Chapter Seventeen

Lizzie melted against him. His embrace was everything Nick was; warm, solid, infinitely strong. She clasped her arms around his neck, running her hands through his short hair, nuzzling up against his neck, filling her nostrils with his natural masculine smell. Her mind emptied of everything but the feel of the hard muscles of his chest against her breasts, the caress of his hands as they gently smoothed over her back. The press of his thigh muscles on hers.

It hadn’t been that many days ago when the thought of having a man press against her, his hands on her body, had filled her with revulsion. Then Nick had come back into her life. Carefully he’d begun to fix not just the outside pieces of her life, but the insides, too. Here was a man she trusted with all her heart. He didn’t want to make love to her for the headlines she could generate him, or the money he could extort from her. No, this strong, sexy, kind man wanted her only for herself. Reaching up, she took his face in her hands and kissed him softly on the lips.

He responded instantly, his mouth moving gently against hers as his tongue started a slow caress, tenderly pushing her lips apart. Drawing her more fully against him, he deepened the kiss, his mouth becoming more urgent as he slid his hands down her body, moving unerringly towards her breasts. With exquisite slowness, he brushed his palms across her nipples, releasing a moan from her. His fingers continued to tease, drifting back and forth over her nipples until they stood out prominently against the silk of her top.

Finally he broke away, but only to burrow his face in her hair. ‘I want you, Lizzie,’ he whispered huskily against her ear. ‘Now is the time for you to push me away. Because if you don’t …’

‘If I don’t?’

‘God help me, if you don’t I’ll pick you up and carry you upstairs to bed.’

She laughed gently. ‘That sounds rather exciting.’

To her astonishment he proceeded to place one arm underneath her thighs and lift her into his arms. She found herself giggling helplessly as he walked towards the stairs. Perhaps it wasn’t the most romantic response she could have mustered, but she was fast discovering humour was a powerful aphrodisiac.

‘Crikey, you’re not as light as you look, are you?’ he complained as they finally approached the landing.

She swatted him. ‘I don’t think Rhett ever said that to Scarlett.’

‘Yeah well, maybe Scarlett ate like a sparrow. You, on the other hand …’ He kicked open the door to the main bedroom and almost threw her onto the bed. ‘… haven’t been able to get enough of my cooking.’

When he sat down on the bed next to her, panting slightly with the effort of carrying her up the stairs, Lizzie couldn’t stop herself. She burst out laughing. Any remaining doubts she’d harboured – whether memories of what Charles had done would haunt her, ruining this moment – vanished. She’d never felt so totally sure, or so totally relaxed, about making love with a man. ‘I have to say, sex has never been like this before,’ she told him, wrapping her arms around him.

He looked at her quizzically. ‘Err, in case you haven’t noticed, we’ve not started yet.’

‘Well, maybe technically not, but …’ She smiled. ‘So far I like your style, Nick Templeton.’

‘What style would that be?’ he asked, pushing her down onto the bed. ‘The make them laugh so they don’t notice when you pull their knickers down style?’

Giggling again, she reached up to stroke his cheek. ‘Umm, works for me.’

Slowly, with the utmost care, Nick began to undo the buttons of her silk top. ‘You’re beautiful, Lizzie. So unbelievably, stunningly beautiful.’ He kissed her shoulders, leaving a burning trail in his wake, then started to peel away the rest of her clothes. ‘Thank goodness for warm climates.’

‘No socks?’

His chuckle against her skin was like a caress. ‘Amongst other things, yes.’

She sighed as he covered one of her breasts with his mouth, teasing and delighting. But she wanted to play, too. ‘Nick, you need to undress.’

‘Umm,’ he murmured, moving on to the other nipple.

‘Ahh, that feels, oh …’

With his mouth still occupied on her breast, he trailed his hand over her waist and down between her legs.

She gave up trying to get him to take off his shirt and gave in to the sheer wonder of being pleasured. Of having a man focus totally on her needs and not his own. As his movements gathered pace, within seconds she was crying out in satisfaction.

‘That was incredible,’ she managed finally, taking hold of his hand and bringing it up to her lips. ‘Thank you.’

He gazed down at her, eyes so dark they were almost black. ‘My pleasure.’

She smiled ruefully at his still clothed body. ‘You’re wearing far too many clothes for this party.’

‘We can soon solve that.’ Instantly he stood and quickly stripped. After slipping on a condom he nestled his large frame between her legs. ‘Ready for act two?’

She took his face in her hands and brought it towards her. ‘Bring it on.’

Whether it was his technique, or whether it was because she was so relaxed in his presence, or whether it was just Nick, she didn’t know. Whatever it was, the pleasure she felt as he entered her, as he thrust his powerful hips deeply inside her, filling her until she almost cried with ecstasy, was more than anything she’d ever known. She wanted to tell him how amazing he felt, but her mind couldn’t work out the words. It was too full of him, and the glorious sensations he was creating inside her. Her orgasm, when it came, was deep, long and powerful. She was just about aware enough to notice when Nick allowed himself to let go, too.

Taking care not to squash her, he moved onto his back, pulling her with him.

‘So how does act three go?’ she asked dreamily, finding a comfortable position wrapped tight against his chest.

His chest rumbled with laughter. ‘Well, first there’s a long interval.’ She pouted. ‘During which you’re welcome to get yourself and your partner a drink.’

She pretended to consider his words. ‘I guess I could do that. It all depends whether act three is up to the standard of acts one and two.’

Moving slightly, he gazed into her eyes. Her heart squeezed at the desire she saw swirling there. ‘Lizzie, I could perform an entire symphony with you, and each time it would be better than the last.’ Then, as if aware that he was being too heavy, he patted her on the bottom. ‘Now, about those interval drinks.’

When she was gone, Nick collapsed back onto the bed and covered his head with his hands. What had he done? How was he going to go on from here? Making love to her had been so … words failed him. It had been more than even he’d dreamed, and his dreams had been pretty damn amazing. In them he’d managed to imagine his own pleasure fairly accurately, but he hadn’t factored in how phenomenal it was to feel Lizzie’s uninhibited response to him, too. It had blown his mind, not to mention his ego.

But what now? How could he possibly go back to simply being friends?

‘Nick?’ He flung his hands from his face and sat up quickly, though clearly not quickly enough. ‘Regretting it already?’ Her words were sharp, but he read the hurt lying at the heart of them.

‘No, of course not.’ He tried a reassuring smile.

Setting down the drinks, she perched on the bed, as far away from him as she could. Then, pulling her knees up to her chin, she wrapped her arms tightly around her legs. ‘I wouldn’t blame you if you were regretting it,’ she said flatly, staring straight ahead, all joy completely removed from her face. ‘You’re probably already wondering how you could have made love to the same woman who let Charles and that other man …’ Her words faltered as they caught in her throat.

Love for her tore through him. In a flash he was beside her, ignoring her body language and enfolding her in his arms. ‘Of course I’m not. How can you even think that?’

‘What then?’

She was so stiff in his arms, he ached for her. ‘I’m terrified we’re going to lose what we have,’ he admitted finally. ‘We both know an affair between us can only be short lived. Soon you’ll be back in America, getting on with your life. Will you still count me as a friend, even now we’ve slept together?’

He felt her sag against him. ‘Oh, Nick, I’ll always want you in my life. After the experience with Charles …’ She shuddered. ‘I didn’t think I’d want to get involved with another man ever again. I mean, what if I picked another loser? Someone who only wanted to make love to me so he could use me?’ She turned and nestled back against him. ‘With you, I don’t have any worries. I trust you implicitly.’

‘I see.’ His voice sounded so tight, she couldn’t fail to pick up on it.

‘What’s wrong? What have I said?’

It was his chance to tell her the truth; that they both yearned for different things. She wanted a holiday fling, a way to get back into the swing of dating men again. He wanted forever. But if he told her that, she’d scuttle back to America in the blink of an eye. Probably before the case was even over, definitely before he was ready to let her go. So he settled for humour, though laced with more than a grain of truth. ‘A man likes to think a woman wants him for his body, not just because she trusts him,’ he replied lightly, kissing her on the shoulder.

The worry banished from her eyes. ‘I presumed you’d take that for granted.’

‘Sure, why wouldn’t I?’ The list of her ex boyfriends flashed through his mind and he cringed.

‘You might not think it, but you’ve got a very sexy body.’ As if to prove what she thought, Lizzie pushed him down onto the bed and traced her fingers delicately across his chest. ‘Look at those pecs, and your hard, flat stomach.’ She gazed up at him beneath a curtain of blonde hair and smiled. ‘Of course you could do with a bit of a tan, but we can work on that over the next few days.’

‘And that’s where we’re ending this conversation.’ He caught her fingers and brought them to his lips. ‘Are you ready for act three?’

Laughing, she crawled up the bed so her mouth was aligned with his. ‘I’ve always been in favour of short intervals.’