Nicole glanced at Hawk. “The bakery belonged to my father’s family, not hers. I don’t think she ever liked the day-to-day responsibility of the place. It was a constant drain of time and energy and it was never going to make her rich. But Claire had potential.”
She pressed her lips together. “I’m making her sound awful. I don’t mean to.”
“You’re not. You’re telling me what happened. How you were just a kid and you got stuck with too much.”
His words were gentle, as was his tone. She found herself wanting to crawl into his arms so he could hold her and make her feel safe.
Wait a minute. Since when did she need a man to feel safe?
“Nicole?”
“What?”
“Where did you just go?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does. You’re looking fierce about something, and I’m guessing it’s not going to be good if it’s about me.”
“It’s nothing.” She didn’t want to go to the bad place. Not tonight. Not when she had Hawk alone in the house. “At least it could be nothing if you distracted me.”
Hawk’s slow, sexy smile made her quiver from the inside out. “How long will Raoul be gone?”
“He said he’d be back late.”
“Good to know.”
He stood and pulled her to her feet. Their half-eaten dinner still sat on the table, but she didn’t care. Not only did Chinese warm up great, she suddenly wasn’t hungry…at least not for food.
He pulled her close, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. His mouth claimed hers with a heated desire that stole her breath. His hands moved up and down her back, his body warming hers. It was erotic and familiar and exciting.
“I’ve missed this,” he murmured as he kissed her cheek, then her forehead and finally along her jaw. “I’ve missed touching you and being touched by you.”
“Me, too.”
He licked the sensitive spot below her ear, then sucked on her earlobe. He trailed kisses down her neck, making her wish her T-shirt plunged much lower.
His mouth was hot and firm. She held on to him as the world began to spin.
“I want you,” he breathed in her ear, making her break out in goose bumps. “In a bed, this time.”
“Conventional,” she murmured, wanting that, too. “Who knew?”
He chuckled.
She took his hand in hers and led the way upstairs. Once they were in her bedroom, he stood in front of her, his hands pushing her hair off her face. He stared into her eyes for a long time, as if trying to see past the emotional barriers she always kept in place.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered.
Nicole knew that on her best day, she was pretty. While she was sure Hawk meant what he said, she had a feeling it was the sex talking. Still, it was nice to hear. So nice she suddenly felt vulnerable in a way she hadn’t expected or experienced before. She wanted to look away, to hide…what? Not her body. She was more than willing to expose that. Then what? Her heart? Was her heart in danger?
She didn’t want to think about that so she closed the distance between them, put her hands on his shoulders and raised herself on tiptoe to kiss him. She pressed her mouth to his, then touched her tongue to his lower lip.
“Trying to have your way with me?” he asked, his voice teasing.
“Uh-huh. It’s part of my sex-kitten duties.”
“To seduce me?”
“Yes. I don’t think it would be hard. What do you think?”
“That I only look easy.”
There was the light of challenge in his eyes. Nicole studied him. Was he serious? Did he really think he could resist her?
She smiled. “You are so going to melt.”
“Want to bet?”
“Absolutely. Winner takes all.”
“I have incredible powers of concentration. I won’t even know you’re in the room with me.”
She chuckled. “You have an erection and burning desire to make love with me. You’re going to know everything I do and it’s going to kill you.”
He swallowed but didn’t back down.
Nicole considered her possibilities. How best to seduce Hawk? He was going to be expecting a straight-on, aggressively frontal attack. That’s what he would do. But she had a feeling that there were better ways to get what she wanted.
She tugged at the sleeve of his T-shirt. “You’re going to have to help me with this. I’m too short to pull it over your head myself.”
“Sure.”
He tugged off the shirt and tossed it over a chair, then crossed his arms over his bare chest.
She moved behind him and lightly touched his back. “I keep thinking about the last time we were together,” she whispered. “That was pretty incredible.”
“Agreed.”
She pressed her mouth to his spine and licked him. He tensed slightly, then relaxed.
“You have great hands,” she continued. “Probably why you were so good at football. You know what to do with them. Where to touch me, how to touch me.”
“Ah, okay.”
She smiled. He sounded a little uneasy. Good. She was getting to him.
She pulled off her own T-shirt and removed her bra. Still standing behind him, she pressed herself against him, her breasts nestling against his bare back. His hands dropped to his sides.
She took advantage of that by placing her hands on his belly, just above the waistband of his shorts. She didn’t move them, she just kept them there. Possibilities, she thought as heat moved through her own body. It was always about possibilities.
She rubbed her breasts back and forth. Her nipples scraped against his skin, exciting her and she hoped doing something for him.
“I like how you kiss, too,” she continued. “Some guys just want to get to the good stuff. They don’t bother with things like kissing. But not you. You were willing to take your time.”
She moved her hands across his chest. She couldn’t see what she was doing so she had to feel her way. Which was fine by her. She liked the play of muscles under skin, the coolness of his chest hair, the way his breathing hitched when she brushed his nipples.
She accompanied her exploration with little nips on his back, careful to let him feel her breath first, so he would know the bite was coming, could think about it seconds before it happened.
She dropped her hands to the waistband of his shorts and found the button. Slowly, slowly, she unfastened it, then pulled down the zipper. Working by touch, she slid her hand between his shorts and his briefs, feeling the hardness of his arousal. Instead of taking him in her hand, which he probably expected, she lightly ran her nails across his hardness, then rubbed her thumb over the tip.
He shuddered, pulled away, spun toward her and grabbed her. Fire darkened his eyes.
“You win,” he growled before he kissed her. “You win.”
It was the best kind of victory, she thought as his tongue plunged into her mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, savoring the teasing, stroking, claiming kiss that burned her to her toes.
He touched her everywhere, his hands moving over her back, her sides, her rear, then up to her breasts where he cupped the curves and teased her nipples.
Seducing him had already gotten her more than halfway along the path, she thought as liquid heat poured into her center. She felt swollen and ready before he’d done much of anything, which meant she was delighted when he
