Nikki had to be one tough kid to survive for two years on the streets by herself. Right now, though, she seemed like a china doll, the sun reflecting off her pale skin. Her delicate fingers worked with precision, making the turret perfect.
When she started to look up, he turned and searched in the immediate area for shells. He collected a pile and pressed them into the sides of the castle, just as she had done years ago. She watched him, a dazed expression on her face.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, though he knew what she was thinking.
She shook her head, then reached over and took a few of his shells to stick on her turret. When they finished the last two turrets, they decorated the courtyard with twigs and colorful coquina shells. Adrian laid on his stomach, working intently on one of the turrets. With a tiny stick, he drew a window, carving out a tiny hole.
“What are you doing?” she asked, leaning over his shoulder. Her hair tickled down his arm.
“This is where the princess is kept prisoner.”
She raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything at first. After a minute, she asked, “And where is the prince who will come to save her?”
He turned, his cheek less than an inch from hers. “Right here.”
Her reaction made him regret the impulse. With a shuttered expression, she moved away and crossed her arms in front of her.
He stood, brushing off the sand, giving her a moment to herself. After a minute, he couldn’t stand the silence. “I think we should go for a swim.”
She swiped her hair out of her eyes, looking at the aqua waters rushing in. “Be my guest.”
He walked nearer to her. “How cold do you think it is? Can’t be that cold.”
“Warm enough for the tourists from Canada, maybe.”
He grabbed her around the waist, lifted her and readied to hoist her into the water. She wriggled, though he was surprised at how light she was. And how thin.
“No! Put me down!”
He was standing in ankle deep water with her in his arms. She had ceased her struggle, realizing it was safer to stay calm.
“On the count of three. Ready?”
“No!” she screamed, though her voice was filled with laughter.
“One.” He started swinging her. “Two.” She started struggling again. “Three!”
The nightmare flashed in his mind: sucking in cold water instead of air, drowning. The water he saw through Nikki’s eyes was black, so she would not drown with the sun sparkling through the ocean. Still, he swung her upright instead of out, holding her squarely around the hips to keep her feet out of the swirling water. She looked down at him, haloed by the sun behind her. Her fingers were clenched on his shoulders, and her breath came heavily.
“Okay, maybe I won’t.”
He held onto her and walked backward to the beach. Her fingers relaxed their grip, and his shoulders felt warm where she touched them. She appeared uncertain as he remained holding her, meeting her gaze. With her hair falling forward to frame her face, she looked childlike and free. Then he saw her shoulder, bared as her sweater skewed from her struggle. A lacework of scars covered it. He let her slide slowly down in front of him, but she already adjusted her sweater to hide her shoulder. She didn’t meet his gaze, and he knew she’d seen him looking at it. When she started turning away, he pulled her back.
“Nikki…”
“Please…” She tried to turn away again.
Adrian didn’t let go of her arm. Nikki, tell me about the fire. I felt it too, and I still do. “Tell me what happened.”
She shook her head, biting her lower lip. “No.”
He pressed her scarred hand to his lips again, then held it up, studying the disfigured skin. Did it go all the way up to her shoulder? And where else? Not that it mattered.
“Fire,” he stated.
“Adrian, please.”
She tugged her arm, but he wouldn’t let go. Instead he turned the palm toward him and kissed it gently. Closing his eyes, he kissed each finger, savoring the feel of her skin, scarred or not. Beneath the screech of a sea gull, he heard her breath catch. The wind whispered, but he paid no heed to its warnings to stop.
If you seek her out, you may be able to save her. But I see danger in that. For her. And you.
When he opened his eyes, Nikki’s were closed. Her head was tilted back, her lips parted. He could not resist that invitation. It hadn’t been so long since he’d kissed a woman, but nothing felt the way kissing Nikki did. He wanted more.
Adrian pressed her hand against his chest and kissed her. She started but didn’t move away. Her eyes remained closed as he continued to kiss her. Her tongue hungrily sought his, and he obliged her with equal passion. Touching the line of her jaw, he deepened their kiss. Her free hand joined the one on his chest, and they both slid upward to his shoulders.
He wanted to crush her to him, to hold her close and take away all her shame and fear. He remembered, though, how fragile she seemed, so he ran his fingers along her arms instead.
Tenderness warred with heat inside him as his body awakened. Her fingers curled through his hair at the nape of his neck, and he shivered at her touch. He wanted to comfort her, but he also wanted to lay her down on the warm sand and make love to her. The thought jarred him, making love to BlueFire after all these years.
Crackers started barking, and Adrian looked up. Nikki backed away, wrapping her arms around herself in that protective manner. A couple approached, holding hands and enjoying the kind of intimacy long-term couples shared. For the first time ever, Adrian envied them that.
“Crackers! Come here, silly dog,” he bellowed.
Crackers made his way to Adrian, all the while keeping his eye on the couple as they walked past. His tail flipped through the air so fast, it almost became invisible.
Nikki headed back toward their coats. He motioned for Crackers to follow and caught up with her. She looked straight ahead. Even though her expression was sober, her skin was divinely flushed. He walked beside her.
“We shouldn’t have done that,” she said.
“Maybe not.”
She faced him. “Adrian, this will lead nowhere.”
“You’re right.”
“It’s pointless.”
“Probably.”
She raised her arms, then dropped them with a long sigh. “Will you do it again?”
When Adrian pulled her into his arms, Nikki melted in his warmth. His lips devoured hers, swallowing her up. After a few moments, he held her tight, enveloping her completely in his embrace. Oh, to be held like this. She felt safe, warm, and loved. Loved? No, not that, but everything that went along with it. She felt his breath on top of her head, then the feel of his cheek resting there. Was it possible to make this moment last forever?
Her arms had slid automatically around his waist, and her cheek rested against his hard chest. The worn fibers of his T-shirt were soft against her skin. His body radiated heat, along with a male scent mixed with spicy deodorant or cologne. She wanted to scream, to cry, to laugh—all at once.
The feelings rushed in over her on the sound of the waves behind them. Sun-warmed sand crept up between her toes. She felt tiny wrapped in his arms, like some small creature seeking solace from the cold, harsh world around it. His heart beat steady and strong; her own pounded out an exotic rhythm.
After several minutes, she expected him to get tired of standing there like that. He didn’t indicate it, if he did. She could have stayed there all day, all night. Maybe all month. She didn’t want to feel that way. Well, parts of her did, but not the sensible part. Of course, if she’d been sensible at all, she wouldn’t have let him kiss her the first time, much less all the others. Despite her self-chastising, she found herself smiling. Okay, she could be sensible later, when it counted.
It was Adrian who finally broke the spell, moving back a foot. “I’m afraid if I stay here much longer like this, I’ll find myself in an embarrassing and uncomfortable predicament.”
S
he flushed, fighting that involuntary urge to look down. Being held felt so innocent and wonderful, but Adrian was a man, after all. A man. What would he think if he knew she was a virgin? He pulled his T-shirt low over his jeans, then reached for her hand. She noticed the trembling in her fingers as she slid them into his warm grasp.
Sure, Jack had tried his best to make their engagement more solidified. They did the petting thing, but something always held Nikki back. She’d never even told him that he would have been her first. Jack was so into the whole social scene, she was sure he wouldn’t understand how she didn’t fit in or didn’t want to. The more Mother pressured her to be social, the more Nikki shrunk into herself.
Adrian helped her into her coat, and they walked up to catch a taxi. She tucked her hair back and slid her hood on. He watched her but didn’t say anything. His strong arms scooped Crackers up as he headed toward the stairs to hail a cab.
It was late afternoon when the cab dropped them off in the city. Crackers had fallen asleep with his head on her lap on the ride back. Now he hardly moved at all.
“I’d better get going,” she said, though her heart told her to stay.
“If you must.”
She looked at Crackers. “I must. Come on.” As she started walking away, Adrian’s laugh made her turn around.
“I don’t think he’s going anywhere.”
Crackers was lying down, snout between his paws. Bits of sand jumped each time he exhaled. Nikki snapped the leash on him and pulled, but he didn’t budge. She thought of the exhausting trip she’d made carrying him the last time. She was even farther from her van now.
“Nikki, I realize you don’t want me to know where you stay, but if you want me to carry him somewhere, I will. You can always pick him up later.”
So, he’d figured that out. She doubted Dave would let her leave the pup in his office again. If she tied him up somewhere, someone could hurt him or take him before she returned with the van. She looked at Adrian, who was fully aware of her predicament. Could she dare trust him? The memory of his kisses clouded her senses.
“Follow me.”
He picked up Crackers and walked beside her. All the way back to the alley in which her van was parked, she debated on letting him know where she lived. Of course, she never left her van in the same spot. A man who held a dog like that couldn’t be a killer or a double-crosser. He just couldn’t.
When they rounded the corner and walked into the alley, Adrian stopped at the sight of the brown van. “This is where you live?”
“Uh huh.”
She slid open the door and stepped aside so he could set the dog on the pillow bed she’d made. He looked around at her abode as he did so, taking in the orange carpet, brown carpeted walls, and all the tiny things that made it home. Her Steiff bear sat on the tiny bed, as if waiting for her return.
“Wow.” He nodded and smiled. “This is really something. At least I know you’re relatively safe at night.”
That made her smile. He cared that she was safe. A warm rush washed over her. She thought of inviting him to stay, but in this mood, she was likely to crawl back into his arms. She was already in enough trouble as it was. Her heart pitter-pattered when he touched her chin.
“See you later, okay?”
She could only nod. His fingers remained against her skin for a moment as he looked in her eyes. She watched him go, then climbed into her van, slid the door closed, and hugged her teddy bear close. No, this couldn’t be happening to her. She couldn’t be feeling dangerously close to falling in love.
Too late. She couldn’t wait to see him tomorrow. She couldn’t wait to feel his mouth against hers again. When Ulyssis warned her to stay away from Adrian, he had no idea how right he was.
Rita paced back and forth with each empty ring. Damn, where was Adrian, and what was he doing? Men were so rude, taking off and not telling the women who loved them why. Stanley had sounded worried, and rightfully so: it wasn’t like Adrian to run off like this. He was obviously going through something, and she had no qualms taking advantage of a possible weakness to get closer to him.
She had wrangled an address from Stanley with her promise to try to get him back earlier for that Calvin Klein meeting. Hm, maybe she could sweet talk Adrian into using her for the layout. There were definite advantages to having a hot photographer as a lover. If only he would give his heart to her, she’d have it made in more ways than one.
After the twentieth ring, Rita hit the off button and dropped the phone on the couch. Well, whatever he was doing, maybe he could use a little company. She glanced in the mirror, fluffing her hair. What if she showed up on his doorstep and surprised him? She smiled, imagining his pleasantly astonished expression when he walked in and found her naked on his bed, or maybe wearing an apron and nothing else, cooking a nice meal for him. Maybe his guard would be down.
Oscar meowed until she poured cat food into his white bowl. He rubbed against her leg, then walked over to check out the contents. If only Adrian were that simple, she thought with a sigh. Satisfy him, and he’d eat out of her hand. Not a chance.
She picked the phone up and made another call, this time to her travel agent. This would be a surprise visit Adrian wasn’t likely to forget in a long time.
The next morning Adrian combed his beard in front of the large bathroom mirror. He now wished he hadn’t adopted the damned thing for a disguise, although it might seem suspicious that a homeless man would be clean shaven every day. It was worth it if it helped Nikki believe his lie.
He sighed, leaning on the counter. He hated lying. Every time he had to tell an untruth to support his original lie, it killed him. He realized now that she would never have let him near her, though, if she suspected anything but that he was temporarily out of luck. She was beginning to trust him, though it was the last thing she wanted to do. And she’d let him kiss her, though it was the last thing he’d expected to do. She did kiss nicely…very nicely.
The time was coming to tell her the truth. How could he really help her without doing so? He had no idea how she’d take it, but it was far better for him to tell her than for her to find out on her own. She didn’t belong on the streets any more than he did, and he intended to do everything he could to get her off them.
Even if she was penniless, she had a great deal of talent. Perhaps he could bring her to New York and hone that talent to something more commercial and lucrative. A mental picture flashed into his mind of Nikki sitting at his dinette table, the city of New York behind her, drinking coffee and going over contact sheets with him. The cozy picture gave him a warm feeling inside. Strange, but he’d never gotten into cozy scenes before. Why, he’d even seen Crackers lying at her feet.
He shook his head, not sure if he was ready for all that yet. What he did know was he wanted to save Nikki from whatever she was hiding from, and he was getting closer to finding out what that was. Once that was done, then he’d see about the rest of it. The first order of business was finding her this morning and taking her out for breakfast.
Rita pounded on the door, then tried all the windows of the charming two-story house Adrian was staying in. Her five-inch heels sunk into the grass as she tromped through the foliage, which was still lush and green, even in November.
Her black hair snagged on a branch overhead, and she gently disentangled it before trying the window around back. With a gleam in her eye, she realized the catch was loose. She jimmied the window, and it slid free. It was impossible to climb in a window wearing a mini-skirt and fur coat with any amount of grace. She removed her shoes and threw them in first, then climbed in.
“I hope no one calls the cops,” she muttered, half in and half out.
When she regained her balance, she realized she was in a bedroom, but not one that was being used. She found the master bedroom, which was light and airy, with a ceiling fan and two large windows. Adrian’s silk robe was thrown haphazardly over a stuffed chair. In the bathroom, she got all kinds of delicious thoughts when
she saw the large marble tub. There was even a separate glassed-in shower stall, big enough for two. The sink was still wet, though there was no trace of those tiny hairs left over from his morning shave. Most importantly, though, she found nothing to indicate a woman also shared that bedroom.
She hadn’t let herself think of finding him here with another woman, but her enormous sigh of relief let on that her subconscious had thought of little else. Which led her to the question foremost in her mind: what was he doing here?
What she did find baffled her even more. In the closet were the clothes she expected to find. But in the drawers were the grungiest things she’d ever seen. Oh, they were clean, but stained and faded and plain old. Rita assumed that they had been left here by the previous renter, but even that left the question: why would anyone able to rent a place like this wear clothes like that?
The photographs were a mystery, too. Framed pictures of homeless people all over the dining table. She sat at the place where Adrian obviously ate—alone—and picked up one of the pictures. These people were the real thing. There was another one without a frame. It was a homeless woman on the beach, all covered in a cloak.
Then Rita smiled, figuring out the big mystery. Adrian was working on a secret project, photographing homeless people. Not that Adrian was the most open of men, but why hide it from her? Wasn’t she supportive? She remembered the nightmare he’d had and wouldn’t share with her. Her frown turned back into a smile as she looked at the pictures again. This wasn’t the kind of work he did, and it couldn’t be all that profitable. So he was keeping it a secret from everyone. It was the perfect opportunity to show him she could be trusted.
Touched by Lightning [Dreams of You] (Romantic Suspense) Page 9