A Wild Ride (Thompson & Sons Book 4) (19 page)

“I ran into Chase at the grocery store yesterday,” her mom informed her.

“I hope you didn’t hurt him too much,” Nicole said, completely straight-faced.

Her mother blinked, considered, then rolled her eyes.

Nicole was sure she had the only mother on earth who rolled her eyes.

“He’s settling into town nicely,” her mom continued, “but he’d love a tour of the local hiking trails.”

“Really.”

“He’s free this afternoon.”

Good grief.
“That’s nice. Have fun.”

“What…?” Her mother laughed. “Oh, stop kidding around. You need to take him.”

“I’m busy, Mom.”

Her dad frowned as he boomed over the table, “Too busy to be neighbourly to newcomers? That’s not very nice, Nicole.”

“Neither is trying to set me up with someone when Mom knows I’m already dating someone else,” Nicole answered as pleasantly as possible.

Her dad looked thoroughly confused. “Who are you dating?” He glanced at Darlene. “I thought you said the Thompson boy was out of the picture.”

“Why would you think that?” Nicole demanded.

Her mother looked uncomfortable. “The girls said it was only a matter of time, and—”

“He’s not very grounded,” her dad announced loudly. “Good boy, but not much more there than what you see. No ambition. You should move on. Let him go, and find someone who’s got what it takes.”

The sound of someone clearing his throat broke through the tension. All three of them whirled to face the back entrance, and Nicole’s heart plummeted. Troy stood in the doorway, his patented happy-go-lucky grin firmly in place.

He held a box in his hands, and as if it wasn’t the most awkward moment ever, he strode forward to offer it to Nicole’s mom. “My sister’s garden is going great guns. She sent over some of the early harvest.”

Darlene slipped into recovery mode, rushing from the table and directing Troy where to put the box. Gushing over the contents even as she tossed meaningful looks over Troy’s shoulder at Brian, and condemning ones at Nicole.

Nope. It wasn’t
her
fault her parents had behaved like asses. And it wasn’t as if she’d known Troy was coming over. She wouldn’t have wished that bullshit on anyone, especially not him.

They escaped shortly after, Troy tucking her into his truck and driving them away. She tried to figure out the best way to apologize when she wasn’t sure how much he’d overheard…

Before she could come up with a solution, he broke the silence. “Katy asked if we could come over early to help set up for the barbecue. You okay if we head over there now?”

“No problem. Glad to help.”

He caught her fingers in his, resting their joined hands on her thigh. Humming softly—a light, easy tune. The mood was comfortable and right, a stark contrast to the awkwardness of only moments earlier.

She laid her head against his shoulder and wondered how he did that so quickly—turned a stressful situation into something far less volatile.

By the afternoon, all the Thompsons had showed up at the gathering except for Maggie, Clay’s fiancée, who was out of town visiting her parents, and Anna, who was on shift. Nicole caught herself gazing after Troy as something nagged at her. She knew something was off but couldn’t define it enough to vocalize it.

The guys and Janey took off for some pick-up football after the meal, leaving Nicole and Katy with a sleeping Tanner. The little guy was so cute, curled up against Katy’s chest, his dark curls hanging over his forehead.

Nicole tilted her chair back and stared into the sky, content to watch the game from the sidelines as she tried to unscramble the uneasiness in her soul.

The Thompsons had welcomed her in, no problem. Why couldn’t her family do the same for Troy? As a couple they seemed to be closing in on something amazing, but it scared her to see her family hesitating. More than hesitating—downright dismissive of what she was experiencing.

She let her gaze drift to where the guys and Janey were tossing the football between them. Troy’s firm muscles flexed as he stole the ball from Clay and passed it to Janey, laughing easily as Len stepped in to guard her protectively.

Was she that bad a judge of character? What was she missing that her family was worried about?

“Penny for your thoughts,” Katy offered.

“Is that still an expression?” Nicole pushed herself back to vertical. “We don’t have pennies anymore.”

“It sounds wrong to offer nickels.”

Nicole snickered.

Katy grinned back. “You’re thinking hard about something. Everything okay with you and Troy?”

“We’re good.” Nicole paused. “I think we’re good.” She met Katy’s gaze. “He
acts
as if we’re good.”

The other woman snorted. “I figured as much.” Katy dragged her fingers through her son’s hair, her face softening as she admired him. “I love my brothers, but they have their moments.”

“Troy’s been great.” Oh, damn. What if Katy was going to make negative comments about him? She couldn’t take anyone else cutting him down—not after her parents’ stupidity earlier in the day. “I’m the one with issues,” she insisted.

“You’re dating. Things aren’t going to go completely smoothly,” Katy assured her. “This is the time to figure out each other, only…” She made a face. “Only out of all my brothers? Troy is going to be the least likely to pony up and admit if something is wrong.”

“I’ve never noticed Troy to have any trouble sharing what’s on his mind,” Nicole offered, thinking back to how many times in the past month he’d astonished her.

“Oh, he’s always got plenty to say. Len’s the one with a word quota for the day, but Troy? He can talk for hours and say nothing about himself. Nothing real, at least.”

Like on the ride over. Had he heard her parents? Damn her for not asking.

Katy pressed a kiss to Tanner’s head before rearranging the toddler more comfortably in her arms. She looked up to meet Nicole’s eyes. “When Mom got sick, everything tipped sideways. I was young enough what I remember most are emotions. Like being upset I couldn’t have a birthday party—Mom was going through chemo, and she was too ill to bake a cake or organize anything.”

“God. You were…ten…when she got sick?”

“Close. Eleven, going on twelve, which for some kids would be old enough to react better, but while I knew Mom couldn’t help it, inside, that moment was still all about me.”

“Kids don’t understand.”

“No, and I don’t blame myself or anything.” Katy stared out at her family, her dad in the middle of the action, laughing loudly. “And so many details are gone, but the emotions? I can remember those clearly, as if bright splashes of colour were tossed over each of us. Dad went black with sorrow. Clay was this dark green—protective and focused on getting stuff done.”

Nicole liked the idea of associating colours with emotions. “I can guess Mitch. He went wild. Red?”

“
Bright
red. Especially after I walked into the house and found him bleeding after a fight. God, you should have heard me scream. I thought he was going to die right there in the kitchen.”

So many memories. “Mike and I were fourteen. I remember bits of it happening—your mom being sick—but we were all tangled up in our own lives. And what Troy let slip when he was around Mike.”

Katy nodded. “Len went pale yellow, nearly invisible.”

Which made sense. “And Troy?”

The other woman hesitated. “Part of me wants to say blue, like a clear winter sky. But that’s not right, because he was also green, and yellow and red and purple…”

“You’ve been watching too many musicals.”

Katy snorted. “I can’t explain it any other way. He was always there, Nic. Not like Clay, making sure I had everything I needed for school, but every time I needed someone around, he was there. He helped me in the kitchen without anyone knowing it, and he flirted with my friends, which smoothed so much teenage drama. And any time tears rolled in, Troy would show up and make me laugh.”

He’d always been good at that. It was part of what had attracted Nicole in the first place. His sense of humour. His ability to make her happy—not only in the bedroom.

“So Troy’s a rainbow?” Nicole smiled. “It fits. He does brighten up the world.”

“I hope he’s really doing what makes him happy.” Katy jerked her head toward Nicole, panic in her eyes. “I’m not saying
you
don’t make him happy—you’re awesome. Really. I just…he’s complicated, that’s all.”

“I can agree with that.” The man had surprised her too many times for her to argue.

Tanner woke, fussing and wiggling in Katy’s lap.

She stood. “I’d better change him before the rest of the crew stops playing and starts looking for dessert.”

Curiosity made Nicole ask. “What colour were you, by the way?”

Katy adjusted Tanner on her hip, smiling softly as she paused to answer. “
I
was blue. Sad that Mom was gone, but like most young kids, more focused on the next thing, and the next day.”

The conversation on top of everything simply added to the whirling in Nicole’s brain. She was still trying to sort things out when the evening came to a close, waving goodbyes to everyone before Troy helped her into his truck.

Maybe she didn’t have all the answers, but she figured it was as good a time as any. “Want to come over to my place for a while?”

“Sure.”

The flash in his eyes was one hundred percent sexual. She had no objections to where they ended the evening, but first, she had an agenda.

She was no longer thinking about their relationship being over, she was thinking how to make it never end. If they were going to do this forever thing, she wanted it all. Him right now, him in the future…

Him of the past.

No matter how tightly capped his history was, Katy’s comments combined with a few things he’d said over their time together made Nicole reflect.

She’d always loved figuring out puzzles. She’d just never realized Troy Thompson was the biggest mystery in her life in ways she’d never imagined.

Troy watched with amusement as Nic wandered past him for the third time in two minutes. They’d made it to her house and she’d been pacing ever since. Turning on music, grabbing a drink, adjusting the lights.

“Enough. Quit fidgeting.” He caught her by the hand and tugged her off balance, tipping her from her feet into his lap. “I want a kiss.”

She lifted her lips willingly enough, warm fingers curling through his hair as their bodies nestled together. Soft in all the right places, he thought as he settled his hands on her hips and brought her closer.

“Hmmm, you’re distracting me,” she whispered against his lips.

“You got something else you need to do tonight? Paperwork? Month-end accounts?” Troy pulled back far enough to brush his lips over her cheek.

“I want to talk,” she confessed. “And apologize.”

Troy had wondered if she’d get around to mentioning her parents’ conversation. He planted his feet on the floor and twisted until he could relax back against the couch, all the time keeping her butt firmly positioned in his lap. “Talk, but you’re not going anywhere.”

Nic draped an arm around his neck, pressing her other palm to his face. “I don’t know if you overheard my parents being idiots, and I debated not saying anything in case you hadn’t, but you need to know
I’m
very happy with how things are going. Between us, I mean.”

“Except for your parents being idiots?”

“Except for that,” she agreed. Her head tilted slightly. “They do like you.”

“I hear that a lot,” Troy deadpanned. “I’m a likable guy.” He lowered his gaze to where his hand lay against her thigh, stroking lightly back and forth over the worn denim of her jeans.

“Troy?”

“Hmmm?” He curled his fingers around her leg, lifting until she ended up straddling him. The position put her close enough the heat of her sex sank through the layers between them to tease his cock, and he instinctively rubbed them together.

Nic laughed softly. “One-track mind.”

“I’m a healthy male in the prime of life. Additional tracks don’t kick in until I turn thirty or something.” Troy nuzzled against her neck, breathing in the scent of her skin. Warm and aroused, even if she wanted to talk.

“Bullshit,” she murmured. “You’re not just a sex machine. You’re one of the smartest people I know.”

He reached for the buttons on her shirt. “Compliments, now. Well, I might even let you do dirty things to me if this keeps up.”

“I’m going to get you to talk to me,” she warned even as she stroked his shoulders.

Troy smiled. It was nice to see her relaxed, even if she was determinedly persistent about whatever was on her mind. He opened another button, just enough he could brush his knuckles against the skin showing above the upper edge of her bra. “I propose a game.”

“Of course you do.” Their eyes met as a smile curled her lips.

“Strip Questions.”

Her laughter rolled over him. “For every question I ask, I lose an article of clothing? What kind of game is that?”

“I made it up myself. I think it has potential to become
the
new party game.”

He could see the gears turning—probably mentally counting how many items she was wearing before deciding
not enough
.