Page 3 of Never and Always
“Then find another way, because I’m not going,man.”
“You are such a prick, you know that? And a damn wet blanket.” Glenn foolishly punched Nick’s arm and flinched back in pain. “Shit, I keep forgetting not to dothat.”
Nick raised his brows and chuckled. “Yes, Glenn, you do keep forgetting that these arms are made of steel,” Nicklaughed.
He’d probably lost a bit of the heavy muscle mass he used to have when he was on duty, but he was still huge in comparison to the average guy. He was a six-foot-six-inch tall, 220-pound machine who was always ready for action. Definitely not to be messed with. The sight alone with all his tribal tattoos was enough to warn people, but poor Glenn most likely still saw him as the tall lanky guy he met when they wereyounger.
“You seriously won’t come? What if I set you up with Bella? You likeBella.”
Nick wouldn’t lie, Bella was hot, with a great body and super-model looks. The offer was tempting, Glenn knew it was, but not tempting enough to deviate from today’splans.
“No, Glenn, I’m serious. No more parties, and no women. I have shit to sortout.”
The doorbell rang, interrupting Glenn’s nextwords.
“You expecting company at this time?” he asked, narrowing hisgaze.
“No, definitely not.” It was 9:30. No one he knew would come here at this time. Except in some kind of emergency, and he doubted they would go to him. Maybe his mom would, but she would have calledfirst.
When Glenn moved to go and answer the door, Nick grabbed more coffee and downed it. Good, it was working. That sharp clarity coffee always brought with it was hitting him. It zinged straight to his brain and made his skin tingle. He was waking up now. He’d go for that run and head out to the office where he’d stay until it looked like anoffice.
He started walking over to the fridge but stopped when he suddenly heard crying. A woman was crying and it was one of those hysteric, heart-wrenching cries of pain that got your immediateattention.
Who wasthat?
And what could have happened to make her cry likethat?
Nick decided to venture into the hall where the sound was coming from. The minute he turned the corner by the stairs he froze, wishing he’d stayed in thekitchen.
Just like always his eyes glued to her perfectform.
Even with her tear-stained, red, puffy face and dark circles under her eyes she still lookedperfect.
Mia always did. He saw her as perfection and everything a man could ever desire all rolled into one. It was all there, from the radiance that beamed from her long blonde hair flowing about her elbows; to her petite frame, which was enhanced by her fully rounded breasts; to her tiny waist that invited him to touch her; and her firm behind that looked great in the tight blue jeans shewore.
Perfect. Nick wished he could take back the day when he started thinking that. Especially since he knew Glenn would skin him alive if he ever knew Nick had any thought whatsoever for his babysister.
The parties he could swear off easily, that wouldn’t be a problem, but it was a hard thing for a man to swear off women when the one he wanted was standing paces away fromhim.
The one he wanted, and could neverhave.
Nick knew that no matter what he felt, Mia was completely off limits to him. So off limits that she may as well have a sign stamped on her. But, even with the knowledge of that, he found it difficult to keep the warning at the forefront of his mind whenever he was aroundher.
Jesus, he’d taken every step he could to avoid her. For him, avoidance was always the best tactic when faced with uncertainty. It meant that he could keepcontrol.
Control was something he lost just from the sight of her. His mind would leave him, it would abandon rational thought and go with his raging hormones that took over his damnbody.
It would have been easier if he didn’t suspect that she felt thesame.
She was four when he first met her. He was twelve and saw her as Glenn’s super-cute baby sister with her white-blonde hair her mother always placed in pigtails. And when it wasn’t in pigtails it was in ringlets. She looked like a living doll and her mother dressed her assuch.
Things were easy then. She was a child. The only feeling he had for her then was adoration. She was the little kid who used to follow him around with huge doe eyes, wanting him to come to her doll’s tea parties and see the new toys shegot.
It was still easy to see her as a child when she was sixteen. He was twenty-four and, while he was still aware that the huge doe eyes had now turned to starry eyes, he just thought it was cute and adorable. He put it down to a phase she’d grow outof.
Things changed, though, when she turned twenty. She changed into this gorgeous, hot babe and suddenly he couldn’t use the age excuse anymore. Suddenlytheywere in their twenties and it was a massive, massivedifference.
It felt like someone switched on a light in his head and shone it straight at her. To say he was attracted to her was putting it mildly, and the fact that he knew he couldn’t have her made itworse.
