A Wild Ride (Thompson & Sons Book 4) (11 page)

Only now he didn’t need to hesitate. There was no reason for him to be moving so slowly.

“Anytime,” Nicole encouraged. “If you haven’t forgotten how.”

“It’s not a case of forgetting,” Troy murmured. “I’ve never done this before, and I want to make sure I get it exactly right.”

She rapidly dismissed the obviously wrong answers to his “never done this before”. He’d kissed a woman before.
They’d
kissed before… Hell, they’d
done
it all before.

“Nope,” she confessed, an involuntary shiver sweeping her as his fingers trailed down her neck to tease along the edge of her V-neck shirt. Fingertips hot against her skin. “You got me on that one, Troy.
What
haven’t you done before?”

He tightened his grip and leaned forward ever so slightly. “I’ve never kissed a serious girlfriend.”

His lips brushed hers. Gently. And again. Far too softly to be the cause of her heart rate soaring as much as it did. She sounded breathless when she spoke. “Don’t worry. I’m fairly confident you can make it up as you go along.”

His tongue traced the seam of her lips for one brief moment before he pulled away again. “I don’t know. Expectations are high. Plus, I’ve got too many options. Should it be slow and sweet until I make you tremble? Or should I kiss you like we’re on fire, and the only thing that can put out the flames is to burn up all the oxygen in the room?”

Nicole leaned forward, attempting to press them together, but he resisted. He held her steady, with the hand at her neck countered by the rock-solid grip on her hip. He eased his body back half an inch, which was enough to set them brushing together, but not in full contact. Heat wrapped around them, far more seductive and nerve tingling than an outright, blatant grind.

“You’re driving me crazy,” Nicole muttered.

“Payback. And ditto.”

He’d snuck his thumb under the bottom edge of her T-shirt, and as he kissed her again, he stroked the skin at her waist. The rest of his fingers were linked through the belt loop of her jeans, and it was apparent he wasn’t going anywhere, but that small motion combined with the touch of his lips—

She was drowning in sensation. Craving more. Going wild from sensory overload triggered by two small connections.

“Kisses.” Troy spoke against her lips, breath mingling with hers so she breathed him in. As if he couldn’t bear to pull away any farther. “So many kinds,” he said.

Nicole pressed forward harder. Urging him to increase his assault.

He fisted his fingers at the back of her head, tangling them in her hair and using it to control her. The small tug of pain made her gasp even as her nipples tightened and a hard pulse set off between her legs.

“Uh-uh,” he warned. “That’s not an option tonight.”

Jeez, he really was trying to kill her. “You’re punishing me for dating other guys,” she guessed.

He shook his head, stroking the skin at her waist like a touchstone. “I’m rewarding you for saying yes to dating me.”

“I’m on board for sex,” Nicole pointed out. “We’re pretty good at it, and it’s a lot of fun.”

“It is. It’s one of my favourite things, in fact. But we’re waiting.”

The buzzing need inside her flared in protest. If they could have, her brain and body would have cried out melodramatically in unison like a heroine in an old-fashioned novel.

Nooooooooooo
.

“Tell me you’re kidding,” she pleaded.

He kissed her. Harder this time. More like the demanding and body-sating Troy she was familiar with. She clutched at him, striving to untuck his T-shirt from his jeans, but he caught her wrists and held her still. Lips moving over hers, his tongue took possession as he utterly and completely devastated her senses.

Once again, he pulled back. “Not kidding.”

Nicole dropped her forehead against his chest, breathing heavily. “You know, I’m pretty much a sure thing tonight.”

He chuckled. “Only we both want more than one night, baby.”

Damn him. He had her so mixed up she didn’t know which way she was going. “No sex—is that what you’re saying?”

“We’re dating, and I don’t fuck on the first date.”

Good lord.
“Since when?”

“Since now.”

Because it meant making her blood boil then leaving her aching. “I know you,” Nicole said. “This isn’t you.”

He hummed as he released her wrists. “Really? Sweetheart, there’re a whole lot of things you don’t know about me.”

Troy was being a bloody brick wall, and she didn’t have the energy to fight him anymore. She curled her fingers into the fabric of his shirt, clinging tightly as she looked up and met his dark-brown eyes. “Then I guess it’s a good thing we’re going to date.”

“A very good thing.”

She smoothed her palms down his shirt before taking a step back. They stood a foot apart now, the living room light shining on his face, clearly illuminating the mischief in his expression.

“You’re enjoying this,” she accused.

“Immensely.” His smile flashed even brighter, and she had to smile in return.

Nicole glanced around the room, the heated frustration inside lingering, but there was something else there as well. Curiosity at the forefront—was it crazy that she loved not knowing what he would do next?

When she glanced back, Troy was gazing at her with something unreadable in his expression. Hope? Fear? Something far more serious than she remembered seeing there before.

The odds of this thing between them working was maybe forty-sixty, and not in their favour. The only item she could completely agree with him about was how hot the sexual attraction between them burned.

Maybe skipping the sex would make it clear quicker that they were flogging a dead horse with the relationship attempt.

“Okay. No sex tonight.”

“Damn. I was looking forward to doing unspeakable things to get you to agree with me.”

A laugh bubbled up, slipping past the tension and making her shoulders relax. “And here I agreed because you were refusing to do unspeakable things to me.”

“Good point.” Troy cupped her face in his hands. “Don’t worry,” he reassured her. “We’ll get back to the dirty, unspeakable things soon enough.”

“Promises, promises.”

“Yes, a promise.”

He kissed her again, and this time Nicole didn’t try to speed them up. Instead, she used all her senses to soak in every sensation possible.

The five o’clock shadow on his jaw scratched against her skin as he fluttered kisses to her ear. His breathing grew unsteady as he traced his tongue over her skin, heated air brushing past her. Cheek to cheek, he took hold of her earlobe and sucked it into his mouth, biting down lightly.

His hands rested on her hips, while hers were pressed to his torso. Like a living rock wall against her palms, his chest rose and fell as he explored his way back to her lips. Her entire body tingled, but she wasn’t sure if it was from a lack of oxygen or the potent taste of him racing through her system.

As a first-date kiss, this one ranked
way
the hell up there.

When he pulled back, she swayed toward him, just for a second before she pressed herself back to vertical, staring into his face.

His eyes seemed unfocused, as if he was as shocked by the impact as she was.

“I should be going,” he said softly.

Nicole nodded, not trusting herself to respond. Not until he made it to the door, ready to leave. Then he turned, a more familiar teasing smile in place, even as determination shone in his eyes.

“What time do you want me to pick you up tomorrow night?” he asked.

A shiver of dread struck. They were really going to do this. They were really going to make it official and go out somewhere in public.

Oh. God.

“Yeah, I know,” he said.

“Did I say that out loud?” she asked in a panic.

He shook his head. “Your face. It pretty much matched what I was thinking.”

“We’re asking for nothing but trouble,” Nicole warned.

“Good thing we like trouble,” Troy returned. “Traders. We’ll go dancing.”

She swallowed hard and pulled in her courage. If they were going to do this, they might as well do it right. “Come for supper first. I have leftover lasagna in the freezer.”

His smile widened. “I’m going to like this dating deal.”

“It’s not
that
good of a lasagna,” Nicole deadpanned.

Instead of laughing, he stood there, his hand on the door, hesitating for far too long, his expression growing more serious until he swore.

“Ah,
fuck
it
—”

He closed the distance between them, snapping her into his arms and laying siege to her lips. This time with as much passion as they’d ever shared. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t see. All she could do was accept the rising pleasure as he controlled her senses and made her ignite from the inside out.

Suddenly his grip on her loosened, and he turned on his heel and left. The door swung shut before she’d had time to take her first gasping breath.

Nicole staggered forward, hand against the doorframe as Troy hurried to his truck, escaping as if he knew speed was vital. As if he had to leave now or he would change his mind about everything, and they’d end up naked in the next five seconds.

She raised her hand to the glass in the door, heart pounding, a smile on her lips.

It was good to know they were tormenting each other.

Troy drove straight home, still in pain by the time he pulled into his parking stall. He sat there taking deep breaths to try to clear his head.

His brain ached. His cock ached. His
body
ached from how hard he’d been clenching his muscles to stay in control as he’d kissed Nicole. Kisses only, and nothing else.

Yeah, he was a fucking hero.

It was his own fault he was suffering, yet Troy couldn’t help but accept the pain as a badge of honour.

They were going to do this—and they were going to do it right.

Except now he was in a quandary. Somehow he needed to convince Nicole they were the perfect couple. In spite of his own worries regarding the future.

The kid thing?

An icy chill raced up his spine.
Yeah
, that idea was still enough to make his blood freeze, but it wasn’t as shocking as it would’ve been a few weeks ago. He’d always considered he’d have his own family off in some foggy, nebulous future.

It seemed the future had begun to arrive.

Frankly, all the other things worried him more. The secrets he’d kept that she needed to know to see him as the right partner for the future.

Only he had no idea how to go about spilling the beans without hurting his family. It wasn’t as if he could just up and list what he’d done. Not without sounding egotistical, or seeming to condemn the people he loved.

Maybe he hadn’t thought this out as much as he should have.

Troy jogged up the stairs of the second-floor apartment he shared with Mike, dropping his keys on the table inside the door as he headed into the living room.

His step faltered as he discovered his best friend leaning against the back of the couch. Mike’s arms were crossed and he was staring at where the ceiling and the wall met, breathing heavily, as if he’d been running.

The whole keeping-secrets thing ran far too deep when it came to his friend. “Hey.”

Mike tipped his chin briefly, lips pressed into a narrow line.

Troy stopped. “Did you end up—?”

His best friend exploded off the couch, lunging forward with his arm swinging forward—hard. His fist connected with Troy’s face, spinning him around.

Troy raised his hands as he scrambled for a safe position. “What the—”

“You
shit
. I can’t believe you have the guts to come marching back in here after what you’ve done.” Mike swung again, fury in his voice.

He was too angry to do more than flail, and Troy ducked under his swing, catching hold of his friend from behind with a death grip over both his arms. “Goddammit, Mike. What the hell is wrong with you?”

An elbow jerked free, and Mike rammed it into his ribs. Troy gasped in pain as Mike whirled and tackled him to the floor. He got in another couple of solid punches before Troy used his heavier weight to get the upper hand, holding Mike down without fighting back, because he knew what this had to be about. Defending himself was one thing—but he wasn’t about to beat up his best friend.

He ended up kneeling on his friend’s arms to keep from getting his eyes poked out.

“I got word you were being an asshole to Nicole. Something about getting in her face during a social event at Traders,” Mike said, fury in his voice. “I said
no way
. I said
Troy would never think of bugging my sister
. So I go over to Nic’s, just to see if she needed a little TLC, or something, because obviously the story got twisted by the local gossips.”

He heaved his body upward, trying to break free from Troy’s grasp.

“I wasn’t being an asshole,” Troy insisted. “And if you stop trying to plant your fist in my face, I’ll let you up so we can talk about this rationally.”

“There is no rational. I
saw
you at Nic’s place. You were kissing her, you bastard, so now I’m going to rip your throat out.”