True Love Page 15

  He broke off the kiss. The breath of him was warm against her mouth when he murmured, “I want to remove your top, Shayla.” The last time they had made love, he hadn’t given a lot of time to her breasts, because he’d been in such a rush to get inside her body. But tonight they would be taking things slowly, and he planned to give them a lot of attention.

  She shivered when he completely removed her top and bra. When he stood up and pulled her up on wobbly knees, she went willingly into his arms, moaning slightly when he covered her mouth with his once again.

  This is what I need, Nicholas thought as he greedily feasted on Shayla’s mouth. This is what I want. He wanted her. He wanted it all. It was as if he could not get enough of her—her mouth, her taste, and even her alluring scent. Her perfume was doing a number on him again. He deepened the kiss, wanting to taste all of her, wanting his tongue to mate with hers in all the ways he had ever dreamed about.

  His hand reached down and cupped her bottom, bringing her closer to the fit of him, wanting her to feel his hard aching flesh, which symbolized his intense need. She made a small whimpering sound when she felt the hardness of him pressed against her. “I want to make love to you in a bed this time,” he whispered moistly against her lips. “Where’s your bedroom?”

  His question only intensified the need within Shayla, and when Nicholas picked her up in his arms she wrapped her arms around his neck and gazed into his eyes. They were filled with the same desire she knew was in her own. “Upstairs. The first room on your right,” she answered, after releasing a long breath.

  Nicholas’s strong arms held her securely as he took the stairs. He quickly glanced at the interior of her bedroom, his mind barely registering the minor details until he saw the bed, warm and inviting. Driven by a need he had never known, but operating on a promise to take things slowly, he walked straight to the bed, not stopping until he placed her on it. A shudder passed through him when he looked down at her, nude from the waist up, her breasts firm and tilted and sensuously inviting.

  Shayla’s eyes rounded slightly when she saw that Nicholas’s gaze was locked on her breasts. And when he moistened his lips with a quick sweep of his tongue, a direct heat flared within the pit of her stomach.

  Every vein in her body sizzled when he leaned down and captured her nipple in his mouth, giving it the same torment he had given her mouth just moments earlier.

  “Oh, my,” she murmured before sucking in a deep hollow breath and then letting it out slowly. He took his time, cherishing her breasts, tasting them, loving them, slanting the fullness of his mouth over them, gently possessing, stroking, time and time again, going from one breast to the other, delivering slow delicious torment. She became a fiery ball of passion in his arms, cupping the sides of his face, holding him to her as he lavished her breasts in warm, wet, consuming heat.

  And he continued to take it slowly.

  “Nicholas.” His name poured forth from her lips in a deep and ragged breath.

  “Tell me, Shayla. What do you want?” he whispered when his lips moved from her breasts to an area just below her ear. “Tell me what you want from me, sweetheart.”

  His lips then moved from her ear to kiss her cheek and then the corner of her mouth. “Tell me.”

  Shayla knew what she wanted more than anything, and it was the one thing she could never ask him for. From him it would have to come freely. More than anything, she wanted his love. She wanted him to fall in love with her as deeply as she had fallen in love with him. But instead of telling him her innermost thoughts and desires, she met his gaze, saw the gold of his eyes, felt the need pooling hot in the center of her, and whispered in a soft, seductive voice, “I want you, Nicholas, inside me.”

  Nicholas’s gaze locked steadily with hers. Then he reached out and captured her chin in his hand and leaned closer to her mouth and whispered breathlessly against her lips. “That’s where I want to be, too, Shayla.”

  She watched as he backed away from the bed and began removing all of his clothes. Seeing him remove his sweater and watching him pull off his jeans made her draw in a deep breath. She couldn’t help but study each and every inch of his body, remembering the pleasure it had given her before. Then she watched as he prepared to protect her by putting on a condom. His body was strong, well-built, and massive. His gaze never left hers when he returned to the bed. “Now I take yours off,” he said throatily as he reached out and began removing the rest of her clothes.

  When he had finished he looked down at her. “Remember, we’re going to take it slowly tonight,” he said, sinking down on the bed and drawing her into his arms and moving his body over hers.

  She looked up at him and held his gaze as her body accepted the heated invasion of his when he entered her.

  All sense of time was lost. Seconds turned into minutes as Nicholas made slow, thorough love to her. Need clawed within them as they became lost in their fierce lovemaking, recapturing everything they had shared in Hong Kong, in total awe that things could be even better with them a second time, totally uninhibited.

  When Nicholas felt her body shudder violently under him with the force of her climax, he allowed his body to do the same. Satisfied that what they had shared had been slow yet totally fulfilling, he uttered a harsh cry and then released a deep growl as his body slammed into an explosion of excruciating pleasure.

  Chapter 18

  It was a good sound, Nicholas thought, and instinctively moved his body closer to it. It was a sound he was not used to hearing—one of a woman sleeping in his arms.

  He lay on his side while he held Shayla, watching her sleep, listening to the sound of her soft even breathing, and thinking that once again he had broken another rule with her. He had made it a point never to spend the night at a woman’s place. He preferred sleeping in his own bed. That had been Olivia’s one pet peeve about their relationship. Even after a year of them dating exclusively, he had not spent the night at her place, nor she at his. He had tried explaining to her over and over again that he detested the feeling of being crowded. He needed his space.

  Yet, with a beam of daylight coming through Shayla’s bedroom window indicating that it was morning, he realized he hadn’t thought about leaving her bed. He doubted he could have, even if he had wanted to. The slow lovemaking they’d shared had literally drained him. He had felt content just to wrap his sated body next to hers and hold her in his arms through the night while they slept.

  When she shifted her body in sleep he reached out and once again cradled her in his arms. He spread his fingers wide over her hip, feeling a moment of intense possessiveness. At the same time he felt the hardness of him stir from her body being so close to his. He moved his hand from her hip all the way to her breasts. He gently massaged them with his hands, thinking they must be tender from all the attention he had lavished upon them.

  Last night he had been too busy getting Shayla into bed to take a really good look at the decor of her room. Like her, the room was bright, feminine, and beautiful. Her bed covering, a floral design, and the coordinating arrangements that hung from the high ceiling added an air of spring to the room.

  He glanced outside the window and saw it was still snowing. In fact, it seemed to be snowing even harder than it had last night when he’d arrived. When Shayla shifted in sleep again, curling her body around his, he tightened his hold on her and closed his eyes, deciding that sleep was what they both needed.

  Shayla woke up alone. She noticed Nicholas’s absence the moment she opened her eyes. She didn’t move while she tried to remember when he had left her bed. His scent still lingered, so it must not have been too long ago.

  She reached out and grabbed the pillow where his head had lain. Clutching it to her, she savored the masculine essence of him and felt the heated intimacy of their lovemaking. He had kept his promise. They had taken things slowly. Almost too slowly. By the time he had given her what she had wanted she’d become a mass of withering need beneath him.

  A shive
r ran down the length of her spine as she remembered everything about the night in explicit detail. She remembered every kiss on her lips and her breasts, and the feel of him inside of her that had taken her over the edge into passionate oblivion.

  She was about to drift back off to sleep with those thoughts when she smelled coffee. Was Nicholas still there? A quick glance outside her bedroom window showed it was still snowing. That must have been a doozy of a snowstorm that hit last night, she thought. And just think, she and Nicholas had made love all through it.

  “Good morning.”

  Nicholas turned from looking out of the window when he heard the sound of Shayla’s voice. No woman, he thought, should look this refreshed and desirable in the morning. He smiled and walked over to her and pulled her into his arms for a good-morning kiss, softly at first, enjoying her minty-fresh taste. “Good morning to you, too,” he said, releasing her mouth. “I took the liberty of opening a new toothbrush I saw on the vanity in your bathroom. I hope you don’t mind.”

  Shayla shook her head. “No, I don’t. It’s a consolation prize from my recent visit to the dentist.”

  Nicholas nodded. “It’s still snowing.”

  She smiled up at him. “So I see. What’s the weather update?”

  “A severe snowstorm that they don’t anticipate going away for at least another day,” he murmured against her hair, wondering what there was about her that made him want to hold her in his arms forever. “For the moment we’re snowbound. Schools and businesses are closed, since the streets are not safe.”

  She nodded. “Have you tried calling Chenault?”

  “Yes, and I got the twenty-four-hour security crew. They said other than a few calls there wasn’t any activity over there. I’m glad my employees had the good sense not to try to make it in.”

  “And I’m glad you care enough for your employees not to want them to. You’d be surprised how many businesses would expect their people to come in anyway.” She glanced around the kitchen. “Do I smell coffee?”

  “Yeah, want some?”

  “Sure. You tried mine last night. Now it’s time I tried yours.”

  He smiled as he lifted his hand to brush a curl back from her face. “Yeah, and I want to try something else of yours again,” he said, leaning down and slanting his mouth across hers.

  Shayla wrapped her arms around his neck and gave in to the sensations his kiss was evoking.

  “Still want that coffee?” Nicholas whispered moments later against her moist lips.

  “I need something hot,” she answered. “You think you might have something hotter?”

  “Yeah, I think I do.”

  “Umm, what is it?”

  “It’s something I have to show you.”

  She stepped back mere inches, and looked up into his eyes. “Then show me.”

  Nicholas swept her into his arms and carried her back upstairs to the bedroom.

  “I guess it was just meant for me to feel like a lazybones this morning,” Nicholas said when he glanced at the clock on the nightstand next to Shayla’s bed. “It’s almost noon, and I have no desire to get out of this bed.”

  Shayla shifted closer to him. “It’s the weather. It’ll do it to you.”

  Nicholas shook his head and ran a finger down the side of her face. “No, it’s not the weather. It’s you. You do it to me.”

  The smile she gave him made his heart pick up a beat. “No, Nicholas, you do it to me…and quite gloriously, I might add.”

  Nicholas grinned at that. “You think so?”

  “I know so.”

  He captured her face in his hands. “You’re pretty good for my ego, Ms. Kirkland.”

  Then he kissed her, and Shayla forgot everything. All she could think about was Nicholas’s mouth on hers, nibbling at her lips, and his tongue slipping inside her mouth, tasting her.

  When he finally lifted his mouth, his gaze locked with hers. “I think we need to get out of here and declare your bedroom off-limits for the rest of the day.”

  “That’s not a bad idea, but first we need to talk.”

  “I thought we did that last night…among other things,” he said, smiling at the memory.

  “We did, but we didn’t discuss how we would handle our situation at work.”

  “There’s nothing to handle. It was a rule I made to govern my own life, and if I choose to break it, it’s nobody’s business.”

  Shayla shifted positions to look at Nicholas. “But how will it look if word gets out that we’re involved?”

  He shrugged, giving her a masculine smile. “It will look as if I have extremely great taste.”

  Shayla shook her head and released a sigh filled with exasperation. “Nicholas, be serious.”

  “I am. I see no reason why we have to hide anything. It’s not as if I plan to jump your bones in the office.” A thoughtful expression crossed his face. “Umm, on second thought, that doesn’t sound all that bad. Have you ever done it on a desk?”

  “Of course not!”

  Nicholas laughed at the indignation in her voice. “Ahh, that’s right, you’re new at this. I forgot. But then, I’ve never done it on a desk, either. Maybe we ought to give it a try one day after the office closes.”

  Shayla frowned. “You’re not taking me seriously about this, are you?”

  “No,” Nicholas admitted as he caught her chin in his hand. “I don’t like the idea of us sneaking around. What’s the big deal with bringing it out in the open that we’re seeing each other?”

  “My credibility. I just started working for Chenault three weeks ago—two, if you don’t count that week in Hong Kong, which no one knows about, thank goodness. I don’t want to be the center of office gossip. That can ruin my credibility.”

  “Trust me, Shayla, the only person you should worry about for credibility’s sake is me, and you proved your worth to Chenault when you came through with the Ling Deal.”

  “Yes, but I want the respect of my peers, as well as the people who work under me. I don’t want anyone to think I got this job on my back.”

  Nicholas’s eyes narrowed. “No one would think that.”

  “Yes, they would. Any woman at Chenault who may have come on to you and you deliberately ignored would possibly think that.” Shayla couldn’t help remembering the look Cindy Davenport had given her after yesterday’s meeting.

  Nicholas dragged his hand over his face. “You’re serious about all of this, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “All right. What do you suggest?”

  “That we be very discreet.”

  “How do you expect that, Shayla, when just being around you drives me to distraction?”

  She wound her arms around his neck and grinned at the pout on his face. “That’s something you’ll have to work on, Boss.”

  “Discreet, huh?”

  “Yes.”

  Without warning Nicholas rolled her beneath him. “In that case, if I have to act as if you’re invisible in the office, I need to load up on loving you,” he said, taking control of her mouth, mind, and body once again.

  Chapter 19

  There was a break-in at Chenault Electronics.

  Nicholas was called that afternoon, and left Shayla’s house immediately. Luckily it had stopped snowing, and the roads were somewhat clear. This time he didn’t make a promise to call her. Instead, to her surprise, he promised to come back later.

  Shayla sat on the floor in front of the fireplace and watched the flames, wondering who was behind the string of incidents at Chenault. First there had been the fire in Jacksonville, and now the break-in in Chicago. From the muttered curses that had flowed from Nicholas’s mouth while he’d hurriedly put on his clothes, it was quite obvious that he thought Thomas Jordache was behind everything. If that were true, she couldn’t help but wonder what sort of strain that would place on Nicholas and Trent’s friendship.

  After Nicholas left she called her aunt to see how she had fared during the snowstorm. Cal
lie told her she had enjoyed the day by staying in bed curled up with a good book. Shayla had seen no reason to tell her aunt she had curled up in bed, too—with Nicholas.

  It was nearly nine that night when Shayla heard the knock on her door. She had just taken a shower and come downstairs to get a cup of coffee. She pulled her robe together when she heard the second knock and walked over to the door. “Who is it?”

  “It’s me. Nicholas.”

  Shayla opened the door immediately, to a blast of freezing cold air. Although it had stopped snowing, the temperature was ten below zero. When Nicholas had left earlier, all he’d worn to ward off the cold had been his short leather jacket. Most southerners, she’d discovered, were not used to the harsh, cold Chicago weather.

  “I hope it’s not too late, but I promised I’d come back.”

  Shayla caught Nicholas’s arm and quickly pulled him inside, shivering as she closed the door. “Of course it’s not.” She watched as he removed his jacket and noticed how hard he was shaking. “You might think about investing in a full-length coat.”

  He tried smiling at her comment, but couldn’t. It seemed his features were frozen into place. He was just that cold. “Go on in near the fire. I’ll bring you something hot to drink,” she said, looking at him with concern. Her father had always referred to this type of cold as pneumonia weather.

  Once in the kitchen, Shayla decided to fix Nicholas a bowl of vegetable soup and a sandwich instead of a cup of coffee. He looked weak, but he was wearing a change of clothes, so it appeared he had gone home to shower before coming back. Chances were he hadn’t taken the time to eat anything since he’d left.

  When she returned to the family room moments later carrying the soup and sandwich on a tray, she discovered Nicholas had taken the pillows off her sofa and had stretched out on the floor in front of the fireplace with his eyes closed. She could tell he was trying to control his shivering. When he heard her approach, he opened his eyes and smiled at her. “Something smells good.”