“I’m probably more trouble than I’m worth.” I squeezed his hand back. Nick let go and cupped my cheek. My bottom lip quivered as he grazed his thumb across.
“No.” I stopped breathing as he inched closer. “You’re my favorite kind of trouble. And you’re worth every single bit of it.”
Nick’s mouth crashed into mine; his tongue swept along the seam of my lips, and they parted on a throaty groan. My hands drifted down his shoulders, and I clutched his biceps to pull him closer. His lips left mine and trailed down my throat, moving to spread open-mouthed kisses to my chest and causing tingles between my legs. I ached for him to touch me, to run his hands and mouth all over my body. If he didn’t in the next five seconds, I’d break into shards all over my carpet.
I grabbed his hand and tucked it into the waistband of my jeans, silently begging him to touch me. Someone else took over, and I was a woman possessed as I shifted to urge him on. A groan escaped his throat as his fingers found my soaked, swollen flesh. It felt so damn good, I didn’t care who took control of my brain. The crackling tension between us became an inferno, and I was about to burn alive.
I whimpered as he took his hand away, but then he chuckled as he unbuckled my jeans.
“That’s much better. Open back up for me, sweetheart.” My body jerked as his fingers made slow wide circles before sliding deep inside me. My jeans became so constricting I wanted to rip them off.
“Nick . . . I . . . please don’t stop.” I lay back on the couch and pulled him on top of me, his hand still busy, our lips still moving. The strokes of his tongue worked in tandem with the swipes of his fingers. My body shivered as the throbbing in my core pounded so hard my legs shook. It’d been so long since anyone had touched me, but that was not why I was about to go off like a grenade. It was the man on top of me, the man I couldn’t stay away from. The man bringing me so close to the edge, it was painful.
“Say my name.” I panted. Nick’s damp brow furrowed at me. “Say Ella-Jane.”
His lips curved up into a sly grin before they made their way to my earlobe. “You feelsogood, Ella-Jane. Let go, sweetheart. Let go for me, Ella-Jane.”
My body stiffened as I dug my nails into his back. My hips bucked against his hand as the tremors made my vision fade in and out.
Nick gave me a slow, sensual kiss as he wrapped his arms around me, rubbing the hardness between us against my twitching core. Even through layers of denim, it made shudders run through me.
“You’re so fucking perfect,” he whispered against my lips before painting kisses down my neck. I pulled at the back of his T-shirt until he sat up and yanked it over his head.
My mouth dropped open as my eyes raked over Nick’s ripped torso. I assumed all firemen needed to be in good shape, but I lost track of all the muscles and hard ridges along his body. I drifted my fingers up his arms and ached to glorify all his tattoos with my tongue. His mouth twisted into a smirk as he grazed his hands down my chest and felt for the hem of my shirt.
“Only fair,” he whispered in my ear before biting my earlobe. I giggled as he lifted my shirt and pulled it over my head. I lay before him in nothing but a blue lace bra and jeans sagging down my thighs without a smidgen of embarrassment. Nick’s hungry eyes perused my body and sent a shiver through me. He ran his fingers down my bra strap before dragging it down my shoulder. My nipples hardened at the proximity of his wet, talented mouth trailing kisses over the swell of my breasts.
“There they are.” Nick stopped the ministrations of his lips and hovered over me. He feathered kisses over my cheeks as he cupped my breast. “I see atonof freckles now. They’re driving me crazy.Youdrive me crazy, Ella-Jane. I want you so much.”
“Mommy!” Jack’s panicked cry drifted down the hallway. I shoved Nick’s shoulder for him to sit up and shot up off the couch. I pulled up my jeans and threw my shirt over my head before rushing to Jack’s room.
“I’m here!” I switched on the light and sat on the edge of the bed. “Another nightmare so quick?”
“The snowman from the Goosebumps book,” Jack wailed.
I let out a long sigh.ThunderCats, Goosebumps, the list of fears was supposed to get shorter as he got older. “It’s fake; I told you that. Do you want me to lay with you for a bit?” I stroked his sweaty hair as he nodded.
“Okay, give me a minute.” I kissed his forehead and strode back into the hallway, my soaked panties clinging to my damp jeans. My eyes landed on the Christmas picture of Jack as an infant with his dad, and my blood ran cold. The realization of what I did set in as my breath quickened again, but this time I wasn’t possessed. All my faculties came rushing back as horror flooded my system. Nick infiltrating himself so quickly into our world—and pushing Jack all the way out of it—scared the shit out of me. I wanted Nick, and he wanted me. It was what was supposed to happen, so why did it terrify me?
Nick sat on the couch, leaning forward and rubbing the back of his head. All I brought to this man was a ton of frustration—on every single level.
“I’m sorry. Jack had a nightmare, so he wants me to lay with him. I hate to ask you to—”
“Leave?” Nick laughed. “It’s okay. Is he all right?” He stood from the couch and pulled his shirt on before making his way over to me.
“Yeah, fine. Stupid Goosebumps book.”
“The snowman? He told me about that the other day. I was impressed he wasn’t scared, but I guess I was wrong.” Nick slid his arm around my waist.
I huffed. “I thought it was great my son was advanced enough to read a chapter book. Not so much now.”
Nick laughed and pulled me toward him for a soft kiss. I rested my hand on the back of his head but didn’t open my mouth.
“Hey,” Nick whispered against my lips. “Where’d you go?”
“Nowhere. Just tired.” I met his eyes and forced a smile.
“Sweetheart, come on. Talk to me.”
