Sweet Seduction Serenade (37 page)

"Yes!" he breathed against me, his lips smashing into mine as he drank my cries down, his tongue commanding my utter capitulation. I gave it absolutely. Willingly. Excitedly. Completely.

Nick was right, here where our bodies met, I was his to command. And I'd have it no other way.

"Angel," he breathed above me, his movements frantic now, a little arrhythmic. His face buried into the curve of my neck, exactly where he liked it to be in the end. I wrapped my arms tightly around him, letting him know I was there with him, he was safe in my arms. Then waited for that one word he always said when he finally breached that delicious wave and came.

I didn't get it.

And I didn't miss it.

"Eva!" he said on a delicious moan, one last thrust deep inside and then the heat of his release coating me, marking me, claiming me again as his.

We both lay there panting, trying desperately to catch our breath. Nick didn't seem inclined to pull away too quickly, just stayed where he was savouring the sensations of our bodies pressed together, our hearts beating in sync, our chests rising and falling rapidly as we both came down from exquisite highs. He'd called this heaven, what we did to each other, and I couldn't have argued with that at all. This was heaven. Somehow Nick broke through every wall I had ever erected between myself and the world when I was young and reached right inside my heart.

No one had ever done that before. Well, only him, one night eight years ago in fact.

"Hmm," he hummed. "Been fantasising 'bout that. You on my desk." He swallowed and pulled his face back from the curve of my neck to look me in the eyes. "Fuck," he whispered, one hand coming up to brush my hair back off my face. He seemed lost in the moment for several seconds, staring at me, but not quite seeing me. As though he saw something else entirely, than my flushed, sweat soaked self beneath his gaze. "You are stunning, angel."

I closed my eyes slowly at his tone.
That
tone. When he calls me angel and means it. Another thing unique to Nick.

"I'd like to investigate several other fantasies involving my office and you naked, but I think it might be time for you to visit your Dad."

My eyes sprang open at the cold harsh reality of my life. My father was dying, in a secured hospice to keep him safe from his sister and her children, and I'd been having raunchy sex with Nick on his office desk when I should have been demanding he take me to Dad. I was the worst ever daughter.

I pushed against his chest and forced him off - and out of - my body.

"Hey!" he protested, but he didn't fight back. He must have realised I'd been doused in a metaphorical frigid bucket of water at his last words and needed some distance to get myself level again.

He pulled his jeans up and tucked himself neatly back inside, his eyes grazing my face intently. I slipped off the desk and searched for my underwear, finding them on the floor beneath the desk. As I bent down to retrieve them, Nick was suddenly at my back, hands on my hips, groin pressed into my rear as my head was down and butt was up in the air.

"Cut that out!' I demanded, pulling upright and trying to take a step away. He was incorrigible.

"Sorry," he muttered, still holding firmly onto my hips, groin pressed hard against the crease in my rear. I could tell he was stirring again. "Can't seem to help myself. Eight fucking years of dreaming of you, Eva, and here you are in my office bending over seductively in my all time favourite position. What's a guy to do?" He nibbled on my ear, then quickly lay a wet trail down my neck and nipped the soft flesh at the base.

I groaned. "Nick!" He started chuckling and took a step back.

"Bathroom's through there, angel," he pointed to a door off the side. "Get yourself cleaned up and meet me at control. Just knock on the door and Eric will let you in." Then he was gone, on silent and swift feet, out of the room.

I took my time in the bathroom, just to get my head on straight again. Being near Nick was intoxicating, it clouded my mind like a bottle of Tequila on an empty stomach. I was drunk on this man, but I had serious things to face up to. Dad didn't look good on that monitor screen in ASI's control and Nick had said time was running out for him now. I'd known for a while that this was coming, but facing him today was not going to be any easier for that fact.

How could he mean so much to me, when he'd been absent most of my life? I used to feel like a sucker for caring, when it was obvious he didn't share that sentiment at all. But lately I'd been wondering if I'd got it all wrong. Dad didn't show he cared. He was rough and gruff and didn't waste time on superfluous emotions, but I'd seen something different these past three months. At first it was easy to ignore, but just before I returned to Nashville it was getting harder and harder to deny.

My Dad was who he was; unapologetically surly, harsh and abrupt. Coming from a trash background, he too had been subject to his upbringing. But there was something there I hadn't witnessed before. Something bitter-sweet and full of... not exactly care, but an emotion close to it. Love? At least the kind of love Ray Rowe was capable of.

I found myself smiling at that thought. I didn't kid myself though, Dad would never come out and say he loved me to my face. I guess that's why I craved it so much from Nick. No matter what, no matter how far I had come to accepting my father for who is was, I still craved his love. His acknowledgement of it. And, unfortunately, I'd always crave that acknowledgement from Nick too.

The only problem was, I wasn't entirely sure I'd ever get it. Nick wasn't my father, but there were parts of his character that were familiar. His gruff attitude at times, his dominance - and OK, Nick's dominance tended to be most noticeable in the bedroom and there was no way I was comparing
that
to my Dad - and the way he spoke. How many times had I heard my father swear? Pepper his dialogue with four letter words. Nick wasn't much better. And yet it was part of what I found appealing about Nick.

Nick was all male. Oh God, was he all male. And didn't I just love that.

Nothing says cowboy more than a rough, gruff, confident and compelling man.

I took a deep breath in, finished re-braiding my hair and checked myself in the bathroom mirror. Time to face the music. And there'd be music, because I wasn't entirely sure I could say what needed to be said aloud. But I could sing it. My Fender was going with me to see my Dad. I only wished I had my Martin. Everything sounded better on a Martin.

I knocked on the door to control and the camera did its whirring thing above me, I smiled and waved like a dork, and when the door clicked pushed it open and stepped inside. There were more people here than I had expected. A couple of obvious ASI guys - all black clothing, essential ASI paraphernalia on their thick leather belts - that I didn't recognise, but two I did. Eric, of course, at his monitors, doing what he does best. And Adam. My stalker.

But no Nick.

"Hi," I managed.

"Hey, Eva babe," Eric said, without looking over his shoulder. "Nick said he'd be here in a tick, he's just sorting Katie and a new window for her car out."

I frowned and felt my head tip down towards the ground. That would be the window of her car that my cousin Leo shot out on my other cousin, Levi's, instruction. I let a long breath of frustrated air out.

"Hey, cowgirl," Adam said softly from just in front of me. My eyes flicked up to his deep blue ones. He smiled gently at me, but kept his distance. "You've got yourself a security detail for your trip to see your Dad."

"Oh?" I said surprised. I'd thought it was just going to be Nick and me. I guess they were leaving nothing to chance.

"Yeah, this is Brook Osborne and Koki Tanaka." He pointed at the two ASI guys I didn't yet know, they both smiled back from handsome faces. Brook had the most amazing salt and pepper hair, on a guy so young and handsome, it was striking. And Koki was of Japanese decent, with dark hair, caramel skin and piercing black eyes. Again striking. What was it with these ASI men? Both had broad shoulders and thick muscles and took up way more space in the room than should have been physically possible. I nodded toward them, but returned my attention to Adam's feet. "We'll be following you and Nick, but keeping a distance once you get there."

"Is this really necessary?" I felt I had to ask, even if I was sure of the answer already.

"Yeah, Eva. It is." Just like Ben had said at the airport. I shook my head and let another breath of air out. "I know this hard, cowgirl, but we'll do everything we can to keep you and your Dad safe. 'K?"

"'K," I whispered, just as the door clicked open and Nick walked in. He took one look at Adam standing so close, towering over my bent head, and one look at my down-turned frowning face and he was standing between us.

"You guys head out to the cars, we'll be down in a minute." His voice was clipped, commanding. Accepting no argument. He didn't get one either. Brook and Koki headed straight for the door and Adam made a grunting sound, which could have been an agreement or a protest, it was hard to say. The door clicked shut behind them and Nick was in my space.

"What happened?" he asked, jaw clenched. "Why was Adam so close?"

I blinked at him, taking in the rigid stance, twitching blood vessel in his neck and frosty ice-blue gaze.

"He was telling me about the security detail. It took me by surprise." I thought it best to put him out of his misery. But I had to admit to a small amount of pleasure at his reaction. Pathetic, but true.

"Ah," Nick said, reaching up a hand and cupping the back of my neck. "You OK, angel?"

I nodded. A blatant lie. He obviously could tell as he sighed, leaned forward and kissed my forehead softly.

"Hang in there, babe," he whispered against my skin, then pulled back releasing me as he turned to one of the nearby tables scattered with electronic equipment. "This the taser?" he asked Eric.

"Yeah, all charged, ready to go."

"You wearing a belt, Eva?" Nick asked, turning back to me. "Or taking a handbag?"

"Belt," I answered. I wasn't much of a handbag kind of girl.

"OK, then. Lets get this threaded on there. Officially an ASI operative now," he added with a twitch of his lips and a wink.

"Ooh, does that mean we get to haze her?" Eric asked, spinning around in his chair to watch Nick thread the taser in its holder onto my belt. He purposely brushed his fingers along the inside edge of my denim skirt. My heart fluttered unashamedly. "Or is that what you were doing in your office when the cameras jammed?"

"You don't like your job much, do you, Shaw?" Nick asked, giving him a hard stare.

"Just askin', boss," he said cheerily as he swung back towards the screens. "Jason's just arrived in the garage. He coming with you lot too?"

"No, I want him to keep tabs on Katie," Nick replied.

"He's gonna love that assignment," Eric muttered under his breath.

"What?" Nick demanded, giving me a pat on the rear to indicate the belt and taser were all done.

"Nothing," Eric sing-songed. I watched Nick narrow his eyes on Eric, but he didn't push any further, instead he turned to me and shifted his face into a smile.

"Come on, angel. Lets go serenade your Dad."

It didn't surprise me that he knew what I'd be doing. Nick had "got me" from the moment we first met. Right down to needing to go off and follow my dreams, all those years ago. I mentally shook my head at that epiphany. He'd been right back then, we had needed to do our separate things. We may have fallen for each other - well at least I fell head over heels for him that night - but we weren't ready to be together.

I just hoped he felt the same as me; that we were meant to be together now.

Then I tamped down on that emotion, knowing nothing was that easy in my life - especially with loser cousins who could still take it all away.

The trip to the hospice didn't take too long, I'm unsure how far it was, but the enormity of what lay ahead seemed to eat into the miles, making the journey over before it had even begun. We pulled up outside the hospice, no sign of our shadow ASI men anywhere, but I was certain they weren't far away.

"Keep your hand on your taser, ready to draw if needed," Nick instructed brusquely as he turned the ignition off. "Wait for me to open your door. If anything happens before I reach your side of the car, lock the doors and hit star one on the phone to get further directions from Eric." He didn't wait for my obvious arguments, just slipped out of his door and swiftly walked around my side of the SUV. His eyes alert, his gait purposeful, his whole demeanour: don't-fuck-with-me.

I sighed, flicked the cover off the taser in its holster and leapt out of the vehicle when he opened
my door. I half expected something to happen. Nick was so uptight, left hand clenched around the handle of my guitar case, leaving his right resting on the hilt of his gun at his belt. He nodded to me to proceed him inside the gate and up to the door. No hands free to take one of mine. He was so tense, taking this so seriously, that there was no way my cousins weren't about to attack.

My heart was beating ridiculously fast inside my chest, sweat had begun to track its way down between my shoulder blades and a film of it graced the top of my lip. I licked them nervously, wanting to look around the street as Nick was, but knowing it was futile. I needed all my concentration to make it up the path and through the open door without tripping. I was shaking all over by the time we made it into the security vestibule and mentally cursing Levi Russell and his siblings from here to Timbuktu. I was sure all of this would give me an ulcer. And it was doing nothing for the wrinkles becoming permanent fixtures on my forehead. I was ageing beyond my years all because of my relatives, and didn't that just suck?