by Cynthia Gail
“I can remember when my wife gazed at me that same way.”
Startled from her thoughts, Beth smiled and tried to hide her embarrassment. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Fair enough. He asked if the two of you were serious. He tried to sound casual, but men usually have a reason when they ask questions like that.”
Beth didn’t know what to say. Jonathon was wrong. The truth probably fell closer to Troy resenting her acceptance within his social sphere. When she’d told him she was choosing La Bella Vita over him, her hadn’t believed her at first. Her refusal to give in had caused him to lose control and lash out. He’d warned that time would change her mind. He'd been wrong.
“Troy doesn’t think I belong. We broke up because he was ashamed. I didn’t conform to his expectations or meet his standards.” She sighed and looked into the most compassionate eyes. “It was complicated. We went our separate ways a long time ago and I hope he’s happy now. I am.”
The song ended and they moved to the edge of the dance floor where Emily was casually trying to get her attention. Jonathon took both her hands in his. “Thank you. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Nicholas this happy.” He smiled, kissed her on the cheek, and then walked away.
Beth didn’t have much time to think about Jonathon’s comments before Emily began a thorough tour of the room. They ran into several old friends she hadn’t seen in years. They planned to have lunch or a girl’s night out to catch up as soon as the holidays were past.
Several people stopped to congratulate her on the success of La Bella Vita. Many of the women ooh’d and aah’d about Nick. Rumors had been flying through the circuit, but few had actually seen them together until tonight. Everyone expressed their admiration of the match, saying what a perfect couple they made.
It was getting late when Beth excused herself to the ladies’ room. She was grateful to Emily. The night had turned out so much better than she could have hoped. She missed Nick, though, and wanted another dance with him before they left. She quickly checked her makeup, touched up her lipstick, and adjusted the straps on her heels.
Emerging refreshed, she headed back to the ballroom. She remembered seeing Nick just a few minutes earlier near one of the exits to the foyer. One more dance, or maybe two, and they could go home.
Taking her time, Beth breathed in the fresh air of the hallway and thought about the night to come.
“I was hoping I’d find you here.” Troy stepped out of the ballroom just as she reached the entrance.
“Here specifically or here as in not left yet?” Beth tried not to sound surprised as her insides twisted.
“I knew you hadn’t left. Nick’s still here.”
She clearly understood his matter-of-fact tone even though his face was impassive. Given Jonathon’s report of his earlier questions, she knew he didn’t represent the Welcome Wagon.
“I’m actually on my way to find Nick.” She tried to step around him, when he caught her arm. “I really can’t talk right now, Troy. Please let me go.”
“What, you don’t have time for me?”
Beth saw his stance waver and realized he’d had too much to drink.
“We were engaged!” he said. “And you can’t give me even a minute of your precious time?”
Beth jerked her arm free and turned around, walking straight into Nick’s hard form. He caught her before she could fall.
“Is there a problem?” Though he was speaking to her, his eyes were on Troy.
“No.” She slid her arm around his waist and gently stroked one of his lapels. “I was coming to find you. I thought I might steal another dance or two before we leave.”
Nick didn’t move.
“Please?”
When he finally looked down at her, his face softened. Without another word, he turned and led her back to the ballroom.
“What did he want?” They’d barely reached the dance floor before Nick asked the question.
“I don’t know. I was coming back from the ladies’ room when he stopped me. He just said he wanted to talk.”
“That’s all he said?”
“I think he’s had too much to drink.”
“He’s not as harmless as you think he is.” Nick began leading her around the dance floor. He was mechanically smooth, not missing a step. His arms were rigid, holding her so close she could feel the agitated heartbeat in his chest.
“He’s angry and I can’t figure out why. I don’t think he’d ever hurt me. Maybe if I’d talked to him before he started drinking this wouldn’t have happened.”
“You could be right. But I didn’t like the way he handled you earlier and I don’t want him bothering you.” Nick reached up and gently rubbed his thumb across her cheek. Their eyes locked and she melted under his gaze.
“I’ll make you a deal,” she whispered.
“A deal?”
“No more talk about Troy,” she said as the next song started.
“And?”
“Dance with me one more song.”
“I can do that.”
“Then take me home with you and love me until morning.”
He was giving her that smile now. The one that made her insides quiver with anticipation. The same one that had given her the bravery to slide her dress off in his office two days ago. “Your wish is my command.”
Hearing the roughness in his voice, Beth’s throat went dry. Nick’s eyes had turned pitch black and held hers like a vise. He drew her against him. Not with the rigid anger from before, but in a passionate embrace, promising everything she’d asked for.
Barely breathing, she couldn’t look away. She felt him reading her soul. Leaving his mark. And for the moment, no one else existed.
She had no idea how long they’d been sequestered in a privatge corner of the dance floor, moving in a circle of their own. Neither one spoke. At some point, Nick led them back into the flowing congregation. The connection softened enough for Beth to catch her breath, leaving a heated simmer flowing through her veins.
The moment the limousine door shut, Nick gathered Beth onto his lap and kissed her until she lay helpless in his arms. A mixture of emotions poured through him as her hand cradled his cheek, and then slid around the back of his neck and into his hair.
She seemed to understand the urgency he couldn’t put into words as her mouth moved against his with the same voracious craving. The longing in his chest to feel her against him, under him, to be inside her was so crushing he thought he might stop breathing.
More than anything, though, he wanted to love her. Not in a frenzied reaction of jealousy or possession. He wanted to make love to her in a slow, all-night caress that would join their souls and leave them sated in the morning.
Nick broke the kiss and laid her head against his shoulder, breathing heavy, trying to slow his heart. He felt her snuggle into the embrace. One hand around his back and the other tugging the ends of his bowtie until it came free. She let the material drop into his offered hand.
Beth’s fingers didn’t stop. Continuing with a single hand, she unfastened the top button of his shirt. Then the next. By the time he tucked the tie into his jacket pocket, she had five buttons open and was working on the sixth.
So much for letting his heart slow. With his shirt undone, he could feel her soft breath against his skin. Her lips began moving up the side of his neck as her hand slid into the opening just above his waist. Nick tried to relax and enjoy her ministrations. He could handle it. He could. They would be home in just . . . ten . . . minutes . . .
When the limousine stopped, Nick quickly buttoned his shirt and ran his fingers through his hair. He stepped out of the car and then offered her his hand. The driver smiled professionally, pretending not to notice their obvious disarray.
Nick led them inside, through the kitchen, and down the hallway to his bedroom. An easy silence filled the air as he slid the tuxedo jacket off and laid it across the back of a chair, while slipping out of his dress shoes.
He took Beth into his arms and touched her lips with his. A soft caress, only a hint of where the night would eventually lead. He wanted to take his time and savor every touch. He stared deep into her eyes. “I’m going to love you slowly and thoroughly. Turn around.”
Taking her shoulders in his hands, he pulled her body back against his and began to press slow, deliberate kisses behind one of her ears. He made a project of kissing every inch of her ivory soft skin. His lips glided down her neck, then he made his way across the bare skin of her back. When he reached the other side, he ran his tongue across the lobe of her ear and felt her quiver.
He released her shoulders. His mouth at the base of her neck, he inhaled her delicate scent. Beth rarely wore perfume, but he caught a hint of her lavender shampoo, mixed with the warming glow of her anticipation. He kissed his way down her neck and then her back as he lowered the zipper of the ball gown one inch at a time.
As the material opened for him, he covered her with his mouth, tasting the salty sweet essence of her skin. When he reached the small of her back, he knelt behind her, slid the zipper the remaining distance, and let the dress fall to the floor.
Fueled by a visible shiver and her soft moan, Nick took hold of her hips and made his way across her waist before heading back up the center of her spine. When he reached the clasp of her strapless bra, he released each hook and it joined the dress at his feet.
Standing behind her again, Nick’s hands splayed across her stomach, leisurely sliding up until he felt her ribs. Then he cupped her bare breasts and let out a strained exhale. Her body—so perfect. His control was slipping under the exquisite torture.
Nick let go and circled around her to the bed. In one swift motion, the decorative pillows slid onto the floor and the duvet and sheets were yanked back. “Lay down before your legs give out.”
She smiled and cocked one eyebrow. “I’m tougher than you think, Mr. Chester. My legs are perfectly fine.” But she complied and slid onto the sheets.
He shifted over her and gazed into her beautiful sparkling eyes. “I was being proactive, Ms. Sergeant. You’re going to thank me.”
Ignoring any response she may have wanted to make, Nick lowered himself and took one of her breasts in his mouth. He suckled and teased the hard tip until he heard the quick inhale of her breath. Her fingers began a lazy stroke across his shoulders.
When his mouth moved to the other breast, his hand replaced it and mimicked the circling of her nipple with his tongue. Her stroking increased and her legs began a restless movement against his hips. He continued to tease, drawing the tight bud between his lips, then soothing with the caress of his tongue. Slowly increasing the pressure, he continued until her body arched in response.
Then he moved lower.
Nick kissed his way down past her navel, then slid her panties down her legs. Before moving back up, he took off both of her shoes and rolled down the shear hose.
He kissed her knees and then licked her inner thighs. Feeling her stiffen, he reached up and touched her stomach, letting his fingers glide across the delicate skin in a gentle circle. “Just let me taste you, Beth.”
Their eyes met and held for a long moment.
“Do you trust me?” Something in his chest loosened at the sound of her voice saying yes. The answer seemed to encompass more than what his question had asked.
Her head fell back and she relaxed her legs, letting them fall at his direction. Settling in, he took hold of her hips and began a languid assault.
His tongue started in a slow circling of her core. He groaned and drew her tighter against his mouth as he dipped inside for another taste. Her essence, achingly sweet, so intoxicating that he forgot all about moving slow.
He felt starved. He’d been craving her for days, wanting exactly this. Licking deep, he let the force of his hunger take over.
Her voice, crying out his name, broke through just as he felt the spasms begin. Oh, sweet heaven. He didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop, until he felt the last tremor of her climax fade.
He kissed his way down her inner thighs before making his way back up her body. Stopping to pay brief attention to her breasts one last time, he took them into his hands and kneaded until he felt the tension in her body returning. The shiver that went through her was almost too much—he couldn’t wait any longer.
Sliding into her, he leaned down and took her mouth. Beth met him stroke for stroke with an urgency that rivaled his own desperation. He wanted nothing less than her total surrender. Her body. Her soul. Her heart. She belonged to him.
Her fingers dug into his back as her hips lifted to meet his thrusts. When she wrapped her legs around his waist, he pushed deeper and felt the waves begin.
He held, absorbing the sensation of her pleasure gripping him, drawing him in until he fractured.
After several minutes of silence, Nick rolled to his back and brought her with him. Still joined and sprawled across his chest, he could feel the beat of her heart as his fingers traced invisible designs across her back. He reached down and lifted the silk sheet over them.
He imagined holding Beth in his arms every night and waking up next to her every morning. When she’d looked at him with those pleading eyes and said Take me home with you and love me until morning, he’d realized he didn’t want just tonight. He wanted every night. He needed to share the rest of his life with Beth. If she would have him.
He couldn’t believe he was even thinking the L-word. He understood how love made people do crazy things—changed a person’s life almost instantly. He couldn’t deny that he’d fallen for her that night in his grandfather’s study. Suddenly, things that used to be important held no meaning. The only thing that mattered was being with the one person that made everything in his life complete.
He knew he had at least one serious issue to work on. He needed to control his jealousy, or at least learn to hide it. But with Beth, rationale seemed to slide out the door, replaced by a possessiveness he’d never felt before.
The confrontation with Troy had been his undoing. Just knowing that she’d been in love with him. Been engaged to him. The fact that he hadn’t known her then didn’t matter. He couldn’t stand thinking about the two of them being together.
The flutter of Beth’s eyelashes against his neck brought him back from his thoughts. He felt her lips and tongue take a delicate stroll across his collarbone. Stirring inside of her, he became achingly hard almost immediately. He should be exhausted. Would be in the morning. For now, he just wanted more. He’d promised to love her all night, after all.
And she had that twinkle in her eye.
CHAPTER 12
“You’re going to be late for the office.” Beth zipped her suitcase shut. After sleeping until noon on Sunday, Nick had taken her out for lunch and spent most of the afternoon running errands. They’d chosen to stay the rest of the weekend at her place since she still needed to pack for this morning’s trip to Atlanta.
“I’m the boss.” He wrapped her in his arms for the second time and kissed her until her knees buckled. She’d forgotten to set the alarm, causing them to oversleep. Even then, Nick hadn’t let her out of bed before he’d thoroughly ravished her one last time. And the way he kissed her now . . . Well, he wasn’t in any hurry to get to work.
“Don’t leave me.” He nibbled on her lower lip and tugged her hips into his. The man definitely knew how to thwart her good intentions. He was a hot-blooded, Grade A distraction she found increasingly hard to say no to.
But, today she didn’t have a choice. Her first appointment was at two and she needed to be on the road. “I have to go or I’m going to be late. I’ll be back Wednesday by noon, though.” She stepped out of his arms, slid the suitcase off the bed, and lifted the handle.
“Come by the office when you get in.”
Beth laughed, not sure if she’d ever get over that spontaneous afternoon. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. What if I cook dinner and you can come over when you leave work?”
> “You win. This time. I’ll take off early.”
The four-hour drive flew by faster than Beth expected. Partially due to her cruise control being set on eighty. Mostly because her thoughts were consumed with Nick. She was becoming spoiled, waking up next to him. Felt lonely on days when she didn’t.
She’d sat by the fire all evening, piled up on her big leather sofa, wrapped in Nick’s arms as they talked for hours. She told him stories about Jenny and Sara. How they’d become best friends their first day on the Lexington campus.
“As roommates, it didn’t take long to realize how different we were.”
“I don’t know about that. You and Jenny are both neat, organized, and like to cook.”
“True. But Jenny and Sara are both true optimists at heart, where I don’t trust anything.”
“The cynical one.” He smiled.
“Sara believes anyone can change for the good. That’s why she stayed with her husband for so many years. Lord knows it’s the only reason I can come up with. After ten years of controlling her every move and the emotional abuse, I’m just glad she had enough self-esteem left to throw him out.”
“Is she all right? Ten years is a long time.”
“I talked to her a few days ago. She said she’s doing fine. I’m not sure, though. Jenny and I are planning to go see her after Christmas.”
“So, what’s made you such a cynic?” Nick asked.
She hadn’t answered at first. Lying down with her back against his chest, his arms tightened their hold. She knew she didn’t have to answer. Nick was like that—never pushing further than she wanted to go. Then she found herself wanting to tell him the truth.
“It’s rare that you meet someone without an agenda, that’s all. I think the three of us make such good friends because that’s all we want from each other. There’s a comfortable trust when you know the person doesn’t have anything to gain. They just like you for who you are.”
