Illegal Motion: A Loveswept Classic Romance (15 page)

“You really want to know? Ask me what I want, Willa. I’m not too shy to tell you.”

Willa swallowed hard. His voice was like gravel, a rasp so low it vibrated across his skin. He wanted her. Badly. The very idea thrilled her as much as it frightened her. He must have seen it in her expression because he pushed up onto one elbow and tilted her chin up with his other hand.

“Am I making you nervous?”

“No.”

“Don’t lie, Willa. Do you want me to stop talking?”

She looked him straight in the eye. “No.”

“Then take my pants off before they won’t come off.”

Her hands trembled badly as she unsnapped
his jeans. She couldn’t have prevented the moan from escaping her lips if she’d tried when she discovered that nothing came between Nick and his Levi’s. “You’re beautiful.”

“Hey, that’s my line.” He flopped back on the bed, groaning as she pulled his jeans off and tossed them on the floor.

“Does your knee hurt?”

“I wouldn’t know. I can’t feel anything below my—”

“Nick!”

“Willa!” he mimicked. He smiled gently when she looked up at him. “Come here.” He pulled her over his body, groaning into her hair as his erection rubbed against her belly. “Do you want me inside you as badly as I need to be there?”

Willa nodded slowly, admitting to herself that she was beginning to like the way Nick talked in bed. It took some getting used to after Eric’s grunting directions and sighed disappointment—but she could soon become addicted to his provocative verbal foreplay. “You’re incorrigible, you know that?”

“I think the word you’re looking for is corruptible.”

“So, corrupt me and I’ll corrupt you.”

Nick let out a shout of approval and rolled
over, pinning her beneath him. “I knew we were made for each other.”

Willa’s smile faded and her heart began pounding so hard she couldn’t hear. More than anything she wanted that to be true. “ Love me, Nick.”

Nick growled low in his throat and captured her lips in a soul-searing kiss. He moved between her legs, pressing against her, then stopped. Abruptly he rolled back over and pushed up to sit at the edge of the bed, Willa straddling his lap.

“Nick?”

“Wrap your legs around me.” Nick twitched involuntarily, his need for her intense. “I think I’m gonna die. Reach behind you and grab one of those packets.”

Willa picked up the condom and handed it to him.

Nick merely looked at her.

“You want me to …”

“I believe in sharing the responsibility of birth control.”

Willa caught the twinkle in his eyes and smiled herself. She fumbled with the packet, her fingers too shaky to get a grip on the slippery plastic.

Nick took it from her, tore it open, and
gently lay back on the bed, shifting her off to his side. “Hurry, or it will be over before we begin.”

She rolled it along the length of him, barely finishing before he pulled her under him and nestled between her thighs. She automatically wrapped her legs around his lean waist, instinctively rising to meet him.

“Are you ready for me?”

“I think I’ve always been ready for you.”

Nick kissed her soft and deep as he pushed slowly into her. His biceps bunched under the strain of keeping himself from plunging. “So hot. So tight.” He let out a slow moan as he eased more deeply into her. “So mine.”

Unable to keep his body from establishing a faster rhythm, he began to move inside her. He reveled in the intensity of their lovemaking as she matched him thrust for thrust. All too soon she drove him to the edge. “Willa, I can’t …” His words died as he clenched his jaw and drove as deeply into her as he could in his release.

As soon as he stopped shuddering, he rolled to his side, keeping her with him. He buried his face in her hair. “I am so sorry. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

Willa was still too awed by the force of his powerful body filling hers to understand what in the world he was talking about. When his words
finally sank in, she reached for his face, turning his head to hers. “Do you mean it could actually be any better?”

Nick’s mouth dropped open, then quickly snapped shut as a devilish smile carved a tiny dimple into his cheek. “Oh, yeah, Princess. It gets a whole lot better.”

He swept her into his arms and began a slow assault on her mouth. By the time he’d reached her breasts, she was writhing beneath him. His mouth dipped lower, touching off sparks as he nibbled around her belly button. “Nick, please.”

“Please what?”

“I need.… I—”

“This?” Nick slowly tucked his tongue into the moisture between her legs. He was rewarded with a gasp as her hips surged forward, pressing more intimately against him.

Willa felt like she’d just stepped off the edge of an active volcano. Nothing in her limited experience had ever prepared her for this. The need for release was so great that hot tears seeped from under her closed eyelashes. She must have whimpered because Nick stopped abruptly.

“Am I hurting you?”

“Please don’t stop now or I’ll die.”

His laugh was so provocative she arched her hips again. “A knight would never leave his damsel
in such obvious distress.” He touched her again, but she wriggled away, pushing at his shoulders.

“What’s wrong, baby?”

“I don’t know. I’m so close to … Nick? I need you inside me.”

He would have thought it impossible, but those softly spoken words, so achingly vulnerable yet beautifully strong, accomplished in seconds what should have taken an hour.

He pulled her on top of him, gripping her hips, and they quickly established a rhythm that was both universal and uniquely theirs.

It couldn’t possibly get any better.

She was wonderfully wrong.

Willa moved over him in a wanton abandon that would have shocked her only a few hours before. It felt perfect. He felt perfect. She ran her hands over his chest and shoulders, gripping his powerful biceps as he bucked against her. The heady combination of their passion, intertwined with the intense desire to please each other, proved to be a powerful force of nature. As Nick moved he touched off a coil of heat that slowly started to spiral—winding tighter and tighter in her body until she thought she would surely be torn in two. Just when she thought herself incapable of containing it any longer, Nick thrust deep
inside her—reaching her core in his release and releasing her as well. The tightly wound spring uncurled in a whiplash of molten desire.

Nick pulled her tightly against him. He’d never known a union so strong that he could lose himself to the extent that he didn’t know where he ended and she began. The idea that they shared such a powerful bond should have scared the ever-loving daylights out of him, but it didn’t.

She chose that moment to snuggle against him, her sighs mingling with his. He looked down at her, soft curves and sleek strength. She matched him perfectly and he knew he’d never again feel this close to another person.
What if it hadn’t affected her the same way?
He hated to admit how afraid he was to find out.

As if sensing his inner battle, Willa tilted her head up to look at him. What Nick saw sent a rush of relief shooting through him, followed swiftly by a sense of pride so strong he was almost embarrassed by it. His voice came out in a husky rumble. “Your smile would put the Cheshire cat to shame.”

“Yeah, well, you look ready to crow yourself,” she responded, her smile provocative, her voice whiskey rough.

Nick placed the pad of his finger against her
lips, stroking their bruised fullness. “I should have been gentler, gone slower the first time.”

She shook her head; the way he looked at her made her feel strangely invincible and she wanted him to feel the same. “You said before that my response to you was beautiful because it was honest. Do you know how incredible you made me feel? I have never felt so desirable in my life.” She slowly pulled the tip of his finger into her mouth and began to suck on it—amazed and incredibly pleased that there was no awkwardness between them. Her eyes widened when she felt him stir inside her.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he admonished. “You’re the one tempting fate.” At her quizzical look he said, “I want you. Don’t ever doubt that. It’s just that—well, you may not be sore now, but by tomorrow you might wish you’d never laid eyes on me.”

Willa’s immediate reaction to his teasing assumption was to deny it vigorously. Her fingers dug unconsciously into his shoulders. “Nothing could ever make me regret what we just shared.” Nick’s muttered expletive startled her, and she belatedly realized how tightly she must have been gripping him. “I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”

“No, baby, never.” He stroked her hair and kissed her gently before easing out of her. “Hurting
is having to leave this bed, and you. That’s my only regret.” When Willa still looked confused, he added, “It’s late and we have to get back to the club.”

The club!
How could she have completely forgotten about her job—not to mention what was in store for her later this evening. She glanced at Nick and found him absorbed in studying the shiny curl he had wrapped around his finger.
You know exactly how it happened
. In that moment she could have blanked out the world if it meant keeping him here with her.

“I’ll use the shower in the guest room. You can use the master bath.” Nick smiled at her obvious disappointment. “Next time we’ll shower together, I promise.” He pressed a kiss between her eyebrows and rolled out of bed.

The pain in his knee was intense as the blood rushed through his legs, but it was a small price to pay. He scooped up his scattered clothing and limped to the door.

Next time
 … Willa was completely besotted and couldn’t have taken her eyes off Nick’s beautifully sculpted body if threatened with death. As he strode to the door she noted with delight the curved sides of his muscled buttocks. He was built like a statue. She dipped her head, suppressing a giggle. This man was definitely not
made of stone—just hard as one.
Oh Willa, you’ve got it bad!

Nick turned at the door and caught Willa’s supremely feminine smile. He flashed a like-what-you-see grin and a sexy wink—totally at ease with his nudity—then ducked out the door to escape the fluffy pillow she heaved at him.

Willa clasped her arms around her knees, wrapped in a sensual fog and unwilling to let it fade. Making love with Nick had far surpassed her wildest expectations. His complete absorption in her had caused that seedling of hope within her to grow, nurtured by the golden light of their lovemaking.

They did have a chance. She knew it.

Sitting on the bed in his guest bedroom, Nick waited for the sound of the shower running in the master bath before dialing the phone. He rubbed his throbbing knee while he punched in Willa’s home phone number, his shaky fingers a testament to how affected he still was by what they had shared. He let it ring once and hung up, pausing a moment before dialing the number again. After several rings a masculine voice came on the line. Nick sighed in relief. “Sky, thank God, I was afraid you’d already left.”

“I was just about to leave. What took so long?”

Sky was Nick’s closest friend, but Nick wasn’t ready to tell him about the change in his relationship with Willa. “I guess her key was still under the rock. What did you find?”

“I had to turn over a dozen rocks before I found the damn thing, but it was there. I guess it turned out to be a lucky break that she told me where her spare was hidden after locking herself out one night.”

“Yeah, lucky. What did you find?” Nick didn’t know how long he could talk safely and hoped Sky would hurry up.

“Well,” Sky explained, “this is a big house and Miller could have stashed the drugs in a million places, but I concentrated my search on the first floor.”

“And … and? Don’t keep me in suspense, Sky.”

“I took your advice and looked in the same general places that he used in your house. I found four packets.”

“Damn!” Nick jammed his fingers through his hair. “I knew it. I should have seen this coming.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over this. When Eric planted stuff in your house, he did it during your
backyard barbecue for the kids. We had no way of knowing he’d be desperate enough to break into Willa’s home to set her up.”

“I still should’ve been more aware. I know better than anyone what Miller’s capable of.” Nick bit off an expletive, careful to keep his voice down, even though he could still hear the shower running. Willa had enough to deal with right now and he’d be damned if Miller would hurt her again. “Did you make the switch?”

“Uh-huh. I’ll drop the real stuff off at Boxleitner’s office on my way back to the club, and see if he’s come up with anything on Doc.” Sky was silent for a moment, then said, “Miller’s going to a lot of trouble to ensure Willa’s cooperation.”

“Yeah. You were right about him being desperate. But he’s still smart enough to cover his bases. Seeing me at the club with Willa must have shaken him.” Nick realized that the stakes were getting dangerously high.

“I’ve got to be on my way if I’m going to meet Box and get back to the club before my next client.” Sky paused, then said quietly, “Are you sure you shouldn’t tell her? This is getting dangerous. You know how I feel about all this sneaking around.”

Nick thought about that for a long minute.
After what had transpired between them, his protective instincts where Willa was concerned were running pretty high. “No, Sky, I don’t think so. At least not now. I know how you feel, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate what you’ve done for me. Just trust me a while longer, buddy.”

Sky heaved a sigh that made his feelings on the matter clear. “This is your show. But when she finds out, don’t blame me if she tears your head off for not trusting her.”

“I do trust her, dammit!” Nick stopped and blew out a long sigh. More quietly he added, “The less she knows, the easier it will be to keep her safe.”

“I know you care about her, Nick, and you want to protect her. Be careful yourself, okay?”

“Thanks, Sky. Let’s hope it will be all over tonight. Then I can clear all this up. But not until we nail Miller.”