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CHAPTER FOUR
BACKING OFF THE BED he helped her out of her jeans and panties. Staring in blatant appreciation at her naked form spread out before him, he shed his shirt with a few efficient jerks and went to work on his belt.
Nichole’s mouth went dry, her eyes wide. And then she was on her knees at the edge of the bed, pushing his hands from the wide length of leather and running her own up the steep plains of his chest. She’d felt the power in his shoulders when he carried her, seen the definition across his pecs when she’d opened his shirt, but this—nothing had prepared her for the hard-cut terrain of his shirtless form.
He was like a work of art. A Greek god. A veritable playground of muscle and man. And he was only half undressed.
“Naked,” she murmured, her fingers jumping the crest of each abdominal ridge as they descended back to his belt, tugged the stiff leather until the buckle freed, before moving on to his straining fly.
He stood patient before her as she opened his zipper with trembling fingers. As if he sensed her need to be an active participant rather than a passive player. But still he touched her all the while, never breaking contact, his hands always moving, coasting over her bare shoulders, her neck and back as she pushed the denim low on his hips. His thumbs brushed the line of her jaw, the swell of her bottom lip, the hollow at the base of her throat as she eased the stretchy waistband of his white cotton boxer briefs over the thick head of his erection and saw for the first time his actual size.
Big. Like everything else about him.
Different. Than anything she’d experienced before.
Exciting. In a way she’d never known.
Unable to resist, she closed a hand over him, testing the steely length.
“Nichole.”
At the gruff sound of her name she lifted her gaze up, up, up until she met the blue burn of his. Intense. Barely contained. A shocking contrast to the light touch he’d treated her to. The look in his eyes said he wanted to throw her back on the bed and take her hard. Let the weight of his body hold her down.
Wow. Okay. She was pretty sure she wanted that too.
She gave him the space to toe off his shoes and discard his jeans, retrieving his wallet and the condom within in the process.
Breathless with mounting anticipation, she waited for him to rip it open and roll it on … frowned as he tossed it onto the bed instead.
Please don’t let him be one of those guys who only wants to wear protection at the very end. She was so excited, so caught up in the magic of what was happening, the wet blanket of a conversation about risks and necessity and protection really wasn’t one she wanted to need to have.
At her questioning stare, his brow quirked.
Okay—so, yes. She was going to have to have the conversation. “Umm, you’re going to wear that? The whole time, right?”
The eyes above her looked briefly confused, then cleared completely. “I would never take that kind of risk, Nichole. Not with your life. Not with mine.”
The conviction in his words was unmistakable, and left her with no doubt about his sincerity or commitment to their mutual protection. Which was incredibly sexy.
Almost as much as when his mouth tipped in a way that suggested a secret lingered behind his crooked smile. One he looked forward to sharing with her.
“What? You didn’t think the fun and games were over yet, did you?”
She swallowed, unwilling to admit that in her experience the bulk sum of “fun and games” took place between the time the condom went on and came off. “I—I don’t know.”
He leaned in closer, and then closer still, so the light pressure of his mouth against her ear and his bare chest at her shoulder guided her down to the bed. “Not even close.”
Nervous laughter escaped her even as her inner walls clenched with unmet need.
His hand moved between her legs, cupping her sex as he held her gaze. A single thick finger slid between her swollen folds and then inside her. Deep and deeper. Slow and steady. He withdrew to paint a light circle around that throbbing bundle of nerves—the callused pad of a workman’s finger adding sensation when she was already beyond what she’d believed she could take—his gentle, rough touch a decadent sensual contrast.
Different.
Every single thing about him.
About this night.
Another slow thrust of his finger and her hips rocked to meet him. Her back arched and the desire pooling warm and thick through her belly spilled free, making her slick, making her beg. “Please. I need—”
“You need more?” A second finger joined the first, this one pushing a gasp from her lungs instead of words.
Want coiled tight within her, making her pulse around his slow thrusts. Making her skin heat and her center burn. “I need you—”
“To make you wait? Make you so hot and ready …” the strong draw of his mouth on her nipple stole conscious thought “… that when you finally fall over the edge it’ll feel like forever?”
“Oh, God.” Her body seized, liquid heat scorching through her veins, pushing her fast toward the very edge he’d threatened to pull her back from. “I—I’m so close. Please—it’s been so long. Please.”
His touch far inside her, he met her gaze. “How long?”
Another deep thrust, this one slower, so she felt the curl of his fingers stroking, teasing some wicked spot that promised to make her its slave.
“Years,” she admitted on a broken gasp, unable to bear the intensity of his stare a moment longer.
His hand stilled. Withdrew as the bed sagged under his shifting weight.
Her eyes shot open, panic slamming through her. He couldn’t stop. Not now. “No, wait—”
Only then she saw he wasn’t leaving the bed at all, but rather moving between her legs. His wide hands spread them apart in a way that with any other man would have left her feeling vulnerable, exposed. Not with him. Not when his big hands slid beneath her bottom and wide shoulders braced her thighs. Not when he looked into her eyes and said, “No more waiting.”
And then his mouth was covering her, his tongue mimicking the actions of his fingers and hands only moments ago … only it was different. So very, incredibly different. So much more … intense. Stimulating. Hard and soft and wet and strong. Everything. He was delving inside her and then licking a path to her most sensitive spot.
Stroking.
Nibbling.
Circling with the wet velvet point of his tongue.
Making her gasp and cry and beg and scream.
And then he closed over her … drawing deep against the throbbing, needy ache. Pulling sensation from every tingling extremity … centering it all … at that one … concentrated … spot.
She was falling.
So hard. So good. So long.
Finding her release had never been so incredible. Not even close.
Maybe it was the anonymity. Or semi-anonymity anyway, since he’d made it clear he knew her name, saying it again and again in a deep, rumbling voice that stroked her every nerve like the wet tongue that spoke it.
And then he was crawling over her, giving her a taste of his body atop hers.
His lips grazed her neck. Tender. Lingering. He was going for the condom, but not in any rush. And she realized he was savoring her as he’d savored their sunset.
Oh, no. That fluttery sort of ache in her chest, making her want to link her arms around his neck and pull him closer, didn’t belong there. Or maybe it did. Maybe it was just a normal side effect of endorphins being released and not her reckless heart getting ahead of her. She didn’t know. What she needed was an expert. Someone with a point of reference when it came to “casual.”
She couldn’t even believe she was thinking it—and while she was still in bed with her blue-eyed stranger. But maybe Maeve was right and she should talk to—
“Garrett,” came the gruff, deeply masculine voice from above her.
Her eyes blinked wide as the flutter in her chest dropped into her belly, turning leaden and still.
“I can feel you getting tense.”
The decadent weight she’d been basking under eased as he shifted to his elbows and peered down into her eyes. Familiar eyes.
Oh, God.
“It’s fun to play and all, but I didn’t want you to wonder or worry about who you were with. My name’s Garrett.”
“Garrett … Carter?” Her throat closed over the name, fighting what she knew deep in the pit of her stomach to be true.
His muscles tensed. “You know me?”
Oh, yeah. She knew him. And her face must have said as much because Garrett flinched, looking pained and then … resigned. Moving to a chair in the corner, he grabbed the light quilt from the back and tossed it to her.
Shoving one leg into his jeans, and then the other, he pulled them over his hips before he turned back. “I don’t know what you heard, but this—tonight, Nichole—it’s not—”
He stood immobile, his gaze searing over her skin, her hair—sweeping across her bedroom until it settled at the ladder-style bookshelf at the opposite side of the room. His body seemed to lock tight. She knew what he’d see there. The photo Maeve had given her for Christmas last year. The one where their grinning faces filled the frame.
He took a halting step forward, his features hardening.
His eyes slammed shut. “Nichole?”
Pulling the quilt around her breasts, she tried to ignore the sensitivity of her nipples and the knowledge Garrett had made them that way. With his mouth. His teeth. Tongue—
“Nikki Daniels?”
Garrett Carter. Maeve’s brother. The Panty Whisperer.
Yeah, she couldn’t quite believe it either.
Stalking across the room as he raked his fingers through his hair, Garrett—because, as clumsy as it felt tumbling around her thoughts, that’s what his name was—looked as dismayed as she felt. One thing was certain. She didn’t have to worry about the night turning into anything more complicated than—well, this.
Granted, this was messy. But the makings of some emotional train wreck it wasn’t.
Maeve would laugh about this. Nichole knew she would. She had to.
There wasn’t any risk to their relationship—not over one innocuous little slip she hadn’t seen coming.
“What is that?” demanded the voice that had been growling her name in her ear mere minutes before.
Her head snapped up and then followed Garrett’s pointed gaze back to her hand and the slim rectangle of technology she’d unconsciously reached for. “My phone.”
Her lifeline to sorting out the mess in her head. To Maeve reassuring her their friendship was as strong as ever. There wouldn’t be any awkwardness. Not this time. Not like with—
“No kidding. A phone, Nikki?”
Jerked back from the brink of one of the worst memories of her life, Nichole refocused on the man glowering down at her.
Her brow pushed up a degree. So now she was Nikki? Like Garrett thought he knew her or something? But before she could call him on his presumption he was back at her.
“What are you doing with it?”
Nothing yet. But the intent was obvious. Even if it had taken a moment for her head to catch up to her thumbs. “Texting Maeve.”
He’d crossed to the bed in two strides.
“Like hell you are.” Paling, he grabbed her hand and turned it over in his. “If you snapped a picture of me on this thing, so help me—”
“What? Are you insane? You think I took photos of you when you were … were … doing that?”
Arms folded over his chest, Garrett pulled back. “No. I hadn’t actually thought—” Another, deeper growl. “But you tried to take a picture of me at the party.”
“And you said no, so I didn’t. Though in retrospect I’m fairly certain both of us would have preferred I had.”
What Garrett had given her was beyond anything she could have imagined. But regardless of how good it had felt—how much she might have needed it—nothing was worth risking her relationship with Maeve.
Brows drawn, he asked, “You think Maeve would have warned you off me?”
Seriously? “Don’t you?”
Granted it would have been for reasons different than Nichole’s, but, yes, she was fairly certain Maeve would have wanted her to know who she was about to take a dip with.
One dark brow cocked in amusement. “I think she’d have been laughing too hard to hit ‘send.’ But for you, she’d have tried.”
Nichole felt her lips twitching at the thought, along with relief flooding through her at hearing Garrett too believed Maeve would have a good sense of humor about this. “You could be right.”
Garrett sat at the foot of the bed—not close enough to touch, but not a total snub either. Just maintaining the distance between them.
Snaking a leg out from beneath the blanket’s overlap, she stretched, trying to reach the panties lying three feet from the bed without actually leaving it.
There was something significantly different about being naked in front of Garrett now that she knew who he was. What he was.
At risk of severe cramp, she strained further, extending her leg until finally she was able to snare the little heap of lace-edged cotton with her toes. Only just as she had them Garrett turned, one arm braced on the bed, muscles bunched thick from the weight of his torso, and cocked a curious brow at her. “What are you doing?”
“Panties.”
His brow drew down as his gaze flickered over the length of her barely concealed form, making her pull and pluck at the corners of the blanket to try and hide further beneath it.
“You really didn’t know who I was?” he asked, pushing to his feet.
“I would have run the other way. No offense,” she offered belatedly, wondering whether it was possible not to take offense.
But apparently he hadn’t. “No, that’s good.”
“Why?”
“I just didn’t like the idea of what happened tonight being some kind of conquest thing.”
She sat up straighter. “This from The Panty Whisperer?”
Garrett froze where he was, jeans pulled over his hips but the fly left open. Bare feet, bare chest, the short dark waves of his hair a tousled mess … It would have been a calendar-hot snapshot in time if not for the hard set of his jaw and narrowed eyes. “You did not just call me that.”
“Well, I mean …”
He paced the room and back. Coming to stop in front of her.
“What?” he demanded, thumbs hooked into the front pockets of his jeans—a position that pushed them down just that extra inch in front, showing off a nearly scandalous stretch of skin. “You’re not suggesting I ‘whispered’ you out of anything?”
With a noncommittal wave she tried to bat away the question. In three years she hadn’t even been tempted by another man. And in less than one night she’d fallen flat on her back and practically begged him to follow her down. If that wasn’t some kind of freakish sexual panty magic she didn’t know what was.
CHAPTER FIVE
FIGHTING THE STRING of obscenities rioting on the tip of his tongue, Garrett ground his molars together and pinched the bridge of his nose.
It didn’t get worse than this.
Well, that wasn’t true. It did get worse. It had been worse. Back when he’d been eighteen and his older sister’s friends had been trying to hook up with him intentionally. That had been way worse.
This, at least, was an accident.
Nikki. Hell, no wonder he’d had that bizarre sense of connection. He’d been listening to Maeve talk about her for years. He knew she’d grown up in Milwaukee, worked insane hours as an accountant at some big downtown firm, liked action movies over chick-flicks, read everything from sci-fi to biographies and that her favorite snack was peanut butter cups and corn chips. She sang along to the radio, badly, when she thought no one was listening and she didn’t date—ever.
So what the hell was she doing tumbling into bed with him? Bringing some stranger into her home?
Garrett’s stomach dropped as his feet stilled on the carpet.
It was all that talk about appreciating the simple stuff. Aw, hell. Maybe he had “whispered” her.
“Um … Garrett?”
The muscles along his spine tightened as he turned to look back and found her clutching that damn phone to her chest like some kind of security blanket.
“Look, I’m sorry, but I’m not going to lie to Maeve about this.”
She thought he was worried about Maeve finding out? Not even close.
“If she teases you, you’ll just have to man up and take it.”
Man up? He laughed out loud. Nikki was definitely one of his sister’s friends, because no one else on the planet would have the gall to talk to him like that.
“I’m not worried about a little teasing.” Though he knew full well there wouldn’t be anything little about it. The teasing would be merciless, carried out by a seasoned professional he’d trained himself. But teasing he could take. It was part of the deal. You dish it, you better be able to take it.
“So what’s the problem, then?” she asked, working the thin cover until it was wrapped around her, pulled up tight to her neck.
And that was the first thing. The sight of a woman who had been so completely open to him not twenty minutes ago—bare and beautiful and unselfconscious as she panted for more, urged him on with the dig of her heels at his back and begged him not to stop. That woman—his little sister’s best friend—who hadn’t had sex in three years and for some insane reason had brought him back to her bed—was hiding awkwardly behind a blanket. That was the problem. He hated it.
Clearing his throat, he answered, “You deserve better.”
The second thing. Maybe a part of him was disappointed. Felt short-changed.
He’d thought for a moment they could have something. Obviously he wasn’t after a deep commitment or extended obligation. He needed another responsibility like he needed a hole in his head. But something light. Fun.
She’d seemed really fun. And intelligent. And just … easy in a way that had nothing to do with the kind of women he’d been scratching his itch with the past fifteen years. The kind who knew the score and weren’t after anything more than he was. A few hours. Once in a while.
Nichole had made him think about things like movies and conversation and walks and all the stuff an average joe had tried on for size back in high school or college. Not that he’d tell her all that. She didn’t need to know. Probably wouldn’t believe him anyway, considering how easily that Panty Whisperer business had rolled off her tongue.
Damn, he could only imagine all the preconceived notions she must have about him. And the truth of it was, letting her hold on to them would serve his purpose better than any of the clarifications he could make. Because she was Maeve’s best friend. Which meant all the concerns he’d never had with other women were suddenly there, front and center.
He couldn’t attempt something casual with her because he’d worry about the implications his relationship with her would have on the one she had with Maeve. On his relationship with Maeve. And even though he was looking for more than some single night score, the relationship he was ready for was about taking in the occasional sunset … not riding off into one. It was about enjoying some pleasurable company for a while … not forever.
It was about dating. Casually—his eyes cut back to Nichole—but exclusively.
“Look, Nikki, you’re an amazing girl, but I don’t date my sisters’ friends. It’s a rule I’ve got.”
Her expression cleared and she was leaning toward him then, the blanket draping more provocatively than she could have realized, based on the shy way she’d been covering up just moments before. He tried not to let his eye linger on the seductive gaps and tantalizing glimpses of the flesh he’d had full access to and could still feel beneath his fingers and lips, but were now completely off-limits. Round. Soft. Succulent. The kind of tempting swells that begged to be nipped and nibbled. Licked and suckled.
The sound of a throat clearing in a pointed, eyes-up-here-mister kind of way had Garrett yanked out of that land of forbidden territory and rubbing a hand along the tightening muscles of his neck.
“Okay, I know you’re freaking out a little right now.”
The hand stilled as he arched a brow at the woman who’d just uttered the impossible. “Excuse me?”
Those bare shoulders were pulled up into a delicate shrug as she waved a hand around in his direction. “But you honestly don’t need to be. I didn’t have any misconceptions about what was happening tonight. Where it could go or what it could mean. Really.”
Uh-huh. “You don’t need to pretend with me, Nikki. I think we both know—”
“No, Garrett. I don’t know what you think you know about me. But—”
“I know it’s been three years. And before that dry spell you’d gone out with precisely two guys. Both of whom you ended up engaged to. So I’d say, yeah, you probably were serious.” Too serious for a guy like him.
“So, I’m going to pretend it doesn’t creep me out that you know that. And I’ll wait until you leave to have my discussion with your sister about privacy, trust and boundaries—”
Oh, man. This was going downhill fast. Holding out a staying hand, he tried not to get caught up in all the ways the bit of red rushing to the skin at Nichole’s neck and shoulders was different than what he’d sampled earlier.
“What?” she snapped.
“Don’t get pissed at Maeve about this.” And already with the complications a simple exchange of names might have avoided. “Please. She was just giving me some reassurance about the crowd she hung around with. Making sure I knew you weren’t trouble. That you were … you know … into commitment … a ‘nice girl.’“ There was something about the slow upward push of her brows that warned of danger, had him backtracking as he tried another tack. “Not that I don’t think you’re nice now.”
“You should probably just stop, Garrett.”
Yeah, he probably should. Get out of there and get started on figuring out what it was going to take to appease his little sister when she found out he’d gotten her into hot water with her closest girlfriend. Only the way things were right now—hell, less than a single night and already he felt the press of new responsibility settling on his shoulders—he needed to know she was okay.
She’d trusted him. Let him into her bed. “Nikki—”
“Here’s the thing.” Shaking her head, Nichole tucked a wild curl neatly behind her ear. “Tonight was an accident. An error in judgment on both our parts. So why don’t we both agree to put it behind us? I mean, it’s not like we’ve been tripping over each other these last few years. I’m guessing it’s a pretty safe bet our paths won’t cross again anytime soon. And, believe me, I’m okay with that. This wasn’t supposed to be more than a single night anyway.”
He blinked. No way. She was just being tough to protect her pride.
Except those almond eyes were steady, clear as they held his. And wasn’t that an ironic twist? The first woman he’d pursued with the intent of having something “more” didn’t see him as anything more than the kind of one-night stand he’d been ready to leave behind.
It shouldn’t have rubbed—but, man.
Shaking it off, because he knew it was for the best, Garrett nodded his acceptance. Walked back to the bed and, catching the soft line of her jaw in his palm, tipped her face to drop a kiss at her temple. “I’m sorry about this, Nikki.”
She blinked at him, the corner of her mouth tipping the barest amount. “Don’t be. I’m not.”
Two hours later and Nichole had given up on the idea of sleep altogether. And if ever there was a time for a BFF to step up it was after she’d been busted selling out the details of her friend’s nonexistent sex-life to The Panty Whisperer. Which was why Nichole was parked in front of her laptop, staring down the video feed as—across the country—Maeve paced in a knee length T-shirt in front of her own laptop.
“It’s not like I was detailing the chronicles of your personal Red Shoe Diaries on Twitter, for God’s sake.”
Nichole balled her hands on her hips, glaring through cyberspace as she waited Maeve out.
It didn’t take long before her friend gave under the pressure, her entire form signaling defeat as the arms crossed defiantly over her chest went spaghetti-loose along with the rest of her body and she spilled into the couch behind her. “Okay, I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have told anyone about your personal business and I don’t even know why exactly I did—except Garrett isn’t like a real person. He’s just got this knack for extracting information from people. He’s patient. Unrelenting. And when he wants to know something … nothing gets in his way.”
This she’d heard before. But it didn’t change one simple fact. “My sexual experience is none of his business.” None.
God, the way he’d looked at her so apologetically as he’d nailed her with the “commitment” tag and “nice girl” nonsense. This guy she’d brought home without even knowing his name had wrapped her up in all the labels she’d spent three years trying to shed. She wasn’t looking to get married. Didn’t want—anything. Especially not from him, and so it didn’t matter what he thought.
With that reminder, Nichole blew out a stiff breath. Sliding the arm flung across her eyes up to her brow, Maeve frowned at her. “I know. I know. And I really am sorry. But now that you’ve met him, how can you even wonder about his ability to get what he wants?”
Nichole shook her head. “The guy lives in town. If he’s so worried about your lifestyle why doesn’t he meet your friends?”
Maeve stared up at the ceiling. “When it comes to my dates, given the opportunity, you better believe he’s all over them. But girlfriends not so much. You know that saying about having to beat women off with a stick? That’s what it was like for him with Bethany’s, Carla’s and Erin’s friends. Mine to a lesser extent. But he avoids our girlfriends pretty much like the plague. Besides, the last few years he’s been so tied up with building the company and working to get his degree there hasn’t been a whole lot of time for anything else. I barely see him.”
Nichole blinked as another piece of the puzzle fell into place. She’d forgotten about the school thing. A detail Maeve had shared with her. Garrett had put all of his sisters through school and only started himself when everyone else had been paid for and finished.
“So that’s what he meant by saying he was trying to get back to living a little.”
Maeve, casting all dramatics aside, sat upright, leaning forward. “Really? What else did he say?”
Suddenly Nichole felt unsure about the lines in this family dynamic she’d somehow gotten tangled in. Rather than try to sort them out, she opted to put the conversation back on track. “Okay, I know you would never be careless with my privacy or indifferent to my feelings—it just took me by surprise.” Like so many things that evening. “But from now on can we agree—?”
Maeve waved her off with a shake of her head. “I swear. Never again. Not another word about your sexual experience to him.”
Nichole arched a brow. “How about you just leave me out of the conversation completely?”
Maeve’s mouth squinched up and she cocked her head. “Yeah, that’s probably not entirely realistic. This is Garrett we’re talking about. And now that you’re on his radar I imagine he’s going to feel a little protective of you. Which means I’m probably going to be answering some questions from time to time.”
Nichole’s mouth popped open, but Maeve just shrugged. “He kind of can’t help himself. So … welcome to my world!”
“Maeve!”
Her friend sprang up from her slump at the couch and hustled right up in front of her laptop, resting her chin in the vee of her palms. “So now that we’re back to being besties again … on a scale of skim milk to heavy whipping cream….”
Garrett pried one eyelid open, scowling hard as the screeching of a tiny banshee emanating from down the hall reached his ears.
“I know you’re there, Garrett Carter. You pick up this phone right now or so help me….”
So help her, what? She was going to fly home and jab her little finger at his chest? Scowl up at him with those eyes that said he’d betrayed her in the most fundamental way and she was both hurt and disappointed?
Garrett’s other eye was open and his feet were swinging over the side of the bed in a second flat. Reaching for the extension at his nightstand with one hand, he rubbed at his morning stubble with the other.
“A little early, isn’t it, Maeve?”
“You’re alone?”
He blew his breath out with a good deal of his patience. “It’s only been …” squinting at the clock, he noted it was just after five “… a few hours since I left her apartment. Do you really think I’d stop and pick up someone else on the way back?”
The answering silence said she wouldn’t put it past him.
“Geez, yes, I’m alone. And, for what it’s worth, I had no idea who she was.”
A little hiss sounded through the line. “Yeah, but everyone else did. What were you even doing at Sam’s party?”
“It was a party for his brother. You know Jesse? My oldest friend? Artist? Touring for the past two years? Any of this ringing a bell? So, Nikki’s close with Sam?”
“We’re out with him, like, once a week at least. He’s part of the core crowd.”
Garrett’s brows dropped down, the fog of sleep clearing faster now. “Wait. He hangs out with that old crowd from my class—”
“Give me a break, Garrett. I see Sam and the guys all the time. These days they’re more my friends than yours.”
What the—?
“I’m not surprised you don’t know. Aside from the fact you’ve been AWOL for the last few years, doing your twenty-two-hours-a-day summa-cum-look-at-Superman-earning-top-honors-while-running-his-company thing, you’ve got a reputation as kind of a psycho when it comes to your sisters. I wasn’t about to tell you, and it doesn’t surprise me no one else had the guts to do it either.”
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