Against the Sky (12 page)

Samantha felt sick to her stomach. She thought of the baby. Maybe telling him wasn't such a good idea after all. Nick was a bachelor. A very popular bachelor from the greeting he'd just received.

Fortunately, only a few minutes had passed before the door opened again and Nick raced out into the rain, jerked open the car door, and slid back in behind the wheel.

He cast her a look. “I know what you're thinking but you're wrong. Her name is Lisa Graham. We dated a year or so ago. We aren't involved anymore. Like I said, we're just friends.”

“Intimate friends,” she reminded him darkly.

“Not since before I met you,” Nick reminded her.

Samantha turned away. “It doesn't matter. I'm only here for two weeks.”

Nick caught her chin and turned her to face him. “It does matter. I'm with you. For as long as this thing lasts. You're the woman I want. The only woman I want. Okay?”

She swallowed, felt near tears.
It's just hormones,
she told herself. She was pregnant, forgodsake. She looked at Nick and nodded. “Okay.”

Nick leaned over and gently kissed her. “Let's go home,” he said and started the engine.

 

 

They decided to eat before making the drive back home, though secretly Nick would rather have had more of Samantha's amazing cooking. They stopped at a little place in Wasilla called The Trout Club that served great burgers and fries. Nick placed their orders at the window, waited till the orders came up, then they sat at one of the Formica-topped tables to eat.

“So where are we in the investigation so far?” Samantha asked as she unwrapped her turkey burger and dug in. “Wow, this is really good.”

Nick swallowed the bite he had taken. “We're further than we were two days ago. We still need to find out who hired Evanko at Jankowski. And Cord should be calling with that cell mate info pretty soon.”

“You think that could be important, but it might just be some guy who robbed a bank or something.”

Nick grinned. “That's true. Now you see how boring detective work really is. We follow a lead till it hits a dead end, then look for something new, follow where that leads and hope we come up with something.”

“I think it's interesting.”

“I used to.”

“Until it got too personal? That's what happened, isn't it? You started feeling what those parents were feeling when they lost their daughter.”

Nick set the burger back down on his plate. “I guess that was part of it. Homicide's a bloody business. I just didn't want to do it anymore.”

“I guess I can understand that. But when I think about what happened to my sister . . . I don't know. I wish there had been someone like you around to catch the man who killed her.”

“You said they never found him.”

“No. A few years later, there was a similar case where a girl was abducted and killed. The man was killed in a shoot-out. The police thought it might have been the same man but there was no way to know for sure.”

“I'm really sorry,” Nick said, knowing only too well how hard a tragedy like that could be on a family.

Samantha just nodded and they finished their meal in silence. The rain had slowed to a steady patter by the time Nick drove around the lake and pulled into his garage, then led Samantha into the house.

Along the way, he'd made a decision. He was going to lay off the seduction routine. It wasn't his style to press a woman the way he had been pushing Samantha. Of course, he couldn't remember wanting a woman the way he wanted her. Still, from now on, what happened between the two of them would be up to her.

In that vein, since they had already eaten, he suggested they watch an old movie on TV.

Samantha seemed relieved. “That's a great idea. Why don't I make us some popcorn? I saw some in your pantry.”

He'd forgotten it was even there. “That'd be great—but it's got to have plenty of butter.”

She grinned. “I swear—your cholesterol must be sky high.”

“One sixty,” he said, flashing her a grin.

Samantha rolled her eyes. “Life is never fair.”

They made the popcorn together, then sat in front of his 42-inch flat-screen to eat it. They made out like teenagers for a while, and settled in to enjoy the movie. By the time
The Searchers,
an old John Wayne classic that made Samantha cry, was over, he was surprised to realize he had really been having fun.

They cleaned up the kitchen and went to bed.

Alone.

If it weren't for his worries about Jimmy and Mary, he would have fallen asleep feeling strangely content. Maybe he wouldn't even have had one of his ugly dreams.

The room was dark, just thin rays of moonlight slicing in between the curtains. The hour was late when Samantha awakened from the first deep sleep she'd had since she'd arrived. She didn't know what had roused her, but her heart was thundering, her senses on high alert. It took a moment to realize she was in the guest room at Nick's house.

As understanding settled in, she began to relax. That was when she heard the noise, the fierce, deep growl that sounded like an animal in pain. It was the sound that had awakened her, and it was coming from the room next to hers.

Grabbing her robe off the foot of the bed, she slipped out into the hall. The door to Nick's room was closed. She quietly turned the knob and looked inside. The curtains were open, the clouds had lifted, and a slash of moonlight lit the bedroom.

Samantha's eyes widened at the sight of Nick Brodie lying naked on the bed, the sheet thrown off and tangled around his long legs. His lean, powerful body glistened with sweat and his jaw was set in a hard, angry line. He made that same guttural sound low in his throat, like a tiger ready to attack its cornered prey.

He thrashed on the mattress, fighting some unseen foe, shoving the sheet farther down, and muttering something she couldn't understand. He was in the throes of a nightmare and wildly angry at someone.

“Nick . . . ?” She crept toward him. “Nick, wake up.”

Reaching a hand out to touch him, she shrieked as he grabbed her, jerked her across his body, came up over her and pinned her to the mattress beneath him.

“Nick! Wake up!”

For several heartbeats, neither of them moved. His eyes were open, but he didn't seem to see her. Then he shook his head like a bear awaking from hibernation and looked down at her as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

“What the hell?”

“You . . . you were having a nightmare. It must have been . . . been a bad one.”

He raked a hand through his wavy black hair, looked down and seemed to notice for the first time that he had her pinned beneath him. Samantha's eyes widened as she realized he was beginning to get aroused.

“Nick . . . please . . .” She wasn't sure exactly what she was asking, wasn't sure she didn't want the situation to take its logical course.

“Christ.” Lifting himself off her, he padded naked to the bathroom. She told herself to look away from all those gorgeous muscles and his heavy arousal, but her eyes refused to listen.

Nick closed the bathroom door and she heard water running in the sink. She climbed out of his bed and was tightening her robe around her when he walked back out of the bathroom, his black hair wet, a towel riding low on his hips.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

He sat down on the mattress, glanced at the red numbers on the digital clock beside the bed. It was three a.m. “Sorry I woke you.”

“It's all right. What . . . what were you dreaming about?”

He sighed into the quiet. “Drummond mentioned the last perp I caught. I guess it brought the whole thing back. The young girl's body . . . what the crime scene looked like. It was one of the worst I've ever seen.”

In the depths of his eyes, she could read what working that case had cost him. Knew from experience some of what he felt.

“It might not have happened if we hadn't had to follow the goddamn rules. So damned much red tape. If we could have cut through all the bullshit, we might have found the bastard before he killed her.”

“Captain Taggart's rules?” she asked, remembering what Cord had said.

“The system's rules. Taggart's captain of the detective division. He's one of those guys who follows the rules to the letter. As far as I'm concerned, when someone's life is at stake, it's time to bend the rules.”

She thought of her sister, wondered if Danielle might have been saved if she'd had a detective like Nick Brodie working the case.

She realized he was watching her, his gaze running over her body. She was standing in the moonlight and the robe she was wearing wasn't very substantial.

“You'd better go back to bed,” he said gruffly, and she knew it wasn't a suggestion—it was a threat.

Her body started humming. Her mind filled with images of Nick lying naked on the bed, all sinewy muscle, flat, ridged stomach, wide shoulders banded with muscle, and narrow hips. Memories of a hard male member that told her how much he wanted her.

“Will you be able to sleep?” she asked, knowing sleep was no longer an option for her.

“No.” Those laser blue eyes seemed to pin her where she stood. “What about you?”

There it was. The invitation she could no longer refuse. He could give both of them the sleep they so badly needed, give them the kind of pleasure she hadn't been able to forget.

She moved toward him, peeling the robe off as she approached the bed, letting it fall at her feet on the floor, leaving her in only her short pink nightie. “I think you have what I need to get back to sleep.” Sliding her arms around his neck, she leaned down and kissed him.

With a heavy groan, Nick kissed her back. When he deepened the kiss, desire surged hot and wild through her veins. She remembered the coppery tang of him when he was aroused, the taste of virile male. His tongue slid into her mouth and she moaned, felt his big hands dragging her nightgown over her head and tossing it away, felt his palms sliding down to cup her breasts.

“I remember everything about you,” he said against the side of her neck, “the feel of your skin, the softness of your lips, the exact shape and weight of your breasts. God, I want you.”

She whimpered as his hands moved down her body, cupping her bottom as he kissed his way from her breasts to her belly. Kneeling in front of her, he kissed the inside of her thighs, parted her legs and used his mouth and hands with the skill she remembered. Her body quivered. She cried out as sensation dragged her under, plunged her into a world of dark pleasure.

She had almost reached her peak, her body tightening, craving release. She whimpered when Nick stopped.

“Easy, baby. Not yet. Soon, I promise. I want to be inside you when you come.”

Her body flushed with heat. She remembered how good he was at this, the way he understood exactly how to heighten her pleasure. His towel fell away as he lifted her, settled her in the middle of the bed, then came down above her. Spreading her legs with his knee, he made a place for himself between her thighs.

It felt so natural to have him there, as if he was a part of her, as if he belonged there. His kisses were long and deep, and though she could feel the tension in every sinew of his powerful body, he held himself back, taking his time, making it good for both of them.

She was lost in sensation when he opened the drawer next to the bed, drew out a condom and sheathed himself, then continued his skillful assault. Nipping the side of her neck, he returned to her mouth, kissing her deeply, creating a delicious tension that rolled through her body as he slid himself deep inside. She thought of the tiny seed that grew in her womb, the faint speck of life their passion had created. Perhaps that was the reason it felt so right that he should be there, reclaiming the part of herself she had already lost to him.

She thought of the child, but when he started to move, all thought slid away and she was once more in that place of dark pleasure. Her body tightened with each of his powerful thrusts, spun farther and farther out of control. A sweet pressure quivered in her belly as he drove deeper, brought her closer and closer to the edge.

She cried his name at the stunning burst of pleasure that exploded through her body, bright as sunlight over the mountains. Samantha clung to his powerful shoulders, her nails digging in, thick waves of sweetness rising higher and higher, then cresting and slowly beginning to fade.

Nick didn't stop. Just drove into her until she reached a second searing climax. Another deep thrust and a low growl came from his throat. The sinews in his neck went rigid, his muscles vibrating with the force of his release.

For long seconds neither of them moved.

Then Nick lifted himself away, dealt with the condom, and lay down beside her, nestled her head in the crook of his arm.

Samantha thought of the baby and the tough decisions she would have to make. Lying sated in Nick Brodie's bed, she realized the enormity of what she'd just done. She didn't know she was crying until he leaned over and wiped a tear from her cheek.

“Samantha, honey, what is it? I didn't hurt you, did I?”

She shook her head. At the worry in his face, she thought of the child he had fathered. She had to tell him. Knew it was time.

“It isn't that. You were wonderful. But I. . . . I have to tell you something. I can't hold back any longer.”

“What is it, honey?”

“I'm pregnant.”

“What? You're—” He broke off, sat up in bed, and Samantha sat up, too, pulling the sheet along with her as she moved back against the headboard. Nick reached over and turned on the lamp on the bedside table. “What do you mean you're pregnant?”

“That's . . . that's why I came up here. I needed to see you, figure out what to do.”

Nick started frowning. “Wait a minute. You aren't saying the baby is mine?”

Shock rolled through her. She could feel the blood draining out of her face. Swinging her legs to the side of the bed, she stood up, grabbed her robe off the floor and pulled it on.

“It doesn't matter. I felt obligated to tell you. Now I have. I'll be leaving in the morning.” The moment she started walking, Nick was out of the bed and stalking her.

He caught her before she reached the door and whirled her around to face him. “I used protection. If you're pregnant, it can't be mine.”

Her eyes welled. She'd known this might happen, known this could be his reaction. Somehow she had convinced herself Nick would be different.

“I said it doesn't matter. I don't expect anything from you. I just needed to tell you. Now I have.” She jerked open the door; Nick slammed it closed.

“You're pregnant. You've had the test and everything?”

“I went to a doctor. She confirmed the test. I don't know how it happened. It shouldn't have, okay? They were your condoms, not mine!”

His eyes drilled her for several heartbeats. Then the corner of his mouth edged up and his features softened. “The baby's mine. Of course it's mine. I could tell that first night, sex wasn't something you'd had a lot of experience with.”

She worked to keep her eyes on his face. He was still naked, though he seemed to have forgotten. “Until that night, I hadn't been with anyone since I broke up with my fiancé more than a year earlier.”

He nodded. “Your fiancé. The a-hole. I remember. Are you okay? Is the baby okay?”

She swallowed, felt like crying again. “Everything's fine. The truth is I didn't want to be pregnant any more than you want to be a father. As I said, I don't expect anything from you. I wasn't even sure I was going to tell you.”

“Wait a minute.” His features went dark again.

“I had to find out what kind of man you were. I had to think of the baby.”

“That wasn't your decision.”

“I think it was.”

“Bullshit. You should have told me as soon as you found out.”

“Well, I'm telling you now. And now that I have, I'm leaving. All I need is a ride back to the airport in the morning.” She jerked open the door; Nick slammed it closed again.

“You aren't leaving. You came here to find out what kind of man I am. Well you're going to find out that I'm the kind of man who isn't going to ignore his responsibilities. We've got plenty to talk about, and you aren't leaving until we've got this figured out.”

She was furious. And oddly relieved. Still, she wasn't about to be bullied. “Fine, we'll talk in the morning. In the meantime, I need to get some sleep.”

She pulled open the door and walked into the hall; Nick followed her out. “You're having it, right? You aren't considering—”

“No, of course not.”

His shoulders relaxed. “Okay, then. All right.” He glanced down, seemed surprised he wasn't wearing clothes. “We'll talk tomorrow.”

Samantha turned and started walking. Nick disappeared into his room, reappeared with the towel he'd been wearing once more in place. At the door to her bedroom, he caught up with her, turned her into his arms and very softly kissed her.

“Don't worry, okay? We'll figure it out.”

Her eyes burned. A lump swelled in her throat. “Okay,” she managed to say. Pulling open the door, she walked into her bedroom. Her heart squeezed. At least she had done what she had come here to do.

So why didn't it make her feel better?