Good. After a meal like that, she would’ve been too full to be interested in any activity more vigorous than collapsing in a chair.
Except, no man—not even a grateful one—treated a woman to a five-star restaurant without hoping for a big payoff.
“So I guess I can’t interest you in a couple of peanut butter cups, huh?”
“Not for at least a month.” She sauntered back into the bedroom, wearing a short ruffled top over a matching pair of pink panties. In some ways, the innocent summery pajama set was even sexier than the low-cut nightgown she’d worn the evening before. This nightie revealed the full expanse of her sleek, tanned legs, and her top gathered over her breasts causing its full, hip-length hem to swish when she moved, inviting him to slide his hands underneath.
“By the way,” she said, “I brought something home for you.”
“A doggie bag?”
“No.” She handed him two miniature shampoo bottles from the Four Seasons and chuckled. “These were the best I could do.”
“Minx.” He tossed the bottles onto the night table.
She gasped as he pulled her down on the mattress, covering her mouth in a long, deep soul kiss. For a second, she pushed on his chest and then slowly slid her arms around him, clutching his back. She writhed and trembled as he rolled her beneath him, shoving up her top to caress and suck her incredible breasts.
Moaning, she slipped her hand inside his boxer briefs and cupped him, squeezing his package gently before sliding her palm up his length and stroking him. The pressure mounted in his groin until he feared he’d burst like a clogged steam pipe.
Oh, man. And she’d said snakes would have to grow feet first. Ha! The slithery little suckers would all need cross-trainers by morning.
He merged his lips with hers again, groaning into her mouth while he slowly pushed off her panties. When he finally came up for air, Sam stared into his eyes and eased her hand from his shorts. “This isn’t a good idea, Nicky.”
“You’re right. It’s a
phenomenal
idea,” he whispered, guiding her hand back into his underwear.
“We’re divorced.” She yanked her hand away.
“So? I read somewhere lots of ex-spouses hook up. I can’t think of a better way to end this miserable evening. Do you have any idea how much I missed you toni—”
“Stop.” She pressed her fingers over his lips. “I don’t want to make love with you.”
“You don’t mean that.” He stared down at her stiff nipples. “If I sucked one of those beauties, in two seconds you’d be begging me to—”
“That may be true. But I’m not going to let you.” She covered her breast with her hand. “And, no, it’s not because I slept with Marc earlier,” she said, guessing Nick’s greatest fear. “I only agreed to go out with him to help him jump back into dating.”
Nick lifted his head and stared into her eyes. “And to make me jealous.”
“
That
was simply a bonus.” Her impish smile hit him right in the solar plexus, stealing his breath.
He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. “Does Marc know you’re just friends?”
“Yes. We had a long talk on the way to dinner. I’m worried about him. He doesn’t look good. I think he may be coming down with the flu or something. I made him promise to see the doctor.”
He knew what she meant. Even though it was only the beginning of October, Marc had seemed kind of pale.
“He told me he misses Lindsey so much he’s sleeping in the guest room. Or more accurately tossing and turning all night. It’ll be no surprise if he’s sick.”
“Believe me,” Nick whispered, “I have a good idea how the man feels.”
Apparently, snakes would slither around on their bellies a bit longer.
~*~
Samantha jerked her gaze away. When Nick stared at her with his heavy-lidded bedroom eyes, it was way too easy to imagine he felt the same way about her as Marc had about Lindsey.
Then, about the time she foolishly allowed herself to believe it might be true, Nick would invariably roll her on her back and render her as limp as one of her Worry Pals from the multiple orgasms he took such great delight in giving her.
She squeezed her legs tightly together, attempting to stop the insistent throbbing his seductive kiss had incited. There was nothing she’d like more than to simply lay back and enjoy his lovemaking. Unfortunately, giving in to her aching need would only land her back under Nick’s dominion.
“Sammy, it’s obvious how turned on you are. Forget about me.” His heated gaze on the apex of her thighs as he licked his lips made her quiver. “Let me take care of you. You know you’ll sleep better.”
The first time he’d made love to her with his mouth had been on their wedding night. Her heart had nearly exploded from the ecstasy and resulted in her begging him to take her—which was what the rat was no doubt hoping would happen now.
Closing her eyes, she slowed her breathing and tried to focus on something other than his selfless offer. Try as she might, all she could think about was the prospect of his tongue stroking and lapping at her until she shattered.
For Nick, their relationship was all about sex, and it had been since the day he married her. In fact, even before that. When he’d insisted on making her his wife, his first priority had been to assure her she could always count on him to give her unsurpassed pleasure—even if they weren’t a
love match,
as he’d put it.
To his credit, he’d kept his word. Nothing seemed to thrill Nick more than making her squirm beneath him while she begged for release. It was as if his all-consuming power over her body was more gratifying to him than even his own orgasms.
She gritted her teeth as he leaned closer and his hot breath stirred the curls on her mound.
“How about it?” he coaxed softly. “No strings involved. We’ll simply be friends with fringe benefits. After I make you come a few times, I promise to let you go right to sleep.”
It would serve him right if she used him to relieve her frustration and then left him to see to his own needs. Except, she didn’t trust herself not to ask for a lot more.
Oh, jeez, her body was going to hate her for this. But there was no way she would enslave herself to his lovemaking again—even if he was a selfless, merciful master. “Thanks, but no thanks.”
“Your loss.”
She flinched at the shrill ringing on the night table next to her. As she picked up the phone, she couldn’t help noticing the name on the caller ID. Bethany Jenkins.
Sam swallowed hard, imagining the humiliation she would have suffered if she’d been on the verge of a screaming orgasm when his girlfriend called. Thank goodness she’d found the willpower to resist him. She handed him the portable receiver. “I believe it’s for you.”
He glanced at the phone’s display and frowned. “I’m sorry, Sammy. Bethany wouldn’t call at this hour unless it’s important.” He punched the talk button, listened for several moments, and finally asked the girl, “How many times has this happened?”
His face contorted with rage while he absorbed whatever Bethany was telling him. Sam could hear the excited rise and fall of the girl’s voice escaping the phone, but she couldn’t make out a single word. Eventually Nick said, “The best solution is to get out of L.A. How would you feel about moving to Pennsylvania? I can get you a sales position at Swann’s in Princeton.”
Sam shimmed back into her pajama bottoms and rolled off the mattress while he listened to Bethany.
“Don’t worry about the cost,” he said. “I’ll take care of it. I’ll reserve a flight for you first thing tomorrow morning.”
Silence again.
“No problem. Dani will be thrilled to see you. I’ll talk to you soon.” He reached over and set the phone back in its charger on the night table.
“Well,” Sam said, yanking down the sheet on the sofa bed. “I guess you’d better think about renting an apartment after all, hadn’t you?” She winced at the bitchy tone in her voice.
“Actually, I have a better idea if everyone is amenable.”
She stared at him, her mouth agape for a split second. “If you think you’re moving your bimbo in here, you’ve got another think com—”
“Relax.” Nick chuckled. “I’m not planning any kinky threesomes. But I do think I’ve found the perfect solution for Bethany’s living arrangements.”
Sam waited for him to explain.
Instead, he rolled onto his side and fluffed his pillow. “Goodnight.”
“Are you intending to share your brilliant plan with me?”
“Eventually. As soon as you quit referring to Bethany as my bimbo. I’ve told you several times now, she’s a friend.”
Right. Another friend with his so-called fringe benefits.
~*~
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like me to help you out?” Nick leaned against the doorjamb to Sam’s workroom late Saturday morning.
She glanced back at him from her sewing machine. “I believe I made myself perfectly clear on that subject last night. Again, no thank you.”
He pursed his lips, suppressing a satisfied smile. Her immediate assumption that he’d been referring to sex implied she was still as frustrated as a prom queen in a chastity belt. “I wasn’t suggesting that particular kind of help. I was offering a hand with your business. Not to scratch your itch.”
“Oh.” The rosy color in her cheeks deepened to match her cotton-candy pink sundress.
“However....if you find yourself reconsidering my other proposal,
El Capitán
is always ready, willing, and ab—”
“Yes, I know!” she snapped, whipping her chair around to face him head-on, her breasts heaving.
Whoa. She was teetering on the edge. One kiss and she’d be all over him like sprinkles on a double-dip ice cream cone. Except the fire in her eyes suggested he’d lose an arm if he did something as stupid as trying to touch her at that moment.
“You’ve demonstrated quite well, in the past, how adeptly you pull my strings and make me grovel, oh, Great Puppet Master. There’s no need to remind me I have zero resistance to you.”
Right. If anyone had been enslaved by the red-hot passion during their marriage, it had been him. Sam couldn’t even smile at him without every drop of blood in his brain racing south in a tsunami of testosterone. After a year away from her, he’d forgotten how she made him ache, and what it was like to spend half of each waking hour imagining how good it would feel to thrust his perpetually hard dick into her slick heat.
“You know, that kind of weakness goes two-ways, Sammy. I’m just as helpless to resist you.”
Every day in L.A., he’d worked with beautiful, sexy women. But not one of them had ever made him want her the way he wanted his ex-wife right now. “What I don’t understand is why you
resent
the chemistry between us.”
“You don’t, do you?”
“Unless....” He raised his eyebrows in hope. “Perhaps you’ve discovered other men can’t get you revved up the way—”
“Look,”—she jabbed a finger at him, cutting him off—“I don’t want to discuss this with you anymore. I’m sorry I misinterpreted your intentions.”
Obviously he’d struck a nerve.
“
Cariño
, my only intention is to make things easier for you. That’s why, after I made an airline reservation for Bethany, I took out the trash, emptied the dishwasher, and vacuumed the entire downst—”
“Oh, so that’s your plan now, is it? Make yourself so indispensable I’ll agree to sleep with you for old times’ sake?”
Okay, so she was on to him. Except he didn’t want her for just a few nights. And there was no way he could admit he wanted her back in his bed permanently without making her even madder.
“Damn it, Sam, quit looking for hidden agendas. I simply thought I’d check to see if you need any help with your orders before I go talk to Ryan’s sister.”
As Sam’s anger slowly dissipated, her forehead furrowed. “What do you want to discuss with her?”
“I’m worried about Ryan. While we were changing his brakes yesterday, he admitted he’s missed so much school because he’s up half the night taking care of his mom. That’s too much responsibility for a sixteen-year-old kid.”
“You should talk.” She sputtered. “Weren’t you the one who got a job at fourteen to help your mother pay the bills? How many exams did you fail because you had no time to study? You’ve always thought you had to take care of everyone. You’re already planning to hire your friends as a construction crew, and now you want to take on Ryan’s problems, too?”
“The kid needs help. And I thought of a way out for him.”
“But what about you? Do you think the extra stress from worrying about the whole world is good for you? We didn’t go to sleep until after two, and you were awake again at six, hollering and shaking like a leaf. What was that all about?”
“Just another nightmare. It’s no big deal.”
“Another? Great, so you wake up trembling like that all the time?”
Damn. When would he learn to keep his big trap shut? He should’ve walked—no, run—out of the room the moment he’d noticed the inferno raging in her gaze. “It’s nothing.”
“Obviously it’s something.” Sam stood and marched over to him. “Or you wouldn’t be having nightmares. Tell me. What happens in your dreams?”
“I don’t have nightmares, plural. It’s just one.”
“So it’s recurring? That seems kind of significant, wouldn’t you say?” She crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him, making it clear she was waiting to hear about his dream.
“If you don’t need any help....” He turned to leave.
“Quit trying to evade the issue.” She grabbed his arm and spun him back toward her. “Now spill it.”
“It’s nothing. There’s water pouring into the basement, and I can’t stop it.” He wasn’t about to admit that she and Dani were locked down there with him. When she opened her mouth to respond, he held up his hand. “Stop! You don’t need to say it. I know it doesn’t take a shrink to realize the dream means I feel helpless.”
“Well, duuh! You’re drowning, Nick, and now you want to take on more responsibility with Ryan. And solving whatever crisis your girlfriend is having.”
“That’s the point. I don’t have to do a damn thing. I thought of a way they can bail each other out. Ryan and his sister need help looking after their mom, right?”