A Wild Ride (Thompson & Sons Book 4) (3 page)

“
God
.”

She plopped onto the bed beside him, flinging her arms and legs out as her head hit the pillow with a thud. He held his amusement. Melodrama wasn’t usually her thing, but the flounce fit.

“What’s up, Nic?” he asked seriously.

“It’s…complicated.”

Troy stretched beside her, years of familiarity between them easing the awkwardness. “Not usually. Unless you’ve decided to turn your love of unsolvable puzzles on your sex life, just to mix it up.”

“This isn’t about sex,” she insisted, a low unhappy sound following hard on the heels of the comment. “Dammit to hell, it
can’t
be about sex. If it were about sex then you and me would be bouncing the mattress right now, fucking our brains out.”

“No prob…”

Troy rolled her under him, taking her lips and kissing her decisively. She’d sounded so confused and sad it seemed only right to give her something else to think about. Or not think about.

A good, hard tumble should do it.

Warm, soft curves filled his hands as he skimmed his palms up the sides of her body, their lips and tongues tangling enthusiastically.

She was on board at the start, wrapping her legs around his hips. Digging her fingers into his shoulders. Kissing him back hungrily.

Then her new agenda must have intervened. “We’re not supposed to do this. No more booty calls,” Nic murmured against his mouth even as she reached between their bodies, fighting to undo his top button. “I need to move on.”

Her lips skated over his jaw, then her teeth nipped his chin the instant before she moaned. Her hips rose as she rubbed against the hard length of his cock.

“Move on to what?
God
, Nic, that feels so fucking good.”

“Hmmm, yes, right there.” A low, needy sigh escaped her followed by a curse. “Dammit, Troy. We can’t do this.”

“We can.” He dipped his head and put his teeth to the hard point of her nipple, biting lightly through the thin cotton T-shirt. “We are.”

Another needy groan, but this time she let go of his shoulders, sliding her hands to his chest and pushing him away instead of holding him close. “Please. Help me stop…”

Troy rolled away, body throbbing with the need to continue, but he knew better than to keep going after a woman said
stop
. He stared at the ceiling for a moment and fought to steady his breathing, thinking of icy-cold things. Picturing the most boring engine tune-up ever to wipe away images of Nic naked, riding his cock.

It took a few minutes before he could speak without groaning in frustration. “It’s complicated?” he repeated.

“Yeah.”

“I have time to listen,” he offered, rolling to his side and staring at her flushed face. A chuckle escaped. “It’s not as if we’re doing anything else interesting at the moment.”

Nic crawled backward until she was propped against the headboard. “I…” She made a face. “This is super awkward.”

“More awkward than discovering we had sex too close to the motion sensor at the wetland reserve, and now there’re pictures of my ass floating around the forestry-service back rooms?”

She laughed. “That will only be awkward if anyone ever IDs your ass.”

“Which we both know will happen at the most inopportune moment possible.” Troy snickered. “I should run for mayor.”

Another burst of laughter escaped her, and something warmed inside. Maybe they weren’t fucking around like he’d hoped, but he’d still pulled her from her funky mood. He’d take any win he could, especially if it meant she was smiling instead of frustrated and upset.

Nicole stroked a finger over his cheek, thankful he’d decided to be reasonable. “Okay, so here’s the thing. Cyndi’s expecting.”

He waited in silence for a moment before shaking his head. “If that was a clue, it wasn’t enough,” he said. “Congrats to her and Kevin, but I don’t know why your sister getting pregnant means
we’re
not having sex.”

Oops. Yeah, she’d missed a good half-dozen steps in there. “Sorry. It’s like…a chain reaction happened all of a sudden in my brain. Cyndi and Kevin already have two kids. Jodie and Dale have three, so I don’t know if they’re even going to have anymore, although they did mention four was possible. So if I want to have kids that are—”

“You want to have
kids
?” he interrupted, jerking upright to stare at her in shock. “Since when?”

“That’s what I’m explaining,” she said, the irritation in her tone noticeable even to herself. She took a deep breath and started over, more rational and calm. “Yes, I want to have babies. I’ve always been thinking ‘someday I’ll have a family’, but I’ve realized if I want to have kids that are around the same age as their cousins, I need to get rolling. Which means no more fucking around with you.”

“And it’s vital to base your baby production on when your sisters are popping out kids?” A frown creased his forehead. “Nope. Don’t get it.”

As confused as he sounded, he wasn’t being an ass, so Nicole tried again. “Family is important. I’ve always planned on having at least a couple kids. And yes, I want my kids to have cousins near the same age they can be friends with, so if I don’t want to miss out before my sisters hang up the baby-making gear, I need to move on to the next thing.”

“Mike’s not having kids yet,” Troy pointed out.

She made a face. “He’s not a kid person. He’ll probably have kids only because his wife wants them,
if
he gets married, which who knows how many eons from now that will be. I’m not holding my breath and waiting for either miracle to occur.”

Troy batted his fingers against his thigh, the way he did when he was thinking hard. Or annoyed. “You want to have kids, so you need to date.”

“Well, I’d kind of like to have them the old-fashioned way, yeah,” she said. “Which means I need to find a guy to have them with. Which means dating.”

“What? You don’t think they’ve come up with a Studs R Us app for baby-making yet? Swipe right for ‘impregnate me now’?”

She smacked him lightly on the arm. “Stop it. I’m not going to grab some random guy, you know. I’m also looking for someone I enjoy spending time with. Someone I want to be with forever.”

“Awesome.”

His entire attitude had grown unreadable. Nicole twisted to a sitting position to face him. “What’s wrong?”

Troy shook his head. “Nothing.”

Only he was on the edge of the bed now, straightening his clothes and grabbing his shoes from the floor.

Nicole watched as he put them on. “Are you mad at me?”

He made a noncommittal noise that could be a no. Or a yes. Or the result of a bad taco for supper.

She crawled closer and laid a hand on his arm. “You knew things weren’t serious between us.”

His fingers closed over hers, and he squeezed briefly before pulling himself free and rising to his feet. His devilish smile was back in place, eyes flashing as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Of course I knew we weren’t serious. You just threw me for a loop, sweetheart. That’s a big change you’ve got going on, but if it’s what you want, no prob. I should get out of your hair and let you make plans, or whatever you need to do.”

“Sleep?” Nicole teased. “Since it’s late?”

“Right.” Troy nodded once then turned on his heel and marched from the room.

The temperature seemed to drop ten degrees when he left, and she sat back and stared at the empty doorframe, listening as his footsteps faded into the distance. The backdoor opened and closed firmly—but not firmly enough to be slammed shut.

He’d been reasonable. Understanding, really, yet…

It wasn’t as if she’d expected a goodbye kiss after sharing her decision, but his total lack of reaction left her feeling uncomfortable and disjointed.

If he’d ranted and called her a fool, it would have hurt. Or if he’d laughed and called her an idiot, it would have offended her, but either way she could’ve gotten blazing mad at him for daring to judge her.

Instead he’d pulled the wind from her sails and neither agreed with her, nor fought her, and she felt…

Felt…

Empty
.

As if a piece of her wasn’t sitting in the right order anymore.

She should have expected it, though. Moving on affected both of them, and changes sucked.

But her sisters had gone from being wild party girls to finding great guys they’d fallen madly in love with. Guys who were now solid, dependable husbands and proud daddies of the families they were raising.

It was time for Nicole to step in a new direction, and that meant away from Troy Thompson. That was all.

But if her decision was that simple, she should have rolled over and gone to sleep. Instead, she found herself rushing into the kitchen a moment later, staring out the window at Troy’s monster truck as he backed into the alley. He glanced toward her, the yard light shining off his impenetrable expression before he focused away from her and drove off.

She wondered where he was going…

…and the fact she wondered at all annoyed her even more than his earlier lack of response.

A stiff drink. That’s what he needed. Maybe a double, and keep them coming. Liquor easing down his throat until he was numb and the conversation he’d just had was nothing but a blurred memory. Perfect. He’d go get a bottle and finish it off…

Except since he didn’t fucking
drink
, getting shit-faced oblivious was out of the bloody question.

He could go find a fight. Dangerous and violent. Fists and pain and a whole lot of shouting voices, loud enough to drown out the roaring in his ears.

Nicole Adams wanted babies.

Oh, right, and a guy to go with them. A guy who was
not
Troy, so
thanks very much for all the fun fucking around we’ve had, but I need to move on to some perfectly boring asshole with willing sperm.

Suddenly Monopoly Man was so much more explainable. Jason must be considered a good donor candidate. Dude had a respectable job that paid well. Decent looking—heck, Troy wondered if Nic had done a genetic background check on the ass.

He turned so sharply at the next corner tires squealed and rubber burned.

To hell with going home yet. Mike was there with Tessa, and while there was no longer any reason to not join in for a threesome, he had zero desire to go that route. Not tonight.

Tonight he wanted to burn off steam, and he wasn’t even sure he could put a name to exactly
why
he was so fucking pissed off. He’d known the relationship was short term. He’d goddamn
known
at some point she’d say she’d had enough, but…

He jerked the wheel to the left and headed to his oldest brother’s place.

Since he wasn’t going to drink, fight
or
fuck, he might as well annoy the hell out of his family. Dropping in on Clay and Maggie would distract him from his foul mood nicely. He needed some mothering tonight.

He usually let his oldest brother do that.

Amusement snuck past his brewing discontent as he knocked on their back door. It was barely after ten. Maybe he could sweet talk Maggie into letting him raid their fridge.

Only, no one answered, not for the longest time. Troy was on the verge of walking in like he had at Nic’s when the door finally moved.

Clay wore nothing but a pair of sweatpants, low on his hips, and his expression was far from welcoming.

“Who’s dead?” his brother demanded.

Troy considered. “No one.”

“Anyone dying? Bleeding out?”

“Nope.” Troy folded his arms over his chest. “You’re in a gory state of mind.”

“Good night, Troy.”

Clay pushed the door, and it swung toward Troy. He shot out a hand to stop it before it could close entirely. “
Hey
. What the hell?”

His brother glared harder. “Go home.”

“But I thought—”

His words ground to a halt as he finally clued in. The yellow glow in the barely visible living room was caused by candlelight, and soft music played in the background. As tempting as it was to stand there and continue to annoy Clay, he liked Maggie too much to massacre the romantic evening he’d interrupted.

He backed away. “Sorry. I’ll see you at the shop on Monday.”

“Troy, wait.” Clay’s expression softened. “You okay?” he asked. “I mean, you’ve got shitty timing, but I’m not about to kick you to the curb if something’s wrong.”

“I’m fine.” Troy waved a hand. “Get back to what you’re doing.”

Clay didn’t bother to answer, just grinned as he closed the door and left Troy standing there.

Another rush of gut-twisting emotion tangled through him. So. Not only was he cut off from sex, he was cut off and his big brother was scoring.

Something was not right in the world.

Ten minutes later it was clear Fate was truly enjoying herself and having a good hard laugh at his expense. He pulled into the driveway at Mitch and Anna’s, dimming his headlights as he eyeballed the living room, not wanting to interrupt
another
date night at home.

There were no candles involved this time, at least. Troy jogged around the side of the house, jerking to a stop when he heard angry voices through the open living room window.