Free Stealing the Billionaire's Heart by Melissa Hosack

tersely.
    Nick’s hands began traveling up her
body, his fingers caressing along her skin. She bit back a hiss of pleasure and
managed to reply. “No.”
    “Well, there’s a picture of you and
Mr. Morgan on the front page.”
    “ What ?”
    “It says something about a
shooting, Nixie.” Her mother’s voice was full of concern. “It looks like it was
your house, dear, and…” She paused. “I hate to tell you this, but you were
wearing only a man’s shirt. And Nicholas looked…rumpled.”
    Nixie groaned, covering her face
with her hand. “I was wearing a skirt, mom.”
    “Didn’t look like it.”
    Nixie ignored that and pressed on.
“And we were just shot at. What did you expect? You wanted him to iron first?”
    “It didn’t look good, the way he
was hugging you against him, with you barely dressed…and now he’s answering
your telephone. What will people think?”
    Nixie sighed. “Mom––”
    Nick, who had been listening to her
end of the conversation, grabbed the phone from her hand. “Ma’am, your daughter
went through a very traumatic experience last night. I felt it was my
responsibility to stay here and make sure she didn’t have an emotional
breakdown.”
    Nixie rolled her eyes. Yeah, because
he was a boy scout all of a sudden. She noticed how he conveniently left out
the part where he tore her place apart and handcuffed her to the bed during his
little snit fest.
    “And if it makes you feel any
better…” Nick continued, giving Nixie a crooked grin as he spoke. “I fully
intend to marry your daughter, so you have no need to worry about what people
will think.”
    Nixie gave a startled gasp and
heard her mother do the same thing.
    “So you can rest assured that Nixie
will be perfectly fine,” Nick concluded. “She’s in good hands.” After a minute
of idle chatter in which he invited her mother over for dinner the following
week, Nick said good-bye and handed the phone back.
    Nixie blinked at the receiver for a
second, her brain still stuck on the whole marriage thing. She finally grabbed
a hold of it when Nick bucked his hips up to silently get her attention,
motioning for her to wrap things up with her mom. Putting the receiver to her
ear, she said, “Yeah?”
    “What a wonderful young man.” Her
mother gushed. “And here I thought you’d never get married.”
    Nixie gave the phone an insulted
look but didn’t comment.
    With a happy sigh, her mother
added, “I’ll let the two of you enjoy the rest of your morning. I can’t wait to
meet that lovely young man in person.”
    “Uh-huh,” Nixie mumbled, half
dazed. “Okay…yeah…bye.” She hung up and tossed the cordless receiver to the
floor.
    “The tabloids, huh?” Nick asked,
that boyish grin plastered to his face. “Amazing. Those guys don’t miss a
single thing.” With a shrug, he said, “I actually find that pretty sexy, having
our picture splashed across every newsstand in the country. I can’t wait to
pick up a copy.”
    Nixie stared down at him, baffled
at how he could be discussing the tabloids. “Nick,” she said slowly,
cautiously. “You just told my mother we’re getting married.”
    “Yep,” he said, voice chipper.
    “Okay…” Biting her lip, she waited
for him to explain what was going on in that very gorgeous head of his. “Why?”
    “Because I came to the conclusion
last night that we should.” He explained this as if it was the most normal
thing in the world.
    “Oh…um…when were you going to fill
me in on this plan of yours?”
    “I didn’t have a ring yet, so it
didn’t seem appropriate to tell you right away.” Nick shrugged. “But since your
mother was giving you a hard time, I figured I’d help her relax over the whole
situation.”
    “I see.”
    Nick’s eyebrows drew together in a
look of concern, as if realizing for the first time that he might need her
permission for such an event to transpire. “You do want to marry me, don’t
you?”
    Nixie was speechless for a