Page 27 of Breaking the Ice

“What do you mean… ho-hum?”

“Well, no, that’s notreallytrue. There have been a couple of guys that were great. Just… not recently. Recently it’s been… average. But pleasant,” she added quickly as Nick’s lips pursed, deepening the cleft in his chin.

“It’s not supposed to bepleasant, Samantha. It’s supposed to be amazing, incredible, mind-blowing. It’s supposed to be addictive.”

Samantha swallowed asaddictiveechoed tantalizingly around her head. The only time sex had ever beenthatgood was in the pages of a romance novel. “It’s okay,” she hastened to assure him. “Nice is okay.”

His horrified expression would have been comical had she not been on the receiving end. “Niceis an insult to sex. Flowers are nice. Puppies are nice. Sex should not be nice.”

“I’ve done my research, Nick.” She folded her arms. “Apparently I’m one of a surprising majority of women who find… pleasure elusive.”

If Samantha thought her research might impress him, she was wrong. He only seemed more alarmed. “Are you saying that you’ve never…?”

“No,” she denied emphatically. “I have.Of courseI have. It’s just… hit and miss… and with the last guy… Gary… it was more miss.”

“Christ.” Nick shook his head. “I think you’re seeing entirely the wrong type of man.”

“It’s okay. It wasn’t like the sex wasbad. I was mostly too tired to get off anyway. It’s notthat important.” It sure would have beennicethough.

He bugged his eyes at her. “Of course it’s important, Samantha. And you need a guy willing to show you.”

“Um… working on it. Remember?”

Staring at her in obvious frustration, he shoved his hands on his hips. “I’ll do it.”

Silence descended as they both stood very still. Where in hell hadthatcome from? Samantha tried to gather thoughts that had scattered to parts of her body that were currently lurching crazily at the suggestion.

Was that her eggs trembling?

She didn’t knowwhereto go from here but the only waythrough itwithout total embarrassment, was humor. “You’rethat good, huh?” she joked as her panties well and truly worked themselves into a wad.

His eyes never left her face. “I have a 100 per cent success rate.”

Silence again. Except for her breathing. Or maybe that was his? His aftershave wafted toward her and she was reminded again how much she liked the way men smelled. Nick suddenly looked like one of Rita’s pirate heroes stepping from the pages. Dark and rakishly good looking with a thoroughly indecent proposal. Like he’d just opened his treasure chest to her and lordy,lordyit was tempting.

But… they were friends now and she didn’t have time to dally with Nick whodid notwant a baby, while her eggs got old. “I’ll keep that in mind, Nick. I really will but…”

He inched closer. Close enough to touch. “But?”

Samantha placed her hand on his chest to stop him from coming any nearer. The muscles playing beneath her palm had a strange dizzying affect. Her whole body hummed with awareness as she heard Cher playing in her head and he hadn’t even kissed her yet.

This had to stop! She was supposed to be finding someone her eggs could live with, not letting herself be distracted. So she heard Cher – too bad! She would not let a tantalizing proposition and an iconic rock star derail her focus.

“But you’re my boss and, I think” – she searched his gaze – “my friend? I’ve never had a guy friend before and I know it’s only been a few weeks, but I really like it.”

“Ever heard of friends with benefits?”

Samantha couldn’t quite believe she’d fallen down this rabbit hole. The one where Nick Hawke from theNew Brunswick Crabberswas offering to be her bit on the side. The one where she knocked him back.

“I need to stick to the plan, Nick.”

“I’m not talking about your kooky plan. About eggs or babies. I’m talking about you and me and a night of unforgettable sex.”

Something told her one night of unforgettable sex with Nick would make her eggsimpossibleto live with. “Kooky or not, I’m sticking with it and apart from the many other reasons why this would be a bad idea, you don’t want babies which means you don’t fit the demographic.”

“So you can’t fuck anyone outside the demographic?”

Samantha swallowed as his profanity flushed through her on a wave of heat, titillating her way more than it should have. What theever-lovinghell? “Definitely no fucking outside the demographic. But” – she dropped her hand from his chest and was relieved when he eased back – “I am serious about the friends thing if I haven’t just completely blown it.”

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