by Kim Law
Nick couldn’t wait until his sister had more children. She would thrive as a mother. And he needed more nieces—and wouldn’t complain if he had a nephew or two running around.
And if kids had great parents, then they wouldn’t grow up to be messed up in the head.
He put the truck into gear and pulled out onto the highway. Even bad parents had their purposes, he supposed. He shoved his mother from his head, choosing to fill it with Harper instead. And what came to mind wasn’t only the thrill he’d seen in her eyes the night before when she’d found him waiting on her, but her sexy stubbornness, as well. She’d wanted him. As much as she’d wanted his funnel cake. And though she’d refused to give in—to either offering—she hadn’t been able to keep from flirting with him. It had fired his need to a new level.
Until she’d called him some random guy.
His ire rose. Random guy, his ass. He wasn’t just some Joe off the street. He was the man who’d recently been buried deep inside her. Who wanted to be there again.
Who already knew how to make her fall apart in his hands, and who knew they could have a heck of a lot of fun together both in and out of bed. He sighed with frustration, and his fingers clenched around the steering wheel. She might want him, but she wasn’t merely saying no to him. He still understood that, no matter how much his hormones tried to convince him otherwise. Harper had crap to sort through. And he didn’t need to add to it.
Only . . . she’d waved her danged fingers in his face, and he’d thought of little other than her own hands touching herself since.
He groaned and flipped on his turn signal, slowing to make a right turn into the driveway, but at the sight of a shadow up ahead he turned on his brights. A dark truck sat where he normally parked, and he couldn’t help but wonder if Cord had come home. Cord was a doctor in Billings, and the last Nick had been aware, he drove a dark Chevy similar to the one that sat silently in the dark. He’d bought it a year ago as a birthday present to himself. Maybe he’d gotten a few days off and had wanted to get away.
Or it could be Nate. Nick hadn’t talked to his twin in almost two weeks, and given that Nate wasn’t always one to report in before he headed out to pastures unknown, he could very well be making Birch Bay stop one on whatever leave he’d decided to take.
Whoever it was, it didn’t matter. A thrill shot through Nick at the thought of having either of his brothers home. He pulled behind the truck and stopped, acknowledging that he’d be just as thrilled at having anyone here. As he exited the vehicle, he took in the house and noted that the only light burning inside was the one he’d left on earlier. Whoever was here hadn’t seen fit to light the place up. He pocketed his keys and grabbed the doggie bag, then headed for the back deck. But when he rounded the corner, he stopped. It wasn’t Cord or Nate.
It was Harper.
She stood stiffly beside the back door, her eyes glued to his and her arms crossed over her chest. Desire fired through Nick like a rocket taking off into the night sky. In two seconds, he’d taken inventory. Trim denim skirt hitting a couple of inches above the knee, turquoise cowboy boots with silver toe caps, and a black sleeveless shirt with a zipper running the length of the front.
And he suddenly couldn’t care less about his brothers.
He took the steps two at a time, but when he reached her, uncertainty took hold. He held up the bag of food. “You missed a good dinner.”
Harper nodded. Then licked her lips. She looked nervous.
She glanced away from him, and he saw her chest rise with the breath she pulled in. When she brought her gaze back to his, she blew out the breath. “It wasn’t steak I was hungry for.”
That was all he needed to hear.
Blood roared through Nick’s head. He reached around her, not touching her, and not looking down, as he focused all his attention on the door. He had to get the key into the lock. Then he had to turn the knob. As the door swung silently open, he finally dropped his gaze back to Harper’s. She hadn’t moved. She stood with her face turned up to his, and he fought to maintain control until he made certain he wasn’t mistaken about her purpose for being there.
“Are you telling me that your steam situation has changed?” he asked in a low growl.
And finally, her features eased. She smiled at him, her intent written into that simple move of her lips, and his jeans grew instantly tight. “It’s leaking out my ears,” she replied.
Nick dropped the bag of food and backed Harper into the house. They made it just inside the door before he shoved her against the wall and his palms landed under the hem of her skirt. Her thighs were hot and smooth, and he crushed his mouth to hers. They grunted at the same time, and as Harper’s arms wrapped around his neck, he discovered that her skirt was the only article of clothing she wore below the waist.
“Condom,” she murmured. “There’s one in my back pocket.”
“We’re going to need more than one.”
Her legs wrapped around his hips before he could say anything more, and when the heels of her boots hit the backs of his thighs, his body rocked into hers. He could feel her heat through his jeans. She whispered something and bit into his neck, but he couldn’t make out the words. All he could hear was his blood pounding in his ears.
His fingers found the zipper of her shirt and jerked it open, and lo and behold, she wasn’t wearing anything under the shirt, either. So he filled one hand with a breast while the other once again slipped under her skirt. Meanwhile, the situation behind his zipper was fast becoming painful.
“Undo my jeans,” he begged. “And promise me that you won’t run out the minute we’re done. Because I’m going to make this one fast.” He kissed her again, his lips as demanding as his words. “And when I’m finished here, I’m going to spread you out on my bed and start all over. Working my way up from your toes.”
He slid on the condom after she’d freed him, his breaths coming out as short gasps as he took her in. Then he positioned himself at her opening. They were still up against the wall, no clothes removed and everything in disarray.
Grabbing her chin, he brought her face to his. “Promise me,” he demanded.
“I’m not going anywhere.” She was as out of breath as him, her voice just as raspy, and when she thrust her hips forward and her heat surrounded the tip of him, he was done.
He shoved inside her with a loud groan, relishing in the similar sound being returned from her. Then he pulled out and pushed in again. Harder this time. He gripped her butt in both hands and buried his face in her neck. He couldn’t slow things down. They both moved fast, each touching, thrusting, rubbing. They’d be done within seconds if they kept this up. But he was powerless to change course, and she didn’t seem to be in any better shape.
When the muscles of her thighs clenched tighter, whatever blood that remained in his head went south.
“Nick,” she whispered.
Her chest arched toward him and her entire body grew tight. He dug his fingers deeper into the curves of her rear. “Me, too,” he panted.
A shout ripped from her, quickly joined by the one from him, and he pumped himself dry, his hips clenching rhythmically with his release. When he was finally empty, he collapsed, pinning her between him and the wall. Her legs remained around his hips—now trapped there by his weight—but they hung as boneless as his entire body felt.
Ninety minutes later, they were in Nick’s bed, propped up against the headboard. Harper had a beer in her hand—with an eye on Nick’s hand as his fingers stroked along her inner thigh. He didn’t seem to be aware that he was touching her. On his other side, he worked the remote, and she’d swear all his attention was focused on that task. Yet those fingers . . .
For someone who’d not only had one mind-blowing orgasm at the front door but another after Nick had brought her upstairs, his fingers shouldn’t be messing with her the way they were. Yet she was about to toss both beer and remote and climb back on top of him if he didn’t put a stop to it.
&nb
sp; “I just got this today,” Nick said as a picture finally filled the screen.
“Is it any good?” It was a preview copy of his latest commercial.
“Haven’t watched it yet.” He hit “Pause,” then reached over and stole her beer and took a deep pull. “I was saving it until I was in a better mood.”
“You were in a bad mood before?”
He handed back the bottle and waggled his brows. “I was sexually frustrated before.”
He hit “Play,” and the screen filled with a nasty-looking bull standing in a chute, its head the size of a small country, and its horns nothing short of terrifying. The animal snorted and reared back, and then a single leg dropped down over its side. At the glimpse of the denim and chaps, Harper caught her breath. Now it only took the sight of the man’s leg to turn her on.
She shook her head at the absurdity and tried to block out the burn of Nick’s fingers, where they were still drawing circles on her thigh. She watched the remaining forty seconds of the commercial, and as it ended, with Nick’s naughty smile front and center, she couldn’t help but laugh.
“What?” The grin he directed her way was cute, but she detected embarrassment as well as humor.
“Isn’t this commercial to promote clothing? That other men wear?” She pointed the tip of her beer bottle at the screen. “Yet that whole thing was about sex. Or made to make women think about sex.”
“Who do you think buys those men most of their clothes?” He smirked. He leaned over and nuzzled her behind the ear. “Women eat this stuff up.”
“I can see why.”
“So you like it, do you?” He pulled back slightly, and his gaze landed on her lips. And his fingers inched farther north.
“We still talking about the commercial, Wilde?”
He shook his head. “Not the commercial. Tell me you like it,” he murmured. He nibbled at the corner of her mouth.
“Well, the man in it has gotten me naked twice now, so”—she gasped when a finger slipped inside her—“I’d say I like it at least a little,” she finished on a whisper. She slid a couple of inches back down on the bed and opened her legs a little wider. He had really good technique with his fingers.
“I like it a lot.” He went back to nuzzling her ear. “You.” His fingers continued to work her down below. “Sex with you.” He sucked her earlobe between his teeth. “Anything I can get with you.”
His words had her edging away from him, the need to make sure they were on the same page suddenly paramount. “This is just sex, right? Because I don’t want anything else.”
Nick didn’t pause. “I’m right there with you.”
He brought his mouth to hers and kissed her, his tongue mimicking the action of his, now two, fingers inside of her, and he made her forget everything else. When he ended the kiss, they were both out of breath.
“I’m just saying that I want a lot of sex,” he clarified. His lips closed over hers again.
“A lot of sex,” she agreed when they next came up for air. They were both once again horizontal, and getting naked with Nick as often as possible suddenly made perfect sense. “I can do that. As long as you’re okay with the fact that I’m a little too old for you.”
He pulled back. “How do you figure that?”
“I’m not one of your rodeo girls, Nick. I’ll be thirty in a couple of years.”
His thumb rubbed a tight circle between her legs. “Are you saying you can’t keep up with me?”
“Oh, I can keep up.”
“Then I don’t see a problem.” His mouth returned to her neck, and he mumbled, “And you’re far from too old for me.”
“Yeah, but,” she panted, “I’m also saying—”
He gripped both of her hips and dragged her under him, and her words snapped off like a twig. The man’s body touched hers from head to toe. His thighs stretched just on the outside of hers, trapping her into immobility, with his thick, nudging erection pressing hard against her belly. He planted his elbows directly above her shoulders, then he held her head steady between his large hands. She tried to concentrate on what else she’d wanted to say, but as he angled his head and took her lips in a slow, exploratory kiss, focus became impossible.
So she closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment.
He kissed her for a long time, seeming to put all his attention into that single act, and when he finally lifted his mouth, she was left staring up at him in wonder. That had been a hell of a kiss. He’d slowed them down, but she knew it would be only temporary. This man wasn’t made for slow.
The slight break, though, let her previous thought return.
“The other thing I wanted to say,” she breathed out, “was that because I’m older, I’m not simply going to stand around and fawn over you at rodeos. We may not be dating, but I did have fun with you the other day. As friends. So, consider this your warning. I might try to talk you into doing things other than sex.” She gave him a crooked smile. “In fact, that’s actually why I came over here tonight. I had an idea for something fun we could do.”
His hand once again headed south. “That isn’t why you came over here tonight.”
His deep rumbling words had her chuckling. “Maybe not. But it is the excuse I’d planned to use.”
“Is it?” He nibbled her shoulder.
Her eyes fluttered closed as he slid off her, and his fingers returned to tweaking and probing and touching her in all the ways she liked best. And it occurred to her that he’d certainly learned the needs of her body awfully fast.
“Lay it on me,” he murmured as his mouth made its way to her breast. “This great plan of yours. The one you have to talk me into.”
She sucked in a deep breath as moist heat covered her nipple. “Racecar driving,” she whispered. At his surprised glance, she nodded, unconcerned with her unladylike panting. “There’s a track about thirty minutes from here. We could go Tuesday.”
He rose to one elbow. “Or I could clear my day tomorrow.”
“I can’t tomorrow. I’m taking a couple to the top of Mount Cleveland in the morning for a marriage proposal.” She gasped when he suddenly picked her up, and she landed on top of him. Her thighs straddled his waist.
“I didn’t think it was standard to fly up that high.” Though he continued talking, his hands remained focused on her body. He inched her higher on his torso until she covered his chest, then lifted her rear off him and directed her hands to his headboard. She now leaned over his face, her breasts swinging free, and he groaned like a man who’d just discovered the female anatomy for the very first time.
“It’s fine,” she answered. The look on his face could only be described as rapturous. “I’ve flown up there many times.”
His teeth closed around the tip of her breast, and at the same time his thumbs spread her open below the waist. And again, she gasped at his touch. He kept her trapped between his teeth as she squirmed due to his finger movements, pulling at her in an almost painful—yet highly pleasurable—way.
“Scoot up,” he mumbled a few minutes later.
She looked down at him, her eyes almost completely glazed over now, willing to do anything he asked. But when she saw the intent in his eyes, she paused. And though she had the thought to refuse the act out of sheer respect—Thomas had been the only one who’d ever touched her in that way—she couldn’t bring herself to see what they were about to do as wrong.
Nerve-racking, yes. But not wrong.
Nick nudged her rear, and she lifted fully to her knees. She repositioned her knees above his shoulders, breathing hard as she stared down at his mouth. It was only inches away. But he clearly felt her nerves, because he didn’t immediately put his lips on her. Instead he spent several minutes running his palms over her arms and thighs, down her back. He even caressed her calves and the bottoms of her feet. He soothed her in a way she hadn’t realized she’d needed. And when he reached up to bring her face down to his for a soul-searching kiss, she melted in his hands.
W
hen he pulled back and looked into her eyes, she nodded. She’d never have guessed she needed gentleness like this.
Nick took his time, bringing his attention to her center. He nudged her back up to her knees—she’d dropped to his chest while he’d kissed her—and he once again slid his palms up and over her body. He stroked along the sides of her waist, across her shoulders, and down her arms to where she once again had a firm grip on the headboard. And when she looked down at him, he kissed her right at her belly button.
She shivered, and suddenly she was the one no longer wanting to keep things slow. She edged closer to his mouth, and at the move, she caught the slash of masculine pride across his lips.
He spread her apart, but then he did no more than take her in.
“Please,” she whispered.
His mouth pursed and she felt a stream of air slide over her. She dropped her head, and the muscles in her thighs tensed.
“Nick,” she pleaded again when he still didn’t put his mouth on her.
“Will you promise to be careful tomorrow?”
“What?” Dazed, she looked at him. “When?”
“On your flight.”
She nodded. She would have a man and woman in the aircraft with her, their hopes high for a beautiful, long life ahead of them. Of course she’d be careful. “I promise.”
“Then come find me when you’re done. I don’t want to wait two days to see you again.”
She nodded once more, and when he stopped talking, he finally touched his lips to her body, and she got lost in the pure pleasure of how Nick could make her feel.
Chapter Twelve
On Monday afternoon, Nick once again sat at the worn wooden desk in the family study, working on cleaning up the farm’s books. He’d been through the last twelve months and confirmed that the problems hadn’t started until after his dad had taken over. So he’d saved a copy of the original before beginning the changes—in case he made things even worse—but as of that moment, the numbers once again balanced. He saved a backup copy of the updated file and shut down the accounting software. Then he brought up the website for the University of Montana.
