Page 10 of Wife for a Week

‘You can’t take the floor. The floor is too hard. Anyway, I have a plan.’ Hallie strode over to the bed and began stacking cushions straight down the middle of it.

‘This is your plan?’ he asked, somewhat sceptically.

‘This,’ she said, busily stacking cushions, ‘is the Great Wall of China. You are the Mongol horde and I am the Emperor’s finest troops.’

He looked as if he wanted to laugh, caught her glare, and must have decided against it.

‘Well, that hardly seems fair,’ he said finally. ‘Why can’t I be the Emperor’s finest and you be the barbarians?’

‘Fine. Just stay on your side of the wall, okay?’

‘I will defend this wall with my very life.’

‘Whatever.’ That’d teach her to mix metaphors with a computer games master. She slipped beneath the covers and lay down. Moments later Nick approached the bed and the mattress dipped as he lay down. Her plan was working. And then Nick’s head and torso appeared above the cushions, his elbow skewing them haphazardly.

‘The Emperor’s troops are allowed on the wall, right? I feel like I should be patrolling it.’

‘Trust me, you don’t have to patrol the wall. There is nothing happening on your northern border tonight. Get some sleep.’

He disappeared behind the wall of pillows only to return again almost immediately.

‘No raiding party?’

‘No. There is nothing on your side of the wall that the barbarians want.’ This was a lie. She knew for a fact that there were enormous treasures to be found just a cushion’s length away.

‘Here’s the problem,’ said Nick. ‘I’ve never slept in the same bed with a woman and not slept with her, if you get my meaning. I feel like I should be doing something.’

‘Go to sleep. Think of the wall.’ She, however, would be spending the rest of the night fantasizing about what it was he thought he should be doing.

‘Have you ever slept with a man and not slept with him?’ he asked.

‘Yes.’ Did sharing tent space on a camping trip with a nine-year-old brother count? ‘It’s not hard.’

‘Wrong,’ he said. ‘It’s extremely hard. A raiding party would know this already.’

Hallie’s stomach clenched and her toes curled as she tried not to picture in vivid detail exactly which part of Nick was hard. ‘Sending a raiding party over that wall would be suicide,’ she countered.

‘What if I invited you over for peace negotiations?’

‘Hah! I’m not falling for that old trap.’

‘I can’t believe you ever thought this plan was going to work,’ he said as the bottom-most pillow tumbled from the bed.

‘Fine then. I’ll sleep on the floor.’

‘You can’t sleep on the floor. The floor is too hard.’

‘Then go to sleep before I strangle you,’ she yelled. And after a moment’s reflection, ‘You’re deliberately inciting the Mongol horde, aren’t you?’

‘Is it working?’

‘No.’ She punched the pillow at her head until it was shaped to her liking and deliberately turned her back to him. ‘The Mongol horde is wise to your tricks.’

She heard his low, sexy chuckle followed by the rustle of sheets.

‘Goodnight, Mrs Cooper.’

And much, much later, when the regular, even rhythm of his breathing told her he’d fallen asleep, ‘Goodnight, Nicholas.’

CHAPTER FOUR

NICK woke before the dawn with a sleeping Hallie snuggled tightly into his side. Her head was on his shoulder, her arm was resting on his chest, her legs were entwined with his, and there wasn’t a pillow in sight. What was more, he noted with no little satisfaction, she was on his side of the bed, his, which meant that, technically, she was the one doing all the invading. Her body was relaxed, her breathing slow and even. The Mongol horde was vulnerable. Question was: what was he going to do about it?

A gentleman would slide on out of bed without waking her and head for the shower. A rogue would wake her with kisses, slide on into her, pleasure her until she was sated, then carry her to the shower. Tough choice.

He was still debating tactics when he felt her stir. Her long, smooth legs tangled even more closely with his and her hand traced a leisurely path from his chest to his stomach sending a shiver of pleasure straight through him. Even in sleep she knew just what to do to get his undivided attention. And then she stopped.

Nick felt her body stiffen, heard her sharply indrawn breath. She was awake.

‘Morning,’ he said huskily, although at this hour, with silvery darkness still enveloping them, that was debatable. She jerked up on one elbow, looked around wildly, and her knee connected with his crotch. ‘Oomf!’ His eyes crossed. His breath left his body. So much for his wake-up sex fantasy.

‘Sorry,’ she muttered, removing her knee and patting him better abstractedly. ‘What happened to the pillows?’

‘Try the floor,’ he wheezed as the patting continued. Was this heaven or hell? He couldn’t decide. He levered himself up on his elbow and looked over the side of the bed. ‘Yep. There they are.’

‘Oh.’ She stared at him and all of a sudden the hand on his crotch stilled.

‘You’re leaning on your elbows,’ she said.

‘So?’

‘So if your arms are there, my hand is—’

He watched her eyes grow round and her cheeks grow rosy with no little satisfaction.

‘That’s not your arm I’m patting, is it?’

‘Nope.’ Nick settled back against the headboard, amused, aroused and altogether curious as to what she’d do next. ‘It’s not.’

The colour in her cheeks had spread to her chest, her nipples had pebbled against the thin cotton of her singlet. Her eyes were downcast, hiding her expression. But it was her hand that held his attention. Because it hadn’t moved.

‘I didn’t think ones this size were real,’ she said finally. ‘I thought they were an urban myth.’

‘This one’s real,’ he said, almost groaning as her hand crept along his shaft towards the tip.

‘Have you measured it?’

He was male. Of course he’d measured it. ‘It’s not that big,’ he said reassuringly. ‘Don’t let it frighten you.’

‘Ha! Easy for you to say.’ She reached the tip, curled her hand around him and started slowly back down. ‘It’s got to be at least nine inches long,’ she said accusingly.

‘Not quite,’ he corrected, unable to stop himself from arching up into her hand with a groan of pure pleasure. He was still playing the gentleman, heaven help him he was, but a man could only take so much. She was driving him mad. He couldn’t see her eyes, couldn’t figure what she wanted. He, however, was absolutely certain about what he wanted. He put his hand beneath her chin—that determined little chin—and brought her gaze up to meet his. Her eyes widened. There was uncertainty in her eyes and curiosity too—he was used to both from the women who shared his bed, but it was desire he looked for. Desire he found.

His gaze fastened on her mouth as he drew her closer, close enough to bend his head and set his lips to hers, every whisper of a touch, every leisurely rub, maddeningly erotic and not nearly enough. He wanted more, demanded it with a nip to her bottom lip so she’d open for him and damn near lost control when she did. He couldn’t get enough of her taste and her texture, couldn’t get enough of that soft, lush mouth against his own. He broke the kiss with a groan, craving more, much more, and needing to know he could take it. ‘I want to be inside you, Hallie. All the way inside,’ he murmured huskily. ‘Is that what you want?’

‘I’m not sure. I think so,’ she whispered, and Nick groaned.

‘“I think so” is not good enough,’ he muttered, even as he slid his hands around her waist and urged her slim body closer, a shiver of response rippling through him as her legs tangled with his and her breasts pressed against his chest. ‘You have to say “yes”.’

‘Yes.’

Lord but she was sweet as her hands slid to his shoulders as she rolled with him to the middle of the bed, wanting him above her, over her, straining against him with incoherent little mutterings that lit his blood. Beautifully wanton as she lifted her arms above her head, helping him to remove her top, and then her hands were on him again as she wrapped her arms around his neck and dragged him down for another of those soul-stealing kisses. He felt her shudder, felt her arch up into him, her urgency igniting his own.

He wanted to make sure she was prepared for him—he always made sure a woman was ready for him—but with Hallie what he wanted and what he needed were two completely different things. He wanted to pleasure her. But he needed to be inside her, buried in her up to the hilt, taking him all…dammit, she drove him to madness. His hands were fast and urgent as he slid her tight little boxers from her body, and then shed his own, his need for her clawing at him as he spread her thighs wide and positioned himself between them. He found her with the head of his penis, found her wet and warm and tight.

And she froze.

No! His soundless roar of protest came from somewhere deep and primitive within. No! He wouldn’t let her stop now. Couldn’t. So he rolled with her until she was on top of him, nestled against him. It was the best he could do. ‘We can go slow,’ he muttered, knowing even before he heard himself speak that his voice would be harsh and strained.

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