by Kathryn Shay
She arched into his hands. “You can have that, too, if you let me take you all out. Please, Nick, I really want to do this.”
“Why?” His gaze was shrewd as his steel gray eyes bored into her.
“For lots of reasons. Some I don’t want to talk about now.”
Sighing heavily, he tilted her chin up to see her face. “Okay, but I don’t like it. Nor do I like being seduced into doing what you want.”
She fit herself to him “You don’t like this, Nicky?”
Growling into her throat, he turned her on her back and entered her quickly. “I like it very much, you witch. Too much.”
His last statement had disturbed her, as it did each time he commented on their differences or expressed unhappiness about his feelings for her, most of which he did unconsciously. But her world had spun out of control before she could worry about it.
Then, there was the delicate discussion she’d had with Heather. Right from the beginning, Amanda had been concerned about getting involved with a student’s father. She had thought long and hard about the blurring of roles, about loyalty and confidentiality. Ultimately, she was satisfied that she would always put Heather’s welfare first, and had made sure Nick was clear on the issue. In her heart, she also knew he would do the same.
They had agreed to tell Heather they were dating, a mild word, Amanda thought, for their tumultuous encounters…
As they sat in the DiMarco living room, Amanda had brought up the subject. “Heather, I want you to know what’s happening to the adults in your world.”
Amanda saw Heather tense, a reaction to her past experiences with grown-ups over whom she had no control. Nick caught it, too. Rising from the chair across the room, he went to the couch, sat down next to her and took her hand. “It’s nothing bad, sweetheart. In fact, it’s good news.”
Still, Heather looked wary. “What is it?”
Amanda took a deep breath. “Your father and I have started, and would like to continue, seeing each other socially. But we want you to have some say in it since it affects your life.”
Averting her gaze, Heather didn’t speak at first. Nick’s eyes sought Amanda’s for a cue, but she shook her head. Finally, the teenager lifted her chin and gave her father a look full of a woman’s wisdom. “I’m not really surprised. It took you a long time to walk her to her car every time she was here, Dad.”
Nick smiled sheepishly but faced his daughter squarely. “How do you feel about this?”
Heather didn’t even hesitate. “It’s great.”
Suspicious of the rushed response, Amanda said, “Heather, you’ve got to express what you’re feeling inside. You must have some reservations.”
After a moment, Heather looked at her with pleading eyes. “Will you still talk to me at school?”
“Of course.”
“Will...will it still be...you know, private?”
“Yes, it will—except to give your father progress reports, and unless I believe you’re in danger of harming yourself. Just like you and I discussed before.”
Heather glanced at her father then. “I’m sorry, Daddy, I don’t want to leave you out but—”
Nick didn’t give her a chance to finish. Instead, he grabbed her and hugged her fiercely. “Honey, you don’t have to explain. We promise what you tell Amanda will still be private. She hasn’t, and never will break your confidence.” He drew back and grasped his daughter’s chin. “But think about this. I want to share what you’re going through. You can tell me anything when you’re ready to, okay?”
Briefly, Amanda had closed her eyes to keep back the tears. It was at that exact moment that she realized how much she loved Nick DiMarco...
Tonight, in the warm ambience of Corelli’s, Amanda recalled the incident and glanced at Nick across the table. He looked devastatingly handsome in a lightweight navy wool blazer, gray shirt, striped tie and charcoal slacks. Despite his initial objection to this dinner, his eyes sparkled with expectation.
Tony himself brought out the wine and spoke to Jason as he poured it. “What do you get when you put one hundred deer in a pen with one hundred pigs?”
The boy tugged at the collar of his blue-and-white-striped shirt as he guessed the answer. “Dirty deer?”
“Nah. One hundred sows and bucks.”
Jason laughed. “Yeah, I get it. Like the money, right?”
Conversation flowed easily. Beth talked about her plans to open her own bookstore and Nick teasingly offered his legal services cheap. More than once, Nick’s gaze caught Amanda’s, then narrowed meaningfully on her black sequined dress. Formfitting, it had a scoop neck, a low back and skimmed her knees. He hadn’t been able to take his eyes off it all evening.
When Amanda saw her mother and father making their way from the back of the restaurant, it was like cloud coming out on a sunny day. What trouble would her father cause when he saw them? The Carsons were at their table before she could warn anyone.
Amanda stood, and Joan kissed her on the cheek and spoke softly. “Hello, dear, how nice to see you.”
Robert crossed his arms over his chest in an aggressive stance. “A sad day when the first time we see our daughter in a month is at a restaurant.”
Covertly, Amanda’s gaze flew to her mother’s. Joan’s expression remained unperturbed. Amanda had seen Joan two weeks ago, but Robert didn’t know. Her mother was obviously keeping secret the visit she’d made to Amanda that fateful Friday.
Beth coughed and Amanda realized introductions were in order. Nick and Beth rose to shake hands. Joan kept eye contact with Nick. “Mr. DiMarco, how nice to see you again.”
“Again? Have you met before?” Robert asked curtly.
“Yes, dear, at Amanda’s house.”
“You’ve been to Amanda’s house?” He appeared to be dumbfounded, and in spite of his arrogance, Amanda felt sorry for him.
Joan’s face remained bland. “Yes, of course. Didn’t I tell you?” She turned to her daughter then. “How was your week at school, dear?”
Warmed by her mother’s concern, she said, “We all got through it. Thanks for asking.”
Robert directed his attention to Nick, who appeared calm and self-assured. “DiMarco, I’ve heard about you from...an associate of mine. Finishing up law school, aren’t you?”
Nick’s eyebrows arched but he kept his casual pose. His voice was even when he answered, “Yes, I am. I’m in the midst of last-semester clerking.”
Oh, no, Nick, don’t let him get a shot at you, please.
“With what firm?” When Nick told him, her father nodded. “Very impressive.” Casually, he turned to Amanda. “You’ll have to bring Mr. DiMarco to the lawyers’ gala next month and introduce him around. It will be good PR for his career.”
Bingo. Show him my other life. Show him how he can’t compete with old money no matter how sought-after he is in the world of law.
Squaring her shoulders, Amanda raised a defiant chin to Robert. She’d do what she had to do to protect Nick. “Actually, Father, I’m not attending this year. I’ve already spoken to Mother about my not being there to help her.”
With a dismissive gesture, Robert shook his head. “Nonsense, she needs you to assist her as hostess this year just as in the past.” Amanda was about to refuse a second time, when he added, “In point of fact, she needs you more this year. The gala is scheduled for March fifteenth.”
Amanda gasped. The anniversary of Lisa’s death. It was like walking into a door in the dark. He’d blindsided her, backed her into that familiar corner and she was fourteen and vulnerable again. Dimly aware of the comments around her, Amanda’s head spun.
“No, Robert, really it’s not necessary,” her mother said, the edge in her voice unusual, but clear.
As if she sensed the friction, Beth tried to distract Robert. “Mr. Carson, I’d like to talk to you sometime about your firm...”
Nick encircled Amanda’s shoulder and gave her a supportive squeeze, but she could feel the tautness in hi
s corded muscles. “Amanda and I will discuss this...”
And the children, not knowing the circumstances, but being all too familiar with adult tension, also came to her defense. Heather quietly slipped her hand into Amanda’s. And Jason, God bless his soul and sense of humor, said to her staid, unsmiling father, “Hey, Mr. Carson. With your being a lawyer and all, you’ll like Heather’s joke. You know why they bury...”
o0o
Chuckling, Nick flopped down on Amanda’s living room couch two hours later. Beth had taken her niece and nephew overnight—her birthday gift to Nick—so he and Amanda could be alone.
“Did you see his face when Jason told him that joke?” Nick said with a smirk.
“Oh, Nick, you don’t know the half of it. He hates lawyer jokes.” Amanda laughed outright and dropped down beside him. “Lisa told them to him all the time. We took bets on how far she’d get before he’d storm out of the room. His face would get red like it did tonight but he didn’t sputter like he did back then.”
Nick sobered and brought his palm up to stroke her cheek. “I’m sorry about his attitude, babe.”
Amanda sighed and leaned into the caress, unwilling to let go of the mirth. He will not ruin tonight for me. “Don’t be. The DiMarco Defense more than made up for it. The look on my father’s face when he saw Jason’s wheelchair did bother me, though.”
Of course, Robert hadn’t noticed the children. When Jason spoke up, then ribbed him with that lawyer joke, Amanda had caught the pain that flitted across her father’s aristocratic features. The parallels with his daughter were too great to ignore. It made Amanda almost forgive him for his taunt. Almost, because she knew Robert’s invitation to the gala was going to cause difficulty with Nick. But not yet. She wanted to savor the rest of his birthday first.
Slowly, she stood and removed her leather coat and tossed it on the floor. She turned to Nick in the dim light of the living room. The remodeling in the whole house was finished now, and Amanda had furnished this area with wide comfortable couches and a thick rug that featured in many of her recent fantasies involving the man before her. Kicking off her shoes, she began to unzip the black dress. “I want you to see your present right away,” she whispered as she eased the frock off her shoulders.
Nick rose unsteadily, and shrugged out of his overcoat. “I thought I told you I didn’t want any presents. At least, the material kind.”
She smiled and finger-combed her hair out of her eyes, holding up the dress precariously with one hand. “Oh, this is in keeping with, shall we say, the spirit of the law.”
Then she dropped the dress to the floor, stepped out of it and stood before him in lingerie more daring than he’d bet she never imagined wearing. The charcoal bra was strapless and low-cut so her breasts strained for release. She’d forgone the matching panties and opted for the garter belt, which held up sheer, silky black stockings. With her heels left on, she stood proudly before him. “Happy Birthday, Nick.”
He swallowed convulsively. He felt his heart slam into his rib cage and, as he watched her, he thought it might beat right out of his chest.
Shedding his jacket, he began to remove his tie as he inched in her direction. “You’ve had this on all night?” he asked. Thank God he hadn’t known.
She nodded. “I wanted to tell you earlier so you could think about it, but there was no opportunity.” Her voice was like warm honey slowly running over his skin.
“Lucky for you, lady, or I might have dragged you off and embarrassed myself in front of my kids.” Clumsily, he unbuttoned and discarded his shirt, still standing halfway across the room. “Come here, Amanda.”
She crossed the space between them slowly, teasingly. “Anything you say, Nick. Didn’t your mother ever tell you you can have anything you want on your birthday?”
He chuckled then groaned as she plastered herself against him, thinking Grace DiMarco had never had this in mind.
o0o
Amanda liked the aftermath of love making almost as much as the event itself. She lay curled against Nick, spoon-fashion, his arms crisscrossing her breasts. His scent curled around her like fog and she closed her eyes to savor it.
He stirred. “What time is it?”
“It’s not your birthday anymore.”
Chuckling, he buried his face in her hair. “At least we made it to the bed the last time.”
“I’m not complaining.” She snuggled into him.
After a short silence, Nick sighed. “Amanda, we’ve got to talk about your father’s invitation.”
“Can’t it wait until tomorrow? I don’t want to ruin tonight.”
She felt Nick tense behind her. Resigned, she turned to face him. The moonlight bathed his face. She reached up to smooth his roughened jaw and shivered slightly, remembering how his beard had scraped the inside of her thigh.
“All right. Let’s get it over with. My father’s comments were a challenge, Nick, not an invitation.”
“To whom? You or me?”
“To me. I know exactly what he’s doing.”
Nick eased back from her onto his own pillow, raised his arm and placed it across his forehead and closed his eyes. “Why don’t you enlighten me.”
Amanda propped up on one elbow and leaned over him, holding the sheet to cover her breasts. “He’s trying to place us in a position where you see me as I used to be. Before I changed my life. He wants to point out our differences.”
“You don’t have to use euphemisms. He wants to show you that I don’t fit in your world. That I’m not good enough for you.”
“This is my world, Nick. And you fit in it just fine. My father simply won’t believe I’ve chosen to earn my own way, live off my own income.”
Nick opened his eyes and turned to stare at her. “And have you, Amanda?”
“Have I what?”
“Chosen to live this way?”
Amanda’s stomach knotted and a deep foreboding crept through her. She hadn’t expected this accusation. “I don’t understand.”
“Have you chosen to give up the luxuries, work hard, sacrifice yourself for others, or is this a stopgap, like...?”
He didn’t finish the question. He didn’t have to. His implication incensed her.
“I’m not Suzanne, Nick.” Each word was clipped and angry.
He waited a moment before he went on. “I don’t hear a denial.”
“You shouldn’t need one. Not after all this.” Her hand gestured to the bed.
Nick laughed ruefully. “Oh, I’ve been good enough here before. I seem to make the grade in the bedroom but not in the ballroom.”
Amanda felt tears threaten. That he would still see her so much like his ex-wife, after all they’d shared, cut deep. She threw back the covers and climbed out of bed. As she reached for a robe on the adjacent chair, Nick grabbed her arm.
“I’m sorry. Don’t leave.” Gently, he tugged and she tumbled back to the bed. He gathered her to him and stroked her hair until he felt her relax. “This kind of stuff gets me going. I don’t mean to take it out on you.”
“Nick, there’s something else. Suzanne could be at the gala.”
He didn’t respond immediately. Then he said, “I don’t care. I can handle that. I just want you to be proud enough of me, to trust me enough, to believe I can make it in your world.”
Amanda waited a very long time before she answered. “But I don’t want that world anymore.”
Holding her, he said quietly, “I do, Amanda.”
o0o
Nick pressed the Save button on his word processor and leaned back in the chair, closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. The report was done and not a minute too soon. He had to pick Heather up in half an hour and take her and Jason to the movies with Tammy. He’d promised them they could sit alone in the theater; he and Jason would stay out of their way. He smiled as he realized she was acting more and more like a normal teenager every day.
Gathering his notes, he remembered receiving this assign
ment at the beginning of the week from Joris himself.
“Nick,” the senior partner had said, “we need a clerk we can count on to research this statute. You’ll have to dig through a ton of case law to find the appropriate precedents, but this could save our client thousands of dollars. I think the other clerks are too inexperienced to handle this. Your maturity tells me you can do it.”
Hiding his satisfaction at the comment, Nick had thanked him for the compliment and was surprised when the old man added, “Sit in on the consultation this Saturday, why don’t you.”
Nick had been elated. It was rare to receive that kind of offer. He’d scrambled all week trying to balance his time and, though he’d been away from the kids more than he liked, he’d managed to mollify everyone with the promise of a movie tonight. He’d have it all, by God, even Amanda. And he’d show Robert Carson exactly who’d succeed both personally and professionally.
Just then, the phone rang. “DiMarco.”
“Nick. Benson here. I found some more data for the Smythe account. You’ll have to research a second statute...”
As Nick jotted down the information, his heart sank. He was in for at least three more hours of work. After he hung up, he swore virulently into the empty office. He could try to come back after the movie, but if he ran into difficulty, it would be one in the morning and there would be no chance of getting help. That was too risky. He’d have to cancel with Heather. The thought of disappointing his daughter sickened him, but he promised himself he’d make it up to her.
Jason answered the phone. “Hi, Dad. Hey, why’d the golfer wear two pairs of pants?”
Nick reined in his impatience and forced himself not to answer the old joke. “I don’t know, Jase, why?”
“Because he got a hole in one.”
His son picked up Nick’s perfunctory laugh right away. “Is something wrong, Dad?”
“No, buddy, just let me talk to Heather.”
Too soon she was on the line. “Hi, Dad.”
Gripping the receiver, he felt guilt curl through him. “Hi, sweetheart. I...I hate to do this to you, but I can’t make it home tonight. Something vital’s come up and I have to stay and finish it.”