CHAPTER 5 #2
He chuckled. “Those were the days, they tell me.” He swirled the ice in his glass. “Sometimes, I think the older folks had more fun.” He looked over the crowd. “I saw you making the rounds. You seem to know everyone.”
“More like everyone knows me.” She sipped her ginger ale. “You did great. Thank you.”
He had stood gallantly by her side, his striking presence eliminating any questions people might have posed about Blake’s absence.
She set down her glass and gave him a warm smile. “No one could ever tell you’re not a social butterfly.”
“Promise you won’t tell anyone?”
“My lips are sealed.”
His gaze homed in on her mouth.
She swallowed. “I’ve talked to everyone I wanted to talk to, I’ve eaten all the canapés I could, and my feet are not happy with me. I’m done for the evening.”
“Great. Let’s go.” He tipped his head toward the double doors at the far end of the room.
She nodded. No hesitation.
Always, she was the one to be in charge, in just about every situation. This … this was new. She didn’t recognize herself. And Jannie, practical, decisive, in-charge Jannie, for some reason, liked that he took the lead. For once, she could let go and lean on someone, and it felt like a relief.
Leaving, however, was easier said than done.
To Jannie’s frustration, people kept stopping them to chat, and Nick gave each person his full attention, answering their repeated questions about his job as if it were the first time he’d been asked.
He looked completely at ease, but when the three lady doctors who had fawned over him turned to leave, she saw Nick exhale and roll his shoulders.
He rubbed the back of his neck, then gave her a smile that could have melted steel. “How are you doing?”
Wow. Instead of complaining or commenting on the stress caused by events like this one, he checked on her.
She smiled at him. “I’m good. You?”
“The truth?”
“It’s what I always give, so I expect nothing less.”
“Ah, yes. Still honest to a fault.”
“Some would say harsh and blunt.”
“I never saw it that way. You said what you thought. I always liked that about you.”
She tapped his arm. “You hardly spoke a word to me!”
He shrugged. “Back then, I didn’t dare talk to you. I planned these questions in my head, but they never seemed to come out when we were face-to-face, so I stuck to school stuff.”
“Why?”
He didn’t answer. The guitar intro of Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry” began, and Nick paused, a little smile curving his lips. “I haven’t heard this song in ages. One dance before we head upstairs?”
The melody was lulling, the lighting was low, and Jannie couldn’t refuse his invitation to dance to the music that had been popular when they were teens.
He led her to the dance floor and took her in his arms. But instead of sweeping her across the room with the smooth grace she expected, he began what she could only describe as a wooden shuffle. It was such a surprise that she had to work hard not to laugh.
Despite her best efforts, he noticed. “Go ahead, laugh. You know you want to.”
Step right. Step left.
The man was stomping side to side, and when he attempted a few steps for variety, it was like dancing with a lumbering oak.
Jannie laughed. “No wonder you never went to any school dances.”
His lips twitched. “I feel like a robot.”
“You dance like one.”
He chuckled. “One of the social graces I never managed to master. In retrospect, I regret not taking lessons.”
“I’m sure your mastery in other areas makes up for this.”
His smile was slow, and something feral glinted in his eyes. “Oh, you think so?”
There was no mistaking his meaning, but she pretended not to catch it. “I know so. I know what it takes to fly a jet.”
He modestly inclined his head and promptly trampled on her foot. “Sorry.”
“I can lead,” she offered, “all you have to do is—”
“No.” He uttered the monosyllable with a firm tone that sent a shiver through her, and Jannie looked up to catch a glimpse of danger in his dark eyes.
“I follow no one, Jannie.” His tone was mild, belying his expression. “Not even you.”
“Yes, sir,” she snarked without thinking.
He misstepped, causing her ankle to turn. His fingers tightened on the small of her back and he pulled her to him, angling his body, his groin colliding with her thigh.
Her eyes widened. The unmistakable evidence was there: Nick was aroused.
Oh, was he ever.
“Are you OK?” he asked.
No.
“Yes.”
“Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine.”
With any other man except for Blake, Jannie would have instinctively drawn back. But even as her mind said this would be the appropriate thing to do, her body countered shamelessly, pressing into him, reveling in the feel of his hardness against her curves.
Her breath quickened. Tingles materialized, hot and heavy, and the dull, hot throb began anew, shocking her to her very foundation.
For years, she thought she had chemistry with Blake, but now Jannie realized she’d been wrong.
What was happening now with Nick was a nuclear reactor compared to a school lab experiment.
Forgotten was the awkward way he danced, if you could even call it that. His hard frame pressed into hers as he held her flush against him, communicating things her body well understood.
And wanted.
He resumed dancing, keeping enough distance to accommodate her belly. Feeling slightly dizzy again, Jannie rested her palms against his rock-hard chest and found she didn’t need alcohol to feel as if she were floating.
His hand slid lower on her back, just above her backside, enough to be sexy but still respectful.
The last strains of the melody filled the room, and Nick lowered his head, his lips a hairbreadth from her ear. “I’m ready to eat,” he murmured.
His hot breath skated across her ear and warmed her cheek.
And other places.
He lingered there, his mouth warm, his beard brushing the side of her neck, causing all sorts of havoc along her skin before he straightened, a sexy half-smile curving his sensuous lips.
But as she leaned into Nick, relishing the feel of his strong arms around her, the back of Jannie’s neck prickled, and she had a distinct feeling that someone was watching.
She glanced around the room.
And spotted Blake.
Her stomach dropped.
Oh, no.
He stood there at the edge of the dance floor, outrage on his face, his fingers tight around a lowball filled with what she knew was his usual, a double of scotch.
She clenched her jaw. Her eyes narrowed, and she returned his look with one she hoped was twice as hostile.
Nick must have sensed her tension because he paused and looked down at her questioningly. “Something wrong?”
“You could say that,” she said through clenched teeth.
He followed her gaze, and she knew the instant he noticed Blake, because he took one look at him and smirked. “Someone you know?”
She nodded, not feeling like explaining.
Nick seemed entirely unperturbed. “He looks unhappy.”
“Not my problem.”
The next moment, Blake started toward them.
Anger flared, hot and swift, in Jannie’s chest.
How dare he crash her function? What gave him the right to look at her like that? Stalker behavior, that’s what this was.
Blake threaded through the crowd, and before Jannie knew it, he was halfway across the dance floor. Jannie looked into Nick’s eyes, her pulse skyrocketing, steely determination stiffening her spine. “Kiss me.”
Nick blinked. His feet came to a standstill. For a split second, there was a question in his dark eyes.
Jannie gripped the back of his neck and pulled. “Make it good,” she murmured, “please.”
His dark eyes flashed. He glanced at Blake and didn’t hesitate a second longer.
Nick took her mouth with such hot deliberation, it stole her breath away.
The shock of it slammed over Jannie like a tidal wave. Never had any man kissed her this way, as if he meant to draw her essence and absorb it. A riot of colors kaleidoscoped behind her eyes, and fireworks burst inside her, vivid and bright.
His lips caressed, his tongue plundered, a combination that made her head spin and her heart race, quickening with every stroke. Her hands found his lapels. She gripped them, both to steady herself and keep him close because she never wanted him to stop.
God help her; this didn’t feel fake. It felt like—
Nick broke the kiss and drew away a fraction. “He’s leaving.”
Jannie blinked. She looked and glimpsed Blake’s retreating back before he threw her a murderous look over his shoulder, shoved open a set of double doors, and stomped into the hallway.