Anyone But Nick (Anyone But... #3) - Penelope Bloom Page 0,72
part where I wish I used all that time on the flight thinking up a speech to convince you to stay with me. To stay in West Valley, where you belong. But I was really nervous, and I ended up playing a game on my phone to distract myself.”
She laughed. “You really are Cade’s brother. But I don’t know anything you say can change the facts. Max’s story would ruin both of us. You’ll look like you care more about your cock than the company, and I’ll look like someone who is willing to sleep her way to the top. Both our reputations will be completely trashed.”
“If only I could think of something in the world I wanted badly enough to sacrifice my reputation for . . .”
She smiled, lowering her eyes. “I want it too. I mean, I think I do. I don’t know how anyone claims to know this stuff. All I know is there’s a crazy, jittery feeling in my stomach when you look at me. And—”
“You can’t stop picturing me naked when you’re in the shower? And the amount of times you’ve touched yourself while thinking about me is verging on unhealthy?”
She glared, but not without a hint of a smile. “This isn’t the time to make jokes.”
“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to be funny. I was just trying to figure out if I was the only one.”
“Nick . . .”
I was tired of playing nice and patient. Miranda was too practical. If she had her way, she’d wait and wait until some kind of divine sign shot straight down from space and landed in her lap. The only thing I could think to do was to show her exactly what we could be together.
I took a step toward her as I felt my thoughts growing hungrier by the inch.
She ran out of room to back up and bumped into the wall beside her bathroom. I stopped when I was so close I could feel her rapid breaths on my neck. I met her eyes and waited. Without breaking eye contact, she nodded and gave the faintest, sexiest half smile I’d ever seen.
I pressed my palms against the wall above her, and I bent my neck to kiss her. “I want to taste every inch of you,” I whispered into her ear.
Her body shivered against mine. “Would it kill the mood if I asked to shower first?”
I laughed. “Seriously?”
She shrugged, smirking a little playfully. “I did just get off a long flight. If we’re doing . . . this, I want to be clean for it.”
“Maybe I like you dirty,” I said.
“You can get all the figurative dirtiness you want. But I literally stink.”
“Fine. You can shower, but only if I get to clean you.”
“What?”
I lifted her hands by the wrist. “I’m a jealous bastard. And tonight, I don’t even want these touching that body. It’s all for me.”
Her cheeks went a deep, gorgeous shade of red.
Chapter 23
MIRANDA
My heart was beating so fast that I thought I might pass out at any given moment. My head felt light and fuzzy, and no matter how many times I tried to blink myself awake or pinch myself, he was still there. The bathroom door clicked closed behind him, but he made no move to give me a moment of privacy to undress. I guessed I didn’t know why he would think to look away if I’d agreed to let him bathe me.
God. I wanted to kick myself and give myself a high five at the same time. Yes, this was pretty much the culmination of every teenage fantasy I’d ever had about Nick King, and, yes, he wasn’t the only one who might have had some dirty thoughts in the shower, but it all felt like it was happening at the speed of light.
After seven years, I guessed I would’ve thought it would take an equally long time to develop feelings for him. Instead, the bundle of confusing emotions I had when I thought of Nick all these years had just grown and grown. The moment I’d decided how I felt about him, all that emotional energy seemed to explode toward this overwhelming kind of magnetism I felt toward him now.
I reached and flicked off the lights, which left us in near-complete darkness.
Nick turned them back on. “No hiding.”
I took a deep breath. Apparently, when Nick got turned on, he also got very bossy. Normally, that would’ve irritated me, but right now it just seemed intensely sexy. It felt