Don't Make Me Beautiful (38 page)

“Says the whole world.”

“Bullshit.
 
The whole world is on your side.
 
And anyone who isn’t, doesn’t matter.”

“Why are you so nice?” she asks, refusing to be led to the couch.

“Are we going to go through this again?” he asks, sighing.
 
He doesn’t give her a chance to argue back.
 
“Fine.
 
Here’s the deal: I love you.
 
I want you to live with me.
 
Heck, I probably want more than that.
 
But rather than jump right in and scare the crap out of you, I’ve decided to wine and dine you a little bit first.”

“You have wine?” she asks, sounding sassy.

He loves it, knowing that a fighting Nicole is a winning Nicole.

“Yeah.
 
It’s in a box, but it’s wine.
 
And it’s pink, like you like it.
 
So come on over to my lair and sit down so I can wine you, dine you, and uh … yeah.
 
Wine you and dine you.”
 
His face burns a little over what he almost said.

She stares at him for a few long seconds before moving around him.
 
“Fine.
 
I’ll take one glass of wine, but that’s it.
 
I’m not hungry.”

He runs to get the wine before she can change her mind.
 
He grabs two glasses and pours for both of them, even though he’s not much of a pink wine guy.
 
He knows John drank beer a lot, so he’s been avoiding it around Nicole, not wanting to bring any memories of him into their relationship.
 
At least not any more than are already there.

When he gets back she’s staring at the television, but it’s clear she’s not seeing what’s frozen on the screen.

“Here you go,” he says, bumping into her on purpose as he sits down.
 
“Pink wine.
 
Yum.”

She takes her glass.
 
“Why are you drinking it?
 
You don’t even like it.”

“Sure I do, I love this stuff.”
 
He holds up his glass.
 
“Here’s to you and me.
 
To us.”

She holds up her glass, keeping it close to her chest.
 
“Friends.”
 
She looks down at her wine.

“No.
 
More than friends.
 
Come on.”
 
He moves his glass around a little.
 
“Scared?”

She bites her lip and looks up at him.
 
“A lot.
 
This isn’t a game to me.”

“It’s not to me either,” he says, all traces of humor instantly gone.

They touch the sides of their glasses together.
 
The
ting
rings out in the small room.
 
They sip at the same time, never breaking eye contact.

“I really want to kiss you right now,” he says, putting his glass slowly on the table, using his peripheral vision to guide him. He’s afraid to break their gaze, afraid she’ll pull back into her shell and not come out.

“I don’t know what to say to that,” she says, lowering her glass.

“I’ll tell you what,” he says, moving closer and simultaneously taking her glass from her and putting it on the table.
 
“Say nothing at all if you want me to do it.
 
Say no if you want me to stop.
 
That’s all you have to say, is no.”

“No,” she says.

He freezes.
 
“Really?” Disappointment rushes through him.

The corner of her mouth quirks up.
 
“I was just testing the system.”

He laughs.
 
“Come here, you.”
 
He takes her gently by the sides of her face and guides her mouth to his. Stopping just before he gets to her mouth, he detours over to her cheek.
 
He presses his lips to her bruises, careful to keep his touch feather-light.
 
He continues up to her forehead and then down her poor little nose.
 
He wishes his kisses could be miracles of healing, giving her back the things she’s lost.

“That feels nice,” she whispers.

“Good,” he says.
 
“I want you to feel nice.
 
All the time.”
 
He moves his lips to hers and she greets him hungrily.
 
What he planned to be a slow seduction turns into a roaring wildfire of need.
 
She becomes the aggressor and pushes into him, leaning him back into the couch cushions behind them.

“Whoa, whoa,” he says, “slow down.
 
I’m trying to seduce you here.”

She smiles.
 
“Really?”

“Of course.
 
Isn’t it obvious?
 
Chinese food?
 
Wine in a box?”
 
He grins at how incredibly lame that sounds.
 
“It’s driving you wild, isn’t it?”

“Something’s driving me wild, but I don’t think it’s the wine in a box.”

“Maybe it’s just me, then,” he says, as she moves towards him again.

“It’s definitely you…”

Their mouths come together again and then he’s on his back on the couch.

“Take your shirt off,” she mumbles against his mouth.

He reaches back without hesitation and yanks on the back of his shirt, pulling it out from underneath him and over his head.
 
It flies over the edge of the couch.

“Now you,” he says.
 
He helps her with getting it over her cast.
 
She’s left sitting above him in a pink bra he knows Helen bought for her.
 
“You’re so pretty,” he says, staring at her face.

She frowns.

“Don’t do that,” he says, putting his hand up to cover her mouth.
 
“Don’t frown at me.
 
I’m allowed to call you pretty.”

She shakes her head.
 
“Just don’t say anything about how I look.”
 
Her good mood has vanished.

“Fine.
 
Let’s just make out some more.”
 
He sits up and wraps his arms around her, pulling her up against him.

She’s smiling again. “You’re so bossy.”

“I’m just desperate to feel your body against mine,” he whispers against her lips before plunging his tongue between them.

She moans and it makes him completely hard.
 
He was already halfway there, but this was all he needed to finish the job.

“I love when you do that,” he says, reaching around to grab her ass and squeeze it with both hands.

She moves against him in slow circles, making him moan right along with her.

He thanks the stars above that Liam is with his mother for the next few days as he pictures his next move.
 
At the rate they’re going now, he’ll be at heaven’s gate in no time.
 
And as much as part of him is warning that he needs to hold back, the other part is much more insistent.
 
It wants to be inside this woman more than anything else in the world.

“What are we doing?” she gasps as his hand covers her small breast and kneads it.

“Whatever you want to be doing,” he says, pushing his hips up against her, feeling his rod sink a little into her softness. It’s hot between them, and he senses her desire is getting away from her.
 
The evil part of him rejoices, while the good guy in charge, makes him slow down. He moves his hands from her ass to her lower back.

“I want to do this,” she says, getting breathless.
 
“I need this.
 
I need something good in my world right now.”

He sits up, spinning around so that she’s in his lap facing him, zipper to zipper.

“Are you sure?” he asks, kissing her chest and then her breast.
 
He takes her nipple into his mouth and sucks and licks the tip of it.

She drops her head back.
 
“Yessss,” she hisses out.
 
“Oh, that feels so … nice.”

He moves to the other breast, doing the same licking, sucking and squeezing that she liked a moment ago.

She moans in response.

“Let’s go into the bedroom,” he says, kissing up to her neck.

“No.
 
I don’t want to wait.”
 
She struggles to get out of his lap and strips her clothes off with one hand, nearly falling in her hurry to get her pants down her legs.

“Whoa, slow down, babe.
 
We don’t have to rush it.”
 
He’s saying this but at the same time he’s cheering her on in his head.
 
He’s hard as a rock and throbbing with need for her.
 
There’s nothing he wants more right now than to bury himself in her warmth and get lost for a long time.

“Take your pants off. Let me help you.”
 
She pulls him up to his feet and messes around with his button.
 
“Are you going to help me or not?”

He laughs, moving his hands from her shoulders to his waistband.
 
“I thought you wanted to do it.”

She smacks him lightly on the chest.
 
“Stop messing with me.
 
I’m serious.”

He unzips his pants and releases his hard cock from its confines, breathing out a sigh of relief as it meets the cool air.
 
It falls onto her abdomen and she wastes no time taking it in her hand.

A shock of sheer pleasure shoots down his cock and into his stomach, warming him all the way through.
 
As her small hand moves up and down the velvety hardness, he has a hard time breathing.
 
His balls jump with every stroke, aching to feel more of her, but willing to do with just this and go all the way to the end.
 
Ready or not, here I come
.

He takes her wrist and stops her motions.
 
“Wait.”

She looks up at him, stricken.
 
“Am I doing it wrong?”

“Hell no.
 
You’re going to make me come.”

“That quick?” She’s confused.

He growls and swoops her gorgeous naked body up into his arms.
 
“What do you expect, woman?
 
You’re gorgeous standing there all naked and jumping my bones.
 
Do you know how long it’s been?”
 
He strides off down the hallway, turning slightly so her head and feet don’t hit the walls.

“Where are we going?” she squeals.
 
She doesn’t sound upset about it. Not at all.

“We’re going to do this right.”
 
He makes it into his room and pretends he’s going to launch her onto the bed from the door, but then walks over and only drops her from a foot above the bed.

She screams and then giggles, landing on her back with a gentle poof of the covers.
 
“You’re a neanderthal!”

That calms him right down.
 
All the steam goes out of him and he stands there, just breathing heavy.
 
“I don’t want to be like that with you.
 
I want to show you how a man can be gentle.”

A slow smile curls up her lips.
 
“Well … what are you waiting for?”

He moves around to the bottom of the bed.
 
“I’m just waiting for an invitation, I guess.”

She lifts an eyebrow as she takes in his naked form, her eyes roaming from his face down to his cock, thrust out at her, totally ready for anything she’s willing to offer.

She curls her finger, gesturing for him to come closer.
 
“Consider yourself invited.”

Chapter Fifty-Four

NICOLE IS COMPLETELY SHOCKED WHEN he stops only partway up from the bottom of the bed to kiss her knees.
 
It should be silly, but instead it’s erotic.
 
She had no idea that her knees are this sensitive.
 
They jerk a little in response and a warmth gathers between her legs.

He begins kissing his way up her thighs, stopping every once in awhile to lick or go back a few inches.
 
It’s maddening how he keeps getting closer to her hot center but then at the last second does something she doesn’t expect. She squirms in delight and anticipation.

His tongue comes into her folds one time and then he’s gone again.
 
She tips her head back and moans, closing her eyes so she can only feel what he’s doing.
 
The darkness covers her sight and brings her to another place, a place where there is only heat and love and an urgency building inside her.

She wants to be filled by him, to be stretched by him, to be owned by him, if only for a moment.
 
More than that would be too much, but just a little … perfection.

His tongue touches her again down there and she flinches at the shock that moves up into her core.
 
She feels herself swelling down there, getting ready for him to enter her.
 
He’ll slide in perfectly, she knows it.
 
She saw him earlier when he stripped for her and she’s imagining right now how it will feel to have him going inside her.
 
And then his tongue is there and she can’t help but moan low and long.

“You like that?” he asks, just before sucking her ever so slightly.

She screams for a split second and then pants quickly to try and gain control of her runaway sensations and emotions.
 
“Yes!
 
But you need to stop!”

He pulls away and then begins crawling up.
 
“That quick?” he asks, the devil in his voice.

She opens her eyes and sees him above her, his recklessly sexy expression telling her he knows exactly what he’s doing to her.

“You’re a devil,” she says.
 
“A sex demon.”