Bid Me Now (19 page)

“Good morning, brother. Mind if I join you for breakfast?”

Nick looked up to see Cate standing by his table. “Sure. I thought you intended to rest this morning.”

“I’m going to spend the day checking out Charmford’s antique stores. Would you like to come along, or are you planning on sitting in the Endeavour’s restaurant all day? That coffee looks stewed.”

Nick grimaced at the thought of antiquing. “No, sorry, I can’t. Full day.”

Cate signaled the waiter, slid into the chair opposite Nick, and ordered tea. “Charmford is beautiful. It’s no wonder you’ve stayed on.” She gave him an inquisitive look. “Or is it something else?”

“Yeah, the sailing.”
 

“But you haven’t been sailing. I still can’t believe you know Miri Jamieson. She called you a rat. How cute. Why?”

“Just something to do with me being the biggest bastard on the planet,” he answered dryly.
 

Cate eyes danced with merriment. “But you’re used to that, surely? What rattish thing did you do to her?”

Nick waited while the waiter served Cate’s tea. “Nothing much. I prevented her from buying a building.”
 

“Oh, is that all?” She laughed. “I can see she’s got to you. Something you want to talk about?”

Nick watched her stirring her tea, her face bright with anticipation. She was in one of her nosy moods. Nick had long since made it a rule not to discuss women with his sister, but that never stopped her probing in the vain hope that he would let slip a few details.

He rolled a shoulder to dismiss her question. “Nothing to talk about, except it’s a mess.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, suddenly serious. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

He wasn’t falling for that one. “Not a thing. Anyway, I’m driving to New York tomorrow morning to catch a flight to London. Will you be staying on?”

“Another day to check out the galleries along the coast. The whole area is an art lover’s dream. No wonder your Miri lives here.”
 

Nick ignored the bait and stood, dropping a kiss on the top of his sister’s head. “Well, enjoy your day. I’ll see you tonight for dinner.”

Cate smiled warmly up at him and squeezed his arm. “I will. If you’ve made up with the lovely Miri by then, bring her along. I’d like to talk to her.”

“So would I.”
 

But somehow Nick doubted Miri would be up for sensible talking.

• • •

Miri parked her Volkswagen next to Nick’s BMW right at four o’clock, now wishing she’d met him at the Round Bean. The mill had seemed less personal than her favorite café, but now with the façade gone, it was as personal as it got.
 

She fought back the sadness, and resolved to give him ten minutes and not a second more.

Her cell phone buzzed just as she locked the car. Marcus’ ID glowed on the screen. A dinner invitation, she guessed, shoving the phone back into her bag unanswered.
 

Flicking back her hair, Miri walked up the steps. Nick wasn’t in his office. The place appeared to be deserted, but then she heard a faint noise coming from the end of the hallway.
 

She found him in the cafeteria, standing at the bench and filling a French press with boiling water.

“Want coffee?” he asked without looking around.

“Um…okay.”
 

“Have a seat,” he said, turning to sweep a casual look over her pink floral sundress and blue flip-flops. “You look nice.”

“Thanks.”
 

She flicked a resentful gaze back at him. As usual, he looked good enough to eat. Faded jeans and a casual baby-blue shirt that set off his tan to perfection. Why did her half-witted body have to make such a fuss when it came within ten feet of him? It was all his fault.
 

She slung her bag on the floor and sat down at the only upright table in the room. Except for the table and two chairs, the rest of the furniture was neatly stacked along one wall.
 

Nick sat in the chair opposite and pushed a mug of coffee toward her. “You’ll need this.”
 

“No, I don’t,” she argued. “I was only a little tipsy.”
 

He grinned. “
Tipsy
? You were hammered. Who’d have thought you’d be the jealous type?”
 

Cocky jerk. “Don’t flatter yourself. Anyway, what do you want to talk about? Whatever it is, please get on with it. I have things to do.” Okay, she wasn’t at her most gracious, and if he kicked her out, it would be a good thing. She was all hot and bothered, and not in a convenient way.
 

Nick shook his head patiently. “The injunction was lifted because we weren’t involved. If someone had the other bids in advance, it wasn’t us. I wanted you to hear it from me.”

“Oh.” Miri paused, her thoughts turning to Alex. Alex had texted her with the news this morning and mentioned a Plan B, whatever that was. Miri hoped there’d be no Plan B. Plan A had been a spectacular failure.

“Alex will be fine,” she muttered to herself. When it came down to it, the woman had a higher measure of hardness than one of her ten-carat diamonds.
 

She looked up to see Nick staring at her as if she’d suddenly grown an extra limb. “Fine? I’m not worried about her bloody
health
.”
 

Miri sat herself straight. “I was just thinking out loud, that’s all. Are you still going to sue her?”

“Damned right I am.”

“You should reconsider. After all, it’s over and done with, and you won.”

Nick’s brow lifted in astonishment. “Like hell it’s over. Don’t you understand the implications of any of this for my company? You just don’t get it, do you?”

“Don’t talk to me like that! Everything’s your fault anyway.” What she meant by that she didn’t know, but she couldn’t think straight with him glaring at her.
 

When his eyes flashed with annoyance, she braced herself for his next insult. “You still don’t believe me, do you? God, woman, you’re so
stubborn
!”

“It’s you who’s stubborn!” Miri snapped, then flushed at her silly retort. She bent down and pulled her keys from her bag. It didn’t help that her headache was back. “Anyway, I’ve had enough of this. I’m leaving!”
 

“Typical! Flounce off in a fucking temper.”

Dizziness swept her as she sat up with a jerk. “You…you
prat
!” She expected him to laugh, but he just sat there, his face like stone.

“Come here, Marisa.”

She blinked at his command. “No.”

“Come here, or I’ll come and get you.”
 

Something in his tone told her he meant it, yet something in her body told her to call his bluff. To make him come and get her and…
 

Miri turned her head to hide her scarlet face.
 

“What are you so scared of, Miri?” His voice softened a fraction, but still held the hardness that had her aching for him. “Now come
here
.”
 

Miri told herself she didn’t want him, and he could go straight to hell. But somehow she found herself on her feet, walking obediently around the table to stand in front of him, her knees bumping against his. Her pulse sparked at the contact.

“Well, I’m here,” she snapped like a sulky teenager.

“I should have known why you wanted to meet here.”

Surprise popped her mouth open, her red face forgotten. “What? I thought meeting here would be…”
 

“Private?” he finished for her, his expression so severe she actually trembled with worry. “Hell, if you wanted to be alone with me, why didn’t you just say so? All this stupid pretense.”

She gaped at him. What on earth was he talking about? “No…I didn’t…I don’t want to be alone with you,” she argued, knowing that he didn’t believe her. Why would he, when her whole body ached with so much need she could barely stand up?

When Nick pulled her forward between his knees and gripped the backs of her thighs, she moaned against the instant prick of lust between her legs.

“Oh, I think you do.” His eyes bored into hers, and Miri knew she was lost.
 

He slid his hands up under her dress, his fingers spreading over her hips. “In fact, I’ll bet your little pussy is aching for me right now.” He slipped his hands around her butt and jerked her so hard toward him, she had to grab his shoulders to stay upright.
 

So vulgar. So wet-making. “You’re so conceited!”
 

 
Now he laughed. “Is that so?” He stood and lifted her effortlessly into his arms. Miri shuddered under his easy strength as he carried her out of the cafeteria, down the passage, and through the mill’s large production area to a door at the rear of the building.
 

“This is the only room with any privacy,” he explained, striding inside and kicking the door shut with a heel. He jiggled her lightly in his arms as if weighing nothing heavier than a two-pound parcel for postage. “Yeah, you’ll do nicely.”
 

For what? Miri glanced around at the small office. The old dust-covered desk and the high window with its tattered curtain didn’t exactly make for a love nest.

“I will not do nicely, and you can put me down now,” she said with not entirely false primness. No way was she going to give in without the show of a fight. “Anyway, someone might come.”

Nick cocked an eyebrow. “Well, that is the general idea.”

Oh, the thought. When he kissed her, Miri tried to keep her head, but she found herself kissing him back. So much for her fight.

Nick pulled back to look at her with serious eyes. “This arguing has to stop, you know. It’s flat-out crazy.”

She did know. “Nick, I’m so sorry about what’s happened. For not believing you. I know you’re innocent.”

“Innocent!” He laughed. Really laughed. “Jesus, I haven’t been told that since I was sixteen. How’s your hangover?”

She tried to look serious, but her mouth curved up. “Gone.”

His grin was mischievous, lopsided, and very wolfish. “Good. Because it’s time we got busy.”

Miri nuzzled his neck. How she loved his neck.

“It’ll have to be the desk,” Nick growled, setting her down with a plunk. He pushed her legs apart and slipped between them. Miri’s flip-flops clattered to the floor as she wriggled herself against the bulging seam of his jeans, her fingers reaching for his shirt buttons. But already he was ahead of her, untying the spaghetti straps of her sundress and bending her back over his arm in one easy movement.
 

With a groan, he pulled the top of her dress down and slid his mouth over a nipple. Miri bucked against the immediate pleasure, then lifted her head to watch his tongue swirling around the hard peak.
 

“Nick…I want…” she panted, but Nick’s mouth was on hers, his tongue demanding all her attention.
 

When he finally raised his head, Miri had clean forgotten what she wanted. She just did what now came so naturally with Nick. She kissed and tasted him wherever she could reach, drowning in the pleasure of his hands and mouth until she couldn’t take being primed for another moment.
 

“Please…now…”
 

With a soft laugh, Nick lifted her above the desk with one arm and dragged her panties down her thighs with his free hand. Miri heard stitches popping in protest as he ripped them clear off her body and tossed them away. Before she even had time to see where they’d gone, her dress was up around her waist.
 

With one arm clamped around her, holding her steady, Nick’s free hand went straight between her legs. Miri hitched her breath as a finger grazed across her clit, then worked into her, demanding her body. He slid in a second, then held his fingers still. His thumb was resting on her clit, frustratingly inert.

“You’re very wet,” he murmured, his mouth brushing against hers.
 

Miri could only nod her agreement. Her brain had stopped functioning, and her whole body ached for release. She rotated her hips against his fingers. He was so maddeningly uncooperative. Teasing her. Only a little effort on his part, and she’d explode like a round of ammo.

Miri held her breath and forced her body to complete stillness. When his fingers began to move inside her and his thumb slowly stroked her clit, she sobbed out loud with relief.

So good. She desperately wanted to look down to watch his hand on her, but if she did, he might stop. Torment her again.
 

“Mmm.” He studied her face. “You’re close.”
 

Oh, yes, she was close all right. Seconds close. Feeling Nick’s fingers increase their pace, Miri let her head fall back, forcing herself not to move as he softly spoke her name and took her higher and higher. Only when her climax broke did she flex her hips, looking down as she drove herself against his fingers, each wave of ecstasy wrenching a deep shudder from her body.
 

Miri had only just lifted her head when Nick withdrew his hand and shoved it into his jeans pocket to retrieve a condom. Putting it between his teeth, he worked on shedding his jeans, his fingers struggling with the zipper, which seemed to be caught on his briefs. Miri wanted to help, but he looked so fierce, she didn’t dare interfere. So instead she pulled her sundress off, then started on Nick’s shirt buttons. Five seconds for her to get his shirt open and pushed off, and for Nick to shove his jeans and briefs to his knees. Miri looked down and held her breath. Big and so ready for her. Stroking her fingers along his thick shaft, she felt him tremble as she caressed the head.
 

Nick ripped the wrapper, only to fumble with the condom between shaking fingers. “Fucking hell,” he snarled in desperation.
 

Lord, what a glorious picture of concentration he made, trying to roll that rubber thing onto his cock, his face grimacing in frustration. “Would you like me to help?”
 

Not that she’d ever fitted a condom, but she was happy to learn. But before she could do anything useful, Nick had it rolled on, pulled her to him, and pushed into her so hard it made her gasp. It felt as if every molecule of air had been knocked clear out of her body.