Page 79 of Love Over Time

“If you really want to thank me…”

She giggled again, getting out of the top in two blinks.

As soon as she did, I had my mouth over her hardened nipples. “You are so beautiful.”

“How much time do we have?” she asked in between uneven breaths as she reached over for her emergency pack on the bedside table, where she kept condoms, of all things. No doubt stuffed right next to her gun and cable ties.

I glanced at my phone next to her pack and hit the Home button to display the time. “We have to be at the hotel in two hours.”

“Then hurry up and make me come.” She rolled a condom over my erection and guided me inside her.

“Christ, Nikki.” I sat up and kissed her.

Since the day I met her so many years ago, I’d fallen in love with Nikki’s free spirit. The way she saw the world through rose-colored glasses despite all the bad in her life. Over the years, no matter how hard I tried to hate her, my love for her had never wavered.

“I don’t want to spend any more time away from you, either. I want to live here with you.”

She rolled her hips. A slow buzz washed over me as she pushed me closer to the edge.

“Henry.” Her fingernails dug into my shoulder.

My name on her lips was my undoing. I craved it, lived for it. And there it was again, the all-consuming orgasm that sent us to a place where only Nikki and I existed. Her breathing, her heart beating were the only things drumming on my skin, the only sounds I could hear.

“Oh my God, Henry.” She clung to me, riding out the last waves of sensation.

“I know,” I whispered.

We sat in the middle of the bed, tangled in each other’s arms. I didn’t want to move and break the connection between us. I’d come so close to losing her. It would be a long while before the feeling that we were living on borrowed time would dissipate. I scooted off the bed with her legs wrapped around me.

“Where are we going?”

“Shower.” My feet slapped against the cool floor as I carried her to the clawfoot tub. “I’ve always wondered what you’d look like wet.”

Laughing, a deep, sexy laugh, she dropped her head into the nook of my shoulder and squeezed her thighs tighter around my waist.

Two hours later, I parked my truck outside the Cavalier Hotel. Nikki wore my jersey and a pair of sweat pants we’d found in my closet. It didn’t matter what she wore. She still looked hot as heck. “What happened to all your clothes?” I asked.

“I packed them and left them in your room, under the bed. I figured that would be the last place you’d look.”

I shook my head and climbed out of the car. “Go on and get dressed. Looks like the surprise is almost ready.” I stood in the middle of the lobby and watched Nikki rush upstairs.

As much as Mrs. Blaine hated to be doing this much work for Lisa, she just couldn’t say no to me, especially after Russ made sure everyone in Paradise Creek knew that I was back at the manor, a proper Cavalier, as Nikki had put it. I had money again, and to Mrs. Blaine that was all that mattered. It was why she had agreed to cater Lisa’s welcome-home party. Everyone in town needed to know she was innocent.

“What do you think? Is this what you had in mind?” Mrs. Blaine placed a tea candle holder on a table, one of ten scattered around the lobby. Just the way Mom used to do it when she’d hosted her parties at the hotel. The band had already set up on the top of the grand staircase and were tuning their instruments.

“It looks great. Thanks.”

“The food will go over here, opposite the bar. Since you didn’t give me a menu, I just brought some of my most popular dishes and…” She did a double take, her mouth slightly open.

I turned around, knowing full well who I’d find. I could spend the rest of my life just standing here, watching Nikki come down the stairs in whatever bombshell dress she chose for the day. For tonight, she’d gone with a royal-blue dress. One of Mom’s diamond necklaces completed her outfit.

“She was always very pretty,” Mrs. Blaine said.

Nikki was drop-dead gorgeous, and Mrs. Blaine knew it. I took a deep breath and let it go. It would be a while before Francesca’s influence on this town went away completely. For now, this was a very good start.

“The room looks beautiful,” Nikki said when she joined us. Her eyes sparkled under the twinkling lights of the chandelier. “Just like I remembered it. You even replaced the mirror.” She pointed to the wall behind the bar.

“Hipolita.” Mrs. Blaine cleared her throat. Nikki blinked once, slowly, lips pressed together. She really hated that name. “I wanted to apologize for the way I treated you when…you know. It was unfair.”

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