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* * *
NICOLE BARELY BREATHED as Jordan pulled her into his arms, giving her one teasing kiss after another. He hadn’t waited for any pretense of enjoying the water first. Twining her arms around him, she returned his kisses fully. He quickly disposed of her swimsuit and it was only skin against skin. It felt like a moment outside of time.
Suddenly his caresses slowed and he drew back a few inches, his eyes wide and glazed. “Sorry,” he said in a strangled voice. “It just occurred to me…stupid not to have considered it before, but are you on birth control?”
She drew in a shaking breath. “No.”
“Condoms are risky in water. They can lose effectiveness.”
“Right.”
Releasing her, he edged back to the other side of the hot tub.
“We could consider drying off and heading upstairs,” she managed to say.
“You did mention it was one of the few furnished rooms in the house.”
Slowly she stood and waited as he looked his fill. But the tension in her body grew almost unbearable. “Then what are we waiting for?”
“Nothing.” But when he also stood, like Poseidon rising from the waves, Nicole didn’t mind spending a few extra seconds enjoying the view.
She was uncertain whether she was making the best decision, but it was easy to ignore her nagging doubts.
* * *
IT WAS 6:00 A.M. and Chelsea tried to ignore the fact that her brother’s car was parked in front of the house in the same position as when she’d driven back from an evening trip to the grocery store. Where he spent the night was his business—his and Nicole’s if he’d spent it with her.
Terri might tease, even poke Jordan about finding ways not to be objective, but Chelsea wouldn’t dare, even if Nicole wasn’t her boss.
It would be great if they ended up together, but as much as Chelsea loved her brother, she knew he wasn’t interested in marriage or commitment. For that matter, she didn’t know if Nicole was interested, either, but she clearly had a soft heart beneath her polished exterior.
Chelsea also wasn’t sure if Jordan realized how easily a guy could hurt a woman, even if he didn’t hit her. Ron would probably be appalled to be described as abusive or hurtful, but he’d controlled her and made her feel as if she couldn’t do anything right. Jordan would never physically abuse a woman, but he liked to keep his life orderly, or maybe he’d call it managed. More than that, he kept a distance between himself and other people. To a woman in love, craving tenderness and connection, that could be deeply painful.
Her brain buzzed. None of this was her business, but she loved her brother and she cared about Nicole and hoped neither of them would end up with a broken heart.
She got dressed and looked out the window again, wondering when she should leave for work. It would be awkward to run into Jordan. Maybe she should get an early start—there was plenty to do and she wanted to make up the time Nicole had given her for the baseball game. Or would Jordan leave early himself, to try to keep them from crossing paths in case she found it awkward? He was a cynic, but she knew that when it came to her and Terri, he tried to watch out for them, even if the way he did it could be overbearing.
Oddly, she wished she could ask Barton’s opinion—except that would just underscore Jordan’s overnight presence in the neighborhood. Besides, she needed to make her own decisions.
Grabbing a box of protein bars on the way out of the apartment, Chelsea hurried downstairs and into her car, breathing easier once she’d left the neighborhood behind.
This way she’d have two full hours of phone silence at the agency. Well…two hours when she wasn’t obligated to answer the phone, giving her time to concentrate on the various forms Nicole had shown her. Nicole wasn’t crazy about paperwork, but Chelsea enjoyed the precision of seeing a task accomplished and was looking forward to taking full responsibility.
Two hours later a hard rapping on the door drew her attention. Swiftly she unlocked the door and Ashley Vanders rushed inside.
“Why is this door locked during work hours?” she demanded.
Trying to quell the quaking in her stomach, Chelsea glanced at the clock. It was only five after nine and she could see Nicole coming in from the parking lot. Surely opening a few minutes late wasn’t a firing offense.
