Big Bad Wolf (22 page)

He grunted and turned over onto his front, giving her a tempting view of his tush.
“It’s about Oh-four-hundred hours.
Come back to bed soon.”

This was weird.
She was used to falling asleep here some nights, but never had imagined she would be traipsing around the place naked, with an obviously equally-naked man asleep in one of the rooms.
And who could tell time like that?
She checked the little clock in the kitchen area.
Four fifteen.
Oh-four-hundred hours.
Who the hell talked like that during the wee hours of the morning?

He was still in exactly the same position when she returned, and she wanted to run her hand up and down those muscular flanks and ravish those sexy buns.
She fought against her naughty urges and looked around for her clothes instead.

“Aren’t you hungry?” she asked, finding a shoe under the sofa bed.

“Nope.”

“I have some crackers and cheese somewhere.”

“Ugh.”
He held out a hand.
“Come here.”

When she placed her hand in his, he pulled her back into bed, turning on his side to make room for her.
“Nick!” she protested.
“I have to get up.”

“For what?
It’s four in the morning.”

“Four thirty,” she corrected.
“I thought I would get up and get some stuff done.
I didn’t do a thing today.
Yesterday, I mean.”

“So what are you going to do at this Godforsaken hour, little workaholic?” he asked, amusement lacing his sleepy voice.
“Mow the grass?
Lay a couple of squares of shingles in the dark?
Maybe wash your truck?”

Jaymee chuckled at his ludicrous suggestions and ran a teasing hand up his chest.
“Sarcastic beast,” she pleasantly chided, pulling his chest hair hard enough to get him to grunt.
“Some of us have paperwork to do.
Besides, I wake up around six, anyway.
This will give me a head start.”

Nick groaned, finally opening his eyes.
As usual, she managed to amuse and exasperate at the same time.
“Only a workaholic will see being awake at four in the morning as a head start.”
He bent his head close to hers.
“There are other, more interesting, things to do at this time of the morning.”

He kissed her with a slow thoroughness, tasting the mouthwash she’d used in the bathroom.
He pressed against her.

“Nicholas...” she began, when his hand slid between her legs, but her voice trailed away.

“I don’t know about you, Jaymee girl,” he whispered, as he explored her silky secrets, “but
I can’t seem to get enough of you.
Each time gets better and better.”

She appeared to agree.
Blindly, she reached for him.

“What about the paperwork?” he teased, as she undulated wildly against him.

“Stuff the paperwork!” she fiercely announced, and bit his chest.

*

They walked back to her house early enough for a quick bath, a change of clothing and breakfast.
While Jaymee made coffee and scrambled some eggs, Nick disappeared into the study.
A moment later, she heard the unmistakable beeping noises of the computer and printer.

“Is the new computer set up for my business files?” she asked loudly, over the sizzle of bacon.

“Yeah.
I’ll show you later.”

“What are you doing now?”

“Checking on something.”

Jaymee shrugged, going back to preparing the meal.
Having a computer as a rival was better than another woman, she supposed.
Besides, she was too hungry to care.

In the study, Nick frowned at the screen.
No communications.
It had only been a few days since he gave out his location, but he’d hoped for an affirmation of some sort.
Something just didn’t feel right.
He would have to make a decision soon, if…

“Breakfast!”

He turned off the machine and went back into the kitchen.
His mouth watered at the smell of bacon and eggs.
Jaymee poured him a cup of coffee, then sat down next to him.
Her small eyes were bright were laughter as she looked at him.

“You owe me a load of laundry, at the rate you use up all my favorite tee
-
shirts,” she said, giving him that delightful chuckle he loved to hear.

Nick looked down, then grinned.
He had just pulled the first shirt out of her dresser and
put it on in the dark.
It was another one of her crazy tee
-
shirts.
This one said: ‘She Must Be Obeyed.’

“I’m a browbeaten man,” he told her, showing the proper humble demeanor, then spoiled it by promptly taking a big, noisy bite of toast.

They bantered back and forth, until Bob came downstairs.
Nick was surprised again.
The old geezer was sober and actually looked alert.

He looked at the two of them at the table, then groused, “I hope he didn’t spend the night here.
It’s still my house.”

“No, he didn’t,” assured Jaymee briskly, and got up to get an extra cup.
“Coffee, Dad?”

Bob grunted and sat down next to Nick.
Slowly chewing on his breakfast, Nick nodded at him.
“Good morning, Mr. Barrows.”

“Either you’re darned early for work, or you stayed here overnight,” Bob accused, eyeing them with suspicion, as Jaymee quietly set a plate in front of him, along with his coffee.
“Which is it?”

“Neither,” Jaymee replied, while Nick finished chewing his food.

“Don’t tell me he ain’t been with you all night, with that shirt of yours on him,” her father went on, nodding towards Nick.

“She didn’t tell you that now, did she?” drawled Nick, buttering another piece of toast.

“I don’t get it.
She ain’t got nothing left for the likes of you to want.
Let me make it clear, boy.
I ain’t going to mortgage the house to back another money-making scheme, you hear?”

The morning’s cheerfulness escaped the big kitchen like a slow leaky balloon, leaving an uneasy, tense silence.
Jaymee didn’t say a word, just returned to her seat, and began eating her bacon and eggs like nothing was wrong.

“More coffee?” she asked Nick, holding up the pot.

Nick pushed the cup closer to her, and without taking his eyes off Jaymee, said in a pleasant voice, “There’s plenty of her to want, Mr. Barrows.
You’re just too blind to see it.”
He
smiled when Jaymee’s startled eyes darted up to meet his.

“Listen to him, Jaymee girl,” Bob sneered.
“He’s as smooth a talker as that other one.
Only this one doesn’t know
you’re up to your eyeballs in debt, and there ain’t nothing left for him to steal.”

“Dad, maybe he likes me,” Jaymee lightly suggested, returning Nick’s smile.
She took a nibble of the bacon, still looking at his handsome face.

Bob gave a short laugh.
“Haven’t you learned?
They don’t like you for yourself, they see the business, the money they can get from you!
Even I learned that.
And at your age, you ain’t going to catch a young stud’s eye that easily, Jaymee girl.
Why, your ma…”

Nick cut in.
This time, the tone of his voice was no longer pleasant.
“I suggest you shut up, old man.
Either that, or get back into your booze, so I’d at least have an excuse not to punch the daylights out of you.”

“Nick...” warned Jaymee, hesitantly, shaking her head.
This wasn’t going to do any good.
She used to argue with her father when he started to act like this.
Now she just walked away.
After all, what was there to say to a man who suddenly lost his business, wife and health all in a year?
“Just eat and let’s go.
I’m used to it.”

“No.”
He was inflexible.
His blue-gray eyes, no longer lazy and amused, glittered as he looked at Bob Barrows.
It was time to put an end to this.
He studied the old man’s quickened breathing, the light sheen of sweat on his forehead.
No better time than when he was still clear-headed.

Jaymee couldn’t see Nick’s expression, but he must have conveyed a strong message to her father, who surprised her by dropping his gaze.
Her father, who never backed down, actually looked nervous.
She shivered slightly when Nick spoke up again.
His voice sounded so cold and lethal, so unlike that warm gravelly drawl she was used to.

“There’s a certain type of man who takes advantage of young girls, isn’t there,” he said to Bob, “the kind that steals their innocence and betrays their trust?
You know it, don’t you, old man, being a father and all?
You saw how your daughter was tricked.
And there’s another type of man, who shirks responsibilities, preferring to blame everyone else but himself.
You know that too, don’t you, Barrows?”
Being polite, Nick thought, was a waste of time with this man.

Bob slammed his hand on the table, spilling coffee.
Jaymee stood up to get a cloth, but was stopped by Nick’s hand.
She silently pleaded for him to stop, but he was still staring at her father.

“Don’t let him talk to me like that, Jaymee!”

Jaymee licked her dry lips.
In spite of how her father hurt her feelings, she still was concerned for his health.
Besides, she would rather not have a family confrontation in front of others.
“Nick...”

“No.”
Again, he refused her plea, his eyes burning her with their intensity.
“I told you yesterday not to let him put you down again.
If you won’t do it, I guess I’ll just have to be the one to make the point clear.”

“I can take care of myself,” Jaymee told him, although the look in his eyes was intimidating.
She wasn’t used to anyone taking her side.
From experience, when others heard about what happened, they commiserated with her father, not her, and of course, excused his drunkenness and behavior.
She tugged at Nick’s hand holding hers.

He merely ignored her, turning his attention back to Bob.
“Let’s talk about type of daughters now, shall we?
There’s the type who can’t wait to leave home to start her own life, isn’t there, Barrows, the one that has a family of her own?
And, there’s the type of daughter who doesn’t strand her father with a mountain of debts, choosing instead, to help him back on his feet.
Great daughter, don’t you agree, old man?”

The fingers handcuffing her wrist were as implacable as the man.
Jaymee didn’t know what to say.
She had always chosen to just walk away when her father’s words began to hurt, retreating back to work.
There were always reasons to excuse her father’s anger towards her.
She had made them all, and accepted each accusation without retaliating.
She now realized by not defending herself, she’d made her father worse.
It’d never bothered her before, until this man—her lover—took exception to her father’s treatment of her.

“Nick, he’s on medication,” she said quietly.

“If he can’t stand to hear the truth, there’s always booze,” Nick scornfully said.
“Deaf and
blind.
Nice way to live.”

“You don’t know what she did!”
Bob’s face was livid with resentment.
He looked shocked, unused to being put down by anybody.
“I lost everything because of her!
Everything!”

“What did she do?
Took over your dead business and brought it back to life again?
Paid off a house that would have been lost?
What exactly have you lost, Bob Barrows?
What’s missing but your pride?”

Bob just stared back, stunned.
He looked like a bundle of shingles just hit him on the head.
Nick calmly finished his cup of coffee and stood up, still holding Jaymee’s hand.
Picking up another piece of toast, he walked to the door, with Jaymee in tow.

With a last glance at the silent man at the table, he added, “You just think about it, Barrows.
What material things have you lost these last eight years you don’t have now?
And who made sure you didn’t lose them?
That fancy college education wasn’t such a waste, was it?”

Nick stepped onto the porch and turned to Jaymee, who stood staring up at him with mute amazement.
A light smile touched the corners of his lips.
“There’s no way I’m going to allow my woman to be treated like that.
Now, where are we going to work today, boss?”