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  He tugged out his wallet, pulled free a tiny packet and sheathed himself with a speed that spoke of an urgency echoed inside her.

  Hooking his hand behind her knee, he hitched her leg higher, over his hip until she realized what he intended. No missionary position tonight. Fair enough. She liked the idea of taking this journey side by side.

  Then the thick blunt prodding stopped her thoughts altogether as she focused on this moment she knew would change things between them forever. Deeper, deeper still, she took him inside her body and more, slowly, carefully, staring into his eyes and soul in a way she never had months ago when she’d been too wrapped up in her hero worship to see the man.

  She winced at the uncomfortable pinch and stretch, settled, waited for her body to adjust around him.

  “Okay?” he asked, his jaw flexing from a restraint he couldn’t hide.

  “Totally.” She rocked against him once, twice, again, his grip on her hips helping her find a matching rhythm of their bodies together. Moving. Rocking to increase the pleasure of his slick thrusts.

  He shifted onto his back, holding her in place during the shuffle, the blanket slithering down around her waist, her sweater flapping open while he laved attention over her breasts.

  His hand slid between them, touching where their bodies met, circling in time with her writhing hips against him. Her womb clenched tight, tighter, as tight as her legs clamping him to her as she chased the release so close … closer …

  Waves of pleasure sluiced over her, pulsing like the breakers gushing against the shore, then receding slowly and stealing her muscles from her body until she slumped on top of him. Two deep thrusts later, his arms convulsed around her in time with his hoarse growl of completion.

  Slowly, her senses tuned back in on things other than the residual pleasure pulsing through her.

  Waves surged and crashed while the stereo piped one of her favorite songs, “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree.” Now she knew why.

  Nikki grinned against his neck, tasting the sweat on his skin. “After all our talk about being old and mature, here we are in the back of a truck.”

  His hands roved up and down her spine. “I’ve never made love in the back of a truck.”

  “Me, either.” Nor had she made love anywhere else for that matter.

  A fact she now knew for certain.

  She’d been almost sure nothing happened with Gary. The doctor in the emergency room had reassured her there were no signs of penetration, and she’d believed intellectually, but her mind had felt so violated it had been difficult to look beyond that. Now at least she had physical reassurance that she had not slept with Gary Owens—or any man for that matter.

  Because making love in the back of a truck had been a first for her in more ways than one.

  Chapter 10

  Nikki was a virgin.

  Past tense now.

  Carson still couldn’t wrap his brain around the fact, even as they sprawled in bed—at her apartment, not the garage place at her parents. After they’d untangled themselves from the sleeping bag in the back of his truck, he’d hesitated to take her to his house because of the bad memories it might hold for her, so he’d suggested her empty apartment. Since it was now common knowledge she’d moved out, there was no reason to fear hanging out in the place for a few hours.

  An arm tucked under his head, the other curved around Nikki while she slept curled against his side, he stared up at her ceiling fan clicking overhead, circulating the heat. A tiny soccer ball dangled from the chain, spinning lazy rings in the air. Her room surprised him. She was such a no frills and leanly honed person he hadn’t expected something so … froufrou. From her ruffly curtains to the poufy spread, patterned with tiny pink flowers and little green leaves.

  Then there was that soccer ball chain pull overhead.

  The dichotomy was somehow so totally Nikki the image settled in his brain as he grew even closer to this woman he’d fought hard to resist. How many other facets to her personality had he missed because of preconceived notions?

  And the biggest mistaken notion of all. Damn it, he should have figured out she’d never made love before he came up against the hint of a barrier. Which shocked the hell out of him.

  Although she was a quick study.

  Still, if he’d known he would have … what? Turned away? Probably not, but at least he could have offered her a gentler, more romantic first time. Being with her blew his mind beyond anything he’d ever experienced. He knew now there wasn’t a chance he could have been with her seven months ago and forgotten.

  However now he wondered what had happened between them. When he reexamined their conversations about that night, never once did she say they had sex, only that they’d gone to his place. Not that they’d discussed it much—his own damn fault.

  He remembered waking up naked together, so they must have gotten mighty damn close before he passed out. God. He owed her an even bigger apology than he’d thought.

  Nikki stirred against his side and sighed over his chest before pressing a kiss to his shoulder, stirring a good morning down south even in the middle of the night. He willed away the erection—okay, it wasn’t going down any time soon, but at least he reined himself in and simply rolled toward her for a simple kiss.

  Simple? Not for long.

  Carson sailed his hand along her naked spine. “You’re awake.”

  Her fingers skipped down his chest. Lower. Gliding one finger from tip to base. “So are you.”

  He clamped a hand around her wrist. “As much as I would really enjoy an encore, again, you need more time to recover.”

  “Women don’t have a recovery time like guys.”

  “That’s not what I meant.” He pressed a kiss to the palm of her hand and resisted the urge to taste more instead of talking about what promised to be a sticky subject. “You were still a virgin.”

  She stilled for six clicks of the ceiling fan overhead before flipping to her back, sheet clutched to her creamy chest. “I was wondering if you noticed that little fact.”

  Tough to miss. Just the memory of her tight heat had him throbbing all over again.

  While he couldn’t have all of her just yet, he allowed himself the pleasure of teasing her tangled hair along the pillow and rubbing a dark lock between two fingers. “Twice tonight was probably already one more time than was wise for your body. Tomorrow, though, I’ll be more than happy to take you up on that offer.”

  “So we’re done for tonight?”

  Her obvious disappointment stirred him as much as any touch. If she was game, he had a few ideas of how they could spend the remaining hours before sunrise and a return to the real world. “Unless I can interest you in a bath?”

  “A bath?” She sat up, flowered sheet slithering down to pool around her waist while she studied him with unabashed enthusiasm.

  Forget oysters, this woman was a walking, talking, living, breathing aphrodisiac.

  “A steaming bath would be good for all those new muscles you used tonight.” He swung his feet from the bed and held out a hand for her.

  Linking their fingers, she followed him into the bathroom, leaning to twist on the water—and whoa what a view. Passion fogged his vision.

  Steady.

  Stepping over her seashell-shaped bath mat, he lowered himself into the tub, then settled her in front of him while the faucet sluiced steaming water over their feet, her sweet bottom pressing a soft torment against him. Way to go, genius.

  His skull was going to explode before he could get around to discussing the pink elephant looming in the middle of her ocean-themed bathroom. “I thought we had sex seven months ago.”

  Arms draped along the sides of the tub, she tipped her head on his shoulder to look at him, surprise sparkling in her crystal-gray eyes. “You don’t remember what happened that night? I think you owe me a new apology.”

  Ah hell. Not a pink elephant at all for her, since she didn’t have a clue what he’d thought.

&nbs
p; This really was screwed up and now he’d made it worse. He needed to unscramble his brain to get through this, tough to do when his eyes were full of Nikki’s legs … and more. “What did you think I was apologizing for last week?”

  “For passing out on top of me seconds before the act.” Pink tinged her cheeks, but he suspected it had nothing to do with the steam rising from the water around them. “And I figured you were apologizing most of all for walking out the next morning and never calling.”

  “That last part, absolutely. The first part, God yes, I’m apologizing for that now, as well. I’m sorry for being in no shape to ask you to stay the night with me and for being selfish enough to do it anyway.”

  “I can’t believe that for all these months you thought we slept together.” Confusion smoked through her eyes. “At least you’re off the hook for that.”

  “Not even close. Doesn’t matter that my body shut down, the intent to make love to you remained even though I knew I should stay away.” He rested his chin on her head, remembering enough of that night to know that nothing, nothing was more important to him then than being with Nikki. And that unsettled the hell out of him because he still felt the same.

  “Maybe you would have had second thoughts if you hadn’t passed out.”

  “I doubt it. I’d wanted to be with you for so damn long.” Which brought them back to the present. “And here we are again.”

  “Except things went better this time.” Her smile granted forgiveness he still wasn’t sure he deserved.

  “I want afterward to be better, too.” He clasped her hands in his, linking them over her stomach.

  “Although I can’t image how the ‘during’ part could be any better.”

  His thumbs brushed along the soft undersides of her breasts, perspiration from the heated water dotting her chest and begging him to taste her. “I would take that as a compliment, but you had twenty-three years of buildup going.”

  “Who says I went totally without for twenty-three years?” Pure sensuality emanated from her smile. “I’m a woman who can take care of herself.”

  He choked on a cough. Take care of herself? She couldn’t mean. He searched deeper into her narrowed eyes and holy crap, she most definitely meant exactly what he thought.

  Carson linked their fingers tighter, holding hands as much touching as he could risk with his body on fire from just her words. “Now there’s an image I could enjoy for a damn long time.”

  Nikki’s smile widened and she guided one of his hands down her belly, dipping deeper into the water. “Or you could enjoy it along with me now for real.”

  His brain went on stun, then revved to life because no way was he missing out on a second of this fantasy come to life.

  Nikki reclined back against his chest, her knees parting in the move of an awesomely bold innocent. She guided his hand lower, her hand over his cupping the core of her.

  She brought their other fisted hands up over her breast, unfurling her fingers until she flatted his palm to her pebbled peak. Slowly she guided his hand along her skin, her impossibly tight nipple tightening further. He swallowed hard.

  Her mouth tipped in a slight smile. She couldn’t miss the sway she held over him and damned if he cared about his surrender so long as she continued to lead his touch, growing bolder as her pupils widened with unmistakable pleasure.

  He throbbed harder against the sweet press of her bottom.

  Her other hand, underwater over his, twitched, tangling his fingers in short dark curls, dipping into moist heat and rubbing slow circles with his fingers against the hidden bud beading as tight and hard as her nipple minutes before.

  Much more of this and he would explode. He started to pull his hand away and she held him firm, her breathing faster, her heart hammering so hard he could feel it through her back against his chest … until her spine bowed forward in time with her gasp, another, then a low moaning exhale as she sagged against him again, a limp, soft weight.

  He soothed her through the aftershocks with steady pressure, whispering in her ear, “Definitely an image to carry with me. You’re one helluva woman, Nikki Price.”

  Her head lolling, she nuzzled his shoulder. “While I can take care of myself, I’ve found it’s all the better with you along.”

  Tomorrow, he would take her up on that. For now, he held her while the water chilled around them, reminding him of the cold reality.

  He was fast losing control of his feelings for this complicated woman.

  So much for believing she could keep things uncomplicated with Carson.

  Stretching her leg to toe on the faucet to reheat the bath, she couldn’t decide whether to be totally mortified by what they’d just done or simply languish in the afterglow and warming water. Sheesh, when she decided to let down her boundaries, she really went all the way. “You were totally right about a bath relaxing me.”

  His light laugh ruffled her hair, uneasiness seeping from her toes.

  Carson’s arms tightened, their hands linked over her stomach. “Thank you for trusting me to be your first.”

  “You’re welcome.” Definitely not simple anymore. From the minute she’d met him, she’d wanted him to be her first.

  Her last?

  “Do you mind if I ask why you waited so long?” He stretched his foot to turn off the water.

  He’d shared so much about himself and his growing-up years, it seemed selfish to hold back, especially when her past was so much less traumatic than his. “My parents had to get married when my mom was only eighteen. Mom was already pregnant with me. It’s not something we discussed, but I always wondered if they fought because of me.”

  “You know better now, right?”

  Sort of. “Chris told me he brought up my ‘premature’ birth once and Dad almost decked him.”

  “Since your father’s one of the least violent men I’ve ever met, that says a lot for how much he must love your mom.”

  “Yeah.” The silent tension had grown so thick over the years, she couldn’t wait to leave for college. “Still, Chris and I weren’t surprised when they drew up divorce papers. They had a tough start, followed by a rocky couple of decades before everything came together for them.”

  Saying it out loud resurrected memories of childhood nights crying in her bed while her parents fought downstairs. Crying harder when they stopped talking altogether. “So why did I wait? I just wanted to be really, really sure before I committed even a part of myself to a guy.”

  Would he freak out now? Or would she beat him to the punch?

  Nerves pattered in her stomach as she realized how close she was to giving more than a part of herself to Carson, a man who didn’t cry for himself, but teared up over Bronco’s little girl possibly losing her daddy.

  Jeez, how selfish of her to have forgotten what brought him to her in the first place tonight. “Are you okay after everything that happened this afternoon?”

  “I’m leveled out now. Thank you for letting me spill my guts like that back in the truck.” Before she could answer, he flicked the drain on the tub, water sucking out. “We should dry off before we turn into a couple of prunes.”

  Vulnerability might be long suppressed, but she’d seen his sensitive side now and couldn’t forget. She hauled herself from the tub and grabbed a coral towel, reaching for another for Carson from the wicker basket, wishing they could simply dry each other off and go to sleep. Instead, she kept thinking about what demons must be rumbling around inside of him after a day like today. Leveled out wasn’t the same as okay. She knew that well from watching her parents interact after her father’s capture in the Middle East.

  Carson’s capture, as well.

  Nikki tugged the towel into a knot between her breasts. “What happened today must have brought back some awful memories of your own time overseas.”

  He grunted, toweling his legs dry.

  Carson never just grunted. He might dodge direct answers but he was always, always polite. She thought about backing
off and letting him have his space … but then she remembered how that tactic had nearly destroyed her parents.

  Holy cow, was she thinking about being a couple? Well, she wasn’t not thinking about it. She couldn’t lie to herself. She had feelings for this man that deserved exploring, which meant no half-measure crushes where they never looked below the surface.

  Towel drying her hair, she stared at his steamy reflection as he stood behind her tying his towel around his lean hips. “I heard my dad’s version of what happened to your crew overseas.” The towel slid from her shaking hands. Kneeling, she scooped it into the hamper. “It took him a while to talk about it, but after he and Mom started marriage counseling, they decided Chris and I should know what happened when he was shot down and captured by those warlords. We’re adults after all. They both decided they’d sheltered us too much from things growing up.”

  “Do you agree?” He draped his dog tags around his neck.

  Tugging the comb through her gnarled hair, Nikki wished her life could be as easily untangled. “Certainly Chris and I knew something was going on between Mom and Dad. It was tough growing up with him gone so much, and Mom pretending everything was fine.”

  She turned to lean against the vanity, taking in his golden gorgeous face marred only by a tiny scar along his jaw. A scar that somehow made him all the more handsome for the human imperfection.

  A scar he’d gotten during his time in the Middle East.

  She traced the faded white line cutting through his five o’clock shadow and wondered about the scars he carried inside from his childhood, as well. “Hearing the truth might have reassured us since sometimes reality isn’t as bad as what you’re fearing.”

  He enfolded her hand and pressed a kiss to her wrist, right on her racing pulse. “You’re talking about something else now.”

  “And you’re a perceptive man.”