by Jo Leigh
“Oh, God, no, no, I can’t be this close yet,” he said, his expression tortured as he held himself completely still.
Wet and slippery with longing, she bucked, trying to get him to move again. He slipped his fingers between them, knowing exactly where and how to touch, and way sooner than she’d have ever guessed a second jolt of heat shot through her body and she spasmed around him, knocking his hand loose and letting out a startled cry.
He started to withdraw, but before she could object, he drove in deeper and after two thrusts he cried out her name as he stilled, as the muscles of his body tightened.
By the time her legs fell to the bed and he rolled to her side, she had relearned how to breathe. She looked at him, all sweaty and gorgeous, lying on her pillow. “That was…”
“Amazing,” he said, his voice ragged. “Incredible.
Shannon grinned, feeling like she’d had too much to drink, or hadn’t had enough oxygen or some other crazy thing that made the world spin faster. She found his hand by her thigh and she folded her fingers between his. “You have to be back in Bali when?”
“Not for a while.”
“So you’re not leaving tonight.”
He smiled. “Nope. Why? You have something in mind for later?”
“It’s possible.” She smiled.
He brought their joined hands up to his lips so he could kiss her fingers. A different kind of pleasure shimmered through her.
She closed her eyes, letting her heartbeat slow as she rubbed her foot up his calf. He made contented sounds, and soon he was gently rubbing her from belly to chest. Sensual and slow, a perfect interlude.
When he moved, it was to kiss her tummy before he sat up. “Did I tell you how terrific you were at the property showings?”
She laughed. It was unexpected, but then he’d surprised her at every turn. “No, you didn’t.”
“I’m serious. You should run for office or something. You’d straighten this city out in six months. They wouldn’t know what to do with someone as clever as you.”
She looked up at him to find him looking back. He was completely serious. “Stop. I’ve already got too much of an ego.”
“I think you’re wonderful and I’m not about to stop saying so.”
“Well, thanks.”
He squeezed her hand before he let it go. “I’m going to make a run to the bathroom, then I’m going to get my robe, then I’m coming back here to ravish you again. But first—” he stood and pulled the comforter and sheet up across her chest “—I’m going to kiss you.”
It felt odd and sexy when he bent over her to capture her lips, him being naked when she was covered up. When that ended, which wasn’t for several long, delicious minutes, he disappeared out her door, and she stretched like a cat under the sheet. She closed her eyes and pushed her fingers through her hair and it was very quiet. No footsteps from the floor above, no music from Brady’s room. Just the sound of her breathing.
Her brain, the one that had convinced her that this was the best idea ever, was starting to back down a bit, and the voice of real life was becoming more than a whisper. She’d known—how could she not have known?—that everything she’d felt about Nate before would be nothing compared to what she felt now. She wasn’t sorry. Given a chance to do it again, she would. But she’d better prepare herself for a hell of a blow when he left. It was going to take some serious time to get over him. She hadn’t considered the memory of his skin, of how they fit together, of what he looked like when his eyes were dark with want and, God, how he said her name.
Yeah. It was gonna be a bitch. Because while she had no doubt how very much he wanted her, she also knew he didn’t want her for very long.
* * *
NATE SLIPPED ON HIS BATHROBE as quietly as he could, not wanting to wake Shannon. The light was on beside the bed, but that hadn’t stopped her from falling asleep. He wished he could succumb himself, but he had to get back to Myles’s room. It wasn’t likely that anyone would come knocking, but he wasn’t going to take the risk.
Leaving should have been easy. So much about Shannon was. Conversation, laughter, touching. He’d never had sex with someone who’d been a longtime friend before, and now he saw the appeal, although they hadn’t actually been friends. She’d been a presence in his life, and he in hers, the only thing they’d had in common was the rest of the family. In all the years he’d come to her home, they’d never sat down and had a private conversation.
They had grown accustomed to each other, nonetheless. Since first seeing her in her green bridesmaid’s dress, he’d felt drawn to her. He’d never have imagined he would know what she looked like when she came undone. That giving her pleasure would be right up there in the sexiest things he’d ever experienced
“What are you doing?” Shannon hadn’t opened her eyes and her voice was mumbles and exhaustion.
“Go back to sleep.”
“Don’t leave. It’s the middle of the night.”
He leaned over and brushed some hair away from her cheek. “I know. That’s why I’m leaving.”
She sniffed and rubbed her head into her pillow, shaking loose the silky hairs he’d pushed back. “Don’t leave,” she said again.
Was he going to break every rule? There was no reason to think anyone would come looking for either of them on a Sunday morning, but the chance existed. He kissed her gently, then whispered, “Sleep well.”
Shannon didn’t stir.
Nate went back to the bed from hell and tried to get comfortable. The sheets were cold, the mattress continued to suck, and instead of his usual après-sex relief at being alone, he felt…something else. He could imagine so clearly what it would have been like to curl up in back of Shannon, tuck in his knees, circle her waist and breathe her in as he drifted to sleep.
It would have been nice to watch her wake up. He had this image in his head that she was one of those people who went from sleep directly to alert. When he’d run into her after his shower, she’d had none of the somnambulist haze about her.
But he couldn’t be sure. She could wake up drowsy and tousled and blinking, and Christ, how was his cock even thinking of getting hard? They’d wrung each other out. He’d come twice, while she’d come at least three times, maybe more. He wasn’t good enough at reading her yet to be sure.
Now, there was a project worth tackling. He’d begun, but only in the most fundamental ways. Her nipples were moderately sensitive, which was rare, but the little spot behind her ear drove her crazy. She had a thing for being somewhat constricted. Twice, he’d held her wrists up above her head as he’d done wicked things to her body, and it was like plugging her into a socket.
He’d loved how responsive she’d been when he’d hunkered down between her thighs. God, she’d smelled incredible. His head still ached from where she’d tugged his hair a little too enthusiastically. Not that he’d minded.
But there was still much to learn. More to taste, to touch, to try. Problem was, how…and when? Far more problematically, where? She was incredibly busy with work and her side projects. He’d been astonished that she’d come out with him to look at the properties, and it wasn’t likely they’d have another night where they’d be alone in the house.
He should hear quickly about the offer on the co-op. Since the owners were out of the city Aiko had given them forty-eight hours to respond. He’d offered just under the asking price, so he figured he had a good shot. The furniture was already out, so he hoped they’d be willing to close quickly. And if not, he simply had to move back into the hotel. Yeah, he liked staying here with the Fitzes, but it was pretty clear that it had become more about staying close to Shannon.
* * *
IT WAS LATE MORNING BY THE time she awoke. Still, she wasn’t anxious to hop out of bed right away. Nate’s scent was all over the pillows and the sheets, and she lazily rolled over, her body aching but in a good way. She buried her face in his pillow and inhaled deeply, the memory of him inside her still so vivid a fri
sson of excitement raced through her.
She’d stay there for an hour if she could, reliving every moment, basking in satisfaction, but she had to go to work for a few hours. There was payroll to do, and signs to be printed up for the Easter egg hunt. Then she needed to look over the baskets, check out the condition of the back room where her mother and friends had worked so hard.
Thinking of her mother propelled Shannon into her robe and into the bathroom. Best of all worlds, she would be gone by the time her parents returned from mass, but that was unlikely. Her mother would want to know what had kept Shannon up so late that she’d slept in. Mothers didn’t care how old their daughters were when it came to Sundays. Her mother in particular would poke at Shannon until she coughed up some kind of excuse.
If asked for details, Shannon would deftly change the subject to the payroll, and that would be that. It was an underhanded thing to do, given her mother’s guilt at leaving the accounting to Shannon, but all was fair in…
Not love or war. Just evasion, plain and simple.
It really was time for her to move out of the house. As much as she loved her family and this house, she yearned for the freedom. Yes, she would resent paying rent to live in a strange apartment, especially knowing how exorbitant rents were in the city, but last night had shown her how impossible it was that she still lived with her parents. It had nothing to do with Nate. She wasn’t fooling herself in any way. He would leave at some point, she knew that.
She turned on the water in the shower, then stripped and stood under the spray. It was foolish to start worrying about moving out yet. There would be plenty of time for that when Nate was out of the country, out of her life. Then there would be the inevitable fall… .
Okay, she was not going down that path. Nate wasn’t gone. He was here right now. There would be time enough for regrets later. Today, she would be happy to see him. If she were lucky, they would be able to spend time together tonight. If not tonight, then soon.
She couldn’t afford to let this fling take over her life. First came the job, the very important business of getting new clients. Everything else came in at a distant second, including her sex life.
If there was one thing she’d mastered, it was how to prioritize. As much as she liked Nate, he wasn’t at the top of the list. Even if she wanted him to be.
11
DANNY SPRAWLED AGAINST the booth back at Molly’s, his second beer nearly gone and his gaze meandering over a couple of girls who didn’t look old enough to drive, let alone drink. Nate glanced at his watch, wondering when Shannon was going to get there. He hadn’t seen her since yesterday morning except in passing. It hadn’t been intentional, just bad timing. But he’d thought about her. Too often.
“Yeah, no, the work is good,” Danny said. “I mean, it’s decent for an ad firm. There’s only gonna be so much freedom in an environment like Madison Avenue. But I’m starting to put together a portfolio of my own stuff, you know? On the internet.”
“That must be easier than getting a gallery showing.”
“Yeah, but it’s easier for everyone else, too, so you still need to get the showings. Maybe now more than ever. I’m getting there, though. I’ve had a few private commissions.”
“Yeah? Why haven’t I seen any of your work?”
Danny grunted. “Because you’re a selfish pig who never asked.”
“Yeah, I love you, too, bro. Seriously, what’s it under? Your name?”
“Yeah.” Danny sat up straighter and pulled out what looked like a baseball card from his back pocket and flicked it over to Nate.
“This is yours?”
“No, I’m showing you my aunt Martha’s artwork. Of course it’s mine.”
The picture on the cover of the trading card was striking as hell. Like some of the best graphic-novel work he’d seen, right up there with Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. “You’re kidding me with this, right?” he asked.
“What?”
Nate stared at him. “You’re an illustrator? These commissions, have they been for comics?”
Danny smiled at him. “Not yet. I know I should have told you before now what I was doing, but I wanted to… Anyway, I’m getting my stuff out there. I’ve had a few calls, had a few encouraging rejections. In the meantime the day job is great, if a person has to have a day job.”
“You were always drawing something, mostly where you weren’t supposed to. But not stuff like this. You were into street art. Like Banksy or something.” Nate grinned. “Remember that wall behind the supermarket?”
Danny nodded as he laughed. “I thought for sure we were going to jail.”
“You and me both. How long were we stuck under that crate?”
“Three hours?”
“It felt like three years.” Nate turned over the card. Read the short bio and the contact info, and admired the two other small images. “This is clever,” he said, holding up the card. “You did this at your plant, huh?”
Danny nodded. “Lots of artists do trading cards. It’s a thing now.”
“Huh. Can I keep this?”
“What do you think?” Danny asked, then signaled Peggy the waitress. “The pisser is I’d be able to quit the day job and concentrate all my energy on illustration if it weren’t for the Princess.”
Nate put down the card. “What do you mean?”
Danny sighed. “She’s determined to keep the old bucket of a printing plant running. Man, she kills herself over it and my folks won’t let anyone tell her she’s wasting her time.”
“Wasting her time?”
“You have any idea how much money the folks are sitting on with that place? They want to retire. My father says Ireland, and Ma just laughs and gets secret brochures from Florida. Brady’s been offered a couple of great jobs that he can’t take because the Princess isn’t supposed to know that trading cards aren’t ever going to be enough, although to be fair, he wouldn’t mind staying at the plant forever. But the truth is we’re losing textbook contracts and catalogues. The land is worth so much more than the business, it’s not even funny. The whole situation is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of. We’re talking millions of dollars. That’s not even counting selling off the equipment. And then if we sold the house? Shit.”
“The business has been in your family for generations. And the house? No way your parents would let go of the house,” Nate said, even though the thought had crossed his mind. Yeah, he’d said something about it to Shannon, but he hadn’t been serious.
“Wanna bet?”
Nate took a drink of his Guinness as the new data sunk in. “And everyone knows this but Shannon?”
“The neighbors know, the mailman knows. Unfortunately, the employees aren’t idiots and they’re just waiting for the shoe to fall. They’re upset especially since the benefits aren’t what they used to be. Everyone’s surly, and it’s only a matter of time before someone manufactures an accident so they can sue. The plant is outdated, my old man won’t upgrade ’cause he doesn’t want to refinance and get stuck. It’s a losing situation from every angle, all because no one wants to hurt Shannon’s feelings.”
“She’ll be crushed.”
“I know. We all know. It’s gonna tear her up.” Danny shook his head. “That’s where you come in.”
“What?”
Danny sat up, leaned over the table, his beer forgotten. “You and Shannon, you’ve been getting along really well. She likes you, and you’re practically family. And you’re good with hard stuff. I mean, you’re used to helping people who’ve lost everything. Believe me, she’s not going to lose anything. She’ll walk away not having to worry about money to get herself situated, figure out what she wants to do.”
“You want me to tell her?”
Danny stared at him. “Yeah. Not straight-out, not mean or anything. Maybe let her know you overheard Ma talking about Florida. About Brady’s job offers. You’re dealing with real estate right now—you could mention how much the land is worth.”
&n
bsp; Nate felt as if he’d been punched in the gut. He almost admitted that he’d already made a passing comment but that was before the other night. Before he and Shannon had… “For God’s sake, Danny.”
“It’s a hell of a lot to ask. And we all know we’re going to have to talk. As a family. But maybe you could just think about it, huh? You’d be good with her. You can kind of pave the way to the big showdown. We all need to move on, including her.”
“Man. She’s been fighting so hard for the family. For a legacy.”
“You don’t have to, buddy. We’ll come up with another idea. I don’t mean to get you caught up in our mess.”
The waitress came by with a couple more drinks and Danny flirted with her a bit, his discomfort with the topic of conversation obvious. Nate couldn’t give him an answer, not until he thought long and hard about what Danny wanted him to do. Particularly now.
“You all set, honey?”
Nate smiled at Peggy, but his heart wasn’t in it. Shannon would be devastated. It was a damn shame, too, because she was incredibly talented and would be an asset anywhere. If he thought he had a chance, he’d try to get her to come work for The International Rescue Committee. But he wouldn’t even try. Gramercy was woven into the fabric of her life and he’d never dream of taking her away. She should run for city council. She’d see to it that corner basketball courts weren’t left to rot and ruin.
But that was the long view. In the short term, discovering her family wanted a separate future more than they cared about their collective past was going to cripple her.
“Speak of the devil,” Danny said, leaning back in his seat again. “The Princess hath arrived.”
“Don’t call her that anymore. She doesn’t like it.” A wave of anger at his friend made his gut tense. It wasn’t logical. Danny was right. She was tilting at windmills. The business had been going downhill for a long time, but he hated like hell that he’d been asked to be the messenger.
