“I’ve been trying to figure out why you dressed like such a slut on Halloween.”
I halted in the act of depositing the DVD into my player. Spine going rigid, I pulled in a long breath to keep from blurting out the fuck you, jizz wad that came to mind. Nick took my lack of response as a sign the statement hadn’t been completely unacceptable.
“You dress conservatively,” he said, the anger from earlier long gone. “Your place is laid back. I don’t get it.”
“I wasn’t dressed like a slut,” I said between clamped teeth. “Everything was covered.”
“Barely.”
“Everything,” I jabbed the button to close the DVD tray, “was covered. I made sure of it.”
“I saw your nipple.”
I whirled around, face no doubt a mixture of horror and fury. “What?”
He’d kicked a leg onto the stained mocha coffee table and leaned the rest of his broad body into the corner of my purple sofa. Sipping on the long neck beer in his hands, he lazily scanned my chest.
I really shouldn’t have let him buy beer. But I needed alcohol to soften the memory of his aunt shouting on our way out and to soothe the concerns over having someone like him in my place.
“At the party.” Nick gestured toward me with the bottom of his green bottle. “You bent, and I saw your nipple. So everything wasn’t covered.”
I swear half my body combusted. The middle half. “You could have kept that to yourself.”
His smirk went wide. “Trust me. I’m keeping a lot to myself.”
“Really?” I snorted.
Nick took a long draw off the bottle, holding my gaze. His throat worked as he swallowed down the gulp. He smacked his lips and gave a little ahh sound. “Really.”
“I don’t think you know how.”
“Sounds like you want me to prove you wrong.” Nick pulled in another long gulp. “And I’m nearly finished with one beer. I can be a colossal asshole.”
I turned my back on him and snatched up the remote control from where I’d dropped it on my brand new black and white rug. “That excuse doesn’t entitle you to act out.”
“Entitle? No. But you knew what I was like after beer, yet you let me buy it anyway.”
Why had I let him do it? “As if I could stop you,” I said.
“You didn’t even try.”
He had me there. I didn’t have to admit it.
“I saw your nipple and your knickers.” He laughed, as if to himself. “I saw the bottom of your ass when you bent over and the edge of your black panties. That costume didn’t leave much to the imagination.”
I clutched the remote control to my chest as I turned, trying not to let the question in my mind show on my face.
Nick chuckled. “Yes, I did imagine.”
I flopped onto the torn edge of the sofa, pointing the remote at the television.
He sipped his beer. “I also imagined you wearing those knickers. They’re for special nights, aren’t they?”
My lips were pressed together so tightly that I was surprised they hadn’t split and started bleeding.
“I’ve seen the lines of your panties under your pajamas,” he said. “There’d be no line with those. Want to try them on and see if I’m right?”
I hit play on the DVD and sat back.
“Or you could just model them for me.”
“Okay,” I said.
Nick’s head jerked up and his beer nearly flew out of his hand. He fumbled the sweaty glass in time to thwart an accident.
“I believe you,” I said.
His eyes crinkled inward. “What?”
“You know how to keep things to yourself.”
Nick grunted. “So that’s a no on modeling your thong for me?”
“It’s a no.”
“Can’t blame me for trying.”
No, but I could blame him for the fantasy building in my mind of his hands on my bare ass.
Damn the jizz wad.
The Lego movie finished in time for me to get up and see to my popcorn craving. Nick produced his hidden DVD and replaced it in the player. Though whatever he’d picked would soon show up on my forty-inch television, he’d still hidden the case from me. Maybe he was afraid I’d mock him after the derision he’d shown me for my choice. A movie about talking Legos was a perfectly acceptable choice to offset whatever gorefest he’d picked.
I about choked when the title flashed on my trip back into the living room. Fifty Shades of Grey.
“Um,” I said, “I didn’t go see this in the theater for a reason.”
“Why?”
“I’m not into…that.” Sad, but I thought I’d actually prefer the gorefest.
Nick sat up and forward, legs dropping onto the floor. “Not into sex?”
“Not into men beating women.”
“It’s not like that.”
I shot him an arch look. “You’ve seen it?”
“I read the book.”
Gaping, I tried not to glance at my bedroom where a whole bunch of other sexy books waited.
“My sister made me.” His cheeks went a little pink. “She claimed I could learn a thing or two about what women want.”
I put the popcorn bowl between us, and then dropped onto the sofa. “A hot billionaire?”
Nick laughed. “Yeah, that’s about the whole of it.”
“Your sister thinks you need help with women?” I reached for a handful of my movie snack.
Nick followed my lead, scraping his fingers on the inside of the plastic bowl. “She thinks I should be married with two babies by now just because she is.” He shoved most of the popcorn in his mouth. “What about you?” he said around the collection of kernels.
I shook my head. “I don’t have a sister.”
“Brother?”
“Nope.”
“Good.”
I lifted my eyebrows at him.
He smiled, showing the bits of popcorn stuck in his teeth.
Wrinkling my nose, I said, “Ewwh.”
Nick got comfortable and focused on the television. I tried to do the same rather than consider why he’d picked a movie about rough sex. He probably wanted to see how different the movie version was from the book.
The movie’s action progressed slowly enough that I thought I’d be in danger of falling asleep by the time anything happened. Deciding that was a good thing, I got comfortable, pulling the blanket off the top of the sofa and spreading it over my lap. Nick walked in front of the television so he could use the restroom.
When he returned, he held a fresh bottle of beer. He brought an extra and put it front of me. I ignored it, burrowing my toes deeper under the soft fabric. One of us needed to be sober, and clearly it wasn’t going to be him.
Nick dropped onto his spot. He tipped the bottle back, guzzling. The liquid disappeared at an alarming speed. At this rate he’d be back to the colossal asshole in a matter of seconds. Or…what came after that? Mega dick?
No . That word brought about an entirely different set of images I definitely didn’t need to think about.
Shifting subtly away from him, I tried my best to watch the movie. Unfortunately, that’s when the movie started getting good. The hero—a billionaire I wasn’t sure I’d have called hot—tied the heroine to her own bed.
“Have you ever been tied up?”
Keeping my eyes on the screen, I cleared my throat.
“Fuck,” he said. “You have. Did he fuck you while you were tied?”
The memory flared hot and bright. It wasn’t my ex who featured in it this time.
“He did,” Nick said, perhaps reading the answer on my flaming face.
“It was just one time.” I lifted the nearly empty popcorn bowl and stood. “And it wasn’t even good.”
Something knocked the bowl out of my hands before I could make it five steps. I found myself against the wall, inches away from the kitchen door with a lithe man in my way. Nick gathered my left arm with the right he’d already hoisted over my head.
Holding me by the wrists, he settled his chest against mine.
His freed hand stroked up my side. “You’re lying.”
Something in his dark voice had me staying very still. Then again, it was probably the knowledge that he was a dangerous creature.
But wait, I hadn’t said anything, had I? Maybe he’d read it in my face.
“It was good.” Nick tightened his grip on my wrists, eyes matching the move. “Or it wasn’t just one time. Which is it, Shelby?”
I couldn’t think when he was this close. Or I’d have remembered what I’d said. “What does it matter? And why do you think I’m lying?” I’d sounded far too breathless for my liking.
“I can smell it.”
My eyebrows winged up. “You can what?”
“An aroma like spoiled milk fills the air when you lie.”
That was…disturbing. Had I lied to him any other time? And wait, was it just me? If so, I really needed to know how to get around his talent. “When I lie? Or when anyone lies?”
“Anyone. Which was the lie?” He punctuated the question with a squeeze to my wrist.
“Seriously, what does it matter?”
“It was good,” he decided. “Or you wouldn’t be trying to keep the answer from me.”
“Believe what you will,” I said even though he was right. It had been good. Just like my breathlessness now was because he had me in just about the same position my ex had years ago.
“It’s not a matter of belief. It’s a matter of fact. I can smell that, too, Shelby.”
I pulled my head back, trying to gape when all I wanted to do was pant like a lusty sorority girl faced with a whole fraternity of beefcakes. “You can smell fact? Does it smell like musty old books?”
“Desire.” Nick’s hand stroked over the waistband on my jeans, lingering just a little too close to my skin. “I can smell your desire. It’s making me want to be a bigger colossal asshole.”
“Bigger being…whatever you—”
Nick nuzzled beneath my chin. Delicate sensation wiggled up my stomach, and I sucked in a lungful of air. His fingers chased the warm shiver as if he could read my body as easily as my expressions. A warm, wet flick along my neck mad me stifle a moan. Had he just licked me?
“Did you…” I could hardly speak with how breathless I was. “Did you rent this movie so you could do this?”
“Yes.”
My shirt lifted along his questing arm, exposing my midriff. Nick’s fingers teased beneath my bra, generating tiny sparks of awareness. The nipple closest formed a stiff peak.
Touch it , I silently begged. Aloud, I said, “And the beer?”
“Liquid courage.” Nick yanked my bra cup down and lowered his head to my breast. His hot, moist mouth covered the rigid bud. Sucking lightly and making me groan, Nick tugged at the opposite cup, rolling my newly freed nipple between his thumb and forefinger. If I’d been thinking clearly, this is what I would have silently begged for.
I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feel of his mouth doing wonderful things to my body. “Only the colossal asshole has the courage to touch me?”
He lifted his lips. “Only the colossal asshole can handle the rejection when you don’t let him.”
Someone as ridiculously handsome as he was shouldn’t have to worry about rejection. Though, I suppose I had been rather vocal in my dislike of him.
Nick switched sides, laving harder over my untouched nipple. Parts of me that hadn’t been alive in ages throbbed. I made a gurgling sound in the back of my throat.
His head came up, dark eyes pinning mine. “Should I stop?”
“No.”
Gaze glimmering, he smashed an arm behind my back and tugged me against him. Using speed too disorienting to call running, Nick dashed us through the bedroom door and lowered me onto the bed. I had a half a second to protest before he clutched my hands over my head and bore down on me again. Nick straddled my thighs, kissing and sucking my nipples and everything in between. Tingles of need meant I’d only protest if he went too slowly.
I wanted him. Had probably wanted him from the moment I’d spotted his face peering out of the dinosaur costume. And his asshole behavior had only sharpened the need. But worst of all, the knowledge he was incredibly dangerous might have been the largest allure.
Nick released his hold on my arms so he could unfasten the tiny hooks behind me. I reached down and grabbed my top, yanking it up. The fabric caught on my chin. He relinquished my nipple and rose onto his knees, pressing his erection against my sex. Nick ripped his own shirt over his head, tossing it aside while I finished doing the same with mine. He paused long enough to grind his cock against my aching sex. I gasped and tried to see him through the haze of lust.
God, but he was fucking perfect. Chiseled, lean muscles and sloping lines. I wanted to bite every damn bit of him. And nibble. And suck. And fuck.
Nick laughed, stroking a finger beneath my cheek. “All in good time, Shelby.”
“I don’t like waiting,” I said.
His grin turned feral. “All right. What do you want first?”
I nodded at the bulge in his slacks. “I want to see that.”
He rolled onto his heels, smirking. “Just to see it?”
“See it, touch it, lick it, shove it inside me.”
Nick’s gaze went darker, harder. “I don’t know which of those I want you to do most.”
I lifted onto my elbow. “Then I’ll pick—”
His torso slammed atop me, forcing my head into his pecs. I yelped and formed a curse on my lips.
“Someone is here,” he hissed, cutting my bitch session short.
Nick rolled over, shielding my body with his as he simultaneously slithered us both to the edge of the bed. I glanced over his shoulder and spotted what he had—a man in the darkness beyond the glass, holding something metallic that caught the moonlight’s gleam.
Nick forced me down, shoving me to the floor.
My hip crashed first, and I swallowed down the pain that shot across my torso.
And then he was up, springing to the sliding glass door. He whipped it open and charged out, bare feet pounding on the patio. His chase continued softer when he hit the grass until I couldn’t hear anything but my own gasps for breath.
Where did he go ? And how did he know the person was there?
I pulled into myself, teeth chattering fearfully.
God, please don’t let Nick get hurt helping me .
Footsteps thudded in the distance, growing louder with each fall. Something smacked dull and meaty against what I thought might be my patio.
“Shelby.” Nick’s voice was quiet, but clear through the still open door. “Go to your trunk and get the green thing.”
Oh. Shit .