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BOOK: DevilishlyHot
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Bobby reached for her left shoe, carefully and slowly wiggling it off her frozen foot. Her toes were painfully red, which was a relief when compared to what she thought she might find, and now they throbbed almost unbearably as heat seeped into them. But no frostbite. She’d take the agony.
“Where were you?” he asked again, after he’d disappeared into the bedroom and returned with a thick, soft blanket. She accepted it, not sure what to make of Bobby’s attentiveness. God knows, he hadn’t been that way for so long. Now, when things were over, it seemed strange to finally receive his attention.
“I was—” she hesitated to answer, not because she was afraid of hurting Bobby. He was with Ally now, after all. And she knew now he had been for a while.
But what was the point of talking about Nick? It was over before it began, and saying anything now just seemed senseless. And painful in a way that hurt far more than Bobby’s betrayal.
“You were with that guy from the play, weren’t you?”
Annie blinked, surprise making the answer for her. “Yes. How did you know?”
Bobby smiled. That perfect all-American smile. But this time, Annie thought there was a hint of sadness here, despite the wide display of pearly whites.
“It was impossible to miss.”
Annie blinked again, utterly stunned that somewhere during the events of the past twenty-four hours, Bobby had suddenly become so observant, so aware.
She couldn’t help herself, she laughed, all the emotions of the past day and a half—heck, from the moment she met Nick—bubbling to the surface.
Bobby regarded her, his brows drawn together in confused consternation.
“I’m sorry,” she finally said, getting her giggling under control. “I just can’t believe you noticed his reaction given the position
you
were in.”
Bobby winced, then said sheepishly. “You never should have had to find out about Ally and me that way.”
She shrugged, amazed that still she felt no pain over it. “It was a long time coming.”
“Still, not my finest moment.”
“No,” she agreed, but again she couldn’t be mad. At least he’d taken that moment. Bobby had gone for what he wanted and she wished she could do that same.
Instead, she had to settle for one night and now she had to walk away. Not that she had any other options now, anyway.
Sneaking away while Nick was in the shower was sure to have ended things anyway. She was sure Nick considered her a total coward now. Leaving without a good-bye, or even a note. She was sure Nick was pretty darned disgusted.
Yet despite knowing Nick was gone, she couldn’t stop herself from asking, “So you could tell that Nick was interested in me?”
“Oh yeah. He had that possessive, ready-to-fight-for-your-honor look. You could just see he really cared about you.”
She breathed in deeply at his bittersweet words.
“And you had a look of your own.”
“I did?”
“Definitely. Who is he?”
Annie hesitated again, but then decided it couldn’t hurt to tell Bobby who he was. “A detective. He’s been at the magazine checking into some strange occurrences.”
“Strange occurrences? You never mentioned that. Did you?”
Annie smiled. There was a glimpse of the Bobby she knew.
“No. I don’t know much about any of it,” she said, her smile fading. Liar. You total liar.
“You really like him, don’t you, Annie?”
She blinked, forcing her guilt aside. Just like she always did. She opened her mouth to deny it, but couldn’t say the words. She simply nodded.
“Then I’m glad we both decided to take some risks,” he smiled a little self-deprecating. “Some risks are stupider than others. But I think we both needed to shake things up a little, didn’t we?”
She squeezed his fingers back, giving him a shaky smile.
“When did you get so deep?”
He tilted his head, pondering. “Probably when I took that deep POV acting class with Professor Dunlevy. Remember that one where I had to stay in the point of view of an ostrich for three days?”
Annie stared at him for a moment, then just smiled. Now that was definitely the Bobby she knew.
But their shared moment of appreciation was interrupted by an abrupt rap on the apartment door.
Bobby rose. “I’ll let him in?”
“How do you even know it’s him?”
He gave her his best wise look. “You just said yourself, I’m deep.”
Annie didn’t have the heart to tell him deep didn’t mean clairvoyant.
Chapter Twenty-one
N
ick supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised, but he was, when the door to Annie’s apartment opened, and Bobby stood on the other side.
“Um, hello,” he managed to say without sounding totally blindsided. “Is Annie here?”
Bobby nodded, an almost smug smile on his lips. “Yeah, come on in.”
Nick didn’t respond except to step inside the apartment. Did that self-satisfied little grin mean that Bobby and Annie had decided to reconcile? Was that the face of the man who knew he got the girl? Surely Annie wouldn’t take this idiot back after what happened last night, both at the theater and afterward, with him at his apartment.
If she did take this turkey back, it was because she was afraid to take the chance and be with Nick. And he planned to tell her just that. Bobby did not deserve Annie. Plain and simple. And Annie didn’t really want to be with this blond doofus anyway.
And he planned to tell her just that. He strode down the hallway toward the living room. He was not going to let Annie give in to this guy. She spent too much of her life giving in to those around her. He wasn’t going to let her do that again, giving in to a man who definitely did not deserve her.
When he stepped into the living room and spotted Annie curled on the sofa, wrapped in a comforter, looking so young and bedraggled and miserable, all his intentions of telling her to stand up for herself disappeared.
Instead he stopped in the entryway, suddenly not sure what to say at all. Was he just barging in here to bully her like everyone else did?
“Hi,” she finally said, when it became clear that he just planned to stand and stare at her.
“Hi.” He took a step closer. “Are you okay?”
“Practically frozen, but yes, I’m okay.”
He walked closer, wanting desperately to hold her. To ... comfort her and soothe away that sad, bewildered expression from her face.
But he stopped a few feet from the sofa, pretty certain she wouldn’t welcome his touch.
Instead he asked, “Why did you leave like that?”
She pulled the comforter tighter around her, whether in an unconscious gesture to protect herself or not, he wasn’t sure.
“Because I knew if I didn’t leave while you were in the shower, you would come back and convince me to stay.”
Convince me to stay.
Those words certainly seemed to validate his concerns. Was he just another person in Annie’s life, coercing, pushing, bullying her into doing something she didn’t want to do?
That wasn’t what he wanted to do to her. He wanted her to be with him because that was truly what she wanted. Nick believed she cared about him in the same way he cared about her, but she had to make her own decisions on what she wanted.
“I—I just wanted to make sure you got back here all right.”
She grimaced down to where her feet were hidden under the covers. “My toes are hating me, but yes, I made it unscathed.”
He nodded, not wanting to leave with that being all he had to say, but suddenly his plotted-out speech about how she was making a huge mistake letting this relationship go before she even gave it a chance, and how he planned to stand right there until she realized her mistake, just seemed like another way of making Annie submit. As hard as it was going to be, he had to let her make her own decision about him and about having a relationship with him.
“Good,” he said, shoved his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, uncertain what else to say.
“But there is no way you came all this way, in the snow, just for that,” said a male voice from behind him.
Nick turned to see Bobby coming out of the bedroom. He hadn’t even noticed the man had gone in there, he’d been so concerned with Annie.
Bobby looked calm, unconcerned as he walked into the kitchen. Of course, why wouldn’t he? He was back in his apartment, with his girlfriend, while Nick stood here like a flustered fool.
Of course this was entertaining to him. He’d gotten Annie back, and as far as Nick was concerned, that made this particular play a tragedy.
“Okay,” Nick said after a few moments of listening to Bobby moving around the kitchen. “I guess I should go.”
Annie opened her mouth, whether to say “okay” or to say to “no, stay,” Nick didn’t know, because Bobby appeared back in the room.
“Sorry to interrupt,” he said, “but I’m going to head out now. I just wanted to see if it’s okay to come back over on Monday to get the rest of my stuff.”
Annie nodded. “Of course.”
Nick turned to look at the other man, for the first time realizing there was a suitcase by the bedroom door, and a backpack slung over the man’s shoulder.
Nick’s tense muscles, muscles he didn’t even know he held so taut, went weak. He almost felt the need to collapse against the wall.
Annie wasn’t taking Bobby back. Bobby was leaving.
Bobby actually extended a hand to him then. “Good to meet you. Sorry it was in such an—awkward way.”
Nick looked down at the other man’s hand, then accepted it. Hell, he wouldn’t have traded that awkward meeting for anything, although he didn’t say that.
Bobby then did a silly little salute to Annie.
“Remember,” he said with that toothy white smile on his lips, “we finally took some risks.”
Nick didn’t really follow what the man was saying, but Annie nodded.
“We took some risks,” she agreed.
Bobby grabbed his suitcase and headed down the hallway to the apartment door. Nick heard it open, then click closed behind him.
He turned back to Annie, who still sat swaddled in her comforter looking just as dazed as Nick felt.
Nick started to ask if she was okay, but the apartment door opened again. Bobby came back into the room, giving them an awkward wave and sheepish grin.
“I just forgot my coat,” he said, pointing to his jacket hanging on the back of the chair at the computer desk in the corner.
“Sorry,” he said, snatching it up and waving it in the air like a trophy as he headed back to the door.
Both Nick and Annie watched him leave, before looking back to each other.
They both laughed.
“So you aren’t getting back together with him,” Nick said.
Annie shook her head. “No, absolutely not.”
Nick nodded, wandering over to the sofa. Tentatively he sat down, leaving space between them.
“I thought when I saw he was here that maybe you decided to reconcile.”
She shook her head, smiling like that was the most ludicrous thing she’d ever heard.
“Then why? Why did you run away?”
“I—I just felt like it was something I had to do. I am worried about Finola and her reaction. I’m worried about you wanting to force the issue by telling her.”
Nick nodded. “I know. I don’t understand why you are so afraid of her, but I do know you are.”
Annie sighed. “I wish I could say something to make it make sense to you, but that’s just the way it is.”
Some of Nick’s relief at discovering she wasn’t with Bobby faded. “So you are saying there is no chance of us being together because of your boss.”
That reason seemed so ridiculous to him, but he knew it was perfectly valid to Annie.
Annie surprised him by shaking her head. “No, that’s not what I’m saying. But I do need you to accept some terms, that is if you are really serious about us being a couple.”
Nick frowned. Terms? But he found himself saying, “Okay, tell me.”
 
Annie was a little surprised, both at him and herself. But she guessed Bobby’s talk about risks had made her realize she did have to take some. It wasn’t as if these feelings for Nick were going to go away.
Heaven knew she’d done a pretty miserable job of staying away from him thus far. But she did need to ask a couple of things of him that would keep them safe. Or as safe as possible.
She sat up, turning toward him on the sofa.
“I’m crazy about you,” she said.
Nick smiled at that. “Well, we’re even there, because I’m pretty damned crazy about you too.”
“And I know you don’t understand my wariness toward Finola, but it’s how I feel, so for this to work between us, we can’t reveal anything about our relationship to her.”
She could see from Nick’s frown, he still wanted to know why. To know what she feared.
“Nick, she is a very jealous and demanding person, and it’s hard enough to work for her without our relationship making her behave even worse.”
That was the best answer she could give him, and to her surprise, he accepted it.
“Okay. We don’t tell her about our relationship.”
Annie smiled, relieved that one term was accepted, although the gesture didn’t last, because she knew her next request was the one that Nick might not be able to accept. But for her, it was the only way they could possibly be together.
“And,” she pulled in a deep breath, “I need you to stop investigating the missing persons cases at
HOT!
”
Nick didn’t respond for a moment. In fact, he didn’t even react. But then after a few moments, he stood up and Annie thought for sure he was going to walk out.
But instead, he paced across the room, then stopped and turned back to her.
“Why?”
Because it’s too dangerous, she thought, but she knew she couldn’t tell him that. That would reveal she knew so much more than she was sharing. Instead she told another truth, just not the whole truth.
“If you are still coming to the magazine, you will see Finola and she won’t let go of her interest in you. She will still pursue you and that will put us in a position where the truth about us has to come out.”
Nick fell silent again, but she could see in his intelligent brown eyes that he was weighing whether his own happiness was worth the lives of so many missing people and their suffering families. It wasn’t, of course. Annie knew he’d probably have to put his work and this investigation first, but he managed to surprise her again.
“What if another detective takes the case?”
Annie didn’t want another person to be at risk, but right now all she could think about was keeping Nick safe. Keeping him away from Finola and the awful truths that were hidden behind all the glamour and beauty and success of
HOT!
magazine.
“That is fine,” she said, guilt pulling at her chest, but again, she knew she had to keep Nick safe.
She rose from the couch, shuffling to him, her blanket wrapped around her like a long cloak. She stopped in front of him, staring up at him, his dark eyes and beautiful mouth.
“I know I’m asking a lot, but it’s what I have to do to feel like things will be okay for me.”
Nick studied her for a moment, then dipped his head to capture her lips, his kiss hard and possessive and hungry.
“Okay, I’ll do what you ask.”
Relief and joy filled her.
She knew this was still such a risky thing, but it was the best solution she could come up with.
And in seven years ... would he really agree to a weird, secret relationship for seven years?
She wasn’t going to think about that right now. Right now, they were together in the best way she could devise. And she was going to allow herself to be happy about it.
She reached up and caressed Nick’s scruff-roughened cheek, then pressed a kiss to his lips, so glad he had agreed.
But the kiss quickly changed from sweet and thankful to heated and full of passion.
More heat curled through her belly—and lower.
His hands slipped underneath the blankets, finding her body still covered in damp clothes.
He pulled back and frowned. “You’re wet.”
“Yes, I am,” she agreed, her voice breathy from his wonderful kiss, then blushed at the unintentional double entendre of her words.
His smile was somewhere between naughty and affectionate, that particular combination absolutely breathtaking.
“Maybe we should get you out of those clothes then.”
She allowed him to tug her in the direction of her bedroom.
Once inside, they kissed, again his talented fingers making short work of her damp clothes.
But before she was totally naked, he pulled back. “I sort of feel like we need to do something to seal our terms.”
She laughed at that, her fingers moving to the buttons of his shirt. “Oh, I think we are doing that.”
He smiled too and soon they were both nude, tumbling across the bed. When Nick slid between her thighs and thrust his rock-hard erection deep into her, filling her to the hilt, he paused, his brown eyes locking with hers.

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