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Especially now that her sisters were married and Nikki was the only one left.
The enormity of the situation pressed down on her and she slumped on the hay bale next to Cole Chisholm. “What the hell am I going to do?” She swallowed against the huge lump rising in her throat. “I’ve got finals in two weeks. I need to concentrate. To focus. I can’t focus with my mother all over me, which means I need to figure out a way to get her off my back. And all because my sisters tied the knot.”
“I hear ya. I’m ready to pack up and leave today, but I can’t. I’ve got business here in town with my brothers and I’m stuck for at least a week. Meanwhile there are at least two dozen women hot on my heels.”
A smile tugged at her lips. “Only two dozen, huh?”
He grinned. “Give or take a few.”
Nikki wasn’t sure if it was the wine or the warmth of Cole’s hard body that sparked the next thought. Maybe a little of both. Regardless, an idea rooted and she found herself smiling.
“I should get married,” she told him. “My mother’s given up on Crystal and April because they did. If I jumped ship, too, and married some man that she totally disapproves of—which is basically every man—then she wouldn’t have any reason to hold out hope.” Nikki’s gaze shifted to Cole with his wicked good looks and his charming smile and his empty glass of chocolate milk. “I’ve got an idea that might save us both.”
3
“I DO,” NIKKI SAID a half hour later as she stood in the far corner of the monstrous wedding tent and faced Cole.
Crystal and April had already left with their grooms in a flurry of bubbles to catch a plane to Hawaii for their honeymoons, and so Nikki had lucked out. She wouldn’t have to explain anything to her sisters tonight.
Likewise, Cole’s brothers had already left with their fiancées. Only a handful of guests remained and a few reporters. They stood on the sidelines, snapping pictures of the spontaneous wedding between Lost Gun’s hottest bachelor and the town’s most notorious bad girl.
Now Cole was officially off the market, which meant every single female in town would stop gunning for him. Likewise, Raylene Barbie would be so horrified that her youngest daughter had done the unthinkable, that she would stop sending texts and badgering her about the family business.
Nikki could have some peace to focus on finishing her degree and Cole could spend the next week or so in town without having a horde of women breathing down his neck and bringing him potluck. It was extreme, but it would actually work.
After Nikki’s proposition and Cole’s acceptance, they’d ironed out the details of their “marriage.”
An arrangement in name only since they didn’t actually have a license, nor did they intend to get one.
Not that anyone else knew that.
No, in the eyes of everyone in Lost Gun, their marriage would be legal and binding.
For the next few weeks, that is.
Until Cole aced the championship in Vegas and secured himself a place in the history books and Nikki took her final exams. Then they would go their separate ways and leak the word that they’d split. Nikki would head to Houston for her internship and Cole would bask in the glow of his sixth championship buckle.
Until then, they would play the happily wedded couple right here in Lost Gun.
And I now pronounce you husband and wife...
“You may now kiss the bride.”
The minute the words were out, panic rushed through Nikki, along with a flutter of anticipation. While she’d thought through most of the details, she hadn’t counted on the kiss.
No biggie. She was the resident bad girl. She kissed men in her sleep and she didn’t get uptight over it. Or weak in the knees.
Especially weak in the knees.
Cole was just another in a long line of many.
That’s what she told herself. The problem? It wasn’t true. She’d had all of a handful of kisses in her day, even though the men’s bathroom wall over at the honky-tonk would argue the opposite. And they said women liked to gossip? Men were worse, constantly wagging their tongues to feed their egos even though there was little truth to any of it. She hadn’t made out with the entire offensive line back in high school or gone to third base with every ranch hand down at the Circle J.
For the first time, she found herself wishing that she had so that her hands wouldn’t be trembling quite so much as this particular moment.
Nikki closed her eyes as Cole’s lips touched hers. Quick. Meaningless. That’s all this was. He would plant one on her and then it would be over and done with. Curtain drawn. Elvis has left the building.
But then her lips softened under the sudden pressure of his mouth. His tongue swept her bottom lip and slipped past to deepen the connection.
He pulled her closer, his hands at the base of her spine, burning through the thin material of her dress and stirring her deprived hormones.
The chemistry between them was instant and explosive and she couldn’t help herself. She knew this was all a farce, but she kissed him back anyway.
In the interest of putting on a really good show, of course.
No way did she buckle because it just felt so freakin’ good.
No. Way.
She slid her hands up his chest, her palms flat against the stiff material of his jacket until she reached the solid warmth of his neck. Her fingers curled around, holding him close.
Okay, so maybe it felt a little good.
The floor fell away as she leaned into him. His warmth overwhelmed her. His scent filled her nostrils and made her heart pound and—
“Nicole Renee Barbie!” Her mother’s voice shattered the passionate haze surrounding Nikki and Cole and her eyes popped open. “What in tarnation do you think you’re doing?”
She whirled to see Raylene walking toward them, her latest fling—a trucker named Dale Something-or-other she’d picked up last night at the bar—hot on her heels.
“Kissing a man.”
“I’m not talking about the kissing. I’m talking about this.” She motioned to the bouquet in Nikki’s hands and old Judge Collins who’d been napping in the corner while his wife talked the kitchen out of a plate of leftovers when Nikki had snagged him to do the ceremony. “You didn’t just do what I think you did.”
“These fine youngsters are now happily married,” the judge announced, stifling a yawn. “Mother.” He motioned to the woman standing with a plate in her hands. “My work here is done. Time to call it a night.”
“Thanks so much.” Cole shook the man’s hand. “I’ll settle up with you first thing tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry about it.” The judge’s wife waved him off. “He won’t even remember it. We’re just happy we could be a part of such a wonderful occasion. Marshall doesn’t get to officiate too often on account of he has trouble remembering all the words.”
“He did just fine tonight,” Cole assured the woman. “Just fine. Isn’t that right, sugar?” He turned to Nikki, but she was too busy looking at Raylene.
The older woman shook her head, her cheeks a bright red. “No, no, you couldn’t have.” Denial gripped her expression, as if the Dallas Cowboys had just lost the Super Bowl and she had a wad of cash riding on the game. “No way did you just saddle yourself to some low-life, snake-in-the-grass man.”
Before Nikki could speak, Cole stepped around her and caught her mother in a gigantic bear hug. “Don’t think of me as just any old snake-in-the-grass, Mama Barbie. We’re family now. That makes me your snake-in-the-grass.” And then he planted a huge smack on her cheek.
4
NIKKI CLIMBED INTO the backseat of one of the stretch limousines that had lingered behind to take the out-of-town wedding guests back to the local motel and focused all of her attention on trying to ignore the man who climbed in behind her.
Her husband.
The thought rooted in her mind as the driver tipped his hat before rolling the security window into place. The engine roared to life and the massive vehicle rumbled down the road, away from the festivities.
Not that theirs was a real marriage, but still. At the moment, it almost felt real with the kiss at the altar and the plush limousine and, well, it was their wedding night.
And she was feeling uncommonly good thanks to half a bottle of wine, one hell of a spectacular kiss and the fact that her mother had turned on her heel and marched off in the opposite direction after Cole’s big display of familial affection.
“I can’t believe she bought it.”
“Did you see Sally Fisk and Tara Lawrence?” He grinned. “They were texting before we even said our ‘I dos.’ Half the town has to know about this by now.” His grin widened. “This just might work.”
“It will work,” she said with more confidence than she’d felt in a long, long time.
He was so close and so strong and he smelled so good—like sweet vanilla-bean wedding cake and while her palate had graduated to more sophisticated flavors, she found herself with a sudden craving for something simple. Tasty. Satisfying.
“Yep, I think this is just what the ole doc ordered.” He half turned. A grin tilted the corner of his mouth as he pinned her with a gaze.
Nikki’s heart stalled and she couldn’t help herself.
She leaned forward and touched her lips to his. It was nothing short of explosive. The chemistry ignited and mushroomed, and what started as a subtle press of mouths soon morphed into a deep, urgent, delicious probing of tongues.
No, no, no, a voice whispered. This was too fast, too soon. At the same time, she’d wanted to kiss him like this since she’d been a seventh grader, sitting at the Dairy Freeze, watching him feed a banana split to her oldest sister. She’d been too much younger back then, but now... Now the age difference didn’t matter. They were both adults.
Married adults.
Caution melted away in the face of so much heat, and arousal washed through Nikki from her head to the tips of her bright pink toenails. The pulsing awareness started in her scalp and spread through her body, pausing at every major erogenous zone. Her nipples tightened and hardened. Pressure hummed between her legs. Her thighs quivered. Her heart pounded as loud and as fast as the drummer for Buckcherry, and her blood rushed at an alarming rate.
“We probably shouldn’t be doing this,” she murmured.
“Then again, if anyone should be doing it, it’s us.” Cole’s hand found its way under her dress and swept a burning path up the inside of her thigh.
“True enough,” she breathed as his finger traced the lace edge of her panties before dipping underneath.
His finger ran back and forth, his callused skin arousing Nikki’s sensitized flesh. Back and forth. Up and...oh, boy.
He pushed into her and she gasped. She wiggled, pivoting her hips, desperate to feel him deeper and harder and... There. Just like that. And that. And—oh, wow—that...
His lips left her mouth to blaze a trail down her throat to her pulse beat. He rasped the tip of his tongue against her skin and worked his finger inside her body. A moan vibrated from her throat. Cole caught the sound with his mouth and devoured her in another luscious kiss.
Suddenly, the limo swerved and the driver’s muttered curse penetrated the haze of desire that enveloped them. Not that the driver could actually see anything with the privacy window firmly in place. But it was still obvious from the panting and moaning going on that Cole was doing something, and that Nikki was enjoying it and—
The thought scattered in a rush of desire as he pushed deep inside.
She relished his deep, thrusting touch for a few more delicious moments before he pulled out of her completely. The tips of his fingers skimmed her swollen flesh as he caught her thigh. She trembled as he urged her leg up and over his lap until she straddled him. They faced one another, her dress bunched around her waist.
Cole’s violet gaze drilled into hers, his eyes dilated with hunger and a deep appreciation. Warmth bubbled inside her, a feeling that might have spooked her if she hadn’t been so hot and bothered in the first place.
Barbie women didn’t do bubbling warmth. Or soft fuzzies. Or any of those girly feelings that undermined even the most determined woman when it came to men. They didn’t let themselves get involved in the emotional aspect of sex because that would only make it harder to walk away the next day. And they always walked away. They had a reputation to maintain, after all.
Not that Nikki had done a lot of walking away the morning after. Because there hadn’t been much sex the night before. Her sisters perpetuated the reputation with their carousing ways, and so all Nikki had ever had to do was dress the part and flirt her ass off and bam, she’d been part of the one-night-stand club.
But she’d never actually gotten good at it.
She might be a Barbie in name, but she didn’t have near the expertise her sisters possessed when it came to pleasuring the opposite sex. Sure, she’d tried. With a basketball player named David. He’d asked her to the senior prom, but before they’d even made it to the dance, he’d had her in the backseat for a little pre-dance action.
She’d given in and then instead of taking her to the prom, he’d made some lame excuse about having to go home for an emergency. He’d dropped her off at her door so fast she’d had whiplash. He’d gone on to brag about it, but he’d never come back for seconds. No late-night calls to hook up. Nothing.
Meanwhile, when one of her sisters had given it up, she hadn’t been able to get rid of the guy. Men had chased after them mercilessly. Because her sisters had been great in the sack.
Nikki? Not so much. Which wasn’t all that much of a problem in itself since she was much too busy to worry over a bunch of sex-crazed guys chasing after her. She had a career to think of. Goals to achieve. Even more, she had a sizable vibrator that did the job just fine and didn’t leave her angsting about a follow-up phone call.
And so she stuck to flirting to keep up her image rather than actually hooking up.
A fact that slipped her mind at that moment because she’d had a little too much wine and Cole felt too good and she wanted him too much.
As if he read her mind, his strong hands cupped her bare bottom and he worked her against the rock-hard bulge pressing tight against his jeans. The friction was incredible and stirring. Her head fell back and her eyes closed as pleasure ripped through her.
She shimmied her hips and spread her legs even wider, settling more fully on top of him. He let loose a low growl and leaned forward, his hot mouth going to the plump cleavage pushing against the low neckline of her dress. His tongue traced the edge of the material before he reached his hand up to grasp the edge of the material. He was just about to pull it down and free her aching breast when an all-important fact registered.
Nikki wasn’t clutching at his shoulders to keep from swaying to the side anymore. They were sitting stock still, the limo engine idling, the driver waiting. And probably wondering.
“We’re here,” she breathed.
Cole’s hand stilled as his gaze met hers. They stared at each other for a long moment, their breaths coming in quick, frantic gulps.
“We sure are.” He sounded disappointed.
Until reality seemed to hit, and then it was as if someone lit a fire under them. She scrambled from his lap and pushed open the door to step out onto the pavement while he followed her out.
The large building that housed the honky-tonk sat dark and quiet, closed for tonight’s wedding. She picked up her steps and headed around the side to the stairs leading to the small apartment on the second floor. Her mother had once lived in the apartment when she’d first opened the place, but when Nikki’s grandmother had died, she’d moved into the small house that sat a few blocks over. And so the apartment had been left to Nikki and her sisters.
Now that Crystal and April were married, Nikki had the place all to herself.
Cole followed and soon Nikki fumbled with her key for a few moments before Cole stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. His long, lean fingers closed over hers, and he steadied her long enough to slide the key into the lock. Metal clicked and hinges creaked and then they were inside. The door slammed behind them and before she could draw a breath, he whirled her around and pulled her into his arms.
He kissed her, his tongue delving deep as he pulled her close. Her thighs quivered and her bosom heaved and she came dangerously close to fainting from the desire swamping her. But this was too good to miss and she wasn’t about to forfeit what was surely to be a really incredible orgasm.
Her first with an actual man.
She reached for the waistband of his pants as he reached behind for the hooks on her dress. They both worked at the clothes until all the pieces had been pulled away. The nightmare bridesmaid’s dress landed in a heap somewhere across the room. The matching slip slapped the far wall. Nikki feared her corset-like bra would put up a fight, but Cole quickly demonstrated why he was the hottest catch in town. A few movements of his deft fingers and the bra fell away. Soon she was completely naked.
Likewise, Cole’s clothes followed hers. His jacket hit the floor along with his belt and jeans. Buttons popped and she shoved the shirt down his arms and sent the white material flying in the opposite direction. She paused only to discover whether he went for boxers, briefs, or let it all hang out—crisp white boxer briefs, just for the record—before shoving the elastic waistband down and freeing a massive erection.
She wanted to look, but everything seemed so fuzzy and surreal and desperate. She threw herself against him. Her body went flush against his as bare skin met bare skin. His lips found hers again. He kissed her as he swept her into his arms and started for the bedroom.
There was just something about the way his mouth ate at her lips and his tongue tangled with hers, stroking this way and that, up and down, deeper and stronger, that took her breath away. She’d never met a man who kissed with such passion and intensity. As if he liked it. As if he liked her.
The last thought rooted in her mind as he tumbled her back onto her full-size bed. Her dog, Sweet Cheeks, who’d been curled up on her pillow, jumped to the floor with a loud, surprised yelp. She then let loose a grumpy growl before scurrying off toward the walk-in closet that housed her doggy pillow.
