He had to…
He had to stop her before…
Oh, man.
“Emma.” He shuddered, roughly pushing her away. More roughly than he’d intended.
Not that it bothered her. She closed her mouth around him again, and all the fantasies he’d had, picturing her full lips around his penis, surged with the force of a tidal wave. How could he stop her when he wanted to come right now, right here in the Chevy? Shit!
Not here. “Emma.” He cupped her face and forced her chin up. Reluctantly she released him, and looked up, her eyes glazed and slightly wild in the moonlight. A sheen of moisture coated her pouting lower lip, hovering just inches above his slick, throbbing head.
He had to close his eyes against the image before he changed his mind and plunged into her right now.
“Nick?” The shyness in her voice did something funny to his heart. “What’s wrong?”
He took two deep breaths. “Nothing.” He took another. “I don’t want to come too quickly.”
“Is that all?”
“Yep.” His breathing would never be normal again.
Mischief flashed in her grin before she started to lower her head again.
“Oh, no, you don’t.” He grabbed her wrists and raised himself to a sitting position.
Surprised, she fell back. Before she could straighten, he hunched over her.
“This is the way it’s going to be, Emma.” He reached again for her khakis. “In a minute we’re going inside.” He yanked them down as far as they would go. “Straight to my bedroom.” He peeled down her lace panties, and she gasped. “You have a problem with that?”
“No,” she whispered, lying perfectly still.
“You’ll wait for me there while I get us a chilled bottle of wine.” He had to do something to cool off. As if this helped, he thought as he kissed her smooth, soft belly, and then lower.
He couldn’t spread her thighs far enough but he managed to work his way between them, using the tip of his tongue until she moaned softly. Frustrated, he slid his hands under her firm, warm bottom and lifted her to his mouth. Just one taste, that’s all he wanted before they went inside.
Emma clutched the side of the seat. Sex had never been like this before. Wave after wave of new sensations washed over her body. Her skin was so sensitive, her nipples were so tight she thought she might explode at any moment.
She jumped when Nick pried her thighs apart, moaned when he spread her lips and nearly died when his tongue trailed the needy pearl of heat between them. Never had she let a man put his mouth there before, but this was Nick and…
“Oh, oh…” Her entire body tensed. Something was happening. She tried to squirm away. His fingers dug into her fleshy buttocks, holding her in place while he sucked and licked and drove her insane. “Nick, I thought we— Oh, Nick.”
She shoved at his head, and ended up weaving her fingers through his hair. The greed with which he used his mouth was enough to push her over the edge and the explosion came immediately.
Low guttural noises echoed off the walls as her body coiled into a ball of fire, burning out of control, raging through her without mercy. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. And then she went limp.
Nick wouldn’t back off. He kissed and licked some more until she grabbed a handful of hair and tugged hard enough he brought his face up.
That didn’t stop him. He kissed the top of her thighs, moved his mouth to her belly and then drew a nipple into his mouth and sucked until she started to feel the heat engulf her again.
“Nick, please, I want you inside me.”
He brought his mouth to hers, covering it with urgency until she could taste his hunger and desperation and her own muskiness.
When he finally broke away, he drew back and stared at her. It was maddening not to be able to see his face. Faded as it was, all the light shone on her. “Emma.”
The reverent way he said her name made her shudder. “Nick, please.”
He pushed the hair away from her damp cheek, placed a featherlight kiss on her eyelid. “We have to go inside. I don’t have any protection out here.”
“Oh.” It sickened her to think she hadn’t even considered that one monumental point. It sobered her a bit, too. But then when she went to sit up, his arousal lay hot and heavy against her belly and another wave of desire washed over her.
“You okay?” he asked, dragging the back of his knuckle down her cheek.
She nodded. “You?”
He chuckled. “Nope.”
“What’s wrong?” She’d never used her mouth like that before and maybe she… His sex throbbed against her, and she got it. What was wrong was that he hadn’t gotten release yet.
“Go,” she said, giving his chest a gentle push. “I’ll meet you inside in a few minutes.”
“No, come with me now.” He kissed the back of her hand.
“I need a minute or two, and I’d bet you do, too.”
“Why?”
“Were you expecting company?”
He stilled for a moment. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
She smiled, thinking about her own room and the unmade bed and pile of clothes in the corner. Not company-ready. That’s for sure.
“Two minutes, okay?” He kissed her hand again, and then her mouth. “Make that one.”
“Go.” She gave him a playful shove, wishing the lighting were better as she squinted into the semidarkness and watched him pull up his pants and sling his shirt over his shoulder.
She started pulling herself together as he hopped out of the car.
“Come in through here,” he said, pausing at a door at the top of a couple of steps. “It’ll lead you into the kitchen.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“You’d better,” he said, his voice low and sexy and making her want to charge in right now.
She waited a few seconds after he’d disappeared before she got up, turned on a light, fumbled for her glasses and checked her face in the mirror. Flushed cheeks, smeared mascara, nothing unexpected, but her hair sure was a mess. She looked around for where she’d thrown her purse. It sat atop a stack of magazines.
She pulled out a brush and started the task of detangling her hair when the top magazine caught her attention. The cover was a picture of a half-naked woman, wrapped in red satin, sprawled across a love seat right below the name Midnight Fantasy.
Emma had heard of the publication but had never seen an issue. Curious, she picked it up and started leafing through the pages. Some of the pictorials made her shake her head but the cartoons made her laugh. When she got to the letters, she knew she wouldn’t have time to read any but she was awfully curious. She quickly skimmed the first one, amazed at how graphic it was.
A paragraph into the second letter, she experienced an extraordinary sense of déjà vu. She read a few more lines. Maybe her head was still foggy but this…
It suddenly struck her why it sounded familiar. Her heart thudded. Her stomach rolled with disgust and disbelief. Nick wouldn’t do that. He couldn’t. He knew how important this study was to her.
Heart pounding, she continued reading. Finally, in abject despair she dropped the magazine and accepted the fact that she’d been royally screwed. She automatically wrapped her arms around herself, as though she could fend off the betrayal, protect her body from his violation.
How could he have done this? How could she have been so gullible? It was her own fault. Brenda had warned her not to get mixed up with Nick. Emma herself knew better than to dally on the wild side. The shame of it all was that she still didn’t want to believe it.
She swallowed, hiccuped, sniffed. Without tending the rest of her hair, she stuck the brush back into her bag and then carefully replaced the magazine on top of the stack. She’d just tucked in her blouse when she heard the door open.
“It’s getting lonely in here.” Nick stood in the doorway, shirtless and sexy, wearing the grin that used to make her head get light.
&n
bsp; “I have to go,” she said, wishing she had her own car. “Would you please take me home?”
His face darkened with confusion. “But—”
“Now, Nick.” She turned away in case the tears started.
14
NICK SAT IN the Porsche while Emma let herself into her apartment without so much as a backward glance. Long after she closed the door and the inside light came on, he sat there, shock rendering him motionless.
What the hell had happened? He’d left her alone for five minutes, six tops, and returned to find a totally different woman. She’d gone from soft and loving to tense and almost angry. That she’d given him the silent treatment all the way to her place didn’t surprise him. He just wished he knew what had gone wrong.
Maybe she regretted the shift in their relationship. Her work was important to her and she was very much a professional. If only she’d said something, anything, he would have had the opportunity to convince her that nothing had changed.
He stared into the darkness. He just didn’t get it. She’d gone from hot to cold so fast there had to be something more bothering her. Could he have been too forward and scared her?
Could she be embarrassed now?
Speculating was pointless. It only made him crazy. He started the car and jammed it into gear. As much as he’d wanted to have her in his bed tonight, his biggest regret was that he hadn’t confessed to the juvenile stunt he’d pulled by using the magazine stories.
At dinner he’d pretty much decided it was time to cut the crap. Hearing her speak passionately of the clinic where she’d be working and seeing the joy in her eyes had really gotten him thinking. With the bogus information he’d fed her, the study would be tainted. Thank God he’d kept notes of his real dreams, the dreams where she’d taken center stage.
He wasn’t stupid enough to think she’d take his confession lightly. But he figured it would’ve gone a lot smoother if she still had that warm afterglow rather than the frigid shoulder she’d given him.
Damn! Worrying about it wouldn’t do any good. They’d straighten everything out tomorrow when they met for their regular session. Icy fingers of dread clutched his insides. Assuming she didn’t cancel.
HATE HAD ALWAYS SEEMED like such a strong word to Emma. But she honestly thought she just might hate Nick Ryder’s guts. Thanks to him, her life was going straight down the tubes. Her thesis was in serious jeopardy, and now so was her waitressing job after demolishing over a dozen glasses and ticking off two customers so much that they actually got up and walked out of the pub. And left her with their unpaid check.
She probably should have canceled today’s session with Nick, she thought as she pulled into the lab parking lot. Facing him so soon tied her stomach up in knots. But until she forced him to confess to the moronic stunt he’d pulled, and failing that, call him on it, she wouldn’t be able to get back on track with her thesis.
Assuming that were possible.
She bit her lip. God, it had to be. She’d run out of money and time.
Damn him. Damn him. Damn him.
She parked and hurried around to the front of the lab. By the time she unlocked the door, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of his red Porsche pulling into the lot.
What the hell was he doing here already? She’d purposely come early so that she had time to change and then compose herself, rehearse what she was going to say. She had a good mind to lock him out until she was good and ready.
But that would defeat her plan for getting him to spill his guts. She had to let him think nothing was wrong. After the way she left him last night, did she ever have her work cut out for her.
She left the door unlocked and hurried to get things ready. Instead of changing, she shrugged out of her coat and put her usual oversize white shirt over her uniform, and then slid on a pair of jeans. It took a few deep knee bends and some wiggling to stuff herself and her uniform in the already tight jeans, but she managed to get zipped seconds before he opened the door.
“Hi,” she said, casually, even though the sight of him alone broke her heart. “You’re early.”
“Yeah.” He lifted a shoulder and paid special attention to closing the door. When he faced her again, his eyes were wary and tired. “I figured we needed extra time to talk.”
“I suppose we do.” She cleared her throat. “I’m sorry about the way I acted—”
“No, it was me. I pushed too hard.” He rubbed the back of his neck, blew out a breath. “I’m sorry. I really am. I don’t want to ruin our relationship.”
“What relationship?” It took all her nerve to ask, even though it shouldn’t matter anymore.
Wariness crawled over his face. “Our professional one, of course,” he said, and she had to bite her tongue to keep from lashing out at him. “But more important, we’re friends.”
She pressed her lips together. He had an odd notion of friendship. In her book, friends didn’t screw each other. And he sure had. Unfortunately, her only possible hope of completing her thesis in time depended upon him. The idea galled her.
She forced a smile. “Don’t worry, Nick. Everything is fine. No hard feelings?” She stuck out her hand.
Judging by the stunned look on his face, she might as well have hauled off and slapped him. He ignored her outstretched hand and raised his gaze to hers, having the incredible nerve to look hurt.
She withdrew her hand and rounded her desk to her chair. Her legs were a little shaky and she didn’t trust them to hold up. “Shall we get started?”
He muttered a curse.
“Excuse me?”
He sat in his usual seat in moody silence, shoving his hand through his hair, clenching and unclenching his jaw.
“Let’s see.” She consulted her notebook, not seeing a thing, but trying like hell to gather her thoughts together.
“Emma?”
She looked up with arched brows.
“We have to talk.”
She gave a dismissive laugh. “We just did.”
“I have something to tell you.” His expression was grim, his posture tense. “It won’t be particularly pleasant.”
Oh, God. She wasn’t ready. Not yet. She blinked. Maybe he wanted to tell her something else—like how he wanted to only be friends, make sure she understood there were no promises, no future.
It didn’t matter. There wasn’t a damn thing he could say that she wanted to hear. But when they did discuss the despicable way he’d deceived her, she wanted it to be on her terms. She wanted to show him how frustrating it was to feel helpless, to be at someone else’s mercy.
She pasted a look of innocent concern on her face. “You’re not telling me you’re dropping out of the study with only three more days to go, are you?”
“No, of course not.”
She breathed an audible sigh of relief. “Thank God. I can’t tell you how horrifying that would be for me. This thesis is my ticket to the real world, a better job. I’m so grateful you’ve stepped in, Nick.”
At least he had the good grace to look away and shift uncomfortably. The jerk.
“The last couple of days it’s really sunk in how important my participation is and—”
She held up a hand. “I know, Nick. And I really appreciate you. Let’s go ahead with our session.”
“Whatever you want, Emma. It’s your show.” He slumped back, looking unsettled.
It sure as hell will be.
The smell of triumph tamped down some of her nervousness.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” she said in what she hoped was a teasing tone. “We’ll be doing something a little different today.”
His gaze narrowed. “What?”
She inclined her head toward the recliner in the corner. “Remember you asked me what we used that chair for? Today you’re going to find out.”
He looked far from thrilled. “Are you going to hook me up to that machine?”
“What’s the matter, Nick, don’t you trust me?”
&nbs
p; “Of course I do.”
“It’s just a lie detector.”
His gaze flew to her as if she were crazy.
“I’m kidding, come on.” She laughed and stood. He didn’t. “I’ll explain what I’m doing as we go along.”
Exhaling sharply, he pushed himself up.
“Go get comfortable while I get some water. Or maybe you’d prefer a shot of tequila?” He froze.
She laughed. “I’m kidding. This won’t be bad at all. Go sit.”
As soon as she got to the back room she sank against the counter to steady herself. If she weren’t so damn nervous and angry and hurt she could be enjoying this. But the most tragic thing of all was that it was still difficult to ignore his killer grin, or gaze into his whiskey-brown eyes and not want to make excuses for him. Rationalize what he’d done.
What kind of damn fool did that make her?
Anger surged and overtook the hurt and nervousness. Her plan was perfect. He wouldn’t be in any position to try and charm anyone, much less persuade her that he wasn’t a snake on two legs. She grabbed two bottles of Evian and returned with new resolve.
That he was sitting tentatively at the edge of the recliner, his feet still on the floor, his expression wary, gave her some satisfaction.
“I told you to get comfortable.” She passed him his bottle, and bit her lip when his warm fingers brushed her hand.
“Put your feet up, lie back,” she ordered, and then quickly turned away.
He did as she asked with reluctance in every move he made. She hoped he didn’t give her a hassle about the next step. If he felt the least bit guilty over what he’d done, he probably wouldn’t, but the possibility remained that he didn’t have a conscience. That he didn’t care one whit about her.
The thought cut her so deeply she wanted to drop every thing and run for her car. Screw him. Screw her thesis. Hell, she was already screwed. But that would be too easy on him.
When she faced him again, he was lying back, his legs stretched out, his arms resting at his sides, his eyes boring directly into hers. She started to lift his arm onto the armrest, but decided against the physical contact.
Extra Innings and In His Wildest Dreams Page 35
