“How’d you guess,” I murmured, looking away and tossing tomato wedges into the greens.

“Olivia,” he called.

I looked to him.

“I’ll book it another night but we’re not scheduled to be there until ten thirty. Do your duty. Later, meet me there. I’ll examine your gums a way you’ll like better, and you turn vamp, there’s a lot of places I don’t mind you suckin’ me.”

I shook my head and again looked away, allowing a slight curve to form at my mouth.

“Christ, she can smile,” he teased, reminding me my life didn’t offer me many occasions to do this, and to play it safe with Nick Sebring, I shouldn’t let him give them to me.

Thus, the curve evened out.

My name didn’t sound close to teasing when he called, “Olivia.”

I didn’t look from the salad. “I’m hungry, Sebring. Feed me then fuck me. Then I need to get home. I have a busy week next week.”

There was silence broken only by bubbling from the stove before I heard end-of-cooking noises as I focused on the finishing touches on the salad.

I was done and about to go wash my hands when I felt Nick fit his front to my back.

He didn’t wrap his arms around me and hold me but there was warmth in his closeness all the same.

“We both like what we got,” he said softly into my ear. “That means you’ll be here again. So you gotta know, the invitation is open for you to stay after we fuck. You feel you need to make your point by leavin’, your call. But I figure with the way we fuck we’re not gonna be done with each other for a long time. I like you at my side in bed because that means I get more in the morning. You want that too, stay. You’re not in the mood, go. If I got shit on I need to give attention to first thing in the morning, I’ll share that we need to see to business and I’ll walk you to your car. But outside that, you need to know, the invitation is always open.”

I twisted my neck and lifted my eyes to him.

I didn’t know what to say. What he just gave to me was more than anyone had given to me in my life, outside Tommy. And what Tommy and I had had been dangerous and stupid and we both knew it even if I was just figuring out the full extent of that years later.

So I just said, “Thank you.”

Nick nodded, touched my waist and moved to the stove.

We ate spaghetti with a spicy meat sauce, fantastic garlic bread and a delicious fresh salad.

In other words, Nick could cook.

He insisted we leave the dishes but we took the wine to his bedroom.