Off Limits

chapter 14



Nix



I can't stand it anymore. I'm going to go check on Emily.

This week I've tried my damnedest to distance myself from her and I've done a good job of it. But I'm not liking it. And just like everything else in this world, that pisses me off.

I don't like having this unnatural attraction to her. And trust me, it's unnatural for Nix Caldwell to have any sort of passing interest in a female other than trying to get in her pants.

But I'm going to say it, and I'm going to kick myself for saying it. Emily is different.

She is.

I find her utterly fascinating and for a variety of reasons. First, she's apparently done a complete overhaul of her persona and character, because she deemed herself to not be a very nice person not all that long ago. I don't think many people ever go through life having that sort of epiphany and I'm strangely attracted to that.

Second, she is fierce. She's stood up to me, she's stood up to her parents, she's stood up to a guy that was probably intent on raping her, and she stood up to her psycho, stalker ex-boyfriend. She's tough as nails and I like that a lot.

Third, and most importantly, she seems to get me. I don't know the how's or the why's, but I have watched her handle me like a pro. She has found some secret to unlocking my defenses, yet she knows exactly when I've had enough. That, in and of itself, makes me start to trust her just a tiny, tiny bit. I feel like I could open up to her, but when I've had enough, she will back off. My dad is really good at that, too. Linc, not so much, but he's just being a pestering younger brother half the time, so I'll cut him some slack.

I wash my hands in the shop sink and dry them off. I have a ton of other stuff to do, but like I said...I can't stand it anymore and so I'm lifting my self-imposed Emily Exile.

As soon as I enter the house, I hear her singing. And while I've recently come to admire many of Emily's qualities...let's just say singing will never be one of them. I smile to myself as I picture her with earbuds in her ears, bopping to some tune that only she can hear.

As I walk into the living room, I'm momentarily stunned to find she's not singing to any music.

Nope. No earbuds in her ears.

She's just belting out a song on her own. No wonder why she's not in tune.

I have to almost bite into my tongue not to laugh out loud at her. She's singing the theme song from True Blood, and trying to replicate the low, low, baritone of Jace Everett. She's perched on the top rung of the ladder I left out for her. She's got a paintbrush in her right hand and she's balancing herself with her left hand on the ceiling. She's shaking her ass to the song she's singing...badly...



When you came in the air went out.

And every shadow filled up with doubt.

I don't know who you think you are,

But before the night is through,

I wanna do bad things with you.



I watch mesmerized as she belts at the top of her lungs, her gorgeous hips gyrating back and forth. Surprisingly, her paint line is super straight. She's clearly a multi-tasker.

And while her tune is off and she doesn't carry Louisiana hillbilly off very well, the words to the song and just imagining she is singing those words to me sends a wave of hot longing straight below my belt. I walk quietly up behind her and stand at the base of the ladder, looking up.



I don't know what you've done to me,

But I know this much is true.

I wanna do bad things with you.

I wanna do real bad things with you.



I clear my throat. "Who do you want to do bad things with?"

Emily shrieks and turns around so fast, her flip flop gets stuck in the ladder rung and she pitches sideways. The brush flips out of her hand and hits me on the side of my face with a wet slap, before grazing down my neck and bouncing off my shoulder. I reach out instinctively as she falls and she slams into my chest.

I had a brief moment of panic—just a mere second—when she started to fall. Then when I caught her in my arms, panic turned into something hot and carnal.

She comes to rest perfectly with her chest mashed to mine, her arms draped over my shoulders. We came perilously close to banging heads, but I don't even consider that. Instead, I consider the fact that I can feel her heartbeat slamming from her chest into mine...and the fact that her lips are mere inches away.

My arms wrap tight around her waist and although propriety would dictate I should lower her immediately to the floor, I say to myself, F*ck Propriety!

I'm staring straight into her eyes and they are warm and languid. I lower my gaze and her lips are slightly parted, and one soft pant comes out. Her legs are hanging down against my crotch and I know she can feel the erection I started sporting the minute I really paid attention to her lyrics.

Neither one of us moves, and I am just considering if I should kiss her or let her slide down, when she does the unbelievable and lowers her mouth to mine.

I didn't expect it. I had no clue Emily even felt the slightest attraction to me. But the minute her lips feather over mine, I know without a doubt she was singing those lyrics with me in mind.

I want to see how far she takes this, because this is new territory for me. If a woman laid her mouth against mine, with the same look that Emily is giving me right now, she'd be in my bed for the rest of the night. But I don't want to make that assumption about her.

I want it to be true, but I don't want to assume.

Emily pushes a little harder against my mouth and I let my lips part. I have blood rushing to my head, and more blood rushing to my other head.

When she slips her tongue into my mouth, it's all over for me. With one hand firmly around her waist to hold her body against mine, I bring the other one up to grab her hair. I fist a good chuck of it right near the nape of her neck and tilt her head to the side with a slight tug. It opens her mouth further and I plunge back.

The contact is explosive. I groan at the same time she lets out a feminine whimper. Her arms curve all the way around the back of my head and she grips my hair.

Really hard.

Then she uses her arms for leverage to pull her body up, wrapping her legs around my waist, crossing her feet behind my back. She slides down a little and it puts her softness in direct, molten contact with my hardness. I flip our bodies around and push her up against the freshly painted wall. I can feel the wetness against my arms that are probably crushing her right now.

The kiss becomes deeper, hotter, wetter. It goes on for an eternity, yet not long enough. I flex my hips against her, pushing her back into the wall. She rubs herself against me and although she doesn't break the kiss, she somehow manages to push the words, "Oh God" into my mouth.

When I woke up this morning, I never thought in a million years that I would be on the verge of pulling Emily's pants down in the middle of my newly painted living room with the idea in mind of plunging mindlessly into her.

Over and over again.

And now that I'm on the verge of doing that, a small kernel of doubt starts to take hold.

I'm holding Emily Burnham in my arms. Congressman Alex Burnham's daughter is molded to my erection. Insanely wealthy and formerly bratty Emily is rubbing herself all over me.

And while it feels so right...so very, very right, I'm aware that too much of this could be wrong. I'm sure Emily has some wealthy, educated stud in her future that she will marry and with which she will have two point three little, rich babies. I don't have anything in my future except offering her an orgasm...or two...or three.

For tonight.

Because let's face it...I don't do relationships and Emily is built for them. She's too sweet not to be.

I'm too rotten.

My thoughts sound rational but do absolutely nothing to cool the raging lust I'm feeling, so it is with great difficulty I make myself tear my lips from hers and I drop her like a sack of hot potatoes. Luckily, the wall is there to support her because I immediately take one step backward to get some distance. Emily puts her arms back against the wall for support, before sagging completely against it. She's going to be covered in paint when she walks out of here.

Both of us are standing there, our chests heaving with desire and need. We are staring wide-eyed at one another...disbelief on her face...resolve on mine.

"This can't happen, Emily."

The disbelief on her face pours through into her voice. "Why?"

Why indeed?

All of those reasons that were sparking through my brain are lost. I know I had sound logic not just ten seconds ago, but I can't grasp it right now.

"Because...we're not...compatible."

She stuns me when she laughs, genuine delight showing in her eyes. "Oh, we're compatible. Your working parts and mine were in perfect alignment just a few seconds ago."

Damn, that is hot!

She's clearly saying that wasn't just a kiss. She's saying she was imagining those multiple orgasms just the way I was. I almost lunge at her to pull her back in my arms, but I have a shocking moment of clarity.

I shake my head at her. "Our parts are definitely compatible, Em. But that's all it would be. It would never be anything but a f*ck."

I expect those words to hurt her...to enrage her...to make her realize that Nix Caldwell is the world's biggest a*shole. I hope those words cause her to go running from my house in tears.

Instead, she says, "So?"

Well, shit. I'm kind of incensed—on her behalf—since she's clearly not smart enough to be. "So? Do you understand what I'm saying?"

She looks at me like I'm a dumbass. "Yes," she drawls. "You're saying this would just be casual. No-strings sex."

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Why does she sound so damned okay with that concept? This is sweet, Emily Burnham here. The one that wears buttercup, yellow dresses and sleeps with my dog's foot pressed against her nose.

I don't buy it for a second. "Come on, Emily. You're not a casual sex type of person."

Her eyes flare at me hotly. "What makes you think I'm not? I can do casual sex. If I want, I can do lots of casual sex. And it doesn't even have to be with you."

Shit. I've offended her big time and her comment about implying she can do casual sex with other men pisses me off. But I don't backpedal. I'm determined to talk her out of her foolishness. "Get real. You are flowers and romance. I'm down and dirty."

The hot look in her eyes goes nuclear, and my heart skips a beat with wariness. She bends down and picks up the wet, paintbrush off the floor and takes a step toward me. She slaps it against my chest and I feel little paint splatters against my neck. My hands reach up automatically to grab the brush as she releases it. "You don't know shit about me, Caldwell. I'm done for the day. Clean up your own crap and I'll see you on Monday."

She stomps around me and leaves the living room. Just before she walks out of sight, she turns around and looks at me. Her voice isn't quite as frosty when she says, "You know, Nix. I've made it my mission the last few years to experience as many new things as I can. I bet I can get just as down and dirty as you can. Maybe even more so."

With that, she practically flounces into my kitchen and out of my sight. I hear the back door slam and seconds later, her car pulling out of my driveway.

F*ck. That went well.

I know her last words are going to haunt me for days. And there's not a doubt in my mind her words were calculated on her part to do just that. I've just added deviousness to Emily's list of attributes I'm beginning to admire. Just imagining Emily getting down and dirty with me is going to ensure I stay immersed in a cold shower for the foreseeable future.