Jennifer Crusie Bundle Read online

  “Wait a minute,” she said, and then she braced herself on the dashboard as his hands moved under her skirt to slip her underpants off and the heat of his hands on her thighs made her mute with need.

  “You’re the one who likes risk,” Nick said from behind her, but his voice was laughing not angry. She felt him push hard inside her and her body arched in blissful spasm, and then he shuddered and said, “Oh, God, Tess,” and she let her shoulders fall forward, trying to keep control and failing miserably.

  Wait, she wanted to say. I don’t like it this way. I can’t see you. I can’t touch you. I can’t taste you. I can’t do things. I can’t—

  But he had one hand under her sweater caressing her breast so gently she couldn’t bear it, and the fingers of his other hand slid over her thigh and inside her and stroked in rhythm with his hips, and the heat kept blanking out her thoughts and she melted against him, forgetting why she didn’t like it like this.

  “Nick,” she breathed, and he put his mouth against her ear and said, “What?” and his breath was warm and she felt herself start to go and clung to sanity with all her willpower.

  “I’m not doing anything,” she said, and it sounded weak even to her.

  “For once, let me do it all,” Nick whispered. “Just this once.”

  And she wanted to tell him she was a partner, a giver who was responsible for her own orgasm, but he felt so good and she couldn’t speak anymore, anyway. Then she felt the hot chill start, and she moaned, knowing the spasms would come, and then just for an instant, with frightening clarity she realized she really didn’t want to be responsible this time. She wanted it to be all him, and then she relaxed into the wave, letting her head sink slowly onto her hands on the dashboard as Nick rocked her into glorious oblivion over and over again.

  “I CAN’T BELIEVE I let you do that,” she said later when they were curled up together in bed. “I hate it from behind.”

  “You do not hate it from behind,” Nick said sleepily. “They heard you come in Kentucky.”

  “This is scary,” Tess said. “I can’t say no to you.”

  “Tell me about it,” Nick said. “I got laid on a piano.”

  “I’m serious,” Tess insisted. “This was supposed to be just two really good friends sharing a good time and great sex, and now I can’t leave you.”

  Nick kissed a curl back from her forehead. “It was always more than that,” he said. “You know it was always more than that.”

  “I really love you,” Tess said, and his arms tightened around her and she shivered against him, grateful for his warmth.

  “I love you, too,” Nick said. “I think we should get married.” She tensed in his arms, and he kissed her again until she relaxed. “Why not get married?” he whispered. “It’s what we’ve got now.”

  “I’m not sure what we’ve got now.” Tess shifted away a little. “I love you, I really love you, but living this way…I don’t know. It’s not me. I don’t know.”

  “It’s all right.” He pulled her closer. “Just think about getting married. We can talk in the morning.”

  She could feel his body relax as he drifted into sleep, feel the weight of his hand resting comfortingly on her hip, but it was almost dawn before she fell asleep, too.

  Tess followed him down to breakfast the next morning, groggy from lack of sleep as he zipped around the kitchen, fixing himself toast and coffee and barking orders at her.

  “Pick me up at the office at six,” he told her, spreading jam on his toast. “I’ve got a late meeting, so catch a cab there instead of waiting at home for me.”

  “All right,” Tess said tiredly. “Who are we wining and dining tonight?”

  “The Pattersons and Norbert Welch,” Nick said, and when Tess groaned he added, “Don’t say anything about the papers at dinner. I’ll suggest after-dinner drinks and then if Park agrees, we can talk to him. But no accusations, understand?” He pointed his toast at her to make his point before biting into it. “I want this contract, and we’re about to get it. Don’t screw it up.”

  “I know, I know, you’ll make partner,” Tess said, grumpy because she was so tired. “What I don’t get is what difference can partner make? I mean, every single person we’ve been sucking up to for the past three weeks is crazy about you already. I don’t see what partner is going to get you when Riverbend already thinks you’re God in a three-piece suit.”

  Nick stopped for a moment, as if he was going to answer her, but instead he said, “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Try me,” Tess leaned her head on one hand and yawned. “Give me one good reason why you need this.”

  “Okay.” Nick hesitated again. “When I was eighteen,” he said finally, “I was accepted at Yale. My dad was really proud. He’d put aside a college fund for me, but it wouldn’t even get me a year at Yale. But he said no problem, he’d work extra overtime at the plant, and if he had to, he could tap into his pension, and with my partial scholarship we’d be all right.”

  “Sounds like a great guy,” Tess said, waking up a little at the serious tone in Nick’s voice.

  “Then right before Christmas that year, my senior year, he got laid off. And because of the way things were run at the plant, he lost his pension. Then, three months later, still out of work, he lost control of the car and he and my mom died.” Nick’s voice had gone flat, and he finished his story with absolutely no expression. “He left nothing. Twenty-three years with the plant and he had nothing at the end. I still made it through. I’m okay. It’s no big deal.” He set his jaw and looked grimmer than Tess had ever seen him. “But all that work, a lifetime of work, and then he had nothing. It killed him.” He met her eyes. “That’s when I decided I was never going to work for anybody else. If I’m partner, I don’t work for anybody else.”

  “Oh,” Tess said.

  Nick shook his head. “It’s no big deal.”

  “Right,” Tess said.

  “Your toast popped. It’s getting cold.”

  “I’m sorry,” Tess said.

  “No problem. Just put in a couple more slices.”

  “Not about the toast. About your parents.”

  “It happened twenty years ago, Tess,” Nick said. “It’s done.” He got up to leave. “Don’t go getting all weepy over it. I just want that security. For both of us. And for our kids. I don’t want them ending up with nothing. So I am going to make partner, and nothing is going to get in my way.”

  “Kids?” Tess said. But he just kissed her goodbye, his lips lingering on hers a little longer than usual. She buried her head in his shoulder and clutched at his suit coat. “I love you,” she whispered, and he said, “I know. I love you, too. Go back to bed. You’re wiped out.”

  She sat at the table for a long while after he left, thinking about Nick and Nick’s dad and the partnership that now was an understandable need. She ached for the Nick-at-eighteen who’d had his whole world ripped out from under him, but she ached more for the Nick-at-thirty-eight who was missing his life while he made sure the world would never get ripped out from under him again. And she suddenly realized that it wasn’t just that he loved her, but that he needed her. She was his only hope for a real life, a life he could start having once he got that damn partnership. Once he got the partnership, he’d relax, and they’d be all right. He’d feel secure and he’d stop trying to impress people and he’d stop trying to change her. She could get rid of those damn clothes, Jekyll would disappear, and they’d be all right.

  For the first time, Tess thought about marrying Nick without cringing. They were so right together. The only thing that kept them apart was his quest for success, and once that was satisfied…marriage, she thought, and pictured them together in this house. If they were married, she could insist on some color. Then she could come home from her jobs at Decker and the Foundation to a bright house and Nick and…their kids.

  Kids. A boy and a girl because Nick liked symmetry. No redheads. Two neat little brunettes, like Nick. Sh