A Taste of Honey (14 page)

He turned to her, expectant.

“Can you do me a favor?” She stopped inches away, arms wrapped around herself to ward off the late fall chill. She told herself it wasn’t especially sweet when Nick pulled her close and chafed her arms and buried his face in her hair.

“Anything, babe.”

Kelly was momentarily speechless. No man had ever called her babe, and until this moment, she’d been certain she’d gut-punch any man who tried.

Then she remembered her purpose. “Can we keep this quiet? I mean, not tell your brothers or anything?”

His hands on her arms stilled, and he pulled away to look at her.

She rushed on. “You know our parents. If your mom or my dad gets wind of this, they’ll misunderstand—start planning the wedding or nonsense like that. I’m leaving town in a few weeks, and we both know this can’t turn into anything serious.” Even as she said it a tiny voice in the back of her brain wondered why the hell not. She dismissed it as an overload of hormones from all the orgasms.

Funny, she thought he’d be relieved. But from what she could see of his expression in the dimness of the streetlights, he looked annoyed.

Nick’s grip tightened around her upper arms for a split second. Then all tension faded from his hands and his face, and his lips quirked up into a half smile. “You’re right. It’s best if nobody knows.”

“Including Mike and Tony,” she pressed, knowing full well how close he was to his brothers.

“Including Mike and Tony.”

Kelly smiled in relief, and in the next second her breath left her as he kissed her hard, turned, and walked to his truck. She raised her arms and stretched, feeling gloriously fatigued in every sinew. As she tracked the glow of taillights down the block, she ignored the little voice warning her that her feelings for Nick were anything but casual.

I
am a lucky, lucky man
, Nick mused on the short drive back to his house. It was almost too good to be true, Kelly proposing a secret, no-strings fling, with no hard feelings once it was time for her to go. It was just the thing, as his brothers put it, to get him back into the saddle.

He watched for familiar cars, but this time of night, the streets were deserted so there was little risk of anyone seeing him out this late and asking questions. And if anyone did he could just tell them he was over in Truckee getting a piece of ass.

He snapped on the kitchen light and winced at the clock. Twelve-thirty. He had to be up in less than six hours. The sacrifices a man had to make for good sex.

No, not just good sex,
he thought as he undressed and slipped into his king-size bed. Awesome, unbelievable, soul-shaking sex. The mere memory of it made him hard as a spike, when by rights his cock should be wrung out like an old washrag.

Never in his wildest fantasies about Kelly—and he’d had quite a few over the years—had he ever imagined she’d be so hot, so responsive. He’d never had a woman come just from having him suck her tits.

Funny how a woman so responsive could think she was only good for one a night. The men in her past must have been completely inept. His lips curled in a rueful smile. He had no doubt he was not nearly as smart and sophisticated as the men Kelly had dated, but he had a few special talents of his own.

He closed his eyes, revisiting the memory of Kelly clenched tight and wet around him. It had felt so good at the end, not having to hold back, not worrying that it was too much, too rough. Knowing that he could pound into her with abandon and still have her begging for more.

He groaned and squeezed his now-throbbing hard-on. Shit. He wished for the thousandth time that he’d stayed at Kelly’s. Even without a condom there was a lot of stuff they could do that would relieve his current state. But spending the night was out of the question. There was something about sleeping with a woman, holding her while she slept, that felt too intimate, more intimate even than sex, and that level of intimacy wasn’t part of their agreement.

But that didn’t stop him from thinking about delving under the covers with Kelly. Burying his head between her thighs and licking her clit until she came against his mouth. Of waking up in the morning to the soft suction of her mouth on his cock.

He pumped himself furiously now, on the edge. His back arched off the mattress as he exploded, wishing it were Kelly’s warm mouth receiving his come instead of his hand.

He went to the bathroom and cleaned himself up, hoping that now he could relax enough to sleep. Returning to bed, he flopped over on his stomach and stuffed a down pillow under his head. He couldn’t afford to let this thing with Kelly get out of control. As far as he could tell, sex was the only area in which they were compatible, and he couldn’t allow it to interfere with other, more important areas of his life.

It was bad enough that he was breaking his vow not to date anyone from town. But, he reasoned, since Kelly was only here for a short time, she didn’t really count.

This was just sex, nothing more. Even though Kelly was everything he wanted in a woman—funny, beautiful, not to mention wickedly smart—he’d learned the hard way not to expect more from a woman so far out of his league. But he could have a hell of a lot of fun with her while it lasted.

Kelly hummed softly to herself as she stepped out of the shower the following night. She hoped her shampoo was powerful enough to eradicate the scent of frying oil that no doubt clung to her hair. She rubbed lotion on her legs and pulled her robe around her, pondering what to wear.

Her body hummed in anticipation. She had been more excited than she wanted to admit earlier that evening when Nick had stopped by Sullivan’s for a quick beer and actually passed her a note along with his bar tab. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you,” it read. “I’ll be over tonight after you close. Wear something that’s easy to tear off.”

The last part made her chuckle even as it sent heat pooling in her belly. Even though Nick was so good humored and easy-going, there was a darker, more commanding side that she had glimpsed for the first time last night. She could easily imagine Nick tearing off her clothes before throwing her down on the bed and ravishing her like some pirate in a romance novel.

Hmmmm. A pirate and his lusty wench. That might be a fun game…

She stood in front of her closet. Since her wardrobe leaned more toward the practical rather than sexy and tearable, her choices were limited.

In the end, she slid into a pair of cream-colored, lace-trimmed bikini panties and a matching bra, which she covered with her blue terry cloth robe. The robe wasn’t sexy by a long shot, but it had the advantage of being easy to get out of.

She barely heard the ring of the phone over the roar of her hair dryer. She glanced at the clock. After midnight. Her stomach clenched as the phone rang for a third time. She prayed it wasn’t Nick calling to cancel.

But who else would it be? Bracing herself, she snatched up the phone on her dresser.

“Kelly? It’s me, Karen.”

Kelly sighed. The only thing worse than Nick canceling on her. Her sister calling to harass her.

“Dad’s fine, Karen,” Kelly said abruptly.

“Have you even been over to see him today?”

Typical. No pretense of civility. As usual her sister launched directly into attack mode.

“Yes. I went with him to his physical therapist and spoke to his doctor. Then we had lunch and played cards. After that, I went to Sully’s and managed to run the place without burning it down. And now I’m really tired and want to go to bed.”

“You only stayed for three hours,” Karen accused.

“I had an appointment with the head of the ER at Tahoe Forest. Once Dad is a little more mobile I’d like to do a few shifts a week if I can.”

“I know that you think taking care of Dad is beneath you,” Karen snapped, “but just because you’re some big important doctor doesn’t mean you don’t have an obligation to your family.”

Kelly closed her eyes and felt her shoulders knot, the way they did every time she spoke to her sister. “Karen, helping out at the hospital isn’t going to interfere with running Sullivan’s. Besides, Dad’s going crazy having me underfoot all the time.”

“I can’t believe you’re thinking of working at the hospital while you’re there. Don’t you ever think about anyone but yourself and your precious career? I don’t know why I’m even surprised. You always got to do whatever you wanted, always got everything handed to you.”

Kelly had heard this all before and didn’t bother defending herself. It did no good to remind Karen that she’d had no interest in going to college or that their parents had happily financed cosmetology school, which had helped launch Karen into her very lucrative career as a hairstylist.

“Not to mention that you couldn’t be bothered to come home when Mom was sick. It was up to me and Dad then to take care of her and watch her die.”

That cut Kelly to the core. “When Mom got sick I was in the second year of my residency!”

“Cold comfort for a woman dying of cancer, not to mention Dad.”

The well of guilt Kelly held in her gut threatened to overflow and consume her. It was that, as much as her love for her father, that had compelled her to come back to Donner Lake and help her dad.

It had meant giving up an incomparable opportunity in New York City, but Karen would never acknowledge Kelly’s sacrifice. Kelly clenched the phone in her hand as Karen’s last barb hung in the air. “Is there something you wanted, or did you just call to remind me of what a horrible daughter I am?”

“Actually, I need you to call the insurance company to let them know you’re handling everything. I wasted an hour trying to deal with them today.”

“And God knows you have more important things to do. Like give a spiral perm.” Kelly winced at her own bitchy tone. But she’d learned a long time ago that if she didn’t fight back, Karen would keep clawing until Kelly was all but eviscerated.

“Fuck you, Kelly. Other people have important lives, too, even if you don’t think so.”

“Love you too, Sis.” Kelly slammed the phone down in its cradle, wondering why, after all these years, her sister still had the power to get under her skin. Maybe because somewhere in the far reaches of her memory, Kelly remembered a time when they’d gotten along, a time that existed before Karen had inexplicably decided her younger sister was the enemy. Why couldn’t they, just once, have a normal, civilized—friendly even—conversation like other sisters?

A heavy knock sounded at her door, and Kelly couldn’t mask her foul mood as she flung it open.

Misinterpreting her glare, Nick stepped back. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want.”

Kelly shook her head and pulled him into her house. “I do want this,” she said, and truly meant it.

She let him in and slammed the door to let off some steam. Nick pulled her into a kiss, and Kelly felt her tension abate marginally at the feel of his tongue pressing sweetly against hers.

She commanded herself to relax as she twined her fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck. Forced herself to focus on the thick, silky strands against her fingers, on the mint-tinged taste of his tongue in her mouth. But even the skillful strokes of his tongue weren’t enough to erase the awful guilt and frustration her sister’s words had conjured.

Abruptly he pulled away. “What’s wrong? Do you want me to go?”

Kelly blew out a sigh, clutching the lapels of his leather jacket as she beat her head against his chest a few times. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled into the fabric of his denim work shirt. She took three deep breaths, inhaling the fresh scent of laundry soap and Nick’s own spicy sandalwood-scented skin. “I don’t want you to go, I’m just having a hard time relaxing,” she confessed.

“Well there goes the football player and cheerleader fantasy I had planned,” he said.

Kelly’s head snapped up. “Are you serious?” Until last night, she’d never been much into role playing, but she had to admit it had been pretty fun.

One big hand came up to encircle the back of her neck, and Kelly arched in pleasure as broad callused fingers stroked and kneaded the rigid tendons. “I think you need something a little different tonight.” He continued unraveling the tension in her neck with firm strokes. “Why don’t you tell me what’s up?”

He paused in his massage therapy to take off his jacket, depositing it onto a chair as he led her over to the couch. She bit back her protest at the loss of his warm hands on her skin. He turned her away from him and brought both hands to her shoulders, kneading the stiffly set muscles.

“I talked to my sister right before you got here,” she said, her head falling forward to give him better access to the stiff muscles of her shoulders and neck.

“How is Karen?”

“Still as big a bitch as ever.” Her spine went rigid as she remembered their conversation. “Really, in the scheme of it, it’s no big deal. But she just makes me feel so, so—”

“Shitty?” Nick offered.

“Exactly. She says awful things that I know are unfair, but every time I revert to that stupid thirteen-year-old dying for her sister to like her.”

“I remember she was pretty hard on you.”

Kelly had a flash of being a high school sophomore. Her sister, four years older, was a junior. Kelly remembered, on more than one occasion, sitting alone in the cafeteria while Karen and her posse of friends sat at another table laughing and snickering. “Karen always hated that I got attention because I was smart.” She told Nick what Karen said about Kelly’s attitude and about their mother. As her anger rekindled, she did her best to blink back her tears of guilt and frustration. He pulled her back against his chest, and she leaned into him, savoring the feeling of comfort. “Do people think I’m really like that? That self-centered and elitist?”

“Come on, Kelly,” he murmured, pressing a soft kiss against her cheek, “it’s like you said. Karen is insecure, not to mention a bitch by nature. You were special, and she resented that. Your brains made her feel stupid, not you. All of us feel stupid next to someone like you. We can’t help it.”

“I hate that!” she exploded. “Resenting me for making you feel stupid is like me hating Heidi Klum because I’d never be chosen for the
Sports Illustrated
swimsuit issue. We’re both freaks of nature.”

“Hey, I never said I resented you. I just feel dumb next to you. But then, I’m pretty sure no one’s ever going to get me confused with Einstein.”

She turned and smacked him on the shoulder. “You’re dyslexic, not dumb, and I hate it when you talk like that.”

“Hey, we’re talking about your baggage, not mine.” Nick’s voice had a new edge she hadn’t heard before.

“Okay, fine. Then maybe we should talk about how I haven’t been there for my family when they needed me. My mom—”

He gave her a hard look. “You think your mom would have wanted you to risk your career to come home and watch her die?”

Kelly just shrugged. She’d always felt, and Karen had eagerly fostered the belief, that her mom had never forgiven Kelly for not coming home in time to say good-bye.

“Nobody knew she was going to go so fast. We all thought she had more time. Your mom was so proud of you when you got into med school, there’s no way she wanted you to jeopardize that.”

This was a surprise to Kelly. She’d always had the impression that her mom had regarded her as something of a genetic anomaly. “I never thought she really cared one way or the other,” she murmured.

Nick kissed her forehead. “She used to brag about you all the time. But I already knew how great you were. If it wasn’t for you, I would have never graduated from high school.”

Her mom had been proud of her. She was going to have to tuck that piece of information away in her heart and reexamine it later.

Right now she was focused on Nick, who had managed, with his warm hands and reassuring words, to talk her out of her sour mood and make her tension disappear. She felt relaxed, safe, content. As his fingers dipped under the lapel of her robe the first faint twinges of arousal pulsed between her thighs.