Chapter One
“Hello, Dominique,” drawled Mr. Tall, Dark and Devoid of Name Tag. “Remember me?”
Nikky’s heart skipped a beat as she drank him in—over six feet tall, broad shoulders, lean waist and a black silk shirt that highlighted perfectly his chiseled features and laser blue eyes.
Good grief, had this guy been one of her classmates? He made Hugh Jackman look like Larry the Cable Guy. She must have been even more out of it in her teen years than she remembered.
“I’m so sorry…” Nikky was forced to admit defeat. “Ten years out of high school and I guess I’m still the same old airhead.”
He shook his head. “You’re anything but an airhead. Some days I can barely recognize myself. How about a clue? The sum of the squares of two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the—”
Nikky threw herself into his arms before he could finish reciting the Pythagorean theorem . “Ian! Ian the geek!”
“The one and only,” he chuckled as he held her tightly against his muscular chest. The embrace caught her off guard. It was the kind of contact that made a woman feel safe, protected…and desired.
Nikky broke away, shocked at her body’s fierce response—the quickening heartbeat, the tightening of her nipples and the distinct heat between her thighs. It had been ages since she had warmed up so quickly to a guy, let alone an old buddy whom she had never thought of in a romantic way.
“It’s so good to see you,” she said, taking a breath to clear her head. “Please don’t take any offense over the geek remark, it just popped out.”
His smile was deep, rich and downright intoxicating. “You could never offend me, Dominique, even if you tried.”
She wasn’t sure what he meant. She was going to ask but instead she said, “Where have you been? You dropped off the face of the earth. I tried to get hold of you after graduation.”
“It’s a long story. Can you forgive me for not keeping up our relationship?”
“Only if you tell me your beauty secrets,” she quipped. “Here the rest of us are going to pot and you look like you discovered the Fountain of Youth.”
Scratch that. Ian Hamilton looked as if he had been dipped into a fountain of hotness. Back in high school he had been lanky, awkward, the butt of everyone’s jokes. Now he would put any male model to shame.
How had he done it? He had earned those muscles with hard work, not hours in the gym—she could sense it. There was a maturity in his face and the deep etchings of pain.
“You haven’t gone to pot, Dominique. You are more beautiful than ever. You still blow away every other woman in the room.”
Nikky blushed, the glow spreading from her cheeks down to her exposed cleavage. Darn Kaity for insisting they wear these hot little party dresses they had found in the city last week. Hadn’t they spent enough time in high school playing on their looks?
“I think maybe you need your old glasses back, Ian.”
He smiled wryly. “What I need is to buy you a drink.”
Next thing she knew her old pal and tutor was leading her to the cash bar of the Omicron Hotel banquet room their class had rented for its reunion.
Ian ordered a white wine for her and scotch on the rocks for himself. They settled at a small table in the corner. Nikky was glad for the relative concealment. So far she had managed to avoid the eagle eyes of her best friend the perpetual busybody Kaitlyn Green and she intended to keep it that way.
The last she had seen, Kaity was pretending to be engrossed in Veronica Miles’ digital puppy pictures—somewhere in the neighborhood of a billion pixels wasted on a miniature something or other Veronica had bought to celebrate her second divorce, or was it her third?
Nikki had excused herself, claiming she needed to call her plant sitter and check on her philodendrons. Kaity had stayed put, no doubt biding her time to pick up some fresh gossip from Veronica.
“So tell me what you’ve been doing with
“Hello, Dominique,” drawled Mr. Tall, Dark and Devoid of Name Tag. “Remember me?”
Nikky’s heart skipped a beat as she drank him in—over six feet tall, broad shoulders, lean waist and a black silk shirt that highlighted perfectly his chiseled features and laser blue eyes.
Good grief, had this guy been one of her classmates? He made Hugh Jackman look like Larry the Cable Guy. She must have been even more out of it in her teen years than she remembered.
“I’m so sorry…” Nikky was forced to admit defeat. “Ten years out of high school and I guess I’m still the same old airhead.”
He shook his head. “You’re anything but an airhead. Some days I can barely recognize myself. How about a clue? The sum of the squares of two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the—”
Nikky threw herself into his arms before he could finish reciting the Pythagorean theorem . “Ian! Ian the geek!”
“The one and only,” he chuckled as he held her tightly against his muscular chest. The embrace caught her off guard. It was the kind of contact that made a woman feel safe, protected…and desired.
Nikky broke away, shocked at her body’s fierce response—the quickening heartbeat, the tightening of her nipples and the distinct heat between her thighs. It had been ages since she had warmed up so quickly to a guy, let alone an old buddy whom she had never thought of in a romantic way.
“It’s so good to see you,” she said, taking a breath to clear her head. “Please don’t take any offense over the geek remark, it just popped out.”
His smile was deep, rich and downright intoxicating. “You could never offend me, Dominique, even if you tried.”
She wasn’t sure what he meant. She was going to ask but instead she said, “Where have you been? You dropped off the face of the earth. I tried to get hold of you after graduation.”
“It’s a long story. Can you forgive me for not keeping up our relationship?”
“Only if you tell me your beauty secrets,” she quipped. “Here the rest of us are going to pot and you look like you discovered the Fountain of Youth.”
Scratch that. Ian Hamilton looked as if he had been dipped into a fountain of hotness. Back in high school he had been lanky, awkward, the butt of everyone’s jokes. Now he would put any male model to shame.
How had he done it? He had earned those muscles with hard work, not hours in the gym—she could sense it. There was a maturity in his face and the deep etchings of pain.
“You haven’t gone to pot, Dominique. You are more beautiful than ever. You still blow away every other woman in the room.”
Nikky blushed, the glow spreading from her cheeks down to her exposed cleavage. Darn Kaity for insisting they wear these hot little party dresses they had found in the city last week. Hadn’t they spent enough time in high school playing on their looks?
“I think maybe you need your old glasses back, Ian.”
He smiled wryly. “What I need is to buy you a drink.”
Next thing she knew her old pal and tutor was leading her to the cash bar of the Omicron Hotel banquet room their class had rented for its reunion.
Ian ordered a white wine for her and scotch on the rocks for himself. They settled at a small table in the corner. Nikky was glad for the relative concealment. So far she had managed to avoid the eagle eyes of her best friend the perpetual busybody Kaitlyn Green and she intended to keep it that way.
The last she had seen, Kaity was pretending to be engrossed in Veronica Miles’ digital puppy pictures—somewhere in the neighborhood of a billion pixels wasted on a miniature something or other Veronica had bought to celebrate her second divorce, or was it her third?
Nikki had excused herself, claiming she needed to call her plant sitter and check on her philodendrons. Kaity had stayed put, no doubt biding her time to pick up some fresh gossip from Veronica.
“So tell me what you’ve been doing with
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