Perfect Together (16 page)

He grinned as he thought about where he and Macy were going tonight. Miniature golf. He shuddered at the thought. Yet he’d agreed because doing anything with Macy was something he knew he’d enjoy.

No sooner had he dressed than he heard a knock on his door. He opened it to find the woman who’d been on his mind. Macy stood before him, petite compared to his six-foot frame, wearing patterned shorts, a denim blouse tied over a white tank, and a pair of white Toms on her feet.

“Hey, all set to go?” she asked. Her gaze slid over him. “What are you wearing?” she asked, her smile turning downward.

He swallowed a laugh at her look of dismay. “My clothes.”

She scowled at him. “But you’re not going to be comfortable outside in those pants and that shirt.”

“You mean I’m overdressed for miniature golf?” he asked, unable to suppress a grin at how cute he found her.

“That too. I can wait downstairs while you change.”

He shook his head. “Not happening.”

Lines formed between her brows. “Why? We went shopping for all those clothes. Just throw on a pair of cargo shorts and we’ll be good to go.”

He braced one hand on the door frame and stared down
at her, doing his best to ignore the swell of her breasts above the tank top. “Macy Donovan, are you embarrassed to be seen with a well-dressed man?”

“No!” She sputtered at him. “If you want to be hot and sweaty all night, be my guest. I was just trying to look out for you.”

“And I decided I’d rather be myself.”

“Fine.” She raised her hands in defeat. “Are you ready to go?”

He nodded and slipped his hand through hers. “Come on, hot stuff.”

He pulled her into the hall, shutting his door behind them, and started for the stairs.

Macy stopped, planting her heels and refusing to walk farther. “What’s going on? Why are you flirting with me?” she asked.

He met her gaze and shrugged. “I’m just acting naturally around you.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying I bring out the flirt in you?”

He couldn’t contain yet another grin. He’d smiled more in the last five minutes than in the last six months. “Could be.”

“Well, rein it in. You’re trying to win your ex back and tonight we’re just killing time while she’s at Sam’s parents’ house for dinner,” she reminded him, turning away so he couldn’t see what he felt sure would be the hurt look on her face.

Even though they both knew what their time together was all about, and he appreciated her willingness to hang out with him, there was something between them.

Or
could be if not for Tyler’s complicated life. At least she was smart enough to remember that.

Macy was the one who’d told him why he couldn’t go out looking to run into Nicole tonight in the first place. She’d also tried to encourage him to go back to New York and not set himself up for further hurt. Or embarrassment, she’d gently added. The last thing he wanted was this woman’s pity, but he couldn’t tell her the truth: that he’d already accepted that things were over between him and Nicole before he’d been coerced into coming up here to
win
her back.

If he hadn’t been, seeing the new Nicole would have convinced him. What he didn’t understand was why
this
woman, who was even more outspoken than his ex-fiancée, who dressed more provocatively, and who was even more comfortable being contrary than the
new
Nicole, revved him up so damned much.

His mother would take one look at Macy and have Tyler committed, all the while reminding him that his feelings for this woman were inappropriate because she wouldn’t fit into his world any more than he, in his khakis and polo shirt with long rolled-up sleeves, fit into hers.

“You’re right,” he told her. “But I just want us to relax and have a good time. Isn’t that what you told me to do while I’m here?”

“Yes. Just don’t do it by flirting.”

“Fine. I’ll try to behave.” But it wouldn’t be easy, because she was adorable and so easy to be around, even when she was giving him a hard time—something people in his real life rarely did. It was refreshing.
She
was refreshing. He was actually looking forward to miniature golf, of all things.

His
cell phone buzzed in his pocket. Setting his jaw, he ignored it, and promised himself he’d focus on this woman who made him feel good and try to ignore his problems, if just for this one night.

At his parents’ dining room table, Sam hid a raging
erection beneath his napkin and under the tablecloth, suffered through a dessert he didn’t taste, and barely paid attention to the conversation surrounding them. Finally, finally he and Nicole were the first to say their good-byes.

He sped home, daring one of his own to pull him over, and parked in Nicole’s driveway. Once they reached her house, the polite dance they’d been doing around each other ended. She closed the door and was in his arms in an instant.

This wasn’t the smooth seduction of the first time. He sealed his lips against hers and backed her to the nearest wall, dying to be inside her again. She threaded her hands through his hair and held on as he devoured her mouth. He needed her more than he needed air to breathe, and as he wasn’t used to the feeling, he ignored it in favor of the hot sensations that were much more pleasurable.

She hooked one foot around his leg and pressed her lower body against his. Knowing exactly what she needed, he ground his hips into hers, nestling his cock into the warm vee of her legs.

A low moan escaped her throat and he trailed a wet kiss down her cheek and sucked on the flesh of her neck, so when she let out another sexy sound, he felt the vibrations against his mouth.

She slid her hands beneath his shirt, and the feel of her
soft fingers trailing over his abdomen made him shudder and grow harder. He let out a curse, lifted her into his arms, and headed for the bedroom upstairs.

“You like this caveman thing.” Nicole laughed, obviously feeling playful.

“If I were a caveman, you’d be over my shoulder.”

“The carrying thing, then.”

“I like carrying
you
.” This routine wasn’t something he’d done before, but she was right. With Nicole, he always seemed to be impatient, wanting to be naked and inside her.

She grinned, settling her face into the crook of his neck, first kissing him, then nuzzling with her nose and mouth, and finally taking a nip with her teeth.

He felt the kick of that bite in his groin.

He tossed her onto the bed and her eyes opened wide, then glazed over with aching desire. He pulled off his shirt. She took the hint and worked at her own clothes until she lay spread out before him. Instead of rushing to claim her, he decided there were other things he wanted to do first.

He braced his hands on her thighs and lowered his head, breathing in her musky scent before sliding his tongue over her sex. Her hips arched upward in a silent plea for more. Yeah, that he could do, he thought, and began to earnestly work at giving her pleasure. It didn’t take long for him to learn her body, what she liked: long, leisurely laps of his tongue around her damp folds, and what really sent her over the edge—a nip directly on her clit.

He’d never tasted anything sweeter, never wanted to give someone pleasure more. He was solely focused on Nicole, her short pants of breath, the soft cries when she edged closer to coming. He slid one finger deep inside her and she
came apart beneath his hand and mouth, and a deep sense of satisfaction filled him.

He prolonged the sensations until her muscles relaxed and then he kissed his way up her lithe body, ending with her lips, letting her taste herself on his mouth.

His erection was rock hard against her thigh, and he braced his arms and lifted himself over her. “I need to be inside you.”

Her eyes dilated even more. “So what are you waiting for?”

“Not a damned thing.” He kissed her deeply as he raised his hips and thrust deep. She clenched him tight in her hot body, skin to skin, and realization dawned.

Shit. “Condom.” He started to pull out quickly but her fingernails dug into his shoulders, stopping him.

“I’m on the pill and we—I always used protection.” Nicole stared up at Sam, unwilling to use Tyler’s name while she felt Sam’s thickness in every part of her body.

He expelled a long breath. “Same. Especially since my sister got pregnant . . .” He hung his head, drawing an obvious breath, and then, without warning, he pressed his hips against her, filling her even more.

Small pulses of desire electrified her, from where their bodies joined so intimately to the farthest reaches of her fingertips and even into her throat. The man was so potent and each time they came together, he breached another protective wall she’d tried to erect against him.

Without a condom, she had an even more difficult time differentiating between sensation and emotion. She’d have to sort her head out later, but right now, looking into his gorgeous hazel eyes so intent on
her
, she didn’t want to think at all.

And
when he began to move inside her, his thick erection spiking her arousal, her brain shorted out and pure passion took over. His thickness aroused nerve endings she didn’t know she had, and her sudden orgasm came quickly and fast, taking her by surprise.

“So responsive,” he said as she came back to herself.

“Not usually.” The words slipped out and he grinned, obviously pleased.

He pulled out and despite just having come, she felt empty until he flipped her over. “On your knees,” he whispered in her ear.

Arousal flooded her anew and she complied. He placed his hand on her back and she lowered her head to the pillow as he slid back into her once more.

“Oh God.” He was deeper now, and she couldn’t hold back a moan.

“You feel amazing.”

So did he.

He pulled out and thrust back into her. She closed her eyes and his smooth strokes ignited her nerve endings, stimulating her everywhere. With his body cocooned around hers, taking her, grinding into her over and over, she felt consumed. Owned, even. And as he picked up a faster rhythm, she began the steady climb from being sated once more.

“I’m close, Nic,” he said, his rich voice stroking her body and her heart. His fingers bit into her sides. “Come with me,” he said, his hips slamming hard against hers.

His rough groan of completion set her aflame and she shattered, her body splintering into tiny shards around his. And as she came back together, she was afraid she’d lost a piece of herself to this very contained man.

He
collapsed on top of her, eventually rolling off but never breaking contact as he wrapped himself around her. His rapid heartbeat thrummed hard against her back and they lay in silence as she caught her own breath.

“How come?” he asked, breaking the quiet around them.

“How come what?”

“If you’re on the pill, how come you used protection with your ex?” Sam asked.

A valid question, but not an easy one. Not now, although it had seemed so simple at the time she’d made the decision.

“Even though it’s never been said, I don’t think my parents are faithful to one another.” She’d barely admitted this truth to herself over the years. Even when her mother asked her what love had to do with anything, Nicole hadn’t wanted to face what had always been on the edges of her mind.

She swallowed hard. “I was on the pill before Tyler and I started sleeping together, and once we did, he didn’t ask about protection, he just used it, so I didn’t offer the information.”

Because she hadn’t trusted him enough, she realized now. “If my parents weren’t faithful to each other, I didn’t think I should risk it for myself.”

Yet she’d taken that risk with Sam. Nicole was afraid to question what that leap of faith could mean. And from his silence, she took it to mean he had no interest in finding out either.

Nicole soaked in a hot bath in her new claw-footed
tub. After her night with Sam, her body ached in the best possible way. She leaned her head back and let her mind drift to the many aspects of the man she was coming to know. He could be tender and sweet one minute, hard and demanding the next. She hoped he’d stick with her long enough for her to learn more.

Her eyes drifted shut and she thanked her lucky stars she’d met him before her wedding and was grateful she’d found the strength to end her engagement. If not, she wouldn’t have spent last night in her bed. With Sam. She smiled and sank deeper into the bubbled water.

She trailed the loofah over her calves and her knees and up her thighs before picking up the handheld shower massager to clear the soap. The sweet scent of strawberry soap prickled her senses. And as the water teased her clit, arousal swept
through her. With thoughts of Sam on her mind, she settled the light spray between her thighs, placing just the right amount of pressure on her sex, creating a delicious friction, before easing one of her fingers between her slick folds.

She moaned at the same time her phone rang, jarring her into awareness. She glanced down and caught sight of Sam’s name, and her stomach flipped in awareness and embarrassment. She dried her hand on a towel and slid the bar across the screen to answer.

“Hey,” she said, hoping her tone didn’t give her away.

“Hi.”

His voice oozed sex and sin, and the heaviness between her thighs increased tenfold. She drew her knees up and squeezed tight.

“What are you up to?” he asked.

She looked down at the shower massager, a reminder of how close she’d been to bringing herself pleasure she’d rather he give her. “Umm . . . I’m in the tub.”

He expelled a harsh breath. “You shouldn’t have told me that.”

She grinned, glad she wasn’t the only one affected. “Then you shouldn’t have slipped out before I woke up.” But he’d been a gentleman and left a note, which enabled her to fall back to sleep without believing he’d done a one-eighty in his thinking or pulled a guy stunt and carelessly skipped the morning after.

It almost made her trust that he was capable of more than he thought when it came to relationships, but he’d been up front with her. So she knew better.