Charmed (Contemporary Romance) (18 page)

Nick cleared his throat. “You did a great job. I think it’s the best play we’ve had in years.” Though he was being sincere, she knew he was forcing himself to talk to her.

“Thanks — I’ve actually just been replaying the whole thing in my mind.”

“‘The Ghost of Christmas Presents.’” Nick smiled, repeating Michael’s line. He was supposed to say, “The Ghost of Christmas Present,” but he’d had Christmas presents on his mind.

Jamie laughed, too. “Do you know how many times we rehearsed that?”

“Timmy was cute, too. How can he wiggle his nose like that?”

Jamie wiggled her nose. “It’s a family talent.”

“Cute.” Their eyes met for a few seconds, and Jamie allowed herself a quick Nick-feast. The fit of his black, long-sleeved dress shirt was sexy, outlining his broad chest and trim waist nicely. The dark shade made those eyes of his really stand out, and having those eyes trained on her made her heart begin to pummel out of beat.

“I’ll start putting the props away.” Jamie walked toward the stage and climbed up the side stairs. She began carrying the bigger props to the storage room just as Nick was coming in. They met in the middle of the doorway, and there was an awkward moment when each kept trying to sidestep the other. Jamie stopped and just stared at his chest, waiting for him to move, but she remembered pressing her body up against that solid chest during the night of the ball and it made her slightly dizzy.

Nick finally took hold of Jamie’s shoulders and gently pushed her to the opposite side. “I’ll try to be quick so you can get on with your plans for the rest of the evening, I’m sure you don’t want to leave anyone waiting,” she found herself saying.

“I don’t have any plans.”

“I thought maybe Celine Bliss was waiting for you outside,” she remarked in her most blasé tone. But Nick still raised an eyebrow when he looked her way.

“No, I told her beforehand I could only give her a ride one way.”

Jamie shrugged and carried another set of props to the storage room. He came in after her with his own set of props. Her nerves were now in a tizzy. It had been fine when he was halfway across the room, but the storage room, as it began to fill up, was getting smaller and smaller, and they kept brushing up against each other. Jamie took a few empty boxes and tried to think of something to say to keep her mind from wandering. “You know, Alex and Marie’s son had quite a few lines, and he didn’t flub any. I think he’s pretty talented.”

“You mean Jason?” Nick asked.

“Yes, Jason. Alex told me he wanted to rehearse all of the time,” Jamie continued.

“Well, I’m sure he learned persistence pays off from his father.”

“Alex is persistent? I didn’t know that about him.”

“Really? You didn’t know that about him? Let’s see, how many times did Alex ask you out before you two got friendly?” Nick’s tone was light and casual.

“Friendly?” Jamie frowned and turned to face Nick, but he didn’t look at her. “What do you mean by friendly?”

“I’m talking about persistence. It pays off. Good lesson for Jason to learn,” Nick replied. Instead of taking the stairs, he heaved himself upstage with just one arm and an athletic leap.

Jamie froze. Nick couldn’t be jealous, could he? “Nick? Not that it’s anyone’s business, but Alex and I are just friends.”

Nick turned to face her, his eyes cool. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me, Jamie. I was just making small talk.” He stood in front of her and looked down, his eyes remarkably distant. His attitude ignited her temper.

“You’re right, anything and
everything
that Alex and I do together isn’t anyone’s business.” She crossed her arms and looked up at him and finally saw something move behind his eyes. A storm was brewing.

Jamie turned away, satisfied, to gather a few wooden trees. Nick walked out of the storage room just as Jamie was coming down the stairs. Because she was more focused on where he was than on the stairs, she tripped, regained her step, lost her balance, and toppled down. Nick grabbed her to break her fall, but lost his balance as well. They both fell on a heap on the floor, Jamie on top. Neither moved.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Jamie only nodded, knowing she should move. But a force stronger than gravity did not allow her to get up. Nick gently put her aside, got up, helped her to her feet, and walked away. Jamie walked into the storage room and leaned against a wall, overwhelmed.

“You looked terrified,” she heard him say outside. “Like you were afraid I was going to try to kiss you again,” he teased her, the way he used to.

She listened to him walk up the stage stairs. “I must be losing my mind because I was afraid you wouldn’t,” she whispered. She ran her hands up her face and then through her hair, breathing out as slowly as possible. She’d wanted him to kiss her more than she’d wanted her next breath of air. What was wrong with her?

“What did you say?” Nick was standing right in front of her.

Jamie instantly stood straighter. “I just heard you walk up the stairs — ”

“One of the trees you dropped fell down a few steps,” he explained, his eyes trained on her lips. Her heart pounded wildly, and she couldn’t breathe.

An instant later, she tugged on his shirt, wanting just one soft kiss before he left. She needed the release. But Nick wasn’t doing soft. He pressed her up against the wall, and his lips moved over hers in a long, hard, searching kiss. His hands caressed her waist just under her sweater and she grabbed onto his shoulders, wanting more. His mouth was warm and firm, his breath sweet.

Nick broke away and sent her a smoldering, heavy-lidded glance before lowering his mouth to hers again. Softer this time, slower, making her dizzy with drugging, lingering kisses. Jamie undid the buttons of his shirt and splayed her hands against his chest, needing to feel the warmth that radiated from him. Her lips parted and he swept in. She felt him everywhere. He had her breathing hard and clinging.

Somewhere in the distance, she heard a familiar ringing sound, but she wasn’t aware enough of her surroundings to have anything fully register. All that mattered was his lips on hers, his hands caressing her skin, his heat.

Nick gently grasped the hair at the nape of her neck and the kiss deepened, became more intimate. She moaned, and slid her arms around his neck for support.

The ringing began again, and they both slowly and reluctantly pulled away. “I think you’d better get that,” he finally whispered, breathing hard and holding her close.

It took Jamie a few beats to understand that her cell phone had been ringing. She tried to remember where her coat was. Her cell phone was in her coat pocket.

Nick took a step back, and Jamie slipped away to find her coat. Feeling faint, she fumbled for her cell phone as it rang again. It was Michael. She struggled to keep her voice and breathing normal as she reassured him she’d be home soon. Her mom came on, all flustered because she hadn’t known Michael was calling her.

When she turned around, Nick was standing beside her. She swallowed hard and wondered if he knew how utterly sexy he looked with his eyes blazing like that, shirt open. If she didn’t look away, she might never make it home that night.

“Is everything all right?” he asked.

“It’s — well, Michael won’t go to sleep until I get home. He’s worried about me driving alone in the dark.”

Nick nodded. “I’ll finish up here. We were almost done, anyway. Go home and don’t worry about it, okay?” He caressed her cheek with his thumb and sprinkled a few, gentle kisses on her forehead and the tip of her nose.

Jamie didn’t trust herself to speak, so she just pulled away, grabbed her coat, and made her way to the door. She wasn’t even sure what she would say if words were in her power.

“I’ll walk you out.” Nick followed her.

They reached the front door. Nick took her coat from her and she turned so he could help her put it on. Pulling her hair from under the coat, he brushed it aside and placed a soft kiss on her neck. She felt it in places she’d long forgotten existed.

Jamie turned to face him, and he gazed at her lips again.

“Jamie, don’t ever let anyone else kiss you, anywhere, not even on the cheek, in front of me again.”

“Okay.” Jamie shook her head at how serious he was. “And you do me a favor, too, okay? Come back from your year abroad either married or engaged to some exotic beauty.”

“You want me to come back engaged to some beautiful woman?” he repeated, standing up straight.

“Yes — that would
definitely
get you out of my system.” Jamie concentrated on an image of Nick coming back with someone. She would be miserable for a while, but it would be a comforting kind of misery, a reminder that it was right for her to be alone. “Well — she doesn’t really have to be all that beautiful, she can be just okay-looking,” she reconsidered, and Nick shook his head.

“I’ve missed you.” He took both her hands and intertwined his fingers with hers, and she couldn’t understand how such a small gesture could leave her so breathless. Her face grew warm when she saw Nick’s still-open shirt. Burying her head in his chest she said, “Button up — it’s cold.”

He laughed. “I’m not cold.”

Hands intertwined, they leaned in and shared a soft, drawn-out kiss. Jamie finally broke the kiss, knowing she should get home, but Nick didn’t let go of her hands. Breathing in, he said, “I wish things were different.”

Jamie paused, remembering his warning that very first day. Part of her didn’t want to go there, but a bigger part of her wanted to push him away. “You mean you wish I didn’t have Timmy and Michael, right?”

• • •

Nick closed his eyes, not liking where this was heading. “You need to stop looking for the bad guy in me, Jamie. That’s not what I mean. I like Michael and Timmy. A lot. They both have a lot of you in them.” He half smiled. “I just wish you were older, or I was younger, I guess. Or that we’d met at a different point in time. I don’t know.”

He looked over at her, sensed her sadness, and thought of Timmy and Michael’s father. “While you probably wish you could go back to the way your life was three, four years ago.”

“Don’t say that … ” Jamie whispered, looking down.

Nick pulled her to him and hugged her close, his way of apologizing for feeling jealous of someone who’d lost his life.

Jamie melted into him one moment and pulled away the next. “Wishing things were different doesn’t make them so. I don’t want to be with anyone, I really don’t, least of all someone who’d probably end up resenting my children. And I can’t handle this anymore. This
hurts
.”

The last thing Nick wanted was to hurt Jamie. She’d been through enough; this had to stop.

The final countdown to his trip began.

Nick looked in the rear-view mirror and caught sight of his tired eyes. He sighed because Emma would notice, and he didn’t want her to worry. His game had been off during practice that day, and he was having a hell of a time concentrating on anything.

To add to his frustration, it wasn’t like he was thinking, either. In fact, he was expending most of his energy in
not
thinking. About Jamie. The problem was that days had gone by since the night of the Christmas play, and he wasn’t getting much of anything done.

Nick got out of his truck and shrugged his dinner jacket on. It was Sunday evening, and to say he was starving would be the understatement of the decade. It was particularly difficult for him to rein his thoughts in when he was so damn hungry.

Late last night, Emma had called and asked him to meet her, her stepfather Harold, and Susan for a family dinner. It was to be their little sendoff for him.

He walked into a dimly lit room and was about to ask the maitre d’ for Harold and Susan Warner’s table when he spotted Emma and Susan in a secluded corner of the restaurant.

“So, where’s Hal?” Nick asked after they said their hellos and Harold hadn’t appeared.

Susan hesitated. “The fourth guest will be here soon.”

Nick sighed and wondered what they were up to. His stomach was growling. He turned when he saw Emma wave toward the door, relieved they would soon be able to order. When he saw who she was waving at, he whispered, “Wait, why is Claire here?” He hoped this wasn’t a surprise farewell party. He looked at the few tables around him and was relieved to see he didn’t recognize anyone, and he hoped to God they didn’t have people waiting in the kitchen.

Susan and Claire had never really gotten along, and he couldn’t see why they would voluntarily agree to dine together. Claire reached their table and all three women exchanged enthusiastic greetings. They were acting like giddy friends who hadn’t seen each other in ages.

Nick gave Claire an affectionate hug and waited for her to sit before taking his seat again. A moment later, all three women began exchanging glances.

“I didn’t know this was a farewell dinner with the lovely ladies in my life, but I have to say it’s a great idea. Thank you for the thought,” he said and hoped they would order soon.

“It’s something like that … ” Emma answered.

“Please tell me there’s nobody waiting in the kitchen.”

“No, Nick, honey, this is an
intervention
.” Susan carefully enunciated every letter of the last word, as if he were eight.

“That’s right. Emma’s been learning about the effectiveness of interventions in her psychology class, and we all agreed you could use one.” Claire proudly patted Emma’s hand.

“An intervention?” Nick repeated.

“Right. An intervention. For you.” Emma cocked her head to the side.

“Let me get this straight. The three of you are staging an intervention for me at my favorite restaurant?”

They nodded happily, very pleased with themselves.

“Exactly what am I addicted to?” Nick ran his fingers through his hair. He had no idea where this was going, but the gnawing in the insides of his stomach told him he’d better get to the bottom of it soon. The waiter served the couple next to him and he had to swallow, his mouth was watering so badly.

“Interventions aren’t just for addictions. You can hold an intervention for any loved one who’s exhibiting self-destructive behavior.” Emma sat up straight, clearly now an expert on the subject after one semester of psychology.