Nicholas (Members From Money Book 10)

by Katie Dowe

“Thanks.” She came over to him and busied herself by taking off the jacket he was wearing and then his shirt. “I also have another craving,” she murmured, reaching beneath his t-shirt to feel his skin.

  “You do?” His hands reached up and fisted into her hair pulling her closer to him. “And what might that be?”

  “You.” She went on her toes and touched her lips to his. “And it comes first.”

  He lifted her and took her to her bedroom where he hurriedly undressed and joined her, using his mouth to explore every inch of her body.

  *******

  She ate the ice cream from the carton sitting cross legged on the bed completely naked with only a towel thrown across her legs. She looked like a mischievous urchin with her tangled hair and her quick movements as she dug the spoon into the ice cream and ate enthusiastically. It was hard to believe that she was named one of the richest women in the country. She told him about Japan and the strides she had made there. It was the first time they had actually had a conversation and he found he liked it.

  “I was considering living there at one point,” she said with a quick smile.

  “What about now?” He had his hands crossed behind his head.

  “Nowhere but the good old US of A for me.” She reached over to put away the carton and the spoon and stretched languidly, causing her breasts to lift and brought his attention to them.

  “My family wants to meet you officially.” He reached over and fiddled with one nipple watching in fascination as it hardened instantly.

  “Why?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you are carrying my child,” he said dryly.

  “What did they say when you told them?” She shivered as he continued to play with her nipple. He had not bothered to use a condom, but it would have been tying the cow after the fence had been broken anyway.

  “They wondered how they had not seen any indication of us being together in the papers.” He did not bother to mention what his brother Graham had said about her. It irked him even now. “You were supposedly dating a movie star.”

  She avoided his eyes. She had had to tell Dennis that it was over and see how crushed he had been. “I am not sure I am ready for that, Nicholas. Families give me a rash and besides it is not like we are getting married or anything.”

  He felt himself stiffen and was surprised at the hurt coursing through him. “You are carrying my child, Kelsey, and that is enough right now.”

  She looked at him and knew she had hurt his feelings as he dropped his hand and leaned back against the pillows. “I spent a long time trying to get my daddy to love me,” she told him quietly. “I would tell myself that maybe if I was prettier or if I stayed quiet and did everything in the house then he would love me, but it never happened. I was fifteen before I realized that there was nothing I could do to make him change his mind about me and it changed me.” She paused and stared off into space. “I don’t feel anything for anyone, Nicholas, and I am not certain I am capable of doing so.”

  “What about the bastard who took off with your money?” he asked her, feeling all twisted inside at her revelation. “Are you still in love with him?”

  She looked at him startled, seeing the anger on his handsome face. “I was never really in love with him,” she said quietly. “Don’t you see, Nicholas? I am trying to tell you that I am extremely damaged so there is no hope where I am concerned.”

  “No hope?” He pulled her up and over him. “I have a problem with words like ‘no hope and ‘I can’t’.” He pushed back her hair from her face and held the strands in his fist. “They seem so final and empty.” He brought her head down to his and nibbled at her full bottom lip sending the sparks shooting through her! She felt him hard against her and could not stop the moan escaping her. He reached between them and put his penis inside her. Kelsey dropped her forehead onto his and reached for his mouth greedily. With a growl of triumph, he lifted her legs and pounded into her!

  Chapter 8

  “What happened to your face?” Nicholas lifted her chin and looked closely at the bruise there. She had tried to hide it with makeup, but it had not worked and she had stayed away from the family for the past week hoping the bruise would fade before she faced them. She had not spoken to Graham since the incident even though he had tried to apologize.

  “Nothing much.” She twisted her chin away from him. She had been showing a house in the suburbs and had stopped her favorite café to grab a cappuccino, but it was her bad luck that Nicholas was just leaving there as well. He had waited until she had placed her order and had walked out with her.

  “Graham did this?” Nicholas’ tone was grim.

  “We had a fight and it got physical.” Maisie twisted the coffee cup in her hands. Graham was right. She had had feelings for Nicholas for as long as she could remember and would have opened her legs for him if he had given the slightest indication.

  “He went too far.”

  “Leave it alone, Nicholas,” she said firmly. “We already made up and besides you have your own situations now. How is Kelsey?”

  “Stubborn and independent,” Nicholas said dryly, willing to drop it for the time being. “Kind of like you.” He touched her arm briefly. He had known for a long time that she had a soft spot for him but had never given the indication that he was aware of it. She was his brother’s wife and that was definitely off limits. “Don’t let him do that to you again.”

  “I won’t,” she said with a fleeting smile.

  ******

  Nicholas waited until the PR team had cleared out of the conference room before he said anything. “I always thought that you were an imbecile but beating up on women is low even for you.”

  David looked at both of them startled. “What?”

  “It’s none of your damned business!” Graham said tightly as he got to his feet. “Why am I not surprised that she came running to you? Are you screwing her?”

  Nicholas looked at his brother in amazement. “That’s what the fight was about? You thought I would stoop so low as to have sex with your wife? My sister-in-law?”

  “Hold on-”David began weakly but as usual he was ignored.

  “I would not put it past you. It has been proven that you would screw anything. Even if the color of their skin is not right,” he said scathingly.

  He knew he had gone too far but it was too late to take back the words. He had no time to block the fist before it landed on his left jaw sending him crashing into the corner of the room. Nicholas went forward purposefully with the intention of hauling him up and beating him to a pulp, but David and another board member who had come running in held onto him.

  Graham looked up at him and saw the rage just barely leashed and for the first time since he had known Nicholas he felt real fear! “You broke my nose,” he whimpered, feeling the pain blooming inside his mouth.

  “For the rest of the week, I am asking you to stay the hell away from me.” Nicholas shook out of the hold that the two men had on him. “If you dare to lay a finger on your wife or speak about the woman carrying my child like that again, you are going to end up in the emergency room.” With that, he strode from the room.

  “He broke my nose,” Graham whimpered as he tried to get to his feet.

  David nodded to Albert and the man left the room. “I am sure it is not broken,” he said contemptuously as he held out a hand for him to take. “You hit Maisie?”

  “She hit me first,” Graham said defensively, going over to the glass to look at his nose which was bleeding.

  “And that gave you the right to hit her back? What were you doing? Showing her who wears the pants?” David was beside himself with anger. “And that remark you made about Kelsey, what was that?”

  “Whose side are you on?”

  “Not when it comes to abuse and prejudice,” David told him coldly. “I always defended you and looked up to you, Graham. I had no idea you would disappoint me like this.”

  “Me disappoint you?” his brother said in
an incredulous voice. “Don’t make me laugh!”

  “You are an imbecile,” David said scathingly, leaving Graham there staring after him. With a growl, he went over to the liquor cabinet and poured himself a generous amount of scotch and made his way to the table. He sat there several minutes staring into the amber liquid before downing it in one gulp!

  *****

  “’The Kelsey Jordan’ is pregnant by you?” Alexandra’s voice was high with excitement. She had not heard it from her family because she had not come down for several weekends but she had seen it in the society pages and had flipped!

  “’The Kelsey Jordan’?” her uncle asked her teasingly.

  “Uncle Nicholas, she is an example to all those who wants to experience the American dream! We did a session on her when we did entrepreneurial studies two weeks ago. She made it when the odds were stacked against her! Do you know that she started working when she was fifteen years old and inherited the restaurant when she was twenty-one? She sent herself back to school and earned her master’s degree in business studies while running a restaurant and opening another one! She is my hero!”

  “I am beginning to get that,” Nicholas told her indulgently, feeling a tingling inside him at his niece’s passion towards the woman he had… He broke off the thought abruptly and shied away from it altogether. “How is college?”

  “Exciting and fulfilling.” She paused. “I also heard you had a fight with Dad.”

  “Just brothers being brothers,” he told her lightly, wondering who had told her.

  “He hit Mom.”

  Nicholas sighed. “Who told you?”

  “Maurice heard them arguing and was hiding outside the door when she hit him and then he hit her back. Dad is jealous of you, Uncle Nicholas, and has been for a very long time.”

  “What’s to be jealous about?”

  “Are you kidding? You are the kind of man I want when I reach the age. You are the ideal man.”

  “I am not even going to ask you what that means,” Nicholas said with a laugh. “I don’t want you to worry about anything, kiddo. Just concentrate on your courses.”

  “I am doing that. I am not coming home until spring and I want to meet Kelsey face to face.”

  “I will arrange that.”

  “Thanks. Love you, Uncle Nicholas.”

  “Love you too, sweetie.”

  He hung up with her and stared pensively at the wall. It had been three days since the altercation with Graham and he had not seen or heard anything from him. David had told him that he was steering clear. “I hauled him up about it and about what he said in regards to Kelsey,” his brother had told him quietly.

  He reached for the phone and dialed her cell number first and when it went straight to voicemail, he called her office. “Sweet and Crispy Headquarters. How may I help?” the polite voice of her secretary sounded in his ear.

  “It’s Nicholas. Is she available?”

  “Oh, Mr. Peterson. She is at lunch with a client. Would you like me to give her a message?”

  “Tell her I called.”

  “I will.”

  He hung up the phone and thought about the last few nights. He had been to the doctor with her for her February checkup and everything was as it should be. He had been spending most of his nights at her apartment. For the last few days, he had persuaded her to come and stay at his apartment. He was falling in love with her!

  ******

  “That’s the third time I see you look at your phone. Expecting a call?” Kelly teased her.

  “Nicholas has been calling me,” Kelsey said with a wry grimace as she sipped her fruit cocktail. They were at one of the Takahashi’s restaurant having lunch, but she had deliberately turned off her phone. “He is getting on my nerves with all the questions of whether or not I took my vitamins and if I managed to eat a good meal. How do you deal with the constant hovering?”

  “I happen to be in love with my darling husband, so the hovering is something that I do not mind one bit,” Kelly said with a laugh. “When are you going to give him a chance?”

  “To do what?”

  “To love you and have you love him back.”

  Kelsey stared at the woman who she thought was the closest it came to a friend, her thoughts muddled. “We have an arrangement and that’s it.”

  “You are not called the smartest businesswoman in town for nothing, Kels,” Kelly told her dryly. “You know that is not true.”

  “I have no time for a relationship now, Kelly.” She swirled her drink around and looked down into it moodily. “I have tried it and it did not work. What we have is fine.”

  “For how long?”

  “For as long as it takes,” she said impatiently. “Can we talk about something else? Like the fact that you and Leesa Wellington are scheduled to do the Valentine’s Day show? I thought you had quit the scene?”

  “I thought so too. Kane said I should give it another whirl,” she said with a laugh. “Can you believe it?”

  ******

  “Are you okay with what we have?” Kelsey asked him that night when she got to his apartment. She had called him and told him that she would come over and he had told her yes. They both worked so hard and such long hours that they only got to see each other a few hours at night and a few minutes in the morning. He had gotten there before her and she had welcomed the cup of tea he had waiting for her and the toast which settled her stomach at nights.

  “What do we have?” he asked her mildly as he massaged her feet. They were in his living room relaxing on the sofa with a cheerful fire blazing in the hearth.

  “You know what I mean.” She wiggled her toes in his hands and felt the relaxation coming over her as he massaged them.

  “Actually, I don’t.” He let his finger trail along her calf and smiled a little at the instant reaction. “If you are referring to the fact that you are pregnant with my child and we have this unbelievable connection then I might have an idea what you are talking about.”

  She lifted her leg and poked him in the chest. “Exactly.”

  “And you are asking me if I am okay with it?” He lifted her foot and rested the sole of it on one jaw. “No.” His green eyes met her startled dark brown ones.

  “Why not?” she demanded.

  “Would you be?” he asked her dryly. “I would love to have our child and his or her mother living where I am living and I would also love the idea of the said mother wearing my ring and having my name in the near future.”

  She pulled her foot away from him and sat up on the cushions. “Where is this coming from?”

  With a sigh, Nicholas pulled her feet back onto his lap and held on. “You are a very smart woman and according to my niece you are an example to the rest of us, so you know where it is coming from.”

  “We did not agree on that.”

  “Things change.” He reached over and pulled her onto his lap. “My family wants to meet you. How about dinner this Sunday?”

  “I don’t do well with family.” She squirmed in his lap restlessly, making it increasingly difficult for him to concentrate on what she was saying.

  “Say yes.” He bent and licked at the side of her neck. He was already as hard as a rock with his body heating up rapidly. She certainly had a terrific hold on him, he thought wryly.

  “I cannot concentrate,” she moaned as she let her head fall back onto his shoulder.

  “You don’t need to concentrate to say yes.” His mouth was driving her crazy and she could feel the imprint of his erection against her bottom. He bit into her soft flesh gently and made her jump!

  “Nicholas.” Her moan was soft and unrecognizable.

  “Say yes.” His tongue was soothing the bite and making her more aroused.

  “Yes.” She trembled against him.

  “Good,” he said briskly, lifting his head to look down at her. “Let’s go to bed.”

  *****

  She went through her vast closet looking for something suitable to wear, di
scarding item after item of clothing! She had told Nicholas she would meet him there because she had to stop at one of her restaurants before she came. She was already regretting that she had agreed to go. Why should she be meeting the family when she had no intention of marrying into it, she wondered fretfully. What on earth was she getting herself into? She finally picked out a green wool dress that wrapped around her and highlighted her curves. She was two months pregnant and the pregnancy only showed in her breasts. The papers had had a field day with the fact that she was pregnant and the child was Nicholas Peterson’s. They had talked about the two forces coming together to make a formidable combination. Kelsey had read it and had put away the paper with an impatient sigh. Let them continue to speculate. That was what they did best! She had finally told her father, who said he wanted to meet Nicholas. “Why?” she had asked him bluntly. “It is not like we are in a real relationship and besides, your attempt at showing a united front would be wasted on him because he already knows that we are far from close.” She had seen the hurt look on his face and had not felt the slightest hint of remorse.

  She put the dress on and twirled to look at the full effect, approving of the way it fit her. She added gold accessories and combed back her curls in a neat chignon at the nape of her neck. Knee length boots and a matching pocketbook and she was ready!

  *****

  Nicholas was nervous and it was a feeling that he was not familiar with! He felt as if he was bringing his first crush to meet his parents! He had arrived a half an hour ago and was having pre-dinner drinks with his parents and brothers and sisters-in-law. He had barely acknowledged Graham who had stayed over at the far side of the room. He had been admonished strongly by their father and mother and had settled into solemn acceptance of how wrong he had been.

  He heard the wheels crunching on the cobbled driveway and had to restrain himself from jumping up to go and meet her. He got to his feet as he heard her in the foyer being greeted by one of the maids and his smile came as soon as she entered the room. She was breathtaking! He could never get over how exquisite she was no matter how often he saw her! He went to meet her and tucked her hand into his arm after he kissed her lips glistening with pink lip gloss. His father came forward first and to her surprise he took her into his arms and hugged her. “Nice to officially meet you, my dear,” he said warmly. He was followed by his wife who gave her a quick hug. Then David and Graham who took her hand tentatively and then let go and afterwards the wives and the children.