Yeah, she might get her heart pitched back in her face again, but she loved this man. Deep down loved him, flaws and all. Damn straight she wouldn't be like her mother waiting around for over twenty years.
Nikki was ready to fight for her man.
Chapter 15
"Do you want me?"
Carson lost total track of whatever Reis was saying to him on the other end of the phone, stunned instead by Nikki in his open office door.
From the determined look in her eyes, Carson suspected he had a fight on his hands. He just wished he knew which direction to check for the ambush.
He held up a hand indicating a one-second-wait while he finished his call to Reis about tapping the civilian police to do extra surveillance of the Price home. "Glad you're on top of this. I'll be in touch." He hung up the phone and redirected his attention to the hot-as-hell woman in front of him. "How did you get here? Please say you didn't drive alone."
"Dad's got leave since his return. He came in for some paperwork and I rode along." She lounged against the door frame, a seductress in khaki. "So? What's the answer to my question? Do you want me?"
"Before I answer, you should probably close the door."
Nikki stepped across the threshold, one long khaki-clad leg at a time—and holy crap, those were black heels to match her black silk shirt. Could her heels be the promised pair from their conversation a few days ago in this same room?
Tossing her lightweight jacket on the mariner's hook, she clicked the door closed and locked at the same time he instructed his secretary to hold his calls. Word was out about the two of them anyway, while he was still reeling from the whole concept of being in love for the first time.
They were already in over their heads, so he needed to grit back his concerns and forge ahead unless she said otherwise, because he wouldn't hurt her a second time.
He shoved aside the stack of files calling to him and wheeled his office chair back from the desk. "How about ask me that question again?"
Nikki narrowed the distance between them with hair-swishing strides. "Do you want me?"
That was a no-brainer. He took her wrist, careful of the raw ring from the lines, and pulled her into his lap. "So damn much."
Tunneling one hand into her hair and the other under her sweater, he kissed her until they both gasped for breath. He wouldn't be in any shape to get up from his chair for a long while, thanks to the sweet wriggle of her bottom against his crotch.
"Do you want to be with me? Not just tonight, but long term?"
He'd been prepared for her to walk, and now she was talking forever, something he couldn't deny that he wanted, too. With her. For a man with an extensive vocabulary, words were suddenly in short supply. He wouldn't run, but he couldn't blame her if she did.
"Damn it, Carson." She thumped his shoulder, then gentled her touch to skim tenderly over the bump on his head from pitching out of the Catalina. "Do you know how hard this is for me to say? I'm making myself totally vulnerable for you. The least you can do is give me an honest answer."
"Honestly?" There wasn't anything left for them but the truth. "I'm scared as hell of passing on my genes and I'm more afraid I'll ruin your life. You're not sure, either. Admit it, you thought I was the one who killed Owens."
That notion stung more than he would have expected even as she rested her head against his shoulder with total ease.
"If we're embracing this total honesty deal, then okay, I considered the possibility that you'd done it to protect me."
He struggled not to flinch. "You thought that, drunk, I would be capable of violence."
"I saw you in my dream." She tipped her head to glance up at him. Her silky dark hair grazed over his arm. "But I realize now it was a dream and not a memory, which means I've had to sift through to figure out which parts are real and which are distorted. The other times I remembered, I was awake so I could trust the full image."
"Are you sure?" He refused to have her fearing him. He'd lived that way for years as a kid and would not subject anyone to that hell.
"If you tell me, I will believe you."
Searching, he found trust in her eyes but couldn't bring himself to believe in what he saw. "So you do think I'm capable?"
"I know anyone is capable." Her fingers skimmed to the back of his neck, along his closely shaved nape. "I'm not sure I could kill someone coming at me. But I'm certain I could kill someone intent on hurting you."
He understood the feeling. "I did not kill Gary Owens. I was at an Al-Anon meeting that night with two other people," Will Watkins and Vic Jansen, "until I was called away to an emergency on the flight line. Then I went home and parked my sorry butt in front of the TV all night because I was missing you so much I was afraid if I went out I would end up on your doorstep."
Carson waited for her response, suddenly realizing that while he might not have a right to her unconditional trust, he sure as hell wanted it.