by Molly McLain
“Nicole...” He looked past her and she slammed her eyes shut. Luke was standing at the counter again, wasn’t he?
Freaking great. Now they both knew how pathetic she was.
“Uh, Nic?” Luke spoke up and the tone of his voice almost pushed her to tears. She knew what he was going to say without him having to speak another word.
“Tony, can you just go? Please?” she asked, unable to meet his eyes.
“No.” He walked forward until he stood closer than was good for either of them. Part of her wanted to curl into him and part of her wanted to punch him. And she might have if he wasn’t holding Bri, because, dammit, life sucked donkey balls sometimes. “What’s the problem, Luke?” he asked over her shoulder.
“Um...” Luke stuttered and she wished she could blink herself someplace else. Someplace less humiliating. Someplace where she didn’t feel like such a helpless woman who needed a man to hold her upright. “You know, maybe it’s this machine. Let me go try the one in the back office.”
Nicole didn’t move until she heard the door close behind him. Even then, she couldn’t bring herself to look at Tony. So she dug through her purse instead. She’d cut up all of her credit cards after she’d paid them off, except for one. It only had a couple hundred bucks on it, but maybe between the two cards...
“I can take care of whatever you’re short.” Tony’s voice was sweet and coaxing, a tone she’d heard him use far too many times on his infant daughter and that hurt too, because Nicole wasn’t a freaking child. She wasn’t helpless either. She definitely wasn’t his responsibility to take care of.
“No thanks.” The words were bitter on her tongue. Full of disdain and resentment he didn’t deserve. But what else could she do? She wasn’t strong enough to push him away right now. To fight the battle she should’ve fought harder to resist from the get go. Not with this much emotion brewing in her chest, just waiting to burst.
“Baby, come on—”
“Don’t!” She held up a hand, this time meeting his eyes. And her heart broke a little more when he tipped his head to the side, silently pleading with her. “This is none of your business, okay?”
“I’m offering as a friend, Nicole. If money’s tight, I can float you. Or you can consider it an advance for watching Bri. Whatever you want.”
“I’ve got this.” She pulled out the second card and waved it in the air.
“Nicole, seriously.”
Again with that damn pushing. “No, Tony, you be serious. We hardly know each other. You can’t keep offering to save the day for someone you’ve barely known a week.”
“Are you kidding me?” He moved in so close, the only thing between them was Brianna. Regardless of that fact, he lowered his mouth to her ear and she shivered. “I’ve been inside you, Nicole. I’ve tasted you. Tell me again that I don’t know you, baby. I dare you.”
She was going to die from embarrassment and lust. Right there in the middle of Luke’s garage. “That’s just sex,” she squeaked out.
“Oh, that’s right. That’s all you want from me. How could I forget?”
She flinched. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“No? How’d you mean it then?”
Playing it by ear had clearly been the wrong move. Not only that, but she was losing ground. Fast. This was the part that she feared the most. The fall.
“Why are you so afraid of me, Nicole?”
She turned to him. Held her chin high, but dammit, it hurt. “I don’t need you to take care of me.”
He jerked his chin in. “I offered to lend you the money, not be your sugar daddy.”
She grimaced again. “I don’t want your money, Tony. I don’t want your help. I just...I can’t do this with you, okay?”
He stared at her for too long. “We’re not talking about the money anymore. Or the house.”
“Please go home.” She glanced toward the door, hoping he would just stop and leave her with a little remaining dignity.
After another drawn out moment, he did, but not before he tossed one last stab over his shoulder. “And you think I’m the one who’s been living under a rock.”
***
Tony sat in his quiet, darkened living room, a bottle of beer resting on his knee. He’d left Nicole at Luke’s four hours ago and, despite their plans for dinner, she never came over.
He should’ve expected that, but damn if he hadn’t hoped she’d drop in to poke her little finger at his chest and give him hell for sticking his nose in her business. He figured he’d let her go off for a few minutes and then shut her up with a kiss.
Because she liked when he kissed her and, whether or not she’d ever admit it, she’d fought hard not to give into him tonight. He’d seen the struggle in her eyes. The war between wanting to trust him with more than her body and the fear of giving him too much.
He was fucking scared, too. But he wasn’t about to run from it. From her.
She was the best goddamn thing to come into his life besides Bri. So instead of pushing her even further out of her comfort zone, he sat there waiting her out. He had no idea if it was the right move, or if it made him a dumbass, but he sure as hell wasn’t giving up. He just needed a new approach.
He took a pull from the beer, then tapped the bottle against his thigh.
He understood why she might be afraid to get too close to him. To let him do things for her that a guy who was supposedly just a friend normally wouldn’t. But she wasn’t seeing the flip side of that coin. Where she’d come into his home and had done those same things for him.
Sure, she had a life plan she was afraid would get off track. Some random dude in Nowhere, Nebraska didn’t play well into her big city dreams. He got that.
But she wasn’t just some random chick to him, and whether she was in his life short-term or long-term, he needed her to know that.
Someone had made her skittish, though. Made her afraid to open herself up to him. He needed to figure out who’d taken it too far with her. And what exactly he’d done.
He swallowed down another hearty gulp of beer and eyed the laptop on the coffee table. He wasn’t normally the stalker type, but Nicole hadn’t left him much choice. She wasn’t talking and he wasn’t the type to turn a blind eye and let her continue to hurt either.
Leaning forward, he powered up the computer and waited impatiently for it to load. Yeah, it was a blatant violation of who he was as a person to go poking around in her business like this. It possibly made him just as creepy as whoever she was running from. But helping Nicole was worth the risk, so he pushed through the guilt.
When the laptop fully booted, he typed her name and ‘Denver’ into Google. The first hit was her LinkedIn profile, but since he already knew what she did for a living, he bypassed that. Her Facebook page was next, but her privacy settings only allowed him to see a picture of her and another pretty blonde woman. The picture, when he clicked on it, took him to the Facebook page of the other blonde, who apparently lived in Chicago and worked at Comer Children’s Hospital. Nicole’s best friend Rachel. Rachel Hodges.
Huh. Didn’t take a genius to figure out that Nicole’s best friend was also her former sister-in-law. Interesting.
Curious—and a total glutton for punishment—Tony scrolled down Rachel’s page. A little recon wouldn’t hurt, because if she had one picture of Nicole, maybe she had more. Maybe there was a clue buried somewhere that would give him the answers he was looking—
Son of a bitch.
Tony threw his hands in the air, like his fingers were on fire, and launched himself back on the couch as his brain registered the image that suddenly filled the screen.
Then again, it wasn’t every day a man got to see the woman he’d just slept with standing beside an NFL linebacker in full uniform. A linebacker who shared her last name.
Motherfucker.
Tony scrubbed his hands over his face as realization took shape in his mind.
Nicole had been married to Derek fucking Hodges. One of
the biggest pricks in all of professional football. One of the most self-righteous, womanizing guys ever. And one who, as of last January, looked far too fucking friendly with Nicole.
Shit.
She’d told him she was divorced, didn’t she? Rob had even confirmed it. So why was she standing on the sidelines posing for a picture with her ex-husband of six years just last season?
He slammed the lid on the laptop and downed the rest of his beer.
He couldn’t compete with a guy like Hodges. Not in a million years. Except...
He pinched the bridge of his nose and took in a careful breath.
What if Hodges was the reason Nicole was so terrified?
Jesus. He closed his eyes and ignored the wave of nausea that turned in his gut. He knew it was the truth without having to put any more thought into it, and it made him sick to his fucking stomach, imagining what she had to have gone through, being married to a guy like that.
He went to the kitchen for another beer but stopped short of the fridge, thinking better of it. Instead, he leaned against the counter, looking out across the street. The streetlight lit part of Nicole’s backyard, but nothing more. He couldn’t see any lights on in the house and he pictured her lying in bed—a bed he’d lain in, too—staring up at the ceiling, watching shadows dance in the moonlight.
Questions zipped around in his head—none that mattered other than to appease his ego.
Fuck.
It was entirely possible he was just making all these pieces miraculously fit together, because, as much as it sucked for Nicole, it worked a lot better for him if Hodges was the bad guy. There was no other way a lowly contractor in Nebraska could compete with a pro linebacker.
Or was there?
He thought back to how she looked at him outside of McCauley’s and then again at the memorial. Thought about how she clung to him as he slid inside her willing body. And how she let him hold her afterward.
She didn’t act like a woman who was interested in another guy.
She’d acted like a woman who was interested in him.
But she was scared and she was throwing the “we don’t know each other” card in his face, and maybe they didn’t, because if she knew him at all, she’d damn well know he wasn’t the kind of guy who wanted to hurt her.
He just wanted her.
His chest warmed at the thought and he rubbed his palm over it, unaccustomed to the sensation. Fuck yeah, he wanted Nicole. But before that could happen, she needed to see that he wasn’t one of the bad guys.
In fact, not only was he not an asshole, he was someone she could trust not to take more than she was willing to give.
Always.
Chapter Eighteen
She made it hard on him, though, because, for the next couple days, she barely spoke to him. She showed up in the morning with a smile on her face and she left at night with a smile on her face. She even continued to do his laundry and leave dinner on the stove. But she wouldn’t talk to him and by Wednesday night, his skin felt too tight and his nerves too on edge.
So after dinner, he used the only guaranteed ‘in’ he had, not feeling even the slightest bit guilty about it. How the hell else was he gonna make her see his side of things?
“Something’s wrong with Brianna,” he said as soon as Nicole picked up the phone.
“What do you mean?” she asked, her voice higher and more rushed than usual. He heard her moving around. Getting her things on maybe?
He grinned at his daughter, smiling happily up from her walker with the corner of a teething ring in her mouth. “I don’t know. She’s just not herself.”
“Okay. I’ll be over in a couple minutes.”
He clicked off his phone and fist pumped the air. Sure, she’d probably be pissed when she realized he’d lied to her, but he had two movies and two kinds of ice cream as bribery to make her stay.
She didn’t knock when she came in—a new development he liked very much—and she didn’t bother announcing herself either. She just kicked off her shoes, hung up her coat, and padded into the living room in her fuzzy socks. She was wearing tight capris that hit her mid-calf again and a t-shirt that looked three sizes too big.
She looked fucking hot.
“Hey, pumpkin,” she said sweetly to his daughter, getting down on her knees in front of her. She placed her hands on Bri’s cheeks and then her forehead, before she sat back, cocked her head to the side and bit her lip. “Daddy says you’re not feeling well.”
Jesus fucking Christ, the way she said ‘daddy’ was like all the right hormones mainlined straight to his dick. He shifted uncomfortably on the couch, discreetly adjusting his junk in his basketball shorts.
“She looks like normal Brianna to me,” Nicole said to him, but in a soft lulling tone for Bri’s benefit. “Why do you think she’s not acting herself?”
“Well, it’s more of a suspicion.”
Nicole’s back straightened and she pivoted her face in his direction. There wasn’t irritation or anger in her eyes, though. Just curiosity. “A suspicion?”
“Yeah. I’m pretty sure she misses you.”
“Misses me, huh? I’ve only been gone for a couple hours.” She looked back to Bri and gave a soft laugh. “I think your father is a con man, Brianna.”
“A successful con man.” He stood and pulled her to her feet, his hands cupping her face as he leaned in and stole a kiss. “I might’ve missed you, too. I hate this skirting around each other we’ve been doing.”
“So you pretended to have an ill child to get me here?” She put her hands in his chest and pushed him away. “I had no idea you were such a hustler.”
“No? I guess you really do learn something new every day then, huh?” He slapped her ass before jumping out of the way so she couldn’t swat him back.
She smiled, even though her narrowed eyes said she didn’t want to. “I smell Tide. Are you doing laundry?”
“As a matter of fact, I am.” He stood in the doorway between the kitchen and living room, hands on his hips. “Impressed?”
“Maybe.” She turned toward Bri again, but not before he saw one corner of her mouth lift. “Isn’t it almost your bedtime, peanut? Or did your dad bribe you with a later bedtime so he could pull off his little stunt?”
“No bribery needed,” he called from the kitchen where he’d made some fancy caramel flavored coffee he thought she might like. He poured them each a cup and carried them back into the living room. “Seeing you for a little bit was all she needed.”
“Oh really?” She took the coffee, sniffed and then lifted an eyebrow. “Wow, you’re pulling out all the stops, aren’t you?”
“Trying.” He set his cup down on the coffee table before he grabbed Bri. “Say goodnight to Nicole, Brianna Bell. It’s Daddy’s time now.”
“Is it now?” Nicole lifted an eyebrow, then leaned in to kiss Bri’s nose and say goodnight.
He chuckled and left her with her coffee. A few minutes later, he returned to find her curled up on the couch with a magazine in her lap.
“You didn’t leave.”
“Well you went through all this trouble to get me here, I figured I should at least stick around to drink your coffee.”
“Ah, I see how it is.” He picked up a movie from the table and tapped the case.
“You really are a con man.”
“I thought we already established that.”
“You’ve sealed the deal now.”
He grinned. “Enough that you’ll stay and hang out with me for the next couple hours?”
“I don’t know...”
“I have ice cream too.”
She laughed and rested her temple against the back of his couch, her eyes locked on his. “Are we really going to pretend that Monday night didn’t happen? Or Friday and Saturday too for that matter?”
He shook his head and slid the DVD into the player. “Definitely not willing to erase getting you naked from my memory. And Monday...yeah, we should talk about that. But not
now.”
“When?”
He dropped down beside her on the couch and put his hand on her thigh. “How about when you’re ready?”
Emotion shimmered in her eyes and...bingo. Finally he’d said something right.
“Okay.” She put her hand on top of his and laced their fingers.
Damn.
He lifted their hands and kissed her knuckles. “I’m glad you came over.”
She blinked back her tears. “I am, too.”
***
Somewhere between the course of the two movies, Tony ended up with his head on her lap and she with her fingers in his hair. She spent more time looking down at him than she did with her eyes on the screen and every time he laughed, the pressure in her chest build a little more.
Swallowing it down, she grazed the backs of her fingers over the ends of his hair, where it turned up into little curls. He had freakishly soft hair for a guy and she wondered how many other women had fallen a little harder for him because of the sexy mess.
Not that she was falling, of course. And she was still mad at him for trying to pay for her car.
“What are you thinking about?”
She blinked herself out of the trance to find him looking up her, watching quietly while she touched him. “I’m thinking you’ve probably gotten a lot of women into bed with this hair.”
He snorted and sat up. “Let’s readjust. Lay down with me and talk.”
“Uh-huh. I lay down and, before I know it, I’m naked again.”
He blinked. “I had no such intentions, but now that you brought it up...”
“Such a liar.” She pushed at his shoulder.
“I wasn’t thinking about sex. Honest.” He flashed a boyish smile. “Okay, I was earlier, but not in the last couple of minutes. I just want to talk. And maybe cuddle a little.”
“Cuddle?”
“Yeah.” He went serious. “You got a problem with cuddling?”
Yeah, she did. “Tony...”
“Let’s play a game then.”
“I don’t like games. And I’m pretty sure you don’t either.”
