Page 17 of Wife for a Week
She lay down on the bed with her back to him and tried to block him out, tried to get her weary body to relax and sink into sleep, but it wouldn’t comply. It was no good. She needed something over her. The red satin bedspread that she’d shoved to the bottom of the bed was her only option. She sat up, fully aware of Nick’s amused eyes on her as she drew the coverlet over her and lay back down. There. Much better.
Ten minutes later she sighed heavily and shoved the cover aside. She was too hot beneath it. She sneaked another look at Nick. He wasn’t working; rather, he was watching her. Laughing at her, to be more precise.
‘Change of plans?’ he enquired.
‘Yes. Separation by sheet has been abandoned.’ She crawled between the sheets defiantly, wrenching the top one into place so it covered her from chin to toe.
‘I don’t suppose you have a new plan?’ he asked her.
‘Er, no.’ Nothing sprang to mind.
‘We could always sleep top to tail,’ he suggested. ‘I could have my head up this end and you could have yours up there. That way if we moved towards one another through the night we’d end up next to feet.’
‘No!’ she said hastily. ‘Absolutely not!’ That would be bad, really bad, and it had nothing to do with feet. Because if he pulled the sheet up and she followed it down as she was wont to do, they’d end up next to something altogether different to feet and, dear Lord, she was getting all hot and bothered just thinking about what a man of Nick’s obvious sexual experience might think to do in such a situation. Never mind keeping her own rampant curiosity under control.
She was still tender, still a little sore from this morning’s lovemaking. What if Nick took it into his head to, you know, soothe her? She’d be lost. Possibly begging. Hell, she was close to begging already and she was only thinking about it. ‘No top to tail.’ She tried to make her voice sound firm, had the sneaking suspicion she’d just done a halfway decent Marilyn Monroe impersonation.
‘Why not?’ he said.
‘Because I’m a lot shorter than you, that’s why, and I might, ah, move down the bed somewhat. Especially if you’re pulling the sheets that way. I might not end up next to feet at all.’
‘You’re right.’ His eyes darkened. ‘Top to tail is definitely out.’ He didn’t look amused any more, he looked…dangerous. ‘I guess will-power will have to do.’ He came over to her then, came right over to the bed and tucked the sheet firmly around her. ‘Get some sleep,’ he ordered, and leaned forward just enough to set his lips to hers for a kiss that would have been chaste but for the tip of his tongue that went skittering across her upper lip.
It was enough. More than enough given where her thoughts had been to have her gasping in helpless delight and clenching the sheets to keep her hands from reaching for him. But her body arched towards him anyway, ached for him, and Nick knew it did, dammit. And groaned for the both of them.
‘Stop it,’ he muttered. ‘Stop me. We are not doing this. I have too much work to do.’
‘Then go do it,’ she whispered, closing her eyes tightly as if maybe, somehow, if she didn’t see him he’d be easier to resist.
It was a long time before she fell asleep.
Even longer before Nick finally went to bed.
Hallie woke the following morning snuggled into Nick’s side with her head on his shoulder and a hand at his waist. She lay perfectly still, her brain trying to figure the best way to extricate herself from his embrace while her body wondered why she would ever want to, her body being more than happy to stay right where it was. But that wasn’t the point. The point was that she and Nick had decided lovemaking was out and it was going to take a joint effort to stick to that agreement. If either of them weakened they were both lost; it was as simple as that.
Hallie held her breath as she eased her hand from his waist and started to inch away from him, watching his face for any signs of waking, but he was sound asleep. There were shadows under his eyes that made him look vulnerable, shadows along his jaw that made him look dangerous. And a strength in his face that called to her even as she railed against it. What was it about this man that made him so hard to resist?
Because it wasn’t his face and it wasn’t his body, although both were gorgeous. No, it was something far more intrinsic than that, something that called to her very soul. And made it tremble. She backed up some more, felt the edge of the bed with her toes. Almost there. One foot on the floor and now the other as she eased her body from the mattress and stood up. Mission completed.
But she’d taken the sheet with her, which left her with a new problem. To cover Nick up again or not to cover. He didn’t look cold. No goose-bumps on that gloriously sculpted chest. She made the mistake of letting her gaze travel down his body and swallowed hard at the substantial bulge beneath his boxers. Never mind if he was cold or not, she needed him covered up. She gathered up the sheet and was just about to float it over his body when some sixth sense made her glance up at his face.
He was awake, watching her through slitted eyes, with a smile on his face and an invitation in his eyes that was practically irresistible. ‘Going somewhere?’ he said.
Hallie dropped the sheet and took a hasty step backwards, almost falling over her feet in the process. ‘I, ah, I thought I’d get up early and go down and see if Jasmine needs a hand with the New Year’s Eve preparations.’
Nick’s smile deepened. ‘Good of you,’ he said.
‘Yes, well, things to do.’ Hallie smiled brightly as her heart pounded and her skin tingled at the sound of his sleepy, sexy rumble. With one last wayward glance for the dazzling display of blatant masculinity spread out in front of her she fled to the bathroom before temptation and Nicholas Cooper’s smile got the better of her.
With Nick and John at John’s offices and Kai away arranging crab analysis, Hallie and Jasmine got down to the serious business of decorating the house for the forthcoming New Year. There were oranges to stack into small pyramids with incense on either side as offerings to the ancestors, beautiful red envelopes to stuff with crisp new money as gifts for friends and relatives, and exquisite paper lanterns to light up the terrace come nightfall. There was grain to offer the Rooster, for it was his year, and he must be made welcome. There were horoscopes to consult. Nails to paint a bright, bold red, and the services of a hairdresser to arrange for later in the day.
They left the dresses until last. Hallie’s choice was simple, she would wear the gold gown. Jasmine had a far greater selection to choose from, but by lunchtime they’d narrowed it down to two. A full-length, midnight-blue satin gown with a demure front and next to no back, and a strapless burgundy gown with gold embroidered accents on the bodice. Both were gorgeous. Neither woman could choose between them.
Kai returned in time for lunch and seemed unusually quiet, even for him. When lunch was eaten, the dishes cleared away and the kitchen spotless, he spoke.
‘May I speak with you in private?’ he said to Jasmine.
‘Is this about the crabmeat?’ Jasmine eyed him curiously.
‘No.’
Hallie watched them retreat to John’s office with a nagging sense of foreboding; Kai looked like a man with a lot on his mind. He took off in the Mercedes not ten minutes later and Hallie found Jasmine in her room, standing by the window, her eyes wet with tears.
‘He’s leaving for the Mainland next week and he’s not coming back,’ said the younger girl shakily. She gave a tiny, helpless shrug. ‘I really didn’t think he’d go.’
‘Oh, Jasmine…’
‘I don’t want him to go. I thought I did, but I don’t.’ Fresh tears welled in the younger girl’s eyes before she lowered her head, a silky curtain of hair covering her distress.
‘I thought you felt trapped,’ said Hallie gently. ‘I thought you wanted your independence.’
‘I want Kai.’
‘Because he’s always been there for you. Because he’s safe.’
‘No! Not just because of that.’ And with a sob, ‘I thought he loved me.’
No prizes for guessing who’d put that idea into her head, thought Hallie, and cursed herself for doing so. She’d been thinking about Jasmine and Kai and the situation they were in; thinking that some time apart would benefit them both. ‘Think about it from Kai’s perspective,’ she urged the younger girl. ‘Even if he does love you he’s been your protector now for almost ten years. He knows full well it wouldn’t be fair of him to burden you with his feelings. Not when you’ve had so little opportunity to discover who you are and what you want.’
‘I know who I am,’ said Jasmine with quiet certainty. ‘And I want Kai.’
‘Maybe you do. But wouldn’t you rather come to him as an equal? As a woman he can love and respect rather than a girl he feels he needs to watch over?’
Jasmine was silent. Finally she lifted her head and turned to Hallie, uncertainty in her eyes this time, rather than desolation. ‘Of course I would.’
‘Then maybe this is for the best,’ said Hallie softly. ‘I for one think you’re a very lucky woman. What more could you want than the love of a beautiful warrior who knows what you need and is willing to give it to you even if it means losing you? Don’t you see?’ Hallie tucked the hair that was clinging to Jasmine’s tear stained cheek back behind her ear with gentle fingers tear stained cheek back behind her ear with gentle fingers. ‘He’s setting you free.’