When she ran her tongue up the bottom side, his hands went to her hair. A quiver of delight ran through her when his fingers tightened, and she could tell he fought with himself to keep from taking control. She swirled her tongue around the head and heard his sharp intake of breath. Never before had she wanted to do this, but she wanted to give him as much pleasure as he gave her. She wanted to drive him wild, make him lose control.
She took him into her mouth, slowly pulling his entire length inside. It took a minute to adjust, and she relaxed her throat.
“Fuck, Tori.” His thighs tensed underneath her hands.
Taking her time, she pulled her head back to the tip, then took him inside her mouth again. Her nipples tightened to buds, sensitive to the shower spray. When she picked up the pace, he groaned. His hips started to move, pushing shallowly into her mouth, but she didn’t allow him to do more than that. She was in control. Her hands brushed his skin, and she grabbed his ass, pushing him deeper.
“Tori.” Nick pulled her hair back, forcing her to look up at him. His pupils were wide; he took in every inch of her. “If you keep this up, I’m not going to last.”
In answer, she sped up, using one of her hands at the base of his cock, twisting it along the shaft. His abdomen clenched, and he raised on his toes. When he growled, heat roared through her.
Desperately he pulled her head back and off his cock. “I want inside you. Now.”
He lifted her up and bent her over so her hands rested on the shower wall. He ran a hand down her back, over her butt, then smacked it. Holy shit, she didn’t even have the energy to deny that she liked it. The sting only aroused her more, made her wetter. “Do you know what you do to me, Tori?” He stepped out of the shower quickly and grabbed a condom from the pocket of his jeans. He slipped the condom on and stepped back in.
She shook her head. Her thoughts tripped through her brain. The hot tip of his cock pushed against her wetness.
“I think about you like this, about you, all the time.” He filled her. Pure sensation rushed through her, lighting a fire underneath her skin. She moaned his name, and it woke something in him. She felt the moment his control broke. His fingers tightened on her hips, and he thrust into her, harder and harder. Her fingers curled on the shower wall, searching for something to hold on to. A cyclone of emotion and sensation overtook her. It terrified her, because she felt like she was losing herself to him. It was almost too much.
His hands gripped her waist, pulling her back as he pushed forward. Her body tightened, every thought narrowed to between her legs, to the sensations he awakened in her. He shifted positions, brushing against just the right spot, and her eyes slammed shut. It pushed her right over the edge, and she climaxed around him.
“Squeeze me tight, baby. Just like that.” Nick’s voice roughened. “Yes, baby.” Two more hard thrusts and he came inside her. When his body relaxed, he laid his forehead on her shoulder. “Shit, baby.”
“Keep talking like that and you’ll romance me right into bed.” She laughed softly. Her legs shook beneath her.
He spun her around, brushed his fingertips over her cheek, his expression serious. “You are so beautiful, you take my breath away. No matter what I do during the day, you’re on my mind. When I wake up, I think about texting you just to make sure you’re thinking of me too.”
“Oh.” She stared into his eyes, seeing an emotion there she was afraid to name.
His lips twitched. “Who’s being romantic now?”
She pushed on his shoulder, smiling. “Shut up. How can you even think right now?”
“I’m a man.” He puffed his chest up, playfully beat on it. “Hear me roar.”
“Women roar.” She laughed. “I need to sit.”
“Let me get you a towel, dry you off.” Nick stepped out of the shower, dried off fast, then held out a hand. He helped her step out and then set to work, slowly toweling her off. Every time he dried a section, he kissed her skin gently.
There went another piece of her heart.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“ARE YOU SURE YOU DON’T have anything else to do today?” Victoria asked Nick as he backed up his truck to her dad’s shop.
“I’m sure.” He put the truck into park. “I want to spend time with you.”
“I’m sure you had something else in mind. Not helping me take a bunch of furniture to a beach house and helping set it up.” Victoria got out and saw her dad waiting outside. “Hey, Dad.”
Wes hugged her, then shook Nick’s hand. “She rope you into helping out?”
“No, sir. I volunteered.” Nick grinned.
“I see.” Wes looked between the two of them, then his face split into a grin. “So, does Rachel need any more help?”
“No. She’s bringing her niece with her. It’s a small place, so we should finish today.”
“Okay.” Wes opened the shop door. “Point out what you need, and Nick and I will put it in the back.”
She selected furniture, and they realized they’d need her dad’s truck to help haul everything.
“Looks like I’m helping anyway.” Wes winked at her.
“You got your wish, Dad.” Victoria smirked. “Just follow us. You can leave if you want after we get it all inside.”
“I won’t.” Wes climbed into his truck. “See you in a minute.”
The drive only took half an hour, and they rode with the windows down, letting the warm breeze in. Tourists walked the boardwalks, going in and out of stores, eating ice cream and laughing. Their voices floated into the truck, and Victoria smiled. Contentment used to be so elusive to her, but now it settled over her like a warm day on the beach.
Rachel was already inside when they pulled up to the beach house. Victoria joined her while the men started to unload everything.
“Good morning.” Rachel wore nylon shorts and a t-shirt like Victoria. Neither had bothered with makeup, and both had their hair up. Next to Rachel stood a girl a little younger than Addie. She was a pretty brunette with expressive green eyes and a sweet face. “Victoria, meet Ella.”
“Hi.” Ella waved.
“It’s great to meet you, Ella.” Victoria shook her hand. “Rachel tells me you’re looking for a job.”
“There aren’t a lot of openings in town for massage therapists right now. I could go to the city, but I’d rather be near my family.” Ella’s smile was slow in coming, but it brightened her entire face.
“If you want to apply for an assistant position with me, you’d most likely get it. The pay isn’t great, though, since I’m opening my first office. I’m hoping to be able to handle more clients from there.”
“Any job is better than not having one. I’ve got to start paying off student loans soon, so whatever I get is fine with me. I worked for a doctor’s office in high school. I know it’s not the same, but I’ve got some receptionist skills.”
“Works for me. We can set it all up Monday,” Victoria told her. Nick and her dad began to bring pieces of furniture into the house. Victoria and the other women started in the living room since that’s where she felt memories were made, where families came to spend time together. It was the heart of the home, and she wanted it to be perfect, even if it was just to make the house sell.
Nick and Wes carried in a white wicker couch and two bright blue chairs, followed by a wooden coffee table and end tables. Victoria placed a bowl on the coffee table, filled with seashells and sand, and put a single white candle on top.
Ella grabbed the pictures off of the couch, and said, “These are breathtaking.”
Victoria nodded. “I know. When I saw them, I had to have them.” The first picture was of a sunrise over the beach, the second showed the sun high in the sky at noon, and the third was the sunset.
“It’s amazing how much better this place looks,” Ella said as they worked in the master bedroom. “It’s
perfect for the beach and still homey enough for a family.”
“Thank you, I love doing this,” Victoria said.
After they finished, Victoria and Ella agreed to talk Monday about the assistant job. Victoria joined her dad and Nick on the deck after Rachel and Ella left. “Thanks for your help today, guys. It went by a lot faster.”
“Of course, sweetie,” her dad said. “Nick needed someone to help him haul in the furniture. Plus, he would’ve been surrounded by women. He needed some testosterone.”
“Thanks.” Nick chuckled. “I would’ve been lost.”
“Your mother is cooking dinner. She wants you, Nick, and your sisters to come over,” Wes told them.
“Sure, if that’s okay with you,” Nick said as he looked to Victoria.
“It’s fine with me.” Victoria smiled at them.
* * *
So it had come to this. Even though he’d technically met her family, this was more formal. Tonight he’d be in a more intimate setting than the barbeque, and Nick was pretty sure her dad knew exactly what was going on between them. His nervousness made him feel like a teenager going on a date and meeting the parents for the first time.
The cheery atmosphere of the house enveloped him, taking his nerves down a notch. Cecelia smiled when they entered the kitchen and wrapped him in a hug. She hugged him like his own mother would, and he relaxed a little more. Addie waved at him, her mouth full of chips.
“Hey. Heard you helped out a lot today,” Halle said as she handed him a beer. “I think you deserve to sit down and relax.”
“I did work, too,” Victoria protested.
“But you didn’t carry all the furniture.” Cecelia patted Nick’s cheek. “Have a seat at the bar.”
He sat next to Addie. “What did you do to get out of helping?”
“I’m the baby. I get out of a lot of things.” Her sapphire-blue eyes twinkled.
“It’s completely unfair, but Mom and Dad won’t believe us,” Halle told him.
He took a sip of the chilled beer. The rest of his nerves dissipated.
“We’re having some kind of chicken dish Mom’s never cooked before, so fair warning.”
“I heard that,” Cecelia called from the stove.
Victoria laughed. “Quit, Halle. Even if it is a new dish, it’ll most likely be delicious.”
“Stop trying to earn brownie points,” Addie said. “You still have to help.”
“Bitch,” Victoria whispered to her.
“I heard that, too,” Cecelia said over her shoulder.
The girls burst out laughing. Nick watched their back and forth and loved seeing the closeness between them. There was something different about their bond than his and Luke’s, and he realized what it was. It was born from a steady home and having no doubt of how loved they were.
Wes came in, hair wet from his shower, and he immediately crossed to Cecelia and wrapped his arms around her from behind. She tilted her head back on his shoulder and murmured softly to him.
A sharp ache went through Nick’s chest for his mother. He hated that she didn’t have someone to hold her like that, to help her when she was down, to be her rock. She always said she didn’t need anyone other than her sons, but he wished that she had that kind of love in her life. Not for the first time, he wanted to hunt his father down and beat him within an inch of his life.
“What’s up?” Victoria placed a hand over his. “You look upset.”
He forced himself to forget the past when he looked at her. To focus on her and tonight. He turned his hand over and grasped hers. “No, not at all. Everything is perfect.”
“Get a room.” Addie elbowed him and laughed.
Victoria rolled her eyes at her sister. “Don’t be jealous.”
“I’m not. I don’t ever want to be tied down,” Addie said.
“That’s what I thought, too.” Nick grinned up at Victoria.
For dinner they all sat around the dining room table, which was formal for him, but the conversation and atmosphere wasn’t. Victoria and her family discussed everything under the sun, making sure to include him. Not once did he feel left out because he wasn’t a member of the family.
It seemed Victoria was right, and his fears about them rejecting him had been groundless. He glanced over at her. Even without her makeup, disheveled from their work, she took his breath away. All her walls were down, and she glowed with love for her family.
He wanted her to feel that way about him. He wanted to make her glow. It hit him like a bolt of lightning, but it didn’t surprise him as much as it should’ve. It had been sneaking up on him since the day he saw her standing in the office. As if it was kismet, or fate, or whatever people called it. She laughed, and his abdomen tensed. He may not have been surprised by the thought of being in love with her, but he needed some time to process it before he told her.
After dinner, the women cleaned up while Wes took Nick out to his shop to look at some tools. The night was cloudy, with summer storms approaching.
“I see the way you look at my daughter.”
Nick’s hand froze over a rustic hammer. “What?” Very eloquent, he thought. That’s the way to win him over.
Wes grinned at the stunned look on Nick’s face. “I’m not going to shoot you. I just saw how you were looking at her during dinner. It’s the same way I look at her mother.”
Damn. He hadn’t been able to hide that burst of clarity. “Is it a problem?” Nick couldn’t deny it, and he wasn’t going to try.
Wes appraised him. “Are you planning on breaking her heart?”
“No.” Nick forgot the hammer and leaned against the counter to look Wes in the eyes. “I plan to make her very happy. For the rest of her life.”
Wes nodded, and Nick tensed as he waited for his response. “I’m a great judge of character, son.” Wes looked Nick over, and Nick’s shame surfaced. Would Wes judge him by his character, or by his upbringing? Wes’ face relaxed, and he grinned. “I happen to think you’re perfect for my daughter.”
Shock coursed through Nick. He’d really thought Wes would reject him for his daughter, even though he’d tried to set them up in the first place. “But what about my childhood? My father? You don’t think I’ll treat her the same way?”
“Let me tell you something about your dad.” Wes placed a hand on Nick’s shoulder. “He was an alcoholic bastard who didn’t care anything for his wife and sons. But when I look at you, I see your mother. The one who loves her sons and did everything she could to keep them fed, give them a roof over their heads, and a happy childhood. That’s what I see. I don’t think your father has anything to do with this situation. You’re giving the damn man too much credit.”
That rocked through Nick’s system. Two significant revelations in one night? His heart might stop. Was he giving his father too much credit? Giving him too much power over his life when he’d never even been around? “Maybe you’re right.”
“Damn right I’m right.” Wes clapped his shoulder. “You and your brother are good men. Don’t ever doubt that.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
LATER THAT WEEK, Nick stood in his shop, working on some cabinets he was building for another client. The cool night air blew in the open doors, so he’d put on a flannel shirt over his tee. Ever since he’d had dinner over at Victoria’s parents’ house, the weight about his past had lifted. He realized he was more than his father would ever be, and didn’t have to live under the cloud of the man’s mistakes.
“Nick?”
The smoky voice that drifted into the shop made him cringe. The woman who walked through the door made him want to take a hammer and smash himself in the face. “Stella, what the fuck are you doing here?”
“Oh, I missed you, that’s all.” She stepped into the shop, wearing nothing but a gauzy blue dress that was practically see-through and fuck-
me heels. There was a time when she would’ve woken a storm of lust in him. Not now.
“Stella, I don’t want you here. I don’t want you at all.”
She pouted. Her eyes were outlined in smoky colors, but to him she looked like a raccoon. A rabid one. “Don’t say that, Nicky. I know that little puritan doesn’t satisfy you.” She walked slowly around the table, stopping a few feet from him. She ran a hand down her chest, trying to draw his gaze to her practically naked breasts.
“Stella, I’m not asking you to leave. I’m telling you. I want nothing to do with you.”
“You’re hurting my feelings.” She came closer, ran her fingernails down his flannel shirt. When she went for his buttons, he pushed her hands away.
“Good.” His patience was razor thin when he pointed to the door. “Leave.”
She broke eye contact to walk around his shop, pretending to inspect everything. He knew she couldn’t care less about his work. “You really should give this up and go back to fighting. You were amazing, tough, sexy. You’re still sexy, but do you really want to spend the rest of your life in this small town, dating a dowdy mother? I know how you feel about kids. You can’t tell me that you’ve changed your mind.”
“I’ve changed my mind.” Nick really needed to get his work done, but he wasn’t going to stay there with her. “Have a look around. I’m leaving, since you won’t.” He grabbed his keys and walked out, leaving her standing in his shop.
Anger rode him hard. He hated that he’d had to leave his fucking shop just to get away from her. Leaving her there, with all his stuff, probably wasn’t the best idea, but he didn’t want her jeopardizing what he had with Victoria. He wanted to head straight to her, kiss her, and get the sight of Stella out of his mind. Since he knew she was busy tonight, he headed to the gym instead. He needed to work some of his anger out.
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