Page 7 of I Need You Tonight
I sank onto the love seat and waited for her to join me. For a second I thought she was going to take her bad-date sustenance over to the armchair, but she plopped herself down next to me. And for the first time since arriving at her house, I noticed her sweet yet subtle floral perfume. It was different from the type I was used to with groupies and the women who were interested in nothing more than a quick lay. Their fragrance was always sensual, aimed to seduce. Not so with Nicole’s scent…yet I was still hyperaware of her sitting next to me.
Lay off, Dell. She’s the little sister of your friend, the guy you owe your life to.
The movie began—and I had to say the ice cream girls ate to get over boy problems was definitely the best. This wasn’t the cheap crap. This ice cream meant business.
“Christ, this is good,” I said, lifting my bowl so Nicole knew what the heck I was talking about.
She gave me anI know, right?smile, then shrugged. “I had a feeling I would need it tonight.”
Shit, just how bad had her last dates been? Not that I would be much of a judge when it came to determining what made for a good date or not. I couldn’t remember the last time I had been on one. I wasn’t exactly the dating type—more like the screw-’em-and-leave-’em type. None of the women I’d been with lately had complained about that. I doubted any of them had left the arena in need of ice cream to get over a great fuck. If anything, they had always left looking satisfied.
“Have you ever tried that?” Nicole asked when we got to the part in the movie where Bruce Willis removed his shoes in the bathroom and curled his toes in the carpet. It was supposed to help with jet lag, but in reality it was to leave Bruce vulnerable in a later scene, when he was running around barefooted and one of the bad guys shot out the glass. Bruce’s feet were cut to shreds. It was one of the best scenes in the movie.
“No, have you?” I asked.
“I haven’t really traveled much. Nothing like Zack. Guess I haven’t had the chance.”
“Because you’re a workaholic?”
She laughed, the sweetest, sexiest sound I’d ever heard. My dick twitched with interest, having missed my earlier reminder that Nicole was off-limits. “Zack told you that, huh?”
“So you’re not?” I asked.
“According to my best friend, I am.”
“But you disagree?”
She shrugged again, her shoulders tempting me to run my tongue along the soft skin. “I like what I do. And besides, I don’t have a choice.”
“Why’s that?”
She pulled her feet onto the couch and tucked them next to her. The movement shifted her body, so only a couple of inches now separated us. For some reason, I wanted to shorten the distance between us even further. I craved to touch her, taste her, explore her. Everything I wasn’t supposed to do to my friend’s little sister.
I reached for my glass and took a long sip of wine.
“My best friend and I own a floral boutique,” she explained. “But it doesn’t run itself. Heidi is brilliant at arranging the flowers, but she’s at a loss when it comes to the business side. That means I have to put in the long hours to make sure everything’s done.”
“Do you enjoy it?”
“Yeah, I do. Plus I’m always working on ways to attract new customers, and that allows me to exercise my creative side.” She smiled, and damn if my cock didn’t respond once more. The smile was nothing like the deliberately seductive smile of groupies. Like everything else about her, it was sweet and innocent, yet sexy as hell, especially when teamed with her panda pajamas.
Unconsciously, my body leaned toward her, enough so her shoulder brushed against my chest. It was barely a touch, but that didn’t stop an electrifying hum from vibrating through my body. I drained my glass.
Nicole did the same with hers, and for a fleeting moment I wondered if her body had reacted to the touch the same way mine had. “Let me get some more wine,” she said.
Before I could say anything, she pushed herself off the couch and left the room. She returned with the bottle of white wine and filled our glasses. Then she sat next to me again, her body practically cuddling against me, and for a goddamn second I hungered for her to do just that.
I pushed the urge away and continued watching the movie.
Bruce Willis killed a bad guy and sat him on a chair in the elevator with a message scrawled on the guy’s T-shirt. This angered the dead man’s brother, who now thirsted for revenge…and nothing would stand in the way of his getting it.
I tried not to think about what Zack would do if he knew how much I craved to sink inside his sister. He wouldn’t try to kill me, right? Not after he’d gone through all that trouble to save my sorry ass last time.
“Do you have any siblings other than your sister?” Nicole asked, her words tearing me away from thoughts of what else I’d like to do with her that Zack would frown on. I guess during all those times I’d seen her in the past, the topic of my family had never come up.
“A brother. We aren’t close like you and Zack.” Epic understatement of the century.
I hadn’t seen either of them in three years, after they made it clear I was no longer welcome in the family and I finally moved on.
