Unexpectedly His(39)
Nick stared back at her. “Because I’m not the can’t-wait-to-meet-your-mom type? Is that what you’re implying? I’m not good enough to be that kind of guy?”
“Maybe.” She bit down on her bottom lip but refused to back down. After all, he was a proven serial dater, and yes, they’d shared some fantastic sex, but that didn’t mean he’d changed his tune to include commitment. “Yes.”
Anger radiated off him. “You know what, Marianne? You’re right. I’m not the Prius guy who wants to run out to the Hamptons to meet the mom. I’m the guy who likes a weekend commitment. Not a month or a year or a lifetime. But we made a deal, and I intend to stick to it, because I am not the kind of guy who bails. But don’t think I’m all that thrilled about driving out to meet your family as your fiancé, a role that requires me to look like a man in love, rather than a man just along for the ride.”#p#分页标题#e#
A small stab of pain shot through her. “A man along for the ride?” she repeated, stabbing at her glasses. After the last few nights, she’d actually started to imagine a happily-ever-after, but she should have known better. “That’s dating to you, isn’t it? Going along for the ride.”
His eyes narrowed on her face, but he said nothing.
Her chin angled up a centimeter in a kind of dare. “Oh, I know all about your rules. No sleepovers, no back-to-back dates, some crazy stipulation about football—”
“Hey, now you’re getting personal.”
“But don’t forget, Nick, you came to me looking for a fiancée and your sister spilled the beans to my family.” Her fists formed into tight balls at her sides. “So don’t blame me for the fact that you need to step up and act like a man capable of more than going along for the ride.”
A charged silence grew between them, and Marianne wondered if she’d crossed the line. Not like she wasn’t guilty. She hadn’t filled him in on her ex or her dad or the dominatrix. For all he knew she could be planning a shotgun wedding. His. But she needed him with her, tomorrow at five. God, please don’t let this fall apart.
“You’re right.”
Marianne blinked at him. “I am?”
Nick ran a hand through his impossibly mussed hair. “Totally right and, while I can’t believe I’m saying this, we are engaged—temporarily. I need to step up, drive out to the Hamptons, and act the part. You’re right. I’m sorry.”
She nodded and bit down on her bottom lip. “Do you think we can pull it off?”
Nick smiled at her, and the temperature of the air around them seemed to warm. “Absolutely, and we kind of have to at this point, right?” He reached out to undo a couple of buttons at the top of the shirt she was wearing. “Besides, we’ve got the main thing down already.”
“The main thing?”
“We’ve got chemistry.” He bent his head to drop a soft kiss on her lips before letting his mouth cruise along her jawline, and she shivered in response. “See? We can sell the lie and nobody will be the wiser.”
“But what if…”
“Marianne, you need to relax.” He sank his hands into the hair at the base of her neck and let it fall through his fingers.
“What if I can’t relax?”
“Then you need to stop talking.”
Before she could respond, his lips covered hers, warm and gentle and heart-stoppingly sexy. A sigh parted her lips at the delicious sensation of his early morning stubble against her cheek. His tongue traced the line of her lips, so intimate and deep, and she tasted the bitterness of his morning coffee mixed with something else that was wonderfully masculine. God, she wanted to kiss him like this forever, not only for another thirty-six days. He pulled away slowly, lifting the collar of his shirt to frame her face before drawing her lips into one last kiss. Forehead pressed against hers, he said, “I’m hitting the shower.”
Before he could get away she grabbed at the hem of his T-shirt. “Tell me what she said when you claimed to be my fiancé.”
Nick slipped his shirt over his head. “I look forward to meeting you.”
He walked toward the bathroom, and she padded after him. “That’s all she said? I look forward to meeting you?” She stepped into the bathroom and caught Nick’s image in the mirror.
And—wow.
Full frontal.
Her breath caught in her throat and all thoughts of expectations and plans hightailed it over to catch the jitney. How could she think about anything when Nick Wright stood in front of her totally naked? Wow. Just wow. Last night she’d tested her sexy flirtation steps and been rewarded with the best sex of her life and a night spent in his arms. Those incredible, unbelievable, sink-your-teeth-into-those-perfectly-sculpted-biceps arms. Nothing in her seduction hypothesis had prepared her for the male beauty standing in front of her. Michelangelo’s David had nothing on the man. Her mouth went dry. She stared, her gaze raking over his lean, muscular body until she reached his midnight blues.#p#分页标题#e#