Our Chance

by Natasha Preston

  "Do you remember when your first date was?" Nick asked me.

  I'd never been on a date so that was easy. Damon's body stiffened and he looked like he wanted to murder his dad. I didn't want to make a huge deal out of it or let it get in the way of having a good night so I shrugged and replied, "Nope."

  "See, Hannah, not everyone remembers," he said to his wife.

  "I remember," Damon said.

  What?

  "You do, love?" Hannah asked.

  "December sixteenth."

  I call bullshit. "Please!" Rolling my eyes, I added, "You just made that up."

  Laughing, he leant back against the worktop. "Fine, I did."

  "Damon!" Hannah scolded. "Do you not remember your first time with Nell?"

  A slow grin spread across his face that made me cringe inwardly, knowing what was coming. "First time, yes. First date, no."

  He remembered our first time? I remember the alcohol and waking up beside him but that was it. Also, he'd just told his parents that we have sex. They knew, of course, but I'm sure they didn't want it confirmed.

  "Damon," I hissed. It didn't embarrass me but it really didn't need to be announced.

  He laughed and shrugged. Neither of his parents seemed to be bothered at all, which made me like them both that much more.

  I didn't really want to start making friends with them, we couldn't have a close relationship, even though being around them gave me a 'family' feeling, something I hadn't felt in a very long time. It was comforting and I wanted to dive headfirst into their arms.

  Bad. Fucking. Idea.

  "Anyway," I said, "another wine, Hannah?"

  She handed me her empty glass. "That'd be lovely."

  Biting my lip, I held mine and Hannah's glass out to Damon and smiled. "Here."

  "Oh, of course I'll get you both a drink."

  Hannah waved her hand at him and wrapped her other arm around my neck. "Good boy. Come on, Nell, let's sit down and let the men sort dinner out, which I assume is a takeaway."

  Damon rolled his eyes and turned to get our drinks.

  "I like that idea. Damon, bring our wine in when you're done, yeah," I said. I didn't look back at his reaction but I could imagine.

  "So what do you do, Nell?" Hannah asked.

  Damon hadn't told her that? "I'm a PA but I studied Business at Uni so I'm looking into new jobs." Plus my boss was an arsewipe so I had to find something new soon.

  "That's a good idea, there's no point in having a degree you're not properly using."

  Tell that to potential employers.

  "I'm sure I'll find something new soon."

  "Here, have you thought about the company Damon works for?"

  I clenched my jaw. Had the fucker been talking to his mum about that?

  "Damon's mentioned something about me meeting with his boss but landing a new job is something I want to do alone."

  She sat back and smiled. "You're independence is admirable. I wish I had the opportunity to do that at your age."

  "You couldn't?"

  "Oh no. My family were very traditional and we didn't have the money for me to go to university. My parents barely had enough to stretch around clothing four children, and I couldn't get finance. I left school at fifteen and worked at the corner shop my parents owned. By eighteen I was married and three years later I had Lance. Enjoy the opportunities you have."

  "I will. So, what's the age gap between Lance and Damon?"

  "Just under four years. Damon tried to act the same as Lance all through his childhood, even if it was something he physically couldn't do. Cara is just eighteen."

  "They're close? He doesn't talk about him much, well, besides telling me he hated him after the holiday. He's mentioned Cara a few times."

  She laughed. "They're close and they argue something rotten. I don't know what happened on that holiday but I have a feeling I don't want to."

  "I don't think I want to either."

  "Oh, Damon wouldn't cheat."

  I licked my lips. Damon couldn't cheat because we weren't exclusive. But I didn't really want to tell his mum that we just had casual sex. For some ridiculous and annoying reason I didn't want her to think badly of me.

  "I know, but I'm sure a lot went down out there."

  "I think Lance has a tattoo," she said.

  Damon walked into the room, his eyes widened and he froze, confirming that his brother did have a tattoo.

  "Is that a bad thing?" I asked.

  Snorting, Damon handed us both our wine. "Here we go," he muttered.

  "Both my boys are handsome the way they are, they don't need anything marking their skin."

  "Err, you have seen Damon's arms, chest and back, right?"

  "Back?" She gasped. "Damon, you have a tattoo on your back?"

  Wincing, I looked at Damon and mouthed 'oops'.

  "Thank you, Nell," he said darkly. "No, Mum, not really. It's just a little from the arm."

  "On your back," she said.

  "Yes, it goes over to my back. Drink your wine." He turned and left and I couldn't help laughing. "I can hear you, Nell," he called into the room.

  Biting my lips together, I tried to stop.

  "Lance better not have one as well," Hannah said. "Do you have any?"

  I shook my head and opted to not tell her that as soon as I was sure of what I wanted I would go for it.

  "Damon says you're an only child?"

  "I am."

  "Was it lonely growing up?"

  Totally and completely. I needed someone so much, but I couldn't be selfish enough to actually wish it. One fuck up was enough; we didn't need to spread the bad luck and selfish gene any further. "It was okay, actually. I didn't know any different and I had Chloe, she's practically a sister."

  "I would've loved to have another daughter. You know, I bought one dress when I had Damon and used to put him in it when he was first born. Then I had Cara and of course she hates anything girlie. "

  "Fuck sake, Mum!" Damon shouted from the kitchen.

  I burst out laughing and held my glass very carefully. "That's golden! Tell me you have pictures."

  "I do but I fear I'll lose a son if I show anyone."

  Damon frowned into the room. "Why do you feel the need to do it? And you can rip it up or I'll move to America."

  Her mouth dropped. "You wouldn't!"

  I sat back as Damon quipped with his mum about how he would move to the other side of the world and Hannah hit back by telling him she'd follow. I felt warm and safe and accepted. There wasn't one moment where I was on edge and I didn't have to worry about any arguments - other than Damon and Hannah's stupid little ones.

  This was how a family was supposed to be. My heart ached for the feeling of belonging and hurt as I realised just what I'd missed out on growing up.

  Two hours later and his parents had left. Hannah made me promise to be over the next time they were here. I said I'd try, not wanting to promise something I wasn't sure I could deliver on.

  "So, you okay?" Damon asked as he loaded the dishwasher.

  "Yeah," I replied, surprised that I was. Meeting his family was so much more fun than I thought it would be and although there were a few awkward (for me) moments I enjoyed spending time with them. "You?"

  His smile gave it away. "I'm good."

  He was more than good and it made my heart flutter. I licked my dry lips and pulled my top over my head. Things were starting to get heavy so I needed to lighten it again.

  Damon did a double take and dropped a glass into the top rack of the dishwasher. "Well, hello."

  "Want to take me to bed now?" I asked, popping my bra strap undone.

  "That was a rhetorical question, right? You don't need me to answer that."

  "Absolutely don't, Masters. Bed. Now."

  I expected him to order me in there. What I didn't expect was the sudden force of his body crashing against mine and slamming me back into the wall. My head hit the plasterboard but I didn't give a single shit
because his mouth attacked mine, hands gripped my butt and lifted me up, and his erection lined up perfectly between my legs making me whimper.

  I kissed him back with equal hunger and dug my fingers into the muscle on his shoulders.

  Squirming against him, I tried to lift myself enough to get him inside. I needed the release so badly. "Damon," I murmured against his lips. My gut twisted and the pulsing between my legs made me delirious.

  "Fuck," he hissed and sank to his knees. My breath caught in my throat. He really was picking up where we left off. Yanking my underwear down, he hitched my leg up and threw it over his shoulder. He was wasting no time and it drove me insane.

  "Damon, stop teasing," I said as he slowed down and planted feather light kisses up my inner thigh. His lips burned wherever they touched. "Please."

  "If you keep begging we're skipping this part," he muttered against my skin.

  "Right now I don't care. I just need..."

  He ripped away from me and I fell forwards before correcting myself with the force. I was soon slammed back against the wall the second his jeans hit the floor.

  "I fucking warned you," he said, hitching my dress up again and sinking into me. Calling out his name, I closed my eyes and wrapped my legs around his waist. I wasn't going to complain because, as much as I loved having his mouth on me, I needed to feel all of him.

  "God you feel incredible, Nell. Every. Single. Time."

  I looked into his hooded eyes and clenched around him. His pleasure was a total turn on and right now he looked like he was in heaven, and I was right there with him.

  Pushing me against the wall, he thrust harder, faster, relentless in his pursuit to get us both off. My head fell back, banging gently on the wall. I ground my hips against him and cried out. The angle was perfect, his pace was perfect. He always felt too good, my body responded to everything he did in a way that no other man had achieved.

  I felt everything inside me tighten as he pounded harder, breathing heavily into my ear. "Shit. Damon." I was close, so close. He moaned and smashed his lips to mine in a primal, passionate kiss that had my toes curling and nails biting into his skin. Clamping my legs around his waist tightly, I exploded and moaned his name against his mouth.

  Pulling back suddenly, he tossed his head back and groaned, "Ah, fuck." Calling out, he buried his head in my neck and spilled inside me.

  "God, Nell, I could do that all day. I'll never have enough of you."

  "Back atcha, champ," I said, flopping forwards and laying on his shoulder.

  Damon laughed quietly and started to walk us to his bedroom.

  "Are you planning on doing it all night now?"

  "Always," he replied and kissed me.

  Damon laid me down on the bed, slowly pulled out and lay beside me. "So, did you like my parents?"

  "They're great," I replied. "Your mum is awesome."

  He raised an eyebrow. "Hmm..."

  "Oh, she is! It was fun to see you around your family."

  "We're close, even though they drive me crazy, her especially."

  I laughed, remembering many of their little arguments. "She loves you like crazy, anyone can see that. Even if you broke her heart when you inked your skin."

  He rolled his eyes. "She's a bit psycho with the perfect skin thing."

  "I kinda think it's perfect with the tattoos."

  Wiggling his eyebrows, he said, "You think I'm perfect."

  I deadpanned. "I'm so not getting into this with you."

  "Fine. So what else do you want to do? Are you ready for round two yet?"

  "Bloody hell, you're a machine! I'm tired, sort yourself out this time."

  It wasn't late, a little after ten but being around his family and having it bring up things I tried to bury, left me drained.

  He laughed and splayed his hand over my stomach from under the dress. Usually that would be enough to get me to go again but I was emotionally and physically exhausted and there was no chance of me moving until the morning.

  "You're really going to sleep, aren't you?"

  "Mmm hmm."

  Sighing, he kissed my forehead. "If you wake up first climb aboard."

  Smiling with closed eyes, I replied in a whisper, "Will do, cowboy."

  Nell

  I felt all kinds of confused when I left Damon's house the morning after meeting his parents. Too close, too much. The firm rules I wanted back in place after Scotland had clearly not happened and it was my fault. I was the one that agreed to meet his parents - against my better judgment.

  There wasn't one part of me that wasn't ridiculous. I should just keep to myself, be a hermit, and then I couldn't make stupid, mind screwing choices.

  On the top of my to-do list today was the thing I should've done before: re-set boundaries. Being close to him was amazing but that had to be over now, and I only half felt sad about it. Some people never get even a second of what I had. Four days was incredible, especially since I was so sure I would be one of the never-get-it ones. I hungered for more but I was also grateful for what I'd had.

  I walked into my office and reality smashed me in the face with a mallet. The Ogre was sitting on my desk with his arms folded over his chest. "We need a chat," he said, scratching the stubble covering his double chin.

  "Um, okay," I replied, doing a mental inventory of all the things I'd done that this 'chat' could be about. There was nothing that he could have found out. Well, that I knew of. Occasionally I indulged in a little Internet shopping during work hours but I'd never failed to get my work done. "What's up?"

  "You're having too many days off, Nell."

  "I haven't been sick since I started." What the hell was his problem? I put my bag on my desk and straightened my back defensively. "The only time I've had off has been booked as holiday and as far as I'm aware I'm entitled to take that."

  "We have an understanding here that we don't take time off too close together. We're constantly busy and it doesn't help when an employee takes a few days off here and there every month."

  "Okay first, no one has ever told me that. Second, I don't think you can dictate that unless it's in my contract - which is isn't. And third, why was my request signed off by management if you don't allow someone to have blocks of holiday close together?"

  His chubby face turned red. He hated knowing that I was right and he couldn't say a thing. "You deliberately went to Harry to sign the request off because you knew I'd done the last one."

  "No, I didn't. My friend set the date of their wedding, it was only five weeks away at the time, and you were away, so I asked Harry because I knew I wouldn't see you until Monday."

  There was absolutely no way I was backing down. "Harry, come in here for a minute," Ogre snapped. His voice boomed through the offices and everyone looked up from their desks. Great.

  I had never felt like telling him to shove his job more. The weekend was perfect but I was still a little delicate over losing what I'd had with Damon. This made me want to scream, punch Ogre and Harry, and cry. In that order.

  "What's wrong?" Harry asked, folding his arms in the doorway.

  "You signed Nell's holiday form off?"

  Harry blinked rapidly and then said, "I did. She never mentioned how long it'd been since the last time."

  "Why should I?" I snapped. "That 'rule' was never made clear to me."

  "Nell!" The Ogre bellowed. "Harry, that's all."

  Oh bugger. Harry made a swift exit, happy that he'd covered his own arse even though I was the innocent party here.

  "Yes, Reg?"

  His fat face was red and dripping with sweat. "If you ever talk to a member of management like that again you'll be out. Consider that your verbal warning." Without another word or giving me a chance to defend myself, he walked out and slammed my door shut.

  My heart raced in the worst way. His approach scared me and then what he had to say/shout plain pissed me off. How dare the bastard yell at me for sticking up for myself? What I'd said was right.

&
nbsp; With shaking hands, I sat down. My ears rang and it took every ounce of self-control to stay. They wouldn't push me out. As much as I wanted to, I wouldn't leave without another job to go to. They could keep paying me.

  I turned my computer on and waited for it to boot up. My phone rang just as the screen popped up. Thankful for the distraction, I rooted around until I felt it at the bottom of my bag

  "Hi," I said to Damon, trying to be cheerful when I was so close to tears.

  "What's wrong?" He asked.

  "Nothing, why?"

  "You sound...upset. Has something happened?"

  All I'd said was 'hi' how could he know I was upset? "I'm fine, it's just my boss."

  "Tell me."

  I explained the whole thing to Damon, careful not to talk too loudly in case anyone heard. It'd look great now if one of them came in and saw me chatting away on my phone. When I'd finished, Damon spent a full two minutes listing swearwords and telling me in three different ways how he was going to kill The Ogre.

  I said, "Calm down!"

  "Calm down? He had no right to talk to you like that even if you had done something wrong - which you hadn't!"

  "I know that and he knows that. It's over now, really."

  "It's not fucking over. He's been a prick to you since you got there and he can't get away with it."

  "Damon, I really don't want to ever bring it up again. It's finished and I want to move on. Things are pretty unbearable here as it is so I just want to keep my head down until I find something else."

  "You've got a job here," he said.

  "You know I haven't. I'm going to go now and get something done before his coffee demands begin."

  "Lazy wanker," he muttered.

  "I'll speak to you later, okay? Please let it go now, I don't want to think about how he made me feel anymore."

  He practically growled down the phone. I bet he was pacing his office and rubbing his forehead. "Fine. I'll pick you up at lunch," he said and hung up.

  We didn't have any lunch plans but he was coming here. I made a mental note to leave a few minutes earlier so I could wait for him outside. There was no way I wanted him to come in when he was angry. Things here were shit and having Damon yelling at my boss would not make it better.

  I put my mobile back in my handbag and opened Google. The very first thing I was going to do was search for another job. In The Ogre's time. On his computer. Fuck him. Of course I knew I needed my job and should keep my head down like I'd just told Damon, but the anger simmering under the surface and the longing to be anywhere else told me it was a fabulous idea.