Naughty or Nice?

9. Kendall

CHAPTER 9

Kendall

“Merry Christmas, darling,” Nicholas rasps the next morning. He kisses me, dragging my body—and the sheets I’m wrapped up in—toward him. He’s back to being the warm cinnamon roll he is in daily life, his hazel eyes twinkling. “Did you sleep well?”

My smile spreads on its own. “Mmm… very well. Especially after St. Nick made me repent for my naughtiness.”

“He does tend to do that, doesn’t he?”

“He’s had many years of experience. Something that’s incredibly sexy.”

“Hard to resist when you’re so damn sexy yourself. I can’t keep my hands off you.”

I peer at him with only one thought in my head—why does the perfect man have to be my ex’s father?

Nicholas Whittler may be twenty years older than me, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s a bonus . He’s experienced, mature, and knows what he wants. He’s sincere and understanding and far past the age of playing games.

This man stares at me like I’m the most special Christmas gift he’s ever received. Like he truly can’t believe his luck.

He’s sexy and knows just how to work my body. If the first two times we slept together hadn’t proven it, last night sure as hell did.

St. Nick is the attentive, dominant man in the bedroom I’ve always wished for.

All positives. All things I’ve wanted in a partner.

But then my mind wanders to the fact that he’s Nate’s father, and it’s like everything goes up in smoke. I can’t possibly reason my way out of the fact that I’m fucking his father and most people would say it’s foul.

Most people would say I’ve betrayed him, even if he dumped me.

“Kendall?” Nicholas says, giving me a light shake.

I blink to the realization I’ve drifted off. My thoughts have taken over while Nicholas has continued talking to me.

“Sorry. I was in my head.”

“I’m sure I can guess about what. How about we make some breakfast and we can mull over things?”

“Mull over things as in…?”

“Talk it over. Discuss how we can—or can’t—move forward? I want to hear what you’re thinking.”

He pulls me out of bed along with him. I’m speechless as I let the covers fall away and I wind up following him into the bathroom. He starts a shower with a playful cock of his left brow, making heat warm my skin.

I’m not sure how he manages to set me at ease while also turning me on. He’s aware I have my reservations about a future, but he’s not letting it dampen the mood. If anything, he understands and wants to talk about it.

Nate would never be so transparent and openminded.

Even when I suspected he was thinking about marriage, we couldn’t really have a discussion about it. He remained vague and usually changed the subject.

I step into the shower with Nicholas wondering if I can truly give up this opportunity. Don’t I owe it to myself to explore what we’ve found together? How can I walk away when it feels like I’ve possibly found the man I was supposed to be with all along?

The shower is steamy in more ways than one.

We emerge squeaky clean after taking our time. We’ve hardly been able to keep our hands to ourselves. Nicholas smacks my ass as I reach for a towel. I laugh and then wait for my chance to return the favor when he happens to move into the bedroom to put on some boxers.

Nicholas yanks me toward him and plants a deep kiss on my mouth before he whispers in my ear how he’ll get his payback later.

But first, breakfast.

We work together like we did last night for dinner. I’m on the eggs and toast while he handles the sizzling bacon and brewing the coffee.

His phone pings with a few text messages and missed call notifications.

“Someone’s popular,” I say. “Meanwhile my phone is dead silent. I got a Merry Christmas text from my mom an hour ago and that’s about it.”

“It’s just the family wondering where I am.”

“Nothing to worry about—you’re just with your son’s thotty ex-fiancée whose busted it wide open for you.” I give a self-depreciating laugh as I pull the pan off the burner and empty half of the scrambled eggs onto my plate and the other half onto his.

Nicholas isn’t amused. He dials down the heat on the burner he’s frying the bacon on and then reaches for me by the waist.

“Stop talking about yourself like that. You didn’t ‘bust it wide open’. You made a choice to enjoy yourself after my son broke your heart. And if thotty means what I think it does, that isn’t true either. You won’t speak about yourself like that again… or St. Nick really will make a return. Are we clear, darling?”

I almost smile as I nod. “I guess it’s going to take some work to get it through my head I haven’t done anything wrong. I mean, Nate and I are over. And you and I are consenting adults. We’re both single. It might not be the cleanest situation… but what is? Everything’s messy when you look at it from different perspectives.”

“Exactly right. Not everybody’s going to agree with what we’ve done, but I’ve never lived my life according to what others thought. You shouldn’t either.”

“Okay, let’s say this goes beyond this holiday. Let’s say we put aside the whole ex-fiancé’s father thing. There’re still other hurdles, Nick.”

We carry our plates and mugs of coffee to the table in the dining room and sit down to enjoy the breakfast we’ve whipped up. Nicholas bites into his first strip of bacon and pins me with an inquisitive stare from across the small table.

“Care to name a couple?”

“Our age difference. Our life goals. Our places of residence. Our careers. The fact that we have a hell of a lot of chemistry, but we’ve only really fucked. We haven’t dated or really gotten to know each other,” I say, ticking each one off with my finger. “I’m thirty-six. My biological clock is starting to kick in, Nick. I want marriage. I want kids. You’re in your fifties and you’ve already had those things. You said it yourself. You never thought you could ever be with someone else after Laura passed.”

“I did feel that way. But that was before you.”

“And what do you feel now?”

“I feel like I’ve met a woman I can’t stop thinking about. I’ve met a woman who I want to get to know and who I’d like a future with. I loved Laura more than words can say—and nothing’s ever going to change that—but every love is a different kind of love. Every relationship should be judged on its own scale. You can’t compare them because you and Laura are two completely different women. And I appreciate that. I’m sure you can say the same about me and Nate.”

I think on what he’s said. “Our relationship wasn’t perfect, but there were good times. We’ve been together for almost three years. I really did love him.”

“Life tends to be like that, darling. You’re allowed more than one love.”

“But I want marriage and kids, Nick. If we pursued a relationship, you’d really be open to that?”

“I’d marry you in a heartbeat,” he says plainly. “I’d be proud to make you my wife and the mother of any children we would have. I’m in my fifties… but I’m not dead. I’ve got plenty of years left to live. And I like the idea of spending ’em with you.”

“I don’t live in North Carolina.”

He shrugs. “We can take turns visiting each other. Or one of us can move. I can expand my business to Georgia.”

“I travel a lot for work, Nick. It put a strain on my relationship with Nate.”

“Darling, if you’re my wife and mother of my child, I want you at home with me,” he says, his gaze twinkling as he takes my hand. “I’m a traditional man. I want my lady in my bed every night and want her to enjoy the life we have together. If it’s travel that you want, we can do that together… for leisure. You don’t need to be serving in-flight meals to do that if you’re with me.”

I can’t help the small laugh that leaves me. “Nate felt the same. I guess that’s one similarity between you.”

“Any other reservations?”

My mind comes up blank. I can’t think of a single thing to protest.

“We can take it slow in the beginning,” he says, stroking the back of my hand. “We’ve, err, already become pretty damn acquainted with each other in the bedroom. But we can press the brakes and go slower. Date and get to know each other.”

“And your family? Your phone’s pinging again. I know we said we’d keep it our naughty secret, but that was when I was turned on and wasn’t thinking straight.”

The laugh that he releases is deep and thick and makes me warm all over. He really is like a sexy lumberjack version of Santa Claus, and it still boggles my mind that he’s interested in me.

“We sit them down and tell them the truth. As soon as you’re comfortable doing so,” he says. “Would you be open to staying for the days you were originally going to stay for? Before the Nate ordeal?”

I’m caught between answering. Nicholas is patient waiting for me to do so, holding my hand and giving me the time to think.

I’m seconds away from answering. A sharp knock on the door interrupts before I can.

“Who would possibly be at the door on Christmas morning?” Nicholas asks. He lets go of my hand to get up out of his chair.

The person on the doorstep answers his question for us.

“Open up!” barks Nate from the other side of the door. He jiggles the knob and beats his fist harder against the door. “I know you two are in there!”