Surprised by Family: a Contemporary Romance Duet (40 page)

The next morning, all three kids were eating Cheerios in their highchairs when the doorbell rang. Nikki answered the door to find Missy from down the block standing on the porch. She remembered Sam mumbling something yesterday about the girl looking for her pie plate, and she grinned as the other woman’s brown eyes widened in surprise.

“Hey, Nicole.”

“Morning, Missy. You looking for Sam?”

“Yeah. How’d—”

“Sorry, but he’s at work.” He’d left before she and Ella even woke up, leaving a short note that simply said he would be working overtime and would see them later.

“Oh.” Disappointment weighed in Missy’s voice. “He told me to come by today, but he probably meant later. What are you doing here?”

“I live here.”

Her perfectly waxed brows drew together as she swiveled her head toward Nikki’s boarded up house. Then she nodded as if it all made sense. “Because of the tree.”

“Yes.” Nikki swept her gaze over Missy’s snug sweater and leggings. The girl worked with Joe’s best friend’s sister at a local coffee shop, and knowing the news would travel fast, she took great pleasure in her next statement. “Also, Sam and I are engaged.”

She whipped her head back around. “To be married?”

“That’s usually how it works.”

Displeasure twisted her glossed lips. “Well, you certainly didn’t waste any time.”

“What can I say? It was love at first sight.” The barista’s aggravated expression widened Nikki’s smile. “Sam said you’d probably be by for your pie plate. That
is
why you’re here, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Let me get it. I’ll be right back.”

She retrieved the only glass pie dish in the kitchen and handed it over to the sour-faced girl, who clearly had hoped for so much more when she pressed the little round button beside the door. Missy didn’t even thank her before flouncing down the sidewalk in her heeled ankle boots.

Nikki sighed as she closed the door, thinking her satisfaction should’ve lasted longer than a few short minutes. It probably would have if she and Sam hadn’t become nothing more than silent roommates since yesterday. It was as if once they decided to make the lie a truth, a wall descended between them that smothered the friendship she’d come to cherish.

A few hours later, she found out just how fast news traveled in Pulaski.

“Why am I hearing from someone else that you’re getting married?” her sister’s indignant voice blasted in her ear through her cell phone.

“Um...because I didn’t get a chance to call you yet?” In truth, she’d simply been trying to figure out how to explain the situation before dialing her sister’s number.

“So, this is for real? Because remember, I said you didn’t have to marry the guy.”

Her sister’s teasing comment brought back that phone conversation from the day she’d found Ella on Sam’s porch. Nikki grimaced. “It’s for real.”

“O-
kay.
Then why don’t you sound happier about it?”

She forced herself to smile, hoping it would add enthusiasm to her voice and ease Marissa’s obvious doubt. Because, apparently, she was maintaining the lie even with her family. “I am happy.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Promise?”

“
Yes.
”

“Then congratulations!” Now
there
was an audible smile.

“Thank you.”

“You know, after our last dinner over there, I figured it was only a matter of time before you two got together, but I didn’t expect
this
.”

She almost laughed. None of them had.

“So, tell me how he proposed. Was it romantic?”

Nikki sunk into a chair at the kitchen table and leaned her head against her hand as she closed her eyes against the prick of tears. She couldn’t handle Marissa’s excitement for her right now.

“You know, Mar, it’s a long story, and Ella just woke up from her nap, so I gotta go before she wakes Adam up.”

“All right, but I’m coming over later so you can tell me all about it and we can start planning.”

“Great.” That would give her time to figure out how to convince her sister she and Sam were in love before the panic of planning the wedding in less than two weeks set in.

***

She’d succeeded in fooling everyone the engagement was real—mostly because Sam made himself scarce. He’d taken to working overtime hours with Hansen Construction every day, then he’d come home and disappear next door at her house until well after midnight. In a few weeks, the insurance contractors would arrive to complete her house repairs, and then he’d have no more excuses to avoid her.

Unfortunately, that didn’t help now. Whenever she asked him for an opinion, or what he’d like, he always told her to pick what she wanted, so she finally stopped asking. He did the bare minimum by getting his suit measurements and the marriage license, but the rest he left to her.

Marissa and Janelle helped her arrange the whole event on a shoe-string budget. Yes, it would be family only, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want the pretty dress, perfect flowers, and her hair done just right. That part was no lie.

Janelle offered the spectacular great room at Whispering Pines Resort for the ceremony and dinner reception, and Lora’s sister Josie Howell agreed to cater a small buffet in exchange for some repairs on her house. Watching the kids and planning the wedding filled her days over the next week and a half.

At night, she tortured herself by lying in her bed listening for Sam’s footsteps along the hallway. Each time she imagined she heard him pause outside her door, she held her breath, wishing he’d knock. He never did, and eventually sleep put her out of her misery for a couple of hours.

Some days she wished she could go back to before her heart was involved. Except, she suspected she’d have to go as far as that first night, when he’d opened his front door and thought she was a crazy person for handing him a baby.

Confusion and heartache warred until they held equal footing inside her chest. His lack of interest only seemed to confirm he was doing the whole thing for Ella, and while she understood his motivation, she couldn’t help wishing for an equal share of his heart. Ironically, the more his reserve made the entire affair feel like the farce it was, the more determined she became to create a day that would be special for both of them.

At the final dress fitting the day before the wedding, she stood on the pedestal in front of the long mirror as the seamstress made a final adjustment on the hem. She’d come to this last fitting alone, and it was just the two of them in the dressing room. Her gaze skimmed down the strapless chiffon-over-satin gown she’d found on Craig’s list. Never in her wildest dreams had she expected to buy her wedding dress from a resale website, but the instant she saw the beaded lace appliqués that lined the fitted bodice, she’d fallen in love with the dress.

A side-draped skirt emphasized her slim waist, and the short, sweep train swished in a way that made her feel like a princess. Exactly the way every bride should feel on their wedding day as she walked toward the future with the man she loved.

Through the mirror, she met her own blue eyes in a moment of surreal realization.
Love
. Somewhere along the way, she’d completely fallen in love with Sam, and tomorrow, she would marry him in the hope that someday he might love her back.

What the hell was she doing?

The image in the mirror blurred, and she blinked at the stinging moisture.

“Just about done,” the seamstress told her from where she knelt on the floor.

Not trusting her own voice, she nodded, even though the woman didn’t see her.

Yearning each day for something to change between her and Sam was ridiculous if one of them didn’t make an effort to instigate the transformation. The first two weeks after she’d moved into his house, they’d built a friendship, a solid foundation that should count for something. And his kisses before that had been so hot they’d nearly incinerated her socks off.

Her heart still skipped a beat each time their eyes met, and despite his physical and emotional distance, there were times she would swear she caught a glimpse of the same awareness in his eyes. For some reason, he’d pulled back behind that wall she hadn’t had the courage to try to climb before now. Maybe if she took the first step...

The idea hounded her for the rest of the day. Marissa tried to talk her into spending the night at their place, but she insisted she needed to be at the house with Ella.
Home.

About nine o’clock, she put the baby in her crib for the night and went back downstairs to clean up the dinner dishes. After hanging the damp dish towel on a hook inside the cupboard door under the sink, she straightened and turned for the living room.

In her mind, she flashed back to that kiss Sam had given her against the kitchen wall the night Eric brought the crib over. The vivid memory made her lips tingle as heat spread through her entire body. If only she could get him to do that again.

There is one way.

Her heart thumped, then started racing as she gave the extreme idea serious consideration.

Sam quietly closed the back door and left his dusty boots in the laundry room. Every muscle ached, and his eyes burned from the fine sawdust that never failed to get past his safety glasses. Working late was wearing him down, but the extra money Carter had paid him this week would help pay for the unexpected expenses of the past week.

At barely nine-thirty, the house was quiet, with only one light left on in the living room. He wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed. He’d missed having dinner with Ella and Nikki, yet avoiding her was easier than dealing with the combination of guilt and desire constantly gnawing at his insides. It had been even worse when she’d asked him to weigh in on the wedding.

Their
wedding.

It seemed so surreal, and he kept expecting her to tell him she’d changed her mind, only to have her ask what color tie he wanted to wear. Who would he like to invite? Did he have someone to be his best man? Chocolate cake, or white?

Monkey’s riding elephants would be fine by him. She was giving up so much to guarantee he didn’t lose Ella, the least he could do was let her pick whatever she wanted for the ceremony. He was pretty sure there wouldn’t be monkeys, and didn’t doubt it would be perfect no matter what she decided. Thankfully, she’d stopped asking and all he had to do was pick up his suit, which he’d done during his lunch hour.

Now, the promise of warm flannel sheets and his pillow drew him past the living room television and up the stairs. Tomorrow would be a long, stressful day; he ought to at least attempt to get some sleep.

Deftly avoiding the third and twelfth step creaks, he reached the hallway and paused outside Nikki’s closed door. As usual, no light seeped through the space between the door and the carpet, telling him she was already in bed. Did she lie there, wondering what the heck she’d gotten herself into? The urge to reach out his hand and knock rose up greater than ever, but he reminded himself if she really wanted to talk to him, she’d have waited up, or left the door ajar.

And if he was being honest with himself, he didn’t really want to give her the opportunity to tell him she’d changed her mind.

He continued to the nursery’s open door for a peek in at his niece, but farther down the dark hallway, a faint glow from his room caught his eye. Apprehension accompanied him to the side of Ella’s crib where he assured himself she was sound asleep before hurrying silently down the hall.

Two steps from the doorway, he realized the light came from a number of candles positioned around his room. One more step allowed him to see past the door to the figure reclined against a stack of pillows on his bed. His stunned gaze traveled from a pair of bare feet, along the glistening length of long legs, past the satin-clad curve of hip to the swell of full breasts, until he reached Nikki’s face.

Her hair was loose and messy about her shoulders, and the sexed-up look flipped his uneasiness to nervous anticipation. His lungs constricted from the sudden acceleration of his pulse.

She hadn’t seen him yet. He sucked in a deep breath, prepared to enter the room and reveal his presence when she abruptly sat up to crawl on her hands and knees toward the opposite side of the bed.

“God, what a stupid idea,” she muttered. “I’m such an idiot.”

Shiny, red satin slid against her hips, outlining her enticing rear end and revealing thighs Sam had dreamt more than once about having wrapped around him all night long. As she reached for the candle flickering on his night stand and he spotted the condom next to it, he was compelled to disagree with both her statements.

“
I
don’t think so.”

Her shriek of surprise vibrated his eardrums as she whirled around. The hand supporting her weight slipped over the far edge of the bed, and she tumbled out of sight to land on the floor with a thump.

Shit
. He rushed around to the other side of the bed, where she struggled to sit up. Against his better judgment, a grin tugged at his lips as he bent down to offer a hand. “Are you okay?”

She swatted him away. “That wasn’t funny.”

“I’m sorry.” He grasped her arms, helping her off the carpet despite her protests.

Smooth, warm skin registered against his rough fingertips. The lingering almond scent of her shampoo combined with a more prominent sultry note of perfume that set his blood pumping. An embarrassed flush on her face almost matched her lingerie, but her breath hitched when their gazes locked.

Her palms flattened against his chest as she swayed closer, uncertain vulnerability shadowing those radiant blue eyes. With her dressed for seduction, and her warm, sexy body only inches away, all his tenuous willpower from the past three weeks vanished under the full-on assault to his susceptible senses.

“So very sorry,” he murmured.

A tug drew her closer, and he dipped his head to capture her lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck, anchoring her body tight to his. The uninhibited response further confirmed he hadn’t misinterpreted the reason he’d found her waiting in his room.

On his bed.

A low groan built as the memory of her luscious curves rushed blood straight to his groin.

Her kiss tasted as good as he remembered, and felt even better. This was why he’d been avoiding the house. Her mere presence was temptation enough, but active encouragement threatened to demolish his thin thread of control. Nikki in his arms was Heaven and torture all at once.

The slippery satin beneath his palms seduced and lured until he palmed her butt with both hands to lift her against his arousal.
Sweet mother of God, she’s not wearing underwear
. His fingers squeezed in reflex. She wrapped her legs around his waist just as he’d imagined, and the groan in his throat rumbled free.

An unexpected snigger made him go still. Her blossoming amusement rewound time about three weeks and he drew back, eyebrows raised. “This isn’t going to become a habit, is it? You laughing when I kiss you?”

“I hope not.” Another chuckle made her bury her head on his shoulder. “I was just thinking how ridiculous I must’ve looked with my ass in the air.”

He grinned at the image stamped into his memory and nuzzled her neck, inhaling to savor her tantalizing scent. “You never looked more beautiful.”

She lifted her head with a gasp of mock outrage. “You did not just say that.”

“Yeah, I did.” He tried to look contrite even as his heart warmed at the effortless return of joking camaraderie. “You may have to discipline me.”

“
Ooh
...I might enjoy that.”

“We’d both enjoy it,” he assured her, his voice dropping a notch at the thought of the many ways she could reprimand him.

She threaded her fingers through his hair at the nape of his neck, drawing him in for another kiss. Her breasts pressed against his chest, and the scrape of her short nails against his scalp sent a shiver down his spine.

Yes
. Let the punishment begin.

When her teeth gently tugged his lip, he pulled free, then dropped her backwards on the bed with a low growl. She bounced as he followed her down with one knee braced on the mattress. This time, her laugh didn’t bother him one bit. The lure of her suede-soft skin drew his mouth down the column of her neck to the hollow at the base of her throat. He lingered at her pulse point, relishing the rapid beat beneath the tip of his tongue.

Her shallow breaths ratcheted up the heat level, along with her desperate efforts to remove his shirt. Two buttons in, he rose up on his braced knee to attack the small, defiant discs of plastic with both hands. When she grasped the waistband of his jeans to draw herself into a sitting position in front of him, he eased off the bed, working faster than ever as she gazed up at him, unbuttoned his jeans, and slowly slid the zipper down along the length of his erection.

The last button on his shirt popped free, and he ripped the material off to toss it behind him. Nikki gathered the edge of his T-shirt in her hands. His grab to strip it off was met with disapproval.

“Uh-uh.”

He paused. Those blue eyes sparkled up at him as she raised the hem a bit, then leaned forward to press a moist kiss against the skin she’d exposed. Another inch, another kiss. She maneuvered into a kneeling position on the bed, then worked her way up his stomach to his chest, until he had to lift his arms so she could pull the material over his head before dropping it at his feet.

Warms hands flattened against his skin, then she took her time exploring the muscles of his chest, shoulders, and arms, using both her hands and her lips, before skimming her reverent touch down to his stomach. He closed his eyes, savoring the mounting anticipation.

With her mouth pressed against his chest, she inhaled with deep contentment. “Mmm. I’ve wanted to do that since the very first night we met.”

The husky admission feathered against his skin and kicked his heart against his ribs. Then she slid one hand up to pull his head down to hers for an open-mouthed kiss, while the other slipped between them to cup him through his boxer briefs. His flesh throbbed against her palm, and his moan vibrated against her lips.

Without breaking the kiss, he pushed his jeans past his hips and kicked them aside. Turnabout sounded like fair play, so he pulled back to watch as he caught the hem of her nightie. He started inching it up, but by the time he eased the satin past her thighs and over the curve of her hips, he lost all patience and whipped it up over her head.

Her silky hair settled around her shoulders until he lifted her up and laid her back on the bed. Braced above her, his eyes met hers in the dim candlelight for a long, pulse-pounding moment. He let his gaze drift down as his hand skimmed up her smooth, bare thigh. The convulsion of her throat muscles revealed her nervousness and suddenly gave
him
a twinge of anxiety.

Her peaked nipples begged for attention, and he leaned down to take one in his mouth while cupping her other breast with his free hand. She arched against his mouth as he swirled his tongue in a circle before sucking on the hard nub. When he moved to the other side, her fingers clenched in his hair hard enough to make his scalp tingle.

Breathless murmurs of pleasure drove him to shift so he could trail kisses down across her ribs. Her stomach muscles quivered beneath his lips, and he swirled his tongue around her belly button.

“This is what
I’ve
been wanting to do since that first night,” he whispered against her damp skin.

“Seems we’ve both been wanting a lot,” she breathed.

“Too much time wasted,” he agreed.

He moved off the bed, knelt at the edge, and hooked his hands behind her knees to pull her to him. Then he made up for lost time until she moaned his name at the height of her climax. Satisfaction soaked her languid smile as he removed his boxer briefs and climbed onto the bed to start the foreplay all over.

She took over after a few minutes, her lips and teeth and tongue wicked, merciless as they joined forces with unexpected erotic whispers of everything she was going to do to him just before she did it. He teetered on the brink, and when he couldn’t take any more, he swiped the condom from the nightstand. Once it was on, he rolled her onto her back, held her arms above her head with a hand on each wrist, and entered her welcoming heat in one smooth stroke.

The deep penetration made her muscles clench around him, nearly setting him off. Damn, it’d been years since he’d been this close to the edge of control. He grit his teeth and managed maybe a dozen strokes before she arched against him. As her legs wrapped around his waist and his name died on her lips, he gave into his own release.

Her arms closed around him, hugging tight as her heartbeat thundered against his and they both caught their breath. He lifted his head, smiling down into her candle-lit eyes while he brushed a curl from her cheek. The soft smile that curved her lips made his racing pulse skip a beat.

When he eased his weight from her, she hummed a soft, contented, “Mmm. I’m glad you came home early tonight.”

“Me, too. Contrary to your previous opinion, I’d say you are a genius.”

She laughed softly. “I guess I have my moments.”

He pressed a kiss to her smiling mouth. “No guessing about it.”

After discarding the condom, he shifted so they could slip between the sheets. With the covers drawn up over them, he urged her back against his chest. He had a brief thought of their wedding the next day, but the tranquility of lying with her naked warmth cuddled against him joined forces with his exhaustion to lull him fast asleep.