The Predicament Read online

  “Oh yeah.” He dipped his head to capture her lips with his. The kiss sent a tingling from her head straight between her legs. He had always been able to make her weak in the knees with just a kiss, and after all their years together, he still had the gift.

  When he finally broke the kiss, both of their chests rose and fell in harsh pants. “So you’re up for a head examination, Dr. Rossi?”

  “Mmm, hmm.”

  Casey slid one of her hands down Nate’s chest past his belt to cup his growing erection. “I think this head needs my immediate attention. Don’t you?”

  “I’d like that very much, Nurse Casey.” Shooting her a sexy grin, he added, “I leave myself in your capable hands.”

  While she kept stroking him over his slacks, she used her free hand to unbutton his shirt. Once she had it open, Nate helped her by sliding it off his shoulders and letting it drop to the floor. She then turned her attention to freeing his cock that was straining against his zipper.

  After sliding his pants and underwear over his hips and down his thighs, Casey couldn’t help standing back and admiring Nate’s body. He kept himself in fabulous shape. She traced his washboard abs with her fingers, causing them to tighten at her touch.

  “Your examination methods could use some work, Nurse Casey.”

  Tilting her head at him, she questioned, “You don’t like the care I’m giving you.”

  He smiled. “That’s just it. You’re killing me with the teasing.”

  “By all means, please tell me how to do my job. I want to take care of you,” she urged. It was more of a challenge to him since he usually wasn’t the dirty talker in the bedroom—that was usually her job.

  “I want—no I need you to put your hands and mouth here.” He brought her hand back to his dick, which throbbed under her fingertips.

  “I’m so sorry. Let me take care of that for you right away.” She guided him over to the bed before placing both hands on his shoulders and playfully shoving him back to where he fell down onto the mattress. His hooded eyes stayed on hers as he pushed himself up in the bed, giving her the room to kneel over him.

  While he might’ve given her all the room she needed, the fabric of her nurse’s outfit didn’t. It took two tries before she was finally able to get up on the bed. Cursing inwardly, she swore she would burn it the minute she got free.

  Bending down, she brought her lips to his. When Nate widened his mouth, she darted her tongue inside, dancing hers along with his. Knowing he was dying of anticipation and probably a case of blue balls, she decided to prolong his agony a little. After all, delayed gratification usually made the most mind blowing orgasms, and she wanted more than anything to give him that.

  She started kissing a trail over the stubble on his chin, down his neck across his bobbing Adam’s apple to his chest. While some women hated chest hair and would have encouraged Nate to wax, she happened to rather like the dark dusting across his chest and stomach. Of course, she had to draw the line with back hair, which a lot of the Italian men in his family had.

  When his erection bucked against her stomach, she teasingly rubbed against it, giving him a little friction. “I think I’m going to have to report you to the charge nurse,” he rasped.

  Casey grinned as she flicked her tongue across Nate’s pebbling nipple. When she drew back, she blew air across it, causing Nate to suck in a harsh breath. “At least I’m not making you beg.” She cocked her brows at him. “Yet.”

  “I’ll make sure to remember this when it’s my time to play doctor.”

  His words coupled with the dark look glittering in his eyes sent a shiver down her spine and a shot of heat between her legs. Wanting to get to that moment, she decided it was time to get down to business. When she took him into her hand, he groaned and arched his hips off the bed.

  After taking him deep inside her mouth, she bobbed her head up and down, alternating between fast and slow. Call her crazy, but she was one of those strange women who actually liked giving blowjobs. She wasn’t necessarily someone who thought it was better to give than receive, but she loved nothing more to have Nate groaning and writhing with the pleasure she was giving him.

  With her nurse’s uniform starting to cut off the circulation around her middle, she was forced to momentarily let Nate’s cock fall free from her mouth as she shifted from sitting on her knees to lying down beside him.

  Closing her eyes, she lay her cheek against Nate’s thigh, which still gave her easy access to stroke and lick him. She found the position a lot more comfortable than she had imagined. It was downright cozy. Why hadn’t she thought of doing him like this other times? Before she realized it, her hand began to slide slower and slower on his shaft.

  “Casey?”

  “Hmm, what?” she murmured drowsily.

  “Um…I think you fell asleep.”

  “Huh?” What the hell was he talking about? Of course, she had fallen asleep. I mean, they were in bed after all. Her eyelids flicked open to take in her surroundings. To her surprise, she not only found herself eyelevel with Nate’s dick, but she had it in her hand.

  Her gaze left Nate’s deflated erection to stare up at him. Propped up on his elbows, he wore an expression of amused concern. “You just fell asleep in the middle of giving me head,” he replied.

  Holy shit. She had seriously just dozed off…with Nate’s dick in her hand. How the hell was that even physically possible? Maybe she had passed out…maybe she’d had a stroke or something while she was stroking him. I mean, she couldn’t possibly have checked out voluntarily in the middle of a sex act.

  A fiery mortification burned its way over her body causing her skin to feel inflamed and not in the good, erotic way. Her lungs screamed for the air that she couldn’t seem to bring into them while her stomach lurched and churned.

  “Babe?” Nate questioned. He rose up to a sitting position and reached for her.

  The moment he touched her, she scuttled away from him so fast that she ended up falling off the end of the bed. “Ow!” she cried as her ass smacked against the hardwood. Of course she had to fall off the end and not the side where the ton of throw pillows would have been to cushion her.

  “Jesus, are you all right?”

  When she stared up into Nate’s concerned face, her already overwrought emotions went even more haywire. For a second, she wished he was mad or frustrated at her for what had happened. But considering the goodhearted guy Nate was, he was worried about her feelings…and her soon-to-be bruised ass.

  “I have to get out of here,” she blurted as she lunged to her feet.

  “Casey, it’s okay.”

  “No. No, it isn’t.”

  “But I’m not mad. I swear,” he said.

  Sprinting into the bathroom, she eyed the pile of clothes she had shed a half an hour ago. The tight as hell nurse’s costume would take too long to wrangle out of, and she needed to be out of the bedroom and house. Like five minutes ago.

  She snatched her terry cloth robe off the hook and jerked it on. As she was frantically tying the belt, Nate appeared in the doorway. “Babe, let’s talk about this.”

  She couldn’t bear to look at him. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. Not right now.”

  After she blew past him and started out of the bedroom, he called in surprise, “You’re not leaving, are you?”

  “I just need some time to myself,” she replied in a low-tone as she went past Olivia’s closed door.

  “Where the hell are you going to go at this hour?”

  “I don’t know.”

  It wasn’t a second before Nate was at her side. He tugged gently on her arm. “Casey, I don’t want you driving when you’re upset like this.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “Case—”

  When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she whirled around and held up her hand. “Please, Nate.”

  The pained expression he wore told her how much he wanted to argue with her, but instead, he clamped his lips together. Crossin
g his arms over his chest, he said, “Fine. Just promise you’ll be careful.”

  “I will.”

  She didn’t have to tell him to take care of Olivia—that was a given. Instead, she grabbed her keys and hurried into the garage.

  She had told Nate she didn’t know where she was going, but that wasn’t the truth. There was only one place—one person—that could make her feel even the slightest bit better at the moment. She had to see Emma.

  After careening into the familiar driveway on two wheels, Casey screeched her SUV to a halt just before dinging the garage door. Not even bothering with her phone or purse, she flung open the car door and sprinted up the flower-lined front walk. She gathered up the hem of her bathrobe to pound up the porch steps.

  Just as she reached for the doorbell, she quickly recoiled her hand. Considering how late it was, she didn’t dare ring it for fear of waking Noah and Caroline. Instead, she started banging out a steady rhythm like Morse code on the wood. It took a few moments before the porch light flicked on, and the door swung open.

  Standing before her with a bewildered expression etched on his handsome face was Aidan Fitzgerald. Barefoot and shirtless, he sported a pair of orange and green checked boxers—a subtle nod to his Irish heritage. In one hand was a longneck Corona and in the other was a baby monitor.

  His blue eyes widened as he took in her disheveled appearance. When he opened his mouth, she held up a hand. “Out of my way, douchenozzle. I need to talk to Em.”

  Aidan didn’t protest as she blew past him through the front door. Nor did he give her any grief about calling him “douchenozzle”. While she had first used it as a derogatory term against him, it was now a more endearing nickname between the two.

  Craning her neck down the hall, Casey questioned, “Em?”

  “She’s not here.”

  Casey whirled around. Placing her hands on her hips, she demanded, “Where the hell is she?”

  “Down the street at Becky’s for Book Club.”

  Casey grimaced. In her turmoil, she had completely forgotten that Wednesday night was Book Club. More accurately it was “a kid free night hanging out with the girls while the wine freely flowed”. Casey would have been there herself if not for Nate’s work schedule.

  At the prospect of not getting to unload her traumatic troubles on her bestie, Casey stomped her house-shoed foot like a petulant toddler. “Motherfuckingshitdamnhell!” she screeched.

  Aidan snorted in amusement at her cursing. After crossing his arms over his chest, he asked, “What could have possibly happened that warranted a ‘motherfuckingshitdamnhell’ situation?”

  Gazing into his amused blue eyes, Casey did something she rarely, if ever did—she burst into tears.

  Through her blurry vision, she almost laughed at the look of horror that stretched across Aidan’s face. As he shifted on his feet, it looked like he was debating tearing out of room and sprinting down the street for Emma. That was something the Old Aidan from three years ago would have done—the one who broke out in a nervous sweat at the sight of any expression of female emotion. But thankfully, Emma had changed all that.

  The New Aidan gave her the sweetest, sympathetic look. “Oh hell, Case, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have teased you. It’s obvious from your...” He motioned at her attire. “look that something is wrong.”

  “No. It’s okay,” she reassured, as she swiped the mascara stained tears from her cheeks.

  Placing a hand on her back, Aidan instructed, “Come over here and sit down.” With expert precision, he guided her through the maze of baby paraphernalia littering the living room floor.

  When Casey sank down onto the couch, her ass emitted a high pitched squeak. She quickly reached under her to jerk out a fluffy pink toy. A smile played at her lips because her Olivia had one just like it. In spite of it being annoying as hell, it was the four month old’s favorite.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Aidan asked, as he sat down beside her.

  Groaning, Casey tossed the bunny to the side. “It’s too mortifying.”

  Aidan nudged her knee. “Come on. Nothing can be that bad.”

  Oh fuck yes it can. Staring down at her hands, Casey decided to bite the bullet and tell Aidan the truth. As the flashback played in her mind, she pinched her eyes shut. “I kinda dozed off…” She swallowed hard. For a moment, she felt as bashful as Emma was when it came to talking about sex. “I dozed off for just a second while doing a…job.”

  When she dared to look at Aidan, his blond brows were scrunched in confusion. “You fell asleep at work?”

  Rolling her eyes, Casey then grunted in frustration. “No. Not at work.”

  “Then what—”

  “I fell asleep while blowing Nate, okay!” she blurted.

  Her words had the same effect on Aidan as if she had slapped him. He shook his head back and forth like he was trying to wake himself out of a daze. For the next few seconds, he just stared ahead without blinking.

  Throwing up her hands, Casey demanded, “Well say something, dammit!”

  “Motherfuckingshitdamnhell,” Aidan muttered.

  “Thanks for making me feel so much better,” she snapped.

  “I’m sorry. It’s just…wow.”

  Rubbing her fingers along her temple, she said, “Once again, you’re not helping.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m really sorry. It’s just it’s one thing for you to come barreling in here, looking like someone was killed or something, and then you drop that kinda bomb on me…It’s going to take me a little while to recover.”

  “Well, I’m sorry if my threshold for patience and understanding is a little thin. Catch me on a day when I haven’t just fallen asleep giving oral sex.”

  Aidan made a strangled noise. When he recovered, he questioned, “I’m still not completely grasping how that is even possible?”

  A frustrated growl escaped Casey’s lips. “I don’t know exactly. It just is.”

  “You didn’t like…” Aidan swallowed hard and shifted on the couch. “Bite him. Did you?”

  Casey rolled her eyes. Leave it to a man to be only concerned with the all mighty dick in the story. “The last thing I want to do right now in my frame of mind is get technical with you, but if you must know, Nate and his dick are unscathed. I didn’t have him in my mouth when I dozed off.”

  Aidan exhaled what could only be described as a sigh of relief. When she glared at him, he held up his hands. “Sorry. I needed to put that worry to rest.”

  “Ugh, you men and your precious Penis Brotherhood.”

  Leaning forward on the couch, Aidan picked up his phone. “Don’t you dare call Nate and let him know where I am!”

  “I’m not. I’m texting Emma to come home. I’m am so not the person for this situation.”

  Casey shook her head. “I don’t want to interrupt book club.”

  Aidan snorted. “Like I don’t realize there’s no real reading involved, and it’s a just a means for her to have a kid free night with the girls.”

  Widening her eyes, Casey said, “You know?”

  “Yeah, I know. I just play dumb to save face. As much as she does for me and the kids, she deserves three hours to herself.”

  “That’s pretty damn considerate of you, Douchenozzle,” Casey said.

  “I have my moments.” Nudging her knee again, he said, “So let me have a moment to play the sensitive, caring guy friend. Tell me exactly what happened.”

  After studying the earnest expression on Aidan’s face, Casey decided she might as well open up. Once she had drawn in a ragged breath, she purged herself of the story from start to finish. She didn’t look at Aidan until she was done. She hadn’t wanted whatever facial reactions he had to interrupt her train of thought.

  When she finally dared herself to tear her gaze away from wringing her hands, she found him to be staring earnestly at her with a concerned, contemplative look on his face. Thankfully, he didn’t appear to be feeling his original shock and horror.
r />   Breaking the silence between them, she said, “So tonight was supposed to be perfect—I was supposed to get my hot sex life back. Instead, I fell asleep in the middle of giving oral sex, threw a psycho fit, and ran out on my poor husband.”

  “I can see why you had the reaction you did.”

  “You can?”

  Aidan nodded. “Forgive me for pointing out the obvious, but you just had a baby four months ago. All aspects of your life are turned upside down, especially your sex life. Change is hard regardless the circumstances, but then when you throw in all the post-pregnancy hormones, it makes for an emotional shit-storm.”

  Casey blinked a few times as she took in his words. Either she was farther gone mentally than she thought, or Aidan was making good sense. “Okay, I gotta be honest and say that you’re slightly wigging me out with the words of wisdom. It’s not like you…well, maybe it’s not like the old you.”

  Aidan’s bare chest rose and fell with a chuckle. “Just calling it as I see it…and felt it.”

  “I didn’t realize you went through anything like that.”

  With a wry smile, Aidan said, “Yeah, I’m sure it’s hard to imagine me ever being that deep.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” she argued.

  “I know. I’m just teasing you.”

  “So what happened with you?”

  Aidan drowned the last of his beer. “Well, obviously I didn’t have the hormones, but Noah’s birth was a real transition for me. Sure, I was so fucking happy to have him and to have Emma, but in the course of a few months, my life was completely unrecognizable. And that wasn’t my previous wild and crazy life—that was just the life I built with Emma as husband and wife. Then there were three of us—one being completely dependent on us for survival. I was scared out of my fucking mind that I wasn’t going to be the father that he needed—that after screwing up before, I would screw up again.”

  “How did you get through it?”

  “By talking to Pop and some of my brothers-in-law—you know, people who had fought their way through the trenches of fatherhood before.”

  “I see.”