I’d known you were hiding this, we’d have skipped dinner altogether.”
Her small smile was smug. The little tease was enjoying his discomfiture. “I ordered all of it online after you left my house Wednesday. I’m glad you approve.”
He removed her sweater next, lifting it over her head, trying not to mess up her hair. The bra he found matched the rest of her undies. Except that it had a panel of fine mesh on the top edge that revealed her raspberry nipples.
With his heart slugging in his chest, he scooped her up in his arms, folded back the covers one-handed and laid her gently on the bed. “Don’t move,” he croaked.
He began to strip with a marked lack of coordination, tossing pieces of clothing wildly until he was down to his black knit boxers.
Nikki no longer smiled. Her gaze fixed raptly on his erection, outlined in stretchy cloth. “You are a beautiful man, Jake Lowell,” she said softly. “I thought I might have embroidered the memory of you naked, but it seems not.”
He dispensed with his underwear and joined her on the bed.
When he touched her, he understood that time really could stand still. The room was hushed. Traffic noise from the street below barely penetrated his consciousness.
He ran his fingers through Nikki’s golden-red tresses, spreading her hair on the pillows. She was a sensual woman. A siren. A goddess.
He refused to dwell on his grief for the years he had missed.
Timing. It all came down to timing.
“Jake?” She said his name softly, with concern. As if she could sense his turmoil. “Are you okay?”
He nodded slowly, running one hand from her shoulder to her belly to her silken-clad legs. “Oh, yeah,” he said. “I’m good.” He removed the panties but left everything else in place. When he played with her nipples through the bra, she moaned and arched off the bed. Her cheeks flushed. Her eyelids fluttered shut.
For one breathless moment, she was there in front of him. Ripe for the taking.
That one night in Atlantic City was a blur to him now. This felt like another first. A second chance. Was karma offering him closure, or an opportunity for redemption?
Slow burn. Yes. That’s what it was. The need to take her rose through him like a forceful, uncontrollable wave.
“Nikki...” He whispered her name, not even sure what he wanted to tell her. If he hadn’t run away all those years ago, this woman might have been his.
Emotion burned his throat, scored him with pain, but not as much as the regret crushing his chest.
He wouldn’t let the negative emotions ruin this. Not now. Not tonight.
Carefully, he touched her center and found her wet and slick with heat.
Belatedly, he remembered the condoms in his shaving kit. He rested his forehead on her belly, breathing hard, shaking like he had a fever. “I’ll be right back.”
When he returned seconds later, Nikki turned her head and smiled at him. The look in her eyes nearly brought him to his knees.
He joined her again, but when she tried to curl her fingers around his shaft, he grabbed her wrist and held her at bay. “Later,” he said gruffly. “I don’t think I can wait.”
He took care of protection and moved over her, spreading her thighs and fitting the head of his sex at her entrance. They both gasped when he went deep. So much for wooing her with his technique.
Nothing about this was smooth or practiced. Just two people yearning, straining against each other. Her skin was soft and warm. When he lifted one stocking-clad ankle onto his shoulder, the sight of her shot another bolt of heat through his gut.
“I adore these stockings, Nikki. You look like a pinup girl from a wartime calendar.”
Her smile was sleepy and happy. “Glad you approve.” She raised her hips, urging him on.
Fear like he had never known intruded—a fear he didn’t want to admit. This was a mistake. Like that night in Atlantic City, he was rocked with wild emotions. He didn’t know how to control the feelings. This was more than sexual desperation. So much more...
What did it mean?
Now he and Nikki were forever connected because of Emma. He couldn’t pretend he was a ship passing Nikki’s in the night.
He had left her twice before.
In the midst of unprecedented passion, the knee-jerk instinct to run was strong. But even scarier was the yearning, the need to stay.
She cupped his face in her hands, testing the late-day stubble on his chin. Her eyes searched