Wicked: Whispering Cove, Book 3 (9 page)

She slid sideways through the small space he left. Her body brushed his and heated. Her pussy trembled with hope.

“You look good tonight, Doc.” Stepping in behind her, Braydon trailed a finger along her spine. “I like your dress.”

“Thank you.” Victoria had chosen the backless summer dress, claiming every woman deserved something to make her feel sexy. Damn if Danica hadn’t wanted the boost after her last encounter with Braydon.

“Sexy. Who are you wearing it for?”

She stifled the disappointment surging through her chest. He still thought poorly of her. “Myself.”

“So you always dress like this to sit at home?” He opened the front door for her, but followed her instead of handing over the bag.

She glanced over her shoulder in time to see Byron peaking through the screen door out back and doing a little jig. Ruth pulled him away with a scold creasing her mouth, but Danica sensed support deep down in the older woman. She didn’t resort to schemes, but she missed Braydon too. She wanted him home as much as Byron.

“Well?”

“What?” Danica dismissed Byron’s elation, but dismissing the sadness at having to disappoint him didn’t come as easy since they wanted the same things.

“You dressed like that for a night at home?” Braydon asked.

“No. I had plans.”

“Where?”

“The pub.”

“Of course. Hauk.” His nose crinkled with disgust and Hauk’s name sounded more like a four letter curse rather than the utterance of a friend’s name.

“Braydon.” Danica stopped at the end of the sidewalk and turned. “What exactly are you after other than sex? You seek me out at night, but walk before morning. You turned tail every time you saw me in town today, but now are insisting on playing escort.”

“I don’t…”

Her ribcage hollowed out and her stomach dropped in anticipation of what he might say next. He said nothing. Only stared at her with his throat bobbing in repetitive swallows.

“Don’t what, Braydon?”

He worked the leather handle of her bag in a squeaking grip, but didn’t blink or look away. He swiped his tongue across his lips and then sighed deep. “I don’t know how to do this, Danica.”

“Do what?” She knew what she wanted him to say, but the self-preservation Byron viewed as a wrong choice ruled and kept her mouth closed and her heart protected. As it was, if Braydon said the wrong thing, she would have a battle not to collapse beneath the crushing implosion of heartbreak.

“A relationship.” He traced her bottom lip with his thumb and swallowed again. “I don’t know how to do relationships.”

Her heart jumped with the burn of hope spreading through the shrinking cavity of her chest. “What are you saying, Braydon?”

“You need me to spell it out for you?”

“Yes.” Because a misunderstanding could shatter her.

“Fine.” The word snapped like a brittle bone, but then he softened. The tender and kind Braydon resurfaced. “I want to be with you.”

“Until your vacation is over?”

“No.”

“How long?”

He closed the distance between them, dropping her bag to the grass with a clatter of the equipment inside, and pulled her flush against his body. “Until you’re tired of me.”

She opened her mouth, but words wouldn’t come.

“I’ll still travel for work.” He went on. “But I want you to either come with me or be waiting when I get back.” He kissed the right corner of her mouth. “I want you to only be with me. No more Hauk.” He kissed the left corner. “I want us to be an
us
exclusively.”

Her knees would’ve buckled if he hadn’t held her so close. Her panties were dampening as quickly as her resolve was melting. “Braydon.”

“I watched you reading last night and ached to be back at your side.” His calloused hands explored her back and incited tingles of arousal along her spine.

He’d spied on her.

“I saw you cozied up with Hauk this morning, and aside from wanting to rip his limbs apart one by one, I wanted to be the one touching you.” He pulled her pelvis against his so she felt his erection. “I wanted to be inside you.”

Her belly rolled. She couldn’t argue with the sentiment.

“I’ve always been fond of wintergreen. I wanted to be close enough to smell your scent.” He buried his face in her hair and inhaled deeply. “And every time someone made you smile or laugh, I wanted to be that person. I wanted to hear your happiness.”

She tucked her head beneath his chin to hide her smile. It came through in her voice though. “You followed me? All day?”

“You turned me into a stalking, peeping Tom.”

His rough accusation whispered through her with a voyeur’s wicked thrill. All the times she’d watched him. Now he’d watched her. “Really?”

“Yes.”

Assured he wasn’t going to turn away, she rested her hands at his waist, itching to slip her palms beneath his shirt to feel his skin against hers.

“I couldn’t stop watching you while you read my article and then that novel. And when you left home I followed.”

“And found me with Hauk.” The irony of the flipped tables putting the popular boy in the situation she’d spent years in didn’t escape her. Hell, it thrilled her.

His hand fisted at her back briefly. “Yes.”

Indulging desire, she worked her hands beneath his shirt. His muscles twitched. “You were jealous.”

“No.”

“Yes.” She glided her hands farther up and grinned. “You were jealous of another man touching me.”

“I don’t like that word, but fine.” He pulled back enough to meet her gaze. His eyes sparkled in the moonlight. “I was jealous. Next time I’ll kick his ass. Now, are you going to change your mind and spend your life with me?”

“Wait. You’re talking life?” She leaned back and cocked a brow dramatically. “I don’t know if I can stand you that long.”

He sucked in a breath and after a long moment began to smile. “You’re going to be trouble.”

She shrugged.

“Marry me, Danica.”

“You’re asking for something I’ve…” With her dream being realized, breathing—hell, thinking—shut down. Concentrating, she pulled oxygen deep into her lungs and blew it out slowly in an attempt to gather herself. Braydon didn’t breathe. “Something I’ve wanted for the last eighteen years or so.”

“So you’ll do it? You’ll marry me and travel with me sometimes and have my babies?”

She kissed the bottom side of his jaw near his pulse. “That’s not a traditional proposal, and I think you left something out, but yes, Braydon. I’ll marry you.”

With a whoop, he scooped her into his arms and headed toward her house.

“My bag.”

“Granddad will get it.”

She looked over Braydon’s shoulder and sure enough Byron was dancing his way down the sidewalk. She laughed and settled deeper into Braydon. “You realize he set us up?”

“I didn’t, but I can’t say I’m sorry for his meddling.” Braydon nuzzled her neck and kept going. “Not sorry at all.”

Hours later, tangled on her sheets with the moon slashing a bright beam across them, Braydon brushed her hair back and smiled. “I’m glad I came home and found you.”

“Me too.”

“I love you, Danica. Love you in ways I didn’t think possible.”

“I love you, Braydon.” She rolled him to his back and slid along his engorged cock. “Now, shut up and make love to me again.”

“Oh yeah. You’re going to be trouble. Wicked trouble.”

Epilogue

Drinks and laughter and dancing and boisterous music swelled within the pub walls and overflowed onto the deck. Men wore suits and ties, though many had discarded their jackets. Women fluttered like butterflies in their best dresses and flashiest jewels.

“It’s good seeing everyone back together and all fancied up.” Taryn, Hauk’s special-occasion hostess, smiled as she gathered the dirty plates from the table.

“Aye. The reunion is as good a reason as any for a fancy party.” Harold poured more rum into his and Errol’s glasses and sat back in his chair.

Byron nodded and tapped his right foot against the table leg. “Weddings are better.”

“Aye.”

“You have a wedding date yet?” The green-and-red lamp over the table cast a multihued haze over Errol as he petted the backs of his cards.

“Braydon’s holding out on a date. It’s as if he’s on to us.”

“Think he’ll tell the others?” Harold asked.

“Yeah.” Byron raised his glass in a silent salute to Braydon across the room. Braydon shook his head with a humored grin splitting his face, turned his attention back to his bride-to-be, and led her to join Brody and Trent. “If he knows. And they’ll scheme to keep any one of us from winning our bet.”

“So we tied on this one.”

“There’s the next one still,” Harold insisted.

“Yep.” Byron watched Braydon pull Danica close for an intimate dance. While the bragging rights of winning would’ve been fun, he was perfectly happy to see the young couples in love. Not that he’d admit as much to his buddies. “Like who’s the first to get us great-grandbabies.”

He happened to know Braydon and Danica were already planning their family. Once his boy had settled down, he and the doc had dived right in to their future plans. Except the setting-the-date part.

“I’ll take that bet.” Errol took a swig of his rum. “Ain’t no way my Katy will let me down.”

“Barnacle plucking ole goats.” Harold slapped the table. “My Andie and Brody will waste no time getting back to their old intentions.”

“Then we’re agreed.” Byron raised his glass in a toast. “Winner names the prize.”

Harold and Errol clinked their glasses with his and spoke in unison. “Agreed.”

“In the meantime…” Byron watched Sophie Michaelsen chatting with Victoria Hayes. “I know of some other young ones who need to get on with the business of families.”

Just then, Adam Collins escorted a young woman who didn’t match his temperament onto the dance floor. Errol nodded. “Yes. Yes. We have our work cut out for us if we’re going to ensure the right matches.”

“Today’s young need all the help they can get.”

“Thank the sea goddess they ’ave us.”

About the Author

Heart-stopping puppy chases, childhood melodrama and the aborted hangings of innocent toys are all in a day’s work for Nikki Duncan. This athletic equestrian turned reluctant homemaker turned daring author is drawn to the siren song of a fresh storyline.

Nikki plots murder and mayhem over breakfast, scandalous exposes at lunch and the sensual turn of phrase after dinner. Nevertheless, it is the pleasurable excitement and anticipation of unraveling her character’s motivation that drives her to write long past the witching hour.

Whether it’s romantic suspense or contemporary romance with a focus on the lovers, the only anxiety and apprehension haunting this author comes from pondering the mysterious outcome of her latest twist.

Learn more about Nikki by visiting her website at
www.NikkiDuncan.com
. Nikki is also on
Facebook
and
Twitter
at /NDuncanWriter.

Look for these titles by Nikki Duncan

Now Available:

Sensory Ops

Sounds to Die By

Scent of Persuasion

Illicit Intuitions

Tulle and Tulips

Tangled in Tulle

Coming Soon:

Tulle and Tulips

Twisted in Tulips

Her Miracle Man

Whispering Cove

Burned

Love could be their greatest liability

Illicit Intuitions

© 2012 Nikki Duncan

Sensory Ops, Book 3

Ava Malia knows three things. She was once a kickass covert operative. She will eventually adjust to her new team, the FBI Specialized Crimes Unit. And the only way to finally be free of her professional past is to solve her first case and get her hands on a game-changing technology. The only problem? Success rides on her ability to swallow her distaste for the persona she must adopt in order to earn the trust of a mysterious scientist.

Dr. H escaped childhood captivity with three things. His sister. Complete control of his gift. And an engulfing distrust of anyone in the government. Adjusting to a life of freedom hasn’t been easy, but he’s found peace in solitude. The sexy woman auditing his empathic studies, though, has a way of getting under his skin that’s both arousing and disturbing. Plus, his psychic ability warns him of secrets so deeply buried in her psyche, they’d be better left alone.

Yet their instant attraction strips away all their protective barriers, down to the foundation of a new, fragile trust. And a vulnerability that, when an old enemy opens fire, could blast away any chance of a future.