Sweet Seduction Serenade by Nicola Claire Page B

of time.
    "Not the state of the couch, Eva," he said, heading towards the side of the bed that had the chair beside it acting as a side table, and starting to remove various things from his belt. I watched in disbelief as a cellphone, what looked like a taser, a pair of handcuffs and a gun got lined up side by side. Then in absolute stunned horror as a second gun got removed from a holster under his jeans leg. "Had a bad back for years," he said conversationally, "just spent three nights in my car. I am not sleeping on a fucking couch when there's a perfectly big enough bed for me here."
    Oh. Well. But...
    "You can't sleep in the same bed as me!"
    "Did it once, not opposed to doing it again," he shot back, starting to undo his belt, quickly followed by the buttons on his jeans.
    "What...what are you doing?" I asked, panicked.
    "Getting comfortable."
    "No." I started shaking my head back and forth. "No. You get the couch. Or...or I can take the couch." Yeah that would work. I didn't have a bad back, I could manage one night on Dad's couch.
    "Can't keep you safe in a different room," he said, removing his jeans and in the process giving me an absolutely mind-numbingly good view of his butt through white boxer shorts. Oh, darn it all to hell.
    I frowned down at the floor and heard him pull back my bedsheets and the rustle of his body sliding in between.
    "Come on, angel. Climb into bed and get some sleep. I wasn't kidding when I said I was knackered. You're safe tonight."
    I couldn't tell if he was talking about me being safe from my cousins or safe from his hands, but standing in the middle of the room frowning down at the floor was not going to get me anywhere. I wanted to insist on me sleeping in the lounge, but what if he was right and Levi used his mother's key and simply walked in the front door. He'd be on me before Nick could grab one of those guns and storm out the door.
    I sighed, reached over and pulled the curtains closed, so the room was completely dark, then slipped out of my track pants - I hate sleeping in long trousers - and climbed down the far side of the bed, as far away as I could get from him. It took a bit of manoeuvring, the bed was right up against the wall, so the sheets and blanket were tucked in tight, but I managed. Finally settling myself down under the covers, with no sign of Nick near my side.
    I was just beginning to release some of the tension from my frame, sinking closer and closer to sleep, when a strong muscular arm came around my stomach and hauled me halfway across the bed, tucking me into Nick's front. In a split second he'd simply jockeyed me into the optimal spooning position in the bed. I ceased breathing and went entirely still.
    "What are you doing?" I asked breathlessly.
    "Go to sleep, angel. We'll talk about it all in the morning."
    This was so wrong. Even if he'd dumped his fiancée, he couldn't just expect to pick up where we left off - eight years ago!
    "Nick, I can't do this," I said seriously.
    "Eva, angel, go the fuck to sleep. I'm wiped."
    Then he tucked me further into his body, buried his face into the curve of my neck and inhaled deeply. And I swear, within a minute, maybe two, he was sound asleep.
    But I didn't get a wink for the rest of the night.

Chapter 8
Kind Of Walked In On The Middle Of Things
    Well, maybe I did get a wink of sleep, because I woke to someone kissing my neck, hot breath across my skin, a wet tongue licking a path up to my ear and then the pull of teeth against my lobe. Not to mention what his hand was doing, up under my Kenny Chesney T-Shirt, wrapped around my naked breast, finger and thumb tweaking an already taut nipple.
    I moaned, thinking this was the best cowboy ghost dream to wake up on and then when I heard a deep chuckle in my ear, which my cowboy ghost had never actually done before, and felt a firm erection pressing into my back, which again my cowboy ghost had never done, I blinked my gritty eyes open and took in my horrifying