Dani was funny and warm and sexy. Brains and beauty in one appealing package.
Not for the world would he have embarrassed her in front of her family. Despite his hunger to be with her, he kept his distance physically, never touching her arm or tucking her hair behind her ear. He and Dani played the role of business associates perfectly. No one would ever guess they had spent the weekend making love at every turn.
He was touched and surprised to know that Dani’s mother had somehow found a couple of things to wrap for him. He opened a navy-and-burgundy silk tie and a pair of sterling silver cuff links.
In the midst of the pandemonium of wrapping paper and boxes and bows, Nathaniel found himself trying to imagine what it would be like if he were a real member of this family. Heart pounding in his chest, he looked across the room at Dani and found her gaze on him. Her beautiful blue eyes shone bright with happiness.
The truth hit him without warning. A tsunami of feelings tightened his throat and glazed his eyes with moisture. He loved her. He was in love with his executive assistant.
This was a hell of a time for a personal epiphany. His head spun. The conversation swirled around him. He must have participated in appropriate ways, but he felt clumsy, his faculties impaired.
“Excuse me,” he said, when he could form the words. “Peaches wants her bottle. I’ll be right back.”
He fled the family celebration. In the kitchen, he clutched the baby and searched for the premixed bottles of formula Dani had ordered, the same kind they had used that first night. With shaking hands, he uncapped and heated and tested. The routine was not so intimidating now. Against all odds, he was learning how to deal with a baby.
Once the bottle was ready, he went in search of a quiet bedroom. The house was very nice, but not all that large. Even with the door closed, he could hear echoes of the festivities from down the hall. He sat on the edge of the bed and cradled the little girl in his arms. She smiled up at him as she gripped the bottle.
Damn it. Dani was right. He didn’t want the complicated situation, but it was going to break his heart if she weren’t his flesh and blood.
Females were trouble. That was the truth. How was he going to let either one of them go?
Immediately after the formula was gone, Peaches fell sound asleep. He tugged the bottle from her hands and set it aside. Carefully, he lifted the small, limp body onto his shoulder.
He wanted to be alone. He needed time and space to process everything that was happening to him. Unfortunately, he was smack-dab in the middle of a good old-fashioned family Christmas.
When he made it back to the den, Jared cornered him. “It’s not going to be safe to get across that bridge. At least not until the water goes down and Dad and I can see how much damage was done. There’s an alternate route off the back side of the property, but it will add almost an hour to your trip.”
Dani’s mother joined them. “I know we’re crowded, but I would feel better if you stayed the night, Nathaniel. I don’t want you taking my daughter and the baby across the bridge today, Hummer or no Hummer. And that other road is terrible. We have all sorts of blankets and sleeping bags, more than enough to make comfy pallets here in front of the fire. I thought about kicking Jared out of his room, but his is a twin bed, so not much help.”
Nathaniel swallowed his misgivings. “Dani can have the sofa. I’d be happy to stay, Mrs. Meadows, but I definitely will have to get on the road first thing in the morning to make it back to work.”
“Of course,” Dani’s mother said. She turned around and looked at her daughter. “You don’t mind camping out for just one night, do you, sweetheart?”
Dani had a deer-in-the-headlights look. “It’s okay with me, Mama, if Nathaniel agrees.”
Mrs. Meadows beamed. “Then it’s settled.”
For Nathaniel, the torture was only beginning. His plan had been to leave around four in the afternoon and hightail it back to Atlanta. He would drop Dani off at her apartment, and he and Peaches would go to his condo to wait for Ophelia.
Now he was going to spend another night with the woman he wanted more than his next breath. In her parents’ house. With a baby as chaperone. God help him. It was everything he feared and everything he couldn’t have.
The warm, loving family, the precious baby, the woman who tempted him beyond reason. How could he keep a rein on his hunger if the two of them were trapped in this house?
Despite his inner turmoil, the day passed quickly. As Dani had warned, the men were eager to try out the Hummer. Even Angie’s husband went along for the excursion across snow-covered fields.
Nathaniel enjoyed the outing far more than he expected. Angie’s husband possessed a dry wit. Dani’s father turned out to be a good old country boy at heart and Jared was, as Dani had told him, brilliant. The four men took turns behind the wheel, tackling hills and whooping it up when the Hummer conquered all obstacles.
Before returning home, they went as close as they dared to the raging creek and assessed the conditions. According to the National Weather Service, the rising waters had finally peaked. With no rain in the forecast and only the melting snow to feed the torrent, the outlook was good. By morning it was possible that the usually placid brook might be near normal levels.
Back at the house, the women had whipped up another batch of mouthwatering food for dinner. Nathaniel was amazed the whole family managed to stay fit and trim. Maybe they burned it off because no one ever sat still.
The evening was devoted to charades and card games. Nathaniel cleaned up at poker but was lousy at charades. Even Angie’s husband, the other outsider, was better at guessing clues than Nathaniel. They all teased him, but it was good-natured.
How could he tell them his focus was shot to hell because he was fixated on the prospect of another night with Dani?
At long last, the day drew to a close. One by one, family members disappeared to shower and get ready for bed. Dani’s father dragged out all the extra bedding and helped make a comfortable sleeping spot for Nathaniel and Peaches. Dani tucked a sheet around the sofa cushions and added a blanket.
“We’ll be fine, Dad. Thanks for everything.”
Nathaniel nodded. “Thank you, sir. It was a great day.”
Was it his imagination, or did Dani’s father give him the stink eye before walking out of the room? Then it dawned on Nathaniel. The den had no door. A double doorway, yes. But no way to secure privacy with lock and key. Hell’s bells.
Dani didn’t bother with the nightwear he had bought for her. She was wearing borrowed sweatpants from her sister, topped with an Atlanta Braves T-shirt. With her hair up in a ponytail, she could have passed for a teenager.
Nathaniel excused himself for a turn in the bathroom. He opted for soft athletic pants and a thin cotton shirt, leaving it unbuttoned in deference to the fact that the fire made the den very toasty. They wouldn’t have to worry about Peaches getting cold.
When he returned, Dani had turned out all the lights. She was tucked into her temporary bed on the sofa with the covers pulled up to her chin. She had taken the rubber band out of her hair, and now the thick, caramel tresses fanned out across her pillow in an appealing tumble. Her eyes were closed, but he’d bet a thousand dollars she was wide awake.
Peaches was asleep in her usual position.
He sat down on the end of the sofa and put Dani’s feet in his lap.
She opened one eye. “I just got comfortable,” she complained. “Shouldn’t we get some sleep if we’re getting up early?”
“It’s ten thirty,” he pointed out. “You and I are usually good for another several hours at this point. You know, when things get cranked up.”
Her gaze was wild. “Nathaniel! Hush! Are you out of your mind? Somebody could be standing outside in the hall listening to us.”
“They’re not. I chec
ked.” He slipped his hand under the covers and played with her ankle bone. “I’ve barely touched you all day.”
Eleven
Dani moaned. With Nathaniel’s thumb pressing into the arch of her foot, her whole body turned to honey. “We can’t,” she muttered. “Somebody might come in.”
“You don’t think they’ll give us privacy?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” He ran his hand up her calf but stopped at her knee. She wanted him so badly she was shaking. But this situation was fraught with impossibility.
Nathaniel nodded soberly. In the firelight, she could swear his eyes danced with mischief. “I understand. You think this is a bad idea. No worries. I’ll read a book on my iPad and let you sleep.”
When he started to stand up, Dani grabbed his wrist. “We’ll have to be very quiet,” she said, caving in to the yearning that made her abandon caution in favor of gratification.
Nathaniel looked shocked. “You’re serious? I was kidding, Dani. I assumed fooling around was out of the question. You know, under the circumstances.”
She sat up and raked the hair away from her face. “I need you,” she said, searching his face to see if he felt even a fraction of the urgency that tore her apart. Need and want and every nuanced shading in between. She loved him. Greedily, she would snatch every possible opportunity to be with him.
“I won’t say no to you, elf. How could I?”
He dragged her into his arms and kissed her softly, his fingers winnowing through her tangled hair. His breathing was not quite steady. That reassured Dani on some level. She didn’t want to be the only one flying blind—jumping without a net—indulging without weighing the consequences.
Carefully, tenderly, he eased her down onto the carpet and slid both his hands under her shirt. When he cupped her breasts and thumbed her nipples, she had to bite down hard on her lower lip to keep from crying out.
The need for silence was frustrating, but it lent a titillating touch of danger. She cupped his face in her hands. He hadn’t shaved. His jaw was covered in masculine stubble. “I’m glad you’re here,” she whispered.
“Me, too.”
After that, there was not much need for words. The fire popped and crackled. Occasionally the baby made tiny noises in her sleep. Nathaniel slid Dani’s pants and panties down her legs and removed them. With her shirt rucked up to her armpits, she was essentially naked. He stared her as if he had never seen her before, or maybe he had never seen a woman before. That’s how wild and reckless and incredulous he seemed.
He freed his sex and found a condom. Seconds later he spread her thighs and thrust roughly, pinning her wrists above her head with one big hand. “I don’t know what to do about you, elf. Tell me. Can anything this good last?”
When she didn’t answer, his jaw hardened. What did he expect? What did he want from her? It was a rhetorical question as far as Dani could tell.
Nathaniel’s big body was warm and hard against hers. He took her forcefully at first and then tauntingly slow in the next minute. Dani unraveled rapidly. With her hands bound, she felt helpless. At his mercy. His masculine scent surrounded her, making her crazy.
“Ah, damn,” he groaned. His entire body went rigid. His chest radiated heat. His hips pinned her to the floor. He kissed her with bruising demand.
Rolling onto his side and moving her with him, he took advantage of the new position and touched her sex intimately. Heartbeats later, Dani came.
He covered her mouth with one large hand to smother her cry. Then he shoved her onto her back again and pummeled wildly until he buried his face in her neck and came for long, stormy seconds.
* * *
Dani dozed in Nathaniel’s embrace until she found the strength to drag herself back to reality. Her body was relaxed and sated, but her heart ached with a throb that frightened her. She didn’t want to love Nathaniel like this. She hated feeling so vulnerable. Most of all, she was terrified that sooner rather than later she was going to have to live through the end of whatever this thing was between them.
Affair. Fling. Momentary insanity. Any description she chose sounded temporary and ultimately painful.
Nathaniel roused finally and yawned. “Damn, elf. You’re killing me.”
She managed a smile. “I don’t see you complaining.”
“Probably because I’m not an idiot. If a man has to die, there are worse ways to go.”
Their lighthearted teasing was a cover for deeper, darker emotions. Nathaniel had to know the end was in sight. She’d told him flat out she wouldn’t expect more.
At any point in the past few days he’d had ample opportunity to declare his undying love and beg her to marry him. That hadn’t happened. He’d done nothing that could be construed as leading her on. Their sexual romp was on her and her alone. She’d made a choice. Now she had to live with the consequences.
“We should get dressed,” she said.
“Yeah.” His yawn cracked his jaw.
“I hope the creek will be down far enough in the morning. I know you don’t want to miss work.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “I called and arranged for a helicopter to pick us up. Jared has offered to return the Hummer to Atlanta for me. If you’re afraid to fly, Peaches and I will go without you and you can come with your brother in a day or two.”
Was that what he wanted? A clean break?
She swallowed hard. “I don’t mind flying. I’ve never been in a helicopter, though.” Men like Nathaniel Winston did things like that. Private jets. Corporate choppers. Once again, the vast gulf between their worlds mocked her.
“You’ll like it, I think. Once you catch your breath.”
“Sounds fun.”
She eluded his embrace and pulled on her clothes. “I need to go to the bathroom.”
When she returned, Nathaniel was standing in front of the fire, his back to her. One hand rested on the mantel. The other was shoved in his back pocket. What was he thinking? Poor man. He didn’t celebrate Christmas, and yet here he was, neck deep in a Meadows family holiday.
She touched him on the shoulder. “Good night.”
He whirled around as if she had startled him, as if he had been lost in thought. He nodded, his expression hooded. “Sleep well, elf.” He kissed her gently on the lips.
Dani held back stupid tears. “You, too.”
* * *
Surprisingly, the night passed without incident. Peaches didn’t wake up at all, perhaps worn out from all the extra attention. When the baby finally roused at seven, Dani and Nathaniel were already dressed.
Her mom and dad were early risers. Angie and her husband were still asleep. Jared wouldn’t surface until ten at least. He took his days off seriously. It was only the four other adults in the kitchen drinking coffee as the baby took her bottle.
Dani’s mom held out her arms. “May I hold her? It’s been far too long since we’ve had a baby in the house. I thought I would have grandchildren by now.”
Nathaniel ignored the verbal bait. Dani flushed. Her father sipped his coffee and smiled placidly.
They dined well on apple cake and hot, crispy bacon with fluffy scrambled eggs. Eventually, Nathaniel dabbed his lips with his napkin and glanced at his watch. “We’d better make sure the bags are ready. Won’t be long now. Thank you both, for everything.”
Dani’s mother smiled. “We’re so glad you could visit, Nathaniel. I was very sorry to hear Dani will be leaving NCT. I know she has learned so much from you.”
The split second of silence was like the sizzle of ozone in the wake of a lightning strike. Nathaniel flinched, his expression blank with shock.
Perhaps Dani was the only one who noticed. He recovered so rapidly, she was stunned. When he looked at her, his gaze was bleak. “Dani has many talents, Mrs. Meadows. I’m su
re she’ll land on her feet.”
He strode out of the room.
Dani followed on his heels, grabbed his arm in the hallway and tried to halt his progress. She might as well have attempted to hold back the ocean. He jerked free, his big, masculine frame rigid.
“I was going to tell you,” she said. The explanation sounded weak even to her own ears. “After the holidays. When things settled down.”
He seized her wrist in a bruising grasp and dragged her into the hall bathroom, the only place they could be sure of a private moment. When the door was locked behind them, he dropped her hand abruptly as if he couldn’t bear to touch her.
“Tell me now,” he said coldly. “Tell me the pay was unfair. Tell me I worked you too hard. Tell me I was a sucky boss.”
“That’s not why,” she said, trying to swallow against the giant lump in her throat. “You know it was none of those things. It was this.” She cupped his cheek with her hand. “I couldn’t stay, because I knew sooner or later you would realize I wanted you. I never dreamed we would end up in bed together,” she whispered, willing him to understand.
He stepped backward, forcing her hand to fall, and wrapped his arms around his chest, staring at her with an inscrutable expression. “Do other people at NCT know?”
“Of course not. I thought about telling you this weekend, but I didn’t want to ruin things. It was Christmas, not the time to talk about business.”
His tight smile made her stomach hurt. “You forget, Dani. I am my business.” Then he waved a hand sharply as if consigning her to the trash bin. “No matter. I’ll make this easy for you. I accept your resignation. I’ll have someone pack up the personal items in your desk and deliver them to you next week.”
“Nathaniel.” She said his name softly—desperately—searching for the right words. “I didn’t do anything wrong. You’re overreacting. I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you sooner. But honestly, this was going to happen anyway. You know I can’t work for you anymore.” She sucked in a ragged breath. “I care about you.”
Billionaire Boss, Holiday Baby Page 14
