A Taste of Honey (16 page)

“I was used to being alone by then. It’s not like I had hordes of friends. But I missed my dad a lot.”

Nick felt a funny little catch in his heart as he remembered Kelly in high school. Looking back, he couldn’t remember one time when he’d seen Kelly hanging out with friends. He and his brothers had been protective of her, to be sure, and he’d enjoyed her wry sense of humor when she’d tutored him. But he’d never counted her among his friends. And neither, it appeared, had anyone else.

He pulled her close, residual guilt and an urge to comfort forming a strange lump in his throat. What was it about Kelly that made him want to take care of her, even when it was more than obvious that she could take care of herself?

Kelly snuggled her face into Nick’s chest, breathing in the warm, musky scent of his skin. His hands stroking her back and the slow, steady beat of his heart lulled her into a peaceful half sleep.

She turned her head slightly to kiss the smooth skin of his shoulder. Such beautiful, strong shoulders. Shoulders that could help a girl carry her burdens. She tried to remember the last time someone had taken care of her and tried to make her feel better when she got stressed.

Mentally she snorted. How about never. Since she mostly dated other doctors, any complaint became an invitation to play “my day was so much worse than yours and here’s why.” No sympathy was extended, just a verbal kick in the ass and silent command to stop whining.

Not Nick. No, sweet, gorgeous Nick had soothed her, pampered her, and made love to her until her bad mood was forgotten. She sighed. What would it be like to come home every night to Nick and his big, dependable shoulders? To know that if she had a hard day he would be waiting there with his big smile and warm amber eyes?

What would those eyes look like if they were filled with love for her, full of determination to care for her and make her happy?

She could really fall in love with a guy like him if she weren’t careful.

Her arms tightened around him even as she scolded herself to stop thinking along those lines. She was not going to fall in love with Nick, and that was that.

And more to the point, Nick was not going to fall in love with her.

With that firmly in mind, she slid her hand down his belly. She traced her fingers up the length of his penis, which was making a valiant effort to rally for another round.

“I’m still a little cranky,” she whispered, and smiled as Nick tucked her underneath him and proceeded to lift her spirits.

An hour later, Kelly felt Nick inch his way out of the bed. She wished she could call him back under the covers, wished she could fall asleep in his arms and feel him snuggled up against her while she slept.

But it was obvious he was uncomfortable with spending the night, and she didn’t want to make an issue of it. She kept her breathing slow and even so he wouldn’t know she was still awake as he paused by the side of the bed, but she couldn’t suppress a sigh as his fingers tangled gently in her hair. His hot breath smoothed over her cheek as he bent to kiss her softly one last time.

For all that this was a casual fling, it was the thought of that last sweet kiss, and not the memory of Nick’s sexual prowess, that kept Kelly awake for a long, long time.

“N
ick! Yo, Nicky!”

Nick jerked his head up and realized he’d been staring at his sandwich for a full minute without taking a bite.

“What, Tony? You don’t have to yell,” he grouched.

“I’ve been trying to get your attention for an hour,” Tony said. “I asked if we’re on for Sully’s tonight.”

“Yeah, of course we’re on.” Nick blinked, yawned, took a bite of his sandwich. Yawned again around the bite.

Jesus, he was tired. The past two and a half weeks were catching up with him with a vengeance. He’d been over to Kelly’s every night except one, last Saturday. Mike and Tony had roped him into a night in Truckee. They’d been appalled when Nick hadn’t partaken of the local fare. “Just not my type,” Nick had asserted. Luckily they’d taken separate cars so Nick was able to make it home that night. And as much as he’d wanted to go over to Kelly’s it didn’t seem right to wake her up at three a.m.

But he had wanted to. Even now, after showing up at her house night after night, he resented the one he’d missed. It scared him a little to think of how much he craved her. Not just in bed, but her company too.

Kelly only had to hint at a problem in her ramshackle little rental and Nick showed up, toolbox in hand, to fix it. Somehow they managed to resist making love during the day or Nick doubted he would ever get any work done. But the admiring glint in her eyes and the way she said, “You’re amazing. You can fix anything,” after he repaired her dishwasher or changed a fuse made him feel about ten feet tall. Each time he’d had to force himself to leave, consoling himself with the knowledge that he’d see her later that night.

At least every other night on his way home he’d found himself at Sully’s. He came under the premise of playing a quick card game with Ryan Sullivan. But really he just wanted to watch her, talk with her over the bar about his day and hers.

Ryan had started working a little bit during the early evenings, and Kelly had used the extra time to take a couple of shifts at the hospital. She never failed to amuse him with stories about her patients. So far she’d seen a clueless hiker who didn’t realize she couldn’t complete a twelve-mile hike with only a Coke for hydration and a four-year-old who’d tried to break the world record for number of crayons shoved up his nose.

“At least,” she’d laughed as she told him the story, “it’s not like Boston where worse things are shoved up other holes.”

Nick had leered at her and asked her if that had given her any ideas she’d like to share.

But no matter how much he enjoyed her company, he always forced himself to leave after one drink so that no one would get the wrong idea about them. Or the right idea, as it were.

He polished off his sandwich and washed it down with the remains of his soda.

Tony was staring at him, hard. They were working on a deck expansion on a vacation home in nearby Lakeview Estates while Mike was back at the office putting together bids on major remodels for two homes in the area.

“You look terrible, man,” Tony said.

“I’m fine, just a little tired.”

“Yeah, well you better suck it up, because if we don’t get this deck done by tomorrow, Mike’s gonna kick our asses.” Tony paused to take a last, huge bite of his sandwich. “And then we have to start prepping for the tile work at that huge place out on Viewpoint.”

Nick didn’t respond. They had more work than they could handle, and all he wanted to do was crawl into bed with Kelly and fuck them both senseless, followed by a long nap.

But he couldn’t tell Tony any of this. What could he say? That he was exhausted from staying up into the wee hours making love to Kelly Sullivan until they were both too tired to move? Even after she’d given him a key so that he could get into her house and take a nap before she got home, he was still only averaging four hours of sleep a night.

He sighed and pulled his gloves back on. Tony was right. He needed to get his act together and stop screwing around. He and his brothers had worked their asses off to expand their dad’s business after they took over, and no way was his sex life going to interfere in his success. This thing with Kelly was all fun, but he couldn’t allow it to interfere with his real life.

But he mused how the hell could he possibly stop seeing her, or even cut back? He’d never been addicted to anything, but this must be how it felt. Like when he drove by Sully’s telling himself he was going home, it was like his truck had a mind of its own. And every day, like today, he told himself firmly that tonight was the night he was going to get some sleep, goddammit.

But like an alcoholic who can’t resist just one more drink, he knew that if he showed up at Sully’s tonight and saw Kelly, there was no way in hell he could resist her.

And he had to go tonight. Who was he to disappoint his brothers?

Kelly set a platter of fish and chips down in front of Molly Baxter and her husband, Craig, both of whom she remembered from high school. Both were surprisingly friendly, considering in high school they’d never given her the time of day.

Suddenly the hairs on the nape of her neck stood up and her gaze was drawn to the front door.

The Donovans were here. Nick glanced over, quickly enough so that no one caught him looking but long enough that she read the heat in his gaze.

Her pulse pounded in her head, in rhythm with the sudden beat between her legs. Molly had to ask four times before Kelly heard her request for a refill on her water.

Kelly smoothed her hands down the front of her denim skirt and made her way as calmly as possible to the table where Nick, Mike, and Tony sat, long legs and broad shoulders practically spilling out of their chairs.

All three turned to smile up at her, and Kelly felt her insides melt at Nick’s knowing look. So far no one seemed to know about their affair. It had actually been kind of fun, the past two and a half weeks. Sneaking around, pretending there wasn’t anything between them while sharing their own illicit secret.

She forced herself to greet Nick with the casual friendliness they always used in public. As she watched, Nick reached into his water glass and fished out an ice cube. He ran it suggestively around his lips, drew it into his mouth, released it. Just like last night, when he’d taken a cherry Popsicle and teased it around her nipples, chasing drops of juice with his tongue…

She felt heat rise in her face as she trained her gaze on Mike and Tony, for all appearances oblivious to the sexual currents vibrating across the table. How could everyone possibly be so ignorant? Kelly felt like she was oozing sex from every pore, like she was walking around with a
WELL FUCKED
sign across her chest.

But Mike and Tony only smiled up at her and ordered the usual. Nick, the rat, was rolling the ice cube around in his mouth in a way that could only remind her of his other oral skills.

Mumbling something that she hoped sounded like “Be right back,” she hurried away.

She surreptitiously watched Nick and his brothers as she put in their order and waited on several other tables. Everything about him fascinated her—his long fingers as they wrapped around his water glass. Strong, skilled fingers that could as easily repair her light switch as they could bring her to ecstasy.

It never failed to amaze her how Nick could fix anything. He’d shown up at her house four times this week to fix minor glitches at her little rental. Even in high school, on the occasions when her tutoring sessions had happened at her house, she’d leave the room only to find Nick tinkering with something. One time it was the kitchen faucet, another time the disposal, and still another the refrigerator fan.

It got to the point that Kelly’s mom would conspicuously leave any broken appliance for Nick to find.

Now, as then, he brushed off her compliments, insisting that his repair skills were no big deal. But to a woman who still could barely figure out how to check her voice mail on her cell phone, his ability to revive her toaster was pretty damn spectacular.

He just didn’t give himself credit for how smart he really was. Her face pulled into a frown as she watched him laugh at something Mike said. Nick’s dyslexia hadn’t been diagnosed until Kelly started to tutor him his senior year. By that time, everyone had given up on Nick’s intellectual abilities. Especially, it seemed, Nick himself.

“Kelly, your order’s up.” Maggie’s call startled her, and she quickly grabbed the food.

As she carried the platters of fried fish, French fries, and wings to the table, she was struck by the easy camaraderie the brothers shared. She felt an odd tightness in her chest.
It must be nice
, she thought with just the barest twinge of envy,
to have siblings you can always count on for friendship and support.

Any sentiment she was harboring vanished as she caught a snippet of their conversation, punctuated by raucous belly laughs.

“You should have seen what Carrie—” Tony was saying.

“Candy,” Mike broke in, “Carrie was with me.”

“Carrie, Candy, whatever—she could put her legs all the way over her head! You ever been with a chick who could put her legs over her head, Nick?”

Nick looked uneasily up at Kelly as she set the food on the table. “Can’t say that I have, Tony.”

Kelly had been doing yoga for four years now, so she was pretty close. But she knew better than to say anything. She went back to the bar, returning quickly with the pitcher of Bass they’d ordered.

“I still can’t believe you went home, Nicky,” Tony said around a mouthful of chicken wing. “That blonde was all over you, and she was hot. Her cans—”

“Were fake—”

“Like that ever stopped you—” Mike rolled his eyes.

“—just like the rest of her.” Nick finished tightly.

“Sounds like you guys had a wild night.” Kelly did her best to keep her tone light even as jealously coiled like a viper in her gut.

Mike at least had the grace to look chagrined, but Tony was completely unabashed.

“Yeah, last Saturday we went out for a little fun,” Tony said with a wink.

Saturday, huh? The one night since they’d started this thing that Nick didn’t show up. She’d forced herself not to ask where he’d been, knowing it was none of her business.

But that hadn’t stopped her from imagining exactly what he was up to. Apparently she hadn’t been too far off the mark. She could easily picture it. A stacked blonde whose bra size outmatched her IQ, giggling as she crawled all over Nick.

She poured their beers, setting Nick’s down with a force that sent suds sloshing into his lap.

“Sorry,” she muttered, shoving a handful of napkins at him.

Keep your mouth shut,
she told herself. The urge to launch into a scathing tirade about bimbos and STDs nearly overwhelmed her.

As far as the Donovans were concerned, why should she care about what they’d done last Saturday, or who they’d done it with? Their reputations were well established, and their behavior should come as no surprise.

Kelly retreated to the stockroom under the pretense of finding more ketchup. Maybe a few moments alone would cool her temper.

She jumped as a hand closed around her right bicep and spun her around. She whipped around to face Nick, bracing her palms against his chest as though to fend off an attack.

“What are you doing back here?”

“Kelly, nothing happened last Saturday,” Nick said, placing his hands on her shoulders.

“I don’t care if it did,” she lied. She turned, pretending to search through boxes so she wouldn’t have to look at him. “Honestly, we never made any promises except not to tell anyone that we’re fucking.” The crude word tasted bad in her mouth. She picked up a bottle of ketchup and stuck it in her apron pocket. “And I can only hope you’re not telling your brothers about any of my specialties.”

It was foolish, naïve, ridiculous to be hurt by the idea of Nick talking about her like Tony and Mike had talked about Carrie–Candy, whatever her name.

But it did hurt, dammit. Because like it or not, what she had with Nick was special. At least to her.

“I haven’t told them anything, just like we agreed,” he snapped.

“Good. Anyway, we never agreed not to see other people, not that this town has much else to offer.” Kelly turned to face Nick, keeping her expression deliberately bland. His jaw was set in tense lines, his thumbs hooked aggressively in his belt loops.

“Except…” A little voice in the back of her head told her to shut up, but she barreled on, “except your brothers, of course. Now there’s a thought. Karen dated Mike in high school and was very impressed even then, if I recall. I’ve never been much for threesomes. But—”

Nick’s mouth slammed down on hers. She felt her lips grind against her teeth. She opened her mouth to protest, and Nick seized the opportunity to thrust his tongue inside.

Her arms twined around his neck, even as she knew she should push him away. She whimpered into his mouth, one leg lifting to twine around his waist as she ground her sex against the mammoth bulge at his crotch.

Nick tore his mouth away so abruptly Kelly stumbled back against a box of napkins.

His face was flushed with fury, his eyes burning with rage and arousal. He closed his hands around her shoulders and lifted her off the ground until she was at eye level. “I don’t fucking share.”

One last, brutal kiss, and he was gone.

It was just past midnight, and Nick stood outside of Sullivan’s. He lurked in the doorway of the shoe store next door, waiting for Maggie to leave for the night. Everyone else had gone except for Kelly.

He was too restless to wait at her house tonight. After mauling her in the storeroom, he’d left with his brothers. Too keyed to read the mystery novel he’d started, and too impatient with the nonsense offered on TV, he’d gone for a walk.

But even as he’d wandered aimlessly for the past several hours, he couldn’t shake the frustration, the anger—face it—the jealousy that had nearly overwhelmed him earlier that evening.

It was an emotion he hadn’t felt in a very long time. Not even with Ann, his last girlfriend. But Kelly’s snide joke about his brother made him want to grab her by the hair and pull her caveman style back to his lair.