Another Man's Woman (Late Night Delight) (2 page)

Originally, when he met her, he knew she was a beauty but he had no idea of the genius that lay within. Her hair was a thick cascade of black curls and her skin just dark enough to be more coffee than cream. Nicolette was of average height, but nothing else about her was average. Her body was curved in every way that could make a man’s cock stir even if he was dead. She had some of the most beautiful hazel eyes he ever saw and framed by an incredible set of lashes that were long enough to look false. But she came with a husband and he respected that. Okay, he was lying to himself, he didn’t respect her marriage, but he did respect her. He knew her husband was an egotistical louse, but who was he to tell her that her mate was a creep?

Dominic remembered the first time she walked into his office. Her husband was in tow and the man couldn’t even bother to open the door on exit or pull her chair out before he sat down. He saw the man even give his secretary’s ass the once over and over again, until he was disgusted enough to shut the door to stop the man’s wandering eyes. One thing he knew for sure was that if a man’s eyes wandered too far for too long, then the hands would follow. But he knew Morris was just like his namesake and nothing more than an alley cat looking to fuck any pussy he could find in the street. Yet even with her louse of a spouse, Nicolette was a model client in every way, she took his advice to heart and for that reason he was able to help her make money hand over fist.

He had watched and waited for too many years, five of them to be exact. She was still just as shut in as she was the day she got her divorce decree. He watched her wither away and while Nicolette was still a joy to behold, there was something in her eyes that said she was damaged. That she had been burned. Dominic worked hard at being good, he didn’t push himself on her in anyway, even when he left every meeting with her hard and in need. She had marked him so well he got hard at the sound of her voice. She mistook his gruff behavior for ill-temper or maybe even dislike, but the only reason he wasn’t nicer to her was because he was so gone on her. He didn’t want to press his suit at the wrong time and ruin any chance he had at being with her.

He wanted much more than S-E-X. Dominic wanted it all, her in his bed, her in his house, her in his life.
 
But she wasn’t looking for that and he knew it. At this point in her life she should be barefoot and pregnant or spoon-feeding a bouncing baby on her hip. But she was alone and he was done waiting for her. He was going to make sure she understood that he was the man she didn’t even realize she had been waiting for.

When Dominic called her about the charges, he made sure to wait just long enough that her plans for the weekend were ruined. He had disputed the charge at the last minute, that way she wouldn’t get a phone call from the company and get the option to fix what he had done. He lived on the other side of the county, but she didn’t even question him about why he was here and more than likely she was still thinking about what was left of her plans.

When she came outside he went to open her door, but she ducked in the passenger side door and he was left standing like an idiot on the curb with her single suitcase and carry-on bag. He loaded the luggage in the back of the SUV and headed towards the airport. But that wasn’t their destination. He had other plans for his brown beauty, although she just didn’t know it yet.

“So why are you going to Miami?” He could hear her teeth grinding, she was lucky if she had any molars left her jaw was so tight.

“Does it matter?” Hell yeah, it mattered. To him it did. Was she going to get laid or to forget about the last two years?

“Not really.” Soon enough, she would realize that he wasn’t headed towards CLT. Then the shit would hit the fan.

Fifteen minutes later, Nicolette looked up and apparently noticed the change in terrain from skyscrapers to forest.

“What the hell, Maxwell! Where the hell are we? I’m going to miss my flight.” That was the whole point.

“You didn’t want to go to Miami anyway.”

“Take me home.” She ground the words out briskly and mixed with a southern perfect dose of disgust.

“I am.” His home, that is.

“I hate you sometimes, no scratch that. I hate you all the time Maxwell.”

“You’re killing me here.” It was a near thing, but he managed to pull a wounded look onto his face when all he wanted to do was laugh.

“Uggh.” She looked out of the window and made a face that screamed disgust. He could see her snarl in the reflection in her window.

Ten minutes later, they pulled into his driveway.

“Whose house is this?”

“You want to come in and meet the owner?” He was proud of his house. He was no master carpenter, but the work he did looked good. The front yard was perfectly landscaped and he planted the flowers himself.

 
“Sure, why not? Looks like you found every way possible to ruin my vacation.”

“I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

“I better get free service for the next year and only then, I might forgive you.” Liar. She wasn’t the type to hold a grudge. She grumbled a lot, but then again, he did too.

Dominic let her inside and watched her face as she took in the foyer and the work he put into making the house a home. The upstairs wasn’t perfect yet, but she could help out with that if she would go along with the program.

“Do you want a drink?” He asked her, but was sure she would say no, just to spite him.

“The way this day is going? Sure do.” Nicolette’s eyes wouldn’t meet his, even as she spoke to him her gaze touched on every surface around but him.

“What would you like?” Even when he responded, she didn’t look his way.

“It’s five o’clock somewhere right? Surprise me.” He had just the drink in mind, sensually sweet and briskly sour just like her.

“Follow me.”

He walked to the bar he had discreetly built into the back pantry. Dominic decided to convert the space since he had two of the large closets to work with and he would never use both. The rooms were a holdover from the days when the home was a plantation and the pantries held stores for the house. It only took a minute to make her a drink and he quickly popped a small scoop of crushed ice in her glass and poured a mixed drink.

“Here you are.” He poured a glass of bourbon for himself.

She followed him through the house and he couldn’t help but to look at her face for her reactions.

“I like the kitchen.” He did too.

“Thanks.”

“So this is where the Dominic Maxwell lives? Not too shabby.”

“Why thank you. I think that’s the first compliment you’ve ever given me.” It wasn’t, but it was the first personal one.

“Of course it isn’t. I always tell you that you’ve done a good job when you make me more money.”

“Yeah and you make me feel like Spot when you do.”

“S-spot?” She stuttered and he even thought that was cute.

“Yeah. Like see Dick and Jane watch Spot run.”

She laughed and the sound was throaty, full of verve and his cock went to full mast in two seconds flat. She took a healthy sip from the frosted crystal tumbler. “This is good, what is it?”

“Amaretto Sour.” Yep, just like her.

“Thanks. I like it.”

“Wow, two compliments. I must have really been good in a former life.” Dominic chuckled and she smiled, just a quick flash of her teeth, then only a lingering lift of her lips remained.

“I guess so.” But then she surprised him with her direct stare and her query just thereafter. “Why, Maxwell?”

He knew what she meant. She deserved his honesty after all his subterfuge and he gave it. “Because I couldn’t let you do it. I know you think you want to, but when it comes down to it, that’s not you.”

 
“How do you know? I might like boy toys and sex with strangers.”

“No you don’t. Otherwise, you would have fucked me when we first met.”

“How dare you?”

“Oh, Nicolette I would dare much. The truth of what I know is nothing compared to what I found out. I promise on everything I love, that if you were not married we would have fucked on my desk the day you came into my office.”

“B-but there’s no way! I never would have—“ Nicolette appeared flustered and he loved that.

“Yes, you would have. I saw it in your eyes. When you walked in my office, Morris was not behind you. I only saw you those first crucial seconds and the look in your eyes told me that you wanted me. True indeed, you are not the type of woman to have an affair. But if Morris was not in the picture, I would have been. You can lie about everything else you want to. But tell me this, when you saw me you wanted me. Didn’t you?”

Dominic watched her swallow the drink as if she was half dead from dehydration. Even when the glass was empty she sucked nervously at the melting ice before he gently peeled the cup away from her grasp.

“Answer me.” He watched her look up at the ceiling before she looked at him then away again. “Is it that hard to admit then?”

“No. I mean, it’s not that hard to admit. I did want you that day.” The small admission from Nicolette narrowed the gap between Dominic and his goals.

“Since it’s time for the truth, why did you do it?” He asked her and she appeared too weary to prevaricate.

“I’m tired. I am thirty-odd years old, alone and I haven’t had sex in years.” Nicolette’s voice had grown small and so unlike her, that he immediately wished that he hadn’t opened this particular can of worms yet.

“You don’t want empty sex.” He knew her better than that. She wanted more than a simple culmination of bodies and an act of mating.

“Empty sex is better than no sex.” She spoke boldly, but with a hint of hesitation proof positive of her lie.

“Not true.” She looked ashamed for a split-second and Dominic felt contrite. Who was he to make her feel embarrassed about the needs of her body? “I don’t mean it that way, Nicolette. I know you. I know you well enough to figure out you would have hated yourself if you tried to have gratuitous sex with a stranger. You need a connection, you need to make love. Not sex for the sake of it.”

“How do you get the right to pretend to understand me? You don’t know what I’ve been through.” He was disturbed by the fact she had the nerve to think that after five years, he would have no idea who she truly was.

“Nicolette, I don’t pretend to understand you. I know who you are as well as who you aren’t. And as far as not understanding what you’ve been through, I was at your side for damn near all of it.”

“Damn you to hell, Dominic. I wasn’t asking for much here. I just wanted to feel warm at night without a heating pad at my back! I just wanted to feel something again! Fuck you.” She looked as if she wanted to tear her hair out in frustration. The anger on her face was an aphrodisiac chaser to his drink and made him reckless.

“You want to feel something?” He scoffed. How could she deny she felt anything when her nipples pointed at him like tiny penlights? And they damn sure were not tight from it being too cold. Actually, he needed to turn on the AC.

Dominic made sure she saw what he intended as he invaded her personal space. She trembled and the full-bodied shudder pushed her away from him and into the wall. His mouth swooped down and captured the button erection of her right nipple into his mouth, shirt and all. He could taste her skin through the crisply starched cotton. Her hands fisted his hair and tore at what little hair he kept up top.

A Spoonful of Sugar

Nicolette was stunned at the admissions Maxwell made and even more stupefied that she made her own. She did want him from the first time she saw him, imagined she could climb him like he was a tree. Morris had claimed he needed to go to the bathroom just before the secretary told her to go inside. Her first sight of Maxwell was enough to make her pulse skyrocket out of control. He was absolutely gorgeous in an unselfconscious way.

Dominic Maxwell was tall, maybe six feet or so. His hair was nearly black and cut close all over, but long enough to brush to the left side from a part. He wore glasses, but they only added to his neat appearance and framed the grey almond shape of his eyes to perfection. His face was stern, strong and square, but his eyes were hot as they scaled her from head to toe and back again. She saw his nostrils flare and her breathing stopped.