by Vivian Arend
Dale shook his present from Nic. “You got me a bunch of bricks,” he guessed.
She smiled innocently, batting her lashes at him. “Nope.”
“A rock collection.”
“I take it the box is heavy?” Brian chuckled. “I know! She baked you a cake.”
“Dad,” Nic complained as the family laughed.
Dale ripped his present open to pull out a bluish-coloured block about a foot square with an envelope tied to the top. “Oh, Nic, you shouldn’t have. Just what I’ve always wanted.”
“You have no idea what it is, do you?” Nicole snickered.
He was opening the envelope. “Gift certificate to Timberline Inn. Now that I can appreciate.” He waved the envelope at Chase. “Best steaks in town.”
“I’ll remember that.” Chase pointed at the brick. “FYI, that is a salt block. If you’ve got a place to put it, you could get your own steaks down the road.”
Dale looked confused. “What do I need with a salt block?” he asked Nic.
“You need it so your gift certificate weighs more than it should,” Nic deadpanned.
He shook a finger at her in admiration as he reached for his next present. The plain white envelope Troy had dropped on the side table stood out amongst the rest of the gaudily wrapped and oddly shaped gifts.
Dale turned to him. “From you?”
Troy nodded, leaning back to watch.
Dale ripped open the envelope and pulled out a rectangular note, his face fixed into a polite smile. “It’s a certificate from the garage for an oil chang— Wait, it’s not.” He glanced up at Troy. “It’s a gift certificate for lessons on how to do an oil change?”
“Ha. Now you won’t be able to get out of doing it yourself anymore,” Nic approved with a laugh, nudging Troy in the side.
“When it works for you,” Troy told him. “If you bring in your truck and Jodie’s SUV at different times, I’ll go over how to do both of them.”
Nic’s brother-in-law nodded, his expression changing to slightly more impressed. “Thanks. It’s a great gift. I’ll give you a call.”
Troy waited until the gift unwrapping was done and the cake had been served, but once they’d reached the point where people were taking second helpings, he slipped from his chair and followed Nic who had taken a load of empty dishes to the kitchen.
He caught her by the hand and pulled her with him toward the door. “Come on. It’s time to go.”
To his surprise, she didn’t offer any complaints. They slipped their shoes on and escaped out the back door, sneaking around the side of the house and into his truck before anyone was the wiser.
“I liked your present,” Nic said, twisting to face him. “Of course, your offer might come back to haunt you. Dale’s ineptitude when it comes to any kind of vehicle maintenance is legendary.”
“I’ll survive.” He was pretty proud of himself, actually, to have come up with something spur of the moment that not only was a great gift, but met the Adams family surprise requirement. He glanced at Nic. “You want to wait until we stop driving to give me hell?”
“For announcing we’re going out like that?” She shook her head. “I thought about it, and no. You basically took the first opportunity we were given.”
“That’s what I figured.”
“You enjoyed it, though, admit it.” Nicole hesitated. “I wasn’t trying to keep it secret, you know. I just didn’t get a chance to get a word in edgewise with Kevin all gung ho about…” She trailed off as if reluctant to remind him there were other more-approved candidates.
Time to set her at ease. “About trying to set you up with Chase? God, that was hysterical.”
“He meant well.” Nic tilted her head innocently. “And Chase seems like a nice guy.”
“Good-looking too,” Troy drawled.
“Oh?” She turned and looked out the front window, deliberately teasing him. “If you say so. I hadn’t noticed.”
He chuckled but didn’t go down that path. As far as the evening had gone, Troy was counting it as a win. “Are you going to get in hell for sneaking away?”
“Nah.” She shrugged. “They probably won’t notice that we’re gone for a while, what with the kids being all wired up from the cake and ice cream. And Jodie is a fanatic about how the dishwasher gets loaded, so I don’t even try to help beyond bringing the stuff to the kitchen.”
Troy thought about it for a moment before telling her the truth. “I like your family.”
An astonished stare greeted him.
“No, seriously. I like them.”
“Did you make this decision before or after you decided to drop the bomb?” Nic demanded.
“I’ve always liked them,” Troy insisted. “They live life out loud, literally, and they sometimes jump to conclusions, but they honestly enjoy each other’s company, and that’s important to me.”
Her eyes met his as he pulled the truck to a stop. She was considering his words, and it was clear she couldn’t find anything to be judgmental about. “You always have enjoyed your family.”
“Of course I have. And yours is pretty awesome, most of the time. Although we’ll probably go deaf at a young age.”
“Shut up,” she said with a laugh as she looked around. “Troy? Why did you bring me to the mill?”
He got out of the truck and came around to open her door, helping her down and then keeping hold of her fingers. “Because originally we said we’d go dancing tonight, but I don’t think I can take any more loud activities.”
“So, we’re at the mill because…?” Nic followed along at his side, her fingers wrapped in his.
“I still want to dance. And this place has the best floor space I know outside of Traders.” He led her around to the side door, where he punched in the access code, swinging it open for her to enter first.
“It’s all sorts of wrong that you know the access codes,” she muttered.
“Your father told me,” Troy pointed out. He thought a little harder. “Actually, I think your mother told me as well. And Mike, and…Cyndi? One of your sisters. As an emergency backup, or asking me to pick up things they’d forgotten.”
He’d brought her across the wide-open room with the hardwood floor to where an old boom box sat on the counter, a more modern docking station beside it. Troy plugged his phone into the power, hit the playlist he’d prepped that afternoon, and as slow music swirled around them, he caught her in his arms and pulled her against him.
The evening had worked out well, at least relatively. But that sense of frustration remained that he knew he’d have to deal with at some point.
Why was someone like Chase an acceptable prospect for Nic, when he wasn’t?
It was hard to stay annoyed, though, with Nic moving against him, her fingers threaded into the hair at the back of his head. A gentle hum escaped her lips as she accompanied the music.
They were more than comfortable together, passion rising as her breasts rubbed his chest. Troy stepped one leg between hers as he pressed a hand against her lower back, keeping their bodies in full contact.
She offered her approval. “It’s not our first date anymore.”
“Technically, it is,” he teased.
Nic dropped her forehead against his chest then sighed dramatically. “Mean and nasty, that’s what you are, Troy Thompson.”
“Never,” he swore. He tapped his fingers under her chin and tilted her head back until he could get at her lips. Brushing their mouths together softly before kissing her.
The country music playing in the background was accompanied by the soft shuffle of their feet over the wooden boards as they kept dancing while they kissed. Languid and lazy at first, Troy tasted her, soaking the flavour and feel of her into his very system.
As always, that faint flutter of attraction he constantly felt around her roared up to full-out desire between one breath and the next. His body hardened, and he pulled back to look into her eyes.
Deep-green pools of desire reflec
ted back at him.
“I’m sorry for the grilling you’re going to get from your family about us,” he said seriously.
“You’re not really going to talk about that right now, are you?” Nic asked, shock in her voice. “Don’t you think we have something better we could be doing?”
Troy grinned, crowding her backward toward one of the tall tables at the side of the room. “I just wanted to make it clear what I’m apologizing for.”
“Apologizing?”
He reached between them and undid her jeans, both the button and the zipper, peeling the fabric off her hips as she clung to his shoulders for balance. He caught her around the knees then stood, carrying her to the tabletop so he could finish the job of stripping her naked from the waist down.
Then he leaned over her, one hand on either side of the table as he looked down her body, licking his lips as his hunger rose. “You know, I have given this a lot of thought. Us, officially going out.”
He leaned over so he could kiss the top of one thigh, smiling as she shivered under him.
“What kind of thought?” Nicole asked breathlessly.
Troy settled back on his heels as he looked up, hands slipping to the top of her knees. “Since this is supposed to be a new start, I considered trying to be less bossy regarding sex, but the more I thought about it, the less appealing that seemed.”
He tightened his grip then applied pressure until her legs opened, his head perfectly level with her sex.
“Oh God.”
He ignored the little comment, even as it sent his blood racing. She was turned on by the idea.
“Beautiful. You’re so beautiful down here,” he murmured, leaning forward to press a trail of kisses along her inner thigh. Her legs jerked in his grasp as he closed in on where he wanted to be. Words spoken against her skin. “You’ll just have to put up with me being bossy.”
As a follow-up to a family dinner, being ravished at the mill made for a dandy dessert. All thoughts of facing the music regarding their relationship were swept aside as Troy took control of the situation.
Which it sounded as if he planned on doing on a regular basis, and every sexual nerve in her body screamed yes at high-volume.
Troy knew exactly what she needed, and where she needed, and as she lay on the solid surface of the oversized table, the muscular man moved from kissing her a million places to kissing her one specific place, settling between her legs as his lips and tongue made far too gentle contact with her sex.
A teasing touch. And another. Circling her clitoris before stroking between her folds. Over and over as if she were some kind of exotic ice cream and he was enjoying her on a hot summer day.
Finally his tongue fluttered rapidly, hard enough to build the tension before he eased away.
She moaned with frustration. “I swear, Troy, if you tease me, I will scalp you.”
As far as she was concerned, moments like this called for fast and furious, but when he got in a mood, what he’d give her instead was slow and torturous, every move on his part calculated to make her pleasure ebb and rise over and over until she damn near exploded.
Now it was her own fault he eased off pleasuring her, lifting his head so that his dark-brown eyes threw heat her direction as he answered her. “You like what I’m doing?”
“I’d like it more if you’d make me come.”
“Not ready to do that. But I can do this…” The words slid into a mumble as he lowered his head again, and a million electric shocks raced through her body.
For all his faults, Troy Thompson definitely had the moves.
Nicole gave up fighting. He’d said he was going to be bossy, and every indication showed it was true. And she was fine with it, especially when she knew the reward would be a soul-satisfying orgasm.
She pulled her legs farther apart, and he slipped his hands under her butt, raising her hips as his tongue returned to teasing flicks against her clit. Pleasure rose steadily like the thermometer on a summer day until she broke through the top of the glass, slow undulating waves relaxing her limbs and making her sigh with contentment. She collapsed onto the table and let the aftershocks take her as he slowed his touch, dragging every bit of pleasure from her body he could.
Troy pressed a kiss to the inside of her leg, his deep voice a murmur in her ears. “You taste so fucking good. I can’t get enough of you.”
He climbed onto the table and covered her with his body, powerful thighs touching hers, his sculpted torso a heated brand against her bare belly where her shirt had been dragged up. He nuzzled her neck, a sexy grumble rolling past her ear. Nicole dragged her fingers over his ribs, stroking the strong muscles, rocking against the firm shaft rubbing against her through his jeans.
“This would be far more pleasant if you were naked,” Nicole suggested.
“Stop rushing.” He twisted them to an upright position with her straddling his lap. Her bare legs rested on the tabletop, naked sex pressed to the thick length beneath the front of his jeans.
Intimately together, and yet not. And Troy didn’t seem to be in any rush to open his pants.
She slid her hands down his sides, headed for the front of his jeans. “Release the kraken,” she pronounced dramatically.
Troy chuckled, catching hold of her wrists and pulling her hands behind her back.
“Let the wild beast lie sleeping for a while.” He held her steady as he kissed her again, deep and needy. Possessive kisses that stole her breath and made her tingle all over.
Nicole gave up on her agenda and let him call the shots. She ignored the faint burden of guilt caused by receiving a very excellent orgasm from a still-to-climax partner. Troy was a big boy—he knew she was willing and ready for anything.
He’d take what he wanted when he needed it, and what he seemed to want was for her to be absolutely boneless against him. Clinging to his shoulders as his mouth tore all rational thought from her brain.
When he finally let them come up for air, she had a death grip on him. Her fingers were clenched into firm muscles as she met his gaze. Both of their chests heaving. Both of them staring as if the other might spontaneously burst into flames.
“Wow.”
It was the most articulate she could be at that moment. In fact, she was pretty impressed she got that much out.
His lips curled upward. “Yeah. Me too.”
She didn’t understand it when he placed her on her feet, gently pulling her jeans into position, hands dancing over her as he helped straighten her clothing.
The music was still playing, and he pulled her back into his arms for another dance. He was hard against her, but he smiled and sang along with the words, twirling her from one song to the next, as if he was perfectly delighted with the results of the evening.
It wasn’t what she’d expected, but it was pretty damn amazing.
Nicole looked up at the man she’d known most of her life and wondered if she really knew Troy Thompson as well as she’d thought.
Chapter Eleven
Nicole stepped out of the bathroom after her morning shower and jerked to a stop. The scent of banana-and-chocolate muffins wafted on the air, causing her mouth to water and her heart to momentarily skip a beat.
She was the only one home, and she hadn’t put anything in the oven.
Grabbing clothes from the chair beside her bed, she stuck her head into the hall, listening hard as she jerked a sweatshirt over her head. The coffeemaker was running, and there were feminine voices in her living room—low whispers that were all too familiar.
Good lord, she’d been invaded. Nicole couldn’t wait to hear them explain this one.
A minute later she was dressed, rounding the corner into the living room to catch Cyndi and Jodie in full-out war-strategy planning mode. Or at least that’s what it looked like as they snapped short sentences at each other, barely audible, their lack of usual volume made up for by excessive hand and arm swinging.
“Morning,” she offered. “Hope I’m not interr
upting anything.”
“Morning, sweetie.” Cyndi jumped to her feet and held out her hands. “You look lovely this morning.”
Nic held back her amusement. “My very favourite pair of holey yoga pants and matching sweatshirt. I’m ready for my portfolio shoot.”
Her sisters glanced at each other, then back at Nicole, like twin owls caught in a bright light.
Beep beep.
Jodie shot into motion, rushing past her to the kitchen. “And the muffins are ready. You want coffee? Of course you do.”
“Of course. What else could I want on a Saturday morning than to drink coffee and hang out with my sisters?”
“And eat banana muffins,” Cyndi reminded her. “Your favourite.”
“Let’s not forget the muffins.” Nicole was merciless. She knew what was coming. Didn’t mean she’d make it any easier on them.
Jodie lowered a tray to the coffee table then handed Nicole a cup of coffee. “Single, single.”
“Speaking of single…” Cyndi said brightly.
Nicole and Jodie groaned.
Cyndi wrinkled her nose. “Too cheesy?”
“Way too cheesy,” Jodie informed her, settling on the couch and primly nibbling a muffin. “Let the girl drink.”
Nicole made herself comfy in her favourite armchair, legs tucked up, muffin balanced on the wide armrest. She took a deep drink, letting the caffeine soak into her system as Cyndi and Jodie discussed everything from swimming lessons for their kids to what was growing in their gardens to the latest gossip. It was a moment of calm in the midst of the storm, and it was exactly where Nicole wanted to be, even though she knew the coming discussion was going to be annoying to the nth degree.
“You finally awake?” Cyndi teased as Nicole relaxed back into her chair.
Nicole smiled into her coffee cup. “Of course.”
Instant reaction. Jodie leaned forward, placing her plate on the table. “We want to talk to you.”
Snickering inside. “Of course.”
Every time she repeated the words, she changed her tone of voice. This time she went for “bright and expectant”, to differentiate it from the previous times when she’d used “casual indifference” and “long-suffering patience”.
