The Best Man's Bride (7 page)

“Let’s not think. Let’s just eat,” he proposed as he turned his attention to the picnic basket, forcing himself to ignore the temptation of her mouth. “Which we could do a lot easier if we had spoons. I can’t believe it,” he murmured as he dug through the basket.

“No silverware?”

He’d thought the deli would have packed utensils in the basket, but apparently he should have checked. “No silverware. No plastic. Not even a spork.”

“Spork?” she asked, with a giggle.

“You know, the cafeteria spoon with the teeth.”

“Yeah, I know.” Colleen ate in the hospital cafeteria on the days she volunteered.

“Don’t tell TJ and Buzz,” he implored her, “but we’ll have to eat with our fingers.”

She looked into the containers he’d set out on the blanket. “Well, most of this is finger food. Sandwich wedges. Fruit salad.”

“Potato salad. That’ll be a little messy.”

She snapped the lid off and reached in for a chunk of potato, popped it into her mouth then licked the mayo off her fingers. “See, that wasn’t bad at all.”

He groaned. “No, that was all wrong.”

“It was?”

He popped the lid off the fruit salad and pulled out a pineapple chunk. Then he held it to her mouth, the sweet juice running between her lips. “You’re supposed to use
my
fingers.”

“Oh.”

He slipped the pineapple into her mouth, the fruit both tart and sweet against her tongue. She chewed but could barely swallow, her heart was beating so fast. She choked and coughed.

He wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Wrong pipe?”

She shook her head. “I can feed myself.”

“Chicken.”

“Hey, you don’t even know me,” she protested. The taunt was one she would have expected from her younger brother.

“No, chicken?” he asked, holding out a crispy strip of meat.

“Uh, yes.” She reached for the morsel, but Nick pulled his hand back.

“No, let me,” he insisted.

“I can feed myself,” she repeated. His charm had already weakened her defenses. She should have left when her knees weren’t shaking, when she’d still had some strength to resist him.

“Sure, you can feed yourself,” he agreed reluctantly, “but that’s not nearly as much fun as this.”

He held the chicken in front of her mouth until she took a bite. She chewed and swallowed but leaned away when he lifted the food to her mouth again.

“No, I don’t eat alone.” Hand shaking slightly, she reached for the fruit salad and lifted a piece of cantaloupe to his lips. He sucked in the fruit, along with her fingers, running his tongue over her fingertips.

She shivered and not in reaction to the brisk breeze. “This isn’t a good idea.”

“No,” he agreed, his voice hoarse and his eyes heated with desire, “but we’re not thinking. Remember.”

“I forgot.”

He eased another piece of fruit into her mouth, a strawberry. When she bit into it, juice exploded over her tongue and dripped from the corner of her lips.

He leaned forward again, but instead of lifting the napkin to wipe juice, he pressed his lips to hers, kissing away the streaks of strawberry.

She pushed her hand against his chest, trying to shove him back. “No, we can’t.”

For so many reasons.

“Shh. We’re not thinking. Just feel…”

And he kissed her again.

Colleen bunched his shirt in her hands and pulled him closer, her mouth devouring his as she had taken the fruit. Passion, long suppressed, raged to life inside, reminding her she wasn’t a timid teenage girl anymore. She was a woman. With needs and wants.

And she’d wanted this man for so long.

“Colleen,” he murmured her name as he pushed her back onto the blanket and followed her down, his body hard and hot against her as he covered her from chest to hip.

She welcomed his weight, wrapping her arms around his back as she cradled his body with her hips. But still she wanted him closer, her body throbbing with an insistent ache. The ache intensified with each sweep of his tongue between her lips. He slid it in and out of her mouth, teasing her.

She arched against him, pushing her breasts into the hard wall of his chest. His hands gripped her shoulders, holding her tight, but she squirmed beneath him, lifting her legs to cradle him.

Nick groaned, then skimmed his lips down her throat. His tongue lapped at her leaping pulse and his soft hair brushed her skin. She slid her hands up his back, muscles rippling beneath her touch, and threaded her fingers through his silky hair.

Recklessness surging through her veins, she didn’t care where they were or who might see them. Nothing mattered but her desire for him. “Nick, touch me,” she invited.

His hands moved, smoothing over her bare arms, brushing the slight curve of her hips to caress her lifted legs. His fingers traced the wings of the butterfly tattoo on her ankle. “This is detailed,” he mused. “It must have hurt.”

She shrugged. “I don’t remember.” It had been so long ago and so much had happened since she’d gotten it, losing her father, the strain on her family…

She drew him closer. It had been so long since she’d held someone, since she’d been held.

His body tensed and his erection pressed against her hip. “Colleen,” he almost groaned her name, pressing his face into her hair. “I want you so much.”

She moved her face so that her lips closed over his earlobe, then she nipped with her teeth. He shivered, and a sense of power surged inside
her.
He wanted her. He really wanted her. “Nick, I’ve never felt like this.”

Her crush on Eric, her disastrous experience with the high school quarterback…Nothing had prepared her for these feelings, for the need burning inside her.

She shouldn’t have come to the park, shouldn’t have met Nick for this picnic. Because now her fantasies clashed with reality. What was a dream, and what was real?

Nick pulled back and turned his head, as if scanning the park. “
What
are we doing?”

“What…”

“We’re in a public place.” He rubbed a hand over his face and around to the back of his neck. “What are we
thinking?
”

“We’re not supposed to be thinking,” she reminded him. But she suspected she found that rule easier to obey than he did. Although she’d struggled to be careful the past several years, she’d still acted without thinking. More than once.

He rolled to his side, shifting his weight off her. “Did I hurt you?”

“What?” He’d barely touched her, certainly not as she’d wanted him to touch her. Maybe he couldn’t bring himself to make that great a sacrifice for his friend.

He skimmed his hand up her side. “You’re so…”

“Skinny?” Rory often taunted her that she was a rack of bones. It didn’t matter how much she ate, she couldn’t put on weight. She’d never have the generous curves of her friend Brenna.

A breath shuddered out of his lips as he shook his head. “No. You’re delicate. Fine boned.” His pale eyes gleamed in the faint light that was breaking through the blanket of thick, dark clouds. “You’re beautiful.”

Colleen’s heart raced, and this time she accepted his compliment as sincere. The way he looked at her certainly made her feel beautiful. “Then why’d you stop?” she asked.

He lifted a hand and gestured. “We’re in a public place. Anyone could walk up on us. In fact, I thought I saw something—a light—at the edge of the woods.”

Colleen followed his gaze to the surrounding woods where tiny lights flickered. “Fireflies. Usually you can’t see them during the day. But it’s so overcast.” She watched them flicker and sighed wistfully.

“What? Are you worried about the storm?” Nick asked, his gaze intent on her face now, the fireflies apparently forgotten. As he would forget her when he got what he wanted. Molly’s whereabouts? Did he intend to drag her kicking and screaming to Josh? He had no idea how fiercely Eric would protect Molly.

If only she had someone to protect her.

“I’m not worried about the storm,” Colleen assured him. Although the rain clouds lingered, not even a drop had fallen. “I’m worried about you.”

“Colleen…”

“I’m like those fireflies, you know,” she mused.

His brow furrowed, as if he struggled to follow what she was saying.

“Like no one sees them during the day, no one sees me,” she explained. She’d felt that way when her dad was sick, invisible inside her own home. And in the shadow of her older, more beautiful sister, she’d always been invisible. “No one even sees me at night.”

He shook his head. “I don’t believe that.”

“
I’m
not lying to
you.
” Like he was to her.

“Then you’re lying to yourself,” he accused. “Because there’s no way anyone could ever ignore you.”

And yet he had. For years. She opened her mouth to point that out to him, but he kissed her first, his lips moving hot and hungrily against hers. “Your light shines all the time. I can’t stop looking at you, Colleen.”

But she wanted more from him than desire. She wanted love.

His love.

Knowing she had to protect herself, she jumped to her feet and ran. But then her impulsiveness, like the passion she’d long suppressed, surged to life. And she turned and tossed out a challenge over her shoulder, “See if you can find me.”

N
ICK COULDN’T REMEMBER THE
last time he’d played hide-and-seek. Although Buzz and TJ often begged him to play, he never actually had to look for them. The twins always got impatient waiting and came out of their hiding places.

Nick doubted Colleen intended to come out of the woods. Something about the forlorn expression on her face when she’d compared herself to thosee fireflies compelled him to search. No one ever saw her?

Why would she think that?

He couldn’t imagine that everyone—every man, at least, young, old and probably dead—didn’t stare at her, as captivated by her as Nick was. But more than her beauty drew him. Her vulnerability touched something deep inside him, something no one else had ever touched.

His heart.

He groaned but not because briar branches caught at his jeans as he followed a path deep into the woods. He hurt for her. His fingers curled into fists at his sides. This was why he didn’t want to fall in love—love brought only pain.

“Catch me if you can,” she called, her voice husky as she threw out her challenge.

One Nick didn’t know if he could, or should, accept. He felt
old.
Way too old and cynical for her youth and innocence. His feet stopped moving. He had no business chasing after her.

C
OLLEEN SLOWED HER MAD
dash through the underbrush and listened. Earlier she’d heard him crashing through branches as he pursued her. Now she heard nothing. Only silence.

Had he stopped? Had he turned back and given up on her? Regret and embarrassment heated her face. She shouldn’t have run. She should have known better; that no one had ever gone after her. But she’d thought he was different. And for a moment, on the blanket when he’d stared at her with such desire, she’d thought he was. That he really wanted
her.

He’d even followed her. But only a short distance. He obviously wasn’t used to having to chase women. They usually chased him, she expected.

The breeze picked up, blowing briskly. Her skin, bare except for shorts and a sleeveless blouse, chilled. In the distance thunder rumbled, reiterating the threat of a storm. She needed to stop playing games with Nick Jameson and go home—just like she eventually had every other time she’d run away. She edged away from the tree she leaned against and turned. Right into his arms.

“Gotchya!” His green eyes gleamed with victory. And something hot.

Colleen’s skin warmed beneath his gaze and his touch. His hands cupped her shoulders, then slid down her arms, pulling her near.

“You’re not very good at hiding,” he admonished her.

She’d never had to be. No one had ever looked for her before Nick. Overwhelmed by feelings both old and new, tears stung her eyes. She blinked them back.

“So, what’s my prize for finding you?” he asked, that dimple of his denting his cheek as his grin widened.

“A prize?”

“You know. The winner always claims a prize,” he explained. “How about a kiss?”

He didn’t give her time to answer before his mouth claimed hers. Was the prize for him or for her? She felt like the winner as his lips caressed hers. A moan rose from her core, parting her lips. His tongue slid inside, tangling with hers.

She covered his hands with her own and thought of leading him deeper into the woods, where no one would interrupt them. Visions of the two of them lying together in the clearing, naked, teased her, tempted her. But the last time she’d given in to temptation, she’d been humiliated.

She tugged free of his arms. “You don’t have me yet.”

But she lied. Because he did already have her—in every way that mattered.

N
ICK STARED DOWN AT
his arms, extended and empty now. She’d escaped him. Again. Instead of succumbing to frustration, he chuckled, feeling more alive than he ever remembered. “You better run,” he shouted, “because when I catch you…”

What was he going to do? Never let her go?

His heart shifted, pressing against his lungs and stealing away his breath. He’d never wanted anyone forever before. But then he’d never wanted anyone the way he wanted Colleen.

“You can’t catch me,” she taunted. “You’re too old and slow.”

“Old?” he sputtered. “You think I’m old?”

To her, he probably was. Anyone over thirty was probably
old
to her.

“And slow,” she reminded him, her voice coming from between some branches to his left.

He followed, moving stealthily so that no twigs snapped beneath his feet and he could sneak up on her exactly as he had the last time he’d caught her, looking so pensive and lost as she’d turned away from the tree and into his arms.

He should have held her tighter. He shouldn’t have let her slip away. When he edged through the brush, he stepped into the open, leaving the woods behind. Where had she gone? The park stretched before him, empty except for the blanket covered with their picnic.

Had she left him?

Thunder rumbled in the distance, farther off than before.

“Colleen!” he called, his voice becoming hoarse. He scanned the woods once again, catching the flicker of fireflies along the edge. Then behind him, near the crooked statue, he caught the slightest rustle of shrubs.

The bushes were overgrown there, probably to disguise the damage done to the town founder, and the branches were thick and high enough to hide one slim woman. He moved closer to the foliage, stepping over some flowers along the outer edge of the grass surrounding Colonel Clover. Then he reached through the shrubs. His hands closed over her bare shoulders. He held tight while he squeezed through the boughs and joined her at the base of the statue.

She winced in pain. Regret pressing on his chest, he loosened his grip. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“You didn’t,” she assured him. “It’s just that one of the branches caught me.”

He moved his hand and found an angry red scratch on her shoulder beneath his palm. He lowered his head and touched his mouth to the raw skin.

Her breath hissed from between clenched teeth.

“I’m sorry,” he said a second time.

“You didn’t hurt me.”

Yet.
The word hung between them, a thought they both shared. She obviously knew he couldn’t give her what she deserved. Josh had warned her, but even so she’d come to the park. She’d joined Nick and she’d teased and played with him. It was an indication that she accepted the rules of their game. He moved his mouth from her shoulder to her throat.

Her pulse pounded against his lips, beating furiously in perfect sync with his. Just as they’d danced. As they’d walked. As they’d eaten. Just as they would make love. But they couldn’t. Not here in a public park.

Not ever.

“You looked for me,” she mused breathlessly.

He searched her face, her eyes, shadowed with lingering pain and soft with the vulnerability that reached deep inside him. “Colleen…”

He pulled her closer. Winding his arms around her, he wished he could absorb those old regrets and take them away from her forever. Her breath shuddered out, warming his throat. Then she pulled back and stared up at him, surprised, as if no one had ever tried to comfort her before.

“Nick…”

Tangling his hands in her thick hair, he pressed his mouth to hers and it opened for him. He slid his tongue between her lips, in and out. He took her with just his kiss. But it wasn’t enough for either of them.

He had to touch her everywhere. He moved his hands over her body, over the soft skin of her bare arms, over the curve of her breasts. The nipples pressed through the cotton of her blouse, begging for more. His fingers shaking, he reached for the buttons. But damn, they were in the middle of the park. He couldn’t see her as he wanted to see her. He couldn’t touch her in the way he needed to touch her.

He curled his fingers into his palms, clenching them so that he wouldn’t reach for her. So that he wouldn’t tear her blouse open. But she pressed against him, as if anxious to be closer. He slid his hands to her hips and pulled her back. “Colleen…”

Her eyes dark with desire, she stared up at him. Her mouth swollen and moist from his kisses, she murmured his name.

His hands clenched her hips, pulling her against the erection straining painfully against the fly of his jeans. She tilted her hips, sliding against him. He cupped her bottom, lifting her, so her long, bare legs wrapped around his waist. And he groaned.

Dipping his head, he nuzzled his mouth against her breast, and through the cotton of her blouse and bra, he caught her nipple between his teeth. As he nipped, she moaned and arched her back, pressing closer. “Nick!”

He didn’t care where they were, who they were. He wanted her more than he’d thought it was possible to want anyone. Staggered by the force of his desire, he reached out to steady himself, his hand closing around metal, old and rusted. Something creaked and groaned, then clunked heavily as it dropped to the ground at his feet. Colonel Clover’s head, his hat dented and ear mangled, rolled across the toe of his shoe. “What the hell?”

He turned his attention upward, to the gray sky. “Was it lightning?” He felt as if, like the colonel, he’d been struck by something.

Colleen.

She wriggled out of his arms. “It wasn’t lightning.”

“What the hell was it?” Not love. He couldn’t be in love with her. No matter what he’d thought the night before, at the wedding…It must have been the moonlight or the punch. He couldn’t be in love.

“The colonel often falls apart,” she said. “The statue got broken a long time ago and nobody ever bothered to fix it correctly,” she explained, her voice strained with emotions he doubted she’d share with him.

“I’m sorry, Colleen.”

She bit her lip and nodded. “I know you didn’t intend to take it that far.”

The short hairs on the nape of his neck rose at the tone of her comment. “What didn’t I intend to take that far?”

“I know what you’re after,
Dr. Jameson,
” she said, her eyes dark with mistrust.

Her. But he had no right to her. He had nothing to give her.

“What do you think I’m after?” he asked, understanding she didn’t believe he wanted her. Not really. How could such a beautiful woman have such low self-esteem?

“My sister’s whereabouts. You want to bring Molly back, so she’ll tell Josh to leave Cloverville and sell that office you have no intention of using.”

Like her sister, she was smart, as well as beautiful. Admitting nothing, he reminded her, “You already told me I was wasting my time.”

She nodded. “Josh isn’t leaving. But like he warned me, you won’t give up until you get what you want.”

“This time he’s wrong.” Because he had to give up his feelings for her.