Page 40 of Not Part of the Plan
“What are you doing?” she sighed at his touch.
“Being friendly.”
He’d love to capture her like this, in the softly filtered light with the wariness in her sea goddess eyes. His fingers itched for a camera. Emma was urban chic out of place in the quiet, dusty stables. But the desire was more than that. More than wanting to capture a moment, a perfect face. He wanted to experience her with no lens between them, nothing but skin to skin, need to need.
He could see her pulse flutter wildly at the base of her slim throat and knew that she was affected, too. “What are we doing, Emma?”
Her lips—so full, so soft—parted, but no answers poured forth. Her eyes were heavy lidded as they looked up at him. Long lashes curling delicately, framing eyes the green of spring meadows. She smelled like sin, all spice and temptation. His blood thrummed through his veins. He was hard, and all he wanted to do was to get closer.
Testing, Niko pulled her into him using his palms to guide the luscious curve of her hips. He lowered down to her, his lips skimming the sharp line of her jaw. He paused just behind her ear to taste that sensitive skin. She shivered against him, fingers digging into his t-shirt and holding him close. Emma let her head drop back, and Niko took it as an invitation to further explore.
He knew she could feel how hard she’d made him, yet she didn’t pull away. He felt her heart beat against him as it matched the thud of his own when he dragged his teeth over the flesh of her neck.
“This is stupid,” she sighed. “We’re making a mistake.”
But still she stayed, melted against him. Niko shoved his hands into her hair, gripping it.
“If it is, we’ll have fun making it,” he whispered, his lips lowering with impossible patience toward their goal.
Something solid shoved him from behind knocking him the last inch into Emma, his teeth gouging her sweet lip.
“Ow!” she yelped.
Niko swung around to meet their foe only to be faced with a very pleased with herself Calypso.
“Did that horse just make you bite me?” Emma gasped, holding her lower lip.
“Are you okay? Jesus, did I… puncture anything?”
Emma put her hands up when he made a move toward her. “I think we just proved that was a bad idea.”
“I think we were doing just fine until someone butted in with her big, fat head,” Niko said, glaring at the horse.
Emma shook her head. “I’ve got to get to work. I think it’s for the best if we pretend this… situation never happened.”
“You can’t pretend to forget about every situation that doesn’t fit into your plan, Emma,” he called after her.
But she didn’t stop, her heels clicking sharply on the brick floor as she exited the stables.
Calypso snorted and Niko narrowed his eyes.
“Cock blocked by a horse. I’m watching you, Calypso.” He pointed two fingers at his own eyes and then back at her.
The mare gave a sassy toss of her mane and shoved her big, fat head in her feed bin.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Damn, we’re good,” Emma sighed, taking in the transformed first level of the barn. Usually used for organizing Pierce Acres CSA shares, she, Summer, Gia, and Eva had turned the space into a decadent, feminine hideaway.
Sheer fabrics draped from the rafters and pooled on the floor behind cushions and borrowed furniture. Salt lamps and strings of lights bathed the room in a soft glow. The music was soft and spa-like. Separated from the main space by thick gold curtains, a massage table and candles waited with the shirtless masseuse, Corban, Summer had tempted in from the city. On the opposite end of the room was a mani-pedi station manned by Corban’s cousin Helga, who was not shirtless. White linen tables held bottles of champagne and wine and a heavenly array of snacks and desserts. Monogrammed robes in silky shades of pink hung from a clothesline strung from the rafters.
“If goddesses hung out, they’d hang out here,” Gia said with a satisfied nod of her head.
Summer clasped her hands under her chin. “I hope Phoebe loves it!”
“Do we have to wait for Phoebe before we try the Shirtless Hunk over there?” Eva asked. Her gaze locked on Corban’s perfect pecs.
“Phoebe gets dibs,” Emma said, giving her sister the eye.
