“Hey Nick!” I yelled immediately and rolled forward, taking the sheet with me. I twisted to the side, yanking the sheet around me frantic now for a different reason. I threw my legs over the side of the bed, missed the steps and went flying.
I would have landed likely painfully on all fours but Vance caught me at the last minute with an arm around my waist. I doubled over his arm with an “oof”. He pulled my torso up and set me on my feet, his arm still around me, my back to his front.
Throughout all of this, Nick kept talking while he punched in my alarm code and walked through the kitchen. “I thought I’d treat the birthday girl to coffee and a muffin. What do you say to –”
He stopped talking when he hit the doorway to the hall and caught sight of Vance and me. Then he came to a dead halt.
Oh crap.
I really hoped that Vance had some clothes on even though I did not, just the sheet, somewhere during the second round last night I’d lost my nightgown.
Um…
How embarrassing was this?
“Nick –” I started.
He didn’t miss a beat. “Vance can come too.”
“Nick.”
“We’ll go to Fortnum’s. I hear they have a great new coffee guy,” Nick continued.
I nodded, deciding to pretend I was dressed, life was cool and I wasn’t caught by the only father I remembered standing in an advanced state of undress in the arms of… whatever Vance was to me.
“That sounds good,” I said.
“Vance?” Nick’s eyes went over my shoulder.
“Yeah,” Vance said.
“Great. Just knock on my door when you two are ready.”
He turned to leave and I sagged against Vance’s body. Then he turned back and I went ramrod straight again.
I heard Vance’s quiet laughter in my ear and I kept my face perfectly composed and my body still so as not to turn around and gouge his eyes out.
“Just to say… I’ll be a little more cautious next time. Don’t want to get shot in the ass walking into my niece’s kitchen.”
Behind his glasses, Nick was laughing too.
The men in my life, I wanted to murder them all (except Roam and Sniff but they weren’t men yet, they were boys – when they became men I was sure they’d get scratched on to Jules Hit List just because men on the whole were vastly annoying and they wouldn’t be able to help themselves).
Then before I could say anything, Nick was gone.
The minute I heard the door close, I whirled on Vance and I saw that luckily he had his jeans on. Unfortunately, he had his gun in his hand.
I ignored his gun and the sight of his chest (very hard to ignore, seriously) and clipped, “What’s funny now?”
Instead of answering, he snatched me into his arms and kissed me, full-on, full tongue. Even in a snit, I had to admit, it was delicious.
When he lifted his head, he said in his silky voice, “Happy birthday, Princess.”
Um…
Wow.
He looked at me with sexy eyes and said, “Let’s take a shower.”