. He turned her hand over and teased the tender skin on the inside of her wrist. Chills ran up her arm. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

  He spoke slowly, a teasing tone offsetting the seriousness of what he said next. “I’m not sure we have a choice.”

  The darkness in his voice surrounded her and the ambient noise from the restaurant fell away. The craziness in her mind quieted down. She couldn’t take her eyes away from the contrast of his tanned fingers, circling around her wrist. She could feel her blood thickening with each lazy round of his thumb.

  Time simply had no meaning any longer. When he spoke, she was startled by the sound.

  “We should get going. Finish your wine. Then I’ll show you the beach.”

  A few minutes later, she was walking down the soft sand, her new shoes dangling from one hand and her other hand lost in his. The moon was high and bright in the sky bathing the beach in silvery light. It was a gorgeous night and better than anything she’d ever dreamed.

  He stopped her and pulled her around to face him. She kept her arm extended for a minute, then let him pull her to him. His mouth brushed against her forehead. “I didn’t take your phone, bella. It’s on the charger in my office. Your purse is sitting next to it on my desk. If you’d bothered to snoop through my things, you would have found them right away. But you didn’t, did you?” he whispered, his arms tightening around her. “You were by yourself most of the morning and I bet you didn’t open a drawer.”

  She shrugged. Did arm candy snoop? She really didn’t care. She flattened her hands against his hard chest, then threw her head back. “Stop wasting moonlight, Nic. Kiss me.”

  He nodded, accepting her change of topic without hesitation. “How can I say no to that?” His hand curved around the back of her head and he kissed her. It was a gentle, searching, scorching kiss she’d never ever forget. The way Italian princes must have kissed centuries ago. Fairytales and moonbeams wove around her and she sighed when he raised his head.

  It was a few minutes before she could open her eyes. It was all so perfect that it was hard to remember that it wasn’t real. It felt real, it tasted real, but it was only temporary. They only had a week. Then the crystal shoes were going back.

  “Dinner was delicious.” She sighed, as they continued back to the resort.

  “Successful first date?”

  She nodded, glancing up at him. She smiled when she saw his relaxed expression. He seemed younger, more approachable. Nothing like the harsh businessman she’d arrived with earlier. She slid her arm through his and leaned into him. “Perfect.”

  Later, when the Aston Martin came to a stop in the garage, Lizzie’s heart tried to escape her chest. She leaned back against the seat, her face turned toward Nic watching him put the car into park, turn the engine off, push his not-so-steady fingers through his hair. He’d been beautiful in the moonlight on the beach and he was just as gorgeous under the stark fluorescent light in the enormous garage. She loved watching him. It didn’t matter what he was doing. Fishing, cooking, dancing, breathing. Every move he made was a singular work of art and she could drown in the view for a lifetime and never notice.

  He turned to her then, his eyelids low and his lips not touching. He watched her too. The intensity of his gaze burned through layers of skin and muscle, right to her bones. She ached for him like she never had before.

  His hands curved around her face, then his mouth moved hard over hers. His tongue pressed deep, filling her with his taste. Spicy with traces of the wine they’d had at dinner and the mint he’d popped into his mouth when he thought she wasn’t looking.

  Her fingers slid into his hair and she held his head while he took the kiss deeper, taking them too close to the edge. His mouth lifted so they could breathe but his forehead touched hers. They stared at each other, breathing too hard and unwilling to be the first to let go.

  “Lizzie,” he whispered, his breathing ragged. “Back in New Orleans, I rushed you. I don’t want to tonight. I’m going to kiss you again, then I’ll take a guest room.”

  “But—”

  Fingers covered her mouth.

  “Get a good night’s sleep because we’re taking the boat out early.”

  He eased away from her, sucked in a ragged breath and got out of the convertible in one graceful move. Stunned, she stared at the space he’d occupied. The passenger door opening startled her out of the daze and she glanced at him. His expression was unreadable but his eyes were warm and his mouth did not have that hard edge to it. She was pretty sure if she put her ear to his chest she’d find his heart banging as erratically as hers.

  As soon as they were inside the house she turned to speak but he was kissing her again. Her arms went around him and she held on while he turned them both inside out. He lifted his head.

  “Goodnight, bella.”

  “Goodnight, Nic.” She started to turn away from him, then turned back. “You know I’m going to dream about you now.”

  “Try not to wake up before the good part.”

  He kissed her again. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  She found her cell phone the second she stepped into his office. It was right on his desk where he’d said it was. Her red beaded bag next to it. She took it off the charger and slipped back into the master bedroom. As soon as she turned it on a barrage of text messages and e-mails set off notifications.

  Most of them were from Jen wanting to know why she wasn’t answering her p
hone.

  Lizzie swallowed hard and turned the location setting off on her phone in case anyone got clever about finding her. She was an adult. She didn’t have to explain where she was. Except Jen had resorted to a voice mail and that meant she was worried.

  This was not going to be a short phone call so she took the phone into the master bathroom and decided to give the whirlpool tub a spin. She sat down on the edge of the tub and called Jen back.

  “Where are you?” Jen demanded a second later when she answered.

  Lizzie twirled her finger through the hot water steaming up the bathroom and switched to speaker phone. “Key Largo.”

  “Key Largo?” Jen echoed, her voice anything but calm. “What are you doing in Key Largo? We don’t even know anyone in Key Largo, Lizzie.”

  “Nic Maretti,” Lizzie said simply, as if it explained everything. And actually, since it was Jen, it kind of did.

  “Noooooo way.” Jen breathed out the word with appropriate shock and awe.

  “Way,” Lizzie chirped, not wanting the conversation to get too serious. Jen knew she’d had a crush on Nic forever, but she hadn’t told Jen what happened the night of the wedding. She wasn’t ready to share that yet and it felt weird not telling Jen everything.

  “You’re serious?” Jen balked. “You’re in Key Largo with Nic Maretti?”

  Lizzie stripped off the blue-green dress and carefully draped it over the vanity stool. “Yeah, why is that so hard to believe?”

  The water was heavenly as she stepped into it.

  “Because you are supposed to be at school.”

  “I sort of finished early.” She groaned as water surrounded her. She stretched out in the tub and decided she was apartment shopping until she found one with a real bathtub.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Bubble bath.” Lizzie laughed. “Alone.”

  Jen laughed and Lizzie relaxed even more.

  “So are you going to tell me why you’re in Key Largo with Nic Maretti?”

  Lizzie laughed softly. “He brought me down here to distract me from Rogan.”

  “And have you been?” Jen teased. “Distracted?”

  “Oh, you have no freaking idea.”

  “So you and he…uh…did you?”

  “You’re married now. You can say sex.”

  “I could say sex before.” Jen got quiet on the other end of the line suddenly and some of Lizzie’s delight faded. “You always kidded around saying you were saving yourself for him, I didn’t realize you actually meant it.”

  “Well, I didn’t know I would get to mean it.”

  “You don’t think he’s a little old for you?”

  “Uh, hello, Stefan is too old for you except that he’s immature for his age so it doesn’t matter. And trust me, Nic is so not immature for his age. Besides, we’re just having fun. I don’t think wedding bells are chiming in the distance. He’s not a forever kind of guy, Jen,” Lizzie explained. Saying it out loud, and hearing it out loud, made her stomach twist painfully.

  “Then why are you involved with him?” Jen asked, adding quickly, “And Stefan is not immature for his age.”

  “He so is. What did he say when he found out about the zipper? Or lack of one?”

  Jen sighed. “I’m not speaking to him. Do you have any idea what that dress cost?”

  Lizzie sputtered with laughter, making water slosh against the side of the tub.

  “Lizzie,” Jen said, her voice taking on that wary but gentle tone. “This is me. Remember? The one person on the planet who actually knows you. You wouldn’t have gone with him to Key Largo if you weren’t serious.”

  “The thing is…” Lizzie sat up in the water. “This is my chance to finally get him out of my system. I’ve had a crush on him for so long, I’m not sure who I am without it.”

  “Maybe it’s not a crush.”

  “Okay, what? Obsession? I don’t have time for it. I can’t daydream in class about him anymore. These professors aren’t fooled. They can actually tell if I’m paying attention or not.”

  “Oh, you mean school just got real for you?” Jen laughed. “Now you know how the rest of us feel.”

  “Shut up.”

  “Be careful, Lizzie.”

  “We’re just having fun. I went to the spa today, then we had an amazing dinner, and walked on the beach. Tomorrow we’re taking his boat out and I’m going to work on my tan.”

  “I kind of hate you right now,” Jen grumbled.

  “I’ll be back in New Orleans by the end of the week.”

  “Okay, you’ve convinced me,” Jen assured her. “Now, as soon as we hang up you can start trying to convince yourself.”

  “I kind of hate you back.”

  “I’ll have pancakes waiting for you when you get back.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “If he hurts you, Mac and Stefan won’t get a chance to kill him. They won’t be able to find his body, Lizzie. I mean it.”

  “Jen, I swear, I know what I’m doing. I will still need those pancakes, but this will all be fine. Trust me.”

  Jen groaned. “Now I’m really worried.”

  Chapter Nine

  It was the perfect day to spend on the water. Big fluffy clouds floated across the bright blue sky and reflected in the calm clear water. The sun was warm but the air was cool. On the deck of Nic’s fishing trawler, Lizzie relaxed in a lounge chair and tried not to think about anything.

  “You okay?” He handed her a travel mug of coffee.

  She nodded, forcing a smile.

  “Lizzie—” he sat on the edge of the lounger, “—don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re the only one who can’t feel the ground under your feet.”

  He kissed her forehead, then levered up to go do whatever it was he needed to do to get the boat ready to go. She watched him, no longer faking a smile but determined she was not going to read more into this than there was but Nic didn’t make it easy.

  By midmorning, she was torturing him. She’d stripped down to her bikini and was rubbing sunscreen on all the skin the bikini left bare. Which was most of her. Nic had been free to get his gear together, bait his hooks, and drop his lines. He’d been fishing for several uninterrupted hours when the scrape of a lounge chair startled him. He glanced over his shoulder to find her adjusting the chair to maximize the sun. Her back was to him as she scooted the chair around. She bent over and Nic’s body turned to steel while his brain shut off.

  There was a hard tug on his line and he ignored it. Her bikini stretched across those perfect curves and had Nic choking on his own breath trying to get oxygen into his lungs.

  She straightened, and turned to grin at him. She knew he was watching her. “Want to do my back?”

  She waved the bottle of sunscreen at him. She was teasing him and the way she smiled, her face lit up like Christmas, made him smile back at her. He shrugged helplessly. He wanted to spread sunscreen on more than her back. Instead he held up his hands. “I’ve had my hands in all this bait.”

  Her smile went away as she shuddered. “I’m good. I don’t need any help.”

  He grinned and went back to his lines. When it got too quiet, he was about to go look for her when she stepped out of the cabin holding two bottles of water. She closed the distance between them, the shells and charm on the sarong clinking together.

  Nic looked down at her feet and his throat went dry. His eyes fixed on the silver rings on several of her toes and the cherry red toenail polish. He had the strangest urge to pull those rings off one by one with his teeth.

  She dangled a bottled water in front of him. He took it, grateful for something cold.

  He swallowed most of the water in one gulp and when he could speak without sounding like he had sandpaper in his throat, he asked, “Getting ready for lunch?”

  She took a sip of her water and replaced the cap. “No, I’m good. Unless you’re hungry.”

  “The kitchen’s fully stocked. I’m sure you can find something yo
u can eat.”

  “Oh.” She sounded nervous. “I’m in charge of lunch?”

  “Should I be worried?”

  “Probably. Jen doesn’t allow me in the kitchen anymore. She tried to teach me to cook but I think I take too long getting things ready. She gave me cookie dough once and it took me ten minutes to get all the slices right.”

  “You sliced cookie dough?”

  “The premade kind. In the tube.”

  “Oh.” Nic stifled a laugh. He could see her concentrating on getting all the slices the same.

  “If one slice is larger than the other, one will get done faster so not all the cookies will reach peak yumminess.”

  “That would be bad,” he agreed, charmed again when color dusted her cheeks.

  “I shouldn’t have told you.”

  This time he shrugged. “I prefer cannoli to cookies.”

  Her bright smile almost blocked out the sun. “Oh really? I have a great recipe for cannoli.”

  “I can’t wait to hear it.”

  She nodded. “Yeah, you drive down to Carrollton Avenue and stop in at Brocato’s. They come out perfect every time.”

  Nic shook his head in disbelief as he watched her walk away. How could she be so cute and sexy at the same time?

  Nervous, Lizzie stared at the kitchenette like she would an army of advancing battle robots. She didn’t have a chance but she had to try. The boat’s galley was more compact than the kitchen at his house, so it should have been less intimidating. She hadn’t been kidding about being hopeless earlier. Jen had given up trying to teach her anything a long time ago.

  “What would Jen do?” Lizzie asked out loud as she opened the refrigerator. “Oh…” She almost passed out in relief when she found it full of elaborate platters of gourmet cheeses and fruits. Lunch was going to be a snap.

  Lizzie couldn’t cook but she could set a mean table. Later, she had a table for two set up under the canvas canopy. She’d found fresh basil and lemons and made a centerpiece. She wanted to photograph it so she could pin it or send it to Jen. She groaned and realized she’d left her phone on Nic’s charger and forgotten all about it.