Harlequin Desire February 2013 - Bundle 1 of 2: The King Next DoorMarriage With BenefitsA Real Cowboy (Kings of California)

by Maureen Child

  All good points, Nicole acknowledged as her body began a slow burn in places that hadn’t seen any kind of heat for way too long.

  “It’s a fling,” Sandy said. “Like a summer vacation. God knows you could use a vacation. I’ve never seen anyone who works as much as you do—along with taking care of the house and Connor and—”

  “I get it,” Nicole said, cutting her friend off before she could really get going. “And Griffin is perfect.”

  “There you go!”

  Could she do it? Could she have a quick, meaningless affair? She worried that thought in her mind for a minute or two. This so wasn’t like her, but on the other hand...

  This might be too good an opportunity to pass up.

  “You know,” she said, “I actually came here so you could talk me off the ledge, not give me a shove over.”

  “Please.” Sandy grinned. “You never thought I’d talk you out of it. You were hoping I’d say go for it. And I am.”

  She had her there, Nicole admitted. Sandy had always been the go-for-the-brass-ring kind of girl. Of course she’d encourage Nicole to do exactly what she wanted to.

  And, subconsciously at least, that’s just what Nicole had wanted to hear.

  When Sandy was called over to help at the counter, Nicole stayed where she was. Her gaze slid to the wide front window that overlooked Main Street. Crowds were thick during the summer. There were moms with kids, retired couples and streams of surfers headed toward the beach.

  Seemed like everyone was enjoying their summer vacation. Except for her. Maybe Sandy was right. Maybe it was time Nicole did a little something for herself.

  Nodding, she took another sip of her latte, ate the rest of her cupcake and made plans for seduction.

  * * *

  At least he was tired, Griffin thought, easing down into the hot tub. To keep busy today, he’d worked his ass off with Lucas’s crew in Nicole’s kitchen. He’d spent a few summers working construction as a kid, so he knew his way around a job site. Steve and Arturo had been happy for the help and, truthfully, Griffin had needed something to do. Something that would keep him out of the house and at a safe distance from Nicole. Something that would occupy him enough that his thoughts wouldn’t have time to settle on the woman who was driving him nuts.

  Now he was tired enough that he hoped for actual sleep tonight, and if he was really lucky, he wouldn’t dream.

  Because if he did, he knew Nicole would be the star in another very hot scenario that would have him waking hard and miserable.

  “Good times,” he muttered and laid his head back against the edge of the tub.

  Overhead, the branches of the ancient elm waved and danced in the ocean breeze, making the leaves rattle gently. Glimpses of stars came and went between those branches and Griffin settled in to force himself to relax.

  The old, settled neighborhood in Long Beach was quiet at night. Somewhere down the street, a dog barked and the muted sounds of rock music played in the air from someone’s stereo. The whole scene was damn near perfect.

  “Should be relaxing,” he muttered, then he sat up and fisted his hands on the edges of the huge, square tub. Yeah. This wasn’t working. Hell, he hadn’t been anything but tense since he had started this vacation, no matter how many hours he tried to laze away in the hot tub he was beginning to hate.

  “What’s so great about a damn vacation anyway?” he whispered, his voice lost beneath the rush and rumble of the tub jets. “Why is work such a bad thing?”

  There was no one to answer him—not that Griffin expected an argument. Hell, he knew that work was better than no work. Kept a man’s mind occupied, increased his fortune and gave him something to do.

  This whole mess was his own damn fault. He was the one who had decided to take some time. To rethink his workaholic, commitment-free lifestyle. Right about now, though, he wished to hell he was in his office buried in work. Or in Cadria visiting his twin. Or on a date with some nameless model. Hell, he wished he was on the other side of the planet, because since Nicole and Connor had moved in with him—

  He shifted uncomfortably on the bench seat. Between the heat in his blood and the hot water pulsing around him, he was teetering on the edge of a very sharp cliff. All because he had wanted to change up his life. Mature.

  Well, maturity was seriously overrated.

  “You just have to hang on for a couple of weeks,” he told himself in a whisper. “Lucas has an extra crew working on Nicole’s place. It’ll be done and she will be gone before you know it.”

  Perfectly reasonable.

  It just didn’t help him now.

  Hell, nothing could. He was wound tight enough to give off sparks, for God’s sake. And there was no end in sight. Thoughts blew through his mind, spinning with the force of a tornado. Griffin wasn’t used to backing away from a beautiful woman. Turned out, it was damned uncomfortable.

  He thunked the back of his head against the edge of the tub. “You could just leave the house to Nicole and her son and go to a hotel. Hell, screw the whole vacation thing and go back to work, too.”

  But that thought hit him wrong. Not only would his twin never let him forget it if Griffin gave up early and went back to work, but leaving the house now would be like running away, and one thing a King never did was turn tail and run. They stood their ground, even when that ground was crumbling beneath their feet, dropping them into an abyss of misery and pain.

  He snorted. “Do-it-the-hard-way-Kings. That’s us.”

  “Talking to yourself again?”

  He sat up straight, sending water sloshing against the rim of the hot tub. Turning his head, he watched as Nicole stepped out of the house and walked toward him. Immediately he wished he hadn’t looked at her at all.

  Damn.

  He’d known the woman had a great body, but admiring her curves under a layer of tank tops and shorts was different than seeing those same curves defined by a bikini small enough to barely merit being called a swimsuit.

  In the wash of moonlight, her skin gleamed like warm honey and looked just as smooth. Her breasts were perfect, high and full and just barely hidden by the triangles of neon-green material. Her belly was flat, her hips rounded, and as his eyes were drawn down to another scrap of fabric at the juncture of her thighs, his own body went hard as stone.

  Oh, man. This was not a good thing.

  “Wow,” she murmured, tipping her head and smiling at him. “Didn’t think I’d ever see Griffin King suddenly struck speechless.”

  He scrubbed one hand across his face and shook his head. Damned if he’d give Nicole the upper hand in this. No woman had ever knocked him on his ass before, and he wasn’t about to let this be the first time. He couldn’t afford to have a clouded mind—especially not now. Though how he was supposed to think about anything but the body she was displaying, Griffin didn’t know.

  “Yeah. Sorry. Didn’t hear you come out here.” He looked past her and frowned. “Where’s Connor?”

  “In bed,” Nicole said and handed over a bottle of wine and two glasses that he hadn’t even noticed she was carrying.

  Watch your step, Griffin, he warned himself.

  That warning went right out the window as he watched her mount the steps and slide slowly into the tub. She settled on the bench seat right beside him and Griffin would have sworn that the water temperature went up another hundred degrees.

  “Oh, that feels good.” Her voice was a purr of pleasure that sent jagged bolts of need shooting through his body.

  Danger.

  “What’re you doing?” Hell, she’d been alternately snarling at him and ignoring him for days. All of a sudden she showed up, barely dressed, carrying wine? Something was definitely up—besides him. Griffin shifted uncomfortably and inched a bit farther away from the temptation right beside him. />
  He wasn’t an idiot. If she was here, she had something more than relaxing in the hot tub in mind. And damned if he was going to let his hormones take control until he knew exactly what was running through her brain.

  She turned her head and smiled at him. Something in his chest caught and held in response.

  “Thought I’d see for myself just why you spend so much time in this hot tub.” One of the jets bubbled and frothed at her back and she sighed again. “I think I get it.”

  As she arched into the jet, her breasts rose above the surface of the water and he stifled a groan. “Great. Happy to help. Now...”

  “I brought wine,” she said, and nodded toward the open bottle he held.

  “Yeah, I see that, but—”

  “I’ve got the baby monitor out here, too. Sitting on the table by the back door. If Connor needs me, I’ll hear him.” She shrugged and took the acrylic wineglasses from him, holding both out for him to fill. “So, how about you pour the wine and we’ll just sit and enjoy for a while?”

  He could use a drink. On the other hand, he thought, drinking wine with a beautiful woman while in a hot tub was only going to lead in one direction.

  He smiled to himself.

  Damn, even when he knew better, he couldn’t resist the lure she was holding out in front of him.

  “So?” Nicole waved both empty glasses. “Are you going to pour, or would you rather I leave?”

  There was his out. He should grab it with both hands. Instead, he poured the wine. He wasn’t letting her go anywhere until he knew what she was up to. This whole setup—alone in the darkness, wine, hot tub—was an ambush, and a damned good one. If he slipped out of her clutches now, without knowing what was going on, she’d just trip him up somewhere else along the line. Better to be prepared.

  Reaching over the edge of the tub, he set the bottle down on the top step, then settled back, took a long drink of the wine and speared her gaze with his. “So, you want to tell me what’s going on, Nicole?”

  “Not sure what you mean,” she said, a small smile curving her mouth as she sipped at her wine.

  Women. He was pretty sure they were born knowing just how to twist a man into knots. And not to knock his own gender, but Griffin was willing to admit, at least silently, that it wasn’t difficult for them at all. Show a man a beautiful woman and he was already on a slippery slope. Give him one of those sexy half smiles and his fall started picking up speed.

  “You know just what I mean.” Her smile deepened, and she slid a glance at him from the corners of her eyes. She was definitely up to something. And in Griffin’s experience, when a woman had a plan, every man in the vicinity should be on guard. “You’ve never joined me out here before. Why now? Why the wine?”

  “Look,” she said simply, “it’s a nice night. I’ve had a long day, and the hot tub sounded like a great idea.” Shrugging, she pointed out, “You must like it. You’re in it every day.”

  Lately to avoid being with her, Griffin thought, though now he could see the flaw in that strategy. At least if they were in the living room watching TV she’d be dressed.

  The image of her in that bikini flashed across his already fevered brain. Then his gaze dropped to the surface of the churning water that bubbled and frothed at the tops of her breasts. Oh, man.

  “Something wrong?”

  “Nope. Nothing.” He shifted on the bench seat and ordered his body to throttle back. Unfortunately, that particular portion of him had its own ideas. And they had nothing to do with cooling off.

  Didn’t matter. He was still in control.

  “Good,” Nicole said, then paused for another long sip of wine. When she’d swallowed, she turned her head to look at him. “Because there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

  And here it comes. Finally. “Yeah? What’s that?”

  “I want to have a night with you.”

  The long drink of wine he’d taken logjammed in the middle of his throat and Griffin choked in response. Whatever he’d been expecting, it hadn’t been this. Nicole Baxter propositioning him? What kind of crazy-ass world had he been dropped into?

  When he could breathe again, he stared at her. “Are you serious?”

  She scooted closer. “Absolutely.”

  Griffin held his ground. Even though he knew he should back away while he still could, he couldn’t quite bring himself to do it.

  “I know you’re interested,” Nicole was saying and he silently warned himself to listen up. “I’ve seen the way you look at me, Griffin.”

  He cleared his throat. So much for his poker face. “No offense, but that just means I’m alive and breathing, Nicole.”

  She smiled again, as if she knew that was a weak argument.

  “You’ve been avoiding me,” she said.

  Damn straight he had, not that he was going to admit it.

  “Giving you space,” he argued.

  “Hiding,” she countered.

  Okay, that wasn’t acceptable. “I don’t hide.”

  “Then why do you look nervous?”

  Griffin laughed shortly. “Babe, I haven’t been nervous around a woman since I was fifteen.”

  “Until now,” she said, taking another sip of wine.

  Griffin gritted his teeth. He wasn’t nervous. He was...cautious. There was a difference. Any man would be cautious walking through a minefield.

  “What’re you getting at here, Nicole?”

  “I already told you,” she said with another shrug that briefly lifted the tops of her breasts. “I think we should have a fling.”

  His mouth went dry. He hadn’t seen this coming at all. Which explained, he told himself, why he couldn’t seem to string a coherent sentence together. Finally he managed one word.

  “Because?”

  “Because you want me. I want you. There’s no reason not to.”

  He really was in the twilight zone, because he was pretty sure he’d used that same argument with other women at other times. Odd having his own words thrown back at him.

  But as tempted as he was, by her presence, her idea, there was one thing he couldn’t forget. “You have a son.”

  “Connor’s not a part of this.”

  He nodded toward the baby monitor. “Yeah. He is. And I have rules about that.”

  “Rules? What kind of rules?”

  “The kind that means I don’t get involved with women who have kids.” Memories rose up, but Griffin ruthlessly shut them down. This wasn’t about his past. This was about now.

  “We wouldn’t be involved,” she corrected. “We’d be having sex.”

  Griffin laughed shortly again. “That’s involved. Trust me.”

  “Doesn’t have to be.” Nicole scooted even closer and now her thigh brushed against his, stirring into roaring life the deeply stifled hunger he’d been dealing with.

  “I’m not looking for a relationship, Griffin,” she told him sharply, “so don’t make this so complicated. I just want a damn orgasm or two.”

  “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation,” he said, muffling a laugh.

  “Why shouldn’t we talk about this?” she argued. “Have you never had a woman come on to you before?”

  “Of course I have, but this is dif—”

  “How is it different?” Her blue eyes glinted with more than passion now. There was anger there as well, and damned if that didn’t intrigue him, too.

  She started talking again before he could say a word.

  “I’ve been divorced three years. You know how long it’s been since I had sex?”

  He stared into her flashing eyes and didn’t think he could have looked away if someone had a gun to his head. Those soft eyes of hers were burning with a fire he understood. And shared.


  “How long?”

  “Three years,” she said shortly. She took a deep breath. “When my husband first left me, I was too hurt and furious to even so much as think about sex. The second year, I was just too busy—what with work and Connor and... Anyway, now it’s been three years and I’m ready. Boy, am I ready.”

  He was getting more ready by the second, so he could agree. “Yeah, I get that.”

  “Good.” She nodded, took a breath and blew it out again. “Look, Griffin, I know your reputation.”

  “Is that right?”

  “I’m not an idiot, you know. I see your picture in magazines and newspapers, and I do live right next door to Katie. She keeps me up-to-date on what the Kings are up to. So,” she continued, “I know you’re a player—different-woman-every-night kind of guy—”

  “Hey—” Griffin started to argue, but what the hell could he say? He was that guy. At least, he had been until he’d made the decision to grow the hell up. For all the good that was doing him.

  “No offense,” she said quickly. “In this case, your inability to commit is a plus.”

  “My—”

  “Seriously, you’re not interested in forever and trust me when I say I’m not, either, Griffin. I just want one good night. A damn fling. And you are so flingable.”

  He snorted.

  “As long as you’re healthy—” She stopped. “You are healthy, right?”

  “Of course I am.”

  She blew out a breath. “Okay, good. Great, in fact.”

  Griffin could only stare at her. This was the weirdest situation he’d ever been in. He’d never had a woman come to him with an offer like this one. He’d always been the pursuer, not the pursued, and frankly, he was a hell of a lot more comfortable when he was calling the shots.

  Still, he thought resignedly, there was something to be said for variety, right?

  Five

  “You’re crazy, you know that, right?”

  “What’s your point?” she asked, one corner of her mouth curving.

  Griffin smiled and reached for her. “Guess I don’t have one.”