It was a good sound, Nicholas thought, and instinctively moved his body closer to it. It was a sound he was not used to hearing—one of a woman sleeping in his arms.
He lay on his side while he held Shayla, watching her sleep, listening to the sound of her soft even breathing, and thinking that once again he had broken another rule with her. He had made it a point never to spend the night at a woman’s place. He preferred sleeping in his own bed. That had been Olivia’s one pet peeve about their relationship. Even after a year of them dating exclusively, he had not spent the night at her place, nor she at his. He had tried explaining to her over and over again that he detested the feeling of being crowded. He needed his space.
Yet, with a beam of daylight coming through Shayla’s bedroom window indicating that it was morning, he realized he hadn’t thought about leaving her bed. He doubted he could have, even if he had wanted to. The slow lovemaking they’d shared had literally drained him. He had felt content just to wrap his sated body next to hers and hold her in his arms through the night while they slept.
When she shifted her body in sleep he reached out and once again cradled her in his arms. He spread his fingers wide over her hip, feeling a moment of intense possessiveness. At the same time he felt the hardness of him stir from her body being so close to his. He moved his hand from her hip all the way to her breasts. He gently massaged them with his hands, thinking they must be tender from all the attention he had lavished upon them.
Last night he had been too busy getting Shayla into bed to take a really good look at the decor of her room. Like her, the room was bright, feminine, and beautiful. Her bed covering, a floral design, and the coordinating arrangements that hung from the high ceiling added an air of spring to the room.
He glanced outside the window and saw it was still snowing. In fact, it seemed to be snowing even harder than it had last night when he’d arrived. When Shayla shifted in sleep again, curling her body around his, he tightened his hold on her and closed his eyes, deciding that sleep was what they both needed.
Shayla woke up alone. She noticed Nicholas’s absence the moment she opened her eyes. She didn’t move while she tried to remember when he had left her bed. His scent still lingered, so it must not have been too long ago.
She reached out and grabbed the pillow where his head had lain. Clutching it to her, she savored the masculine essence of him and felt the heated intimacy of their lovemaking. He had kept his promise. They had taken things slowly. Almost too slowly. By the time he had given her what she had wanted she’d become a mass of withering need beneath him.
A shiver ran down the length of her spine as she remembered everything about the night in explicit detail. She remembered every kiss on her lips and her breasts, and the feel of him inside of her that had taken her over the edge into passionate oblivion.
She was about to drift back off to sleep with those thoughts when she smelled coffee. Was Nicholas still there? A quick glance outside her bedroom window showed it was still snowing. That must have been a doozy of a snowstorm that hit last night, she thought. And just think, she and Nicholas had made love all through it.
“Good morning.”
Nicholas turned from looking out of the window when he heard the sound of Shayla’s voice. No woman, he thought, should look this refreshed and desirable in the morning. He smiled and walked over to her and pulled her into his arms for a good-morning kiss, softly at first, enjoying her minty-fresh taste. “Good morning to you, too,” he said, releasing her mouth. “I took the liberty of opening a new toothbrush I saw on the vanity in your bathroom. I hope you don’t mind.”
Shayla shook her head. “No, I don’t. It’s a consolation prize from my recent visit to the dentist.”
Nicholas nodded. “It’s still snowing.”
She smiled up at him. “So I see. What’s the weather update?”
“A severe snowstorm that they don’t anticipate going away for at least another day,” he murmured against her hair, wondering what there was about her that made him want to hold her in his arms forever. “For the moment we’re snowbound. Schools and businesses are closed, since the streets are not safe.”
She nodded. “Have you tried calling Chenault?”
“Yes, and I got the twenty-four-hour security crew. They said other than a few calls there wasn’t any activity over there. I’m glad my employees had the good sense not to try to make it in.”
“And I’m glad you care enough for your employees not to want them to. You’d be surprised how many businesses would expect their people to come in anyway.” She glanced around the kitchen. “Do I smell coffee?”
“Yeah, want some?”
“Sure. You tried mine last night. Now it’s time I tried yours.”
He smiled as he lifted his hand to brush a curl back from her face. “Yeah, and I want to try something else of yours again,” he said, leaning down and slanting his mouth across hers.
Shayla wrapped her arms around his neck and gave in to the sensations his kiss was evoking.
“Still want that coffee?” Nicholas whispered moments later against her moist lips.
“I need something hot,” she answered. “You think you might have something hotter?”
“Yeah, I think I do.”
“Umm, what is it?”
“It’s something I have to show you.”
She stepped back mere inches, and looked up into his eyes. “Then show me.”
Nicholas swept her into his arms and carried her back upstairs to the bedroom.
“I guess it was just meant for me to feel like a lazybones this morning,” Nicholas said when he glanced at the clock on the nightstand next to Shayla’s bed. “It’s almost noon, and I have no desire to get out of this bed.”
Shayla shifted closer to him. “It’s the weather. It’ll do it to you.”
Nicholas shook his head and ran a finger down the side of her face. “No, it’s not the weather. It’s you. You do it to me.”
The smile she gave him made his heart pick up a beat. “No, Nicholas, you do it to me…and quite gloriously, I might add.”
Nicholas grinned at that. “You think so?”
“I know so.”
He captured her face in his hands. “You’re pretty good for my ego, Ms. Kirkland.”
Then he kissed her, and Shayla forgot everything. All she could think about was Nicholas’s mouth on hers, nibbling at her lips, and his tongue slipping inside her mouth, tasting her.
When he finally lifted his mouth, his gaze locked with hers. “I think we need to get out of here and declare your bedroom off-limits for the rest of the day.”
“That’s not a bad idea, but first we need to talk.”
“I thought we did that last night…among other things,” he said, smiling at the memory.
“We did, but we didn’t discuss how we would handle our situation at work.”
“There’s nothing to handle. It was a rule I made to govern my own life, and if I choose to break it, it’s nobody’s business.”
Shayla shifted positions to look at Nicholas. “But how will it look if word gets out that we’re involved?”
He shrugged, giving her a masculine smile. “It will look as if I have extremely great taste.”
Shayla shook her head and released a sigh filled with exasperation. “Nicholas, be serious.”
“I am. I see no reason why we have to hide anything. It’s not as if I plan to jump your bones in the office.” A thoughtful expression crossed his face. “Umm, on second thought, that doesn’t sound all that bad. Have you ever done it on a desk?”
“Of course not!”
Nicholas laughed at the indignation in her voice. “Ahh, that’s right, you’re new at this. I forgot. But then, I’ve never done it on a desk, either. Maybe we ought to give it a try one day after the office closes.”
Shayla frowned. “You’re not taking me seriously about this, are you?”
“No,” Nicholas admitted as he caught her chin in his hand. “I don’t like the idea of us sneaking around. What’s the big deal with bringing it out in the open that we’re seeing each other?”
“My credibility. I just started working for Chenault three weeks ago—two, if you don’t count that week in Hong Kong, which no one knows about, thank goodness. I don’t want to be the center of office gossip. That can ruin my credibility.”
“Trust me, Shayla, the only person you should worry about for credibility’s sake is me, and you proved your worth to Chenault when you came through with the Ling Deal.”
“Yes, but I want the respect of my peers, as well as the people who work under me. I don’t want anyone to think I got this job on my back.”
Nicholas’s eyes narrowed. “No one would think that.”
“Yes, they would. Any woman at Chenault who may have come on to you and you deliberately ignored would possibly think that.” Shayla couldn’t help remembering the look Cindy Davenport had given her after yesterday’s meeting.
Nicholas dragged his hand over his face. “You’re serious about all of this, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“All right. What do you suggest?”
“That we be very discreet.”
“How do you expect that, Shayla, when just being around you drives me to distraction?”
She wound her arms around his neck and grinned at the pout on his face. “That’s something you’ll have to work on, Boss.”
“Discreet, huh?”
“Yes.”
Without warning Nicholas rolled her beneath him. “In that case, if I have to act as if you’re invisible in the office, I need to load up on loving you,” he said, taking control of her mouth, mind, and body once again.