CHAPTER THIRTY
FOUR HOURS AND six condoms later, Ivy had insisted they get dressed and get as far away from her sofa as they could. Damn, what a pity, Nolan thought, since he really did like her sofa.
He glanced over at her as he slid into his jogging pants. Never before had he been so pleasured by a woman. She was a quick learner, and today he’d taught her several things and she had pleased him immensely, stroke after every sensuous stroke into her body. In the past Nolan had equated having sex with physical release, but with Ivy it rivaled the kind of passion everyone should experience in their lifetime. The kind that made you want to howl at the moon regardless of whether there was a full one out or not.
“We still need to talk.”
He smiled at her. Yeah, they would talk all right. And then after they talked...
“Would you like something to drink?”
“Drink? It’s time to eat,” he said, glancing out the window and seeing dusk had fallen.
“Sorry, my refrigerator is empty.”
“No problem,” he pulled his phone out of his pocket and placed an order for delivery.
Ivy glared at him. “I didn’t invite you to stay.”
He shrugged his shoulders after pulling his shirt over his head. “We need to talk and I prefer not doing so on an empty stomach.”
“If you’re going to stay, then I need to change clothes.”
He chuckled. “You mean put on more clothes, don’t you? Not that I’m complaining with your lack of undies and bra under that outfit, mind you.”
“You need to shave, Nolan.”
He rubbed his chin. Yes, he did. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to mark you up.” He knew the worse of it was on her inner thighs. “Let me kiss the pain away.” He moved toward her and when she darted out of his way, he swept her into his arms.
“Put me down. I don’t need you to kiss anything. You’ve done enough already.”
He decided not to tell her how wrong she was about that. “Relax. I promise to keep my tongue inside my mouth and not use it to kiss you. And if it makes you happy, we’ll talk now.”
She frowned at him. “I thought you preferred not talking on an empty stomach.”
“For you I’ll make an exception.”
He carried her over to the sofa and sat down with her in his lap. “Okay. Talk.”
She twisted in his arms to face him. “Excuse me, but you’re the one who showed up saying we needed to talk.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s right. Making love to you for four hours has messed up my mind.”
“You shouldn’t be so greedy.”
He smiled. It was hard using his tongue just for talking when he did want to kiss her. “Your fault. You bring out the greediness in me.”
Lowering her head, she didn’t say anything for a minute. And then when she raised her head back up, she said, “I never wanted for us to get this involved, Nolan.”
He knew that since she’d made it clear from day one she didn’t want to have sex with him. “I know you didn’t,” he said, deciding if he couldn’t kiss, the next best thing was to touch her, so he gently stroked his fingertips along her arm.
“Sex causes problems.”
He shook his head, not agreeing with that. “Sex with the wrong person causes problems. With the right person it causes pleasure. I gave you pleasure and you gave me pleasure. That means we’re the right people for each other.”
It quickly dawned on him what he’d said and decided he needed to walk it back. At least he needed her to understand their compatibility between them only extended to the physical. “We’re the right people for each other when it comes to sex.”
“I knew what you meant. To you, that’s all a woman is good for.”
Was that what she really thought? What did he expect when he’d deliberately set out to make her think he had a deplorable reputation when it came to women. It would be a waste of his time to deny anything now. “The reason I wanted to talk to you, Ivy, is because you’re backing out on me. Now is not the time to do that.”
“We were going to pretend to break up later anyway, Nolan. Why can’t we do it now?”
“Because.”
“Because what?”
He didn’t say anything. To state the reason that he wasn’t ready for them to go their separate ways wouldn’t make much sense, so he said, “Because it’s a plan I think will work, but only if we give it enough time. They won’t be satisfied we tried long and hard enough. Plus, we haven’t figured out a reason to break up that they won’t challenge.” He grinned. “I was looking forward to outwitting the old gal. Just think you’ll get to do the same with your grandmother. Maybe then she won’t try picking a man for you ever again.”
She seemed to consider what he’d said. “Will it put a stop to your great-grandmother?”
“I doubt it. Mama Laverne will be playing matchmaker until her dying day. At least she’ll move on from me to the next person on her list. It should be Corbin but she’s skipping him for now to take on Victoria.”
“Why?”
“She thinks Victoria is ready to settle down.”
“How does Victoria feel about it?”
Nolan recalled his conversation with his sister. “She honestly doesn’t have a problem with it. Victoria’s rationale is that she doesn’t have time to look for a husband and has no problem letting Mama Laverne vet one for her.”
“Wow.”
“I know. Crazy, right?”
“I guess.”
“There’s no ‘I guess’ about it. It is crazy.” When she didn’t say anything, he said, “I’ll tell you what. Let’s go the family get-together tomorrow, perform our best act and see what happens. Who knows? We might not be able to fool anyone.”
“And if we do?”
“Then that’s even better and would fall in line with our plan. In two weeks I’ll be leaving for Paris. I’ll be there for a couple of weeks and while I’m gone you can think of a way for us to break up with no chance of getting back together. Then when I get back, we’ll stage the big breakup and that will be it. Just like we planned. Piece of cake.”
“Piece of cake?”
He smiled. “With cream-cheese icing on top. As delicious as it can get. All we need is four more weeks, and for two of them I won’t even be around. Four weeks, Ivy.”
* * *
IT WAS NEARLY midnight when an exhausted Ivy eased out of bed. Slipping into her caftan, she headed for her kitchen, but not before glancing over her shoulder at the man she’d left sleeping soundly.
Tomorrow she would attend his family function where they would put on a show as starry-eyed lovers. Then for two weeks they would date in full view of his great-grandmother’s allies. The following two weeks he would be in Paris, giving her a chance to work on a plan for their breakup.
He honestly thought things would be uncomplicated and simple. That was easy for him to say when his heart wasn’t involved. Things weren’t supposed to go that way. When he’d arrived earlier that day, she’d made up her mind about him...or so she’d thought. First thing she’d intended to do was put distance between them. Some distance. Since walking through her front door, their bodies had been more connected than not connected.
The moment he’d touched her she had recklessly thrown caution to the wind and had allowed him to break down her resolve. And for what? She knew the answer without thinking much about it. For the best lovemaking any man could bestow on a woman. Granted she didn’t have a lot of experience since there had been only two guys before Nolan. This thing with Nolan was so off the charts she had to pause for a minute just to catch her breath. The man had making love to a woman down to an art form. Her thighs quivered just thinking about it. Then there were those sex games he played with her where he would deliberately push her to the edge then snatch her back and then shove her to the edge all over again. But he made the torture worth it in the end when he would make her climax hard. He’d even taught her some naughty little words to say that turned him on. And she would do so, all from the promise of a clit licking. Just one of the naughty terms she’d learned from him.
Her mind should be filled with worry about another heartbreak, but all she could think about was this sexual empowerment she was feeling. And he’d offered her two more weeks of it. Could she take it knowing what the end result would be? Knowing that in four weeks, he would walk away and not look back? Was the pleasure he was giving, and would give her for another two weeks, worth it?
She needed to analyze her situation. Was it wrong to fantasize about a life she would never have? To be satisfied with a sex-filled but loveless relationship? Why not? Couples did it all the time. She had tried the love-the-person-you-have-sex-with thing and had believed the love was being reciprocated, only to find out that wasn’t the case. So was she wrong to accept things as they were and hope for the best?
The next question then was what was the best? What life would she return to after her “breakup” with Nolan? Would her life be better or worse? At the start of this, she would have said better, hands down, confident that a relationship was the last thing she wanted.
A shimmery smile touched her lips as sensations washed over it. Sexwise it would be better. Nolan had the ability to remind her that she was a woman with needs. He had the resilience to show her that he was just the man to fulfill those needs. And he had.
Never in her wildest dreams, and over the years she’d allowed herself to have some pretty wild ones, had she thought any man could keep her in bed for the better part of the day and make almost-nonstop love to her. And the orgasms... OMG! Women didn’t have that many in her mother’s romance novels that Ivy used to sneak and read, and still read now on occasion. During Nolan’s lovemaking, the big O came frequently and effortlessly. He treated her body as something to be cherished and pleasured, sometimes at the expense of his own satisfaction. Very few men would do that.
So how could she not fall in love with him when every time she looked into his eyes, she felt herself doing so? She blew out a frustrated sigh as she walked into the kitchen. At least she knew Nolan’s reputation. She was well aware he liked women and was sacrificing his time with them by pretending an affair with her. She would have thought he would have jumped at the chance to end the pretense. Then he could go back to his womanizing ways. He was so determined to best his great-grandmother that he would put up with Ivy for another four weeks.
“I woke up and you were gone, baby.”
She swirled around to see a shirtless Nolan leaning in the kitchen’s doorway with his jogging pants riding low on his hips. He had that sleepy-sexy look in his eyes. It was after midnight and he didn’t look like a man who intended to go home. She hadn’t invited him to stay. Did she want him to go?
Judging by how her body was responding to him again, no, she didn’t. It didn’t help that he’d called her baby again. He’d done it a couple of times before. Was he practicing for his family? Yes, that had to be it.
“You were asleep and I didn’t want to wake you,” she said.
A smile touched those gorgeous lips. “Now I am awake.”
He straightened and began walking toward her in that slow, sexy strut that he should patent. Goose bumps began forming on her arms with every step he took. His dark penetrating gaze held her in place as she watched him, feeling sensations swirling around in her stomach the closer he got.
And when he was close enough, he pulled her into his arms and held her. The warm heat of his body pressed against hers felt good and she buried her face in his bare chest. She loved the feel of his chest hair against her skin.
“You smell good, Ivy,” he leaned in and whispered close to her ear. “I love the cologne you’re wearing. What is it?”
“Forever You by Wingate.”
“I will commend James the next time I see him.”
She pulled back and looked up at him, her brows scrunching. “James?”
“Yes, James Wingate, CEO of Wingate Cosmetics. He’s a family friend.”
She shook her head. “Is there anyone you or your family doesn’t know?”
He chuckled. “I’m sure there are, but get prepared to meet those who we do know tomorrow. More than likely they will be there, since it’s being held at Whispering Pines. Although this whole thing might have been Mama Laverne’s idea, Jake will invite his close friends.”
“Won’t that upset your great-grandmother that nonfamily members will be there?”
“Heck, no. A friend of a Madaris is family, indirectly or directly. Take James Wingate for instance. His sister, Colby, is married to movie actor Sterling Hamilton. Since Sterling and Colby are considered family, so are James and his wife, Cynthia.”
“So you think there’s a chance Sterling Hamilton might be there tomorrow?” She couldn’t imagine going anyplace where the famous movie star turned director would be in attendance. She’d crushed on him hard when she was a teenager, like practically every other female in the country.
“Sterling and my granduncle Jake are the best of friends so he will get an invite. Whether he’s there will depend on his schedule.”
He tightened his arms around her. “Enough talk. There’re other things we can spend our time doing.”
And with that said, he whipped her off her feet into his arms and headed for the bedroom.