Alicia's Folly (6 page)

He quickly catalogued everything he remembered. Blonde hair up in a ponytail – totally “girl next door”, not to mention “hot as hell”. Soft, sexy curves all neatly packaged up and waiting to be uncovered. Long, sweetly plump leg –
Oh God, don’t go there!
He squinted down at her.
Yeah, right. As if that will help.
 

“What?” she asked, swallowing her mouthful of toast. The rosy hue of her sun-kissed complexion deepened. There was also a gleam in her eyes, which she tried to hide by ducking her head. When the squirrelly feeling in the pit of his stomach intensified, the thing that was different smacked him squarely in the solar plexus.
 

Son of a –
! he thought, sitting down hard. “Now that’s just not fair,” he growled. Alicia’s head snapped up, her beautiful blue eyes rounded in surprise.
 

“That I started eating without you?” she asked innocently. “You said you’d overslept. ‘Restless night caused by an unpleasant phone call. Go ahead and start without me’,” she mimicked. He shook his head. The sweet, guileless expression on her face didn’t fool him. Nate exhaled sharply through his nose. Did the glint in her eyes just brighten?
 

“You cheated. I have to start over,” he countered, refusing to be swayed. “All that lovely sexual tension you were practically twitching from when I dropped you off is gone.” The sparkle in her eye flashed brightly then, telling him he’d hit the nail on the head. If that wasn’t enough, what she said next made his mouth go dry.
 

“When needs must…” she whispered, evoking images in his mind of her pleasuring herself. Nate resolutely squashed them before he mentally brought her to climax. If he didn’t, he’d have to go back to his hotel and change his shorts.
 

Unlike Alicia, he hadn’t taken care of his needs last night, all thanks to a phone call from Elizabeth. He heaved a frustrated sigh before snapping at the pretty, clueless server who’d come up to take his order. When she was gone, he made a concerted effort to keep the mood light between himself and Alicia by issuing a warning.
 

“You are in so much trouble!” He pitched his voice low and tried to put a little extra growl into it. His reward was the barely noticeable shiver that went through her as she picked up her coffee cup. Unfortunately, his efforts were for nothing. Instead of tossing some light, sexually charged banter back at him, she asked him about the call.
 

“So, everything okay?” The question unwittingly killed what little humor he had left in him at the moment. “You seem distracted, despite – everything. Is last night’s call still upsetting you, even now? I hope I’m not keeping you from important business.”
 

The call wasn’t “upsetting” him. It outright pissed him off. He wasn’t willing to share just yet though, so he tried to think of something to change the subject, other than sex, and came up blank. Add to that the fact Alicia was now worried she was keeping him from work and it would only be a matter of time before she told him they should go separate ways. Their server, her timing impeccable, approached with his order and he damn near bit her head off.
 

“I’m sorry,” Alicia apologized once the no-longer-smiling woman took off. He’d have to leave her a monster tip to make up for his attitude toward her. “I probably am monopolizing too much of your time. I should – ”
 

“Don’t,” he cut in. He started to take a bite of his food then dropped his fork. The eggs looked like they were done perfectly – poached but with the yolks still runny enough to dunk his toast in – and the bacon was crisp to the point of almost being burnt, just the way he liked it. He wasn’t interested in eating any of it all of a sudden. “The call wasn’t work related and you’re not ‘monopolizing’ my time, so there’s no need to apologize. I’ll apologize to the waitress for my temper by leaving her a big tip.”
 

“But you’re more upset now than you were last night. Do you want to talk about it? I’m a good listener,” Alicia offered. His gut twisted. That was the last thing he needed. Talking about his ex with the woman he hoped to seduce. Nate shook his head and tried to eat again. The fork didn’t even make it off the plate this time. Looking up, he saw she was watching him worriedly.
 

“My ex is arriving at some point today. Apparently she has some hugely important issue she wants to talk to me about. We didn’t part on good terms.”
 

Nate kicked himself mentally, wondering why the hell he’d just spilled the crux of his sudden bad mood like that. He didn’t reveal personal stuff to strangers. He kept things close to his chest and got to know people before confiding in them like that. Hell, it took him three and a half years to reveal even a little about himself with Jared and they’d shared a dorm room through most of college. He pushed his plate away.
 

Alicia stood to leave. Nate struggled against the urge to beg her to stay. He didn’t want to spend the day waiting and walking on eggshells, wondering what the hell Elizabeth had to say. But he’d likely just put a big “Vulnerable & Needy” stamp on his forehead for all to see. He wouldn’t blame her if she took off running.
 

At least you know she’s not pregnant
, the voice of reason provided as Alicia came around to stand beside him. Expecting her to pat him on the shoulder and say goodbye, he was wholly unprepared for what she did do.
 

“Scoot back,” she ordered softly, tugging on his chair. Too surprised to argue, he did as she said. When there was more space between himself and the table, she sat on his lap with her back to him. She smelled so clean and fresh, like soap, sun and – her – he couldn’t help inhaling deeply. Unable to prevent it, he became hard.
 

Whether on purpose or not, Nate would never know, Alicia wriggled her bottom more firmly onto his lap. It was all he could do to keep from groaning out loud. Just as he was about to take hold of her hips to keep her still, she turned to sit across his legs, his plate in her hand.
 

“This is going to be incredibly messy, but oh-so-yummy. Are you ready?” she asked, showing him what she’d done. To his surprise, his eggs and bacon were now nestled between the slices of toast in what promised to be the most interesting breakfast sandwich he’d likely ever eat. Normally, he would take offence to anyone touching his food, but given Alicia’s current position and the image her words evoked, Nate grinned up at her and nodded.
 

Hell yeah,
he thought. An image of her sliding one of her slim fingers into his mouth and him sucking on it played through his mind. God, if only she’d come back with him to his suite! It was damn near impossible to keep his mind on food when it was filled with thoughts of this beautiful, sexy woman opened up to him on top of his blue satin bedding.
 

“Do I bust the yoke before feeding it to you, or would you rather –
Eek
! – Behave!” she scolded. He chuckled and settled himself more comfortably in his chair. He was more than
satisfied with the reaction he’d gotten out of her after pushing his erection a little more firmly into her hip. His appetite was back all of a sudden. Go figure.
 

* *
 

Alicia couldn’t believe she’d put her hands on someone else’s food. It was one thing to serve it up in the comfort of one’s own home, but to play with the contents of someone’s plate in the middle of a restaurant? Not only that, but she was sitting in an almost-stranger’s lap, also in the middle of a restaurant, preparing to feed him a very messy breakfast. Despite her embarrassment, a small thrill of anticipation ran through her. She was about to feed this sexy man his breakfast!
 

“Break them,” he said, one hand on her hip and the other on her thigh. Add his erection pressing against her to the mix and it was all she could do to concentrate on the task at hand. Especially since she was suddenly thinking she’d much rather there were no clothes between them. It amazed her how her best efforts at taking on both the day and Nate with considerably less sexual tension could be so easily thwarted. She pressed on the top of the sandwich and felt the yolks pop.
 

“Here we go,” she breathed, lifting the plate to just under his chin and feeding him a bite. Nate groaned. Whether it was from the taste of the food or from attraction to her, Alicia wouldn’t know. He ate though, and his mood seemed to be improving by leaps and bounds. She had to bite down on her lower lip to keep from grinning in triumph.
 

As she fed him, she considered what he’d said about his ex. The last thing she wanted was to get caught in the middle of an ugly scene. What if the woman was coming all this way to tell him she was pregnant. The thought made her own breakfast go sour in her stomach. Too bad she hadn’t thought of this before plunking herself into Nate’s lap and getting all “using sexy breakfast to refocus your thoughts” on him. Her own mood slipped as she finished feeding him the first half of his sandwich.
 

Nate stopped her before she could pick up the second half. Holding her in place with one arm, he reached around her for his glass of orange juice.
 

“Thirsty,” he said. There was a hungry, mischievous gleam in his eyes. Mesmerized, Alicia watched his throat work as he drank down half the contents of the glass. Who in the hell would have thought seeing a man drink juice would be such a turn-on. She bit down harder on her lip to keep from groaning in misery.
 

“Elizabeth and I haven’t been – intimate – for over six months,” he whispered into her ear. “I certainly wouldn’t be here with you, like this, if I thought there was even the slightest chance she and I could work things out.”
 

“You
are
a mind reader,” she growled accusingly. He chuckled, shaking his head.
 

“No. You have a very expressive face. Given what I told you, it wasn’t difficult to determine where your mind went. From your desire to your regret, your thoughts were as visible as the slim, pert nose on your face,” he answered. “Now feed me woman. I’m
starving
.”
 

Alicia couldn’t have stopped the gasp of surprise if she’d tried. The low-pitched growl of his voice as he said the word “starving” made her breasts tingle. The unexpected response of her body had her blushing hotly as she looked into his handsome, angular face. His hungry brown eyes moved to her mouth, making her breath hitch. She wanted so badly to have him kiss her, she almost forgot about the food she held in her hand. He reminded her by opening his mouth like a baby bird. The thought there was nothing remotely helpless about the pose played across her mind in the same way his hungry eyes wreaked havoc with her senses.
 

More flustered now than she’d been when he dropped her off at the hotel last night, her hand jerked when she brought the second half of sandwich to his mouth. The smear of egg yolk under his lip made her think of kissing him instead. Torn between throwing caution to the wind and sticking to her guns, Alicia looked into Nate’s eyes. There was challenge in their chocolate brown depths.
 

Challenge accepted!
she thought. With a mischievous grin, she leaned in and licked the sticky yellow stuff into his mouth. Nate’s erection pulsed against her hip as his arms closed around her, crushing her to him. With a primal growl, he took over the kiss, devouring her mouth with his.
 

A loud crash from the vicinity of the kitchen broke through the haze of their passion just as his hand began to find its way into the pants leg of her shorts. He groaned. She whimpered. They broke reluctantly apart as voices rose in anger over the mess which had obviously been made.
 

“You’re – ah – going to have to walk in front of me until I can regain control of – of myself,” he whispered. “For the record, I don’t recall ever having had such an amazing breakfast.”
 

It was on the tip of her tongue to make a smart-assed comment about seeing what she could do with lunch, but she held back. It was going to be difficult enough to stand without her knees buckling as it was. Never had her mouth been so masterfully possessed, her body so forcefully yet gently held. She felt sexy and desirable and deliciously –
wanton
. Nate helped her to her feet and stood behind her, holding her close for a few seconds longer before nudging her forward.
 

* *
 

Nate didn’t think he’d ever needed a woman as badly as he did Alicia. The way she took control and turned his sour mood into something so completely mind blowing had him wanting to take her by the hand and drag her back to his hotel where he would then lock them in his suite and have his way with her over and over again. He would make love with her until they were too exhausted and sated to move. There was the not-so-small matter of Elizabeth’s arrival hanging over his head though, and the very last thing he wanted was to be interrupted.
 

So, as he paid the bill, including a healthy amount to cover the expense of the broken dishes their server was tearfully tidying, – he was thinking she wouldn’t have dropped the tray of glasses if he and Alicia hadn’t started making out – as well as a large tip, he settled for fuelling the fire between them, – a.k.a. torturing himself – by touching Alicia in any way and as often as possible.
 

Elizabeth watched as Nate walked with the pretty, curvy blonde. They were holding hands and laughing together like lovers. A very tiny part of her was jealous he could so quickly and easily find someone to talk like that with. It was easily quelled though, with thoughts of Linda. She pulled out her phone, once again, to look at her screen-saver. It was a picture of the two of them sharing a hug and smiling hugely for the camera. She debated trying to call again, and decided against it. Linda was likely working and she didn’t want to come across as desperate.