Nixie’s brows furrowed in confusion. “How did you…?”
“Have you checked the tabloids?” her mother asked tersely.
Nick’s hands began traveling up her body, his fingers caressing along her skin. She bit back a hiss of pleasure and managed to reply. “No.”
“Well, there’s a picture of you and Mr. Morgan on the front page.”
“What?”
“It says something about a shooting, Nixie.” Her mother’s voice was full of concern. “It looks like it was your house, dear, and…” She paused. “I hate to tell you this, but you were wearing only a man’s shirt. And Nicholas looked…rumpled.”
Nixie groaned, covering her face with her hand. “I was wearing a skirt, mom.”
“Didn’t look like it.”
Nixie ignored that and pressed on. “And we were just shot at. What did you expect? You wanted him to iron first?”
“It didn’t look good, the way he was hugging you against him, with you barely dressed…and now he’s answering your telephone. What will people think?”
Nixie sighed. “Mom––”
Nick, who had been listening to her end of the conversation, grabbed the phone from her hand. “Ma’am, your daughter went through a very traumatic experience last night. I felt it was my responsibility to stay here and make sure she didn’t have an emotional breakdown.”
Nixie rolled her eyes. Yeah, because he was a boy scout all of a sudden. She noticed how he conveniently left out the part where he tore her place apart and handcuffed her to the bed during his little snit fest.
“And if it makes you feel any better…” Nick continued, giving Nixie a crooked grin as he spoke. “I fully intend to marry your daughter, so you have no need to worry about what people will think.”
Nixie gave a startled gasp and heard her mother do the same thing.
“So you can rest assured that Nixie will be perfectly fine,” Nick concluded. “She’s in good hands.” After a minute of idle chatter in which he invited her mother over for dinner the following week, Nick said good-bye and handed the phone back.
Nixie blinked at the receiver for a second, her brain still stuck on the whole marriage thing. She finally grabbed a hold of it when Nick bucked his hips up to silently get her attention, motioning for her to wrap things up with her mom. Putting the receiver to her ear, she said, “Yeah?”
“What a wonderful young man.” Her mother gushed. “And here I thought you’d never get married.”
Nixie gave the phone an insulted look but didn’t comment.
With a happy sigh, her mother added, “I’ll let the two of you enjoy the rest of your morning. I can’t wait to meet that lovely young man in person.”
“Uh-huh,” Nixie mumbled, half dazed. “Okay…yeah…bye.” She hung up and tossed the cordless receiver to the floor.
“The tabloids, huh?” Nick asked, that boyish grin plastered to his face. “Amazing. Those guys don’t miss a single thing.” With a shrug, he said, “I actually find that pretty sexy, having our picture splashed across every newsstand in the country. I can’t wait to pick up a copy.”
Nixie stared down at him, baffled at how he could be discussing the tabloids. “Nick,” she said slowly, cautiously. “You just told my mother we’re getting married.”
“Yep,” he said, voice chipper.
“Okay…” Biting her lip, she waited for him to explain what was going on in that very gorgeous head of his. “Why?”
“Because I came to the conclusion last night that we should.” He explained this as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
“Oh…um…when were you going to fill me in on this plan of yours?”
“I didn’t have a ring yet, so it didn’t seem appropriate to tell you right away.” Nick shrugged. “But since your mother was giving you a hard time, I figured I’d help her relax over the whole situation.”
“I see.”
Nick’s eyebrows drew together in a look of concern, as if realizing for the first time that he might need her permission for such an event to transpire. “You do want to marry me, don’t you?”
Nixie was speechless for a moment. Was he seriously semi-proposing to her? “Are you fucking with me?” she asked cautiously. “Because that’s not a very nice joke.”
“I’m absolutely serious,” Nick said earnestly. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. I want you in my life until the day I die…which might be soon, judging by how the past couple of days have gone.” He offered her a teasing smile before his face grew serious. “It only makes sense for us to get married. Will you at least consider it?”
Nixie gave a squeal of delight and threw herself down into his arms. “Of course I’ll think about it. I would have to be an idiot—”
Nick crushing his lips against hers cut off her sentence. “Wonderful.” He held her tightly against him. “I think we should have some more of that unprotected sex to celebrate the occasion.”
Nixie giggled against his mouth. “That sounds perfect.”
Nick moaned in delight as Nixie rubbed the front of her body along his. “What more could a guy ask for? I’m getting sex before eleven on a Monday morning.”
“You are lucky,” Nixie agreed, nuzzling into his neck. “You…” She sat bolt upright with a cry of horror. “Monday morning?” Whipping her head around, she looked at the clock. “Shit! I was supposed to be at work almost an hour ago.” She dove off of him, got her feet tangled in the blanket, and tumbled roughly to the floor.
Nick sat up and stared over the edge of the bed at her in amusement. “You okay there?”
“Do you not understand?” Her voice was a shriek. “I am so going to be fired.”
She sprang to her feet and went to rush toward her dresser when Nick grabbed her arm and pulled her back toward the bed. He moved so that his legs were hanging over the side and pulled her in between them. “Babe, first off, you never have to work another day in your life if you don’t feel like it.” He leaned in and kissed her stomach, his eyes lifted to hers. “Secondly, if you walk in there with me right next to you and I look like I intend to spend money, your boss won’t even think about firing you.”
Nixie’s pulse returned to a somewhat normal pace. “You think?”
“I know. Like you said, I’m an important guy.” He gave her a devilish wink. “I’ll tell your boss I was questioning you about a purchase I wanted to make. He wouldn’t dare be upset. You were busy bringing in business.” He gave a lazy shrug. “I do still need to get my sister something for her birthday. I’ll spend a nice wad of cash, and your boss will forget you were ever late.”
She grinned down at him. “That’s…that’s so sweet.”
“There’s also the fact that someone tried to kill you. That should be a good enough reason for being a couple of hours late.” Nick’s arms encircled her waist, pulling her firmly against his chest. “So now that you know you don’t have to rush to get to work this morning, how about that sex? It’ll help you unwind and put you in a pleasant mood for the day.”
“I don’t know,” Nixie said uncertainly. “I would feel pretty guilty if I purposely took advantage of the situation…”
Nick gave a groan but reluctantly let go. “All right,” he said, his voice sounding as if he were suffering over the decision. “Get dressed. I’ll drive you.”
Nixie looked down at him with an impish grin, letting him know she’d been teasing. “There’s no way I’m going to work before you give me an orgasm.” Leaning down, she brushed her lips against his.
Nick grinned up at her in delight. “That’s my girl.” Grabbing her by the waist, he pulled her down onto the bed and rolled on top of her. “Though I’m aiming for at least two,” he whispered before lowering his mouth to hers.
That’s how Nixie spent the next forty-five minutes before finally getting motivated enough to climb out of bed … and just for the record, the count reached three.
Chapter Seven
Nixie sat in the passenger seat of Nick’s Jaguar, staring dumbfounded at the front cover of a tabloid magazine. Just like her mother said, there was a picture of her wrapped in Nick’s arms, her legs bare for all to view. “Shit,” she grumbled.
Nick glanced away from the road to the tabloid photo. “I still say it’s sexy.”
“You would,” she griped as they pulled to the curb about half a block from her work. With a huff, she climbed out of the car and began fishing around in her purse for change to put in the meter. “How come good stuff always happens to you? Like finding a great parking spot. That never happens to me. I always have to park in the grimy garage fifteen blocks down.”