I finished the ten rounds in the chamber and then removed the empty magazine and laid the gun down on its side on the bench in front of us, proceeding to take my eye and ear protection off. When I turned to look at Nick his face was set hard, a furrow between his brows and the ice-blue of his eyes decidedly frosty. Had I not hit the target? I turned back to the bullseye at the end of the tunnel and squinted at the marks I'd left. I slowly counted ten precise holes. Not all of them dead centre, but all of them had at least hit the mark. If that red and black target had been Levi, he'd be dead.
I snorted at that thought. It was one thing to use a gun in practice, an entirely different one to aim at a human being and fire the darn thing. Even Levi Russell would be a difficult target to acquire. I wasn't sure I had it in me to pull that trigger when the time came. But then... if Levi pulled the trigger first or threatened to harm Nick or someone else close to me, could I?
"You think this is funny?" Nick demanded. When my eyes found his icy blue ones I noticed his arms were crossed over his chest again, frown in place.
"I thought she did extremely well, darling," Katie offered from her perch at the back of the narrow room.
"You stay out of this, Katie," Nick instructed, never taking his cold eyes off me.
"What's your problem?" I demanded. "I proved I could use the darn thing. Isn't that what you wanted?"
He growled. Actually growled. "This is not a game, Eva. Guns kill."
"You don't think I know that?" I said a little shrilly. "You don't think I'm aware that Levi and his brothers are in possession of weapons that could kill you or someone else I care about? Do you honestly think I want to go around slinging a gun like some cowboy on a bronc just for the darn hell of it?"
"It had crossed my mind," he admitted through clenched teeth. I began clenching mine as well.
"Well, I don't. OK? And I don't want to see you get shot again because of me!" I shouted, which wasn't wise in the small confines of the firing range. The sound of my high pitched voice echoed shrilly all around us.
"You didn't shoot me!" he semi-shouted back.
"Exactly!" I shouted in return, obviously having not learned my lesson the first time I shouted and almost burst our eardrums.
"What the fuck does that mean?" Nick demanded, sounding louder than me but somehow still not shouting.
"It means," I said slowly, as though he was indeed thick, "that I will not allow Levi Russell to hurt you again." I was leaning forward, almost nose to nose with Nick, my hands clenched in fists at my sides, my heart in my throat and my chest rising and falling rapidly as I sucked in air.
"And you think by carrying a gun you can stop him?" Nick said, his voice lower than before.
"I can at least try!" I ground out, frustrated he couldn't see I was capable. "I shot the target, didn't I?" I said, pointing towards the target, but keeping my eyes on his. Which had strangely melted slightly, but I was too angry to contemplate why. "I will not stand by like some pathetic wimp and let you charge off into danger for me. Do you have any idea what it did to me to know my Aunt had shot you in the leg? In the leg, Nick! She shot a fucking bullet in your thigh and all because of me! She could have killed you! They still could! And. I. Can. Stop. It!" And OK I was screaming now, but I was also determined to not let the tears I felt, threatening my eyes, to fall.
"Angel," he said and then his lips were on mine, his hand fisted around my braid tilting my head to the side, his other hand wrapped around my waist hauling me abruptly against his hard body, as his tongue delved deep inside my mouth and consumed me.
My arms came up automatically around his neck, one hand threaded through his short dark hair, the other pulling against his neck to bring us closer together. Although I needn't have bothered, Nick was crushing me to his chest, devouring me with his mouth and teeth and tongue, and heating me up from the inside out, and the outside in. His body a hot furnace against mine, his touch sending heat radiating out from my centre, thrumming through my veins, sending shockwaves down my body and starting tingles in my hands and arms and legs and feet.
I groaned and he swallowed the sound down, then he took a step forward, pushing my body against the wall at my back, continuing his pursuit of tasting me, consuming me in his kiss, making me forget everything else but him and me and right now. God, I could kiss Nick all day. To hell with the rest of the world, this was all that mattered. Feeling this connection to someone, this closeness, this absolute desire. At that second he was my world. There was no other world. Just us.
And then Katie cleared her throat delicately off to the side.
"Should I leave?" she said conversationally.
Nick pulled back with a gasp, and in a rough sandpaper voice said, "I thought you had already."
"Oh no, darling. And miss this? Not a chance. But do tell me if you wish to progress further, I'm not entirely certain the cameras have been switched off and I would at least ensure that for you should you ask."
I flicked my eyes up to the ceiling and spotted the cameras I'd missed before. One of them shifted and then did a little wiggle, as though Eric was making the darn thing wave hello. I smiled, I couldn't help myself, then mouthed the word, pervert, up at the lens. It retracted slightly as though it had been hit. I sniggered and Nick squeezed me tightly bringing my attention back to him.
His eyes were melty ice-blue, crinkles appeared in the corners, his lips were full and a flush had washed up his cheeks. He looked sexy as all get-out. I licked my lips and he smirked.
"I admit," he said in that sexy deep voice of his, "that you know your way around a firearm, but I can't in all good conscience let you have one."
"What?" I said, all the warm fuzzies of our make-out session disappearing in one quick blast of outrage.
"Eva," Nick said, sounding frustrated. "Angel," he added for good measure. Still not evaporating my rage. "I have no intention of letting you anywhere near where they could get to you, so you having a gun is in fact moot."
"Now hold on a minute, cowboy," I said, hands on hips - which was a hard thing to do because he hadn't yet pulled back. One hand still wrapped around my braid, the other running a thumb over the pulse in my neck.
"Oh, boy," Katie said quietly to the side. I just ignored her.
"You of all people," I started, glaring up at Nick, "couldn't possibly believe it will be as easy as that. Surely in your line of work you prepare for the unexpected. Levi and his brothers have proved time and again that they do the unexpected. It would be..." - I searched for the right word - "...remiss to not contemplate an outcome that would include me needing to defend myself or protect someone I was with." There, that was pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.
Nick's lips twitched slightly at the edges. "Remiss, huh?" I nodded, hands still firmly on my hips. He sighed and pulled back, placing a cold few inches between us. I shifted uncomfortably, feeling the loss of his body heat acutely. I may have been angry with him, but I didn't want him to step away.
He ran a hand over his short hair in frustration. Then after several seconds of contemplating the floor he said, "I'll concede to a taser..."
"Nick!" I whined unashamedly.
He held up a hand to stop my protest. "I'll carry an extra gun on me and if push comes to shove I'll hand it over. I know you can handle yourself with the Glock, but you don't have a local carry permit, so this is a legal solution. Should the shit hit the fan, we'd be justified for you to use one of my weapons in self defence. Self defence only, angel. Got it?"
I frowned at him and forced myself not to shift that frown towards the ground. Then offered a stiff, short bob of my head in acquiesce. He had a point. I was not a criminal like Levi and the rest of the Russell clan, at least this way I could defend me and mine if I stuck near Nick.
"Promise you'll carry one for me?" I asked, just to make sure.
"Of course I promise, angel. That's what love's for, isn't it? Carrying a handgun for your woman should she feel the need to put a bullet in someone's head."
He said it with his signature Nick Anscombe wattage overloaded smile, but my heart had stalled at his words. I knew they were just a throw away line, but they were the closest he'd come to saying what he felt for me. Whether he meant them or not was irrelevant right then, my ears heard them, so my heart swooned.
"Eva," he said softly, clearly seeing something in my giveaway eyes. "Come here, angel," he instructed and flicked a glance at his sister as I took the steps necessary to fall into his embrace. "Scoot, sis," he commanded gently, but I didn't see Katie's response, only heard the door at the rear of the room click shut behind her.
Nick brushed my hair back off my face and in the process tilted my head back so I could look up at him, his other arm wrapped securely about my waist again, crushing me to his hard frame.
"You are the most beautiful woman I have ever met," he whispered against my lips. "You drive me crazy with desire." He brushed his lips against mine, then came back for a second more forceful melding of tongues.
"Camera," I murmured through the deepened kiss.
"Hmm," he mumbled against my mouth. "Damn security. Come on, you need to see my office. Official tour of ASI starts now."
I blinked up at him as he stepped back and snagged one of my hands in his. He wanted to give me a tour now? He offered me a wink and then we were through the door at the rear of the firing range and careening down the corridor towards the offices at the front of the building. Before we reached the control room where Eric was at, we veered left down a short hallway and came to a dark wooden door. Nick punched in an access code, thrust the door open and pulled me over the threshold quickly. The door clicked shut behind us as my feet found plush carpet under my boots and Nick tore off across the large open space towards the big desk by the window. Still holding my hand firmly, so I was forced to tag along in his wake.
He pushed a few buttons on a console embedded in his desk, I heard a click up in the corners of the room which drew my attention to the cameras there and the red record light winking out - clearly to indicate they were no longer operable. Then I was swung around and lifted up on Nick's desk as his mouth crushed into mine. My legs automatically opened to let his hips inside and then he was pushing whatever was on his desk off to the floor and following my body down onto the top of the desk.
"This is my office," he said breathlessly, removing my hat and lifting my T-Shirt up over my head in one smooth movement.
His lips immediately started trailing over my neck and down to my collar bone as his fingers released my bra at the same time. The man could certainly multi-task.
"Bullet proof glass on the window," he murmured, face nuzzling between my breasts. "Key code access only," he added, then swirled his tongue around my nipple, while his other hand rubbed thumb and forefinger across the twin.
"Nick," I said on a groan as he bit gently, then started to suck a little harder. My back arched, my hands fisted in his shirt and I rubbed back against his hard arousal straining his jeans, seeking that delicious friction my body craved.
"I'll show you the rest of the place later, angel. But right now..." He pulled back, reached up under my skirt for my knickers, and with two hands tugged them down my thighs and onto the floor. "Spread wide for me," he instructed, as his hands smoothed up my thighs and then pushed my skirt up my hips, allowing him an unhindered view of what lay beneath. "Fuck," he breathed when his eyes landed on my wet core.
His hands fumbled with his belt buckle. I watched amused as they shook and hindered his movements, making what would normally have been a three second disrobing of his belt and jeans, into something four times as long.
"Fuck!" he swore again, but this time it was definitely in frustration.
Finally the belt disengaged and he roughly pushed his jeans and boxers down his legs, letting all that glorious hardness spring free and stand proud up against his stomach. He whipped off his shirt quickly, clearly not wanting to be hindered by that at all, then grasped my hips, hauled me to the edge of the desk, so my butt cheeks were almost hanging over the side, and then in one swift, hard and perfect plunge he seated himself deep inside.
"Oh, fuck, angel," he groaned above me. "You are so perfect." He groaned again and then finally started to move.
"Nick," I pleaded, reaching up and trying to pull him down on top of me.
"Nah-uh," he said with a shake of his head. "Wanna watch me fucking you from this angle first." Another soft groan from the back of his throat. "Undo your hair," he instructed in a low voice.
"You're bossy," I said breathlessly, already reaching for my braid despite my complaining words.
"You wouldn't want it any other way," Nick countered, moving rhythmically inside me. God he felt good.
"Occasionally, I might like to call the shots," I said, letting my hair free and feeling it flow out around my head as I lay back on the desk to enjoy Nick standing and moving before me.
"Is that so, angel?" he asked with raised eyebrows. "Then why is it you do exactly what I ask, when I ask, in bed? Your arguments are hollow, babe. You want me to take charge."
"Shut up and just fuck me!" I countered, well aware he had me pegged.
He started chuckling, then started picking up pace and then finally lowered his body on top of mine to kiss me just as passionately as he was moving inside me. His tongue matching the increased speed of his thrusts. Our bodies melded together, sweat beginning to build up between us in a delicious slide of skin on skin. His hand entwined in the free flowing strands of my hair and he moaned into my mouth. His other hand ran down the side of my body softly, then gently came up to cup my breast and squeeze his fingers around the perky peak.
"It's not fucking," he rasped against my lips.
I blinked my eyes open, having been lost in an approaching orgasm, the build of it tapering off slightly at his words.
"What do you mean?" I panted beneath him, trying desperately to find that glorious wave to ride again.
"This is not fucking," he semi-repeated again.
I lost a few seconds there to the bliss he was creating, both of us moaning and panting and writhing together. The orgasm was so close again, just within reach and then he found his voice again.
"It's making love."
I sucked in a breath, just as the orgasm blind-sided me completely, rolling me over and over and over again and again with rush after rush of delightful pulses through my entire frame. Starting at my core and undulating outwards, sucking all breath and reason from my body and mind. I screamed at the intensity, then managed a half-wimpered, half-groaned, "Nick!"
"Yes!" he breathed against me, his lips smashing into mine as he drank my cries down, his tongue commanding my utter capitulation. I gave it absolutely. Willingly. Excitedly. Completely.
Nick was right, here where our bodies met, I was his to command. And I'd have it no other way.
"Angel," he breathed above me, his movements frantic now, a little arrhythmic. His face buried into the curve of my neck, exactly where he liked it to be in the end. I wrapped my arms tightly around him, letting him know I was there with him, he was safe in my arms. Then waited for that one word he always said when he finally breached that delicious wave and came.
I didn't get it.
And I didn't miss it.
"Eva!" he said on a delicious moan, one last thrust deep inside and then the heat of his release coating me, marking me, claiming me again as his.
Chapter 26
As Though He'd Been Waiting For Me To Come And Sing
We both lay there panting, trying desperately to catch our breath. Nick didn't seem inclined to pull away too quickly, just stayed where he was savouring the sensations of our bodies pressed together, our hearts beating in sync, our chests rising and falling rapidly as we both came down from exquisite highs. He'd called this heaven, what we did to each other, and I couldn't have argued with that at all. This was heaven. Somehow Nick broke through every wall I had ever erected between myself and the world when I was young and reached right inside my he
art.
No one had ever done that before. Well, only him, one night eight years ago in fact.
"Hmm," he hummed. "Been fantasising 'bout that. You on my desk." He swallowed and pulled his face back from the curve of my neck to look me in the eyes. "Fuck," he whispered, one hand coming up to brush my hair back off my face. He seemed lost in the moment for several seconds, staring at me, but not quite seeing me. As though he saw something else entirely, than my flushed, sweat soaked self beneath his gaze. "You are stunning, angel."
I closed my eyes slowly at his tone. That tone. When he calls me angel and means it. Another thing unique to Nick.
"I'd like to investigate several other fantasies involving my office and you naked, but I think it might be time for you to visit your Dad."
My eyes sprang open at the cold harsh reality of my life. My father was dying, in a secured hospice to keep him safe from his sister and her children, and I'd been having raunchy sex with Nick on his office desk when I should have been demanding he take me to Dad. I was the worst ever daughter.
I pushed against his chest and forced him off - and out of - my body.
"Hey!" he protested, but he didn't fight back. He must have realised I'd been doused in a metaphorical frigid bucket of water at his last words and needed some distance to get myself level again.
He pulled his jeans up and tucked himself neatly back inside, his eyes grazing my face intently. I slipped off the desk and searched for my underwear, finding them on the floor beneath the desk. As I bent down to retrieve them, Nick was suddenly at my back, hands on my hips, groin pressed into my rear as my head was down and butt was up in the air.
"Cut that out!' I demanded, pulling upright and trying to take a step away. He was incorrigible.
"Sorry," he muttered, still holding firmly onto my hips, groin pressed hard against the crease in my rear. I could tell he was stirring again. "Can't seem to help myself. Eight fucking years of dreaming of you, Eva, and here you are in my office bending over seductively in my all time favourite position. What's a guy to do?" He nibbled on my ear, then quickly lay a wet trail down my neck and nipped the soft flesh at the base.
Sweet Seduction Serenade Page 26