Naughty Nicks by Christine d'Abo

here—but not Blake.
    The concern in his eyes was clear and sincere.
    Kim somehow resisted the urge to get up on her tip-toes and kiss the end of his nose. “I get a few a day. I’m used to dealing with them by now.”
    “You seem upset though.”
    “I’ve just been a bit stressed out the past little while. Too much on my plate.” And too many thoughts of him on her mind.
    “If you need some time off, I don’t mind.” He let his hand drop, but he didn’t move back. “I can ask one of the guys to come in and run the office.”
    “No!” Her heartbeat raced and her hands trembled. There was no way she was going to leave for even a day. She wanted, no needed to soak in every minute of time she had to spend with him. It was the only thing that would keep her going as the year moved forward. “I’m good. It’s just...don’t send me away.”
    “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
    Silence fell between them again, but this time it wasn’t awkward or strained. There was a weight behind it, as though they both wanted to say something more, but neither were willing to risk the consequences.
    “Blake, I think we should—”
    He held up his hand. “Don’t.”
    “Don’t what?”
    “Don’t say that you think we should talk about this. I don’t have a good track record with words that come after that phrase near Christmas.”
    Shit. “I’m sorry.”
    “Don’t be. You gave me a lot of good memories to help me counter the bad ones.” He smiled then, barely a quirk of his lips, but it lit up his eyes. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I didn’t mean to overreact at lunch. And I shouldn’t have pawed at you the way I did. I was just...impulse.”
    Kim blinked, no longer certain about how to proceed, or even what to say next. Maybe rather than talking she needed to simply cut to the chase and show him what she wanted. Going up high on her toes, she placed a kiss to his cheek. Her lips were prickled by the start of his stubble, the sensation sending chills through her. Dragging her mouth across his jawline and down to his chin, she kissed him again.
    “Kim?” His voice shook and she felt him swallow.
    Ignoring his mouth, she moved over and kissed his other cheek, before finally making the stretch for the tip of his nose. He sucked in a little breath, but he made no move to kiss her back. That was fine. She’d thrown the gauntlet and he now knew where she stood. She looked up to see that the color of his irises had been nearly swallowed by the blacks of his pupils. For the first time since she’d met him, Kim didn’t have a clue how he would react.
    Oh, she knew what she wanted him to do , she simply wasn’t certain he was ready to get there.
    Blake let out a stuttered breath. “Kim, I—”
    The electronic door chime went off and she stepped away from him in a flash and turned to face the big fat jerk who’d interrupted them. “Welcome to Naughty Nicks.”
    The two women both looked to be in their seventies, hell, maybe even their eighties. The taller of the two looked between Kim and Blake, tapped her nose and gave them a grin. “Hello my dear. Would one of your naked Santas come to a retirement home?”
    * * *
    Blake couldn’t stand there and listen to the two elderly women talk to Kim. He’d hoped they would be in and out quickly, but the pair must have picked up on what had been going on between them and were dragging their feet, while they continuously shot Blake curious glances. If he didn’t know any better, he’d suspect they were mentally undressing him.
    At least Kim would have a mark she could add to the naughty list.
    His cock throbbed, showing absolutely no sign of going back to its less-than-rock-hard state. Even stepping into his office and pressing the heel of his hand against it did little to help alleviate the pressure.
    She’d kissed him.
    It still didn’t change the fact that he was nearly ten years older than she was, way too big a gap for them to have a shot at a lasting relationship.