by Molly McLain
“Me too.” She tipped her head toward the bar. “I should get you back inside. I do believe I stole you away in the middle of a game.”
“Nah, I’m sure Brody’s cleaned up the table on his own by now.”
“Hey, I’m not going to get on your friends’ bad side before I even meet them. Besides, you need to get back to having fun. I meant what I said earlier. You look different tonight. Less stressed, more relaxed. I also like that you’re not wearing a hat.”
“Yeah?” He knew better than to touch her, but he reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear anyway, letting his fingers slide along the satiny length until his hand bumped her shoulder. He didn’t move it, just continued to rub the strands between his fingers. “I really like that you left your hair down. It’s sexy.”
She held his gaze, a knowing smile turning up the corners of her mouth. “Get back inside and do your guy thing. Or I’ll be forced to tell the ladies what kind of underwear you wear.”
“You’ve probably already told them. I know how you women work.” He goosed her side and she squirmed, bumping her hip against his and her abdomen against his fly. He held his breath and prayed his dick wouldn’t read too much into the accidental touch.
“I refrained. They were more interested in why you were leaving my house so early this morning anyway.”
He rolled his eyes. “Gotta love this town.”
She laughed and snagged his hand, tugging him toward the entrance. “Yep, we do. Now let’s get back inside.”
He tugged her hand right back. “Nic?”
“Hmm?” She glanced back over her shoulder, the wind blowing her hair across her face. She was so fucking beautiful. So fucking out of his league, but so, so beautiful.
“Don’t be in a rush to get back to the girls. Let me buy you another drink. Let me take you for a spin on the dance floor. Just...stay.”
The smile faded from her face, but the light in her eyes stayed strong as they stared at each other for longer than was probably good for either of them. “Okay,” she whispered.
And the flame flickering in his gut ignited into a full-on blaze.
Chapter Fourteen
“Dunn, you need to keep a better eye on your girl.”
Nicole laughed as Brody led her off the dance floor and back toward the guys. She should’ve known he’d take another jab at Tony—he hadn’t stopped since they’d been introduced over an hour ago.
“Seriously, man, she squeezed my ass no less than a dozen times out there. I felt so friggin’ violated.” Brody slung his arm around her shoulders and grabbed his beer from the bar.
A sexy grin slid across Tony’s face. “Maybe I outta dance with her then.”
Nicole’s cheeks burned—apparently a chronic condition when in the presence of so many good looking men—but she didn’t shy away from Tony’s flirtation. The more time she spent with him, the more obvious it became that she was trying to fight a losing battle.
“That’s a fine idea.” Brody gave her a peck on the cheek as he released her. “Be gentle on him, sweetheart. It’s been so long since he’s touched a woman, he’s liable to lose his shit like a twelve-year-old.”
Tony punched his friend in the gut, making him hunch and groan, before he snagged Nicole’s hand and pulled her away from the crowd. “Don’t listen to him,” he said when they found a clearing on the far side of the bar. “Or any of them, for that matter.”
“No?” She went willingly into his arms, her hands sliding up the hard, chiseled planes of his chest and around his neck. God, he was sexy. “So it hasn’t been that long?” she asked. God, don’t let him feel how fast my heart is beating right now.
He gave a wry grunt and gathered her close. Hip to hip, belly to belly, chest to chest. Holy crap, he was warm. And so solid. Everywhere. “I plead the fifth.”
Of course. There was no way a guy like Tony would ever be too long without a woman in his arms, or in his bed. “Good to know.”
“Why is that?” He pulled back just enough to make eye contact, a dimple shining in his right cheek.
And there was that damn blush again. Over a freaking dimple. “Just dance,” she said, bumping him with her shoulder.
“Yes, ma’am.” He rested his head against hers, his breath feathering across her temple. So close. Smelling to-die-for with that irresistible combination of deodorant and one hundred percent sexy male. She closed her eyes and let the unexpected intimacy, along with the country ballad rolling through the speakers, sink into her bones.
The song was one of her favorites. A classic. A message about taking chances and living without regret. She’d heard the lyrics hundreds, if not thousands of times, before, emotionally connecting to their meaning on each and every occasion. The words always brought her back to the past, different memories at different moments. Good times and bad. Even mistakes she’d made with Derek, because it hadn’t always been ugly between them.
But the song took on a new meaning tonight, the words hitting a different chord. And it had everything to do with the man holding her. The man who’d come into her life at the most inopportune time, and the man who would keep a little piece of her with him in River Bend when she left.
She wasn’t falling for Tony Dunn. That would be foolish. But he was so perfectly flawed and so real that it was impossible to not be drawn to him. To want to know more about the hardships that made him the man he was.
With Tony, there was no pretense. No falsities or promises that wouldn’t be kept. There was just him and his honesty and his heart. And, as the song reminded her, it might hurt to leave him and Brianna, not having as much time with either of them as she’d like, but she had these moments. She had now. And she damn well wouldn’t leave regretting a single second of having had Tony and his daughter in her life.
Emotion stung in her throat and she turned her face toward his. Slow breath in, slow breath out. God, she wanted to kiss him. To taste him and feel him and savor as much of him as she could, while she could.
“Tony,” she whispered, her shaky fingers gliding up into the curls at the back of his neck. “I want to get out of here. Are you okay to drive?”
His eyes drifted open, heated realization flickering in the dark depths. “Yeah. I switched to water an hour ago.”
She nodded. “I need to tell Ally.” And hope her friend didn’t feel abandoned, though from the facing-eating kiss Jason was giving her that probably wouldn’t be the case.
The room grew quiet as the song came to an end and the sound of shattering glass pierced the air. Everyone in the bar, including Ally, turned to see Mark’s face turn twenty shades of red.
“Shit,” Tony cursed as his cousin took one intentional step after the other toward the exit, his eyes never leaving Ally. He paused at the door just long enough for Ally to wrench herself away from Jason and stare back, wide-eyed. Then Mark was gone, the heavy wood thumping hard behind him.
Ally snatched up her purse and ran toward the back door, leaving Nicole blinking after her.
“Just let her go.” Tony’s mouth was soft against her temple. “They’ve gotta sort this out themselves.”
“You’re right.”
He grinned down at her. “Come on, city girl. Let’s take this dance someplace less crowded.”
***
“I don’t want to go home yet.”
Thank Christ. Tony slowed to a stop at an intersection in the middle of town. He had a full tank of gas, so if she wanted to drive around town all night, that was fine by him. “What do you want to do?”
She nibbled on her lower lip and he watched with fascination as the moisture she left behind shimmered in the glow of the dashboard. “I don’t know. Surprise me.”
He chuckled. “That’s a dangerous thing to say to a guy at midnight.”
She made a soft sound and let her head fall back against the headrest.
“Was that a snort?”
“No.”
“Yes, it was.” He smiled and took a left, toward the
courthouse. “I’m glad you’re finally comfortable enough around me to show your true colors.”
From the corner of his eye, he saw her roll her head to face him. She said nothing. Just watched him.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m too comfortable around you.” Her voice was whisper soft. Like she was afraid to make the confession at full volume. Like the words were too heavy, too burdensome to fully carry.
A tug of satisfaction rippled in his gut. Unwilling to let her see how that knowledge affected him, he kept his jaw firm and his eyes on the road ahead. “How can a person be too comfortable with another? Isn’t that what human beings are supposed to do? Bond? Forge friendships? Relationships?”
The last word gripped tight around his spine, because the thought of having a relationship with Nicole? Waking up with her legs tangled between his every day for the next seven weeks? Fuck.
Sneaking at glance across the cab, he caught her smiling. Not a broad smile, but a small, pretty little thing that could’ve meant anything. She didn’t jump all over the opportunity to tear apart his words or soften the slight awkwardness with a sarcastic comeback.
Shannon would have done that. She would’ve told him that men shouldn’t talk so seriously about the ‘R’ word because most of them didn’t know shit about having a good one. Nicole, in contrast, just listened. She did that a lot. Maybe she thought he was a total nut job and therefore keeping quiet became a subtle tactic to discourage the crazy.
When he pulled into the courthouse parking lot, Nicole sat forward in the passenger seat, a frown wiping the smile off her face. “What are we doing here? Please don’t tell me you remembered something you forgot to do earlier.”
“As much as I’d love to give you a tour and show you all the renovations plans, because I’m a total geek about that crap, I’m pretty sure you’d kick my ass for thinking about work after-hours.”
“I absolutely would.”
He shut off the truck and jutted his chin toward the courthouse lawn, dimly lit by a handful of streetlights. “Shall we?”
She narrowed her eyes. “This better not be illegal.”
“Ha!” Jumping out, he hurried around to open her door. “Nothing illegal, but this would be the perfect time to go pumpkin smashing. I’m sure Mark’s too busy nursing his wounded pride to be bothered with a little public disorder.” He offered his hand. “You coming?”
With a resigned sigh, she accepted, and he locked the truck with the fob before he tucked the keys in his pocket. He fully expected her to drop his other hand once her feet hit the ground, but she held on, her hand feeling so soft and small tucked inside his.
Go big or go home, Dunn.
Why the hell not? Feeling adventurous, he twined their fingers and gave a gentle squeeze. She squeezed back.
Well, I’ll be damned.
Stunned—and little harder behind the fly—he led her around the side of the lawn to where the big fountain trickled gently in the night, set aglow by internal lights and five surrounding spotlights.
She gasped and, for a moment, her feet faltered. “Is this the veterans’ memorial? Oh, my God, it’s so beautiful!”
“Each light represents a branch of the military,” he explained as they stepped onto the flagstone path that circled the water feature. The spotlights lined the perimeter, along with five, obsidian monuments, engraved with the names of River Bend’s finest. His name was listed on the Marine marker, as was Nicole’s dad. His own father was seventh from the top on the Army stone.
Her hand began to tremble in his. “Where’s my dad?” she exhaled, her voice cracking.
He pointed and she shuffled them both forward, her free fingers tracing slowly over each letter of her father’s name. A silent tear slid down her face.
“And you...” She touched his name just as delicately and an unexpected wave of emotion rolled through his body, restricting his ability to breathe. He hadn’t reacted like this to the memory of his military service in five years. Probably because so much regret still lingered in the wake of his discharge. But something nostalgic fell over him tonight. Something bittersweet.
Didn’t take much for him to realize that thing was Nicole. In fact, none of this was about his shortened stint in the Corp—it was about his limited time with her. And the moments that were already passing by too quickly, wasted.
Nicole turned to him suddenly, her hand releasing his. Her damp eyes reflected the lights around them and she stepped forward at the same time he did, her arms wrapping around his neck as she pressed a tear-stained kiss to his lips.
Never before had tenderness and intensity blended so perfectly into a kiss. He guessed she was trying to thank him, showing him emotion she probably couldn’t speak. But another element burned in the sweet caress of her mouth against his. A hunger. An unfulfilled need.
For him.
He pushed his fingers back into her hair, cradled her head in his hands and let her have as much of him as she wanted. She moaned softly, her hands dropping to his chest and spanning across his sweatshirt. He teased his tongue against hers, the velvety slide like a primal taunting that had blood rushing in his ears and thrumming south, straining his fly. He was lightheaded in seconds, drunk on the greedy undertone that promised more than kisses.
He might regret not reenlisting in the Corp five years ago when his dad died and his life turned upside down, but he would not regret Nicole. He would not let her breeze in and out of his life like the contradiction she was, stirring him up one second and then grounding him so solidly the next.
“Take me home,” she whispered against his mouth.
“Gladly.”
Chapter Fifteen
“I need to know you’re sure.” His words were both a question and a demand, and goose bumps that had nothing to do with the wind washed over her skin as they stood beside his truck in her driveway.
“I’m sure.” Maybe a little terrified of what tomorrow would bring, but positive that if she didn’t share this with him tonight, she’d always wonder how incredible it might’ve been between them. Because it would be incredible, there was no doubt about that.
“I mean really sure, Nicole.” His fingers wound in her hair and she shivered. “Because if we walk through that door there’s no turning back.”
“I think we passed that point a long time ago.” Going up on her toes, she kissed him and showed him just how certain she was.
A low growl rumbled in his chest and he pushed her back against the passenger door, hands everywhere. In her hair, down her chest, on her ass. She smiled against his mouth, scoring her nails down the sides of his neck and then over his sweatshirt, all the way down to his waist , desperate to feel as much of his hot skin beneath her fingers as she could. He flinched at the touch, muttered something under his breath, and then fumbled to get them up her front steps. Thank God for small towns and unlocked doors, because they kept her from having to break the kiss to get them inside.
The rough scrape of Tony’s calloused hands along the bare skin of her belly came before the door even shut behind them, the lock barely flipped before he pinned her against the wall. His thigh wedged between hers and his lips were on her neck...teasing, nipping, sucking. She arched into him, her own hands frantic to get beneath his clothing. Desperate to feel him all at once.
“I need you,” he murmured, his mouth so hot and wet against the sensitive spot below her ear.
“I need you, too.” She reached between them and tugged open his fly, hoping he’d realize she didn’t care about foreplay. Hell, the past week had been nothing but a long foray of temptation and torture.
He groaned, swept her up into his arms and took off at a jog toward the living room. He dropped her onto the couch and followed after, his lips raking over the line of her jaw and then the length of her collarbone. Her shirt was over her head in no time, followed by the greedy tug of his fingers on her bra.
She closed her eyes and lost herself in all the sensatio
ns of being consumed by him. His weight on her felt like heaven. Just right. And his skin, so smooth and warm beneath her fingers. His shoulders and biceps flexed as he moved about her body, tasting every inch of her that lay bare before him.
His tongue swept across one and then both of her nipples, beading them into hard, little peaks, before he shifted down her body, licking his way from her chest to her navel. The tip of his tongue teased around her piercing while he undid her jeans and shucked her boots.
Her panties still on, he buried his face between her legs and inhaled. She gasped and threaded her hands in his hair once again. Goose bumps erupted on her skin and she closed her eyes, the reality too much like her fantasies. His hands, so hot and rough, slid down behind her knees, spreading her legs wide for him, as he bit at her panties and roughly pulled them aside, diving in all lips, tongue and nose buried in her folds. The second his tongue hit her clit, her hips flew off the couch and she cried out, choking on the pleasure.
Another second and her panties were gone, leaving her completely bared to him. He flashed a wicked smile before putting his mouth back on her, eating her up and filling her with his fingers, until the telltale pressure built and the edges of her perception blurred.
It was too much and just enough, at the same time.
“Oh, God! Tony!” She came hard, pulling his hair and writhing against his mouth without shame.
She barely felt his absence when he pulled away and fumbled in his wallet, presumably for a condom, but she certainly welcomed him back when he hovered above her again, waiting for the go-ahead.
She reached between them, desperate to feel his length in her hand. But she couldn’t quite reach. “Let me touch you,” she whispered.
“It’ll be too much. I’ll lose it.” He shook his head.
“Please.”
A reluctant beat passed before he shifted up just enough for her to wrap her fingers around him. He was soft and hard at the same time. Big and thick, and his scrotum felt heavy and hot in her palm.
She needed him inside. Now.
