AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You were busy. And when you were at The Pines, I wouldn’t let you spend time with me,” she said as she sat up. Her low, smoky voice seduced him all over again. He glanced back at her, sorely tempted to touch her again...to draw her close. Her eyes looked huge in her delicate face. She wrapped her arms beneath her breasts, hugging herself. He was reminded of her vulnerability.
“Will you let me now?” he asked. “For more than just tonight?”
Her serious expression cut at him a little. “I’ll try,” she whispered, her eyes never leaving his face.
“Thank you for a nice night.”
She nodded once. “Thank you for the Christmas tree and photos.”
He was having difficulty pulling his gaze off her face.
“I don’t want to dislike you,” she said with sudden earnestness. “It doesn’t seem right. Especially now that I’m starting to understand how much you meant to Lincoln.”
He closed his eyes and glanced away.
“Nick?” she whispered.
“Yeah,” he muttered, inhaling deeply and willing his boiling blood to cool.
“That company, Vivicor? Do you really think it’s important that you—we—move fast on the purchase?”
He glanced back at her in surprise. “Yes.”
She looked hesitant. “If you think it’s a good business decision, I’ll do whatever you want me to do to make the deal happen. I don’t want to hold back progress in Lincoln’s company.”
A silence ensued. She seemed hesitant in meeting his stare. “Are you sure, Deidre?”
She nodded, although she looked far from certain to him. “Because I don’t want you ever thinking that what happened just now—” he waved at the couch they’d come close to incinerating with sudden, blazing need “—had anything to do with me getting your agreement for the Vivicor purchase or DuBois Enterprises or the will.”
“I don’t think that.” Her expression didn’t entirely convince him that what she said was true, though.
He sighed and rubbed his eyes with his fingers. The thought struck him that there was a good chance family members had warned her against him, advised her not to sign anything he requested, and here she was, offering to do just that. No wonder she looked so uncertain. He couldn’t say he blamed her.
But damn it, he did need her consent for the deal.
“Why don’t you give me your phone number and we’ll get together tomorrow afternoon and go over things in more detail. You can make your decision about Vivicor then,” he said, standing. They walked to the kitchen, and he donned his coat. She stood watching him, the flush of arousal on her cheeks a stark contrast to the paleness of the rest of her skin. He fought down another surge of desire to take her into his arms again.
“Trust takes time, Deidre.”
“I know that,” she said quickly.
“I mean in the literal sense, not just the figurative. The more time we spend with each other, the more comfortable we’ll be.”
“As business partners?”
“As any kind of partner.”
He touched her cheek before he opened the front door, and experienced the strangest mixture of triumph and utter defeat as he walked into the frigid December night.
* * *
Deidre couldn’t sleep. So much had changed between Nick and her that night, it was a challenge to wrap her mind around it all. The memories of the evening that made her most restless were of that kiss—the way Nick’s mouth felt moving over hers, his taste, his lean, solid body pressed against hers, his heat...
She finally fell asleep just before dawn. When she awoke to the jarring sound of the alarm, all of her doubts and uncertainties were there, ready to pounce on her. She rose, wishing she hadn’t promised Colleen and Eric she’d help out at the Family Center today. She was exhausted. For more days in a row now than she could recall, she put an extra scoop of coffee in her morning brew.
She’d responded wholeheartedly to Nick’s touch, she admitted to herself bemusedly as she showered. She’d known there was a spark of attraction between them, but their suspicion of one another and the strange circumstances had made it necessary to suppress that spark. Attraction was one thing, but the degree of heat Nick and she had generated when they touched was unprecedented, at least in Deidre’s experience. She’d been one kiss, one stroke, one plea away from going to bed with Nick Malone, of all people.
Surely she was behaving predictably, falling for such an attractive, powerful man. Most women would have adored spending an evening with him, basking in his attention and blossoming beneath his masterful kiss. Problem was, Deidre wasn’t most women. And the situation between them was far from common.
