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  “Maddie Girl, it all sounds fine to me.” He scootched up closer and started doing that neck thing again. Maddie bit her lip to try and stay rational, but it was getting hard.

  “Just like that?”

  Nick pulled back and looked at her so intently she was afraid the dream was about to end.

  “What is it?”

  He exhaled deeply. “Remember last year? The convention?”

  She nodded. How could she not remember that night? It was tattooed on her brain and in her heart. For better or worse, there was no forgetting it.

  “Running into you was no accident. I heard you were going to be there and I looked you up.”

  No accident? She swallowed hard. “W-Why?”

  “I heard about your failed engagement. I wanted to see you.” His expression was serious, his gaze honed in and focused. “I wanted to claim you for myself.”

  “What?” Her heart knocked hard against her chest, so loudly that maybe she hadn’t heard him right.

  “Then my grandpa had that health scare, and all that guilt came rushing back. I decided you and I were just too complicated. But you’re in my blood, Maddie. I want a solution now. More importantly, I want you.”

  His words washed over her like the full-body relief of plunging into the lake on a hundred degree day. He wanted her now, and he’d wanted her a year ago. The revelation wrung her out and bowled her over at the same time.

  Nothing can stop you now, a voice in her head said. Go for it. Now. Don’t waste a minute more on things past.

  Create a future.

  “Take me home,” she said, just before Nick covered her mouth with his and all her thoughts scattered.

  The house was dark as they pulled up the drive. Maybe somehow everyone had managed to stay at The Lodge and have dinner after all. Maddie flicked on a few low lights. Nick hadn’t said anything, and now he was propped against the kitchen counter, arms folded, a neutral look on his face. He’d put the ball in her court in every way.

  She walked over to him and silently took up his big warm hand, then led him up the darkened staircase to her bedroom door.

  Nick leaned over her, rested his hand above her on the doorjamb. His dark eyes smoldered with desire. “Can I come in?”

  Maddie met Nick’s fiery gaze. She turned the knob slowly behind her until the door clicked open. With one quick tug, she pulled Nick inside and shut the door behind them.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Nick took that as a yes. He captured Maddie’s luscious mouth and plunged his tongue in like he wanted to plunge into her body, kissing her thoroughly until he felt her shudder in his arms. Or was that him?

  Never had he longed like this for a woman. Never had he cared so deeply, wanted so badly, and it scared the shit out of him. He was usually all business, but she made him yearn for more—for family, friends, for the plain and simple goodness of love. Everything he thought would always be out of his reach.

  “Maddie,” he whispered as he fumbled with the tiny buttons on her blouse.

  “What is it?” She was kissing him right back, meeting all his demands. Her hips pushed against him, her hands moved up and down his chest and tugged at his pants. Lord, the woman was driving him insane. Did she not know how close he was to the edge?

  Nick had come clean about a lot of things, but there was just one more teensy-weensy thing he really had to mention. The extra shares. But Maddie jumped into his arms and wrapped those toned, tanned legs around him and, on a scale of one to ten, this little issue became a negative one hundred.

  He pushed her against the Justin Timberlake poster on the door, cupped her gorgeous ass, and whispered every sweet thing he wanted to do to her, even as he swept aside the scrap of material she called a panty and claimed his prize.

  His hands skimmed her hot liquid center, surprised and thrilled at how ready she was. For him. No one but him. The thought made him crazy with desire. He had to slow himself down so he could linger over the soft terrain of her curves, show her with soft kisses and his alleged legendary finesse just how much he ached for her, had to have her. She ran her hands up and down the muscles of his back, through his hair, over his crotch until he thought he was going to self-combust on the spot.

  A low moan escaped his lips. He was never going to make it through foreplay.

  Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, and he started to do ancient math problems to slow himself down. What are the prime numbers? What’s 246 divided by 3 then multiplied by two? Like the businessman he was, his life was usually full of efficiency, of cutting to the chase. Except now he wanted to please her, to pull out the stops and give her the best damn lovemaking of her life.

  She must have sensed his hesitation, the frisson between I want to rip all your clothes off and take you right here and I want to savor you all night.

  “What is it?” she gasped, out of breath. Her cheeks were flushed with color, her hair was halfway out of her fancy do, and he’d never seen her more gorgeous. “Oh, my God. Is there someone else? Those women at the auction—the ones bidding—”

  “No!” He couldn’t get the word out fast enough. “There’s no one. There’s been no one since a year ago—since Atlanta.”

  “What?” Her hands stopped moving, and she sidled out of his arms to stand and stare at him, her eyes big and wide. “No one since—me?”

  He shrugged. “Ever since then, I’ve been…restless. No one’s interested me enough. When I first saw you at the auction, I actually thought you’d come there because you wanted me.”

  “I did want you,” Maddie said softly. “In more ways than I realized.”

  She’d taken a huge gamble on him, believing that bringing him here would save her company. Little did she know she’d saved him as well.

  Without another word, she lifted herself on tiptoe to plant a soft kiss on his lips that was so soft, so sweet, he felt his heart would burst from the sheer joy of it. He wanted with every fiber of his being to deserve her, to be the man she believed he was.

  He’d pulled back a bit without realizing it. “I—I need to slow down or else—”

  “No,” she said firmly. “No slowing down.” She finished unbuttoning his shirt and tossed it to the floor.

  “It won’t be good for you.”

  “It’ll be good.” She smiled a knowing smile, steering him directly to the bed. Shedding her skirt, she kissed him thoroughly with wet, deep kisses that made his head reel. The pressure of her warm, soft breasts pushing into him made him groan out loud. “Oh, God, Maddie. I want you so bad, I—”

  “Sh,” she said, tugging at his belt.

  Her blouse joined his shirt on the floor. She turned so he could unhitch her bra and add it to the growing pile of clothes, then he spun her back around. He admired the rounded globes of her breasts before taking each one up gently in his hands. He carefully smoothed his thumbs over the perfect pink tips, rubbed them slowly between his thumb and forefinger until she arched toward him and whispered his name on a raw sigh.

  He placed a nipple in his mouth, flicking it lightly with his tongue until it hardened. She let loose a hunger-driven moan and grabbed his cock. She circled her thumb on the tip then grasped his shaft until it was his turn to moan.

  He couldn’t take anymore. With one swift motion, he tossed her onto the frilly pink bedspread and peeled off her panties. Making quick work of his pants and briefs, he settled his weight on top of her, his bare chest skimming her beautiful breasts.

  He sank his hands into her thick, tumbling hair and cradled her face. She was looking at him like no one had ever looked at him before, without judgment, but with hunger that matched his own. He was compelled to speak, and when he did, his voice came out low and gravelly. “Nothing’s been the same since last year. All I can think about is wanting you.”

  …

  Maddie swallowed hard. “You—you’ve wanted me since last year?”

  “No, not really.” He reached two fingers up to smooth out the frown lines between
her brows and grinned. “More like ten years. Make that forever.”

  Nick had taken advantage of her confusion to lift himself off her and spread her legs wide. Feather light kisses trailed up her thigh and kept going. She gasped as his tongue separated her most sensitive folds, traced along the vulnerable flesh, seared a path into her soul.

  “Nick, Nick, I—”

  “Sh.” One of his fingers entered her, then another, his thumb stroking her core. Her legs quivered, and she clutched at his shoulders, as her head rolled back and forth on the pillow. Waves of warm sensation wafted over her, flowed through her, coiling a spring inside her tighter and tighter till she felt close and frantic. In desperation, she pulled him toward her.

  “Now,” she begged. “Please, now.”

  Somewhere far away she heard Hughie bark and a door close. Closer, the faint rip of a condom wrapper, then Nick was poised against her yielding flesh and pushing into her. There was no hesitation, no cautious inch-by-inch tiptoeing, but a quick hungry glide that filled her to her very core and made her gasp breathlessly as he possessed her utterly.

  Higher and higher, their bodies sealed tightly together, Nick lifted her until she felt like her entire body was a bundle of rubber bands taut and ready to spring. His mouth possessed hers, and in between kisses he whispered sweet words. “I’ve never—felt—like this. Maddie, I—”

  Maddie cried out his name, and he smothered the sound with consuming, feverish kisses until his own breath came in soft, short gasps. His gaze locked with hers as they rode each wave together. She had never seen such tenderness in his warm brown eyes.

  When it was over, he soothed her and stroked her and pulled her close to him. They lay there with her back tucked into his front, him biting her shoulder playfully. And it was the most perfect moment of her life.

  “Nick,” Maddie said after a long while.

  “Mm,” he responded, his voice far off and sleepy.

  “You never asked me how many people I slept with in the past year.”

  He squeezed her arm where his was draped over hers. She heard him wince. He was definitely awake now. “Don’t tell me,” he said.

  She turned to him. “Would you be jealous?”

  “I don’t want to think about it.”

  “Good. Because I didn’t either. Sleep with anyone, that is.”

  “Why not?”

  She reached up and lifted the tumble of hair off his forehead, ran the back of her hand down the sexy stubble of his cheek. The realization dawned on her halfway down his face, her fingers shaking as she touched his precious cheek.

  She loved him.

  She always had, but she didn’t dare say it or he’d run from her faster than college kids in a middle-of-the-night dorm fire drill.

  She was so screwed. He was good at avoiding messy entanglements, at cutting people off. He’d done it to her before when they were much younger, and even last year. So she pulled her hand away and smiled casually. “I can’t explain it, really, just that it was like the Cinderella shoe.”

  “Our lovemaking was like a shoe?”

  “We just…fit.” Plain and simple. One man, one perfect fit.

  She bit her lip. She’d said too much. He wasn’t a sentimental man. She had a feeling it had cost him a lot to admit that he, the most notorious playboy in Philadelphia, had been celibate for a year. Because of her.

  Nick raised himself up on an elbow, skimming his fingers lightly over her body, arousing goose bumps of sensation everywhere. All the while he gazed at her like she was a treasured work of art. Finally, the quirk of a smile lit on his lips. “I think we have some lost time to make up for, Madison Marie. And by the way, I agree with your assessment. We fit pretty damn fine.”

  …

  2:00 a.m.

  Nick glanced at the Winnie the Pooh light-up alarm clock on the bedside table. It cast a glow on the blush pink walls and illuminated the soft curve of Maddie’s shoulder, the tumbled mass of her hair as she lay sleeping beside him in her girlish bed where they had done things that were decidedly not girlish. Maddie’s head was tucked under his shoulder, his arm splayed around her waist, the rose-dotted sheet tangled somewhere around their legs.

  His first impulse was to wake her, make love to her a third time, quench his unslakable thirst for her. Part of him didn’t believe what had happened, that she’d fade away as quickly as dawn would creep into the dark room and blanch out memories of the night. He was used to that—no promises, no expectations, nothing at stake. But this weekend, everything was upside down. He was upside down. Leaving her felt wrong, and he feared this feeling of happiness would vanish forever as soon as he left the room.

  He didn’t want to go, but he didn’t want to disrespect her mother and stay here all night, to appear in the hall in the morning yawning and puffing out his chest like some redneck guest. Not his style. Not to mention he had no desire to face Derrick’s wrath.

  Nick eased Maddie’s head onto her pillow, climbed out of bed, and pulled the sheet over her. He kissed her cheek, murmured in her ear why he felt he should go. Half asleep, she made a weak protest, then curled her hand under her pillow and settled into a deep slumber.

  Nick pulled on his pants and flung on his shirt, checked his pocket for his wallet. He remembered his phone in the mailbox, and cracked an involuntary smile. For the first time ever, he actually felt the relief of not being tethered to it, of not having his attention split a thousand electronic ways. He felt suddenly in-the-moment present, and there was nowhere else he’d rather be.

  A warm sense of peace washed over him. It wasn’t just that he was sexually sated. He’d left women plenty of times in the middle of the night and never felt this contentment, this feeling of…home. That was it. He felt like he belonged somewhere for the first time.

  Could it be that he’d finally found someone who wanted him for who he was and not how many yachts he owned or big parties he threw or which celebrities he rubbed elbows with?

  Whoa. Nick knew enough about himself not to let his emotions run away on him. Maddie was a great woman, but he was certain this crazy sense of elation was temporary.

  She was the marry-me-and-have-a-bunch-of-babies kind of person, and he wasn’t cut out for that. To this day, he could barely think about losing his parents and baby sister. It was so long ago, but the hurt and the cold, blank aloneness stayed forever. He couldn’t even think of loving someone like that again and setting himself up for that kind of pain.

  One look at Maddie stirred an irrational, hopeful feeling in his chest. She was radiant in the glow of the night-light, her hair a curtain of silk that cascaded everywhere. He wanted to jump back in bed and inhale its flowery fragrance, feel it tickle against his chest as she slept, watch it drape her shoulders like some sensuous Godiva. He wanted to make love to her a hundred more times.

  A thousand more.

  There would be time for that soon.

  Nick looked back one last time and silently opened the door to the hall. He hadn’t gone more than four steps when the door at the other end of the hallway opened and Derrick stepped out.

  Oh, shit.

  Too late now. Nick walked forward, wondering if the excuse of making a sandwich in the middle of the night would sound as contrived as he thought.

  Derrick’s hair stood haphazardly on end as he stumbled down the corridor in a wrinkled T-shirt and striped pajama bottoms. He yawned widely, and Nick thought at first he hadn’t seen him. It was dim, after all, one lamp lit on a table halfway down the hall.

  Derrick flicked a switch. Wall sconces lit up the space with bright yellow light like an FBI interrogation room. He pinned Nick with his gaze. “What are you doing here?”

  Nick kept his cool. “I could ask you the same question.”

  “One of the twins had too much ice cream at the festival today. Jenna sent me for clean clothes.”

  “Oh. Sorry, man.”

  “That’s all right. Once you have kids you don’t sleep much anyway.” He waite
d for Nick to answer his question.

  Nick took a big breath. “I was just looking for another blanket. The dog—um—sort of stole mine.”

  It was the truth. Yesterday’s, but the truth.

  “The linen closet is that way.” Derrick pointed a thumb behind his head.

  “Thanks. Good luck.” Nick walked past him, and opened the linen closet door.

  “Tell Hughie to share. Oh, and Nick.” Derrick spun around to face him. Sharp eyes bore down, and threat was written all over his face. Nick wasn’t sure if he should toss his arms up in surrender or brace for a fight. “If you hurt my sister, I’ll tear your heart out.”

  “Right. Got it.” When Nick looked up, Derrick was halfway down the hall, not bothering to wait for his answer.

  Nick pulled out a plaid wool blanket and walked downstairs to the darkened family room. Hughie was sprawled on the couch with his legs high in the air, softly snoring. “Move over, buddy,” he said, nudging the dog aside.

  Hugh snorted and rolled over, poking his big snout into Nick’s hands to demand a pet, licking them and getting ready to snuggle up. Nick scratched his ears, patted his massive back. “You’re not what I had in mind for tonight, Hugh boy, but you’ll have to do.”

  Hughie turned on his back and used doggie body language to show he wanted his tummy rubbed.

  Nick indulged the dog for a few minutes, then pulled a pillow off the back of the couch and laid down, tossing the blanket over both of them.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Birds chirped and warbled, a riot of birdie gossip right outside Maddie’s window that awakened her from a deep slumber. She pried open an eye to find her familiar old room coated in the gray light of an early summer dawn.

  Nick. Her blank slate of half-awakeness chalked up fast. She did a search mission with her arm around the rest of the bed, hoping he’d still be there.

  Panic led her back to that night last year when she awakened to an empty bed. She knew he feared commitment, didn’t take emotional risks. But hadn’t he confessed their meeting in Atlanta was no accident? And that he hadn’t been with anybody since?