For the Love of Nick (10 page)

Only problem was—and here was another first—she didn’t want him back.

He knew he had decent looks. That wasn’t ego talking, but fact. He also knew he hadn’t been bad in bed. The way she’d clutched at him, staring into his eyes with sweet, sexy, wondrous surprise, as if no one had ever made her feel like that before, told him that.

It hadn’t been his company, either, because no matter what she pretended, she liked him, he could see it in her eyes, taste it in her kiss.

And whether she wanted to admit it or not, she trusted him. She’d trusted him with the truth, she’d trusted him to be with her. She’d trusted him to help her.

She hadn’t let anyone else do any of those things.

But she didn’t
want
to trust him. Didn’t
want
to let him in.

And without that, they had nothing.

Little Buxom Redhead wriggled on the lounge, getting herself comfortable while watching him from beneath lowered lashes to make sure he was catching it all.

“Sorry, ladies,” he said, knowing he was truly
certifiable. But the niggling in the back of his mind had turned to a full instinctive awareness of trouble, and his instincts were never wrong. Without another look at the women, he pivoted and followed Danielle.

She wasn’t on the trail. She wasn’t in the gardens. She wasn’t anywhere.

She was gone.

D
ANIELLE GAVE UP
the walk in favor of a little ride. Maureen had been so kind, offering her anything she needed, and the fact that she’d taken advantage of that hospitality and borrowed her car felt like an overwhelming burden.

But she still drove herself and Sadie to the dog show to find Laura Lyn.

All the way there Danielle told herself she was doing the right thing, not involving Nick in this any further. He’d done enough, she owed him everything as it was, and…

And who was she fooling?

She’d needed—quite desperately it turned out—to remember what it was like to be on her own, without the incredible, dynamic presence of one Nick Cooper, the only man to ever have her fantasizing about what-ifs.

What-ifs were fruitless. What-ifs were dangerous.

She pulled up to the site of the dog show, taking
a moment to look around at the controlled chaos with a sense of nostalgia. Trailers, campers and minivans dominated the parking lot. Two huge ring tents had been set up for the show itself, and surrounding those were the booths of various vendors selling everything from doggie sweaters to pooper-scoopers.

The hustle and bustle of it, the friendly but stiff competitors, the general craziness had been Danielle’s life for so long. It felt like home, and yet oddly enough, also like a dream where she didn’t quite belong.

Luckily, it didn’t take long to find Laura Lyn, who’d hired Danielle on several occasions to handle her extra dogs. After a quick hello hug, Danielle pulled back and said, “You don’t see me standing here.”

“Okay.” Laura Lyn shifted her perpetual wad of gum from one cheek to the other. “I don’t see you standing here—stressed, exhausted and looking like crap. Does that have anything to do with the phone call I took from Ted several days ago?”

Danielle’s stomach sank and she gripped Sadie’s leash with tense fingers. She looked around, but didn’t see him. “This was a bad idea.”

“Was it?” Another careful shifting of the gum made Laura Lyn’s left cheek bulge. “Why?”

Danielle stopped looking for Ted long enough to look into Laura Lyn’s eyes. “I need records.”

“Ted said you might. And that I was to call him the moment I saw you.” She lifted a brow. “Hard to do that, as I’m not seeing you.”

Danielle drew a careful breath. “Laura Lyn…”

“Did you steal Sadie?”

“More like put her in protective custody.”

Laura Lyn blew a huge bubble. “Ah.”

“I want to show the court that for all intents and purposes, Sadie is mine.”

“To prove ownership.”

“Right. Then she can stay with me.”

“Because Ted broke up with you? Or because Sadie is the most amazing champion the breed has seen in decades?”

So now the story was Ted had broken up with her. Terrific. That gave him even more sympathy in the eyes of the law. “No, not because of any of that.” Danielle looked into Laura Lyn’s eyes and willed her to understand. “But because Sadie needed to get away from Ted. So did I. Laura Lyn,
I
left
him.
I had good reasons, and now I need to prove Sadie doesn’t belong with him.” She drew a
deep breath and gave it her best shot. “Can you help me do that?”

“Danielle?”

Both Danielle and Laura Lyn froze as Laura Lyn’s assistant, Gail Winters, came jogging up to them. “Imagine seeing you here,” she said to Danielle, with a wealth of speculation in her gaze.

Gail was barely twenty, independently wealthy, gorgeous and far too glamorous for the dog life, but she’d proven herself a good assistant to Laura Lyn.

All that, and she also fancied herself in love with Ted. Given the predatory way she was staring at Danielle, Gail had to know too much.

Under the guise of moving out of the sun, Laura Lyn turned her back to Gail. Then she leaned close to Danielle. “Where should I send the records?”

“That’s…complicated.”

Laura Lyn looked at her for a long beat. “Gail?” she said over her shoulder. “Could you go brush Max? He’s next in the ring.”

“But—”

“Now, please, Gail.”

Only when her assistant had reluctantly moved away did Laura Lyn speak again. “Complicated?”

“I want to come get them.”

“Coming to my place would be a bad idea, Danielle.”

“Ted?”

“I think so. How about I overnight the records to you when I get back in a few days?”

Danielle hesitated, because that was a lot of trust, which she was short on at the moment.

“I can have them to you by the end of the week,” Laura Lyn promised.

The end of the week. Surely she could wait that long to start her new life. “The Twin Oaks B&B in Cooper’s Corner,” Danielle said softly.

And hoped she hadn’t just made her biggest mistake yet.

D
ANIELLE DROVE BACK
to the inn. Inside, she could hear hammering, the whir of a saw…but saw no one as she climbed the stairs.

Maybe she hadn’t been missed.

As she entered her—
their
—room, she removed Sadie’s leash, giving the dog space to lie down.

Then Danielle stood still and took her first real breath since she’d left. Maybe Nick had already gone, deciding she was far too much trouble for whatever weak link they had to a past. Maybe he was at this very moment thanking his lucky stars to have gotten rid of her so easily. Maybe he—

“Hey there,” he said quietly, and she almost jerked right out of her skin.

Twirling, she saw him, sitting in the chair by the window, legs stretched out in front of him, hands resting on his thighs.

Relaxed and calm.

Except for the sparks shooting out of his eyes.

“I didn’t see you,” she said with a hand to her racing heart.

“Yeah.” He pushed to a stand. “That’s a big problem for us.”

He was not happy. In fact, he looked fairly furious.

“Nick—”

“You don’t see me.” He came close so that she could see that it wasn’t just anger in those eyes, but something else, something deeper. Fear. Concern. Tension.

All caused by her.

“First,” he said, pushing her hair from her face with a surprisingly gentle hand. “Are you all right?”

Was she? Hard to tell with her nerves so highly strung. “Yes.”

“Good.” He stared at her, then let out a dispar
aging breath. “Damn it. I’m so mad I forgot what the second thing was.”

“Nick—”

“You went to the dog show. Risked yourself. You did it alone because that’s the way you wanted it.”

“I had to!” she cried. “Nick, I’m going crazy just waiting for things to happen to me. I can’t do it anymore. I’m taking control. I’m taking action. I need those records from Laura Lyn, and she’s promised to get them to me.”

“There’s something I need, too, and I’m going to take it now.” Then he hauled her up to her toes and kissed her. It tasted of frustration and temper, but more than that, it tasted of affection and need. An intoxicating mix, as she began to understand something she’d missed before. Not some passing fancy, this. Not some vague attempt to bring back their high school days with a cheap thrill.

There was far more to his touch and kiss than that, and she had to admit, far more to hers. “Nick.”

“See me, Danielle. Hear me. Stop shutting me out and
feel
me.” His hands slid down her back to her hips, binding her to him as the kiss deepened, somehow tender despite its wild demand.

She met and matched his passion, mating her tongue to his, giving him her own affection and need and temper and frustration, as she suddenly couldn’t get close enough, feel him enough.

“You wanted me to be gone when you got back,” he said, his breath uneven, pulling back to nuzzle at her ear. “You want me gone now.”

“Nick…” How to explain when she didn’t understand herself? All she knew was that the only place she’d ever felt safe and sound and at home was here, in his arms.

How could that be?

“I know we started fast,” he murmured. “But I don’t want to finish fast.” He slid his hands up her ribs, his thumbs just brushing the undersides of her breasts.

She opened her mouth to say she liked fast, but all that came out was a groan. Encouraged, he moved his hands beneath her top, cupping her breasts, stroking her nipples until she shuddered, pressing shamelessly against him while his mouth feasted on hers. This man…no one had ever touched her like this man. Fascinated, needy, her hands explored him too, slipping beneath his shirt, feeling the muscles in his back hard and tense under her touch.

“I want more,” he said, and his fingers slid down her back and dipped under the lace of her panties. She shifted, making access easier, loving the sound that came from his throat when he found her wet for him.

“I can’t walk away,” he said hoarsely, running his busy mouth down her neck, his hands still in her panties, his hips pressing to hers. “You should know that.”

“Yes…” She could hardly stand. “And you should know…”
I’m halfway to orgasm.
“You scare me to death.”

At the words, torn from her throat, he took his hands from her and went utterly still.

“Not physically,” she added quickly, linking her arms around his neck, pressing even closer.
Don’t stop.
“Never physically. But God, Nick…” She managed to look directly into his eyes. “You threaten my heart. Surely you know that.”

“I only know you threaten mine.”

“That’s why this won’t work. We—”

“Kiss me, Danielle.” His voice was rough with regret, need. “Just shut up and kiss me.”

“I can do that.” She heard the sound of impending loss in her own voice, too, and tried not to. Her fingers tightened in his hair as she drew his mouth
back to hers. Then, when they could no longer breathe, but neither wanted to break away, Nick rested his cheek against her hair. She felt his heart thundering, felt her own matching it.

She could love him.

With so little effort, she could fall good and hard. With a little sigh for what might have been, with a sigh for what might be her last night with him, she let him back her to the bed.

N
ICK LOST HIMSELF
in the moment, concentrating on binding Danielle so tightly to him that for once she wouldn’t be able to rebuild that wall around her heart afterward. He was shameless about it, using his lips, his tongue, his teeth, making her tremble and buck and arch beneath him.

“I’m having trouble breathing,” she informed him, trying to crawl into his body.

Good. He couldn’t breathe, either.

The night had come upon them. The low-burning lamp by the bed made her skin glow, made her eyes soft and dreamy, and he knew he’d never forget how she looked right in that moment, sighing with the pleasure that he gave her. He wanted to overdose her on that pleasure, wanted to keep her pliant and weak with desire.

For him.

They were down to their underwear, kneeling on the bed, mouths clinging. Nick’s plan was to make her wild, but she turned the tables and did it to him as she ran her hands over his body.

“You’re so beautifully made, Nick.”

“Mmm, not like you.” Bending his head, he licked the smooth curve that plumped out of her bra, inhaling the warm female scent of her as his fingers slid along her rib cage to the back, unfastening the hook so that her breasts spilled into his waiting hands.

“Still need more,” he decided, and stripped away their remaining clothing, easing her down on the bed, coming against her as the sheets shifted beneath them, as the evening breeze drifted in the window and over their skin.

Naked flesh against naked flesh. Moving, touching, holding, tasting in slow, erotic intent, reveling in the mutual delight. Mutual joy.

He definitely found more than he sought. More than he intended, as his senses soared, his soul stirred and his heart opened.

“Nick,” she whispered as he slid into her, her voice filled with all the awe he’d already discovered.

“I know.” Joined, vulnerable yet strong, he moved. She moved with him, and the passion rose, consumed, taking him unaware, the hunger made all the more poignant by the accompanying fear that this was unique. Theirs.

Forever.

D
ARKNESS HAD FALLEN
outside, but for Ted, that darkness went soul deep.

He stood outside some godforsaken bed-and-breakfast inn called Twin Oaks.

Hell,
is what he would have called it. He’d seen them. He’d stood outside, cloaked by the night, and watched them embrace through the glass picture window.

Danielle and her new boyfriend. She’d gotten herself a new boyfriend.

She’d be punished for that.

Even the moon had gone to bed while Ted stood there in the woods. Watching. The window went dark.

Which meant right at this moment, somewhere inside there, lay Danielle with another man.

The fury nearly blinded him, but he forced a long, deep breath. Nothing had changed. She would come back to him. She would.

He would make her.