Nicole was adrift in sensation, almost too much pleasure to process. The rasp of Daniel’s fingers against her skin, the sweetness of his peppermint-tinged kisses, the heat of arousal blazing through her. He swept her hair aside, kissing his way down the slope of her neck. His free hand slid past the hollow of her throat, to the curve of her breast. She sucked in a breath, shocked by the intensity of the delicate contact. Her breasts were so excruciatingly, wonderfully sensitive.
At her small gasp, he stopped, pulling away to assess her expression. His gaze sought permission.
She twined her hands behind his neck, bringing him back to her. “When you first kissed me at the ranch, I hated having to walk away from you afterward. I’m not walking away this time.”
His mouth found hers again, and their kisses became frantic. He parted the V neckline of her dress with his fingers, sliding the material down her shoulders. The lace cups of her bra gleamed silver in the moonlight. He went still, drinking her in with his eyes as if trying to memorize her.
“So beautiful.” Then he palmed one full breast, and she almost whimpered. She felt ripe and feminine and a little bit primitive, here with him like this beneath the stars.
When he scraped his thumb over one tight nipple, she did cry out. But he absorbed the sound in another searing kiss as he unhooked her bra. She tugged impatiently at his shirt, gratified when they were both bare from the waist up, reveling in the friction of the crisp hair on his chest against her skin.
“Is it too cold for you out here?” he asked, nipping at her earlobe. “We can go inside.”
She shook her head, trying to find her voice. When she spoke, the words had a raw, breathless timbre. “You promised me a spectacular time on the back porch, remember?” She could feel his smile against her skin.
“So I did.”
Even when he helped her out of her dress, she wasn’t chilly. How could she be, when his touch made her burn? He traced a hand down her spine, caressing the small of her back before sliding over the satiny fabric covering her butt. She was so glad they were doing this now and not in another couple of months when maternity panties might be a necessity. His fingers slid beneath the elastic band, driving her mad with his teasing touch.
Well, two could play that game. She reached for the zipper on his jeans, loving the way he gasped when she lightly ran her nails over him. The rest of their clothes didn’t last long. By the time she straddled him in one of the deck chairs, she wore only her boots.
In that slow, thorough way of his, he kissed her breasts, making her writhe as need began to outstrip pleasure. She was already on the verge of orgasm when he thrust into her. She rocked against him, almost there, so close. Then she threw her head back with a hoarse cry as her climax rippled through her with the force of seismic tremors.
For a moment, their gazes locked, and the expression in his eyes was as hot as the release he’d just given her. Flexing his hips, he moved inside her, hurtling her toward another precipice. And it was spectacular.
* * *
A THIN RIBBON of sunlight snuck through the crack between the long curtain panels. Nicole cracked one eye open, taking in the masculine color scheme. The navy curtains, the navy-and-tan-checked comforter. Last night hadn’t been a dream. She was really here in Daniel Baron’s bedroom, wearing nothing but one of his soft cotton T-shirts.
He was snuggled against her, one hand loosely wound in her hair, the other resting atop her hip. She experienced pure, perfect, bone-deep contentment. Until she tried to move.
The nausea broadsided her like a tsunami, slamming into her so hard that she had an illogical fear of being knocked from the bed. And, since this wasn’t her bed, she didn’t have any of her usual standbys—the crackers on the nightstand, the acupressure wristbands the doctor had recommended, the trusty bucket she kept on the floor. Just in case.
She groaned as the queasiness roiled through her, praying that if she just stayed perfectly still it would dissipate.
“Nicole?” Daniel mumbled drowsily. If she weren’t focused on not moving a single muscle, she would have smiled at his sleepy tone. The man had expended some serious energy over the past twelve hours. “Did you say something?”
When she didn’t answer, he sat bolt upright, inadvertently jostling the bed. She pressed one hand to her stomach and the other to her mouth.
“Nicole, did I hurt you last night?” His voice was urgent now, laced with guilt. “Are you—”
“Morning. Sick.” The words took effort, but she couldn’t stand the thought of him blaming himself for her misery. He hadn’t done anything to her except cause total bliss.
“Oh.” The panic in his tone downgraded to sympathetic concern. “What can I do to help?”
Let me die in peace. If she hadn’t witnessed what Adele went through with chemo, she might have said the glib words. But she knew that no matter how gut-churningly bad she felt right now, it could be worse.
“Cold washcloth?” she managed. She swallowed hard, closing her eyes against a wave of accompanying dizziness. “M-maybe crackers. And water.”
“Washcloth, water, check. I’m not sure I have crackers, though.”
“Toast?” she asked weakly, too mortified to reopen her eyes. Last night, she’d been full of heady female power. She’d never felt sexier. But this? This was not sexy. The poor man didn’t deserve to wake up next to a moaning, nauseated lump.
“Toast, I can do.” He brushed a light kiss to her head, more intention than contact, then stood in slow motion. He must have realized that, to her, his every casual movement was like a hurricane tossing a rowboat about the ocean. “Be right back.”
Aware she was fighting a losing battle, she stumble-dashed for the bathroom as soon as he was out of sight. Within a few minutes, the worst of it had ebbed. She pulled a travel toothbrush out of her purse and splashed cold water on her face, hoping to feel human again. But even the return trip to the bed sapped her energy.
On the bright side, it wasn’t even eight o’clock. She had plenty of time before she was scheduled to interview a prospective employee at eleven. Dear Lord, please let me feel better before then. She wondered if women pregnant with twins got twice as sick as other expectant mothers.
It’s okay, guys. She cradled her tummy with her hands. You’re worth it.
“Wow, there’s something I didn’t expect to see,” Daniel observed from the doorway. “You’re smiling.”
“I was just talking to the babies.” Did the admission sound foolish to him? Oh, well. She’d already blown any chance at a flirtatious, urbane morning after.
“Here.” Daniel unrolled a cool, wet cloth across her forehead.
“Thank you. I’m so sorry about this.”
“Don’t be. It’s the circle of life. Or karma, or something. Jacob had to nurse me through my first-ever hangover, which went a lot like this. But, in my case, there was tequila involved.”
She shook her head in disbelief. He made her laugh, he cooked, he nursed the ill and he was the best lover she’d ever had. Pretty much the perfect man. Except of course for the pesky drawback of him not wanting kids or a family—the two things she’d desperately wanted since she was a kid herself.
* * *
WHEN A 4X4 with tall off-road tires cut into his lane, as if being a bigger truck was synonymous with right-of-way, Daniel let loose a stream of expletives. But he could have just as easily been aiming the words at himself as the other driver. The profanities had been on the tip of his tongue since before Nicole left his place with a hasty goodbye. After she’d taken a few bites of toast earlier, she’d drifted back to sleep, clearly exhausted. He’d wanted to kick himself for the slight shadows beneath her eyes. He should have handled her more gently, maybe stopped after the first—or even second—time they’d made love.
What the hell had he been thinking? About losing yourself in the most gloriously sexy woman you’ve ever taken to bed.
Well, yes. That.
But Nicole wasn’t only a sexy woman. She was the pregnant mother of two. He needed to keep that in mind. Unfortunately, when he dwelled on that, anxiety bubbled up within him. She’d chided him for not recognizing what he had to offer, but the truth was, he had nothing concrete or permanent to offer her. He was a temporary distraction, but maybe he’d filled that role too exuberantly.
After she’d fallen back asleep, he’d let her rest as long as he thought he could without screwing up either of their schedules. She had that interview to conduct, and he was supposed to be working with a client in Fort Worth. Daniel had trained an Arabian mare for the man, but he occasionally supervised his client’s sessions with the horse to make sure progress was consistent. Also, the client had asked him to be present for today’s veterinarian visit.
It was good Daniel had a full afternoon ahead of him. Stewing in guilt and replaying erotic scenes from last night was not a productive way to spend the day. Staying busy would help him forget about Nicole for a little while. Theoretically.
Who are you kidding? The image of her wearing nothing but lace-trimmed lingerie and leather boots in the moonlight? There wasn’t enough busy in the world to erase that.
* * *
THE INTERVIEW WAS the best Nicole had conducted in weeks. Because the candidate was truly that wonderful? she asked herself afterward. Or are you just in a really good mood today?
Possibly both, she admitted as she unwrapped a turkey sandwich at her desk. Sure, her day had begun rather inauspiciously, but once her nausea had evaporated, like a dense early morning fog lifting to reveal beautiful sunshine, she’d felt amazing.
She returned a bunch of calls, set up another newspaper interview publicizing the wind farm project and made a respectable dent in her email inbox. One of the emails from a colleague in San Antonio ended with her coworker counting down the hours until tomorrow’s opening of a new action movie that starred a mutual favorite actor.
I wonder if Daniel would be interested in seeing it with me. It was hardly the first time today she’d found herself thinking of him, but up until now, she’d avoided wondering when she might see him again. This was uncharted territory for her. She’d never indulged in an affair that she knew had no future. She’d been goal-oriented from a young age, and she didn’t like wasting time on anything pointless.
But this didn’t feel pointless. It felt more like...a vacation, something exotic and wonderful that you accept from the start is fleeting. Before her reality shifted to midnight feedings and more diapers than she could count, she had these couple of weeks in Dallas with Daniel. He was key to the equation; she didn’t know any other man who could have inspired her to behave in such an out-of-character fashion.
So, now what? After assuring him she was an adult who wouldn’t get starry-eyed and mistake their time together for a burgeoning relationship, she didn’t want to call too soon and seem clingy. Yet, since they were limited to only these couple of weeks, she didn’t see the point in playing coy and throwing away time they could have enjoyed together either. It was a relief when her phone rang, reminding her that she was supposed to be a confident executive, not a nervous sophomore fretting over whether or not to ask a boy to the Sadie Hawkins Dance.
“Nicole Bennett speaking.”
“Hey. It’s Daniel.”
Beneath the desk, where she’d kicked off her red patent pumps, her toes curled. “I was just thinking about calling you,” she admitted. “You were so great this morning. I wanted to say thanks.”
“Are you feeling better now?”
“Completely. It can be intense while it lasts, but once it’s over, it’s like it never happened.” An appropriate metaphor for her affair with Daniel? She tried to ignore that depressing thought.
“How’d the interview go?”
“It was really promising. I have to talk to Adele before I make an offer, but I have a good feeling about the candidate. Finally! I was beginning to despair of ever finding someone who was the right fit. This may call for a celebratory piece of chocolate pie at that bakery Lizzie introduced me to. You’re welcome to join me if you’re in the area.” There, that sounded casual. Message: I’d be interested in seeing you again, but no pressure.
“Actually, I have plans tonight. Jacob and I are taking his son Christmas shopping. But you could join me,” he blurted.
For a family outing? She was more confused than ever about the boundaries of this holiday fling.
“It’s weird that I invited you, isn’t it?” he said, sounding as if he second-guessed himself. “It was a wild impulse. But Jacob and I have three stepsisters to shop for, plus Julieta. A female’s opinion could be really helpful, and given your love for Christmas, I thought... I completely understand if you’re not up for crowds and a couple of hours on your feet. You, uh, didn’t get much sleep last night.”
She smiled at the reminder. “Neither did you.”
“Totally worth it—even if I was so sleep-deprived that I kept mixing up the horse’s name and the client’s. I don’t think Tony appreciated my calling him Sugarhoof.”
“You did not!”
“Okay, I may have exaggerated that part. But I did call the mare Tony.”
“Is Sugarhoof really her name?” she asked skeptically.
“You obviously don’t attend many rodeos or watch televised races like the Kentucky Derby. Next to some of the more bizarre names out there, Sugarhoof is the nondescript John Smith of the equine world.”
She laughed, glad he’d called. Talking to Daniel was better than chocolate pie. “Maybe I will join you guys tonight. If you’re sure it will be okay with your brother? After all, Christmas shopping is more fun with company, and I can’t go with Adele since most of the gifts I plan to buy are for her.”
They agreed to meet in the mall food court. She should have just enough time to swing by the apartment and change first. Her lower back was aching a little bit, and she didn’t relish the idea of shopping in the shoes she’d worn to work.
Aches and pains aside, she was looking forward to the evening ahead. During her two recent dinners with Daniel, he’d told her enough stories about his brother that she was starting to feel as if she knew Jacob. He was obviously a terrific guy for his brother to look up to him so much. She wondered if Daniel had considered how difficult it would be to live so far away from the sibling he obviously idolized, but that was none of her business. Maybe she was projecting her own desire for a close-knit family onto someone who would be perfectly happy to keep in touch through online photos and holiday visits.
“Afternoon, stranger.”
Nicole glanced up to see a smiling Adele in the doorway. “Hi. You get that text I sent you earlier? If you’re available next Monday, the two of us should take that interview candidate to lunch. I think you’re really going to like her.”
“I did get your text, and I’m glad we have a solid lead. I know you worry about leaving me in the lurch when you go on maternity leave.”
“True, but that’s still months away.”
“Time flies faster than you expect,” Adele said wistfully. “But I’m not worried at all. You’re the most competent person I’ve ever hired. I know you’ll have everything organized and laid out for us so that your absence causes minimal disruption. And speaking of absences, roomie...” She gave Nicole a pointed look.
Nicole didn’t know whether to be amused or exasperated by the warmth flooding her cheeks. Seriously? She was almost thirty years old, well past the age of consenting adult. It was ludicrous for her to blush just because she’d stayed out all night. “I did tell you not to wait up for me. You weren’t worried, were you?”
“Not in a pacing-the-floors, what-if-she-wrapped-her-car-around-a-tree kind of way, no.” Adele stepped farther into the office and shut the door for privacy. “I do worry, though. You know I think the world of you, dear. You’re compassionate and sharp and very special. I couldn’t be prouder if you were one of my daughters, and I thought it was a crime that you were so busy taking care of me and helping run my company that you didn’t have time to date.
“Not that you need a man,” Adele clarified, “but marriage and family have always been on your horizon. So I’m tickled that you’ve met someone who appears dazzled by you. The way he looked at you the other night?” She fanned herself with her hand. “But your situation is unique. If things got serious between the two of you, he’d be committing to an instant family. And even if he thinks he might be ready to parent two babies—”
“He doesn’t, trust me. And things between the two of us aren’t going to get serious.”
Adele cocked her head to the side, her expression perplexed. “How could you possibly know that? Emotions aren’t always planned or easy to control, the negative ones or the positive ones.”
Thinking carefully, Nicole tried to find the words that would ease her friend’s concerns without diminishing Daniel’s worth. He was a hell of a guy. He just wasn’t the guy for her. “He and I have talked about our very different future plans. He hasn’t shared all of his with his siblings yet, so it’s not appropriate for me to tell you about them. But we know we’re not looking for the same things. We’re just enjoying each other’s company, having uncomplicated fun. You don’t have to worry that I’m getting too attached.”
Adele pursed her lips, her body language dubious.
“I promise.” Nicole smiled wryly. “This isn’t going to end in me wearing pajamas for a week, listening to sad songs and eating ice cream out of the carton. It’s not like that between us.”
“All right,” Adele conceded. “I shouldn’t have poked my nose where it didn’t belong. You’ve always had a good head on your shoulders. No more fussing on my part. Now, if you’re about done for the day, how about we go have dinner and you tell me more about this woman you want to hire?”
“Oh. I, um...I’m not actually free tonight. I’m going Christmas shopping. With Daniel,” she added, lifting her chin slightly. She’d just explained that she and Daniel enjoyed each other’s company. There was no reason to feel self-conscious about running such an innocent errand, especially with his brother and nephew there as chaperones. So why did she feel as guilty as the time she’d knocked over a foster mother’s vase and broken it on her first day in a new house?
Adele sighed, then turned on her heel to leave the office.
Nicole exhaled slightly, glad to see her friend had been sincere in her “no more fussing” pledge. “I really expected you to give me grief about seeing him two nights in a row.”
“No. I’m not going to say one word about it. But while you’re out, dear, you might want to look for some comfy pajamas and stock up on ice cream. Just in case.”