Nick Of Time (Blue Ridge Romance 2) (11 page)

“Ready for dinner?” he asked when they came up for air.

“I’m ready for something,” Nichole said, a bit dazed.

“All in good time, baby. All in good time.” The way he called her
baby
made her feel weak in the knees. She’d never been one for terms of endearment before, but she had to admit it was hot.

She pulled it together as he pulled on the shirt and then they walked hand in hand out to her car. He opened her door and then he drove, because he hadn’t told her where they were going.

“So Cooper was checking in?” she asked, trying to keep her mind off what was going to happen after dinner.

“Yeah.” Tucker frowned. “I understand why he’s concerned. I’ve never been dependable before, so he has no reason to trust me. But still, it’s a little over the top.”

“He treats you like a kindergartener.”

“Yeah. But I’ve acted like a kindergartner in the past, so I get it. I need to earn his trust. I just wish there were a way to streamline the process.”

“He doesn’t ever talk to me about you. I think he got tired of hearing my opinion of you,” she admitted.

“Your opinion wasn’t very flattering, I assume.”

“No. I’m sorry.”

“Why did you hate me so much?” he asked, glancing over at her.

“I told you before.”

“That wasn’t the real reason,” he pushed.

She sighed and shook her head, not wanting to talk about it.

“Tell me.”

“You’ll tell me why you hated me?” she asked.

“Yes. I promise.”

She let out a breath and nodded.

“No matter what you did, how badly you messed up—and I know some of it was on purpose—your brother and your mother still loved you. It made me angry to see you piss that away when I worked so hard to be perfect and still knew it wasn’t enough for my mom to love me.”

He nodded slowly and bit his lip, keeping his eyes on the road.

“You’re right. I did do most of it on purpose.”

“Why?”

“I honestly don’t know. Maybe I knew I’d never be as successful as Cooper, so it was my way of getting attention.” He shrugged.

“And why do you hate me?” she asked.

His gaze locked with hers for a second and his brows creased together.

“You said it as if I
still
hate you.”

“You know what I mean.” She waved her hand, and he caught it in his.

“No.” He shook his head. “Do you still think I hate you?” She shrugged, too uncomfortable to answer. “I don’t. Do you still hate me?”

“I don’t think so.” They laughed together, and he kissed her fingers as he pulled into the parking lot and found a spot in the back row. He didn’t get out of the car, just sat there looking out the windshield.

“I heard you talking to Cooper once. I think you would have been seniors in college. I had just got picked up for shoplifting, and Cooper talked to the store owner about working it out. He was a good lawyer, even before law school.” He looked up at nothing. “You told Cooper he should let me stay in juvie, so I could learn to take responsibility for my actions. Otherwise he would be bailing my ass out of trouble my whole life.”

“Wow. Wasn’t I a pompous ass?” she said, trying to make a joke.

“No. You were right about that. He should have let me hang a few times to straighten me out.”

“Then why did that make you hate me?”

“It wasn’t what you said. It was what he said back.” She waited for him to go on. “He told you I was his brother, and that made me his responsibility.” She was still waiting. “I didn’t want to be a responsibility. I wanted him to like me the way he liked you—well, not exactly the way he liked you.” He winked. “But I wanted him to help me because he loved me.”

“He definitely loves you, stupid. No way he would have put up with all your shit if he didn’t.”

“And yet he still asked you to be his best man.”

“I know. I’m sorry. Should I have turned him down?” she asked with a wince. At the time she had been elated to be able to one-up Tucker, but now she felt awful. He really cared about his brother. She wasn’t family.

“No. I didn’t deserve it.” He didn’t say it as if he wanted her to argue, or to say he did deserve it so he’d have the ego boost. It was a simple fact. “You deserved to be the best man. You also deserve to hear your mother say she’s proud of you. Although you shouldn’t need to. You’ve accomplished a lot, Nic. Fuck her if she doesn’t see it or think it’s good enough.”

“Very nice.”

“I’m just saying. You don’t need her to tell you you’re great. You have to know that already.”

“Sure.”

“Don’t do that with me,” he snapped.

“Do what?”

“Brush it off like it doesn’t matter to you. It matters. It’s okay to care about things, Nic.”

She looked at her hands in her lap for a long moment.

“I care about you. I know this is just for fun, and I know it’s not going anywhere because you live in New York, but I want you to know I’m having a great time with you and I’m going to miss you when you leave.” He didn’t say anything. “Don’t get freaked out. You can relax. I’m not getting clingy or anything.”

He leaned over and kissed her hard and then rested his forehead against hers.

“I’m not freaked out, Nic. Not even a little bit.”

The moment stretched as she worried what he would say next. Instead of waiting, she changed the subject. “I’m starving.”

He backed away with a smile on his face. “Let’s get the fancy-pants doctor some dinner then.”

Dinner was easy and fun. Afterward they had even more fun. They didn’t talk about serious things anymore. It seemed both of them knew better.

They spent every night together right up until it was time for Cooper and Roslyn to come home from their honeymoon.

“They’ll be home tomorrow by eleven,” she said, holding up the text on her phone.

“I heard,” he said with a frown as he held up his own phone.

“So this is our last night together? You’ll be going back to New York?” she asked, hoping he’d say no.

“I guess so. That’s the plan.” He took a deep breath and looked at everything but her.

“We should make this a night to remember, then,” she suggested. His eyes snapped up to look at her, and his beautiful smile crept across his lips.

“Yes.” The next second his lips were on hers. His tongue edged in on hers, stroking and caressing. She melted against him as he walked backward toward the stairs.

She was going to more than miss him. She was going to feel actual pain from his loss, but she couldn’t say that. She couldn’t cry or beg or pressure him to visit. He had a life he needed to get back to. The only reason they were so happy together was that neither of them felt any pressure to make their arrangement more than what it was. And she knew part of the reason she wanted him to stay was so she wouldn’t be alone. That wasn’t fair to him. Or herself.

Except she secretly hoped he would suggest they see each other again sometime.

He made love to her slowly, as if he was memorizing every detail. She said his name, loving the way it felt as it crossed her lips as he made her come twice in a row. For as much as she hated how many women he’d been with, she couldn’t really complain about his skill set because of it.

Soon they were tangled together in a heaving mound of sweaty bodies.

“I’m going to miss you,” he whispered by her ear. He said it so softly she almost thought she’d imagined it.

She turned to look at him, not knowing what the expression on his face would be, but it made tears come to her eyes. She opened her eyes wider, trying to keep them in, but it didn’t work. Two escaped and ran down her temple into her hair.

“Hey, no. Don’t do that.” He wiped the tears away and pulled her close.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I know you have to go. I knew it the whole time, and I promised myself I wouldn’t do this.” She shook her head at herself. “I’m such a girl.”

“So I’ve noticed,” he said with a chuckle. “And confirmed many times.”

She started to laugh, and he brushed a finger down her cheek, wiping away the last of her tears.

“So I guess this is good-bye,” she said as she sat up, looking for her clothes.

“Will you stay tonight?” he asked.

“Trust me, you don’t want that. I have a feeling I’m not done with the inappropriate emotional displays.”

“I have this one night left with you. I’ll take it however I can get it.”

She couldn’t refuse him, mainly because she didn’t want to give up a minute of her time with him either.

She curled up next to him and finally fell asleep after listening to his heart beating for a long time.

Early in the morning she woke and left without waking him up. They’d said their good-byes. She wanted it to end with those last moments in his arms.

With a smile on her face and tears in her eyes, she drove home to shower and dress for work.

Her affair with Tucker Matthews was over. She had no regrets. Not one.

W
hen she opened the door that evening, he felt equal amounts of joy and fear.

“Tell me to go back to New York and leave you alone,” he said in a rush. He couldn’t believe he was doing this, but when he’d got in his rental car to drive to the airport, he couldn’t make himself go. It was as if some other part of his body took over and drove him to her house. And it wasn’t the part of his body that normally took over.

“I don’t think I want that,” she said, surprising them both.

He watched her chest move as she took a deep breath.

“Then ask me to stay.” He couldn’t hide the desperation in his voice, and he didn’t care.

“Please stay,” she said in barely a breath.

He practically pounced on her as she opened the door wider to let him in. He vaguely remembered putting his bag and guitar down before his arms wound around her, pulling her tight against him, where she belonged.

It was ridiculous really. He’d seen her early that morning when she’d tried to sneak out of his room. He’d let her go without a scene because it was the way it was supposed to be. But as he spent the afternoon listening to Cooper and Roslyn talk about their honeymoon, he realized he didn’t want to be alone in his loft in New York. He only wanted to be with Nichole.

“You can kick me out at any time,” he assured her as he started moving her through the living room.

“I’ll remember that,” she said with a crooked grin.

“Where’s your bedroom?” he asked against her neck. “If you say upstairs, we’re not going to make it.”

“Down the hall.”

“We’ll see.”

She clung to him as he picked her up and carried her down the hall. Stopping at the first door, and then the second. It had a bed. Good enough.

He tossed her down and tugged her socks off, playfully tossing them over his shoulders before he moved for her pants. He was apparently too slow. Nichole pushed them down and kicked them off and then pulled her shirt over her head, almost hitting him with it as she tossed it across the room.

She reached for him, undressing him just as quickly, while he unhooked her bra and slid it off. He leaned in to kiss her, pressing her breasts against his bare chest.

As he was enjoying the moment, she released him from his jeans and started stroking him.

“Jesus, Nic,” he hissed, pulling back a little so she didn’t end him before he got started.

She gave an evil laugh as she wrapped her legs around him, pulling him to her. He couldn’t fight. He didn’t want to.

He was exactly where he wanted to be.

 

Nichole was adamant about not telling anyone he was staying with her, despite his urge to shout it from the rooftops. She’d even suggested he tell Cooper he’d gone back to New York. But Tucker had spent a lot of time lying to his brother, and he wasn’t going to do it anymore.

“And if I run into him at the grocery store, what do I say, then? ‘How’s it going? I flew back to Roanoke because they have a great sale on peaches’?”

“Please. You don’t go to the grocery store any more than Cooper does.”

“Okay, fine. But I could still run into him.”

“I’m willing to risk it.”

“I’ll tell him I’m crashing with a friend. It’s the truth.”

“You don’t lie?” She chuckled, as if this thought amused her in some way.

“Nope. I gave it up with drinking and drugs.” And sleeping around, but he didn’t mention that because he was kind of sleeping around with her.

“All right. You’re crashing with a friend.”

“Why don’t you want him to know?” he asked, genuinely curious. She shrugged, clearly not wanting to answer. Too bad. “You think he won’t approve?” he guessed.

“I don’t really care if he approves. I just don’t want him to think this is more than it is.”

“Which is . . . ?”

“I don’t know.” She winced.

“Should we talk about that?” There was nothing a guy hated worse than to have this discussion with a girl he was just having fun with. But to his surprise, it felt like more than just fun.

“No.”

“You’ll let me know if that changes?”

“Sure.”

Two weeks later, he was living the life.

It wasn’t glamorous or adventurous by any means, but he was happier than he’d been in . . . well, ever.

He spent his days writing songs, and then he’d pack it up before Nichole got home so he could start dinner for them.

She always smiled at him when she walked in the door, as if she was pleasantly surprised he was still there. Or maybe it was the fact he had dinner waiting most nights.

They fell into a blissful routine of her telling him about the strangest patient she’d had that day. Most days they were normal things, but every once in a while she had a humdinger of a story to tell him.

“He said he fell on it when he was getting dressed.” She giggled.

“They all say that,” Tucker said with a laugh. “A cell phone, though? I’m the first to admit to having trouble keeping hold of one, but I’ve never found it up there before.”

They both laughed as he browned ground beef to make sauce. She was working on a salad next to him and he felt his chest squeeze with joy at spending this moment with her. So simple but so amazing at the same time.

He couldn’t help but think this must be what a honeymoon felt like. Not being able to get enough of someone. Of course if he suddenly grew bored with the situation, he wasn’t tied to Nichole forever. Though he didn’t see himself getting bored with her anytime soon.

She had changed when she got home. He didn’t know how she did it, but she made yoga pants and a sweatshirt look sexy.

They’d decided on spaghetti because it was quick. But apparently not quick enough.

A few minutes into it, he had his arms wound around her waist while he kissed her neck. The kissing was progressing quite nicely when the doorbell rang. She tensed in his arms for a moment before she relaxed.

“We don’t have to answer,” she said with a grin.

“Wow. You’re quite the rebel.” He laughed at her while glancing over to check the pasta.

It was done, so he drained it and put it in a bowl just as she was ready to dump on the sauce. With the stove turned off, he backed her against the counter and started kissing her again.

His hand began to wander up under her sweatshirt, making her giggle.

“I think this is too hot to eat right now,” she said against his lips.

“You’re pretty hot yourself,” he teased and leaned in to kiss her again while rubbing her nipple.

He was rudely interrupted by the sound of his brother’s palm slamming up against the glass of the back patio door.

“Shit!” Nichole muttered as she pulled her shirt down.

“I think it’s too late to hide,” he said as he waved at an angry Cooper and walked to the door.

“What the hell?” Cooper greeted him when the door was open.

“Hey,” Tucker said, not coming up with anything clever to say.

Cooper stood there looking back and forth between Nichole, who had red swollen lips and mussed hair, and Tucker, who wasn’t wearing a shirt.

“What’s going on here?” He looked like a man who’d been dropped into an alternate dimension.

“We’re making spaghetti. Did you want some?” Tucker offered.

Cooper just glared at him and then looked back at Nichole.

“When you didn’t show up for dinner or call to cancel, I checked with your office. They said you left early today. I called you a few times and then decided I’d better check in. You didn’t answer the door, and I started to worry you were lying in here dead.” He looked over at Tucker again when he was done with his explanation.

“I’m not dead,” Nichole said with a smile.

“I don’t understand,” Cooper said again as he continued to look back and forth at them.

As if they had an explanation. Tucker had no clue what to tell his brother. He glanced over at Nichole, who was biting her lip and looking just as stumped.

“Tucker, can I speak with you outside for a second?” Cooper requested.

Shit.

“Sure. Let me grab a shirt. And shoes. And a coat.” He was only gone a minute, and in that time he didn’t hear Nichole say anything. Apparently, Cooper was going to blame this all on him.

Cooper walked back out the patio door. Nichole put her hand on Tucker’s arm, looking concerned. As if it were their final farewell before he headed up to the gallows.

“It’ll be fine. I’ll be right back. You can go ahead and eat without me.”

“I’ll wait,” she said, offering him a strained smile.

He leaned over and kissed her quickly.

“Thanks, baby.”

Cooper didn’t wait long. It was way too chilly for an outside meeting.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he began.

Tucker opened his mouth to answer the question, but he wasn’t given a chance to reply.

“She’s been through a lot in the last few months. She spent nearly seven years with a guy who was lying to her about who he was. She acts tough, like it doesn’t bother her, but she doesn’t need someone taking advantage of her. I can’t believe you would do this. She’s my best friend!”

“Hold up! I’m not taking advantage of her. Besides, you told me to stay away from Roslyn’s sister, and I did. You never said to stay away from Nichole.”

“I never thought I needed to. You two hate each other.” Cooper waved his hand toward the house and let it drop, as if his evidence had evaporated into thin air.

“We’ve gotten past that. It turns out we like each other plenty.” That little comment earned him an icy glare as Cooper walked in a small circle.

“What do you think is going to happen when you’re done with this?”

“I don’t know. We haven’t really discussed it. We’ve been kind of . . . busy.” Way wrong thing to say. Cooper looked like he was going to strangle him. Tucker took a step back. “She’s able to make her own decisions, Cooper. She’s not a baby. Besides, you passed.” Again, that wasn’t smart. “You’re happy now with Roslyn, Nic deserves to be happy, too.”

“She told you about us?” He looked confused.

“No. I’ve known since back then. It’s not a big deal.”

“I’m not upset that you’re seeing someone I was with. I’m upset that you’re using my best friend to keep yourself occupied, and then you’re going to go back to New York and leave me to clean up the mess when you break her heart.”

“Whoa. Nobody is breaking anyone’s heart here. We’re having a good time. No promises and no expectations.”

“She said that? No expectations?” he yelled.

“Yeah.”

“Guess what? Women
always
have expectations, you stupid shit!” Cooper shook his head.

“What do you want me to do?” It seemed like it would be easier to hear his terms.

“I want you to go back to your friend’s house and leave her alone.”

Right. He’d told Cooper he was staying at a friend’s house. He winced before answering. “The friend I’m staying with is . . .” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder toward the kitchen.

“You’re living here with her?” Cooper’s voice was nearly at a yell when Nichole slid open the door, rubbing her arms briskly from the cold.

“You might as well come in,” she said. “I can hear you from inside anyway.”

“I’m going to go for a little walk. I’ll let you two chat,” Tucker said, wussing out.

 

Nichole’s shoulders slumped as Cooper followed her into the house. Tucker had bailed. She wished she could have gone with him.

“I know what you’re thinking,” she said, raising her hand to stop him.

“Well, good; then you can tell me, because I haven’t figured it out yet.”

She sighed as she sat down at the table. “It’s just something that happened, and we’re having fun with no strings attached.”

“You’ve never had a relationship with no strings, Nic. It’s not how you are.”

“Maybe that’s how I was, but I’ve changed. I don’t want to spend a lot of time getting to know someone and then find out they lied about everything. I know Tucker. I know who he is. It’s nothing to get all bent out of shape about.”

“Until he pulls a classic Tucker move and upsets you.”

“If that happens, I’ll deal with it. I always do.”

“That’s the thing. You shouldn’t have to deal with it. You should find a nice guy who can be what you need. You shouldn’t be wasting your time on my brother, who can’t commit to anything.”

“He makes me laugh. He makes me happy. Ever since Dennis called off the wedding, I’ve been pretending I’m okay with it, but you know what? I’m pissed at him. He shouldn’t have pretended to be something he wasn’t. Tucker isn’t pretending anything. He knows he’s not marriage material and he’s honest about it. I’m okay with that right now.”

Cooper took a deep breath. “I thought you couldn’t stand him,” he said calmly.

“As you could see when you were stalking my back door, we’ve found something in common.”

“You’re really okay with this?” he asked, and she could see the concern in his eyes.

“Thank you for looking out for me. I know you think it’s your job, but I’m a big girl and Tucker’s a big boy. You have a wife and a baby on the way. You can focus on them and leave us to our own demise.”

“I’m never going to stop looking out for either of you.” He ran his hand over his hair. “I don’t think I know how to stop.”

“Well, give us a break, okay?”

“If my mother finds out, she’s going to start planning the wedding,” he warned. “You know how much she loves you.”

“Let’s not tell her, then.”

“Great. More secrets,” he complained.

“He’s going to need to go back to New York in a week or two. I’m sure this will have run its course by then. There won’t be anything to tell.”

“If you’re sure . . .”