Lexie walked in ahead of him.
He let the door shut and looked around. They were in the main part of the studio. Right now all that was in there were a couple of long folding tables covered in plans they were working on and some folding chairs. The studio would open in two months.
Lexie walked in a circle, taking in the space. Then she went through a hallway that led to a second room for smaller classes. She headed back into the hall and found the closet, a bathroom, and the last room at the end of the hallway.
Nick followed her, turning on lights as he went. In his head, he could hear the grunts, the kicks, the sound of flesh hitting boards to break them. He could smell the sweat, almost feel the adrenaline. He could see the faces of the students as they mastered tough techniques, or see the droop of posture when they couldn’t get it.
She stopped in the very back room, which shared a wall with the coffeehouse. “You’ve already decided to give up bounty hunting. That’s why you had time to hang out all week at the resort.”
She looked so pretty standing there, the lights catching the shimmering sun streaks in her brown hair, set off by the green top. Her shoulders were golden tan, her face open and interested.
“Yeah, I’ve decided. I’m signing papers with Mac. This will be our karate studio.”
A muffled bang and scattered noises bounced in the empty room, making Lexie jump. A burst of giggles bled through the wall, and she laughed at herself. “That’s from the coffeehouse next door? I wonder if all the noise in here will bother them.”
Noting her jumpiness, he stroked her arm. “No, this room will be the office. And we’re going to add some soundproofing to the walls of the two studio rooms.”
She smiled. “You’ve thought a lot about this. And you have experience since you and Mac had a studio before.” She headed out the door to the main area and stopped at the two tables shoved together. She set her tiny purse down and pushed aside a plastic box stuffed with office supplies to look at the plans. After a couple of minutes, she looked over her left shoulder at him. “Thanks, Nick.”
He could barely breathe. “What for?”
Her smile glowed. “For sharing this with me. When you talked about karate at dinner, I could tell you loved it.”
Oh hell. He latched onto her shoulders, turned her to draw her to him. Right now, Lexie seemed more important than karate. Or anything. Hell. To stop from thinking about that, he kissed her.
He wasn’t going to be able to walk away this time.
Chapter 9
Lexie wrapped her arms around Nick, feeling the hard length of his body pressed up against hers. He’d given her a piece of himself by showing her the building that held his dreams. He made her feel special.
Right now, he was making her feel desired. A deep longing welled up in her. She wanted Nick, needed him. Pressing one hand to the back of his head, she slid her tongue into his mouth.
He groaned against her, stroking his tongue along hers. He sank both his hands into her hair, tugging her head back. “Lexie.”
Every time he said her name in that growl, she nearly came. Her breath hitched and picked up speed.
“You aren’t a job,” Nick said. “You’ve never been a job. And you sure as hell aren’t just sex.”
Oh God, she couldn’t lie to him. Not like this. “It’s okay, Nick. We both agreed—”
“I’m changing the agreement. I can’t let you go. I can’t walk away from you. I didn’t ever want to feel this much again. Then I met you, and I lost control. Nothing I did helped. Even after we made love, I just wanted you more.”
Her body melted into him against her will. But panic gnawed at her stomach. “Nick, maybe it’s just the circumstances reminding you of Ellen.” She couldn’t compete with a ghost, didn’t want to.
His mouth curved up. “You’re nothing like her, Lexie. Nothing. You have a deep wild streak that she never had. I needed to protect her from the world. With you, it’s different. I only need to stand by your side, be a team. All the responsibility doesn’t fall on me.” He kissed her, then added, “You gave me your book to read. You poured such power and passion into that book, and you trusted me with it.”
He understood what her writing meant to her. It was more than trust, it was respect. He respected her dream, just like he’d respected her decision not to sleep with him four months ago. When he had kissed her, she’d melted into him, wanted him. But he’d sent her home, respecting that she didn’t do one-night stands.
But with Nick, it wasn’t a one-night stand, it was making love with a man who knew and accepted her. He’d stirred in her a wild passion that she’d fought to contain her whole life. Nick wouldn’t allow her to hold back. That was what he wanted from her, the real her. She didn’t regret giving it to him. She would give it to him until they parted. But they both had to be realistic. “Nick, I have to go back. Your life is here.”
He dropped his hands from her hair. “Don’t move.” He walked across the room and locked the door. Then he returned to her. “Don’t stop trusting me, Lexie. Not now. We’ve got something special. Trust me enough for us to see where this thing between us goes.” He slid off his jacket, unhooked the shoulder harness with his gun, and laid them on the ground. Then he took off his shirt.
“What are you doing?” He had her off balance, scared to death, then she looked at his broad shoulders and his powerful chest and she didn’t feel quite so frightened. He looked big enough, strong enough to lean on just a little bit. And he looked yummy enough to lick…
“I’m going to make love to you and show you what I feel for you. I didn’t bring a condom, so we’ll save that for later.” He took his shoes off and stripped out of his jeans.
Right down to his navy blue boxers with his erection pressing against the soft material. His thighs were corded and tight with tension. Sexual tension. She lifted her gaze.
Raw hunger sizzled in his eyes.
Swallowing her emotion, she said, “I do. I took a couple from your box.” What would he think of her? She reached into her purse and pulled out a condom.
Taking it from her fingers, he leaned in to her. “You’re not a good girl anymore, are you, Lexie?”
He was close enough to her that they could share skin, overwhelming her. “No.”
Setting the condom on the table, he added, “You want to be bad, don’t you? Not worry that someone will be mad? Withhold their affection because you didn’t do it their way.”
God, he knew her. She swallowed the feeling building in her throat. “Yes.” Her voice sounded desperate, but she trusted him. He excited her, yet she felt safe. That’s what he was telling her, that she could trust him to accept her for herself. She moved a step back, her butt hitting the table. Reaching behind her, she untied the bottom ends of her halter top and pulled it over her head.
Nick’s gaze heated and his fingers curled into his palms. His dick pulsed hard against his boxers.
The power she had over him was intoxicating. After dropping her top, she undid the zipper of her skirt and let it fall. She kicked it off, followed by her shoes.
His voice was low and rough. “Light green panties. So pale I can see through them.”
She reached out, snagged the waistband of his boxers, and slid them down to his thighs. His cock sprang out, thick and long. She wrapped her fingers around him, feeling the silky hot skin of his rigid erection. It twitched with excitement in her hand. When she saw Nick reach for her, she dropped to her knees and said, “I get to do what I want.” Then she did, sliding her tongue over him until he leaned forward, slapping his hands on the table to steady himself.
Then she sucked him in deep.
“I’m at your mercy.” He panted the words. His whole body shuddered. “Watching my cock slide in and out of your mouth is making me break out in a sweat.”
She slid her tongue over the sensitive head and hummed.
“Jesus.” He barely breathed the word, his body jerking.
She cupped his balls
and they drew up tight. Smiling, she slid him from her mouth, looked up, and teased, “Are you complaining?”
His chest heaved and his hair fell over his face. The muscles and tendons all stood out on his arms when he braced himself on the table. “Are you enjoying tormenting me, Lexie?”
Like she had to think about that. “Yes.”
His grin had a pained edge to it. “Good.” He pushed off the table, reached down, and pulled her to her feet. After sliding her panties down, he grasped her waist and lifted her onto the table. Putting his hands on her knees, he spread her legs and looked down at her, then back at her face. “You’re so wet, and I haven’t touched you yet.”
She loved the hard, sensual shape of his face. She loved the way he made her feel safe and wild at the same time. “I touched you.”
His gaze flared hot. Picking up the condom, he ripped it open and sheathed himself.
He leaned down, capturing a nipple and pulling it deep in his mouth.
Her thighs clenched as he fired a deep ache in her.
He stepped between her legs, keeping her thighs spread, and slid a finger along her folds, finding her swollen clit. Shifting, he sucked her other nipple and rubbed her clit.
She writhed, grabbing his shoulders for support.
Nick lifted his head, his eyes fierce. Wrapping his arms around her, he said, “Lie back on the table.”
She trusted him, letting him lay her on the two tables pushed together.
Leaning over her, he opened his mouth in a hot and hungry kiss. Consuming her. She opened beneath him, not holding anything back.
When he released her mouth and stood up, she felt a wave of cool air replace the heat of his body.
His gaze never left hers. He picked up her legs. “Brace your thighs against me.”
She felt the heat of his stomach and chest press against the backs of her thighs. It was an awkward position…unless she trusted him to support her. And he did, reaching down to lift her hips up. With her legs against his chest, she was wide open to him. He kept her gaze as he slid inside her, slow and sure. Once he was buried in her, he started stroking in and out. “I can feel every inch of you taking me in. Feel the spot that gives you so much pleasure.”
She gasped, her nerves feeling singed and raw. “How do you do that?” She didn’t know. No one had reached so deeply inside her.
Holding her hips, he thrust again. “You’re so damned responsive to me, all I have to do is follow your body.” He looked down, watching as he thrust again. Then he closed his eyes on a groan. “You’re swallowing me.”
The cords on his neck stood out, his mouth was drawn tight, his whole body rigid as he kept his rhythm slow and wicked. She knew he was holding back, trying to give her as much pleasure as possible. “Nick, I want all of you.”
His gaze snapped open. “Just trying to let you catch up.” He drove himself in, lifting her hips to take him.
He filled her up, touching and teasing a spot inside her that made her squirm and beg. “More!”
He let go then, his fingers digging into her hips as he shoved himself into her, over and over. Harder, deeper, the craving coiling so deep inside her, she bit her lip. “Nick…” He had her at his mercy, driving her higher and higher until the pressure released, her orgasm ripping through her. Her body opened wider as Nick drove in, arched his powerful body, and came in violent shudders.
He lowered her hips and slid her legs down. Bending over her, he brushed the hair off her face and said, “I think you might have killed me.”
She laughed, her body so boneless and fluid it was hard to tell where she ended and he began. She opened her mouth—
But another voice intruded. “She didn’t kill you, but I will.”
* *
The threatening voice behind Nick made the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up. Guilt shoved hard at him. How the hell did someone else get inside? That noise earlier, the one he’d laughed off as coming from the coffee shop. Damnit, the bastard must had slipped inside and hidden when he and Lexie had been in the back office. He should have checked, should have been more careful.
Instead, he was bare-assed and buried inside Lexie. He screwed up. Again. The only thing he cared about now was protecting her.
He pulled out and whirled around, shoving Lexie hard to knock her off the end of the table. “Under the table,” he ordered her.
He heard the thump of her falling to the ground, along with the crash of the box of office supplies, but his attention was on the man holding the gun. He stood about five foot eight inches, and was in his late twenties, with thinning brown hair. His face was red with anger. The vein in his temple throbbed. He glared at Nick with jealous hatred.
Nick didn’t recognize him, but it had to be Lexie’s stalker.
“Harry! What are you doing?”
Nick’s heart stopped when Lexie rose up beside him, clutching his T-shirt to her body as a shield. “Get down,” he snarled at her, while reaching to his thighs to yank up his boxers.
Livingston’s face got redder. “Whore. I told you to wait for me!” He waved the gun at Lexie.
A possessive rage exploded in Nick like nothing he’d ever felt. The sight of the gun moving toward Lexie made everything crystal clear.
He loved her and would kill to keep her safe.
He would die to let her live.
He sized up their chances. None of them were good. His gun was on the floor on the other side of Lexie. He tried distraction first. “Let Lexie go. You don’t want to hurt her. I forced her.” Delusional stalkers tended to build a story line in their heads—Nick tried to feed it.
The man bared his teeth. “I saw what that whore did to you. She liked it!” He turned his attention to her. “Bitch whore, I told you, you’ll die!”
He saw the second Livingston tightened his finger on the trigger. Oh fuck, he was going to shoot Lexie. Nick couldn’t reach the man in time to time to stop him. He only had one choice. Pivoting, he threw himself on Lexie.
A gunshot exploded, the noise reverberating like a bomb.
As Nick hit the ground, a searing pain dug into his left thigh, but his years of training helped him roll to keep Lexie from absorbing all his weight. As soon as he felt his back hit the floor, he tried to roll over again to get Lexie beneath him.
She shoved him off her.
His thigh screamed, a hot flash of sheer agony that ripped through every nerve in his body. Sweat slicked his body. “Christ.”
Too late, he realized Lexie was on her knees next to him. She yelled, “You shot him!” and brought her hand back in an overhand pitch and threw something.
A wet smack and distinctive crunch sounded. “Ow! You…” The words trailed off, followed by a thump.
Nick rolled over, snagged the shoulder harness, and got his gun out. He used the table to pull himself to his feet.
Livingston was sprawled face first on the ground, with a gun and a plain old stapler lying next to him. Stunned, Nick said, “You hit him with a stapler?”
Lexie yanked on her panties, then ran over, scooped up the gun, and put it on the table. “He shot you. I can’t believe he shot you!” She grabbed a chair and put it behind him. “Sit.”
Nick did what she told him, still in shock. “You knocked him out with a stapler. Mac isn’t going to believe this.”
After yanking on her clothes, she knelt in front of Nick, with his shirt in her hand and a cell phone pressed against her ear as she called nine-one-one. She pressed the shirt to his thigh.
He hissed and focused on Lexie’s bent head, the shimmering colors in her brown hair. He forced himself to breathe and control the pain.
She hung up the phone and looked up at him. “I’m so sorry.”
The pain didn’t matter anymore. Taking hold of her face with his free hand, he said, “You saved our lives with a stapler. What the hell are you sorry for?” He wasn’t sure he could have gotten to his gun fast enough.
“I didn’t want you hurt becau
se of me. You knew he meant to shoot me and—” She shuddered.
He ran his hand over her clenched jaw, into her hair, and pulled her head to rest against his stomach. “I love you, Lexie. No way was I letting that prick shoot you. He’s hurt you enough.”
She lifted her head to look up at him. “I was terrified when he shot you and then rage took over. I couldn’t let him kill you or hurt… You love me?”
Nick checked to make sure Livingston was still passed out, keeping his gun in his grip just in case. But he focused on his woman. He wasn’t afraid of love anymore; there was no room for fear with Lexie. She was too alive, too vital, and too goddamned courageous. He had to be as strong and fearless as she was. She made him willing to risk anything, even his heart, to hold her. He leaned down and said, “You love me too, Lexie. You don’t ever have to be afraid to love me or be loved by me. You’re everything I want in a lover.” He brushed his mouth over hers just as they heard the sirens of the police cars roaring into the parking lot.
* *
Four months later
She sat on the cold bench, watching the waterfall in the colored lights. The nights were cool, and she shivered. The little park was empty now. This afternoon it had been filled with people celebrating a family reunion. Lexie had arranged it as the event coordinator. She loved her job. She loved her life. She had a small apartment, she dated Nick, and she had friends. Her book was done, and while she was waiting to hear from publishers, she had started another one. She felt whole and happy.
William Harry Livingston had been arrested, and the charges against her were dropped. She’d only gone back to her apartment in Santa Barbara to make arrangements to store her furniture. Not long after that, she had moved to San Diego and taken the job at Sand Castle Resort. Nick and Mac had outfitted her apartment with an excellent security system, but most nights she slept with Nick by her side. No man, no person, had ever made Lexie feel strong and self-confident, and yet safe, like Nick did.
She shivered again in the cool spray from the waterfall. Her parents were still trying to get her to return to Santa Barbara, but they no longer tried guilt. They were horrified to realize she had been in serious danger and they hadn’t believed her.
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