by Marie Harte
“Um, okay.”
She sank into a chair near him and waited.
He shook his head. “No, thanks. I’m good.”
“What?”
“You were going to ask if I wanted something to drink, but I’m fine.” He smiled through his teeth.
She snorted. “As if I have manners.”
At that he grinned sincerely. “Nora, you are truly unique.”
“Thanks?”
He laughed and leaned over to tug on her hair.
“Hey.”
“It’s not my fault. It was begging me to pull it.”
“I bet you were a terror in elementary school.”
Deacon grinned. “I really was.” He said no more, watching her.
A full minute passed.
She swore. “Damn it. Fine. We’re just supposed to have sex, but you’re making this relationship way too complex.”
“How?’
“Dinner? What’s dinner? And don’t you dare say it’s a meal between hungry people!”
He sat back in his seat and clasped his hands over his middle. “I wanted to be with you.”
“For what?” She hated feeling nervous. Right now Deacon resembled a rock; she could have passed for a feather in the wind, drifting this way and that.
“For companionship,” he offered kindly. “Because you’re real, and I know you’re not out to use me for anything I don’t want. You’re a funny person, and we enjoy each other. Are those not great reasons to hang out?”
“Yes, they are.” She felt miserable. “I’m sorry, but this is getting complicated.”
“You’re right.”
“I am?” God, did he feel something more for her too?
“I want you. I want to come inside you, eat you up, fuck you standing, sideways, sitting. In the shower, the snow, the—”
Blushing, she held up a hand. “Okay, okay. I get it.”
“But your body isn’t all I like about you. You’re the whole package. I made a mistake before, because I was scared. Our first date was better than any date I’d ever had. I loved it, so I left and tried to find interest in safe, boring people. That sounds mean, but they’re all boring compared to you.”
Pleasure unfurled. “You’re just saying that.”
“Um, yes, I am just saying that. Should I write it instead?” He cocked his head.
“Don’t be an ass,” she snapped. “You know what I mean.”
“I truly don’t.” Deacon’s eyes narrowed, his gaze roaming her face. “Am I not supposed to like you?”
“No. I’m incredible. You should love me.” Realizing what she’d said, she blushed even harder. “I mean, I—”
“I know what you mean.”
“Stop it.”
“What?”
“Stop looking at me like…that.” Like you love me. Because it’s freaking me out!
“How am I looking at you?”
Panicked and not sure she wouldn’t just blurt out how much she was coming to love him, she stood and whipped off her sweatshirt and tank.
As expected, he stared, wide-eyed, at her bare breasts.
“You’re here. I want sex. You just admitted you want it too. So? Let’s do it.” She paused. “I don’t have any condoms.”
“I have one in my jacket,” he murmured, still staring at her body.
So easy. She had to hide a smile. “Then how about I—”
“You want to distract me?” His gaze hardened and returned to her face. “How about you do what you need to, but I’m going to talk?”
“I…what?”
“I came over to talk. You want sex. Okay, I’m yours.” He held his arms out. “You take what you need, but I’m getting this off my chest.” Yet he couldn’t stop staring at all of her.
Determined not to hear what she wasn’t ready for, Nora took the fun, cowardly way out and stripped down to nothing. Then she took off Deacon’s jacket and shirt while he rambled about feelings and truth and more feelings. Blah blah.
“Move your chair. Scoot this way.” She motioned for him to move so she could kneel between his feet.
He moved his chair and did his best to focus on her face. “Nora, this is real, between us. I’m not fucking around. I like you. A lot. I…” He trailed off as he unzipped him and took him out, his erection evidence of how much he loved having her near. He was good and hard, his tip shiny with need.
Deacon cleared his throat and tried to make eye-contact, but she saw his gaze constantly dipping to her breasts. “I have feelings for you, Nora. We’re good together.” He sounded ragged.
She blew a breath over his cock, and he shuddered.
No longer afraid but high on her own power, she bent her head to her task.
“I know we can be good together. I…” He closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and groaned while he palmed the back of her head. “Fuck. Nora, you are killing me.”
She bobbed faster, taken with his moans, the stiffness of his shaft, how taut his thighs had grown.
“Nora, baby. Come on. Sit on me.”
She sucked harder.
“I’m gonna come. You’ll have too much to swallow,” he tried to joke but pumped up into her mouth. “Please. Sit on me. Up and down. Let me come inside you.”
She wanted that. A little too much. But the threat of pregnancy loomed too large to ignore. So, she bore down and swallowed when he cried her name.
When he finished, she pulled away and licked her lips. “Yum.”
Deacon didn’t bother tucking himself back in. He exploded out of his chair and hauled her into his arms. Then he hurried down to her bedroom, threw her on the bed, and gave her the best oral sex of her life.
When finished, he stood, tucked his once-again erect cock back into his jeans, and zipped up. He stared down at her, looking satisfied and not as off-balance as she might have hoped. “That was amazing. I know you’re busy, so I’ll leave. Call me when you’re ready to talk.” He waved goodbye and walked away. “Thanks for the sex,” he called over his shoulder.
After a pause, in which he’d likely grabbed his shirt and jacket, the front door slammed closed. But she couldn’t move, too sated to think clearly.
Not much later, Nora realized she’d come across as a sex-starved fool while Deacon had been making a point about being honest. She owed it to him to be the same—to a point. She had her well-being to protect after all.
She wouldn’t go after him now. She’d give it a day or two then talk to him. When she’d gotten herself together enough to speak to the man without remembering how turned on she’d been while blowing him.
A girl had to have some dignity, after all.
Friday night, River Rip Brewing had a full parking lot and a hopping band thrumming some catchy alt-rock for the crowded pub. People drank, ate, danced, and shouted to be heard over the music. It was a place Nora would have loved to frequent with a date or group of friends…if she’d had either.
She looked around for someone in charge and saw Roy tending bar. He saw her and waved her over. “Hi, Nora. Welcome to the best place in town. Want a beer? On the house!”
“Why are you behind the bar?” Wasn’t he an owner?
“I used to bartend back in my days after college. It’s fun when you don’t have to do it all the time. Actually, I’m filling in for one of our guys who called in sick. So can I get you that beer? Our seasonal brew is amazing.”
“Thanks, but no. I’m here to see Deacon. Is he around?”
“Oh, go on upstairs. He’s finishing up some paperwork but should be done soon. And I know he’d love to see you.”
She wondered exactly how much Roy did know about Deacon and Nora. Probably as much as Becca, since the bossy woman had strong-armed Nora into confessing everything last night. Nora had been doing her best to avoid her cousin since Monday, but Simon had tricked her into coming by the tea shop to help earlier in the day—only for Nora to run into Becca there.
Simon hadn’t even looked sorry for his traitorous act
ions.
So now, two days after jumping the man and just five days until Christmas, Nora had to talk to Deacon like a mature, adult woman. Not a ninny trying to divert her man’s attentions with sex, though that had worked like a charm.
She smiled to herself as she moved into the back corridor and went up the stairs. She walked down a short but wide hallway and saw three doors. One led to a common restroom, the other was labeled storage, and the final one said THE BOSSES on it. Had to be Deacon.
She lifted her hand to knock and heard raised voices inside. So she did the responsible thing…and listened at the door.
“Damn it, Deacon. You have to come back to me. You told me you loved me,” came the disturbing voice of a woman.
What the hell?
“Meghan, I think you have me confused with someone else.”
“You said it!”
“No, I didn’t. I have said I love you to a total of two women in my entire life. One is my mother. The other’s my ex-wife, and that was a very long time ago. Now what exactly do you want? Because we are not a couple and never will be.”
“You’re an ass.”
“A busy ass, so if you could say whatever you need to say and get out?”
Nora blinked, in shock. She’d never heard him use that cold tone before. He sounded curt, frustrated, and annoyed. But not like his usual annoyance with her, which often had a hint of amusement in it. Nora could tell he didn’t like this woman.
“Fine. I didn’t want to let you know like this, but I’m…”
“Meghan, just say it. Please.”
“I’m pregnant.”
The world stopped.
No. He. Did. Not. Nora couldn’t believe it. She’d been prepared to give him a chance, to try to see where they might be together. But not if he had impregnated someone else!
To her surprise, Deacon laughed. “Oh, that’s a good one. You know that’s a lie. I always wore a condom with you. Hell, with every woman I’ve been with.”
Not with me. Unless he’s lying to her… Nora wanted badly to believe she was special. She trusted Deacon. Didn’t she?
He continued, “You and I have been done for a while.”
“There was a hole in one of them,” Meghan said, her self-satisfaction obvious. “I know because I put it there.”
Nora shoved open the door, needing to see the voice that went with the venom. “Oh my God. You poked holes in his condoms?”
“Nora?” Deacon sat up straight in his chair then quickly stood. “What are you doing here?”
“Two-timing me already?” Meghan, a flashy redhead with large breasts and a striking face, asked him.
Nora focused on the woman, irritated to find her so pretty. “You poked holes in his condoms to get pregnant?”
Meghan gave her a disdainful onceover. “Who the hell are you?”
Deacon scrubbed his face. “Nora, ignore her. She was just leaving.” He called downstairs. “Roy, Meghan snuck in. Get the cops for me, would you? And send up Melia and Tanya to escort her downstairs. Thanks.” He hung up.
Meghan stamped her foot. Nora didn’t think women did that outside of movies and TV. “Damn it. I’m pregnant! By you!”
“By me?” Nora asked, just to annoy the witch.
“Shut up. By him!” Meghan pointed a perfectly manicured nail his way.
“This is what turns you on?” she asked him, ignoring the redhead to aggravate her even more.
“No. Which is why we broke up.” Deacon shook his head. “I’m trying to be nice, Meghan. But I won’t tolerate lies.”
“My lawyer will be talking to you.”
“Good,” Nora cut in. “Then have him tell you the penalties for rape in this state. Because poking holes in a condom is a punishable offense by law.”
Meghan didn’t look so sure of herself. “It is?”
Nora nodded, not having a clue, but she swore she’d seen a Law & Order episode about that very thing at one time or another. And heck, if it wasn’t illegal it certainly should be.
Deacon sighed. “It doesn’t matter because—”
“I’m not pregnant, you ass.” Meghan glowered at Deacon. “I thought maybe we could try again. But clearly I was forgetting why we broke up.”
“Because I ended things?” Deacon said drily.
Meghan continued her rant. “You’re pathetic. The only good thing you have going for you is that huge dick. Other than that you’re a sad, washed-up loser.”
Deacon’s expression cleared, his eyes hard. Meghan was pushing buttons, Nora could tell. And she didn’t like the idea he might be hurting because of this awful woman.
So she said, “I don’t think you meant washed-up. He never washed up, technically. He could be a has-been though. Deacon, you okay with has-been?”
He met her gaze and visibly relaxed. “Yeah. I was great, so I ‘had been’ a superstar. It was an injury that did me in. Although, technically, I guess I could be washed-out.”
“Maybe.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Meghan shouted. “I don’t care who you are,” she said to Nora. “But there’s no way you could ever replace me.”
“You got that right,” Nora agreed. Who wanted to stand in for a shrewish user?
Deacon laughed. “Exactly.”
Meghan looked confused.
Deacon turned to the woman and pointed at the door. “Meghan, for the last time, get out. I’m not your pretend-baby’s daddy. I always provided the condoms we used, because I didn’t trust you then. And I sure the hell don’t trust you now. Get out before I sue you for libel and smear your name all over the paper.”
“Sorry, Deacon. Technically that’s slander,” Nora had to correct him. “Libel is when it’s written defamation.”
“Shut. Up!” Meghan screeched at her before turning to Deacon. “As if anyone would believe you,” she sneered.
Nora smiled. “Well, when I tell them how you tried to blackmail him… Oh wait. Deacon, blackmail is definitely illegal. You should make sure you tell the police that when they arrive. And I’ll testify to everything that went down in here.”
“Screw both of you.” Meghan stormed away in a huff just as two women appeared to escort her away.
“Boss?” one of them asked at the doorway.
“Thanks, Tanya. Just make sure she leaves without destroying the bar, okay?” She and her friend gave him a thumbs up and left behind a complaining Meghan.
Deacon shut the door behind them and groaned. “What a day.”
“Just…wow. That was one of your exes?”
He sat against his desk and watched her with broody eyes. “Yeah. See why I left?”
“You sure can pick ‘em.”
He cocked a brow while still looking at her.
Realizing what she’d intimated, she added, “Present company excluded, of course.”
“Of course.” After a pause, he asked, “Not that I’m not happy to see you, but why are you here?”
“Now that is the million dollar question.”
Chapter 17
Deacon felt exhausted. Between feeling as if he’d screwed things up with Nora—who might actually be pregnant with his baby—dealing with some missed paperwork he hadn’t anticipated in addition to all the year-end festivities, and then having Meghan show up, he needed a break from life.
Then to have Nora appear at the worst possible time…
She studied him, frowning.
“I wasn’t kidding,” he said, needing Nora to know. “I never fully trusted her and always supplied my own condoms.” He answered her next question. “Yes, you and my ex-wife are the only women I’ve ever not worn protection with. My ex took birth control when we were supposed to be trying for a baby. So yeah, I’m not big on trust.”
But I trusted you. And I thought you trusted me.
Women baffled him. Take Meghan after all this time… “Damn. Why would Meghan show up like that? I made it clear we were through weeks ago.” He shook his head. “I mean, she only wanted me for m
y money. Nothing has changed since we broke up.”
Nora didn’t answer, but she did step closer. Then, without being prodded, she hugged him.
The act took him by surprise. As if sucker-punched, he folded in on her and just clung.
God, he’d missed her.
She stroked his head, tunneling her fingers through his hair, and just let him lean on her. Nora Nielson, a good hundred plus pounds lighter, smaller, yet so damn strong she could hold his sorry ass up.
Coming back to himself, he gave her a squeeze then gently nudged her back a step.
“Better?”
He nodded. “Yeah, thanks.”
She cleared her throat. “I listened at the door when I heard her yelling at you. Man, what a bitch.”
“Yep.”
“You seriously traded up when you met me.”
He smiled but felt his joy leech away when her mirth left her. “Deacon, I have a few things to say to you.”
His nerves raced. It had taken him a while to put it together, but seeing what she’d been researching on her laptop, then the way she’d dealt with him, so sexually and brazenly the past Monday, he’d put two and two together. He must have gotten Nora pregnant during their week at the cabin. He’d googled it, and sometimes women could know as soon as four or five days after the fact. Some tests showed increased levels of hCG, which she’d been researching.
Any notion she might have intentionally gotten pregnant just didn’t compute. Nora was Nora—honest, aggravating, and loving. She’d never trick a man into a baby. Rhonda, on the other hand, and even Meghan, he could see trying something so low.
He was overjoyed to know he might soon be a father. And scared. And excited. And afraid. But most of all, the notion of having created such joy with Nora, the only woman he wanted, put his life in perspective.
He trusted her wholeheartedly.
Because he loved her.
But she had to love him back. And she had to be honest about things with him. Knowing how much of a shock it must have been, he had decided to let her come to him about the pregnancy. But not today. Not when Meghan stood in front of him with her lies and accusations.