Interception (The New York Nighthawks 2)
I blinked a few times as I tried to understand what had brought on this complete one-eighty from him. “Am I on some weird reality television show right now? Are there cameras filming the cruel prank you’re pulling on me?”
“I’m not playing around, sweetheart.” He brushed his mouth against mine again. “This is about you and me, nobody else.”
“I don’t get it.” I shook my head, trying to clear the sensual fog the brief touch of his lips had caused. “You’ve been treating me like I have the plague for seven months straight.”
“I’m sorry about that, but it’s the furthest thing from the truth,” he vowed.
My brows drew together at how serious he sounded. “You really want me?”
“Fuck yeah, I do.” He slid his hand down my arm to grab mine and pressed my palm against his hard-on. “You’re the only one who can do this to me, Ember.”
A heady rush of feminine satisfaction coursed through my veins upon feeling the undeniable proof of his attraction to me. But I still couldn’t let him off the hook so easily. Not after how much he’d bruised my heart over the past months. “I’m willing to consider the possibility of canceling my date, but I think I need more convincing.”
Nixon’s dark blue eyes burned into mine before someone catcalled, and he glared at them over his shoulder. “We can’t do this here.”
Wrapping his fingers around my wrist again, he led me over to where his Range Rover Evoque was double-parked. After he got me settled in the passenger seat, he quickly rounded the front of the vehicle to climb in on the other side. Turning toward me, he reached over the console to grip the back of my head and pull me in for another kiss. This one was longer, our tongues tangling together as he stole my breath from my lungs until I could barely see straight.
When he finally lifted his head again, his eyes were dark with hunger. “As much as it pains me to admit, Jordan’s not a horrible guy. But I still don’t want you to go out with him when you should be with me instead.”
“Not a horrible guy? That’s the best you can do?”
“What can I say?” He lifted one of his broad shoulders. “I liked the guy a hell of a lot more before my meddling sister set you up with him.”
“Is that a hint of jealousy I hear in your voice?” I teased, my mind still blown by the fact that Nixon was so bothered by the idea of me going on a blind date with his teammate that he’d come all the way out here to put a stop to it. For so long, I’d thought my feelings for him were unrequited, so I couldn’t help but take this opportunity to give him at least a little bit of a hard time.
“You can call it whatever the fuck you want so long as you tell me you’re not going in there,” he growled, his hand drifting down to the back of my neck.
“You’re a really good kisser”— my hands fisted as I wondered if his skills were because he had a ton of practice—“but I can’t just stand Jordan up. That would be awful.”
“Only with you, sweetheart,” he replied, completely ignoring my comment about Jordan. He stroked his palm down my spine, sending shivers in its wake. “I have so much damn pent-up need for you in my system, I’m surprised the windows aren’t already fogged.”
My shoulders slumped in relief at his confession, but I still couldn’t get past how I would feel in Jordan’s shoes if our roles were reversed. “Daniel is a fancy French restaurant. Jordan probably got a romantic table for two, and his server will be looking at him with pity while he sits there waiting for me the whole time.”
“Maybe he should ask her out if he’s so hard up for a date,” Nixon grumbled, pulling his cell out of his pocket. “But if it’ll make you feel better, I’ll send him a text to give him a heads-up that his plans for tonight have changed.”
I briefly considered insisting that I head into the restaurant to tell Jordan in person that I wouldn’t be having dinner with him tonight, but I wasn’t sure how Nixon would react. After dreaming about him for so many nights, I wasn’t about to risk my chance with him to deliver a message that could just as easily be sent by text—even if it was kind of rude to do it that way. “I should probably be the one to send it.”
4
Nixon
Ember reached for her backpack and withdrew her cell phone, but I immediately snatched the device out of her hand. I didn’t want her communicating with Jordan at all. My jealousy was probably irrational, but she brought out a possessive, domineering side of me that I hadn’t been aware of.