CHASING TROUBLE

“Fine,” he agreed lightly, and he rose smoothly to his feet beside her.

Instantly making Caroline’s already raw and sensitive nerve-endings thrum!

She didn’t drink alcohol, or smoke, or sleep with men-married or otherwise-but just being in the same room with Nicholas made her dearly wish she did the latter, at least. Every time she was anywhere near this man she felt the urge to rip the clothes from his body and have her way with him. Her very wicked way with him!

Nicholas watched the emotions flicker across Caroline’s flushed and expressive face as she looked at him: tension, then desire, quickly followed by dismay. “I’d give a thousand dollars to know what your thoughts were just now,” he murmured throatily.

Her eyes widened in alarm before she quickly looked away. “You would be wasting your money.”

“It’s my money to waste.”

She shrugged. “I was only thinking of the books I intend cataloging before leaving tomorrow.”

Nicholas gave a casual glance down at Caroline’s left hand, knowing by the way it was clenched that she wasn’t telling the truth. Knowing by the way she instantly unclenched her hand that she knew he knew it too!

” Having a giveaway is annoying, isn’t it?” he murmured conversationally.

Her chin rose determinedly. “I have no idea what you mean.”

“Sure you don’t …” he drawled.

“I believe you now owe me a thousand dollars…”

He gave a rueful shake of his head. “We both know you just lied and I don’t owe you a damn thing.” he stood back to allow her to precede him out of the room, his politeness owing as much to the fact that he wanted to continue admiring her legs and the gentle sway of her hips as she walked in front of him to the dining room as it did to good manners.

“When did you say you intended returning to New York?” Caroline asked Nicholas coolly, once Mrs Cooper had left the room after serving the first course of smoked salmon.

The two of them were once again seated at the small family dining table. The evening sun shining in through the huge bay window made the lighting of the candles on the table unnecessary. Thank goodness! Candlelight would have made it appear too much like a romantic dinner for two… Something this most certainly wasn’t! Caroline didn’t fool herself for a moment, and knew that ordinarily Nicholas wouldn’t have even noticed a woman like her. She felt sure that his usual taste in women ran to something a little more exotic than an assistant who, at the age of twenty six, neither drank, smoked, nor slept around. In fact, the phrase ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ came to mind!

Nicholas scowled darkly. “I don’t remember saying when I was leaving.”

She frowned slightly. “I had assumed that you would be returning after visiting your father,”

“Well, I have no idea if I’m going to leave or stay after my visit. We’ll just have to find out.” He stared at her for a few seconds, then he saw, “No doubt you are a dutiful daughter and visit your own parents once a week? Probably for Sunday lunch?”

He wasn’t completely right. She didn’t visit her parents often as they lived in a different state, but she spoke to them regularly on the phone and she had a great relationship with them. Besides, she didn’t want to open up to Nicholas about her personal life in any way. “No doubt,” she answered stiltedly.

Nicholas’ gaze became piercing as he heard the lack of conviction in Caroline’s tone. “Or perhaps dinner on a Friday evening?” he said.

“Perhaps,”

Nicholas was certain of the hollowness to her tone that time…”Or perhaps you prefer to stay the hell away from them?”This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

Warm color crept up into the pallor of her cheeks. “I don’t believe this conversation was about me-”

“Sure it was.” Nicholas gave up all pretense of eating the smoked salmon and sat back in his chair to study her through narrowed lids. “We can do this the hard way or the easy way, Caroline.

Your choice.”

“I don’t think-”

“Okay, the hard way.” He shrugged. “Are both your parents still alive?”

Her jaw hardened, but she said nothing.

“Going to ignore me, are you?”

A nerve pulsed in that clenched jaw. “Nicholas-”

“Don’t like to talk about yourself much, do you?” he jeered. “Just humor me, hmm, Caroline,” he murmured.

She gave a deep sigh. “My parents are still very much alive.”

“And?”

“And I have a good relationship with them. I don’t get to see them often because they live in another state, but I speak to them regularly.”

Nicholas watched her. Deep down, where it really mattered, he and Caroline were more alike than he liked…. Or wanted them to be.

_______

The following day, Caroline carried her small suitcase with her down the stairs, ready to head home. It had been a weird week. One that had started with work and boredom, but had suddenly taken a whole new turn when Nicholas showed up.

She knew that he’d be coming down to see his father, but she wasn’t sure she’d see him again and honestly wasn’t sure that she wanted to. They had this weird chemistry going on between them that she really didn’t understand, and she sure as hell didn’t want to think about the fact that she’d kissed her boss’ son and she didn’t want anyone to find out about it either.

She found him in the living room, wearing another black shirt with equally black pants, and she wondered why he loved that color so much. Probably because it made him look dangerous, and judging by how fast things had gone after spending barely two days with him, she concluded that Nicholas Connelly was indeed dangerous to be around. Good thing she was in the process of fixing that.

Nicholas looked up at her when she entered the room and lifted an eyebrow, “Leaving without saying goodbye?” he asked with a grin.

“Please don’t start this today, Nicholas,” said Caroline, “You knew I was leaving today and you’re here now, aren’t you?”

He stood up and walked towards her until he was standing in front of her, “I like teasing you, Caroline. Getting under your skin is fun… It makes you act wild and I love it,”