Lucky 7 Bad Boys Contemporary Romance Boxed Set (38 page)

“Were you ever tested?”

He gave a cynical shake of his head. “No, by then I had rethought starting a family. Elizabeth wasn’t the same person I married. She became obsessed with wealth and power. It was an addiction.”

“That bad?”

“Yeah. She spent longer hours working than I did.” He gave a disgusted snort. “Yet in spite of all that, she didn’t have a problem getting pregnant with Zack,” he said, his tone harsh.

Veronique hadn’t expected him to say that. “Oh. I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“Don’t be. I’m glad it’s over,” he said, gently squeezing her waist. “I haven’t thought about Elizabeth in a long while. I’d rather think about you. Here,” he said, removing her top and sliding her panties down her legs with a fluid motion. “With me.” He smoothed his warm hands over her cool skin and backed her onto the bed. “Gorgeously naked,” he added, his voice gravelly and aroused.

She lowered her body on the bed and when her back made contact with the sheets, she winced. “Ouch.”

“What’s wrong?” he said, pulling her into his arms. “You okay?”

“No, I mean yes. Well maybe,” she said, wriggling against him.

He chuckled. “Which one is it?”

“All of the above. My skin feels a bit raw in some places. Especially my back.”

“Let me take a look,” he said. “Roll over.”

“Hey, I’m not Baxter,” she quipped, suddenly shy to lie before him naked and exposed in the waning daylight. Realizing it was silly to refuse, she turned over and clutched the pillow under her head.

“Relax.” He blew softly on her flushed back and the cool air sent shivers skittering through her. “Poor baby. No wonder it’s bothering you.” He trailed tender kisses down her spine. “You’re all pink and irritated from the sand and sea shells.”

She craned her head to look behind her. “I am?”

“Yeah, mostly on your upper back and shoulders.” He patted her bottom. “Good thing my hands protected the best part.”

She shot him a quizzical look and his hands squeezed her buttocks in response.

She blushed at the amused sparkle in his eyes. “Oh, you mean when you held my… Um, never mind.” She smiled at the delicious memory. “Yep, I was in good hands all right.”

His smug smile was so sexy, she wanted to roll over and pull him in for a kiss, but his big hand was intimately pressed against the small of her back as the other hand reached for the pot of the honey almond cream she’d left on the nightstand. He leisurely smoothed it on her skin, starting at her neck, skimming the small indentation of her waist, over the crest of her bottom, the length of her legs down to her ankles. He took his time on each leg and then returned to her bottom and upper thighs, massaging them deeply until she was squirming and biting the pillow.

“I thought you said that part had been spared,” she murmured with a muffled groan.

“Just making sure every inch gets pampered. Feel better now?”

“Mmmm, hmmm.” Rosy-faced, she rolled over and fluffed her hair out on the pillow. Taking hold of his hand, she kissed the rugged back of it, and then turned it over to kiss the center of his hard palm. “You have wicked hot hands.”

“For you,” he said, his guttural voice promising a passionate night. He began to kiss her in earnest, his lips roving her curves and valleys as if she were the most succulent treat. The feel of his facial scruff grazing Veronique’s skin made her toes curl and her pulse beat out of control.

“Your skin is so delicate, it’s turning bright pink. Maybe I better shave.” He stopped kissing her and rubbed his jaw.

“No, don’t shave,” she said huskily. “I like you that way.”

The corners of his mouth turned up into a lazy grin as he reached for more cream. She’d never seen him smile like that—bad boy to the core. She caught her breath in anticipation of the night ahead.

Using the gentlest of strokes, his warm hands circled her breasts and lifted, plumping them upward and together. His thumb and forefingers tugged and squeezed her nipples with a deft touch that made her mindless with wanting him.

“Ohhh, Nick…Nick,” she crooned, closing her eyes. His touch grew lighter, barely brushing her skin, teasing and tormenting until she could hardly bear it.

“So beautiful …your skin is so incredibly soft,” he murmured hoarsely. He captured her mouth with plundering kisses as his questing hand roamed over the throbbing juncture of her thighs. “You taste good too. I’m gonna make love to you all night,” he growled in her ear, his warm breath raising gooseflesh on her acutely sensitized skin.

Her eyes flew open and she licked her lips in anticipation. The pressure of his kisses had brought blood to the surface, making her mouth feel tender and engorged. Her pulse thrummed rampantly as she relived their fevered lovemaking on the beach. He’d been a masterful lover, drawing wild, uninhibited responses from her until she was limp with pure pleasure. A full night of that kind of intense, intimate bliss was almost inconceivable…

“All night,” she repeated in a strangled voice, her thighs clenching and her pelvis bucking under the slippery caress of his fingers.

“Yes, baby,” he said, taking her earlobe in his mouth. “All night. In every position. Until I get my fill of you.”

He trailed voracious kisses down her neck and on her breasts, taking each nipple in his mouth for extra loving. The sweet rasp of his tongue made her sweet spot clench. Her stomach leapt as desire pooled inside her like lava, creating an internal blaze.

She wound her arms tightly around his neck and kissed the warm hollow of his throat, inhaling deeply of his heady scent. His prominent arousal pressed against her insistently, and she caressed the steely length of him.

“I’m yours, darling. All yours. Take me now,” she whispered raggedly.

* * *

Much later, Nick rested his chin on Veronique’s tousled hair. They’d made love all night, learning each other’s bodies. He’d taken his time, drawing out her pleasure, following up fiery climaxes with tender kisses. She’d returned the attention, pleasuring him until he was wrung out and satiated.

Sprawled on top of him, her head was tucked under his chin, her face resting on his chest. He loved the way her soft breasts and velvety nipples pressed against him and her knee nestled between his legs. Her throat purred with soft, contented sounds like a cuddly kitten.

Kissing the top of her head, he held her tight, delighting in the way her body hummed with aftershocks of their recent lovemaking. She’d matched his lust with fervor and a total lack of restraint. She’d been wild and magnificent—so beautiful and trusting.

How would it feel when his house was empty again? He didn’t need to be alone and isolated anymore. He didn’t want it either—he wanted her.

His life had been turned upside down with her arrival, especially when she’d told him,
“You’re still that successful, self-made man, Nick. What I admire most is your integrity. Nobody can take that away from you unless you let them. I never believed a word of all that crap the media put out there.”
Her loyalty had floored him then and it did now. They hadn’t had any contact in the fifteen years since he’d last seen her, yet she’d never lost faith in him.

Maddening, irresistible and stubbornly loyal, she’d entrenched herself so deeply in his life that just thinking about her leaving gave him a cold, hollow ache in the pit of his stomach.

“Nick, tell me about your childhood,” she said. “You mentioned your father had been a mean drunk. How mean was he?”

Nick shook his head. “I don’t think you want to hear about it. It was ugly.”

“Well, you already know about my disastrous childhood.” She smiled at him. “Look at us, we turned out all right in spite of it. Yours couldn’t have been much worse than mine.”

“Trust me, it was. I still have nightmares.”

“About what?” Veronique kept her face tilted upward as she listened. “Tell me.”

“As a kid, I never used to get a good night’s sleep. I’d sleep fitfully until my father would get home and he was usually stinking drunk. Then the violence would begin. My old man would beat my mom viciously and if I tried to stop him, he’d whip me with his belt until his arm got tired. Then he’d finish up what he started with her.” Nick shuddered as bile rose in his throat. He couldn’t bring himself to mention the darkest part of his nightmares when his old man would kick and pummel his mom, leaving her in a crying heap on the floor.

“Oh, God,” she moaned. “I’m so sorry, darling.” Veronique cradled the side of his face and tenderly kissed his clenched jaw. “You don’t have to say anymore if you don’t want to.”

He sucked in labored breaths. He couldn’t believe he was sharing the vile memories of his childhood, the dark ones he never wanted to revisit. He hadn’t told anyone about it, not even his ex-wife. Now that he’d started, he needed to finish.

“I used to climb into my baby sister’s bed and cover her ears so she wouldn’t hear the horror outside her bedroom door. No matter how I try to shake it, the awful sound of my mom weeping and desperately pleading is engraved in my mind. When I was eight, I told the school counselor about my dad and she helped my mom escape with me and my sister. The shelter we stayed in was for women hiding from their violent partners. Dad used to yell at us that he’d kill Mom if she ever left him.”

She gave him a searching look. “How is your mom doing now? Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she had a hard life, but she’s a survivor. As soon as I made enough money, I bought her a condo in a doorman building close enough so I could visit her. She always had a talent for painting, so she took art classes and has become an accomplished artist. It helped her heal.”

“Oh, I’m so glad to hear that,” Veronique said, hugging him.

“She deserves happiness after all the sacrifices she made to keep us fed and clothed. Her biggest fear was that my sister and I would end up in foster homes.”

“What about your grandparents? Didn’t they help her?”

“No. She was estranged from them. They were strict and very conservative. My mom was a sheltered only child and the one time she rebelled, she ended up pregnant and had to drop out of high school and get married. Her parents never accepted my dad. Ironically, they were right about him.”

“She must be very strong.”

“She is, and spiritual. When I was growing up, she always said, ‘Remember whose child you are. I birthed you, but you’re God’s child. Use your talents to make a better world.’”

“I wish I could meet her,” Veronique said. “Do you have any pictures of her?”

“I have some in my office. I’ll show you tomorrow.”

Ronnie was so different from Elizabeth
. He’d mistakenly thought that marriage to the sophisticated Elizabeth Remington would somehow erase his tainted pedigree and give him a shot at a new life. Initially, she’d acted like she respected and liked his mom, but after many pretend illnesses and excuses not to visit her during the holidays, Nick realized something was off. During a fight when Elizabeth admitted her disdain for the blue-collar working class and included his mother in it, Nick decided the marriage was over. Good thing too because she was already hooking up with Zack.

“I think she’d like you,” Nick said quietly.

“She must be so proud of you. I know I am. How did you cope?”

“Not very well as a kid. I felt powerless and sick to my stomach most of the time.”

“Because you were afraid of your dad?”

“No, because I was afraid of what he’d do to my mom and my little sister. I had a constant knot of anguish in my stomach, ashamed that I was too scrawny to rescue her from the monster she’d married.”

“But you did rescue her. You did the best thing a little boy could do. You went to your school counselor and got help—for all of you.”

“I also worked my butt off to get as strong as steel, physically and mentally as I got older. If he ever threatened Mom again, he’d have to deal with me. Even with a restraining order, he was dangerous.”

“Did he ever find you?”

“Yeah, when I was much older. He got wind of my success and tried to get money from me.”

“How awful.”

“He showed up drunk at the courthouse during the trial demanding money from my company. He was arrested when he pulled a knife on one of the reporters outside.” He paused. “I’m sure you remember the circus that day. It was all over the news.”

“Yes…I remember,” she said softly. “Is he still in jail?”

“No, he died there of a heart attack.” He scoffed, “Funny how that didn’t constitute big news. I’m glad he died in jail. It’s where he belonged.” His gut twisted at the memory of the vast relief he’d felt at his old man’s death. “I’ve done everything to disassociate myself from him. I legally changed my last name to my mom’s maiden one, but that doesn’t wipe out the bad seed I inherited.”

“Don’t ever say that again. You are
nothing
like your dad!” she cried passionately. “I have loved you from the first time I set eyes on you in camp.”

“What?” Nick pulled back and stared at her incredulously. “You said you had a crush on me. That’s not love.” She had been nothing but a pest during camp and now she was telling him she’d loved him?

“It is to a little girl. Even as a kid, I appreciated how decent and honorable you were compared to the other counselors. You always went out of your way to help any of us kids who needed a hand.”