Read Online Only Forever by Linda Lael Miller - Free Book Online Page A

her now, standing so close that she could feel the heat and power of his body.
    She remembered what Gina had said about the way Nick acted when he was sick or hurt, and a wave of tenderness swept over her. She couldn’t help smiling a little. “Why do you ask?” she countered, because she didn’t know what to say.
    He laid his hands on her shoulders. “Because I’m crazy about you, Value Van.”
    Vanessa stepped back, lifting one eyebrow. “So crazy that you didn’t even return my call when I left that message on your machine. Or was it just that you didn’t go home that night?”
    Nick sighed. “I went to Portland, Van—I’m opening a new restaurant there.”
    Marita peered tentatively around the door jamb. She was from some South American country and spoke very little English. “I come back now?” she queried, poised to run.
    “Yes,” Vanessa said, closing her eyes.
    Nick took her elbow gently into his hand. “What do you say we go somewhere and talk?”
    Vanessa could only nod, and they’d reached the sensible solace of Nick’s apartment before she spoke. “Do you have any aspirin?”
    After favoring her with a grin and a kiss onthe forehead, Nick disappeared down the hallway, returning momentarily with two white tablets and a glass of water. Vanessa swallowed the aspirin gratefully and then staggered across the room and threw herself down on his cushy sofa.
    “The day was really that bad, huh?” Nick said, sitting down on the sofa and placing her feet in his lap. He slipped her shoes off and tossed them away, then began massaging her aching arches and insteps.
    “It was terrible!” Vanessa wailed, her arms folded across her face.
    Nick went right on rubbing her feet, saying nothing, and she felt compelled to hurl something into the conversational void.
    “Why did you leave football?”
    Nick chuckled. “I’d made all the money I needed and I wanted to get out before I ruined my back or one of my knees.”
    The massage felt sinfully good—in fact, it was beginning to arouse Vanessa, though she would never have admitted that. “Sensible,” she said with a sigh. “That’s you, Nick DeAngelo.”
    “Um-hmm,” he answered, gently working the taut muscles of Vanessa’s left calf.
    She gave an involuntary whimper. “Stop,”she said with such a lack of sincerity that Nick didn’t even hesitate.
    “Let’s go out to the island tonight,” he suggested in a reasonable tone.
    Vanessa raised her head to look at him. “I have to work tomorrow,” she said.
    “So do I. There’s ferry service—we can be back in plenty of time.”
    “But we would spend the night?”
    Nick didn’t look at her. “Yes.”
    She pulled her leg free and sat up. “I thought we had an understanding about that,” she said tautly.
    Nick reached out and hauled her easily onto his lap. “I didn’t say we’d sleep together,” he said in a deep, sleepy voice.
    “Then what’s the point of going?”
    He laughed. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Lawrence. We could walk on the beach, listen to music by the fire and talk. We could play cribbage, drink wine and bake brownies….”
    Vanessa rolled her eyes. “You are weird.”
    “Saturday I was remarkable. What happened?”
    Van was feeling harried, and the idea of spending a peaceful night in an island hideaway was not without appeal. But there were thosecorrelations. “I got to thinking that you’re probably a whole lot like Parker,” she confessed, looking away.
    He took her chin in his hand and made her look at him. “I hate it when you do that,” he said in a low, angry voice. “Don’t compare me to him, Vanessa.”
    She shrugged. “He’s a jock, you’re a jock. He’s a party animal, you’re a party animal—”
    “Tell me one thing, Vanessa,” Nick interrupted, his dark eyes hot with quiet anger. “Did he let you decide when the two of you would make love for the first time?”
    Vanessa looked away. “I don’t see what that has to do with