Chasing Silver (23 page)

Her voice trailed off. She was no longer certain this had been the best idea. All she had wanted was to get Nathan something special, but she hadn’t wanted it to be frivolous. This had seemed like the perfect compromise.

“Isaac said you would like it,” she finished lamely.

“Well…” Nathan pushed her lightly, forcing her to lie back. He crawled onto the mattress, bracing himself on his hands and knees above her, and looking surprised at the way the bed moved beneath him. “Isaac was right.” He bounced, testing the springs. “Wow, this is a nice mattress.”

Relief suffused through her as his curiosity manifested with more experimental bounces. “We can always exchange the headboard if you don’t like it.” She stretched to reach the smooth pedestal, curling her hand around it to stroke the soft wood. “I liked the way this one felt. It felt English to me.”

Nathan chuckled, his eyes dancing. Rolling to the side, he propped himself up on his elbow and offered a wicked grin. “Undress for me.”

Licking her lips, she slithered off the bed and turned around, pulled her hair away to expose the dress’s simple back. “You know I can’t get out of this thing by myself.”

“Oh, right. It hooks.” Nathan eased the hook out of its eyelet, then slid the zipper down. She expected him to pause, to be distracted by the sudden exposure of her back. The very warmth of her skin always seemed to distract him, but he made short work of the zipper and pulled away.

She made a show of turning to face him again, the black fabric hanging loose around her body. As she lifted a hand and leisurely pulled a strap off her shoulder, baring the lacy cup of her bra, she asked, “Why do you ask me to wear this dress so often if you just want to get me out of it?”

Nathan smiled. “Because you look stunning in that dress. But you look better out of it.”

The second strap came down at the same relaxed pace. Her nipples were already hard, but under his hungry scrutiny, Remy felt the need to play, cupping her breasts and running her thumbs across the sensitive tips. “So I get to be naked and you get to lie there with all your clothes still on. Hardly seems fair to me.”

Nathan absently began unbuttoning his shirt. “You’re not naked yet.”

“Not yet,” she agreed.

Sliding her hands down her hips, she pushed the dress off the rest of the way, letting it fall to a black pool at her feet before stepping out of it. Nathan’s eyes followed her hands back up as they returned to her bra, this time playing with the clasp between her breasts.

“What’s in it for me once I’ve done as you said?” Remy asked.

“You’ll make me very happy. Isn’t that enough?” Nathan teased, shrugging his shirt off and exposing his nearly healed chest. He looked down with a wry smile. “Unfortunately, even with the stitches gone, I’m still rather…unattractive.”

“Impossible.” Ignoring the rest of his directive, she stepped back to the bed, crawling up to stretch out next to him. Pushing him onto his back, Remy began trailing her tongue around his scars, winding from one side of his chest to the other, circling a nipple and then up to his neck. His hands came to her waist, guiding her atop him, and she more than gladly complied, throwing her leg over until she straddled his waist.

“I love these scars.” Carefully, she licked across a tender spot on his shoulder. “I love this one…” Her mouth descended to another near the hollow of his throat. “…and this one…” She felt her breath reflect off his heated skin and warm her cheeks as she shifted to a mark on the opposite side. “…and this one.”

When she pushed up, she knew she was glowing, but damn it, this was their first real night together, post-confessions about their feelings, post-worries about his health. Everything he did testified that he felt the same way, from the casual brushes across her cheek when her hair would fall across it, to the possessive touch of his hand whenever it seemed she stepped beyond arms’ reach. He said it, too, made the same admissions he’d made in the hospital, over and over as if it still took him by surprise. The last thing she would ever do was deny what he meant to her.

Nathan smiled at her, mollified for now. “That’s good, because I love you and you’re stuck with me. Deformities and all.”

Remy squirmed against his hips. “But they’re such nice deformities.” She bent to kiss him, her hair tumbling over her shoulder, when a muffled ring came from his pants. Both of them stiffened as her eyes flew to his. “You’re not going to answer that, are you?”

Nathan sighed. “It’s Isaac.” Remy looked at him, unimpressed with his rationale. “Despite everything, he’s not just ringing now to be a prick. It’s important.” He smiled apologetically and brought the phone up to his ear.

She rolled off, stretching back along his side as he answered the call. Though the glance he shot her was sympathetic, he greeted Isaac with his usual politeness, prompting her to call out, “You have lousy timing, Ike!”

“He says he knows.” Nathan’s smile changed, his face growing serious. “When did this happen? Well, why didn’t they call sooner?” He swung his legs off the side of the bed, reaching for a pen and paper. “Blah blah blah, Isaac. What’s his name?” He scribbled his notes. “Probably…no…yes, I’m aware of that.” Reaching for the shirt he discarded, he smirked into the phone, “Yes, mother. I’ll be sure to call. Yeah. Bye.”

The fact that he was slipping his shirt back on even before he’d disconnected meant Remy didn’t have to ask, but that didn’t stop her from doing it anyway. “A job?”

“Yes. Fairly straightforward. It’ll just take a few hours to find the guy and haul him back. Isaac gave me express instructions not to let you help.” Nathan smiled. “So wear something more sensible than the black dress, yeah?”

She had been prepared to argue with him about letting her go, so the simple declaration about what to wear left her speechless. Only for a moment, though. In the next, she vaulted toward him, arms around his shoulders, mouth hard and hungry on his, before scrambling away to get her clothes.

“Don’t discount the power of the dress,” she said, grabbing a pair of jeans. “Flash a bit of leg, show some cleavage, most guys turn into idiots.”

“Just most?” Nathan asked, slipping his shoulder holster on. “Or are you being modest?”

She grinned. “I’d say modest, but then you broke that theory, didn’t you?”

Nathan spared her one more smile before shifting, and she could see he was all business. “You’re my back-up. That means you leave the work to me and just make sure nobody shoots at my ass. Right?”

“Nobody gets your ass but me. Got it.” She dressed in record time, ready even before he’d finished preparing his weapons. As she followed him out of the bedroom, she asked, “So when do I get my own gun?”

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