Anyone But Nick

by Bloom, Penelope

  She put her hands on the grass behind her and spread her legs so that her dress rode up, giving me a spectacular view of her pink panties, which were visibly wet. An involuntary growling noise rumbled in my chest as I crawled on top of her.

  “I can’t believe I wasted seven years without you,” I said.

  Miranda’s hands went to my face. She seemed to have a habit of roaming my features with her fingertips, which I was quickly beginning to find sexy as hell. “I was thinking the same thing. I was also thinking if we wrap this up quickly, we could still see some of the heavier watermelons at the end.”

  I glared. “Just for that, I’m going to take my time.”

  “Damn,” she said sarcastically. “Nick King taking his time while he sleeps with me. That sounds like torture.”

  I smirked. “No, but telling you that you’re not allowed to come until I give you permission might qualify.”

  “What?” she asked. “How am I supposed to control that?”

  I answered her question by pulling her panties to the side and guiding my still-wet cock into her. The way her tight walls had to gradually stretch and relax to fit me felt sublime.

  Her eyes closed, and her lips parted.

  “Oh,” she gasped. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to stop it for long.”

  I hiked her legs up so I could get even deeper and didn’t hold back. The idea of making her hold her orgasm was driving me wild, especially when I saw how much she already appeared to be struggling. Her fingertips dug into the grass, ripping small paths of dirt in their wake.

  I increased my pace relentlessly, watching her face all the while. The wet sounds of our sex seemed particularly out of place among the distant chirping of birds and the soft breeze rustling the flowers. I grinned at the thought. I couldn’t have said how many times I thought of desecrating these same hills with Miranda Collins back when I was a teenager. The fact that I was finally doing it seemed too good to be true.

  But it was more than that. The sex felt like an extension of something deeper. Something pure. Even back then, I think we both knew there was a connection between us that we couldn’t find anywhere else. We were wired the same way, but we’d taken different paths and still wound up circling back together.

  Doing this. Being here. It all felt so fucking right that it hurt. It was almost frightening. My feelings for her were growing so quickly that I wasn’t even sure I was in control of them anymore. Stupid, hopelessly romantic thoughts kept bubbling up in my mind, threatening to turn into spoken words. Love. Marriage. Kids. I couldn’t tell if those ideas were coming to me because I was practical and they were the logical result of a relationship if it didn’t fail. But I’d never thought about them seriously with any other girlfriend.

  Miranda’s eyes closed tight, and her hands clenched into fists, squeezing clumps of dirt out from between her fingers. “Nick—I can’t—” she gasped. “I’m going to—”

  I slowed down and bent to kiss her neck. I pulled free of her but let the length of my cock rest on her clit so that each small movement of my hips would stimulate her. I took my time kissing her—tasting her—and just when I could feel her start to come down from the edge of climax, I’d use my hips to bring her back.

  She was gasping for breath and moaning with each exhalation by the time I pulled her dress down and took her nipple between my teeth.

  “Nick,” she breathed.

  I wouldn’t admit it, but it was me who couldn’t hold back any longer. I brought my mouth to hers and buried myself in her as deeply as I could.

  She felt so damn good. It was only minutes before she clenched tight around me. Her body curled up, and she dug her fingers into my back as she cried out. Watching her come pushed me over the edge. My balls went tight, and I filled her for the second time in twenty-four hours, which was a particularly enjoyable thought.

  “Sorry for the mess,” I said, rolling off her.

  She was lying on her back, staring up at the sky. “With you, it’s kind of hot . . . ‘the mess,’ I mean,” she added.

  I smirked. “You like when I mark you, is that it?”

  Miranda rolled to her side and returned my smile. “Something like that.” She bit her lip, then kissed me. “You know Robbie probably isn’t going to let us just walk off into the sunset together, right?”

  “I was thinking the same thing. His deal with Max was an attempt to scare you into his control again. But if he was willing to go that far, I’m worried he’ll have something else planned.”

  “I’d feel a lot better if I knew what it was that he was planning.”

  I took her chin between my thumb and forefinger. “We’ll handle it. Whatever it is. Together.”

  She nodded, then closed her eyes and nuzzled into me.

  I let out a long, contented sigh. I might not know what Robbie was planning, but I finally knew what I wanted. I was done hiding behind half truths. It didn’t matter what label I wanted to put on my feelings for Miranda. Maybe it was already love, or maybe I was an idiot for thinking I even knew what that was. It was stronger than anything I’d ever felt, and it turned my life on its head. All the things that had taken priority were now in the back seat to this—to her.

  I needed her, and I wasn’t going to let anything come between us. Not this time.

  Chapter 27

  MIRANDA

  Max Frost’s story went live on the air three days after I left LA. As promised, it was salacious, sensational, and utterly ridiculous. Everybody in West Valley was buzzing with gossip the following day when I met Iris and Kira at Bradley’s. They had suggested we move our morning ritual to one of their houses to avoid stares, but I wasn’t going to hide.

  “You sure you don’t want to go to my place?” Kira asked. She had even ordered her bagel in a to-go bag, I noticed.

  “No,” I said. “I want them to have to look me in the eye while they spread their gossip. The story was a lie. Anybody who wants to believe it instead of asking me to my face is welcome to think what they want.”

  Iris whipped out her nightstick, which she didn’t seem to have quite the same fondness for ever since finding Cade. “Or I could use the power of the law to compel them.”

  “Isn’t that what they say during exorcisms?” Kira asked.

  “I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter what I say if I whack them hard enough in the boobs with this,” Iris said.

  “Thanks, but really,” I said, “it’s okay.”

  Iris studied me for a few seconds, then pointed at me. “What happened to you in Julian Ridge—other than getting T-boned by Nick, that is?”

  “T-boned?” Kira asked. “You got in a car accident?”

  “No. It’s when the woman does a split lying down on the edge of the bed, and the guy kind of . . .” She tried to demonstrate with her hands, but failed. “I mean, it’s more like a lowercase t, I guess. The top of the t would be the—”

  “We get it,” I said. “And I just finally realized I don’t need to worry so much about all that. Let them gossip. I’m not going to lie: it still bothers me. But I’m not going to let it dictate my life anymore.”

  “Hell yeah,” Kira said with a grin. “You should’ve got laid a long time ago.”

  I laughed. “It’s not like I was a virgin. This isn’t about sex.”

  “But,” Iris said, wiggling her eyebrows, “this conversation just became about sex. How was it? Genetically speaking, Kira and I are riding the same dick, so it’s no fun asking her.”

  “Ew!” Kira said. She threw a crumpled-up napkin at Iris. “That’s disgusting.”

  “What? Don’t tell me it never occurred to you,” Iris said. “They are genetically the same. Identical.”

  “Well, I didn’t marry Rich’s DNA. I married the man.”

  “You did kind of marry his DNA too,” I said. “Just playing devil’s advocate here.”

  “Changing the subject!” Kira announced quickly. “How was everything with Nick? Not just the sex, obviously.
But . . . that too.”

  “Hot?” I said. “I don’t know what you want me to say.”

  Iris made a disgusted noise. “Come on. I gave you the dirty details. Don’t make me beg. Or torture you,” she added under her breath.

  “I feel stupid saying it out loud. But it felt special,” I said. “I mean the passion was there, and it was everything you’d want it to be. But it felt like there was something else. It was different. Like if you’d only ever seen a movie with the sound muted for your whole life, and then suddenly somebody cranks the volume up.”

  Iris and Kira turned to each other with raised eyebrows and knowing smiles.

  “What?” I asked.

  Kira shrugged. “You’re falling for him harder than I thought.”

  “Maybe I am,” I said proudly. “I’m not going to apologize for that.”

  “Coincidentally,” Iris said, “I think Harper and Edna King are about to ask you to do more than apologize. Prepare your butthole; they like it rough and raw.”

  I followed her gaze and saw that she wasn’t kidding. Harper and Edna King looked completely out of place in Bradley’s, which was very much a working-class kind of restaurant. Harper had on his usual fresh-off-the-yacht-style clothes with oversize buttons, a sport coat despite the heat, and his rich-guy hair. Edna looked like she wasn’t above kidnapping a few dozen dalmatians and using their coats to update her wardrobe.

  I had to admit to being a little satisfied to know the King brothers had all finally cut them off financially. I knew Harper and Edna would never let it show to anybody, but they were being forced to downsize their home and let go their “service” staff. Rich thought it would be better for them in the long run. Cade was just happy he didn’t have to write checks anymore, because he said his hands were cramping from all the writing. I hadn’t picked Nick’s brain on the topic, but I thought he probably agreed with Rich.

  Harper and Edna sat down at our table and smiled.

  I grimaced. I’d heard the horror stories from Kira and Iris about them, and I’d even witnessed some of it firsthand. They had fought tooth and nail to keep Rich from marrying Kira and Cade from marrying Iris. Now Nick was their only remaining son who could possibly give them the kind of prestigious, wealthy match they would’ve wanted. I braced myself for what was about to come.

  “Hi,” I said innocently.

  “Don’t worry,” Harper said. He flashed an easy smile. “I know what you’re probably thinking, but we wanted to come personally to tell you what Robbie asked us to do.”

  I felt my stomach sink. “What did he ask?”

  Edna didn’t look quite as gracious as Harper, but she sat silently, nose pointed upward and lips pursed. I decided it was a good sign that she was letting her husband do the talking, at least.

  “He asked us to help him with his little scheme to get you back to LA. He wanted us to make it look like Nick was seeing some other woman so you’d want to break things off and go back to Robbie,” Harper said.

  Edna rolled her eyes, which told me all I needed to know. She’d been all for the plan, but Harper had apparently overruled her.

  “Why are you telling me this?” I asked.

  “Because we made the mistake of thinking we knew what was best for our sons twice now. We tried to keep them away from these two,” he said, nodding to Iris and Kira. “But look at them now. I’ve never seen them happier. Well, I’ve never seen Cade weirder, either, but I guess he’s happy too. Nick has had a dark cloud around him for years now. If you make him happy, then we are going to support that.”

  “Oh,” I said. I felt honestly touched. After everything Iris and Kira had gone through with these two, I had already been planning which chair I’d bash them over the head with before I made a mad dash to the exit. But they were just coming to give me their blessing? And they tipped me off to what Robbie was planning next. “Thank you. Really, I mean that. Thank you so much.”

  Edna leaned forward. “It’s a good thing you look like you have a solid future ahead of you. If you were just another country bimbo, I wouldn’t have let Harper do this. Maybe you’ll be able to talk our son out of this nonsense about ‘bringing us down to earth,’ even.”

  Harper made a bored sound, then hugged her with one arm as if she’d said something cute.

  “I may be a country bimbo,” Iris said, “but at least my boobs are still winning the battle with gravity.”

  Edna didn’t give the slightest indication that she had heard Iris as she got up and left with Harper.

  I laughed once they were gone. “Do you seriously talk to her like that?”

  Iris shrugged. “Only when she’s being vile. I treat her like a kid. She gets a fresh start every day. If she’s being a raging bitch, she gets it just as hard as she gives it. If she’s nice, then I’m nice.”

  “I just avoid her,” Kira said.

  As she suddenly straightened in her seat, I realized that Kira had appeared to shrink a few inches while Edna had been here.

  “Were you going to hide under the table?” I asked.

  “Maybe,” Kira said.

  A couple I recognized from high school passed by our table and then stopped to turn around when they saw me. The woman was Beth Stevenson, who had always been a bit of an academic rival of mine. She wound up working for Crawford around the same time as me but never saw the frequent promotions I did.

  “Beth, hey,” I said, smiling.

  She gave me a tight, unfriendly smile. “Just wanted to say I always knew you were sleeping your way to the top at Crawford. I guess you’re fine with everybody knowing you’re still doing it now that you’re at Bark Bites, huh?”

  Iris stood up and reached for her nightstick.

  “It’s called freedom of speech, Iris,” Beth said snootily. “And if you hadn’t slept through history class every day, you might know a thing or two about it.”

  “Oh,” Iris said, “I know all about freedom of speech. Just like I know all about my freedom to kick your ass and deal with the consequences later. But if you ask me, you were looking at us with some crazy eyes, and I thought the only reasonable thing to do was nightstick you in the throat.”

  Beth made an appalled face and touched her throat with her fingertips.

  “Iris,” I said. “Thank you, but it’s fine. And, Beth, I really don’t give a shit what you think or how you think I got promoted over you. But if you’re really curious, you could start with the fact that you were always too busy flirting with the delivery guy.”

  The guy I assumed was her boyfriend looked over at her as she started dragging him away from our table. “What delivery guy?” he asked.

  “Kira,” Iris said. “Have some self-respect and get out from under the table.”

  Kira popped up with a napkin a second later. “Found it,” she said meekly.

  Iris and I shared a grin.

  “You okay?” Kira asked.

  “Surprisingly, yes,” I said. “I might actually survive if Beth Stevenson doesn’t think I’m perfect.”

  “And what about Robbie? Do you really think that was his big plan? Set up Nick and make it look like he was two-timing you?” She blew an unimpressed raspberry. “Like you would’ve fallen for that.”

  I smiled a little nervously. “Yeah, totally wouldn’t have worked.” I wasn’t as confident as I made myself sound, though. The truth was I didn’t like the idea of Robbie scheming to split Nick and me up one bit. And after the stunt we pulled last night, I had a sinking feeling that Robbie wasn’t going to give up anytime soon.

  I opened the door to Nick’s office after knocking twice. “Mr. King?” I asked with a mischievous grin.

  He stood and approached me without saying anything. “You know how I feel about being interrupted,” he growled.

  I finally cracked a smile, which he returned. Nick gave me a quick kiss, which turned into several kisses and then a light mauling, which probably would’ve turned into sex in the middle of his office if I hadn’t told him to wait.<
br />
  “What is it?” he asked.

  “I was hoping to pick your brain on something.”

  “Is it about the permitting? Because I was actually going to tell you we got that all sorted out last night. There’s a spot about ten minutes out from West Valley with over a hundred acres we can use. It’ll be the perfect site for Bark Bites Resort.”

  “Oh, that’s amazing.” I took a seat behind Nick’s desk, just because I liked seeing the hint of danger in his eyes when I stole his spot. He leaned against the bookshelf, crossing his arms in a way that made his rolled-up sleeves and forearms the perfect eye candy. “But that wasn’t what was on my mind.”

  He frowned. “What is it?”

  “It’s about everything, I guess?”

  He pulled a chair out and sat down, eyes growing even heavier. “You’re not going to break up with me, are you?”

  I laughed. “No. No. It’s more that I’m still worried. I feel like I should be able to relax and just enjoy where we are, but instead I keep thinking how everything could still go wrong—how Robbie might not be done trying to split us up or how my idea about the dog resort could be the dumbest thing ever. Or how maybe I’ll regret letting Max trash my reputation.”

  “Hey,” Nick said. He came to stand behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, putting his head by my ear. “The only thing that could split us up is us. And I don’t know if you know this yet, but I would give every last thing I have to stay with you. I haven’t felt good like this ever. I feel complete when I’m with you. Happy. It’s—” He stood up straight and walked in a small path around the desk, arms folded and eyes searching the floor for the right words. “It’s like I was spending my whole life trying to solve more-and-more-complicated problems because I was hung up on what happened between us. It was the original puzzle.” He spread his hands like he was reading off a billboard. “Why didn’t we end up together?”

  “Because I was too chicken to sign my name on a silly little poem?”

  He chuckled. “No. More like I was too afraid of the real answer. So afraid I looked for answers in every place but the one I should’ve been focused on. Us.”