DREAM LOVER (8 page)

“Rachel, wake up,” he shook her harder.  When that didn’t work, Nic sat up and flipped on the light then turned back to Rachel only to find that her eyes were wide open.  “Rachel?  Honey, are you awake?”

Tears glistened in her eyes.  “
Vous êtes venus pour moi
,” she said in a hoarse whisper.

Nic leaned over and brushed the damp curls from her forehead.  “Of course I came for you, sweetheart.  You’re safe now.  I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.”

Her eyes searched his for a moment before she reached up and touched his cheek.  “Do you have any idea what you do to me?  All you have to do is look at me and my heart starts to race.  And when you kiss me…” she slipped her arms around his neck and pulled his mouth down onto hers.

The guilty feeling Nic had for kissing her when he knew full well she was still asleep lasted for all of two seconds.  She was soft and warm and the pleasure of her ardent response made him weak in both mind and body.  He couldn’t think of anything except how much he wanted to strip her naked and bury himself inside of her, and he probably would have done it too if only his damnable conscious hadn’t piped up and reminded him what a letch he was being for taking advantage of her.

Nic drew his head back, drinking in her beauty for a few minutes before pressing a soft kiss to her lips.  “Close your eyes now, sweetheart, I’ll wake you in a little while.”

“Are you sure?  Because the way you were kissing me….” she gave him sexy smile, “well, I kind of had the impression that you wanted to get a whole lot more intimate.”

Every male hormone in his body groaned.  After gently tugging her arms from around his neck he sat up and moved to the side of the bed, separating himself from the temptation she presented.  He didn’t dare look at her, not while he was torturing himself with images of Rachel writhing beneath him, her flawless skin beaded with moisture as the heat of their passion rose higher and higher.  Nic shot up off the bed.  He grabbed up his shoes and headed for the door before his desire to make love to her overrode his desire to do what was right.  

“I think it’s best if I leave right now.  I’ll call you later and we can…” 

He stopped in the doorway, laughing at himself.  What the hell was he doing?  Rachel was asleep for God’s sake.  He was wasting his breath telling her he’d call because she wasn’t going to remember anything he said.  When they spoke later he’d tell her the reason he’d left before she woke was because he had some work to do, that way she’d never have to know how close he’d come to jumping her while she slept. 

Rachel sat up slowly, staring at the empty doorway for several minutes while the sting of Nic’s rejection worked its way through her body.  Good Lord, the way he’d bolted out of there you’d have thought she’d proposed marriage!  And just what gave him the right to act as if he was revolted at the thought of making love to her when
he
was the one who’d woke
her
up with that hot, steamy kiss?  Okay, so he’d changed his mind, what was the big deal?  It wasn’t as if they’d been dating for a long time or had any kind of emotional attachment to each other, after all they’d only met a few days ago. 

She managed to scrounge up a few more perfectly logical reasons as to why she shouldn’t be hurt but it didn’t help.  No matter what excuse she came up with for Nic’s abrupt departure, it still felt as if she’d been mule kicked in the chest and it was quite some time before the pain subsided enough to crawl out of bed.  She hadn’t even gotten to tell him about the nightmare and how it had been different this time.  After turning down her less than subtle offer to make love, Rachel wasn’t even sure she could face him again anyway. Maybe the best thing to do was just forget she’d ever met Nic Covelli.

“As if I could,” she mumbled to herself.

Obviously he’d been turned off by how forward she’d been, but she honestly couldn’t help herself where Nic was concerned.  Well, that was something she was just going to have to master if she decided to continue with the sleep study because he’d made it blatantly clear he’d changed his mind about getting romantically involved with her.  The only thing she could attribute the sudden change of heart to was that she hadn’t measured up to his dream version of her.  Considering her lack of experience in that department, she could hardly blame him for being disappointed.

She’d planned on taking some time off before starting on the Covelli mansion, but now she wondered if staying busy wasn’t just what she needed to keep her mind off Nic.  He’d probably be glad she wasn’t going to stick around to make an uncomfortable situation even more awkward.  Yes, Rachel decided, she’d call Antonio and arrange to get the keys to the Covelli mansion, then spend the next few weeks inspecting the structure and making sketches of the place so she could draw up the new floor plans.  Two or three weeks of immersing herself in work instead of fighting the allure of Nic’s seductive brown eyes and she’d be just fine.

                        ***

He should have left a note.  Nic cursed his own stupidity for not thinking about it before he’d closed Rachel’s door behind him and locked himself out.  He’d shrugged it off at first because he’d planned on calling her as soon as he’d had time to go home and take a quick shower.  It was while he was standing under the water, which he’d deliberately kept set on cold, that the enormity of his own ignorance hit him. 

When Rachel had first opened her eyes, she’d been speaking in French again and he’d understood her just as he had back in the lab.  But after he’d kissed her, she’d switched back to English and it hadn’t even registered until now that she must have actually woken up at some point during the kiss.  Which meant she’d been fully cognizant of what she was saying when she’d invited more intimacy between them.  Nic groaned out loud.  Instead of standing here taking a cold shower he could have been snuggled up next to Rachel’s naked body, still tingling from the afterglow of hot sex.

He groaned again, louder this time because he suddenly realized how calloused it must have seemed when he’d all but ran from the room as if her offer was too distasteful to even contemplate.  Nic flipped the water off and hopped out of the shower, quickly drying himself off then hurrying into his room to get dressed.  Anxious to call Rachel and explain, he was even more annoyed to discover he didn’t have the card with her number on it in his wallet. 

It was a small delay and as it turned out, by the time he got to his car and found the card in the coin tray where he’d left it and called Rachel, she wasn’t at home anyway.  More than a little apprehensive when she didn’t answer her cell phone either, Nic headed over to her apartment.  He supposed it was possible she’d gone out but highly doubted it considering he’d left her place less than two hours ago, which meant she’d either gone back to sleep and didn’t hear the phone or she was deliberately avoiding his calls.

“Great job, Nic,” he scoffed at himself.  “You’ve managed to find the woman of your dreams and lose her again all in the span of forty eight hours.”

She’d probably laugh when he told her the reason he’d skated out of there so fast was because he was trying to be noble, assuming she let him get past the door that is.  He’d never met a woman who could tie him in knots the way Rachel did and he didn’t think it had anything to do with the dreams.  It wouldn’t have mattered when or where they’d met, Nic would have fallen for her the moment he laid eyes on her. 

Rachel was in the middle of tossing her underclothes in the suitcase when the doorbell sounded, startling her out of the worrisome thoughts that had been buzzing around in her head like a swarm of pesky flies ever since Nic left.  Assuming Monica must have forgotten her key again when the incessant drone of the doorbell continued to echo down the hallway, Rachel yanked the door open with an impatient sigh.

“Nic…what are you doing here?”

“Not exactly the greeting I’d hoped for,” he grinned.

“Really?  Because I seem to recall you hightailing it out of here not too long along without so much as a
see ya, Rachel
.  Sorry, Nic, I’d love to help you analyze which childhood trauma affected your ability to finish what you start in the bedroom but I’ve got some packing to do.”

“Okay, maybe I deserved that but…wait, you’re packing?  Why are you packing?”

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’ve decided to get started on the Covelli mansion.”

“Rachel, listen to me…”

“You don’t owe me any explanations,” Rachel cut him off.  “I’ve got to go now, so if you don’t mind…”

She started to shut the door but Nic wasn’t about to give up that easily.  “Damn it, I
do
mind,” he growled as he slipped through the doorway.

“Nic…”

“Close the door.”

Rachel considered ordering him to get out, but one quick glance at the dark scowl on his face made her change her mind.  Fine, she’d listen if he insisted on trying to justify what he’d done so he could ease his conscious and
then
she’d ask him to leave.  After informing Nic he could talk to her while she finished packing, she brushed past him and walked stiffly down the hall to her room.

Nic had no choice but to follow her.  He stood in the middle of the bedroom watching her jerky movements as she moved from the dresser to the suitcase and crammed her clothes inside.  The way he figured it, there were two possible outcomes here; he could try to explain what happened, she’d understand and forgive him, then she’d probably still take off for the mansion, or…he could take her in his arms, kiss her senseless, and then tumble into bed and spend the rest of the evening making love to her. 

He planned it all out in his head while Rachel continued to skirt around him.  Tomorrow he’d help her finish packing then stop off at his place so he could throw a few things in a suitcase too.  He could do with a few weeks off, and Lord knew he had enough vacation time accrued so there wouldn’t be any problem there.  The more he thought about it the more he liked the idea of spending time alone with Rachel, even if it was in that rambling old house.  Nic waited until she’d unloaded an armful of clothes before stepping in front of her.

Rachel’s brows drew together.  He was smiling!  The rotten letch actually had the nerve to smile at her when she was so angry right now she could spit nails.  She’d expected him to plunge right into a speech about how it was moving too fast or that he’d suddenly realized it was unprofessional to date a patient and couldn’t they remain friends at least until the sleep study was over.  So when he’d just stood there not saying a thing, she’d gone from hurt to angry because she deserved to have
some
excuse for making her feel like the most undesirable woman in the world, even if it was a bold faced lie.

“I thought you were asleep.”

Rachel blinked.  “You thought I was asleep,” she repeated.  “So you charged out of here because you didn’t want to wake me?  I’m sorry, Nic, but I find that very difficult to believe considering you’d spent the twenty minutes beforehand with your tongue wrapped around mine.”

“You were talking in French again so I knew you were still asleep.  Admittedly, that didn’t stop me from kissing you but that’s as big a sin as I was willing to commit…at least while you were sleeping.”  Nic drew her into his arms.  “It didn’t even occur to me until I was already at my place that you’d switched back to English after I’d kissed you.  Rachel…what I’m trying to say is that I would have taken advantage of you in a heartbeat if I’d known you were awake.”

A brilliant smile lit her face.  “You really mean that?”

Nic lowered his head and gave her a long, lingering kiss.  “I was hoping you’d agree to stall your departure until morning so I could…how did you put it?
F
inish what I started
.”

Disappointment rolled over her in waves.  “I can’t, Nic.  When I called Antonio to tell him I wanted to start on the mansion he agreed to meet and give me the key.  I’m supposed to have dinner with him and then afterwards he’s catching a flight to the east coast on business for a week.”

“I imagine my grandfather was beside himself when you told him you wanted to start earlier than expected.”

“He couldn’t thank me enough.  He must really be anxious to get it completed so he can move in.”

Nic surprised her by laughing.  “Apparently he didn’t tell you his real motivation behind making the mansion inhabitable again.  You see, Grandfather signed the deed over to me a few years ago and now he’s under the illusion that if he restores the mansion to its former grandeur, he’ll be able to coax me into moving there.”

“And you don’t want to?”

“It’s not that I wouldn’t like to live there someday, it’s just that once I’m there my grandfather will start in on me about getting married and filling the place with children.  He was disappointed when I didn’t go into business with my father and his partner Demetrio Lucisano, but running a huge corporation wasn’t something I cared to do for the rest of my life.”

“Lucisano…he owns the building the research center is in.”

“Not exactly,” Nic admitted.  “As a concession to Grandfather, I
did
go into business with Demetrio after my father died, but only as a silent partner.  We own several businesses together, but we agreed that I would run the research center and he runs everything else.  Now that Grandfather has insured the family business is going to survive, he’ll be dead set on making certain the family name is secured too.”