Charmed (Contemporary Romance)

by Ines Saint

  To the left was the dining room with a table for six in a beautiful, unfinished oak. In front of the dining room, there was a huge, state-of-the-art kitchen with what looked like lava stone countertops.

  To her right was the living room. It had a great, mirrored and tiled fireplace on one side, and an enormous bay window, complete with window seats, overlooking the entire town, on the other. A sofa was strategically placed to view both with a few armchairs strewn about. Framed pictures of Emma, his parents, and even a couple of pictures of Claire were on the side tables.

  Nick was leaning over the fireplace and had succeeded in getting a fire going. “I really like your house,” she said, picking up a picture of Nick with Emma when she was about four years old.

  “Thanks — the phone’s over there, by the way,” he said, pointing to a wall near the kitchen’s breakfast counter.

  Jamie walked over and called her parents. Obviously, everyone over at her house already knew hail was coming down hard, and they weren’t worried. At all. She stayed at the breakfast counter and looked over at Nick, who was seated on the window seat. “Scrabble?” he asked.

  Jamie shook her head no, aware she couldn’t think hard enough.

  “How about something warm to drink, like coffee or tea?” he offered.

  “No, thanks.” Not with her stomach in knots.

  Nick got up, toyed with the fire a bit, and turned to face her. “Then how about you help me with these eye drops? I kind of have a thing when it comes to putting anything in my eyes.”

  Jamie dragged her feet over to him. He was acting perfectly normal, not alpha-male jealous like the day of the play, not intense like the day of the ball. She was the one who was acting strange. It was just impossible to be alone with him and not remember how he had satisfied every requirement for her perfect kiss and then some.

  He handed her the eye drops and settled himself on the sofa, his head back. Jamie leaned over him. She blinked in surprise when he took off his eye patch and she got a good look at his eye. It was red, and the area around it was purple. It looked really bad, and her heart squeezed hard in pain for him.

  “That bad, huh?” He read her mind.

  “No, I just hadn’t really gotten a good look before. Um — stay still, okay? Don’t blink,” she ordered and tried to get a drop in.

  He blinked before the drop could hit his eye.

  “You blinked,” she accused him.

  “Okay, wait,” he said and blinked a few times and shifted his head. “Try again.” Jamie squeezed another drop from the bottle. But he blinked again. “Sorry, I just really hate seeing something hovering over my eye.” He made a face.

  “Okay, then let’s try this.” Jamie knelt on the seat to his right, in between him and the armrest. “Close your eyes until I tell you to open them so you don’t have to see the bottle.”

  Nick closed his eyes. “Open,” Jamie ordered and quickly squeezed the bottle, but he didn’t open his eyes until after she squeezed. Jamie leaned back and stifled a sigh.

  “That won’t work, I can feel it hovering over me,” he explained.

  “Then let me try holding your eye open, okay? I’ll be really gentle.” Jamie leaned in even closer and gently lifted his lid, trying to keep her breath and hand steady. Seeing his eyes from such a close perspective was rattling. Even with one eye purple and swollen, they were really stunning. His lashes were too long to be believed, and the green in his eyes was clear and bright, and they were watching her. Jamie held her breath, pursed her lips, and got ready to squeeze the bottle.

  “Wait!” Nick grabbed her wrist. “You’re using your left hand. I thought you were right-handed.”

  “Nick, you are such a wuss!” Jamie exclaimed, exasperated.

  “Excuse me?”

  “A wuss. I’m sorry, are you not familiar with the word? I thought it was widely used in your era.”

  “My era, huh?” Nick cocked an eyebrow.

  “Yes, your era, old man. Now stop being a wuss.” Jamie adjusted herself on the seat to try again.

  “Hey, I’m just afraid you’re going to poke me in the eye by using a weaker hand, that’s all.”

  “I’m ambidextrous, Nick, which, for your information, means that I — ”

  “I know what it means,” Nick interrupted, still not letting go of her left wrist.

  “It means I’m smarter than other people.” Jamie decided to try a different strategy.

  “That’s not what it means, Jamie — ” Nick laughed.

  Jamie took advantage of his distraction and dropped the bottle from the hand he was restraining to her other hand and got a drop in his eye.

  “See, it does mean I’m smarter!” She couldn’t help but laugh, completely satisfied with herself.

  But the look Nick gave her wiped the smile away from her face in an instant. Never letting go of her wrist, he slipped his other hand around her waist, pulled her down against the armrest, and lowered his mouth to hers. This was not the perfect, tender kiss of the other night. This kiss was explosive, passionate from the moment his lips met hers.

  Who knew there were different roads to the perfect kiss?

  Breathless and deliciously weak, Jamie was soon responding with her whole body. He moved her hair away from her neck and tasted her there. Jamie tangled her hands in his hair, losing herself in every new, delicious sensation. He trailed kisses up her cheek and settled his lips on hers again.

  Jamie pushed herself up to meet him, but the sofa was too narrow, and they soon fell together in a heap on the floor in front of the fireplace.

  She was now on top, and Nick hugged her to him, his kisses now tender. Jamie parted for a split second to look into his eyes, then slowly met his lips again and felt her insides melt.

  He gently flipped her over and began kissing her neck again, his hands traveling all over her. Jamie struggled to take his sweater off, and he helped her pull it over his head. He stopped kissing her and just stared at her as her hands roamed over his arms and his chest. She looked back up at him, and his mouth came down to sprinkle kisses on her forehead, nose, and chin. She met him halfway, and he finally closed in on her mouth again.

  He kicked off his shoes and slipped his feet between hers to help her do the same. The thought that he was better at this and more experienced than she was faintly crossed her mind.

  When his hands slid under her own sweater, an alarm deep within her senses went off. Her eyes flew open, and she put her hands against his chest.

  Nick buried his head in her neck, grasped her hair, and sighed. He slowed his breathing. “Can’t you see I’m crazy about you? From that very first day … ” He came up to kiss her lips once, softly. “But if you want to stop, we will.”

  Nick brought his hands up to cup her face and for a moment, he didn’t speak. He just gazed at her, and saw sincerity in his eyes. He breathed out slowly.

  “I’m so in love with you, Jamie.”

  Jamie was heady and dizzy. She couldn’t think. The need to explore every feeling and every sensation was building up inside her. For once in her life, she wanted to feel what making love was really about.

  Her hands on his hot skin, the feeling of his heart pounding beneath them, she was sure her soul would wither away if she stopped now. She wrapped her legs around him to bring him closer and pulled herself up for a deeply intimate kiss.

  He whispered her name, his voice tight with need. He removed her clothes, slowly, knowing exactly how to touch her, enflaming her body until blind passion took over.

  Their lovemaking was alternately gentle and fierce, full of longing and relief.

  When it was over, she fell beside him, fully satisfied, and in a state of bliss.

  Later, Jamie felt as if she were waking from a hazy, foggy dream, though she’d never fallen asleep. Nick hadn’t e
ither. He had covered them with a couple of throws from the sofa and love seat and hadn’t let go of her since. His body was warm, and his breath, his heart, his energy, all filled her. She’d never had this connection to anyone, had never experienced anything as wonderfully consuming as being loved by Nick. She’d gotten lost in him, and he thoroughly tangled up in her.

  For a while, she remained perfectly still and listened to the hail pound against the windows, the fire crackling next to them. She fit comfortably into the nook between his neck and shoulder. Perfectly. She didn’t have to strain to find comfort.

  She turned, without slipping out of his embrace, to look at him. He shifted slightly to keep his eyes level with hers.

  They were silent.

  Nick traced her nose with the tips of his fingers, his eyes never leaving hers. It was as if a strong current was pulling her out to sea, and she would never be able to get back to where she’d been. She was breathing harder, and she moved ever so slightly. Nick automatically held her closer.

  Jamie tensed, and a strong dose of reality washed over her. Panic seeped into her consciousness. How could she have allowed things to get so far? She pulled away from him, more forcefully this time, and used the throw to cover herself.

  “What have we done?” She ran her hand through her tangled hair.

  Nick didn’t say anything, only propped himself up on an elbow to look at her. The moment her eyes met his again, she sprung up, compelled to put both physical and emotional distance between them.

  “I just jumped into bed with the headmaster of my kids’ school,” she stated, all too simply and conveniently, knowing that when he came back from his trip, she’d have to switch her children to another school, all because she had no self-control.

  “Come on, Jamie, you know it’s not like that.”

  Jamie struggled to gain balance as she began pulling on her clothes. Nick inhaled slowly before sighing in obvious frustration, but he didn’t try to stop her. He was silent while she dressed, and as she walked toward the bay window.

  She heard him move and begin to put on his own clothes and struggled not to look over at the beautiful man she’d just made love to. He walked over to the fireplace and, after a few minutes of silence, spoke first. “Jamie, I think it’s beyond time we really talked.”

  Jamie covered her face in aggravation. “Sometimes, there’s nothing to talk about. We’re weak, okay? That’s it. We keep acting on a stupid attraction — ” Jamie took her hands away from her face and pointed at Nick. “Which, by the way, you said you’d gotten out of your system.”

  “We were freezing in your car, we were uncomfortable, and so I lied, but not because I meant for this to happen.” Nick took his frustration out on the fire, poking at it, trying to get it higher.

  “Really? Seducing me wasn’t the plan? ‘Come close and put some eye drops in, Jamie,’ and ‘I’m crazy about you, Jamie.’ I can’t believe I fell for that.” She looked away from Nick and stared out the window, desperately wanting it to clear up. She didn’t even want to bring up that he’d said he loved her, didn’t even want to go there or think about it. Tears were way to close to the surface, and she couldn’t hold them much longer.

  “Don’t do this, Jamie. You know that’s not what happened.”

  “So you don’t date moms, you just sleep with them, right? That way, you don’t have to raise their kids.” She was being a coward by placing the blame on him, and she knew it. Just one more way to push him as far away from her as possible.

  Nick just watched her, his jaw set.

  “And you couldn’t even remember my name that day we bumped into each other downtown, so don’t tell me you were crazy about me from the day we met. God, I’m so stupid,” she whispered under her breath.

  Nick was so quiet that, eventually, Jamie looked up. He was just staring at her. His hair was rumpled, his cargo pants were still undone, and he didn’t have a shirt on. But he was just standing there, pain in his eyes.

  “Are you done?” he asked. His tone was even, and he was looking at her directly. “I never dated young moms because I could never become involved in a child’s life and then just walk out if things didn’t work out with their mom. I knew I’d stick around, and I didn’t want to go through a mess like that. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is all of us together — you, me, Emma and the boys — we’re something else. I love you, and I love us. And that day we met downtown? I didn’t say your name because Emma caught me saying it out loud just days before. I didn’t want her to know you were the one I was thinking about in the middle of the night.”

  A heavy, tense silence filled the air between them.

  Michael and Timmy. Timmy and Michael.

  A tear rolled down her cheek. She took a deep breath, held it, and successfully kept other tears from falling. Nick was in front of her now.

  “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.” How could a simple crush have led to all this?

  He sat down next to her, gently wiping her one tear away with the back of his hand.

  “Wrong. I think on some subconscious level, we’ve both known what we’ve been doing from the very beginning, from the moment we laid eyes on each other, we knew. We were just too conscious of a million reasons why we couldn’t be together, and something else took over. And right now, I could tell you every one of my logical reasons for letting you go and not one of them would matter because I need you, and I know you need me, too.”

  The pain in her chest was almost unbearable.

  “Jamie, I know you’ve felt all of this before, and you lost it … ”

  He didn’t seem to know how to finish the sentence. Jamie stared into the fire for a long time. It finally occurred to her that it didn’t matter how things had gotten so far, it only mattered that they had. She held her breath. She was deeply in love with Nick … and that she had never felt anything like it.

  He was holding her, and the feeling of belonging there was mixed with real fear. She’d never stopped to consider Nick could get hurt. It hadn’t seemed possible. But Nick loved her, too, and she owed his feelings the truth.

  Jamie had so far managed to keep her tears just below the surface, but what she was about to say threatened to unlock them. She took a deep, steadying breath.

  “My mom says you should never speak of the dead because they’re not here to defend themselves, but you deserve the truth.” Jamie paused, swallowed hard, and looked down at her hands. “I wasn’t happy in my marriage, Nick, and I hadn’t been for a long time.”

  Nick was silent as he watched her, but he was obviously taken aback.

  “When Scott and I met, and while we went out, everything had seemed so perfect, so fairy-tale like. It was a whirlwind romance, and I was sure I was one of the lucky few who got to live in a dream. But once we got married, once we started living together day and night, things started to come up, but they didn’t fit with who I thought he was, and I just kept pushing doubts away.”

  Jamie was quiet for a while. She didn’t want to say it all out loud, didn’t feel it was right — after all, he really wasn’t there to share his side.

  She’d gotten pregnant within the year, and thought it would be the perfect time to start her business. He didn’t want her to start her own business, always saying that teaching was more stable … even though he’d known before marrying her that owning her own jewelry business was her ultimate goal. And he wouldn’t let up about it.

  “He didn’t want me to have my own business and when I got started anyway, he acted as if I were disobeying him, and I knew then it had become about control. He belittled my dreams and mocked my ideas. And I didn’t know what to do because I was pregnant with two children … ”

  She closed her eyes, remembering how tense it had been. She couldn’t talk about her things with him anymore, but everything was fine as long as they talk
ed about him and his career.

  “And then the twins were born. Taking care of the twins all day — they never slept at the same time, one of them always needed changing or feeding or something — and Scott wasn’t much help when he got home. And he always had an excuse not to come with me to visit my parents, and the trip was difficult with two babies crying in the back seat. I told myself he was just too busy — he had difficult cases. But I was so disenchanted with him.

  “I could never get dinner right. It was always too this or too that. The house was never in order to his satisfaction. He would just go on and on and on, until I thought I’d go crazy. How could I be a good mom if I was going crazy?”

  She should wear more pantsuits instead of skirts, he would say. She should cut her hair shorter now that she was a mom. When she wouldn’t give in to his ridiculous demands, he’d become more and more relentless.

  Jamie stared into the fire to gather strength. The darkness outside, the fire within, and Nick, would all keep her secrets.

  “I tried finding excuses for him for two more years, that he was overworked, that he had learned the behavior from his father … I told him it had to stop time and time again, that I always felt on edge and stressed with him around, always depressed, always defensive. It changed me. But I hated to admit I had failed at the one thing I had never expected to, and I’d always remind myself of my own faults and tell myself that it took two people to argue.

  “Then, when the twins turned three, all of our families were together, and I saw how his dad treated his mom, and then I saw my parents’ marriage and Justin’s marriage and it finally hit me. He wasn’t going to change, and I didn’t want my kids learning it was okay to treat people with disrespect.” Jamie took in a deep breath. “And I couldn’t drudge up any positive feelings for him, I just couldn’t.”