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“What kind of limits?” I murmur, my focus already slipping as his warm breath feathers across my mouth. Even his breath is magically delicious.
“No sex. Not for at least ten dates,” he says, making me wrench my head back.
“What?” My brows snap together. Surely, I must have heard him wrong. “Why?”
“Because I want you to be sure. And I want it to be special,” he says with a steadiness that makes it hard to argue with him.
Still, I find myself saying, “How about four dates?”
Even now, with the stress of going to the police station hanging over my head, I’m still dying to kiss him. More than kiss him. Once this night is in our rearview, I know I’ll be right back to being desperate to get naked with him and ten dates could take a really long time to get through, considering we both work hard at our jobs and have family obligations and friend relationships to nurture, as well.
“Seven,” Nick counters, grinning as he runs gentle fingers through my hair, even that enough to make me tingle.
“Five,” I say firmly. “And that’s my final offer.”
“You drive a hard bargain, March, but…I’ll take it,” he says, and then he kisses me, a tender, careful kiss that warms me all over, turning my insides to liquid sunshine.
I didn’t think anything could be hotter than Nick’s passionate kisses, but this sweet kiss…
Oh my...
I feel it all the way down to my toes, buzzing in my fingertips, wrapping around my heart, breaking through to that hidden place inside me that Brian was never able to touch, that place that longs for more than friendship or casual affection. Deep down in my most secret self, I want to ache for someone, burn for them, need them like the air I breathe. And not just in a physical way. I want that kind of heart connection, too.
I haven’t stopped to wonder if Nick might be that person before, but even just a few minutes in, I can already tell that this is going to be more than a fling.
“Don’t stop,” I whisper when he pulls away, my eyes still closed and my head spinning.
“The sooner we get the shitty stuff over with, the sooner we can get started on our first date.”
My eyes open a crack. “Tonight?”
“I don’t have to be back at the shop until noon,” he says. “After we talk to my brother, we could go for late night breakfast at the diner by the highway. Get some greasy eggs and toast.”
“And waffles,” I add.
“And waffles,” he agrees, taking my hand in his bigger, warmer one. “Come on, we can call Nash on the way to the station.”
As I follow Nick through the shop and out back to his car, I’m surprised by how natural it feels to have my fingers wrapped up in his. How right.
He glances back at me, grinning, and anticipation shoots through me all over again as I realize that, in five short dates, we might be wrapped up in a much more intimate fashion…
Chapter 12
Nick
The scene at the police station is bad, but not as bad as I was fearing on the way over. Melody didn’t cry—wouldn’t have blamed her if she did, I just know it would rip me up to watch it—and I didn’t give in to the urge to punch the wall when I heard exactly what Seth did to her.
Nash, of course, was a total pro, as I knew he would be. My big brother has always been the model everything—model son, model student, model cop.
He makes Melody feel safe and listened to and assures her that her identity will be kept secret, even from her family, if that’s what she wants. He sends a team to search the bar for signs of a struggle and issues a “stop and hold” order to make sure other officers in the county have Seth’s description and know he’s wanted for questioning in Bliss River.
Nash assures Melody that she’s doing the right thing—even if this ends in nothing more than a misdemeanor charge and fine, she’s still done something important. She stood up for herself, and hopefully helped deter Seth from doing something like this again.
Given the situation, I couldn’t have asked for things to go more smoothly.
Still, after two hours of statements and paperwork, “relieved” is too gentle a word to describe how grateful I am to be walking out of the station with my arm around Melody.
Melody, the girl I’m dating.
The thought is simultaneously weird as hell and the best thing that’s happened to me in a long, long time. I just hope I’m ready. I hadn’t planned on getting involved with anyone, not so soon after the Sarah Beth disaster, but I can’t deny it feels way better to be making plans with Melody than trying to avoid her.
