Since it felt amazing and since Eden’s eyes rolled back in her head, Nico kept up the touching.
“What are you doing to me?” she muttered. Not a protest but rather a dreamy, sexy purr. Mercy, she was hot.
“I’m starting the make-up sex I owe you. I believe you said nothing fancy. Fast and edged with...stuff.” Because he couldn’t remember her exact words.
“Then get on with the fast part,” she insisted, and Eden took his mouth with a whole new urgency that hadn’t been there just seconds earlier.
That created an urgency for Nico, too. If Eden wanted fast, that worked. For the first hit of the evening anyway. But his hard-on assured him that he’d be up for the job. Of course, that part of him was often a brainless braggart.
The fight to get naked started. As usual, Eden went after his buckle, cursing because it was so hard to get off. Nico knew he should help her, but he first had to deal with his own appointed task. He pulled off her dress, flipped open her bra and sucked her nipple into his mouth.
He was smiling inside when that caused her to melt against him, and her buckle fumbling became a little unfocused and halfhearted. That’s because Nico had distracted her, and the distraction kept up until the urgency part kicked in again. The need to squash the sex fire outweighed nipple kissing.
“Get out of this belt,” she insisted.
He did. He unhooked it for her, but then went back to his own next task. Panty removal. His favorite. He slid the little swatch of silk down her legs and dipped down to test his mouth on the Brazilian. Eden didn’t let him linger there long though, since she had started to pull and yank at the rest of his clothes. He could have staved her off awhile if she hadn’t managed to do some of that pulling and yanking on his erection.
It was time for fast, full penetration, make-up sex.
Nico scooped her up and took her to his bedroom, practically dumping her on the mattress. Since time was the enemy now, he snagged a condom out of the nightstand drawer and rolled it on the moment Eden freed him from his boxers. Obviously, she didn’t want to wait until he had his jeans off, and since this was her make-up sex, he would play by her rules.
He pushed into her and didn’t feel what he’d expected to feel. She was hot, wet and tight—all of which he’d counted on—but she didn’t fly into an instant orgasm. However, she was muttering off the states, and her forehead was creased with concentration. It was a nice balance to her carnal moans and her hands digging into his hips to make him go harder, deeper and faster. As hot as he was running, Nico had to launch into a mental show tune, as well.
Man, it was torture. The delicious, sweet kind that drew him right into that deep well of sensations. The intense pleasure mixed with just a trace of primal panic. Panic because his body was begging for release now, now, now but wasn’t sure it was going to get it in that now moment.
Eden was having her own pleasured panic. He could see it in her eyes. Feel it in the way she was lifting her hips, meeting him thrust for thrust.
And then the panic was sated. Just like that. With one final, very well-timed beat of her body rising to his. Even through the haze, relief and shattering, Nico realized something.
Eden had made it all the way to Pennsylvania before they’d peaked together.
* * *
THE MOMENT NICO FINISHED, made a quick pit stop in the bathroom and was back in bed, Eden went straight into his arms for a postsex cuddle. She wasn’t surprised that he was as good at that as he was the sex itself. She was benefitting from all the practice he’d had, and she didn’t feel the least bit jealous about that.
Okay, a little jealous.
But they both had pasts with many parts of their lives overlapping and intersecting. Heck, Damien had probably even talked to his good buddy Nico about not only their marriage but their sex lives, as well. Eden refused to let that sting or embarrass her. In fact, she refused to feel a lot of things about Damien anymore. She’d already wasted too much time and emotion on him. And besides, she had a hot naked cowboy in bed with her and wanted to concentrate on that.
Eden traced her finger over the bull tat. “What’s the story behind this? Was there alcohol involved?”
“Nope, no alcohol. I got it when I started the business two years ago. I think of it like a trademark.” He eased a strand of hair from her face, kissed her. “What brought on this argument you had with Damien?”
Considering that she’d just shoved Damien memories aside, she hadn’t expected to go back to the subject so quickly. Maybe she should have traced something else on Nico’s body to distract him. Because this was touchy territory when it came to pillow talk. Especially since Nico and she hadn’t been together-together that long.
“You’re frowning,” he pointed out.
For a good reason. What had escalated her argument with Damien was what she’d told him. I’m falling in love with Nico. That hadn’t gone over well at all. Probably wouldn’t with Nico, either, which was why she needed to keep it to herself so that he wouldn’t feel pressured or trapped.
Except Damien might tell Nico.
In fact, that was something Damien would do to take a jab at her and try to ruin things. Well, heck. Her own confession had put her between a rock and a hard place when all she wanted was to be naked with Nico.
“I told Damien I had feelings for you,” she admitted. Not the whole truth but not a lie. Eden steeled herself for Nico to go all rigid and quiet, but he merely kissed her.
“You’ve been a great friend and stuck with me through some bad times. Thank you for that. Thank you for helping with Piper.”
All right, so that wasn’t a gushing “I have feelings for you, too,” but it wasn’t a boot from the bed, either, which meant maybe he didn’t think things were getting too serious between them. Of course, Nico could have had this “great friend/thank you” reaction simply because he had so many other things on his mind. Important things like Piper.
“Do you think it’d do any good if I went to San Antonio and talked to Rayelle woman-to-woman?” she asked. “I’m concerned about how she might be treating Piper.”
Nico looked at her a moment, kissed her. Looked at her again. Eden didn’t have to guess that something other than the obvious was bothering him.
“Rayelle told me a secret,” he said, getting her attention. “She asked me not to tell anyone, but I’m going to tell you. I think if you have the big picture, then you’ll see why I’m so troubled.”
Now it was Eden’s turn to study him. She nodded. “If you’re worried that I’ll repeat Rayelle’s secret—”
“I’m not.” He stopped her with a kiss, a very effective way of hushing her. It would have been even more effective at heating her up, but Eden knew this was serious.
“When Rayelle was younger, she got pregnant,” he explained. “The baby’s father ditched her, and her parents pressured her into giving the baby up for adoption. She hasn’t had a relationship since.”
Eden stayed quiet while the shock of that settled in, and then she realized the news wasn’t all that surprising. She had figured that something had shaken Rayelle right to the core for her to be the way she was now. After all, Rayelle was young, still in her thirties, but she lived her life more like a prudish spinster. Something had to be at the root of that. But what Eden couldn’t decide was if Rayelle’s secret made her a better choice for dealing with a pregnant teenager. Or if this would be like rubbing salt in a still very raw wound.
“Jesus,” Eden murmured.
“Yeah. Lots of edges and possibilities. I think it would help if Piper knew, that it would give Rayelle and her a connection. Right now, Piper just sees Rayelle as Brenda’s sister, who was pressured to take her in.”
“I admit that’s the way I saw her, too. But Rayelle is fighting to keep Piper.” Or rather the woman was digging in her heels. That might change though when the legalities kicked in
after Nico started the paperwork for custody. “Do you think Rayelle wants to keep Piper simply out of loyalty to Brenda?”
Nico lifted his shoulder, and she could see the slack feeling from sex start to slide away. Yes, this was weighing on him, and the legal battle would be just the start. Once he had custody of Piper, he was going to have to figure out the best way to deal with her. And fast. Because in about eight months or less, there’d be a baby, perhaps right here in Nico’s bachelor pad of a house.
Eden couldn’t stop the thought from coming. A bad thought. Would Nico and she still be lovers then? If so, that would be a major record for him when it came to relationship longevity.
And it wasn’t likely going to happen.
That was the reason Eden quickly pushed the notion aside. Instead, she kissed him. A much better way to spend their time together. In fact, she could think of something even better than that. A second round of sex. That’s why she leaned into the kiss and put some serious heat into it.
Nico responded, adding his own scorching expertise to the lip-lock, but they were soon interrupted by the sound of Eden’s phone ringing. She didn’t especially want to hear or talk to anyone whose name wasn’t Nico, but since this could be Piper, Eden got off the bed and located her phone in the pocket of her dress.
She cursed.
It was her mother’s name that popped up on the screen so she let it go to voice mail. Eden had barely managed to push aside the annoyance of the interruption when her phone rang again.
Damien, this time.
Eden hit the decline button for that one. She didn’t want to hear what he had to say even in a voice mail and made a mental note to block his number.
She laid her phone back on the nightstand and turned to Nico to resume their kissing, but her blasted phone rang again, and again it was her mother. That call had no sooner gone to voice mail when there was another call, this time from her father. That’s when Eden knew something was truly wrong. Her mom had a tendency to nag and pester, but her father didn’t. In fact, she couldn’t remember him ever calling her before.
“I have to answer this,” she told Nico, but he’d already clued into the possibility that this could be a problem. “Dad—” Eden said when she hit the answer button, but that was as far as she got.
“Your mother had me call you,” he said, “and don’t hang up,” he added, probably because that’s what she’d been about to do. “It’s important. Something happened that you need to hear about. I’m sorry, baby. Real sorry.”
Well, crap. It had to be very bad for her dad to say that, but Eden didn’t even want to speculate. She also didn’t want to have to repeat whatever this was to Nico so she put her phone on speaker. It was only a few seconds before she heard some shuffling sounds and then her mother’s voice.
“I’m guessing you don’t know what’s going on?” her mom asked.
“No. What?” Eden managed, and it had better not have anything to do with her having sex with Nico.
“It’s Mimi,” her mother continued. That burst the anger that had been bubbling up inside Eden. Now, she got a bubble of frustration.
“Damien broke up with her,” Eden provided. “Yes, I did hear about that.” From the source. A source that probably hadn’t treated the breakup with a tender touch. Which led her to another bad thought. “Mimi didn’t do something to hurt herself, did she?”
“No.” And that was all her mother said for way too long of a time. “She did something to hurt you.”
Nico automatically sat up, the concern already all over his face. Eden was sure it was on her face, too.
“What did she do?” Eden asked when her mother didn’t continue.
“It’s about that blog.” Her mother’s voice pitched high on the last word. “Mimi found out about it somehow. From Damien, I suppose. You didn’t say, but I suspect Damien must have known. After all, you two were married when you were writing all those posts—”
“Mom, what did Mimi do?” Eden interrupted, and yeah, there was a flurry of bad thoughts happening now. A hacked site, getting advertisers to pull out. Getting Eden blackballed by some conservative watchdog group.
“Mimi tattled.” Her mom had another hitch in her voice when she blurted that out.
Okay, so that wasn’t as dire as the other things Eden had imagined. “Who did Mimi tell about the blog?”
“Everyone,” her mother said.
That seemed pretty far-reaching for a bookkeeper. “How’d she do that?”
“Eden, she printed out pages of the blog. Pages!” her mother emphasized. “And I’m sure she picked the dirtiest ones she could find.”
Again, not as dire as Eden had imagined because there was a big non-dire factor in this. “My name’s not on the blog. I use the pseudonym Naughty Cowgirl.”
“I know,” her mother was quick to agree. “But Mimi printed out copies of your online calendar, too. I don’t know how she got into it, but she did, and she stapled those pages to the blog.”
Eden knew. Damien. Dang it. She’d changed the password, but Damien could have made copies before she’d done that. So, either Damien had given the info to Mimi or Mimi had scoured through his computer to find it.
“Your calendar does have your name on it,” her mother said. “And it’s got the deadlines all written out there for everyone to see. Naughty Cowgirl Talks Sex.”
Yes, it did indeed have all of that info—because it was supposed to have been a private calendar for her use only.
“Eden, did you really give advice about how to play naked Pin the Tail on the Donkey?” her mom asked.
Nico groaned. That’d actually been his idea, but Eden wasn’t going to fault him for it. It’d gotten the site a lot of visitors and comments.
“Mom, put aside the specifics of the blog,” Eden advised, “and tell me what Mimi did with all the things she printed out.”
“They’re everywhere. Everyone knows.”
Again, there was that word, everyone, which still seemed a little far-reaching for Mimi’s skill set. “Did Mimi pass the pages around town?”
“Yes,” her mother answered.
So, that was bad. Coupled with her name, everyone in Coldwater now knew the secret Eden had been hiding.
“But Mimi did more than that,” her mom went on. “She put the flyers on cars, not just here, but in San Antonio, too. And I don’t know how she managed it, but she must have a friend in the newspaper. By tomorrow, it’ll be all over the gossip and society news.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
EDEN DIDN’T THINK her big girl panties were large enough to deal with this firestorm, but she didn’t have the luxury of hiding from it. Not any longer anyway.
She’d spent the night with Nico, cuddling in his very sympathetic and soothing arms. She had ignored one phone call and text after the other, but Eden was certain she’d received communications from every person in Coldwater. There’d likely be repeat attempts to contact her, including some from out-of-towners, now that the blog had hit the San Antonio newspaper. Eden still wasn’t sure how Mimi had managed that. Nor did it matter. There was a metaphorical bag and the cat was no longer in it.
Speaking of cats, Eden fed Miss Kitty, and said her usual goodbye to him before she headed out to work. He didn’t hiss or snarl as he usually did, making her wonder if he sensed that she was troubled all the way to the marrow. Not for herself. No.
There were plenty of others in the mix who could be hurt.
Her parents, for one. And Roy. She wasn’t sure how he was going to handle this, and he might have no choice but to fire her if he got enough flak from their clients. That was okay. She didn’t mind losing the job, but Eden had counted on him being an ally if Piper still wanted part-time work when she came to live with Nico.
Of course, Piper could be affected by this, too. Rayelle probably wouldn’t encourage the girl to spend
time with Eden—and possibly Nico—when she learned about some of the content in Naughty Cowgirl. According to Eden’s mom, the naked Pin the Tail on the Donkey had caused quite a stir. So had the saddle sex. That last one was especially ironic, since it was the post that Mimi had sent to Eden.
If she’d been a mean girl, Eden might have let that tidbit leak. Maybe even leak about Damien’s cheating. Or that he was a lousy vet whose neutering skills had failed on his own cat. But while spreading that dirt might give her a quick kick of pleasure, it would ultimately just add to the flames that were burning her folks, Roy and Piper.
Maybe Nico, too.
Certainly, by now everyone in town knew they were seeing each other. This stench might affect his business. Or his push to become Piper’s foster parent. If so, then Eden might not be able to hold back any meanness that she would aim at Mimi. The woman was a selfish, jealous witch, and the karma bus couldn’t run into her soon or fast enough.
Eden didn’t drive to the office. She walked even though she knew she would likely run into prying eyes and running mouths along the way. But if she drove, she would just end up delaying the inevitable and she wouldn’t be taking the bull by the horns. The eyes would just wait to pry. Mouths would stay on pause to run. Because like her, the townsfolk knew that there was no place for her to hide in Coldwater.
Heck, even moving wasn’t an option. Her parents would still be here, and she wouldn’t be near Nico. It was worth putting up with all sorts of flak just to be with him.
For however long that would be.
“Eden?” someone called out before she’d walked less than a minute. It was Silla, the queen of mean, and she was waving like a loon and making her way to Eden. She was moving surprisingly fast, too, considering she was wearing strappy hooker heel sandals.
“I’m on my way to work,” Eden told her, though she figured that wasn’t going to deter Silla.
It didn’t. Neither did the fact that Eden kept walking in the direction of Roy’s. Silla just switched directions after she caught up with Eden and began to walk next to her.
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