How He Really Feels (He Feels Trilogy) (34 page)

Nick turned and followed me out of the office and to the elevator. That little conversation was sure going to make for
a fun two weeks when I returned to work.

“What was that about?” I asked when the elevator doors closed.

He shook his head, his eyes flashing with anger. “Nothing,” he muttered.

He didn’t crush me to the wall with his body, and his lips didn’t find mine as we made our way back down to our floor. “Hey,” I said just before we arrived. He turned and looked at me. “I love you, baby. I don’t care about him. He’s nothing.”

He caressed his knuckles gently across my cheek, a look of adoration in his eyes. “I love you, too.”

The doors opened and we were back on our floor. I sat at my cubicle and gathered as much work as I could for the week I would be at
home, and Nick said his goodbyes and brought his last box out to his car and then came to escort me down. When he saw my box of work, he looked at me pointedly. “Can you carry that down for me?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No.”

“Nick, my wrist. I can’t carry it.”

“You’re not working from home. Davidson made it clear that you had to finish out your two weeks, and this will all be here when you return.”

“But—” I protested, but he cut me off.

“But nothing.
You need to stay home and focus on healing. Work will wait.”

We headed down to the car together, hand-in-hand. Nick kissed me in the elevator one last time, a steamy one for me to remember when I had to return to work.

And that was it. Nick was officially no longer my coworker – for the next couple of weeks, at least.

When we returned to Nick’s place a little before 1:00, Nick unloaded the car while I took a nap. Going to work had wiped me out; I was exhausted and needed the rest. When I woke nearly three hours later, Nick said that my parents were back and he was ready to execute the plan he had for the rest of the day.

Chapter 21

My parents and I piled into Nick’s car with him as he chauffeured us to an unidentified location.

The unidentified location turned out to be the Verizon store, and Nick told me to pick out any phone I wanted to replace my old one. He got me a data plan and unlimited texting and added me to his cellular plan. I was stunned at his generosity in helping me to get back on track. He took my parents and me out to dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant, and we ate fajitas and tortilla chips and celebrated Nick’s last day at McMillan. Everything was wonderful as we laughed and chatted about our days together at McMillan, but when we left the restaurant, nothing could have possibly prepared me for our next stop.

When he pulled into the BMW car dealership, I immediately assumed that he had some work he needed done on his car. Then I thought that maybe he was taking me to help me look at a car to replace my totaled one, even though a BMW wasn’t in my budget. But when he asked the salesman about the safety features and asked if I could test drive it, I started to get the feeling that Nick was serious about me buying a BMW. And when he told the salesman that it was “the one” as he started filling out the paperwork in my name, I was completely convinced that he was totally insane. He was buying me a car to replace my totaled one.

“Nick, don’t be ridiculous. I can’t accept a car from you.”

“Why not?”
He actually had the audacity to look offended.

“Because it’s
a car
, Nick,” I enunciated my words slowly. “It’s too much.”

“Julianne, nothing is too much for you. I want you driving a safe car, and this car is one of the safest luxury vehicles on the road. Now what color do you want?”

My parents (once again) just sat there beaming at Nick. He was taking care of their little girl in a way that no one else ever had, and they were completely and totally in love with him. I also knew that later, my mom and I would dissect every move that Nick made, and she would tell me how much they approved of him for me.

A few hours later, I drove my new car to my new home with my new cell phone charging on the way. I lost the car battle, but as I cruised down the road in my brand new black BMW, it didn’t feel like much of a loss.

We arrived back at Nick’s place, and we headed to the kitchen so everyone could have a glass of wine (except me… damn painkillers). “You seem to be doing much better, Julianne, so we’re going to head out,” my mom said, finishing her glass of wine.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

She nodded and then hugged Nick. “Nick, we both know our daughter is in great hands with you here to care for her. Thank you for all you’ve done, and thank you for allowing us to visit so much.” Tears filled her eyes, and he hugged her again.

“Pam, it has been my pleasure. You don’t need to thank me.” He winked at me and I rolled my eyes. He was so smooth with my parents, and it was clear that they both adored him.

My dad shook his hand. “Nick, let’s just say that I approve. And I don’t take things like that lightly.”

Nick smiled. “Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.”

“I appreciate all you’ve done for our Jules.”

Nick nodded. “I love your daughter very much, Ron.”

“We can both see that.” Jeez. Even my dad was getting emotional.

We walked them out to their car and waved as they pulled away, and then Nick took my hand and led me back inside.

“So now what?” I asked.

He raised his eyebrows. “Are you up for it?”

“The nap helped. And, you know, the BMW and the cell phone and the way you handled my parents. Are you up for it?”

He grinned. “I’m always up for it. So all I need to do to get you into bed is buy you a car?”

“I mean I’m not saying you can buy my love, but, yeah, buying me a car will probably bode well for your chances of having sex tonight.”

“Lead the way, Julianne.”

I loved the way my name sounded coming out of his mouth. He guided me through the house with his hand on my back, and I melted into him the way I had so many times before. We walked up to his bedroom that was now ours, and I couldn’t wait until I was well enough to go home and get my stuff so I could really feel like I was living in this beautiful home.

He led me to the bed and helped me sit, and then he slowly, gently undressed me. First he removed my shoes, and then he kissed me sweetly; then my socks, followed by another kiss. My pants, kiss, my shirt, kiss. And then he helped me out of my panties and my bra, and I
laid naked on his bed as he caressed me and kissed me everywhere delicately and tenderly. I reached up with my uninjured wrist to pull him closer to me, and he pulled my hand to his lips and kissed it sweetly. And then he held my hand in place above my head as he continued his slow seduction.

I was desperate for him. I felt the slow burn down low in my belly, the need for him building inside of me. His lips found my breast as he sucked, and I arched into him, moaning loudly in pleasure. His mouth worked its way down my body, down, down, down. He kissed the inside of my thigh, and just when I thought he was going to lick inside of me, he worked his way back up and kissed my lips. And then he hovered over me for a moment before he slipped inside of me, and suddenly everything was completely, totally right in my world with him moving gently inside of me.

I woke up the next morning to a loud noise that I couldn’t place. It was kind of like a big bang, but it just happened once. Then I heard it again. It sounded like it was right outside the bedroom door.

I stood up, still a little wobbly but overall even better than the day before, and I threw on some clothes and brushed my hair. Then I opened the door to see what was going on.

Nick stood just outside the door. He grinned at me, sweaty in a dark gray t-shirt and black running shorts. “Good morning, baby.”

He looked sexy. “Good morning,” I murmured, and that’s when I noticed that there were several large boxes just outside the door.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”

I shook my head.

“Open the box,” he said mischievously.

I did as instructed, and the box was filled with shoes.

“Shoes?”
I asked.

“Look closer.”

I did. “My shoes?”

“Yep,” he said proudly. I was confused.

“Why do you have my shoes?”

“I went to your apartment this morning. I thought you might want more than just the three outfits I packed for you
when we left your place after the accident, and as I was looking through your closet, I realized I had no idea what you wanted. So I went to Home Depot, bought some boxes and tape, and I just brought everything.”

“Seriously?”
I squealed.

He nodded. “You did agree to move in here with me, right?”

“I did!”

“Then we’re going to need to get all your stuff here anyway. I just figured I’d speed up the process.”

I hugged him hard. “I love you. So much.”

“I love you, too, baby,” he said, kissing me.

I took a quick shower while Nick cleared some space in his dresser and in his closet for my things. He moved the stuff he wore least often to one of the guest room closets to clear out space for me. Really, his closet was enormous and had plenty of room for all of our things, but he was particular about the spacing of his suits on the racks: “Three inches between each hanger!”

I giggled as I rolled my eyes at him, and he smirked at me. “The joys of sharing a closet,” I said.

I sat on the floor as Nick unpacked my shoes and I decided in what order I wanted to line them up on “my side” of the closet. He really was amazing; he never judged any of my belongings (even my fuzzy puppy dog slippers), and he cheerfully placed each pair of shoes wherever I told him to.

After shoes, he found a box of t-shirts, and we followed the same procedure as shoes as Nick unpacked my stuff and I sat on the floor and directed. It was a perfect arrangement to get my stuff unpacked while I rested per the doctor’s orders. And it didn’t hurt that I got to stare at Nick while he worked. Good Lord he was sexy. He took off his shirt after the shoes were unpacked, and I nearly convulsed on the spot. I loved watching the muscles move under his skin as he worked.

We went downstairs for a breakfast break after the t-shirts, and Nick made me eggs and toast as I sat at the table sipping my coffee. “Sorry you have to do this on your day off,” I said. “I know you don’t get many of them.”

He glanced up from the pan at me. “Are you kidding me?” he asked, incredulous. “There is nothing I’d rather be doing than taking care of you.”

He flipped my eggs onto a plate and added the toast, and then he brought me a jar of chunky peanut butter.

“Oh my God,” I said, smiling at his thoughtfulness. I couldn’t believe he remembered how I liked my toast.

“You know, Julianne, I had this goddamn jar of peanut butter sitting in my pantry, staring at me, after we broke up. I bought it right after you told me how you liked it on your toast. I got home from work one night after we had broken up and headed to the pantry to find something to put together for dinner, and I saw the jar in there. That night I ate toast with peanut butter for dinner. And you’re absolutely right, it’s delicious.”

“I wouldn’t steer you wrong. Not when it comes to food.”

He chuckled. “That’s when I knew that I couldn’t live without you.”

I raised one eyebrow at him.
“Seriously? Because of peanut butter?”

He nodded.
“Seriously. I sat and stared at that fucking jar of peanut butter for two hours, and I realized that you were more important to me than my job. I knew it from the beginning, but the fact that I had this… this reminder of you… just staring me in the face; well, it told me that I was a fucking idiot for letting you go. And I knew right then that I had to win you back.”

Tears filled my eyes.

“No, baby,” he said, brushing my cheek with his thumb. “Don’t cry. We’re back together now. Everything’s as it should be.”

I unscrewed the cap of the peanut butter and saw that it was mostly full, with just enough missing from the top to prove that he had, in fact, tried my tasty treat. It was just one of those things that made my heart flutter.

After breakfast, we returned to the bedroom to continue unpacking my boxes. We finished just before lunchtime, and Nick wanted to go back to my place and get more stuff (and stop somewhere for lunch).

I hopped in the car with him and we headed for my apartment. We sang at the top of our lungs to Taylor Swift while we drove, and fifteen minutes into the ride, Nick’s phone rang. It was his new boss at BKG, Alex Brennan. Nick turned down the radio to take the call. “Mr. Brennan, how are you today?”

I hummed quietly along with the music and logged onto Facebook on my phone while he talked. My ears perked up when I heard him say, “For how long?” as I wondered what that was all about.