Strange Bedpersons Read online

“—like this one, for example,” Nick finished.

  “What?”

  “I think we should make love,” Nick said.

  Tess looked at him incredulously. “Did you hear a word I just said?”

  “No. I was explaining my point. What did you say?”

  “Get out of my bed,” Tess ordered.

  “Why? I just apologized.”

  “No, you didn’t,” Tess said. “You were explaining something to me about your career. That’s not an apology. That’s a red flag. In fact, if you ever want to start a fight with me, mention how much more important your career is to you than I am. Trust me, it’ll work every time.”

  Nick blinked. “Let me try again. I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings that night in the parking lot. I didn’t say no because I didn’t want you. I said no because of where we were. I know you’ll never understand that, but at least believe me when I say it wasn’t you.”

  Tess looked up into his face and thought about how sweet he could be and how great his lips felt on hers and how good it would feel to be wrapped around him and how hot she would be if she rolled against him and how she was going to start screaming pretty soon if she didn’t have him, and her anger evaporated. She sank back against the pillow, trying hard not to surrender. “All right. I still don’t agree with you, but I believe you, and I may have overreacted, so I’ll take part of the responsibility. You’re forgiven. You can go now.”

  “May have overreacted?” Nick said. “You didn’t talk to me for six weeks because I said, ‘Let’s wait fifteen minutes,’ but you only may have overreacted?”

  “Do you want to fight about that, too?” Tess asked.

  “No,” Nick said, backtracking. “I don’t want to fight about anything.”

  Tess tried to think of something else to fight with him about while she watched him from under her lashes. The problem with Nick was that, aside from the fact that she never knew when he was going to be Alan Alda and when he was going to be Donald Trump, it was getting harder and harder to pick a fight with him because he was right there in bed with her, and if she reached out she could have him, and she wanted him.

  She really wanted him.

  Getting involved with somebody like Nick was such a bad idea. He’d get mad at the things she did; she’d get hurt because he wanted a partnership more than her. She’d forget to protect his career; he’d forget her name in pursuit of it. The whole idea had Doomed written all over it.

  She could see the line of his shoulder through the pajama top, which he still hadn’t buttoned. His neck curved cleanly down into his shoulder, his pectorals swelled and then flattened into the abdominals across his stomach, his biceps bulged because his arms were crossed...

  Nick reached across and gently brushed a strand of her hair from her eyes with his finger. “Come on, Tess. What else do you want to throw at me?”

  “Thank you for introducing me to all those people tonight,” she said, trying to keep the lust from her voice.

  He blinked in surprise. “You came here to help me. You don’t owe me anything for helping you back. Besides, I want you to get the Decker job.”

  “You know, just when I think you’re a valueless twit, you do something nice for me,” Tess said.

  “Like when you came downtown to the police station in the middle of the night last month.”

  “Oh, that was because you’d been arrested for soliciting.” Nick relaxed against the pillow, his face close to hers, and moved his hand into the curve of her waist. “I thought you’d taken to the streets. I had a hundred bucks ready.”

  “Very funny.” Tess shifted a little and felt his hand tighten on her, and her thoughts drifted off momentarily into a sea of lust. Then she yanked her mind back to what they were talking about. “And you know very well I wasn’t arrested for soliciting.”

  “Well, I was hoping.” Nick slid his arm across her waist and pulled her a little closer. “I liked that story a lot better than the one about you taking pictures of Johns’ license plates to stop prostitution in your neighborhood.” He brushed a kiss against her forehead.

  “It was a good idea,” Tess said, trying to ignore him and failing miserably. Despite her better judgment, she snuggled against him.

  “No, it wasn’t.” Nick moved even closer, and she felt the lovely long length of his body warm hers and the heat turned her brain to mush. “But I don’t care enough about this one to argue,” he finished.

  “I don’t, either,” Tess said, fighting for coherence. “What have we got left to fight about?”

  “As long as we stay away from politics, nothing,” Nick said, hope making his voice light. “The parking lot’s not an issue anymore, right?”

  “Right,” Tess said. “Guess we’ll have to fight about politics.”

  “Why?” Nick kissed her cheek, moving closer to her mouth. “Why can’t we just get along?”

  Tess slumped down farther in the bed and shut her eyes tight so she couldn’t see his mouth and be tempted by it. “Because if we get along, I’ll end up sleeping with you,” she said, her own mouth partially under the covers. “I can’t handle that.”

  “Wait a minute.” Nick pulled back, outraged. “You start fights so we won’t have sex?”

  “Not always,” Tess said, both relieved and disappointed that he was farther away. Her voice began to rise as she fought not to reach out to him. “Sometimes you’re such a yuppie I have to fight with you. But a lot of the time, yes— because you really are a good person and you really do turn me on, and God knows I want you, but I know it’s no good because you do things like make snide cracks about Gina and all you think about is that damn law firm, so I just keep telling myself what a throwback you are even if you are being darling at the moment, and how if I give in to you I’ll end up barefoot and pregnant in a shirtwaist reading Marabel Morgan and wearing my hair in a Marilyn Quayle flip while you work late at the office! I can’t stand it! I just can’t trust you! You’re like Jekyll and Hyde.” She sat up suddenly and glared at him, crazed with lust and anger. “And I’ve got to tell you,” she spat at him, “I really hate Jekyll.”

  “Jekyll was the good guy,” Nick said through his teeth, and then he sat up and rested his arms on his knees, looking away from her and controlling his temper with obvious effort.

  “No, Jekyll was the conservative guy,” Tess said. “He always did the correct thing and he never had any emotions and all he cared about was public opinion.”

  “Hyde beat an old guy to death with a stick,” Nick said, turning to glare at her. “This is what you want me to be?”

  “Actually I always thought that part was sexually significant,” Tess said, momentarily distracted. “But, no, of course not. I just want you to have an emotion that hasn’t been previously approved by the Opera Guild and seven area churches.”

  “You are exaggerating.”

  “Oh?” Tess leaned back against the headboard and folded her arms. “Well, then why didn’t you make love to me at the Music Hall?”

  “I thought we settled this already. It was a parking lot,” Nick said. “Public indecency is a misdemeanor.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Jekyll,” Tess said. “I rest my case.”

  Nick closed his eyes for a moment, and Tess waited for him to get out of the bed, go in his room and slam the door behind him. The disappointment that thought engendered made her weak. She didn’t want him going back to his bedroom. She wanted him coming inside her. And if she wanted him that much, maybe it was time to stop saying no. Maybe—

  “Tell me something,” Nick said suddenly, rolling next to her so he was leaning over her. “Why did you agree to come this weekend, and why are you in bed with me, knowing as you must have that this would come up?”

  “I came this weekend because I really want the Decker job,” Tess said, and then she slid a little lower on the pillows to peer up at him. “But I’m in this bed with you because I really want you. I guess I was hoping you’d sweep me off my feet.”

  “