Somehow it had just happened.
He'd buried himself in work and had never found his way out.
“What are you thinking?' she asked.
“That I never meant to live as a monk after my wife died.'
“I'm surprised the single women in the office didn't make a play for you.'
“How do you know they didn't?' Her smile widened. 'Do you have to beat them off with a stick?'
“Only a couple of times a year.' She looked away and the smile faded. 'You must still love her very much.' The transition confused him for about a minute, then he figured out what she wanted to know.
“Hey.' He touched her chin, forcing her gaze back to his face. 'You and I were the only ones in this bed. At least on my side.' The smile returned. 'On my side, too. I haven't been with anyone since Marty, but that's not about being brokenhearted. As I was trying to explain before, things were complicated.' He slid his hand under the sheet and cupped the curve of her bare hip. Her skin was like warm silk. 'Is this easy?' he asked.
“Very. The best kind of easy.' He agreed. In the past, he'd found the first sexual encounter in any relationship about as dangerous as a minefield. There were too many ways to misstep. But with Stephanie, everything had fallen into place. He'd never had a sex-only, no-strings affair before, but so far it was better than he could have hoped.
“How about a few ground rules to keep things that way,' he said.
She nodded and sat up. 'Good idea.' As she'd moved, the sheet had fallen away from her breasts. He found his attention sliding from her words to her body. He leaned toward her and touched his finger to the outer curve of her breast, then traced a line to the place where that pale skin darkened to a deep rose. Her nipple instantly tightened. After licking the tip of his finger, he brushed his damp skin against her nipple and waited for her breath to catch.
Damn if it didn't. As expected, his body responded with a rush of blood heading south.
“Rule number one,' she said. 'Lots of sex.' He raised his head slightly to look at her face. 'That's a good rule. So good we should probably make it one and two.'
“Fair enough. Sex and lots of it. You're only in town for a short period of time. I want to take advantage of that.'
“My kind of woman.' He wanted nothing more than to lean in close enough to kiss her breasts, but figured they had better get things settled before the next round. He forced himself to drop his hand to his side and focus on the conversation.
“I'm going to assume you don't want the boys to know about us,' he said.
She nodded slowly. 'It would only confuse them. Brett still worries about me replacing his father and the twins would only want to bond with you.'
“So I'll leave my door unlocked. You can head downstairs when you're ready to have your way with me.'
“That works. We'll also have during the day until school's out at the end of the week. If you're not too busy with your family.'
“I'm not.' He reached for her hand and laced their fingers together. 'Speaking of my family, would you mind joining me for a few of the bigger get-togethers? You and the boys?' He wasn't sure why he made the request and he hoped she wouldn't ask him to explain.
Luck was on his side. She nodded right away. 'That would be great. I had a good time and I know my kids did, too. All that family can be a little intimidating.'
“I'm not intimidated.'
“Because you're a big tough guy.'
“You know it.' She laughed, then slipped down on the mattress. 'Okay, then I'll think of it as helping out. Sort of `you scratch my itch and I'll scratch yours.' '
“I like the sound of that.' He moved closer and drew back the sheet, baring her to the waist. 'So where does it itch?' She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. 'Everywhere.'
Chapter Nine
Stephanie had never considered painting a room anything but a chore, yet this afternoon she found herself humming while she worked. Suddenly the squishy swish of the roller on the walls sounded cheerful and lively. The smell didn't bother her, not with the gatehouse windows wide open and the afternoon sun spilling into the room. Even the low-grade complaining of long-unused muscles didn't do anything to dampen her happy mood. She doubted anything short of a serious disaster could wipe the smile off her face.
Life was good, she thought as she smoothed the pale paint over the prepared wall. Life was damn good.
She giggled softly and stretched up her arm. The movement pulled at her hips, which ached from being extended when she'd parted her legs as wide as possible so she could wrap them around Nash. The discomfort only added to her exuberance. Being sore after something boring like an exercise class wasn't very inspiring, but being sore because of mind-clearing sex with an incredible lover was worth every twinge. Her insides still tingled with lingering aftershocks and she couldn't stop sighing with contentment. While she'd never considered herself an affair kind of girl, obviously this was something she should have done years ago.
“It never crossed my mind,' she murmured aloud.
With three kids and a pretty hefty mortgage, she'd been more concerned about staying afloat financially after Marty's death than getting any sexual needs met. After a while it had been easy to forget she even had needs. Making love with her husband had been very nice, but over time, the memory faded. She didn't want another relationship with a man, so she'd figured intimacy was no longer available to her.
Until Nash had shown her all the possibilities. And what possibilities there were. They'd made love twice, then agreed to try and get some work done. It had been all of three hours since they'd left his bed and she couldn't wait to get back into it.
Mentally calculating the time until the boys would be turning in for the night, she wondered how she would survive that long without Nash touching her. Now that she knew he was even better than her fantasies, she wanted to take advantage of every second they had together.
“You're not working,' Nash said as he walkedin from the kitchen. 'You're standing on the ladder, grinning.' She laughed. 'If I tell you that I'm thinking about us being together will that make it okay?”
“Absolutely.' He leaned against the door frame, a tall, good-looking man holding spackle and a putty knife. He'd pulled on a dark blue T-shirt over worn jeans. She liked how he was competent in whatever he did, whether it was patching a wall or making her scream with pleasure. She liked how he was comfortable asking her what she liked when they were in bed, and offering to help out around the house when they weren't. She liked that he was a bit nervous about being around his new family and that he wanted her there to act as a buffer. Not that he'd ever said the latter, but she'd read between the lines.
What she liked most was that they were equals. He had needs, she had needs. No one was more in charge. No one was subservient. They were taking care of each other, while getting what they wanted.
She dipped the roller into the paint on the tray. 'How's the patching coming?' she asked.
“All done in the kitchen.' He turned his attention to the walls. 'Are you sure you don't want me to do the painting in here? You're kind of short to reach the top of the walls.'
“That's why they invented ladders,' she said. 'I like doing this. If you want to help, you're welcome to paint the windows. I already taped the glass, but I haven't started on the frames yet.'
“Sure. Let me put this away.' He covered the can of spackle, then set it on the makeshift workbench she'd created by placing a flat door over two wooden crates. After he left, she heard running water. The man cleaned up after himself, she thought happily. Did it get any better than that? Nash returned and took a nearly empty gallon can of paint and a brush, then walked over to the large window. She watched him expertly brush the wood trim.
“So how did an FBI negotiator learn how to paint?' she asked.
“I helped paint our house a few times when I was growing up. Since then I've been dragged into a couple of projects with guys from work.'
“Do you like your job?' He glanced at her then returned his attention to the window. 'Most of the time. Not
