Strong arms tightened around me as I slowly fluttered my lashes open. The warmth of Nick’s cheek pressed against my back was a welcomed sensation as my brain sluggishly slid out of dreamland and into reality.
Once I could focus my gaze, I glanced at the clock on his nightstand, and my eyes widened in surprise when I saw it was already a little after nine.
Holy hell, I must have slept like a rock.
I honestly couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept in past seven. It had to have been years at this point. Like, college or high school. At least a fucking decade. Ever since I’d started working for CMI, my days generally started at six a.m. sharp.
Still savoring his embrace, I pushed my legs straight out, flexing my ankle and pointing my toes, and stretched the creaks out of my muscles.
Maybe it was because of the orgasms or maybe it was all related to the man lying beside me, but holy hell, I’d slept well last night, like a little baby swaddled up in a warm blanket.
Or, in my case, like an adult, and very naked, Charlotte wrapped up in an equally adult and naked Nick.
Yeah, I definitely like the idea of that.
“Mmm,” Nick moaned softly into my ear and tightened his arms around me. “This is a nice way to wake up.” The sleepy sound of his voice urged a smile onto my lips.
“I’m certainly not opposed,” I whispered, and a raspy chuckle left his lips.
“Well, that’s good news. If you were, I fear I’d be having an entirely different conversation and it’d be with a nice police officer down at the precinct.” He pressed a soft kiss to my shoulder as I smiled at his slightly dark humor and sank deeper into his embrace. “What time is it?”
“After nine.”
“Damn,” he said softly. “I can’t remember the last time I slept in like this.”
I guessed I wasn’t the only who usually rose before the sun.
“Me either.”
His hands skirted across my skin, until they apparently found what they were searching for and stopped at my breasts, wrapping around the pliant flesh and squeezing gently. “I’d like to make a rule.”
I giggled, at his words and at the fact that he was literally giving me a morning wake-up call via boob grabbing. “A rule?” I questioned. “And what would that rule entail?”
“Anytime you sleep over, you’re not allowed to wear clothes to bed,” he whispered hotly into my ear, and he punctuated that statement by pressing himself against the bare skin of my ass. He was hard. Thick. Fucking perfect.
“And does that same rule apply to you?”
“Only if you want it to. I don’t make the rules for me. You do,” he answered.
“Oh, believe me, I definitely want it to.”
“Fan-fucking-tastic,” Nick agreed with a smile in his voice, and I giggled again. “All right, I guess it’s time for me to get my lazy ass out of bed and make us some coffee, huh?”
“That would be pretty awesome. In fact, consider it the next rule.”
He chuckled softly as he sat up on the edge of the bed and got to his feet.
Instantly, I missed the warmth of his presence against my skin.
“And what exactly will you be doing while I’m making coffee?” he asked, and I stretched out onto my back with a giant smile covering my lips.
“Probably lie here and continue to be lazy.”
“Well, at least you’re honest, huh?” He winked and stretched his arms above his head. All the while, I gawked at his muscular, and deliciously naked, body without shame.
He should always be naked. All the fucking time.
Before he could pull a pair of boxer briefs out of his closet, I demanded, “Stop what you’re doing. I have another rule.
“Another one? Three rules within as many minutes is kind of pushing it.
“It’s not really a third rule,” I argued smartly. “It’s more of an addendum to the naked rule. A rule 1A, if you will.”
Nick’s gaze met mine, and he quirked a brow.
“You’re not allowed to wear clothes when we’re at your place alone.”
“All day long? No clothes?”
I nodded. “Uh-huh.”
“Does this rule 1A apply to all such rules and to both of our places of residence?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I will be naked as well, here and at my own apartment. Hell, I might uphold the rule even when you’re not around. Bras are a form of Satan anyway.”
He smiled. “Deal.”
I sat up in his bed and held out my hand. “Now, let’s shake on it.”
He laughed and took my hand for a quick shake, and then, apparently, that wasn’t enough, and he moved both hands toward my body and assaulted my skin with tickling brushes of his fingertips.
“Shit!” I shouted as I shivered and tried my damnedest to squirm out of his reach. “I have another addition to the naked rule!”
A smirk kissed his lips. “Nuh-uh,” he refuted and tickled me some more. “We already shook on it. The deal is done, sweetheart.”
“Oh my God! Stop!” I said through a fit of obnoxious laughter. “I hate being tickled!”
His smile grew wider by the second. “You hate this?” he questioned, and his fingers continued their assault. “But you’re smiling and laughing? I’m so confused by this reaction.”
“Nick!” I squealed. “Stop it!”
“Okay… okay…” he finally agreed and removed his maddening fingers from my body while I stayed on my back, breathing heavily and staring up at him with a scowl.
But my scowl didn’t faze him; Nick chuckled softly as he leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to my forehead. “I’ll make the coffee. Naked. While you stay in the bed. Naked. Sound good?”
I couldn’t not grin at that proposition. “Sounds perfect.”
He winked and walked out of his bedroom, his bare feet pattering across the hardwood floor as he made his way into the kitchen. I heard the faucet a few moments later, and with a contented sigh, stretched out on his bed and closed my eyes.
But before I could drift off into a little catnap, the sound of a phone ringing in the distance startled my eyes open.
“Shit,” Nick muttered from the kitchen, and the phone rang three more times before a little click and beep echoed into the hallway. When the words, “This is Nick Raines. Leave a message,” loudly filled my ears, I looked toward his nightstand again and saw a relic of a device. One that I honestly thought hadn’t existed since Barack Obama had won his first Presidential nomination.
It was damn near 2020, and this man still had an answering machine.
I smiled big at the thought as Nick jogged in and grabbed the phone from the cradle, winked, and jogged back out of the room to continue making coffee.
“Lex?” Nick’s voice reverberated from the speakers of the small, black device and echoed against the walls of his bedroom. “Are you there, honey?”
“Hi, Dad,” she answered, the soft and sweet lilt of her little voice melting my heart.
“Statistically speaking, it is more logical to keep your phone in your living room,” she stated firmly. “The waking hours are two-thirds of the average person’s day, but ninety percent of phone calls occur during those hours.” The girl had sass. I loved it.
“I know, Lex,” Nick said through a chuckle, “but the main reason I have a landline is in case the hospital can’t reach me on my cell phone. And generally speaking, that happens when I’m in bed. Hence the need for it to be in my bedroom.”
She sighed. “It’s loud, Dad. Actually seven times louder than a standard cell phone ring. You would be able to hear it from the living room.”
“Fine,” he muttered, but I could hear the smile in his voice. “I’ll take moving it into the living room under strong consideration. Sound like a plan?”
“Yep,” she agreed. “Anyway, I’m calling about the Mathletes,” she said, and I couldn’t not giggle at the way Nick’s daughter managed to get straight to the point and how flawlessly at ease their familiarity with each other seemed to be. “My competition is at six. Are you coming?”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Cool.” The sound of a female voice yelling, “Lexi! Breakfast!” filled the background, and immediately, she announced into the receiver, “Gotta go, Dad. Bye!”
“Okay. See ya tonight, Lex,” Nick said, and the call ended, a final beep sounding on the machine next to me.
Immediately, I felt guilty for listening to their whole conversation. Sure, it wasn’t something I’d sought out or done on purpose, but despite the accidental circumstances, I’d still listened to the whole thing without restraint.
A few minutes later, he strode back into his bedroom with two steaming coffee mugs in his hands. He set them on the nightstand and sat on the bed beside me.
“I feel a little bad,” I blurted out, and he looked at me curiously. I pointed my index finger toward his answering machine and cradled one of the pillows from his bed to my chest. “I accidentally overheard your conversation with your daughter.”
Nick smiled softly. “Why do you feel bad about that?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I mean, I just felt like I was forced into eavesdropping or something. And, it was a conversation with your daughter. I guess it just made me feel uncomfortable that I’d overheard the whole thing, like I was invading your privacy. By accident, obviously, but still, I want you to know that I’m not that type of person.”
“No apology necessary, Char.” He kissed my forehead. “So, don’t waste time feeling bad about it. It’s not warranted in the least.”
“Okay, good,” I said on a relieved sigh, and before my mind could forget one very important thing, I added, “Also, I have a supplemental question…”
“Okay…” he responded, stretching the “a” sound out with a curious lilt to his honey-smooth voice.
“So…” I nodded toward his answering machine. “Did you have to order that thing from 1990 or 1991?”
“Smartass.” He rolled his eyes and laughed. “I had a feeling you’d have something to say about my answering machine.”
“I mean, it is an extremely rare and vintage sight. I’m shocked the Museum of Natural History hasn’t contacted you directly to procure it for an exhibit or something.”
“Are you done yet?”
“For now, yes. But, later? Probably not.” I grinned as I sat up on the bed and rested my back against the headboard. He handed me my mug of coffee, and I took a much-welcomed sip.
But still, I couldn’t hide my continuing smile.
He scowled once his gaze took in my expression. “It’s not that funny.”
“Oh, but it is,” I teased. “One of the country’s best neurosurgeons utilizes an answering machine from the nineties. Trust me, it’s hilarious.”
It was hilarious. But the thing I loved the most was the adorable half scowl, half smile that kissed his lips.
Goddamn, he was handsome. I had the urge to wrap myself up in his smile, his laugh, his gorgeous brown eyes, and stay there forever.
It had been years and years since I’d felt such a connection to another human being. My fiancé had been the last man I’d felt that way about, and when I really looked back on the past, on that relationship, I couldn’t recall ever feeling this invigorated, entranced, happy by another person’s presence.
What was happening to me?
It sounds like you’re falling for him, Char…
I shook off the insane thoughts and buried my nose in my coffee. I mean, I’d known this man no more than a blink in time. No way in hell was I already thinking that four-letter word.
That was completely crazy…right?