Fall for Me (Danvers #3)(10)
“Yeah, good, but if he says anything even remotely bad to you, call me and I’ll be right over. I don’t care who, um, instigated this, he still had to . . . you know. Ah, hell, he still shot the load without protection, so he is just as much to blame.”
“Shot the load?” Beth groaned. “It’s called sex, Suzy, and you know plenty about it since you live with Mr. Sex-on-a-Stick as you called him once.”
Waving her toward the door, Suzy said, “Just go and don’t come back for a while. Like maybe for the whole day while I try to scrub my mind of this entire conversation.”
Beth chuckled and walked to her office. As she dropped her purse on her desk, her door suddenly shut behind her and warm hands slid around her waist. “Are you feeling better, princess?”
She smiled as she heard the sexy voice whispering in her ear. Allowing herself to snuggle back in his embrace for just a moment, she said, “Yeah, I’m fine now. What are you doing down here so early?”
Nick turned her around in his arms so they were facing each other. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” He trailed a finger down the curve of her cheek and placed a kiss on the corner of her mouth. “I was worried about you. You were so sick this morning.”
It was so hard to hold out against his charms, especially when he was in this kind of loving, gentle mood. Keep it casual. He probably has the same routine with every woman he dates. He doesn’t love you or even want to love you. He is just a nice guy. She gave him a quick smile and stepped out of the circle of his arms. “I’m fine, Nick, really. I feel great now.” Walking around her desk to put some distance between them, she asked, “Are we still having dinner at my place tonight?”
Nick frowned, obviously confused about the distance that she tried to keep between them unless they were having sex. “Yeah, sure.”
Beth started thumbing through a stack of papers on her desk, hoping that Nick would get the message and leave before she gave in to the urge to shove him down on her desk and ride that fabulous body.
As he started toward the door he suddenly turned around and asked, “What’s up with Suzy? Just as I got on the elevator this morning I saw her walk up and then take off like a bat out of hell when she saw me standing there.”
Beth quickly looked down, afraid her face would give her away. “Um, you know Suzy, it could have been anything. She probably never saw you.”
Still looking doubtful, Nick said, “I guess you’re right. I’ll see you later on.”
She flopped in her chair as the door shut behind him. Was it too early to be having pregnancy hormones? It was getting harder and harder not to buy into the idea of a relationship with him. But she knew that it would destroy her when he walked away and she couldn’t risk it. Of course, now thanks to the baby, their lives would always be intertwined. With a sick feeling, she wondered how she would ever live through the many women she would be forced to see move in and out of his life. In the very near future, if he decided to be a father to their child, he could well have some other woman with him when he picked up their baby for a visit. A wave of nausea swept her, and she knew in her heart that this time it had very little to do with morning sickness.
* * *
Nick slowly shut Beth’s door and walked down the hall. After sleeping with her for months, he didn’t feel any closer to her than their first time on Gray’s kitchen counter. Everyone assumed that he just jumped from one bed to another, but he seldom did that and the few times it had happened, he had hardly been proud of it.
He had never planned on getting involved with Beth, even though she had intrigued him from their first meeting. Her obvious dislike of him was like fuel on a fire. The more she rolled her eyes at him, the more he teased her. She hated him calling her princess so he made sure he did it regularly. What had started as an innocent game had fast gotten out of control. He found himself making up reasons to stay at Gray’s with Beth and Suzy while she was injured. He shuffled his schedule and worked far into the night so that he could free up more time to help. Of course, he would have done anything that Suzy needed and he knew that Gray was grateful that he was staying there while he was away. Truthfully, though, he just couldn’t seem to stay away from Beth.
He was an affectionate person by nature and he usually had some level of closeness with the women he was involved with. Admittedly, it might be a brief relationship, but he still cared, to some degree, even after it was over. He couldn’t understand why Beth seemed so determined to keep him at arm’s length.
She’d given him more than one hard-on before they’d finally had sex. Probably the most memorable one was in Victoria’s Secret when Suzy dragged them there to shop for something for Gray’s return home after a long business trip. Nick had started by playfully holding up skimpy bra and panty sets trying to embarrass Beth. She finally walked off, clearly pissed off. He’d let her go, giving her time to fume in private. As he was wandering around the store waiting for them both to be finished, he spotted Beth holding a pair of lacy black thong panties. Just when he felt sweat starting to break out on his forehead, she grabbed what looked to be a dozen pairs of them in various colors and matching lacy bras.
He had felt his erection starting to dig painfully into the zipper of his jeans when she paused at the end of the aisle and picked up a garter belt. She acted as if she wore stuff like that every day. He stood rooted in the same spot for at least five minutes trying to get control of his body. He really didn’t want to be the weird pervert that went into a lingerie store to get his thrills. Luckily, he had gotten himself under control by the time he saw the girls paying for their purchases. Every time he saw that damn bag for the rest of the afternoon, he felt his c**k stirring. He was practically saying “Down, boy” every few minutes.