Shattered (Shattered #1)

by D'Agostino, Heather

  Our date was tonight, and to say that my nerves were getting the best of me would be an understatement. I was excited but not really sure what starting over truly meant. Did it mean things would be like they were in a new relationship? One where everything is amplified, and nerves rule every decision? Or would things be like they were near the end? When we could finish each other’s sentences and knew what the other was thinking with just a look.

  I continued to pace back and forth in my bedroom wearing only a towel as I fought to calm myself. Three different ensembles were draped across my bed. Each one was a different look, and I’d managed to talk myself out of all of them.

  “Knock, knock,” Avery called from the hallway.

  “Thank god you’re home,” I yanked open the door. “Get in here. I need your help,” I reached out and grabbed her elbow as I hauled her through the door.

  “Leah! What the hell? Calm down,” she squealed.

  “Help me!” I pointed to the bed. “I can’t decide.”

  “I thought you just came home from visiting your mom. What was wrong with what you wore over there?” she shrugged as she moved to sit on the edge of my bed.

  “This is a date,” I tossed my hands in the air in exasperation.

  “Yeah…one that you already know is going to have a happy ending,” she giggled as I scowled at her.

  “How do you know that? I mean…we’re starting over,” I wrinkled my nose.

  “Yeah…sure. You may be starting over, but you’re still going to get laid,” she poked me in the side and smirked. “I hope you made sure everything’s polished to perfection.”

  “Avery!” I gasped as she began looking at the clothes on my bed.

  “Oh come on. You know he wants to,” she shrugged as she picked up a floral cotton dress. “This one with the boots,” she pointed to pair of worn brown cowboy boots that were resting in the bottom of my closet.

  “Are you sure?” I glanced at the boots again.

  “Yes, this is just what you need. Pull the hair up too, but leave a few pieces hanging down.”

  “Ok,” I mumbled. “Now get out, so I can get ready,” I pointed to the door. “If Nick gets here tell him I’m almost ready.”

  “Just like old times,” Avery grumbled as she disappeared down the hall.

  As soon as she left, I began digging through my dresser looking for a cute bra and panty set. If the night was going to go the way Avery thought, I wanted to be prepared. Nick had seen me at my worst, but this was a first date. Even if we did already know everything about each other, I still wanted to impress him, so to speak.

  After dressing quickly in the outfit Avery had suggested, a pale yellow sundress with small blue flowers on it, I began pulling my hair up into a high ponytail. I used my curling iron to create a few small curls to frame my face and neck. Some eyeliner, mascara, and pale pink lip gloss finished the look. I was never much of a makeup person. I pulled on the boots, misted myself with some body spray, and glanced in the mirror one last time. After puffing out a breath, I grabbed my purse and headed out in the direction of the living room.

  As I neared the end of the hallway, I could hear voices. Nick was early. I hadn’t even heard the doorbell ring. Avery was giggling at something Nick had said just as I stepped around the corner.

  “There you are,” Avery smiled as Nick’s head whipped up in my direction. “You kids have fun tonight, and don’t stay out too late.”

  I could feel my face heating as I turned to head toward the door. Nick was staring and had yet to make a comment about my appearance. I couldn’t help but grin as the thought of leaving him speechless began to register.

  ooooooooo

  Once outside, Nick reached for my arm, and grabbed me right at the elbow affectively halting me in my tracks, “Wait!”

  I paused and looked up at him shyly. I wasn’t really sure what to expect.

  “You look beautiful,” he whispered as he leaned in and placed a light kiss to my cheek.

  “Thanks,” I smiled up at him. “You too.”

  Nick grinned, “You mean you like this better than the gym shorts?”

  He took a few steps back and held his arms out as he spun around. He had on a pair of khaki slacks with a black cotton V-neck shirt. It was snug across his chest and arms showing off the definition of his muscles. The slacks hung low and caressed his rear in just the right way.

  “You keep doing that,” he pointed at my mouth “and we won’t make it out to dinner.”

  I hadn’t even realized in my lustful haze that I’d been biting my lower lip. A little harder and I probably would have drawn blood.

  “Sorry,” I stammered as I released it, and averted my eyes.

  “Don’t be,” he winked at me. “Although, I’d like to be somewhere a little more private for the ogling…like maybe my place,” he shrugged. “There’ll be plenty of time for that later…that is if you want there to be.”

  My eyes flashed at his blatant comments about how the night was going to end. If I’d had any doubts about his intentions before, he was making them extremely clear now. He wanted me…and he wanted me tonight.

  I shrugged and let a grin slip into place, “We’ll see. Depends on if you’re a good boy or not.”

  “Ouch! When have I ever not been a good boy?” he stepped closer to me until his chest brushed against mine.

  “Maybe that’s what I mean,” I whispered breathily. “Maybe I’m hoping you’re not a good boy.”

  He hissed out a breath, blinked his eyes shut, and began clinching his jaw tightly, “You are making this very hard.”

  “I know,” I teased as I let my knuckles graze across the obvious arousal his was sporting.

  “Leah, stop!” he hissed again. “I’m trying really hard here.”

  “Fine,” I groaned as I moved to turn and climb in his truck.

  “Oh fuck it,” he mumbled out as he spun me, pinned me against the truck door, and descended on my mouth.

  As I felt the brush of his lips, I began to melt against him. I swear if he wasn’t holding me up, I would be a puddle on the ground. One hand reached down to grab my hip while he used other to brace himself over me. His hips pressed into mine and I felt the length of him right there, only separated by the thin cotton of our clothes. Thoughts of dinner were flying out the window as he plundered my mouth.

  His tongue swept in on a mission as it began to lick at my lips. Deft fingers dug into my side as he slid his hand up my thigh and under the bottom of my dress. I tried, but couldn’t hold back the moan that slid up my throat.

  “Shit Leah,” he panted as he trailed kisses down my throat and across my shoulder. “Tell me to stop.”

  “Don’t stop,” I groaned as I wrapped my hands around his neck, and pulled his mouth back to mine.

  Nick soon shifted so his right leg was pressed between my thighs, and he could feel the heat coming from me. He groaned and nipped at my lower lip. “Tell me to stop,” he begged again.

  “No,” I argued as I reached down and cupped him through his pants.

  Nick wretched his mouth away, panting, and gasping for control, “I’m trying to be a gentleman and you’re turning me into a horny teenager. I thought you’d want to go out on a nice date.”

  I felt bad that I was ruining his plans, but after all the teasing he’d done to me all week, all I wanted to do was strip him and climb into bed. His kisses were like a drug, and I was slowly becoming addicted again.

  “How about takeout?” I grinned. “We’ll take it back to your place…just like old times?”

  Nick shook his head at me in disbelief, “That’s what you want? Are you sure? I mean…this date wasn’t supposed to be about this,” he waved his arms around. “I wanted to take you somewhere nice. Show you a good time,” he swallowed.

  “Another time,” I smiled up at him. “I want pizza tonight…and you.”

  Nick gave a quick nod, “Alright then. Get in,” he pointed to the truck.

  I giggled as
I climbed in, and called down to my dad’s shop to order us dinner.

  ooooooooo

  After grabbing the pizza, we drove back in silence to Nick’s house. As I sat there watching out the window of the truck, my mind was spinning. Was this really happening? I had only been back home a little over a week, and things seemed to be moving rather quick.

  I glanced over at Nick out of the corner of my eye. He didn’t seem nervous or concerned about what we were doing at all. It made me wonder if this was the way things had been for him. Had he been bringing girls home like this regularly?

  Nick was the rebel when we were younger. Always getting into trouble, always with a different girl each weekend…until he met me. It took me months to give in to him when we first met. He pursued me with a vengeance when we were younger. I guess I must have seemed like a challenge, being the “good girl” and all. I’d pushed him away so many times I’d lost track. Cam and I had been good friends then. We’d worked out together, and both ran for the team. He’d finally convinced me to go on a date with Nick. Nick had been the perfect gentleman that night, and as they say…the rest was history.

  Tonight, though, it seemed that being gentlemanly was quickly flying out the window. After our exhibition on the sidewalk, I secretly wondered if we’d even eat the pizza while it was still warm. I glanced over at Nick again and could feel my face heat.

  “If you don’t stop staring at me, I’m going to pull over and take care of you here,” Nick warned bringing me out of my daze.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled. “I was just thinking…”

  “About what?” he asked.

  “Nothing…it’s not important,” I tried in vain to change the subject.

  “If it’s got you that worried, I’d say it is. Now, what is it?”

  “How many?” I murmured almost too quiet for Nick to hear me.

  “How many what?” he wrinkled his forehead.

  “Never mind,” I shook my head and turned away from him.

  “Don’t do that,” he begged. “You always do this to me,” he sighed.

  “Do what?”

  “Shut down. Every time something happens, you shut down, and don’t want to talk about it. We’re here where no one else will bother us. Talk to me…what’s bothering you,” he continued to beg but there was a harshness in his voice.

  “I just wondered how things have been since I left. You seem…different,” I mumbled.

  “Different how?” he began to get a slight edge in his voice.

  “I don’t know,” I groaned and rolled my eyes. “Just different.”

  “That’s not what you mean, and you do know. Just tell me,” he put the truck in park, and cut the engine.

  “When I left, you seemed so settled…” I trailed off. “Now I was just wondering if you still were.”

  “You talk in puzzles, you know that?” he shook his head at me. “I seemed settled? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “With us…you settled down,” I shrank down in my seat regretting ever starting this conversation.

  His eyes lit up as if understanding had just dawned on him, “Let me ask you this…have you been with anyone else since you left?”

  My face flamed and I swallowed hard, “Nick…I’ve been training.”

  “That’s not what I asked. Have you been with anyone else?” he turned to face me.

  “Can we go in,” I pointed at the house with a single porch light illuminating its front steps.

  “Not until you answer the question,” he reached for my hand and held it in his lap, “Have you been with anyone else?”

  I dropped my chin to my chest, “It depends on what you mean by that.”

  “Either you have or you haven’t…there’s no in between, Leah,” he sighed at that fact that I was avoiding answering him. “By the way you’re acting, I think I already know the answer.”

  A single tear gathered in the corner of my eye, “It didn’t mean anything. We were only together for a little while. He was a trainer for the team.”

  Nick shook his head, “Why was that so hard for you to tell me?”

  “I don’t know,” I wiped at my eyes. “I just feel like maybe I shouldn’t have, but we weren’t together.”

  “You’re right, we weren’t…and I’m not mad at you,” he stated. “I’ve had girl friends since you left. Nobody that I would say was serious though. Last one was about three months ago.”

  I looked up at him for a minute before directing my gaze at the pizza box in my lap, “Can we go in and eat this? I’m getting kinda hungry.”

  “Sure,” he chuckled.

  ooooooooo

  As I watched Nick dart around the living space of his house, I snickered slightly. The place looked just like I would have imagined. A true bachelor bad. A brown leather sofa was pushed against one wall with end tables at each end. The largest flat screen TV I’d ever seen was hung on the wall opposite it and over a mantle. The wood burning fireplace was focal point in the room. You could tell that Nick had spent many nights in here by a warm fire doing who knows what with a date. The room just screamed romance. Pictures of various football and basketball players hung in frames on the walls, and a soft rug was centered under the coffee table near the center of the room.

  “Sorry it’s such a mess,” he groaned as he tossed a pile of magazines to the side. “I wasn’t planning on us coming back here.”

  “It’s alright. You have a nice place,” I smiled softly as I glanced around. “Maybe you can give me a tour later.”

  “Sure,” he mumbled and shook his head. “I’m going to go get some paper plates and something to drink. What do you want? I think I have diet soda, water, beer, maybe some wine…”

  “Whatever you’re having is fine,” I shrugged.

  “That would be a beer,” he chuckled. “Last I checked, you didn’t drink those.”

  “A lot’s changed since then,” I smirked.

  “Alrighty then…beer it is,” he grinned.

  When Nick returned from the kitchen, we settled on the rug, and ate using the coffee table. Awkward silence soon turned into laughter and teasing conversation as we began reminiscing about old times. It was like the last five years had never happened, and things were still the same between us.

  As the night wore on, I began to wonder how the ending to our evening would play out. I was hoping that Nick would want me to stay, but I was prepared to leave if that wasn’t the case.

  Nick glanced over and smiled at me like he was thinking the same thing. He wanted me to stay too, only he didn’t want to be the one to suggest it.

  “So…can I have that tour now?” I stood and grinned down at him.

  “Sure,” he nodded as he unfolded himself from the floor, and rose in front of me. He pointed in the direction of the hall, “There’s three bedrooms down that way, and a guest bath.”

  I walked off not letting him finish as I ventured down the hall. The first room I passed was made up like a guest room. The second one contained a desk, and a weight bench. I assumed he used it as an office. I didn’t go in though, just stuck my head in the door. When I reached the end of the hall, I pushed open the door to what I assumed was the master suite. It was beautiful. A large wooden frame bed was pressed up against one wall with a chest of drawers across from it. A large window draped in a heavy burgundy fabric ran along the far wall. A door, which I assumed was for the master bath, was in the far corner. It looked so manly, but yet so welcoming.

  “This is my room,” came Nick’s voice. I was so lost in my thoughts that I hadn’t even heard him come up behind me. “I’ve thought about this since I bought this house,” he mumbled as he placed his hands on my shoulders, leaning in, and kissed the side of my neck.

  “Thought about what?” I whispered.

  “Having you in here,” he skimmed his nose up the side of my neck and nuzzled the shell of my ear. “Stay with me,” he whispered as he reached to turn me so I was facing him. “Stay with me tonight,” he leaned in
and brushed his lips across mine. “I’ve missed so many moments with you Leah. I don’t want to miss anymore. Please…stay,” he begged before he deepened the kiss.

  I groaned as I opened my mouth to let him in. His tongue swept across my lips before dipping in and claiming me. Now that we were somewhere private, somewhere where people couldn’t see us, it was like I had unleashed a beast. Nick was going to make me remember what we were like. He was going to show me what I’d missed. His dominate side was coming to the surface, and I couldn’t help the fact that it thrilled me. He’d always been so sweet when we were young. This Nick wasn’t a kid. He’d grown up, and learned some new tricks. Tonight…tonight he was going to be the teacher, and me…I was more than willing to let him.

  Chapter 10

  Leah

  As we began moving backwards toward the bed, Nick reached up, and began pulling the straps of my dress off my shoulders. The soft fluttering of his fingers caused a shiver to run straight through me. I’d missed this. I didn’t realized how much until this very moment.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered as he trailed kisses up the side of my neck. “More beautiful than I remember.”

  My head lolled back as he moved lower, running his fingers along the neckline. The trembling I was feeling in my legs began to spread. Nerves mixed with longing waged through me.

  “Nick,” I whimpered. “Please…”

  “Please what?” he mumbled as he pushed us closer to the bed.

  I felt my legs hit the edge, and I released his shoulders from my grip. As I ran my palms down his chest and abs, I felt them tighten. He groaned and moved to capture my mouth once again. The soft caresses that had started slowly began to gather force, and turn the burning fire between us into a raging inferno.

  I grabbed the edge of his shirt, and began pushing it up his torso until it was high enough to yank it over his head. When he tossed it behind him, we crashed back together in a fiery kiss.

  “Oh fuck, I want you so bad right now,” he growled as he grabbed the hem of my dress and peeled it up my body.