that a parental prerogative?”
She laughed, a short, sharp sound in total contrast to the last time she’d done so. “I suppose so. I just feel so used, you know? I have spent my whole life trying to measure up, to be the best daughter, the best workmate, the best—well, everything. And he thinks I should settle down and have babies! As if. You know, I think he values a paper clip on his desk more highly than he does me. I’ve spent the past five years helping him to keep our family business thriving and he tells me it’s a nice hobby for me.”
“I suppose this argument is what led you to the club tonight?”
“Too right it is. I couldn’t stay under his roof another second. Oh, no, wait. It’s not his roof anymore, nor mine. He’s gone and given it all to my dear long-lost brother.” She expelled an angry huff of air. “I’m sorry, I’m always letting my mouth run away with me. I shouldn’t have said that. Just pretend you didn’t hear that last bit, okay? I think we should change the subject. Talking about my family is just going to spoil my mood.”
“Whatever the lady wants, the lady gets,” Nate replied smoothly, even though his curiosity burned to know more about the Wilson family home situation.
“Now that’s more like it.” Nicole laughed in response. “A girl could get used to that attitude.”
“What, you mean that isn’t always the case?”
Nicole swiveled slightly in her seat and stared at him. “You say that as if you think you know me.”
“You misunderstand me,” he said smoothly. “I just would have thought that a woman like you would have no trouble getting what she wanted.”
She gave an inelegant snort, then change the subject. “Tell me about your home. Are you overlooking the beach?”
He nodded. Partly in concession to her change of subject and partly in answer to her question. “I’m on a slight rise looking out onto Union Bay.”
“I’ve always loved the West Coast. The black sand beaches, the crazy surf. There’s something so, I dunno, untamed, unpredictable about it all.”
“You surf?”
She shook her head. “No, always been too chicken.”
Somehow she didn’t strike him as the type of woman to be afraid of anything, and he said as much.
“Some boundaries I just never pushed. I grew up as an only child with a parent who could be pretty strict. Sometimes my dad took overprotectiveness a little far.”
“Only child? You mentioned a brother?”
“He lived with our mother up until recently. And how on earth did we get back on that awful topic again?”
She pushed a hand through her tangled long hair, exposing the sweep of her high cheekbones and the determined set of her jaw. His fingers itched to trace the fine bone structure, to taste the smooth skin that stretched over it. Nate tightened his grip once more, dragging his eyes back to the road and his mind back to the goal at hand. Yes, he wanted her. And yes, he had every intention of having her. But he couldn’t let himself lose control. He had to keep the endgame in mind.
“What about you?” she asked, turning in her seat to look at him. “What’s your family like?”
“Both my parents are gone. My mother while I was in university, my dad more recently. I never had any brothers or sisters.”
“So you’re all alone? Lucky you.” She gasped as if she realized the potentially pain-filled minefield she’d just trodden into. “I’m sorry, that was insensitive.”
“No, it’s okay. I miss them but I still count myself lucky to have had them both in my life. And my dad was a great role model. He worked his heart out, literally, to provide for us, and I got to repay that once I graduated and started working in the family firm.”
Nate deliberately kept things vague. He wouldn’t, for a moment, begin to elaborate on exactly why his father’s health took such a beating as he strived to build a new business from the ground up. Or who was responsible for that.
“So, surfing?” he asked, very deliberately changing the subject as he took the exit he needed that would eventually lead them out toward the beach.
“What about it?”
“Want to try it over the weekend?”
“This weekend?”
“Sure, why not stay. I have spare boards, spare wetsuits.”
“Spare clothes, underwear?” She gestured to her voluminous bag on the car floor. “It might be a big bag but it’s hardly Doctor Who’s TARDIS, you know.”
Nate laughed. Her sharp wit was refreshing and appealing at the same time.
“Let’s play it by ear then, hmm? Trust me?”
“Sure. If I didn’t think I could trust you, I wouldn’t be here.”
He reached across and took her hand, caressing the soft skin of her inner wrist with his thumb.
“Good.”
He let go and placed his fingers firmly back on the steering wheel. From the corner of his eye he saw that she stroked her wrist with the fingertips of her other hand. He allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction. This night was going perfectly.
So why did she trust him, she wondered as she lapsed into silence and looked idly out the passenger window. It’s not as if she knew him. She’d acted purely on instinct, a fact that—despite her earlier assertion about being a chicken—had gotten her in trouble many a time before.
She gave herself a mental shake. She deserved this night. She had it coming to her after the crap she’d put up with at dinner on top of everything else this week. And everything in her body told her that this was the man to take all her problems away—at least for the night.
Her skin still tingled where he’d touched her, the sensation a delicious buzz of promise hovering just beneath the surface. Did he expect to make love to her tonight? Just the thought of it sent a thrill of longing through her body, making her womb clench tight on a swell of need that all but knocked the air from her lungs. She’d never had this intense a reaction to anyone before. Just sneaking a glance at his hands on the steering wheel, at the way his long fingers curled around the leather, made her want those fingers on her, in her. She pressed her thighs together and felt the swollen heated flesh at her core respond. Just thinking about him touching her was nearly enough to make her go off. What would it be like when he did?
She cleared her throat against the sudden anticipatory lump that lodged there.
“Everything okay?” Nate asked.
“Sure. It’s quite a drive from the city to your place. Do you work in town?”
“Yeah. I keep an apartment there for the nights I’m too tired to make it back out to Karekare, or if I have an early run to the airport or early meetings. I sleep better with the sounds of the sea
