A Night To Remember

He kissed her, spending a long time exploring her lips, her mouth, her taste. Now that they were in his bed, he seemed in no hurry, and she was enjoying his kisses too much to rush him.

His hand slid down her bare arm, and then to her side, so close to her breast that her nipple tightened and tingled in anticipation. She arched slightly upward, invitingly.

Leaving his hand where it lay, he released her mouth to kiss her jaw, her throat. The expanse of bare skin above the lacy top of her strapless bra. She closed her eyes and arched higher, the invitation far less subtle.

He nuzzled the lace edging, tracing just inside it with the tip of his tongue. Nicky’s fingers clenched in his hair. Her breath seemed to be lodged somewhere in her throat. And then he slid the fabric out of the way and took her into his mouth. And her breath escaped in a cry of pleasure.

Her prediction had proven delightfully true. Andrew made love slowly, intensely, thoroughly. Spectacularly. By the time he reached into the nightstand drawer for protection, she was hot and trembling, so tightly drawn she felt as though she would shatter if she didn’t find her satisfaction soon.

“Hurry,” she whispered as he tore neatly into the foil packet.

His hard mouth quirked into a faint smile. “This will only take a moment,” he promised.

True to his word, he returned to her quickly, positioning himself above her. She looked up at him, her lower lip caught between her teeth as it occurred to her suddenly that something was wrong. Though rather flushed, Andrew’s face was still set in that serious, composed and rather detached expression she’d noted the first time she’d seen him.

Was their lovemaking really affecting him so little, when it was so terrifyingly momentous for her?

And then she looked deep into his crystal-blue eyes. And she saw just a hint of the dangerous, reckless side of him that he must have worked so hard to conceal during the past few years. The side of him that had taken over during the robbery this evening; that had probably driven him to prove himself in his business, despite his youth and his heritage.

She realized then that he wasn’t detached at all. And that he was very much in need of someone who could look beneath his rather forbidding exterior to see the very special man within.

She smiled tremulously and touched his hard, stern cheek. “Andrew,” she said.

Just his name. A name that was rapidly becoming her favorite.

He smothered her smile beneath his mouth, and that hint of wildness was in his kiss, as well. The clues were there, she realized, wrapping herself tightly around him. One just had to care enough to look for them. She couldn’t help wondering how often he allowed anyone close enough to try.

And then he moved against her and whatever coherent thoughts she’d had slipped away into a haze of mindless pleasure.

Whatever else she might suspect about him, she was soon left in absolutely no doubt about one thing. Andrew was very, very thorough.

NICKY COULDN’T SEE a clock, so she had no idea of how much time had passed before her mind began to work again, though her thoughts were still vague and sluggish. Exhaustion was beginning to claim her. She burrowed into Andrew’s arms and allowed herself to drift off, utterly content.

“Nicole?” Andrew’s voice was a gruff growl in her ear.

“Mmm?”

“Be here when I wake up.”

It was worded as a command. Something in his tone made it almost a plea.

Telling herself it was only her satiated weariness making her eyes burn, she smiled, pressed a kiss to his damp chest and murmured, “I’ll be here.”

His arm tightened around her bare shoulders. “Good.”

His even breathing told her that he’d already fallen asleep, as Nicky dozed off just as the room slowly lightened with the beginning of a new day.

She never would have dreamed that the old year would end quite like this.

ANDREW DIDN’T KNOW how long he’d slept, but he suspected it had been several hours. Nicole hadn’t stirred, and he tried not to disturb her as he turned his head to look at the bedside clock. Without his glasses, the oversize luminous numerals were blurred; he squinted them into focus.

One o’clock. When was the last time he’d slept past noon? He couldn’t remember.

He glanced at the woman beside him and smiled. Nicole was still dead to the world. Which gave him the opportunity to study her as long and as closely as he liked.

Her dark curls were wild and tangled, looking every bit as delightful against the pillows as he’d imagined they would. Her face was soft and unguarded in sleep, her cheeks lightly flushed. There was a smudge of mascara on her right cheek, just below her eye. He found it endearing rather than unattractive.

He couldn’t imagine ever finding Nicole unattractive.