Bedroom Business.

Chapter 8A

Jade clutched the blanket tighter and swallowed. When she left home that morning, she'd never have thought that she'd be in this kind of situation. The kind of situation that was making her heart beat fast and furiously like a jackhammer. He was speeding so fast as she studied the strong hands that controlled the wheels. Surely, he wasn't trying to kill them? No, he wouldn't do that. She sat so still in her seat, aware of the tension in the car. As if that wasn't enough, he almost filled the whole car with his dominating presence. Jade could smell his body and the heat radiating from him.

The muscles in his jaw worked, reflecting his anger and his hands gripped the wheel until his knuckles were white. Jade tensed, her spine as straight as a rod. What was he so angry about? The silence in the car was unnerving, but neither attempted to break it.

"Dammit! Will you relax?" he gripped the wheel tighter, his brow taut and rigid. Jade jumped at his harsh tone. "I...I'm perfectly relaxed" she stammered.

"You're as jumpy as a cat," he continued as if she hadn't spoken at all.

Jade snuggled deeper into the seat, as if it could hide her from him. The blankets smelled of him and his scent made her lightheaded. She looked out of the car by her window. It took her a few moments to realize that this wasn't the way to her aunt's house. In fact, he was driving away from it. She wanted to protest, but she couldn't face him or his anger. And she knew he wouldn't hurt her. Nick Colby might be many things, he was arrogant and stubborn, but he wasn't a rapist or a murderer. She sat still and glued her eyes outside, even though it was too dark to see anything, it was safer than the intense gray eyes of the handsome man whom she ached so much to kiss again.

Nick pulled up on the thin white sand of the beach and turned off the ignition. It had stopped raining but it was still a little cold. He hadn't even known he was headed there, but somehow, he found himself on the road to the beach; where he came when he was troubled or worked up.

Oh, worked up he was. He was all worked up by the stubborn redhead beside him. Ever since he'd met her, all he seemed to do was take cold showers. If she knew the images that formed in his head, images of naked sweaty bodies, she'd run a mile from him. Never in his thirty-two years had he been this touchy over a woman. Well it was probably because he hadn't met someone like her before.

"You should stay her the heater will warm you up" he said to her before opening the door and getting out. He pulled off his shoes and threw them back into the car, enjoying the feel of the cold grainy sand on his bare feet. Shoving his hands deep into his pockets, he started walking down the beach. It was empty; well not everybody was crazy enough to leave the comfort of their homes and wander into the cold. She was giving him headaches.

Sure, he was a patient man, but desperate times called for desperate measures. It was a desperate measure he took when he allowed himself to be dragged out by his best friend Jake last night. They'd been surrounded by willing voluptuous blondes; his kind of women. Yet Nick hadn't been able to get the feisty redhead out of his mind. He compared every woman to her; every redhead in the area had made his blood run hot, until they turned. Then Nick would realize that she wasn't Jade. He'd ended up leaving Jake at the bar, and heading home to take yet another cold shower.

Jake already thought he was crazy. Maybe he was right. He certainly wasn't one to refuse a pretty woman. The magazines described him as a playboy bachelor. Moreover, he couldn't deny it since his picture always appeared in different magazines each week with different women on his arm. He was a full-blooded man and he liked women. Heck, he respected them and even had some of them as friends. But he never found himself thinking excessively over one, especially when he should be getting some sleep. He had to do something about Jade. And he had to do it fast.

With a start, he realized that he'd walked farther out than he'd intended to. He turned back and started to walk away from the unusually strong waves when he heard the muffled scream. He stopped, convinced he was hallucinating. Then he heard it again, a little bit farther and fainter this time. Panic hit him hard.

"Jade! Dammit! Jade!" he flung off his suit jacket and waded into the water, shouting her name.

"Nick?" came the soft murmur. He had to strain to pick up where it was coming from.

"Jade!"

"Nick? Oh Nick!"

He never swam faster in his life. His heart beat with panic until he had the frightened weight of the woman in his arms. He moved them back to safety, his heart heaving in relief.

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