Nicole rolled her eyes but a smile escaped anyway.
Honey, listen. Im making pot roast on Sunday. Your father called your sisters and everyone is coming-the husbands, the kids, everyone.
Oh, good God. Nicole had three sisters, each of whom had a husband, the requisite minivan, the house in the burbs and at least two kids. The thought of that entire noisy, happy bunch all in one place made Nicole suddenly need another hamburger.
So, honey, you have to come. Well expect you by four, and let me warn you, if you dont show, Illwell, Ill call you every single day for a week.
As Nicoles mother was quite possibly the bossiest, nosiest, most meddling, warm, loving person on the planet, Nicole believed her.
But everyone under one roof? Laughing, talking, happily arguing sisters, sticky toddlers, drooling babies, stinky diapers She felt a headache coming on already. She loved her family, she did, but sometimes she felt as if she was an alien, plopped down in the middle of a planet where she didnt belong. They were all sonormal. Something shed never been. Despite her genius IQ, she couldnt deal with people outside of medicine. It was so difficult for her to get out of her own head, she rarely knew what to say to people and some of the basic niceties escaped her. That her family loved her anyway, even though she was intensely introverted, was a strange and odd miracle she tried not to think about too often.
So, well see you Sunday, her mom said as if itd been decided. Itll be fun to be all together.
Fun wasnt quite the word Nicole would have come up with. Maybe shed have work. Yeah, that was it, she could add a shift and-
Love you, baby.
Ah, hell. Sunday it was.
Still naked, she plopped on the bed. It only took two pillows over her head and approximately twenty seconds for sleep to conquer her the same way shed conquered her world.
She dreamed. She would have thought shed be haunted by the blood of her second surgery that day. A patient had burst an artery and by the time shed gotten everything under control shed been standing in a sea of red.
But blessedly shed left that behind at the hospital. Instead, in dreamland, she was two years old again, and memorizing the book of presidents her parents had kept on the coffee table. For fun, shed recite them backwards to her hotshot, know-it-all sisters Annie and Emma.
It had been their first inkling that Nicole was going to be different.
The dream shifted and she was six, helping Emma with her seventh-grade algebra.
At twelve, shed helped Annie with her PSAT testing. A genius, were the whispers around her. Off-the-scale IQ, they said. A prodigy.
At twelve, Nicole should have been into lip gloss, pop bands and boys. Instead shed been fascinated by science. She operated on frogs. She dissected bugs.
Yet kids her own age remained a mystery to her, a complete mystery.
And now that she was grown up, she was still different. She should have learned to deal with others by now. Learned to be a social creature, well rounded and defined.
But the reality was that shed rarely dated and had no idea how to do anything but heal. It was what she was. Who she was. A doctor.
Nothing else.
So why did the next dream involve one tall, dark and sexy Irish architect with a killer smile and eyes that made her yearn for something completely out of her reach?
Turning over, she sank back into an exhausted and dreamless slumber.
WAKE UP, Nicole, youre scaring me.
Nicole snuggled more deeply beneath her covers. Go away, Mom, I dont have school today.
I had better not look anything like a woman old enough to be your mother.
Nicole jerked her eyes open, heart pounding. Okay, good, she was home. The sun was shining again, how annoying.
And Taylor sat on her bed, looking as stunningly beautiful and elegant as ever.
With a groan, Nicole shut her eyes again. I didnt help you with the engagement party plans, right?
No, but I forgive you because youre going to reschedule. I brought you breakfast.
Nicole smelled something delicious. She cracked open an eye and saw a tray filled with mouthwatering food.
I should tell you-as if you couldnt guess-I didnt cook this. Suzannes catering a big brunch this morning and made this up for us. You frightened the hell out of me, not answering your door. You never even heard me calling for you like a banshee, and we all know I dont like to sound like a banshee. Who sleeps like that?
Nicole blinked. Well
Youve overworked yourself again, havent you? Nicole, honey, thats just plain bad for you.
Nicole closed her eyes, rendered stupid by this display of concern. Maybe if she was really still, Taylor would vanish. A figment of her imagination.
Not much of a morning person, came an amused male voice from the other side of the room.
If Nicole had thought her heart had raced at the sight of Taylor in her bedroom, it went off the scale now. Even after their very brief encounter, she recognized that slightly Irish voice, she recognized it immediately. And if it brought a series of shivers down her spine that she couldnt attribute to a morning chill, she could shove the reaction aside in favor of temper. What the hell-
Now before you get all pissy at me Taylor put a hand over Nicoles chest, pushing her back. Let me explain.
Nicole could take Taylor down any day of the week. Her workouts, when she could fit them in, guaranteed that.
The only exercise Taylor ever did was lifting and setting down her hairbrush. Oh, and her lipstick.
No, what held Nicole back from wrapping her fingers around Taylors neck was one tiny little detail.
She slept in the nude.
Which meant that in order to kick Taylors ass, shed have to get out of bed.
Naked.
She slept in the nude.
Which meant that in order to kick Taylors ass, shed have to get out of bed.
Naked.
Why is he in here? she settled for asking between her teeth while clutching the sheet to her chest.
From his perch holding up her wall, Tys gaze zoomed in on her-a very blue gaze that was lit with amusement, curiosity and plenty more-and for just a flash in time, she lost her train of thought.
Taylor craned her neck and looked up at the tall, dark, ridiculously gorgeous man. Youve met?
You could say that, Nicole said.
Oh, good, because Im thinking of hiring him to fix up the building, which apparently is about to fall off its axis. Not, she added quickly, that you need to worry about it, Im getting it all fixed pronto.
Taylor. Nicole rubbed her temples. The point. Get to the point. Why is he here? Specifically, in my bedroom.
Well, I was standing there in the hallway yelling for you, and beginning to freak out when you didnt answer, when he offered to break in since I didnt have my keys on me. Hes not only an excellent architect, hes quite the handyman.
Let me guess, Nicole said dryly, watching Ty smile at her from behind Taylors back. He got in with a credit card?
Why, yes. A handy little trick, dont you think?
Hmm. Nicole narrowed her eyes at the ease he displayed standing there in her bedroom. As if he belonged.
But no one, especially a man, belonged in her bedroom, no matter how good he looked in a light-blue chambray shirt shoved up past his forearms, and a pair of jeans that made her hormones stand up and quiver. Is the credit card trick something you picked up in Ireland? she asked.
Why ever would you think that? he asked innocently.
As if hed ever been innocent. Because I hear it in your voice.
Thats the English, luv, he said, pushing lazily away from the wall, coming close enough to peruse the tray from Suzanne. Then, picking up a piece of toast, his gaze tracked over Nicole from head to toe, and back again, making every single atom in her body leap to attention. Sinking his teeth into the bread, he chewed a moment, then licked the butter off his finger with a sucking sound that caused an answering tug in Nicoles nipples for some annoying reason. Went there for a while, he said.
Thought it was Scotland.
Leaning in, he put the toast to her lips, pressing until she had no choice but to open and take a bite. There, too, he said lightly, making her take yet another bite, his thumb stroking across her bottom lip at a dab of misplaced butter. And also Australia, if youre interested in keeping track.
She felt the touch all the way to her toes and back up, and at all sorts of other interesting spots along the way. It didnt help that her eyes were level with a most erotic spot on his body-the juncture between his thighs-and the intriguing bulge there.
I had to make sure you were okay, Taylor said, picking up a piece of peach from the tray. Im sorry for the invasion, but youve done nothing but work since you moved in here, and you sleep like the dead.
Ty let out another innocent smile. And you talk to yourself while doing it.
Nicole opened her mouth, but Taylor stuffed the peach into it. At the explosion of sweet nectar in her mouth, she sputtered.
That was a piece of fruit, Taylor said. I realize you might not recognize it, given that its actually one of the important food groups and not purchased from a drive-through.
Taylor-
Youre going to kill yourself this way, Taylor said softly, her eyes showing their worry. Its not right. Promise me youll eat all of this mountain of food. The eggs, the sausage, the toast, the fruit, everything.
Nicole sighed. I never had a landlord care what I put inside my body before.
Taylor went still, then brushed the crumbs off her hands. Is that all I am?
Nicole looked into Taylors eyes, saw the hurt added to the worry, and flopped back to stare up at the ceiling. This is why I dont socialize.
Taylor stood a little stiffly, when the elegant Taylor was never stiff. Im sorry. Ill go. Just make sure Suzanne gets her tray back-
Nicole reached out and grabbed her wrist. LookIm the sorry one.
No need.
Nicole sighed at the cool hurt lingering in Taylors face and tugged on her wrist until she sat back at her side. Im an idiot, all right? An idiot who doesnt know how tohave friends.
So we are friends?
You know we are. Unless you shove any more fruit down my throat.
In that case Taylor spread her silk skirt carefully and made herself comfortable on the bed before reaching for a piece of toast. Theres enough here to feed an army. Ty, some sausage? Dont be shy, hon, Suzanne is so nervous about her upcoming nuptials that shes overcooking to compensate.