AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How about you —”
“Kincaid, how the hell have you been?” Dave Marsh, a friend from high school, thrust a hand across the counter in greeting. “It’s been a while.”
“Too long,” Slade agreed, mentally thanking him for his timely interruption. Too bad it didn’t deter his customer.
“Kincaid? You’re one of the brothers?” Her eyes gleamed with greedy lust, a reminder of Nicole’s more appealing down-to-earth personality.
“The troublemaker when we were in our teens,” Dave told her then addressed Slade again. “Listen, I gotta get back to our table after I get an order, but let’s catch up soon.”
“Definitely,” Slade replied, now ignoring the woman altogether. From her frown, she wasn’t happy. Tough. He was working and wasn’t interested. No, his interest seemed to stay glued on Nicole, eyeing the sway of her hips as he mixed two drinks for Dave.
No sooner had Dave and the woman walked away than Brett strolled over and took their place with an amused glint in his eyes. “You once told me when you get an itch, you scratch it and it goes away.”
“Your itch didn’t,” he taunted in return. That had been over a year ago, when Brett was fighting his attraction to Allie because of their age difference.
Cocking his head, Brett asked, “Is that what you’re afraid of, if you act you’ll get hooked?”
Ridiculous.Cutting his gaze toward Nicole again, he caught her quick grin as the couple separated and swore the spike in his pulse when she kissed the guy’s cheek meant nothing. “Not in the least,” he replied.
Brett chuckled. “I can warn you, lying to yourself won’t help, but you won’t listen. I’d say she’s as closed-minded about a serious relationship as you, so neither one of you has anything to lose. No one is using the upper floor tonight. Just saying.”
Slade glared at his brother’s back, thinking he’d taken a page out of his wife’s book for meddling. Nicole was snagged for another dance, and he experienced the same gut-clenching reaction.Aw, what the hell,he decided as Jordon returned.
“Your turn. Take your time. Things are slowing down.”
“Thanks.” Cursing Brett, Slade wound through the tables, bypassing attempts at conversation with a nod or wave on his way to scratch a fucking itch. The blood-pumping anticipation flowing through his veins didn’t mean a damn thing, he swore, except a chance to appease his curiosity about her attacker and basic attraction.
There’s comfort in having a guy around a lot.
Nicole regretted coming out tonight when Lily said that, those words describing her relationship with Tony and what she missed most. But comfortable friendship and profound caring didn’t equate to love, and that guilt still lived inside her, day in and day out.
She sighed in relief when the slow ballad ended and she stepped back from her dance partner, more than ready to leave until she went hot upon seeing Slade. He was wearing his hat again, but she didn’t need to see that pewter gaze clearly to feel the impact of his focused look or see the rigid set to his bristled jawline. Nicole didn’t care for the man, and she sure as heck wasn’t comfortable around him the way she’d been with Tony, but her neglected libido refused to listen to the rest of her.
Regardless, she wasn’t in the mood to spar with him. After thanking the man for the dance, she headed toward the table where she’d set her glass down, the throng of people and loud music turning her hands clammy. Her breathing hitched, and she grew desperate for space and air, the sudden reaction coming out of nowhere. Veering toward the exit, luck eluded her as she bumped right into Slade’s rock-hard body.
“Sorry,” she muttered, attempting to go around him, needing the cooler, quieter outdoors.
“Come on.” Taking her hand, he tugged her to the doors and outside, as if he’d read her mind.
Nicole filled her lungs, the cold compared to inside almost painful, her tension easing as the door closed behind them, muting the din. She’d gotten too used to going out with Tony to quiet bars or a movie, or just staying home, then isolating herself both at home and since moving here. It had been a mistake to ignore her instincts to pass on Lily’s invitation.
“Crowds would do that to me when I first returned home from the military. It’ll pass. Until then, don’t drive. We can...”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” Slade’s deep voice erased the last dregs of her uncharacteristic panic, but it was the calming effect of his large, rough hand holding hers that she wasn’t prepared for and didn’t want to like. “Let go of me,” she insisted when he tightened his fingers instead of releasing her when she pulled.
“Not until I’m sure you’re okay.”
Her fury was way out of proportion, given his concern, yet that didn’t stop her from trying to take a swing at him. She gasped as he caught her uplifted arm by the wrist, spun her around, and pinned her against the building, away from the lighted doorway.
“Now, listen,” she panted, head tilted as he towered over her, shielding her from anyone else’s view with his wide shoulders.
“No, you listen.” Slade lifted her shackled wrists and held them against the wood wall. “You need to let go of the anger or it’ll eat you alive.”
Nicole was too busy trying to tamp down the surge of heated lust inflaming her senses to fight his controlling move, but she managed to sneer, “Three uninvited visits, and you think you know me?”
“Getting there. I’ve told you I’ve been there. The difference is, I came home to friends and family who helped, whether I wanted them to or not. You ran away.” He moved in closer, until their bodies touched, chest to pelvis, robbing her of breath and words as he whispered in her ear, “When the nightmares threatened my sanity, I found a friend who understood my needs and spent hours getting back in touch with my humanity.”
Nicole’s pulse spiked, and her breathing hitched as he raised his head. Her heated response to his dominant, caveman tactic shocked her, the lust coiling low in her abdomen hotter than anything she’d experienced before. “You’re talking sex,” she whispered.
