“Are you on the pill?” he asked abruptly after a long stretch of silence, making her jump.
“What? No,” she answered, and thought she knew why he asked.
“We haven’t been using protection,” he said, glancing at her still wearing his unsmiling face.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m safe,” she assured him.
“You mean…?”
“I’m very regular, I know when it’s okay to have sex,” Christine explained matter-of-factly. “Oh, and in case you’re wondering, I have a clean bill of health, so you’re good as well.”
Nick found himself amused at her prosaic attitude, but also a little appalled. He never even considered that he could be in danger of contracting a disease, and the fact that she calculated her fertility period made her seem just a little cold-blooded.
“Very efficient,” he said in mock approval, and she looked at him appraisingly.
“Well, of course. I have no intention of having a child out of wedlock.”
“Have you ever considered that I might be carrying something?” he asked, and was a little pleased to see her off-balance. She gave him a considering look.
“Well, too late to worry about that now, Next time you should use a condom,” she finally answered, looking down at her hands.
“Next time?” he asked quickly, glancing at her.
Christine looked up at him frankly. “I’d like to keep seeing you, Nick. I like you a lot.”
Nick didn’t know what to say, so he didn’t answer. They drove on in silence for a while then Christine said in a low voice, “I have to work today to catch up on yesterday, so I can’t make it for lunch.”
Nick nodded, but it wasn’t until they pulled up at her apartment building that he spoke. “I’ll call you.”
Christine nodded, grabbing her backpack and preparing to get out of the car. He grabbed her arm and pulled her in for a hard kiss, before letting her go. To Christine, it felt like goodbye.
Chapter Eight
The next eight weeks to Christine was a rollercoaster of emotions. She was upset at how abruptly Nick had left her life, but later reflected that there was no better way. After all, he wanted more from her than she was willing to give, and a clean break was the only way to go.
He didn’t call her, and after her initial disappointment, she pushed him to the back of her mind. She couldn’t really blame him for moving on, but she missed him anyway. When Lisa asked about him, Christine said that she supposed he was busy. She didn’t discuss the steamy moments with Lisa, merely saying that it was a nice interlude, but it was now over.
“Oh,” Lisa said after a couple of attempts to pierce her armor. “I like him.”
“So do I. Who knows, he might turn up some time,” Christine said, not looking up from her book.
Kate had called instead, and Christine fobbed off her uncharacteristically cautious questions. Christine had an idea Nick had warned her off, and the thought made her smile sadly.
Fortunately, she was besieged with projects, and she found herself working weekends as well. It kept her focused and soon she was only thinking of Nick at night when she was lying in bed, exhausted. She took to sleeping with a long pillow, feeling her arms to be too empty. Lisa teased her that she looked like a baby, and if she started to suck her thumb, she wouldn’t be surprised. Christine ignored her, indulging in erotic dreams that she didn’t remember in the morning, although she often woke up with her hand firmly wedged into her wet crotch.
Christine had continued her afternoon routine of endless mugs of coffee and the corner alcove at the café, and it was on Monday afternoon exactly eight weeks after she said goodbye to Nick that her life again took a dizzying dip.
She was focused completely on her work, and she murmured her thanks as a steaming mug of coffee replaced her empty one.
“You’re welcome.”
Her head jerked up at the familiar voice, and there he was. He was dressed in his usual button fly jeans and a yellow sports shirt that showed off his muscles, and while his hair was a little longer, the same stubborn lock fell across his brow. He was a little thinner and there were slight smudges under his eyes, but he looked otherwise the same.
Christine took in these details automatically, but she was hardly aware of them. Her heart had speeded up, and she had a sneaking suspicion she was blushing. Her neck felt very warm, and her eyes felt strangely dry.
“Hey, Nick,” she managed, her voice higher than usual. “You startled me.”
Nick noted her blush, and was pleased to see her hand tremble a little as she reached for her mug. It was little enough indication that he had had some impact in her life, but it was better than nothing.
The last eight weeks had been a daily struggle for him, even the problems of managing several buildings and supervising the building of a new mall not enough to keep him from thinking about her almost constantly. He reached for his phone several times a day, until finally he had deleted her number from his phone book.
Nick had decided that he needed to give her time and himself space to reassess the situation. Away from her presence, he acknowledged that wanting to move in together on the basis of two days’ hot sex may not have been the most reasonable request to expect a positive answer to. But he had never before been moved so powerfully by any woman, or convinced more completely that she was the only woman for him. The problem was she wasn’t of the same mind.
He had dated several women in the last eight weeks, and none of them tempted him to so much as kiss them. His sexual drive was completely gone, and in a healthy male at the prime of his life, that wasn’t natural. He had also lost his appetite, and much of his sleep. The only way he could fall asleep was when he worked out, so he had been haunting the gym for the last four weeks.
Finally, it was Kate who pushed him over the edge. She came to his office and found him staring out the window, walking a coin across his knuckles.
“What’s with you, Nicky?” she said as she came into the room, and he started, dropping the coin.
“What?” he asked irritably, fishing the coin from the plush carpet and placing it on the desk.
“You’ve been like a bear with a sore head, and you look like shit,” Kate declared, perching on one corner of the desk, regarding him sternly.
“I’m fine, just a little tired. The new mall over the bridge is running into all kinds of restrictions, and it’s giving me a headache,” Nick said, avoiding direct eye contact.
“Liar,” she said softly. Nick said nothing, looking out the window again. “It’s Christine, isn’t it?” Kate said shrewdly. “Something happened.”
Nick shrugged, refusing to be drawn. Kate settled herself more comfortable on his desk, and leaned forward. “Why don’t you tell me what’s wrong? Maybe I can help.”
Nick looked at her doubtfully; all at once he was telling her everything. He skimmed over the sex parts, but Kate wasn’t stupid; she knew they had spent the night together. She listened closely, noting the change in his voice every time he mentioned her name, and inwardly sighed. He had really fallen hard, and it was probably with the only woman she knew who didn’t want what Nick had never offered to anyone else. He finished his story, looking with some hope at Kate.
Kate considered for a moment, then told him crisply, “It’s clear enough. You rushed her, and she likes to be in control of her own life. That’s a good thing, you know. You need to slow down, let her get used to the idea.”
He suspected as much, but he was afraid she might decide that she didn’t want him after all. He voiced his concerns to Kate, who tut-tutted him.
“So what? At least you’ll know, and you can move on. She did say she wanted to keep seeing you, right?” He nodded. “Then you’ll have to take your chances.” Kate patted his cheek and jumped off the desk, smoothing her slacks down. “Call her now.”
He didn’t have her number anymore, but he knew where to find her. He went to her apartment and just caught a surprised but clearly delighted Lisa w
ho was on her way to deliver a birthday cake. She told him where to find Christine. Of course, he thought, running down the stairs, back to ground zero.
And here he was.
Christine found herself feeling shy, and she dropped her eyes after she spoke, reaching for her mug as a shield. It was a full mug, the coffee was hot and with her hand trembling she nearly dropped it on her laptop.
Nick reached out and plucked the mug from her hand before it could do more than wobble slightly. He set it aside before sliding into the alcove, holding her chin and forcing her to look at him.
“I seem to do that a lot around you,” he said softly, and she smiled at the memory.
“You have a very unsettling effect on me,” she said softly, warming his heart. He tilted her chin slightly and bent to kiss her, closing his eyes in anticipation of her soft lips against his once again. It was a sweet kiss, and Christine placed a hand on his neck, rubbing her thumb across his jaw. They drew apart after a long moment, and Christine sighed, resting her head on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call you,” Nick said.
“It’s okay, I understand,” Christine replied, savoring his familiar smell. “I’ve missed you terribly, though.”
Nick was tempted to ask her to move in with him again, but restrained himself. “I’ve missed you, too,” he said instead, hugging her to him. They were screened from the rest of the café by the high sides of the alcove, but he didn’t really care if anyone saw.
“Kiss me again,” she said, lifting her face. Nick bent down, and this time her mouth was slightly open, and he slipped in his tongue, tasting her. His hand crept up under her shirt to cup her breast. He could feel her nipple straining against her bra and he gently squeezed. A low moan escaped her and his dick responded with gratifying alacrity. Oh, joy he thought, at the same time resigned to suffering blue balls in this very public cafe. A small price to pay for knowing he could still get it up.
Christine felt the familiar and sorely missed heat building up as he caressed her, and her own hand crept to his jeans, feeling the bulge there with some longing. She pulled back, looking into his eyes.
“I’ve really missed you,” she said with meaning, and shut her laptop. She picked it up, grabbed his hand and called out something to Ted, who nodded. They went out of the café and up to her apartment, where she quietly opened the door.
“Lisa went to deliver something, I saw her on her way down,” Nick said, whispering anyway. The apartment was hot, but not any hotter than he was feeling. Christine winked conspiratorially and tugged him in, shutting the door quickly.
Christine was kicking off her shoes and tugging at his jeans as she led the way to her bedroom, and he was pulling off her shirt, and they both laughed a little as they stumbled on to her bed, tumbling the long pillow off as he pulled her jeans and panties off. He shrugged off his shirt and stepped out of his jeans before falling on top of her, kissing her mouth and neck with some urgency, roughly pulling down her bra so he could give her breasts the attention they so badly needed. With one hand squeezing her breast, he entered her with a speed that took her breath away, and the sensation explosion made her scream breathlessly. She was wet, but he was huge, and the friction was incredible. He covered her mouth with his hand, and her muffled moans of pleasure against his palm and her thighs wrapped around his waist were driving him insane. He rocked her hard, the sexual frustration of the last few weeks threatening to overwhelm him.
“I’m sorry,” he panted in her ear, still thrusting furiously, “I’m going to explode, I can’t stop it!” Her wide eyes met his, and he removed his hand to clamp his lips on hers, uttering grunts deep in his chest as he came again and again.
Christine received his release with joyful satisfaction, her senses too overloaded to register her own orgasm as a separate event. Waves of pleasure and pain centered where they were joined, and she shuddered with him as her sex sent out frissons of heat, draining her.
For a suspended moment, his mouth remained locked on hers, and then he slowly raised his head, his eyes as dazed as she felt. Without a word, he pulled out from her and spooned with her in her narrow bed, sated for the moment.
They were sitting decorously in the living room, Christine in her favorite armchair, Nick on the sofa nearest to it, and both were holding mugs of coffee, when Lisa came back. She looked tired, but perked up when she saw Christine smiling. Lisa hadn’t seen Christine smile spontaneously for a while, and the alarming thing was Lisa didn’t think her sister had even realized it.
She had suspected that Nick had finally pierced the barriers Christine had put up to keep most people out, and now she knew it for a fact. She was glad, but also a little worried. The St. Claires were not exactly from their side of the fence.
“Hey, Nick, I see you’ve found her,” she said, looking satisfied. They looked at each other and smiled.
“Yes,” Christine said simply.
The next few days were a period of adjustment for the both of them. They arranged their schedules so that they could see each other every weekend, and once during the workweek. Nick’s workload was such that he had to work late most nights, especially when the building of the new mall drew closer to its deadline.
Christine was much more relaxed, simply turning down projects that would take up too much of her time, so more often than not she adjusted to his schedule. At first she was inclined to resent it, but when she saw how tired Nick was, and how pleased he was to be with her, she softened her attitude.
Sometimes, she would go over to his office on their date night when he had to stay longer than he planned, and spend it watching him work from a corner of his office. Afterwards, they would make love and Christine would give him a neck massage as he talked about his life. She came to know how much he loved his parents, so much so that he had gone into the family business instead of striking out on his own, something he referred to as a “cushy job.” Seeing how hard he worked, she knew it wasn’t true.
One argument that almost broke them apart was when she refused to see him one week every month, the period she referred to as “red flag” week. She had started on the pill, so it was just that one week that she wouldn’t allow him to be intimate. Finally, after two months of it, Nick exploded.
“I need to see you, Christine!” he said, pacing the length of his living room. They had decided to spend the night at his condo, and she had again informed him that she wouldn’t be available the following week.
Christine said reasonably, “We can’t, Nick, it’s icky.”
“We don’t always have to have sex when we’re together,” he argued, sitting on the sofa, his expression taut.
“But…”
“We can go to the park, feed the goddamned ducks!” Nick said, running a hand through his hair, something he did when he was upset. Christine suppressed an impulse to brush back that stubborn lock, knowing he was in no mood to be touched. Nick pinned her down with his stare, “Is that all you want from me, Christine? God knows you don’t even let me give you flowers!”
Christine flinched, reminded of the one occasion when he had brought a beautiful bunch of long-stemmed roses and she told him bluntly that she didn’t want him spending money on her. They had argued that time, too, but she had won that round.
“Of course not!” she said, stung.
“Then don’t deny me your company just because you won’t let me make love to you! We’re so much more than that, aren’t we?” he almost pleaded, and she had finally agreed to try.
And he was right. She enjoyed herself very much. That time, they actually did feed the ducks and visited a nearby fair, getting stomach aches from corn dogs and popcorn. Other times they would watch movies on his state-of-the-art entertainment system or play Xbox. From that time on, they had designated that period “abstinence” week. They learned more about each other during those weeks than any other they spent together.
Chapter Nine
Present Day
Christine stared
at him as he twiddled with his coffee spoon, and had an insane desire to take it and whack him with it. She swallowed the lump in her throat, and looked down, asking “Why not?”
Nick moved restlessly, wondering if he was doing the right thing. What if she agreed? he thought wildly. What if she says that’s a good idea, Nick, it’s time to move on?
He began carefully. “We agreed that when you were ready, you were going to tell me if you were ready to take it to the next level.” She nodded warily. “It’s been six months.”
Christine said nothing, thinking furiously. Has it really been six months already? she marveled.
Nick leaned back and sighed. “Your silence is very reassuring.”
“What do you want me to say, Nick?” she asked, goaded. She leaned forward, putting out her hands. “It’s been wonderful, Nick, why do we have to rock the boat?” she asked pleadingly. He put his hands in hers, gripping it tightly.
“We’ve been on the dock for six months, baby. I want to set sail,” he countered. “I want us to go forward, and seeing each other three times a week at most is not enough. I need you to be with me, always.”
Christine stared into his eyes, which were compelling her to agree with him, that she should give up her independence and move in with him. She imagined herself puttering around in his house, waiting for him to come home, cooking his meals, washing his clothes. It was a warming thought; she could continue working anywhere she was. Then she imagined his parents looking at her askance, Nick’s “little girlfriend,” and she flinched from it.
He saw her withdrawal, and knew he had lost. He gave it one last try. “I love you, Christine, but I won’t be just your lover. Not anymore. I want all of you, or nothing.”
Christine felt herself getting angry, and if at the back of her mind it was because she mostly agreed with him, she successfully repressed it. She never wanted to be told what to do, and an ultimatum was just that. She withdrew her hands. “Then I guess it’s nothing,” she said coldly.
Good Girl Gone Wild: When Lust Turns to Passion... (Good and Wild) Page 7
