Chapter Seven #2
Nix had already gone missing. She had no idea how he’d pulled it off without her noticing, because even though she’d made a point of not looking his way, she’d been hyper-aware of his presence.
Light-headedness, brought on by a combination of excitement and nerves, fogged up her hand-eye coordination, and it took two fumbling attempts for her to get the heavy door open.
She’d been the good girl her whole life, but if this was the rush Taryn got from breaking the law, then she could see the appeal.
Pulse pounding her eardrums, she entered the second hangar. The building felt empty. Her footsteps broadcast her presence, and any second now, she expected someone to lean over the catwalk railing above her and ask what she was doing.
She found the offices to her right, down a short corridor, right where Nix said they’d be.
The third door, near the end of the corridor, was open.
When she peered inside it, he was leaning against the edge of a long conference table, waiting for her.
The room had no windows and only one entrance—and exit.
Nix straightened when she entered, and her breath lost its sense of direction, swirling aimlessly around her pounding heart.
She’d thought he was pretty the first time she saw him, and her opinion on that had not changed.
If anything, the possibility of sleeping with him made him that much more attractive.
The secrecy involved gave it even more of an edge.
She didn’t need to let him know it, however. One of them had to make the first move and she’d prefer it to be him, for pride’s sake if for no other reason.
“Aren’t there supposed to be firefighters on duty?” she asked, buying a few extra seconds to pull herself back together.
“Jazz has her radio on her. She’ll call them in if she needs them.”
He moved toward her, and she leaned in a little, already anticipating the flush of his body against hers, but he reached past her to shut the door. The click of the lock chased away a hot flair of disappointment before it had a chance to take hold.
She changed her mind then and there about the need for a hotel room.
She’d never had sex on a conference room table—or outside of a bedroom, for that matter, because wasn’t she boring—but there was a first time for everything, and with the way he was looking at her, she could come up with no serious objection.
So much for her standards. And her pride took a hike.
“We might as well confront this head-on,” she said, diving in. Subtlety had abandoned ship too. “There’s a definite attraction between us and I’d like to explore it.”
“You would, would you?” A light Texas drawl lengthened his words. His gaze grew thoughtful. “What about what I’d like?”
Embarrassment scorched her from head to toe, and she worried for one frantic second that her hair had caught fire. She’d read him wrong. She hadn’t anticipated rejection. Since she couldn’t pull back her words, and he hadn’t rejected her outright, she had no other choice but to brazen this out.
“Why don’t you tell me what that might be?”
“Hard to say. I’ve never had a woman this desperate for me before.”
This wasn’t rejection. He was toying with her. Relief took the edge off her embarrassment. It didn’t seem fair that men took propositioning a woman in stride while for a woman propositioning a man was a lot of hard work. He wanted to play? Okay.
She could play.
“I’m not desperate,” she said, using the snottiest lawyer tone she could muster, and his lips quirked up at that. “And I’m not talking about anything permanent. You’re just convenient.”
“I see.” He nodded. “I’ll do until something better comes along.”
He wasn’t going out of his way to make this easy for her. “That’s not what I said.”
“But that’s what you meant.”
Things had begun to derail. “You’re deliberately misunderstanding.”
Shauna sent up a silent thanks that Taryn had brought her own car. She groped for the door and yanked on the knob, but it was locked. Before she could figure out how to unlock it, a firm hand covered hers.
“Take it easy, Too Good. I haven’t misunderstood anything. I’m just clarifying the terms.”
She swiveled to face him and pressed her back against the door. “ What did you just call me?”
“Too Good.” He planted his hand next to her head and leaned closer. He smelled of sandalwood and cinnamon, and his breath warmed her cheek. Lust shivered through her. “That’s what you are, isn’t it? Too good for a cowboy?”
She wondered if it was possible for a head to explode. How could she want him this badly, but want to kill him at the same time? She poked a finger into his chest, and wow but he was solid.
“I don’t give a damn if you’re a cowboy,” she said. “I don’t know what dumb ideas your wife put into your head, but don’t go blaming your insecurities on me.”
“Ex-wife,” he corrected her mildly. “My insecurities, huh? So, you’d be okay with a cowboy picking you up and taking you to Lou’s Pub for dinner tonight?”
“I didn’t say that.” One of his knees had worked its way between hers, making it difficult to think.
She plastered her palms to the smooth veneer of the door, struggling to stay upright and not sink against him.
“You’re forgetting about Taryn. George—my boss—told me I should set a good example for her. ”
He brushed her lower lip with his thumb. “And yet, here you are. What example, exactly, are you trying to set? You’re sending mixed messages, Too Good.”
“Quit calling me that!”
“Quit acting that way.” His knee shifted higher, ever so slightly, to torment the insides of her upper thighs. “Are we taking this out in public or are we sneaking around?”
She fought to keep her breathing under control. To not react to what he was doing. To focus. “Let me ask you a question. Am I your usual type?”
“You mean demanding and bossy?”
She’d walked into that one. “I mean independent. I’m not looking for marriage.
I have a career, and I have to work in this town.
Taryn aside, my actions also reflect on my law firm.
” She met his eyes. His face was inches from hers.
His mouth, temptingly close. She already knew he was a good kisser, and she longed to find out what else he was good at.
“You’re newly divorced. I didn’t think you’d be ready for anything too… public. Serious. Not in Grand.”
“My divorce was two years ago. It’s not new. But you’re right,” he said. “I’m not looking for anything too serious either. And since you’re related to one of my bosses, it’s not as if I’d want to wave anything under his nose.”
“What’s your problem, then?”
“I guess I don’t have one.” He sounded surprised.
Shauna cupped his face in her palms. “Then stop talking and kiss me.”
*
Nix
Nix carried a pocketful of condoms on him, because thanks in large part to their previous interactions and a few hopeful dreams, he’d thought it best to start traveling prepared.
He’d invited her here to see if she’d take the risk—he hadn’t expected matters between them to progress this quickly.
Other than messing with her a bit though, he wasn’t about to protest his good fortune.
Kissing her proved an excellent prelude to sex.
The soft, little moans she let out, and the way she pressed against him, putting her whole body into it, drove thought from his head and straight to the bulge in his jeans, which was already so hard it was beginning to ache—due in part to the sleepless nights she’d caused him of late.
This was going to be quick. It was going to be dirty.
But it was going to be very satisfying. For them both.
He loved undressing a woman, and under normal conditions, he’d take his time.
These were not normal conditions. Shauna wore stretchy yoga pants that were easy enough to strip off.
Her shoes were long gone, and she was in as big a hurry as he was.
He admired the thin strips of lace fabric that passed for panties, then hooked his fingers on the little bands over her hips and peeled them away.
She had beautiful legs—long and slender, great for wrapping around a man’s waist. He could hardly wait to get them wrapped around his.
She was eager to get him undressed too. She unbuckled his belt and unfastened his jeans, slowing only long enough to slide her warm palms over his stomach, then into his shorts.
Her fingers touched him, and dear god, it was all he could do to keep from exploding.
He sang a little country tune in his head as a distraction.
But he had her half naked now, and he couldn’t keep his hands to himself.
She was hot, and ready, and he had one finger working inside her while she had him cupped in her hand.
His unbuckled jeans fell to his ankles, and they’d just have to stay there, because he wasn’t about to interrupt what she was doing to him to take his boots off.
She dragged his shorts down, seeking unimpeded access to what he had to offer, and the hell with it.
Foreplay was over. He had his arms supporting her ass, and her legs riding his hips, and with some guidance from her helping hand, a few seconds later, he was buried inside her.
He paused to savor the moment. But only briefly.
Tiny muscles clenched him in place, then slowly, they started to pulse.
Shauna shifted her weight, her hands on his shoulders, urging him to get on with it, and that was all the incentive he needed.
She wanted this as badly as he did, and there was nothing he found hotter than that.
He pumped his hips, putting his knees into it, and felt an orgasm building. He gritted his teeth, holding it back, even though it promised to be glorious and to exceed all expectations. His was not happening before hers. He’d die first.
He thrust harder, and faster, and deeper, and just as his restraint threatened to kill him, Shauna cried out.
Her muscles contracted along the entire length of his shaft, and it nearly brought him to his knees.
He stumbled forward, using the wall for support, and to help brace his arms so they didn’t lose their connection, and groaned loudly as his own release sang hallelujah with hers.
Ragged breathing bounced off the walls in the room. It might be his, or a combination of both. Good thing the hangar was empty, because they hadn’t been quiet.
But he’d forgotten something. Something important.
The condom.
Dammit.
“Relax, cowboy,” Shauna murmured into the side of his throat, correctly interpreting the reason he’d frozen.
Or he might have sworn out loud. Hard to say.
Her head rested on his shoulder and her hair brushed his lips.
“Did you think I wasn’t prepared? I’m on the pill and I’ve got a clean bill of health. ”
“Same,” Nix said. The word out of him as if he had a mouthful of marbles. “Except for the pill part.”
He set her on her feet.
Her sweater was hiked above her waist to the band of her bra. Her panties and yoga pants were on the floor at their feet. Her cheeks were flushed pink, and her hair was a mess. Gone was the cool, aloof lawyer. Satisfaction glowed in her hazel eyes, igniting a similar reaction in him.
He’d put that look there, and he’d never seen a more beautiful, sexy sight in his life.
And to think this was round one. There was so much more for them to explore.
That she was willing to repeat the event shone on her face.
His lone regret was not getting her completely undressed, because her breasts had played a prominent role in his dreams and his palms itched to touch them, but given a few minutes of rest, he could soon rectify that.
He touched the hem of her sweater, prepared to put thought into action, when the slim gold band on her wrist caught his attention. He grabbed her hand so he could take a closer look at her watch. They’d been here longer than he’d thought. The clinic would be over in another ten minutes.
“Is that the right time?”
She glanced at her watch too. Her beautiful eyes widened. “Oh no.”
They grabbed their clothes and got dressed in a hurry. But not fast enough. Outside the conference room, somewhere in the hangar, a door opened and closed, and they heard voices, then footsteps. The footsteps receded.
Shauna looked at him, alarmed.
“There’s a washroom across the hall,” Nix said, thinking fast. “You head for that. I’ll keep on going. Wait a few minutes. If anyone sees you leave, just tell them you needed to use the ladies’ room.”
She nodded, then started to open the door. Nix caught it and held it closed. She was so pretty, and this had not ended on the high note he would have liked.
He kissed her. Not as thoroughly as he wanted to, but enough to show that things weren’t finished between them.
“I’ll be at the churchyard at seven,” he said, then held the door open for her.
She darted through the door and into the ladies’ washroom.
Nix, for his part, strolled out of the corridor and through the hangar, prepared to say he’d shown one of the parents where the facilities were, but he bumped into no one.
Once outside, he jogged across the way and re-entered the second hangar through the emergency exit door he’d propped open earlier.
She hadn’t answered him when he said he’d be at the churchyard. He wondered if she’d show.
Maybe.
Maybe not.