Eric sat on the edge of the bed and folded his hands on his lap.
He stared at his thumbs and asked, “Do you still love him?”
Her heart froze in her chest. “I left him, didn’t I?”
Eric lifted his gaze. “You didn’t answer my question.”
It wasn’t one she could easily answer. She would probably always love Isaac. Not in the crazy way she loved Eric, but Isaac had seen her at her worst and had stood beside her regardless. Isaac had never let her give up, not when she had been bald and looked like an eightyfour-pound skeleton with a perpetual case of nausea.
“Isaac is in my past, Eric. I’m with you now. Being with you feels right. I never felt this way when I was with him. This happy.
You make me feel… alive. Happy to be alive.” She moved to stand between Eric’s knees, not sure if she could handle his rejection. Not when she’d given her absolute trust so easily. “You can call me by an old girlfriend’s name if it will make you feel better. I really didn’t mean to call you Isa—” He covered her lips with one long finger. “I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t say his name again.”
She pantomimed locking her lips with a key and throwing it over her shoulder.
He wrapped his arms around her back and tugged her closer. He pressed his face between her naked breasts and took a deep breath.
“Things always look different in the morning,” he said.
She stroked his hair with both hands. “What do you mean?
You aren’t having second thoughts, are you?” She could feel him slipping through her fingers already. It wasn’t fair. She knew they should have taken things more slowly. She shouldn’t have spouted her feelings so carelessly. She wished she could take the words back.
“No one has ever loved me before. Not really. Not for who I am.
Maybe for what I could give them, but not for me.”
Her breath caught. She was so glad she couldn’t take the words back, because she meant them. “I love you for who you are, Eric.”
She hugged him closer. “I do.”
“Last night when I was delirious with pleasure it was easy to believe. Now…” He looked up at her. The loneliness in his blue eyes stole her breath. “I’m sorry. I should learn to keep my mouth shut.”
“So when you were delirious with pleasure you believed that I love you, but now that your head’s clear, you don’t?”
“I don’t know. I want to believe it.”
“I guess there’s only one thing to do in a situation like this.”
He swallowed hard and grimaced. “Slow down?”
She quirked an eyebrow. “Fuck no. I need to make you delirious with pleasure again.”
He chuckled and hugged her enthusiastically. “That should take you all of three minutes.”
“Give me ten.” She kissed his forehead and pulled out of his grasp. Grabbing several bags of their purchases from the night before, she hurried to the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She found what she was looking for in one of the bags and began to dress. She wished she had some cosmetics with her, but he was going to have to live with a naughty nurse without makeup.
She was smoothing her thigh-high stockings when he knocked on the door.
“Reb, I can’t wait anymore.”
She grinned at his enthusiasm. “Almost ready.”
“I have to pee so bad I can taste it.”
Oh, that’s why he was eager to get into the bathroom.
She slid into her shoes and crammed the little white hat onto her bed hair before opening the door. His jaw dropped when he saw her.
“Mercy, baby,” he whispered.
“Mr. Sticks, hurry up and go. Then get back into bed. It’s time for your sponge bath.”
“I can hold it,” he assured her.
She shoved him into the bathroom. “Just go. I don’t want you having an accident.”
“I can’t go when I’m hard, and seeing you like that definitely has me hard.”
“Try,” she said and closed him in the bathroom.
She heard something bang on the inside of the bathroom door repeatedly. Concerned, she pulled open the door and caught Eric banging his head against the solid surface.
“What are you doing?”
“Trying to calm down. I was about halfway there before you opened the door.” His eyes raked over her body. The skirt of her uniform was so short it didn’t cover the tops of her stockings. He could probably tell that she wasn’t wearing panties without her having to bend over. Her breasts were pushed up and together by strategically located underwires. She looked like she had significant cleavage. There was barely enough material to cover her nipples. “Oh fuck, Rebekah, you look so hot. Can I please get back in bed?”
“Stop banging your head on the door, and go pee.” She closed the door in his face and went to the mirror over the dresser to see if she could get her flyaway hair under control and secured under the little hat she wore.
She was starting to worry about Eric when he finally opened the door. He was entirely naked and looking sexier in his self-confidence than she could ever hope to look in her nurse’s attire. His cock was soft when he exited the bathroom, but already hard when he moved behind her and cupped her breasts.
“Into bed with you, Mr. Sticks,” she said. “And keep your hands to yourself.”
“Huh?” Far from complying with her demands, his hands skimmed down her belly and hip bones. “Are you wearing panties?”
he breathed into her ear. His hand found the inside of her thigh and pushed her skirt up.
She pulled away and faced him. She wagged her finger.
“What’s under my skirt, sir, is none of your business. Get into bed. I must start your personal care immediately. You wouldn’t want me to get fired, would you?”
His lips brushed her neck just beneath her ear, which sent a thrill of excitement coursing down her spine. “No, ma’am. I would not want that. Exceptional nurses like you are impossible to find.”
She looped his arm around her shoulders and encouraged him to lean on her. “I’ll help you back to bed now. You are in desperate need of my attention.”
“I am on my last limb. Luckily, it’s the inflatable one.”
Rebekah bit her lip so she didn’t bust out laughing and ended up snorting through her nose. She recovered her composure quickly, trying to be sexy. Snorting was so not sexy.
Hand splayed over his waist, it was all she could do not to bury her face in his side and inhale his scent. She decided it was going to be very difficult to stay in character, especially when his hand reached down to cup her breast. Her nipple strained toward his palm immediately. She considered slapping him across the face as if offended, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. Since the nurse’s outfit was the first one he’d grabbed when they’d looked at costumes, she assumed it was his favorite. She was going to pretend to be a very naughty nurse and encourage his attention. She hoped it didn’t ruin the fantasy for him. She twisted slightly so that his fondling hand shifted her nipple right out of the cup of her uniform.
She pretended not to notice. Like that was possible with Eric’s rush of breath and wayward thumb. When they reached the bed, she lifted his arm over her head and urged him onto the mattress.
He grabbed her on the way down, and she found herself sprawled across his hard body.
“Mr. Sticks,” she said, lifting her head to look into his desireglazed eyes, “this is highly inappropriate.”
“Dear lord, woman, I’m so turned on right now. You can drop the act and get naked immediately.”
She grinned and kissed him. “You always say exactly what I want to hear.”
“You’re kidding, right?”