A Wild Ride (Thompson & Sons Book 4) (10 page)

“I’m exactly the man you’re looking for.”

A choked gurgle escaped her. “Can you be serious for even two seconds?”

“Baby, I’m serious as hell. Ask another question.”

She glanced down. “How long did your last committed relationship last?” Her head jerked up, and a tight, condemning smile appeared. “Answer
that
one, Thompson.”

He reached across the table and caught her fingers in his. “Since January, I’ve been involved with an amazing woman. I haven’t seen anyone other than her since then, so that makes it over six months and counting.”

Her jaw dropped slightly, lips hanging open. “We’re
not
in a relationship, Troy.” She jerked her fingers free from his grasp. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because out of all the people you’ve been considering in your plot to move on to the next great thing, you forgot to consider me.” Troy shrugged slightly. “It was a natural mistake, since I’m so shy and retiring, I just thought I’d help you come to your senses.”

“Come to my—?”

The buzzer went off to signal the end of the session, and Nicole leaned back as if she’d gotten a reprieve from a death sentence.

Only Troy wasn’t going anywhere.

He glared at the man who stood waiting beside his chair. “I’m not done yet,” Troy said. “Take the next seat.”

“But that’s not how—”

“I said take the next seat,” Troy snarled before turning back to Nicole and giving her his full attention. Speaking with utter politeness. “Next question on your list.”

She glanced around to see if anyone was watching them. The guy Troy had commandeered his spot from had listened, moving on to chat with the woman beside them.

“I don’t know what you’re trying to prove here, Troy, but it’s not funny.”

“Do I look like I’m laughing?” Troy lowered his voice. “Sweetheart, I’m serious. I think you and me could be damn good together, and I want you to give us a shot.”

She stared at him, something in her eyes giving him hope for a split second before she stiffened, pulling out her notes. “Do you want to get married?” she read off the sheet.

He really should have resisted. “I thought you’d never ask.”

“
Troy
.”

He grinned. “Yes, I want to get married. I used to think getting married wasn’t necessary, but then I realized it was the actual wedding part that sucks.”

She lost her sarcasm for a moment. “Really? Marriage is okay, but it’s the
wedding
that’s bad?”

“Pretty much. It’s stupid to spend that much time and energy going crazy for one day, when you’d be better off saving your money and putting the effort into something that’s supposed to last a lifetime.”

Hazel-green eyes stared unblinkingly.

“Ask me the next question, Nic.”

She swallowed. “What do you like to do for fun?”

“Sex is good.”

She glanced around before glaring again.

He kept going. “But not just any kind of sex. My favourite kind is the spur of the moment, where I lose my head because I’m so into you and giving you pleasure. Like, it’s not enough for me to hold you while we watch TV. I want to stroke your skin and play with your hair. I’d touch you over and over, and when you sigh and start to relax into me, I’d roll you to the couch and start kissing you everywhere. Kissing, licking, and nibbling until you’re screaming with pleasure—”

“Troy, stop it this instant,” she hissed.

He pressed his hands to the table and leaned in closer. “I’d be watching, just like I’m watching now. Because your body would tell me what you want more of. The pulse in your throat beating so hard I can see it, your breathing picking up. I’d run my finger down your naked body and ask you if you wanted me, and you’d say yes.”

The buzzer rang.

This time all it took was a glare to make the next guy keep walking so Troy could get back to convincing Nicole he was all she needed.

The momentary pause had been enough to let her rally her control. She sat straighter, her expression full of confidence. “I see what you’re doing, but this isn’t going to work, Troy.”

“No?”

She shook her head. “Because all I need to do is ask you
one
specific question off this sheet, and you’ll run for the hills with your tail between your legs.”

“Hit me with your best shot.”

“Where do you see yourself in five years?”

“Small house somewhere here in Rocky. Hopefully on the edge of town so it’s quiet, but still close enough to get to the garage where I work with my family.” Her expression didn’t change, but he hadn’t gotten to the good part yet. “We’d be together for nearly six years by that point. We’d have at least two kids, and probably a dog, and—”

Nicole rose to her feet, grabbed her purse and left.

Troy raced after her, ignoring the questioning glances from the other couples at the tables. He waved away the organizer, rushing out the door to discover Nicole standing at the edge of the stairs, her arms wrapped around her body as she stared into the parking lot in frustration.

He stepped in front of her.

“Go away,” she ordered, voice brittle as if she were holding back tears. She looked to the side, avoiding his eyes.

She was trembling. He pressed his hands to her upper arms to steady her. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Of course you’re not. You’re just going to get in my face and keep hounding me even though you know it’s not what I want.”

“You really want to do this here? Right out in the open where anybody could run into us?”

“No.” The word snapped at him like a wet towel.

Neither did he. He needed time and a quiet place so he could convince her he’d made the most important decision of his entire life. “I’ll meet you at your house.”

She sighed. “I need a ride. I didn’t drive.”

The distance to his truck stretched out seemingly for miles. She ignored his helping hand and crawled into the cab, stared out the window and ignored him.

Troy drove in silence. Heck, he didn’t say a word the entire time it took to drive, park, then cross the distance to her back door. Nicole fumbled in the fading light for her key.

He waited until they were safely in her living room to start his full-on attack. “I didn’t show up tonight to be a pain in your ass—”

“Too bad,” she muttered, “because you did a
fabulous
job.”

“Do you mind?”

“Oh, was I interrupting?” She gestured grandly for him to proceed. “By all means, please continue.”

He let her sarcasm slip this time. “I finally woke up and clued in after we talked the other day.”

“What huge revelation overtook your life, and apparently mine?”

He guided her to the couch before sitting on the edge of the coffee table in front of her. “You said you needed to move on. That it was time to take the next step, and I realized I want to be the man who takes those steps with you.”

“Troy, you’re not making any sense.”

“Why? Because I’m not allowed to change? That doesn’t seem fair. If you can decide it’s time to grow up and move on, then I can as well.”

“Yes, I suppose. But it doesn’t mean we’re going to move on
together
,” she insisted.

“Again, why not?”

“Because you’re not the kind of guy a girl gets involved with when she wants to settle down and start a family.” Her volume increased as the words raced out.

“I
wasn’t
that kind of guy. Just like you weren’t that type of girl. If we’re going to change, we may as well change together.”

She raised her hands and pressed her fingers against her temples. “You’re not listening. Or maybe I’m not smart enough to explain it.”

He circled her wrists and brought her hands into his lap. He stroked her fingers with his, soothing best he could. “Deep breath and try again. What type of guy does this new girl get involved with, then, if not someone like me?”

Nicole stared at where he touched her, his thumb caressing the back of her knuckles. “If I go by my sisters, someone who is dead serious about the people in their lives. Settled, with a solid job.”

“If you dare say ‘quiet and laidback’ I’m going to laugh in your face, you know,” Troy warned.

She waved a hand. “I know my family lives at
mosh pit at a rock concert
volume, but they’re solid when it comes to being there for each other. They don’t do things on a whim. They plan.”

For fuck’s sake. “Spontaneity is not evil, Nic. Just because we enjoy life, you and me, it doesn’t mean we can’t be in a full-time, committed relationship.”

“That’s not the way I see it.”

“Then give me a chance to
make
you see it,” he said. “What would it hurt for you and me to officially date and try to make a go of it?”

“It wouldn’t work,” Nicole insisted. “I need someone who is committed to family, and nothing about your life has been about family. Well, you’ve got a great family, and I know you care about them, but you haven’t had to be
there
for them.”

“That’s not true. Not by a long shot,” he growled, annoyance and anger pushed down so he didn’t lose his focus.

“You can’t argue with history, Troy.” She squeezed his fingers then slipped her hands free from his. “Maybe you’re right about the spontaneity versus planning thing, but you not being reliable is a deal breaker.”

“Bullshit.”

“No shit,” she snapped back. “And that’s not to mention the biggest deal breaker of them all. It’s all good and fine for you to offer me some sweet fairy tale about a white picket fence with two point five kids and a dog running around in the backyard. You straight-up tell me, Troy Thompson. You ready to have babies?”

“Physically, I think you’re the one who has to have them.”

She shot to her feet, towering over him as she planted both fists on her hips. “Stop joking around and answer the damn question. And don’t tell me what I want to hear, tell me the honest truth.”

Anger simmered, low and steady. She didn’t think he’d done shit for his family, because he’d always kept his actions quiet. He hadn’t wanted anyone to know he was stepping in, trying to make a difference, and now him being a sly bastard was coming back to bite him on the ass.

“Honest truth?” He ignored the other aching hurt and focused on this one issue. “I’m still a little shaky on the baby thing, but I know the first part is one hundred percent solid. I want to be with
you
, Nic. I want us to be together, and I want us to do the next thing at the right time. I don’t think
any
guy would say, ‘Hell, yeah, let’s go make a baby’ the instant you got involved.”

“So you can’t say you honestly want kids,” she declared triumphantly.

“No. I mean,
yes
. I mean, dammit, I
think
I want kids, but I’m glad it would take at least nine months for one to arrive, because am I ready to be a dad this instant? Hell, no. But I don’t think, if you’re being
honest
, you’d be all flipped-out happy if you could hit a button and have a kid pop into your arms,
bazinga
.”

She was still standing over him with fire in her eyes, only her lips were twitching.

“What?” he complained.

Nicole sniffed lightly, fighting her amusement. “
Bazinga
? Really?”

“Not the right sound effect?”

She shook her head as a smile finally broke free. “God, you are a special kind of frustrating, Troy Thompson.”

“Likewise, Ms. Adams.”

“We’re probably going to kill each other, you know.”

His heart gave a jolt. “Lame special-effects aside, does that mean we’re going out? Officially?”

One final moment of hesitation before she nodded. “Fine. We’ll give it a shot. It’s not as if I’ve got a long line of Prince Charmings waiting to sweep me off my feet.”

“Not unless you want to learn how to ride brown horses,” Troy offered, excitement rushing through him and making his head light.

Her mouth hung open. “Troy Thompson, you were
eavesdropping
.”

“Of course I was. I wasn’t about to let my girlfriend be swept off her feet by some eager-beaver farmer who might seduce her by taking her to see his fertilizer pile.”

Her lashes fluttered. “Girlfriend?”

“
Girlfriend
.” Troy rose and decisively gathered her into his arms. He lowered his voice, seductive and urgent at the same time. “I think we need to make it official, don’t you?”

He stroked her cheek, drifting his hand back until his fingers were buried in her hair. He’d do everything in his power to make them work, and he was willing to play dirty. He cupped the back of her head, tilting her neck as he stared hungrily at her lips.

Her breathing stuttered to a halt as she stared back.

Good thing dirty was going to be so much fun.

He smiled as he lowered his head.

She’d walked into a trap.

Unwittingly at first, but the longer Troy pushed, the more giving in to his nonsense made sense.

And now, with him looking at her as if he’d discovered a new flavour of ice cream, there was no alternative. She’d go along with his suggestion until the whole situation fell apart and even
he
had to admit that they were the wrong combination to try for forever.

At that point she’d probably have to up and leave town to find what she needed, because it was obvious Rocky was a dead-end for her, partner-wise.

But for now? His hand was hot against her skin. Nearly as hot as the pounding pressure inside her core as he stared hungrily. They were going to have sex. Which wouldn’t be boring, because sex with Troy was the opposite of boring.

Thank God,
her brain squeezed out before her synapses could be scrambled by rapidly developing lust.

“I’m going to kiss you,” he warned needlessly. He held her motionless, bringing up his free hand to stroke his fingers over her cheek. Outlining the shape of her lips. “Over and over again.”

“
Yes
.”

His lips curled into a wicked smile. “You’re going to like this,” he promised.

Yes. Yes, she would.

He waited, touching and teasing, like he’d done during the speed dating. His talk about sex had set her squirming in her seat, and she’d have given anything at that moment to get him to back off.