About That Kiss (8 page)

Flirtatious
was the interpretation Joy placed on it, though she did roundly reprimand herself for the sarcasm in that thought. Rachel had every right to flirt with him. Diana would be happy about it.

But Joy was miserable.

“Would you like a cup of coffee?” Joy asked Rachel in a clipped tone.

“Sure,” Rachel answered, smiling with her eyes.

Joy started for the coffee maker and Nick appeared at her side.

“Point me to a broom and dustpan and I’ll clean up the floor,” he said, giving Joy a teasingly personal smile.

Joy squared her shoulders. She was not at all amused. “There’s a broom and dustpan in the pantry.” Joy pointed with her finger, her voice as stiff as her back.

“I’ll hold the dustpan for you,” Rachel offered quickly.

Joy poured a cup of coffee for Rachel and added a splash of milk and brought it to the table just as Nick and Rachel finished cleaning up.

The three of them sat in silence at the table. Joy glanced between Rachel and Nick as all three sipped their coffee.

Nick managed to capture Joy’s eyes for just a second before she looked away. “How about I scramble up some eggs for all of us,” Nick volunteered, wanting to satisfy the yen Joy had expressed earlier.

“A doughnut is enough for me,” Rachel replied, helping herself to a buttermilk doughnut in the box.

Her tone cranky, Joy said, “We’ve wasted enough time already this morning. Let’s get to the painting.”

“That’s the last of the paint,” Nick said, swishing through the bottom of the final gallon with a brush to get the last drops into the roller pan he was using. It was late afternoon. And though they’d only taken one break for lunch there were two more walls to paint.

“We don’t have anything left, either,” Rachel said, looking down at the pan she and Joy were working out of to get all the molding done.

Nick unfastened the roller pad from the extension holder he’d been using and dropped it along with his paintbrush into a pail half-filled with water. “I’ll go out and get another gallon.”

Fast as a bunny, Rachel dropped her brush into the pail. “I’ll go with you.”

Joy thought about Rachel and Nick taking off together and not coming back for a good while. “Neither one of you knows which paint store Eddie was using. I’ll go.”

“All right,” Rachel answered. “Nick and I can dry the brushes.”

Joy thought about Rachel and Nick being alone in the house. That thought didn’t sit any better than the thought of letting them go off together. “Rachel,
you’d better come with me. I think we need more than one gallon to finish up. I’ll need help carrying it.”

“One more gallon should do it,” Nick said off-handedly.

Joy dug in her heels. “We can always take it back if we don’t use it.”

Nick read volumes, then, in Joy’s eyes. As sure as he knew his own name, Nick knew she didn’t want him to be alone with Rachel.

Oh, baby…Nick whistled in his head.

“You’re right.” He eyed a small spot of ecru paint on her chin, but he didn’t do or say anything to draw her attention to it. He didn’t want to douse the fire in her eyes. “We can always take back a gallon.”

“Let’s go,” Joy said to Rachel, not about to brook any further argument even from her closest, lifelong friend—whom she did adore under other circumstances.

“Take my car,” Nick said, pulling his keys from the pocket of his jeans. “I’m parked behind you.”

Joy accepted the keys. She spotted a hint of teasing in his eyes that she couldn’t decide how to decipher.

Nick was grinning as Joy left the house with Rachel in tow, both bundled into their coats.

He heard her gun the motor just as the phone rang.

“Hello,” Nick said, picking it up.

“Diana Mackey, please. This is Ms. Louella from House of Brides. I’m returning her call.”

“She’s not here at the moment, but I do know what she called about.” He remembered the instruction Diana had given Joy. “I’m Nick Tremain, the groom’s brother. Diana wants her gown shortened three inches.”

“That’s impossible,” Ms. Louella uttered. “What could she be thinking? It won’t look right at all.”

“What she’s thinking about is tripping,” Nick said evenly.

“You’re absolutely certain she wants her gown three inches shorter?”

“I’m absolutely certain,” Nick reiterated. There wasn’t anything wrong with his hearing. Diana had said three inches to Joy. There wasn’t any doubt in his mind about that.

“Your name again?” Ms. Louella asked in a steely tone.

“Nick Tremain.”

“That’s
T-r-e-m-a-i-n?
“

“Right,” Nick responded.

“I’m writing your name on the slip should there be any issue later on.”

“It’s okay with me,” Nick said, rolling his eyes at the threat.

“That does it,” Nick said two hours later. He stood back, the roller in his hand, and admired the completed paint job.

“It looks great. Really great,” Rachel said, gazing up at Nick from where she sat next to Joy on a dropcloth-covered couch.

Nick’s eyes were on Joy. She’d gone longer than Rachel had before she’d petered out. Nick thought about giving Joy a massage. The picture he had in his head didn’t include an audience. “The question is will Diana think so?”

“She will,” Joy said with a sigh, reminding herself that everything he did was for Diana.

“I think we deserve to go out and treat ourselves to a really great dinner,” Rachel said, smiling at Nick before looking to Joy. “If you’re too tired to go tonight, I can go with Nick, and we can all go out together another time.”

Joy felt her nerves pricking over every square inch of her body. “I’m not too tired.”

Nick didn’t want to be impolite, but he’d gone through a whole day thinking of nothing but being alone with Joy.

“We’re going to have to make it another time, Rachel. Friends of mine have already invited the two of us to dinner tonight. Isn’t that right, Joy?”
Go along with me, baby. Please!

Joy bit her lip, trying to understand this new development he’d tossed into the melee. Was he selecting her over Rachel?

So what if he was? What did that mean?

“I don’t know how I could have forgotten,” Joy said, when she got around to answering.

“Well…” Rachel stood. “Call me and we’ll set up a date.”

“Absolutely,” Nick replied jubilantly.

Joy walked Rachel to the hall closet, and handed her friend her coat.

“Thanks for helping,” Joy said sincerely, opening the front door.

“I didn’t mind at all.” Rachel glanced over Joy’s shoulder to take one more look at Nick before heading out.

Joy confronted Nick as soon as she returned to the parlor. “Why did you lie to Rachel?”

Nick stretched his arms and shoulder muscles. “Why did you back me up?”

“I didn’t want to hurt Rachel’s feelings,” Joy retorted.

“I didn’t want to hurt Rachel’s feelings, either,” Nick countered.

Joy’s eyes narrowed. “That still doesn’t answer my question.”

“You know the answer.” He moved toward her with a prowling gait.

“Hold it right there.” Joy put her hand out like a street guard halting traffic.

The gesture didn’t slow Nick at all. He took the hand sticking out at him and set it around his neck. Then he wrapped his arms around her.

“Don’t, Nick,” Joy whispered imploringly.

He leaned to kiss her eyelids closed. First the right one, then the left.

“Don’t,” Joy said breathily, her eyes staying closed.

He walked her backward, manipulating her with slow, deliberate pushes of his hips and thighs against hers. He kissed the tip of her nose, peering past her cheek to the couch across the room and the stereo system that was covered up next to it.

“I mean it, Nick,” Joy mumbled, while her body tingled and strained against him with each step back.

He dipped her when they got to the stereo. Raising the drop cloth with one hand, he punched the Power button, then let his eyes drift closed, kissing her mouth, all the while turning the dial until he found something soft and sexy.

“We…have…to…talk,” Joy pleaded against his mouth as he brought her down on the couch with him.
She was on his lap, facing him, with her knees pressed into the cushion at either side of his hips.

Nick dropped his head back. “All right. Talk to me.” His voice was thick and husky.

Joy cleared her throat. “I hate you.” Both her arms were around his neck without insistence from him.

Nick smiled with his eyes closed. “No, you don’t.” He hauled her head down with one hand.

“I do,” Joy insisted, all whispery, catching her breath as he kissed that very sensitive and vulnerable spot at the base of her throat.

“Keep talking,” he teased as he lifted up her sweat-shirt.

“Oh, Nick…” Joy cried out in a half sob as his mouth found the small bow at the center of her lacy red bra. Her breath rushed entirely out of her body as his tongue sought out one nipple through the lace and etched a wet mark on the spot.

“I hate your friend Rachel,” Nick groaned, wishing he knew for sure how long it was going to be before Kevin came back.

“I can’t believe you just said that.” Joy pulled back and fiercely yanked her sweatshirt down.

“I didn’t mean that literally,” Nick said, silently cursing his choice of words as Joy sprang off his lap and onto her feet. He looked up at her stormy face. “You know what I mean.”

“I know that you didn’t mind flirting with her.”

“I wasn’t flirting with Rachel, but I probably would have if I’d known it was going to make you jealous.”

“I was not jealous.” Joy stated through clenched teeth.

“I was jealous of Eddie DeMarco.” Nick stared into her eyes.

“Quit it!” Joy put her hands over her ears.

“I can’t quit it.” He knew there wasn’t much he could say that she’d believe. But he also knew, given enough time, he would convince her. “Sit down next to me. I won’t do anything. I promise.”

Joy plopped herself down at his side.

Nick put his arm around her back and laid a warm hand inside the neck of her sweatshirt. He caressed her throat.

“I’d like to tell you to go to hell, you know that?” Joy asked.

“I think you’ve made that point.” He massaged her shoulder and the back of her neck.

Joy leaned into the touch of his fingers while she stretched her legs out next to his. She knew nothing more was going to happen between them. She expected he was thinking, as she was thinking, that any time now Diana, Kevin and her mother would be walking in.

“Will you tell me something?” Nick questioned.

“What?” Joy asked.

“Are they red?” He placed a hand lightly to her waist.

“Yes.” Joy whispered the confession on a fluttering breath.

Nick shut his eyes and groaned into Joy’s hair.

On that note the front door opened.

Nick and Joy barely had time to get up from the couch.

“Is it finished?” Diana asked, coming directly into the parlor with her coat still on. Kevin was right behind her.

“It is finished,” Diana answered herself. “It looks terrific. Doesn’t it, Kevin?”

Kevin beamed. “I told you this brother of mine knows how to paint.”

“I couldn’t have gotten it done without Joy.” Nick smiled. “She did a lot of the work.”

“I just did the molding.” Joy took honest exception. “And Rachel helped.”

“Rachel showed up?” Diana took off her coat and Kevin collected it. “I meant to tell you that she said she might come by to give you both a hand. Was she here for long?”

“All day,” Nick said.

From behind Diana, Kevin gave Nick a look. The look Nick gave Kevin back made it resoundingly clear just how thrilled Nick had been to have Rachel around for the entire day.

“Nick,” Diana said timorously. “I feel terrible about the way I behaved. Kevin told me again that you were only trying to help Eddie out. Thank you for doing the painting. I was being ridiculous thinking you were trying to ruin our wedding. Will you accept my apology?”

“Accepted,” Nick smiled.

Diana threw her arms around Joy. “You are the best sister there is.”

“So are you.” Joy hugged back, her heart dancing that Diana wasn’t accusing Nick any longer of trying to deliberately ruin the wedding.

“What do you think, Mom?” Joy asked, as her mother came into the room.

“It looks wonderful. I, for one, am delighted the painting is finished. Have you and Nick had dinner?”

“No,” Joy answered, her stomach suddenly reminding her of that neglect.

“We’ll grab something out,” Nick said.

“Nonsense,” Emily Mackey admonished. “There’s enough food here to feed an army. The two of you go upstairs and shower. I’ll put dinner together.”

Not waiting for any rebuttal, the older woman went off to the kitchen.

“I’ll go up with you,” Diana said to Joy. “I feel like a load has been lifted off my shoulders.” Diana gave a puckish smile. “I never did get around to telling Eddie that I wasn’t going to use him to provide the music. Oh, and we’ve decided what songs we want played. I’ll tell you upstairs.”

His attention still focused on Joy’s exit from the room, Nick almost missed his brother’s words.

“A movie didn’t cut it,” Kevin said.

“I already guessed as much,” Nick retorted.

“Nick,” Kevin called out as Nick started to leave.

“Yeah?” Nick turned back.

“The handle for the cold water is on the right,” Kevin quipped.

“Cute, Kev.” Nick grinned. “But don’t give up your day job.”

“D
o you want to play cards?” Joy asked, sitting alone with Nick in the kitchen. They’d had their late dinner and cleaned up together.

“Okay,” Nick answered. He wanted to kiss her like crazy, but that hadn’t been the offer.

Joy rose from the table and got out a deck from one of the kitchen drawers. She sat back down, removed the cards from their box and began to shuffle. “Poker?” she asked.

“Strip?” Nick teased.

“Doesn’t anything stop you?” Joy asked sassily. “My mother is right upstairs watching TV. And Diana and Kevin could come back anytime from their ride.”

Nick leaned back in his chair. “I’d rather be serious with you, but that doesn’t seem to get me anywhere.” There wasn’t any humor on his face now.

Swallowing repeatedly, Joy shuffled the deck again. The cards fell out of her hands. Just breathing had suddenly become difficult.

Nick gathered them up. “Do you want to play with five cards or seven?”

“Five, I guess.” Joy fixed her gaze on the table and chewed on the side of her mouth.

“Are you afraid to be serious with me?” Nick asked, dealing out the cards.

“Why should I be afraid?” Joy picked up the cards he’d dealt her and looked them over.

“You tell me.” Nick picked up his cards, but didn’t look at them.

“I have been serious with you.” Joy tried getting her emotions into a state of equilibrium. “Doesn’t kissing and touching count as serious?”

“It counts as being sexual, but there’s more to love than sex.” Nick waited a beat. “And this is a guy talking.”

Joy nodded her head, which didn’t give Nick any insight into what she was thinking.

“What did you feel when you first met Diana?” Joy asked.

“Hormones…sexual attraction,” Nick responded.

“Then you fell in love with her?” Joy fiddled with a button on her muted yellow-and-gray-plaid shirt, not opening it, just turning it as much as it would turn.

“I thought I did,” Nick answered.

“Do you think you’re in love every time your hormones act up?” Joy placed the cards she was holding down on the table.

“You ask very hard questions.” He put down the cards he was holding, as well.

“I do in-depth interviews. Remember?”

Nick waited briefly, before saying, “Making a mistake about being in love happens to everyone. Haven’t you ever thought you were in love, then realized you weren’t?”

“Yes.” Joy turned her eyes aside, then back again at him.

Nick’s gaze wasn’t budging. “What made you realize you hadn’t been really in love?”

“He told me that I wasn’t really in love with him.” Joy returned her gaze to his, then looked away again. “Actually, there was someone else he was interested in making a play for, and what he was trying to do was get me to end it so he could still feel good about himself. We had been talking about marriage. I thought we would get married.”

“Did you end it?” Nick asked softly. He knew the guy she was talking about was the guy she’d gone with back in college.

“Yes, but I didn’t know then that he was already eyeing someone else.” Joy made circles on the table with her thumb. “It took me some time to figure out he was right to begin with. I wasn’t really in love with him.” What it had really taken was Nick coming into her life and emblazoning himself on her heart to show her what true love was.

“I’m glad you weren’t really in love with him,” Nick whispered.

Joy’s thumb stopped moving. “Everyone I know wants love to be easy. And the thing is, it does seem to be easy for everyone except me.”

“It doesn’t have to be hard,” Nick responded carefully, sensing this night was a turning point for them.

“I haven’t wanted to get close to anybody for a long while now.”

“And now?” Nick asked, his voice low, persuasive.

The question made Joy more miserable than ever. “Why did you tell Kevin you were trying to help Eddie out when you told me that wasn’t what you were doing?” She brought up the issue that had been bothering her for hours now.

“Kevin knows the real reason why I did it. He guessed even before I had a chance to tell him.” The need to get her to believe him made the blood pound in Nick’s head.

“I wanted Eddie away from you. I was a basket case, thinking about you going out with him again. That’s the truth. You can see how that fits in with what I’ve been telling you, can’t you?” Please, baby, see it, Nick prayed.

“I can see it possibly fitting in.” Joy clutched the same button on her shirt that she’d toyed with before. She opened it and closed it. “I can also see it fitting in if you’re trying to get to Diana through me.”

Nick’s heart hit his throat. “What do I have to say to get you to believe me?”

Joy dropped her gaze. “There’s a whole lot pointing in the opposite direction. Facts are the facts.”

“Facts,” Nick repeated, thunderstruck. “What facts?”

Everyone of those facts flooded back to Joy, redoubling her apprehension of how gullible she could be around him.

“You want the facts, I’ll give you the facts.” Joy’s displeasure with herself swirled out of control. “You hear that Kevin is about to marry Diana and you come back lickety-split. But you don’t just comeback. You come back and settle down. Correct me if I’m wrong, but that was the issue that broke you and Diana up to begin with. Then you ask Diana to go out with you when Eddie asked me to go with him to Gillie’s. Let me tell you, that was a real smooth move. Which brings us to Eddie DeMarco and the reason he couldn’t finish the painting…”

Joy drew a deep breath before going on. “Let’s not forget the fact that you’ve been making a play for me, and that certainly could be to make Diana jealous.”

“Why can’t I be making a play for you because I’m in love with you?” He watched that stubborn chin of hers come up. “Can’t you even believe that’s a possibility?”

“I’ll concede that it’s a possibility. A small possibility,” Joy said, desperately trying to hang on to her anger.

“You want to go through the facts, let’s go through the facts,” Nick muttered. “I’ve already told you that I wasn’t going to come back until after Diana and Kevin were married. And right now I wish I had waited. But the paper came up for sale, and I couldn’t wait on that. You know, you’ve never asked me how I even knew the paper was for sale. That’s a fact you’ve missed.”

“How did you know?” Joy questioned.

“I had gotten in touch with Earl right after I left East Hampton. I told him I’d keep him informed about my whereabouts so that he could send me the
paper. I wanted to keep up with your column. Right after Kevin called me about the wedding, I heard from Earl. He asked me if I had any interest in buying the paper before he put it on the market. I came back to solidify the deal before he took it elsewhere.”

“Just like that you decided that
now
was the time to settle down?” Joy scoffed, but there was another voice in her head—a vulnerable voice saying, Hey, he wanted to keep up with your column.

“I think I made that decision the morning I kissed you on the beach and you kissed me back. Only it didn’t register then.” He assiduously avoided her sarcasm. “That kiss was fireworks. It’s fireworks every time I kiss you. And don’t lie to me. You feel it, too. I’ll tell you something else. I feel fireworks just looking at you. I even feel fireworks when you come at me with both your barrels raised.”

“You took advantage of Kevin not being around and asked Diana out.” Joy grabbed for a hook.

“I wasn’t going to let you take off alone with Eddie,” Nick answered, continuing to match her point for point.

Joy brought her eyes to his unwavering study in blue. The silence stretched, enclosing her momentarily. Then, without moving a muscle, she asked, “Are you trying to get Diana back?”

“No.” Nick’s answer was empathic. “I’m out to get you.”

Joy placed her hands on top of the table. Nick reached across to touch the tips of her fingers with his own.

She suddenly withdrew her hands and got up from the table. “I need to think.” Even if she believed
him—and she couldn’t have said at that moment if she did or not—she didn’t want to be someone he latched on to on the rebound. Was second best the way he saw her?

“Do you want something more to eat?” she asked stupidly, not knowing what to do or say now.

“No.” Nick shuffled the deck without realizing he even had the cards in his hands. “Are you still hungry?”

“No.” Joy looked at her feet. “I don’t feel like playing cards anymore.”

“Neither do I.” Nick laid the deck of cards down. “Are you tired?”

“A little, but I couldn’t fall asleep yet.” She was much too unsettled to even consider it. “Would you like some music?”

“All right.” He followed her with his eyes as she went over to the radio on the counter next to the stove. Eric Clapton came across the wire singing, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” Nick couldn’t have picked a better song that mirrored his thoughts.

“Dance with me,” Joy invited on impulse, as his gaze connected with hers.

Nick didn’t have to be invited twice. But as he got in front of her and went to draw her in, Joy quickly stepped aside.

“Are you trying to tease me?” He moved to the music with her without making another try to touch.

“You’re the tease.” Joy’s hips swayed while her heart battered wildly. “I’m the one that’s mixed up.”

“Let me get you unmixed up.” Nick sexily bit down on his bottom lip and raised a brow.

“I don’t know if you can.” Joy flipped her wild mane of cinnamon brown hair and smiled at him.

“You are one cruel woman.” Nick whistled through his teeth.

“Do I really affect you?” Joy asked. She wanted him to tell her he loved her again, but she didn’t know how to ask. And, she knew she still wouldn’t be able to accept it even if he did say it.

“I’ll play with you, if you want,” Nick grinned. “But don’t tell me that you don’t know just how much you affect me. I haven’t been able to keep it a secret when I’ve been kissing you. Do you know what it’s like for a guy to have barely any willpower at all?”

“I know what it’s like for a woman,” Joy answered, rotating her hips.

“Tell me?” Nick asked.

“Just dance,” Joy ordered.

“Do I get to hold you?”

“No.” Joy spun around.

Nick saw a smile on her lips when she turned again to him, and he felt his chest expand with warmth. He didn’t touch her—not with his hands. He touched her with his eyes.

Eric Clapton finished singing and The Rolling Stones took over. Joy suspended her motion as the even sexier, more raucous tune filled the room, but the expression she gave him was vixenish.

“I’m game, if you are,” he said.

Not pulling her eyes from his, Joy let the Stones direct the heated rhythm of her body. But it was Nick Tremain’s dancing, not Mick Jagger’s voice, that fanned the fire that had her burning up.

Joy was winded and her hair was flying all over the place as she whirled in a final spin before coming to a halt in front of the counter as the song ended. Nick pressed his palms flat to the counter, keeping her in his space. Exhausted physically and mentally, Joy dropped her head to his shoulder. Nick buried his face in her hair. The music, which had gotten softer in the background, didn’t intrude on them at all.

“Mick Jagger is Eddie DeMarco’s idol,” Joy said pointlessly.

“Is he?” Nick put one hand around her.

“Yes.” Joy nodded her head into his shoulder. “I didn’t want to go out with Eddie tonight. I didn’t want to be with Eddie even when you and Diana came with us to Gillie’s.”

Nick put his other hand under her chin and raised her face. “Are you saying I was jealous for nothing?”

“Nick…” Joy murmured. “I really am mixed up.”

“I know, baby.” He hugged her gently with only that single hand around her waist. “You just keep thinking.”

Joy put her arms up to his shoulders and rested them there without letting her hands curve around his neck. “You’re going to make a real mark when the
East End Journal
comes out,” she said softly.

“We’re
going to make a mark,” Nick corrected, gazing into the bright lights in her eyes. “You and everyone else on the staff.”

“It’s smart of you to wait two more weeks before we put our maiden issue out.” Joy’s eyes stayed on him, and her heart felt as if it had dropped the burden it had been carrying—if only for that moment.

Nick’s mouth edged up to a grin. “Cross your fingers that the readership loves it.”

Joy crossed her fingers. Since he couldn’t see them, and she didn’t want to take her arms down from his shoulders, she trained her gaze on her nose and made an attempt to cross her eyes as well.

Nick laughed. “Now that’s a face only a guy in love with you could love.”

“Nick…” Joy tensed just a little.

The sound of her anxiousness made Nick’s heart lurch. “I won’t say it again until you’re all thought out. How about that’s a face only a mother could love?”

“Now that’s the truth,” Joy replied with a laugh.

“I’m hoping to be able to add profit sharing in six months.” He strove not to say anything else that could make her uptight.

“That’s going to make a lot of people happy.”

The smile on her face made Nick happy. “What do you say to going house hunting with me tomorrow?”

“I’d like to.”

Nick remembered he’d promised Kevin to include Diana in the project. It wasn’t a promise he was glad he’d made.

“Do you mind if I ask Diana and Kevin to come along?” He minded even if she didn’t, but he was stuck with it.

“Kevin doesn’t usually show up on Sunday until late afternoon.” Joy lost a sizable amount of her enthusiasm.

“Kevin asked me to get Diana’s mind off the wedding. He’s concerned she’s getting herself over-whelmed.
Do you mind if I still ask her to come along?”

“I don’t mind.” Joy did her very best not to think anything into it. “My mother might like to come, unless that would bother you.” As valiantly as she tried, Joy couldn’t keep herself from thinking she was going to feel like a “third wheel” if she went with just Nick and Diana.

“Absolutely, your mother.” Nick hadn’t liked the triangle. Emily Mackey made it better. “I can’t go wrong having a woman along who knows her way around a kitchen.”