by Sylvie Fox
Holly pulled off her tank and he stripped off his shirt. When he pulled her to him, they were skin against steamy skin. Her apartment wasn’t very hot, but she and Nick created their own blazing heat. Warmth pooled in her belly, her sex, when Nick didn’t return to kissing her mouth but instead kissed her exposed neck, nipping at her shoulder.
Holly slipped her hands into his back pockets, loving the feel of his perfectly muscled butt. Not removing her hands, she pulled Nick to her. The feel of his erection between them emboldened her to go further. She unbuckled his leather belt, unzipped him, and pulled his erection from his boxer briefs.
Seeing Nick hang his head and close his eyes in pleasure as she stroked him pushed her desire to a higher plane. They moved to her bedroom in a timeless waltz, removing more clothes, and devouring each others' mouths along the way.
By the time they reached her bedroom, Nick was completely nude, his erection straining to meet her. Only Holly’s lacy, black bikini panties remained. When she bent to remove them, bracing herself on the bed, Nick held her back. “No, keep them on. They’re incredibly sexy.” Then he instructed her, “Bend over.”
She did as she was told, resting on her forearms on her high mattress, her bottom, a feast for his eyes. Where she would have normally been unsettled having a man to stare at her more than generous assets, something about the rapidness of Nick’s breathing reassured her that her ample derriere was an enormous turn-on for him.
Not seeing Nick or knowing what he was going to do next heightened her anticipation, her pleasure. She gasped when she felt his iron hard erection press against the crevice of her bottom. The gentle rasp of Nick moving against her caused her nipples to pucker. No sooner than her nipples hardened did Nick graze his hot palms against the tips of her breasts, now pendulous by virtue of her position.
The barest scrape of his calloused hands was exquisite torture. The sound of a tearing foil packet nearly set her teeth on edge. In a moment, she knew, Nick would fill her. She almost came when his fingers brushed against her sex to move her panties to the side, exposing her fully to him.
His cock teased her at first, gliding up and down her channel, her moisture causing the most delicious friction. Their cries of satisfaction were simultaneous when he plunged into her to the hilt. As he pulled almost free, then thrust, slowly at first, then faster as the tension built, the duvet’s smooth cotton delicately chafing against her nipples was sweet torture.
When they were both close to the edge, she felt Nick’s fingers parting her folds and caressing her clit, slowly, then harder and faster, as his thrusts increased tempo. At that moment, she looked up and realized she could see their reflections in her ornately carved floor mirror. She didn’t watch erotic movies, but staring at Nick’s aroused face, then her own, their bodies moving in rhythm, was as exciting as the most intimate touch. When her eyes met Nick’s in the mirror, they came almost simultaneously, their cries mingling in the dark room.
Holly felt bereft when Nick pulled out and went into her small master bathroom to clean himself. Feeling as strong as wet spaghetti, she collapsed on the bed, rolling on her back and staring wordlessly up to the ceiling. Nick came back into the room. Before Holly could speak, before she could launch into her routine “I’m really tired, you should get going” speech, Nick spoke.
“Holly, I don’t think I can do this anymore.”
Her heart skipped a few beats, and her stomach plummeted to her toes, but she kept up the bravest face she could muster. If Nick wanted to call it quits, that was his right. They didn’t have any kind of hold on each other. A few weeks of great sex did not equal commitment. When she didn’t respond, Nick grabbed her hand, pulling her up to a sitting position, and answered the question that had lodged itself in her throat like a lump of difficult-to-swallow vegetables. “I don’t want to break up with you, I just… I want… Holly, I don’t know why this is so hard between us. I want to spend the night with you.”
She pulled back physically and emotionally. “Nick, that’s not a good idea.”
“Holly, I don’t want to sleep with you,” he said with a devilish grin when her expression turned incredulous, “not this minute anyway. I want to spend the night sleeping with you.”
“What about the rules? You promised—”
“I know, but this is the only way I can do this right now.”
Do what? She wanted to know. But dreading crossing the line into the prohibited “relationship zone,” she didn’t ask.
She tried not to let the trepidation she felt show on her face. “Sure, whatever, but you don’t have a change of clothes,” she said, her tone as blasé as she could make it. His words and actions were slowly chipping away at the granite that had formed around her heart after Drew.
“I have everything I need in my gym bag.” Hmm, so Nick had anticipated this line of defense.
While Holly showered and changed back into her tank top and fresh undies, brushed her teeth, and tied her hair back into a ponytail for bed, Nick brushed his teeth and pulled on a pair of boxers. He filled the doorframe, muscular arms crossed, watching Holly. He admired her as she smoothed cream on her face and neck at her vanity. Holly organized her brush and comb on the carved wood surface of her vanity. She started straightening her cosmetics, then moved to cleaning out her drawers. Holly started when Nick spoke, his breath on her neck. She hadn’t heard him walk toward her.
“Come to bed, Holly,” he said, his tone insistent.
“Remember I have to get up early tomorrow—last minute volunteer arrangements and such. So you’re not going to get that much of a good night’s sleep here.”
Ignoring her, he pulled back the duvet and she got in the bed, lying stiffly on one side. Nick climbed in next to her and pulled the covers over them both. “Come here,” Nick said gruffly, pulling Holly into his arms. She went willingly this time, out of things to do, out of excuses to make, her head resting in the crook of his shoulder, her leg inserted between his.
“Holly, what are you afraid of? Tell me.”
“This. Us,” she said, dropping her voice.
“Why? I would never do anything to hurt you.”
“I’m sure you never would, intentionally,” Holly whispered. “I just worry that if we get involved, really involved, you’ll get bored and leave when the next young girl comes along.”
“But I want to be with you, Holly. I don’t have any plans to go anywhere or be with anyone else.”
“For right now,” she said, not able to hide her skepticism.
“What do I have to do to get you to trust me?”
“I don’t have all the answers, Nick.” Then she turned her face and spoke into his shoulder, worried he’d see emotions she couldn’t hide. “I don’t want to need you, Nick, or love you and have you leave me. It would kill me this time. I don’t think my heart could take it… ”
He didn’t ask any more of her, just stroked her back until her breathing evened out and deepened.
Holly usually had trouble falling asleep. Often she would have warm milk, or play soothing music to relax. But that night in Nick’s arms, she slept better than she had in years.
Nick’s plan, hatched last night, was halfway done. One by one, he was getting past the rules. He’d managed to get past her defenses and convinced her to let him spend the night at her place. And what a night it had been. It was exactly like that first perfect night with her. Just Holly and him, no walls, no barriers, no pretense. No rules.
It wasn’t that Nick didn’t enjoy sleeping with—no, making love with—Holly, but spending time with her, getting to know her, getting beyond her defenses and protests put him one step closer to convincing her that they could go for the long haul.
Those thoughts pushed Nick to carefully untangle himself from Holly and pull himself out of bed no matter how comfortable he was. It was time to move on with step two of the plan. Careful not to wake her, Nick made his way to the living room to make a couple of quick calls on his cell phone.
“Did you shower already?” she asked, looking at the clock and realizing it was much later than she should have slept in on a Saturday morning. “Oh, my God, you should have woken me up. I can’t be late.”
Nick shook his head. Folding the sports section into his lap, he made direct eye contact with her. “Hey, lazybones. Don’t worry, I’ve got it all sorted out.”
“What do you mean?” Holly asked, frantically pulling a pair of jeans and worn chambray shirt from her closet.
“While you slept in, I called the Dean of Students from Nueva Esperanza, and he’s bringing over a few kids who are low on their volunteer hours. Sophie’s already agreed to help, and my father will be there as well.”
“Nick, I don’t know what to say. This is such a relief.” Holly buckled her watch, then looked at the time. “I still have to get going. I’m the coordinator, and I can’t be late.”
“I’ll drive.”
“You’re coming, too?”
“I would never leave you in the lurch. I’d be honored to spend the day helping where I can.”
There was only one car in the small parking lot when they arrived at the Korby Center. Nick pulled up alongside a sleek Acura.
“Nick, Ryan volunteered to help us out today.”
“Ryan?”
“From the restaurant… my, um, date,” Holly said wrinkling her nose.
“It’s all good,” he said casually. “That Ryan and I,” Nick gestured with his hand, “we’ve got a lot in common.”
“What’s that?” she asked, looking confused.
Nick leaned across the gearshift toward the passenger seat and gently grabbed Holly’s chin, swiveling her face toward his. “We both know how special you are.” He kissed her softly. It was a kiss not of passion, but something more, something deeper. “I understand that we have a lot to do today. Let’s get to it.”
Holly shouldn’t have worried about having enough volunteers. While more Equia volunteers would have made the company look better, Dean Callas came through with a full contingent in tow. She’d already met Anthony and Carlos, who brought another four eager student volunteers in the school van. Sophie showed up with her now turquoise hair wrapped tightly in a bandana, in sturdy overalls, boots and gloves, ready to work.
Holly met briefly with the Korby Center residents, staff, and board members, and divided up the work. The kids from Nueva and Korby were assigned to the yard, first to clean up the debris and dead plants, then to transplant new flowers, shrubs, and trees. With Dominic’s expertise to guide them, Holly thought it best that Nick, Sophie, Ryan, and she work on the inside—painting the bedrooms and the recreation room, and arranging the new furniture Equia had donated.
Holly hadn’t spent a lot of time with Nick out of bed in the last few weeks. She had forgotten how funny and charming he could be. Even though they were working hard to finish the project in one day as she had promised, he kept everyone’s spirits up.
He bantered with Dominic, sharing stories of project disasters in his dad’s years as a contractor. Even Ryan got into it teasing Sophie. Looking at them, Holly thought she saw sparks. Now that would be an interesting turn of events. Ryan was as straight laced as one could get, and Sophie was adventurous to a fault.
Nick saw the obvious chemistry, too.
“Do you think they’d ever get together?” Nick whispered only partially in jest when Sophie and Ryan were out of earshot.
“I don’t think so,” Holly said, laughing and shaking her head.
“Why?” Nick asked, genuinely perplexed by her attitude.
“He’s a lot more like me,” Holly said matter-of-factly, “and Sophie’s… well, Sophie.”
“And what does that mean?”
“He strikes me as the kind of guy who wants to plant roots. Sophie’s the kind of person who wants to grow wings.”
With the work completed late in the afternoon, Holly and the others toured their progress. Holly was grateful that the board members and residents were happy with the job they’d done. As with other projects Holly had supervised, fewer volunteers were sometimes better. There were enough people to get the work done, but not so many that people were getting in each other’s way.
Nick was looking around the center with the others, proud of the work they had done, when he came across a young looking girl sulking in a corner. He knelt down so he could see eye to eye with the brown-skinned girl.
“You’re Jalicia, right?” Nick asked.
The girl only nodded, silent.
“It’s been a real pleasure working on your house today. Are you happy with the way things turned out?”
She nodded again, tears gathering in her eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
The girl wiped her eyes and nose unceremoniously. “You guys have been so nice. But you’ll go to your nice houses in Beverly Hills or in West L.A., and we’ll be here alone again.”
“The people who run the center seem very nice and encouraging,” Nick said, at a loss as to how to soothe this young woman.
“They are nice. And it was very special what they arranged for our rooms today. It’s just that all this,” she said with a sweeping gesture, “doesn’t make my mom and dad okay so I can go home and live with them.”
Nick sighed, and leaned back on his haunches. “I won’t claim that I can relate to you. I grew up with both my parents and my sister and brother in a great home. My mom didn’t work and took care of us kids. My dad did all he could to spend time with us and teach us how to be self-sufficient. I know that I was luckier than most kids. But I know plenty of people who’ve had it rougher who have found success and happiness in their lives,” Nick said. “You know Holly, the woman who organized this event?”
The girl smiled. “Your girlfriend?”
Nick grinned. “I’m working on that. Anyway, she’s one amazing lady. She almost single-handedly pulled all this together. She’s confident, smart, and beautiful. However, more than that, she’s an orphan. Her parents died when she was young, but she made the best of things and look at where she is now.”
The girl glanced up as Holly walked into the room.
Nick continued. “She’s an incredible woman as I’m sure you will be one day. Jalicia Howard, right?” Nick said. “I just hope you still remember me when you’re wealthy and successful.”
The girl walked out of the room, her head higher, and her gait more confident than before. Moved by what she had just witnessed, Holly pulled Nick outside to a shaded and secluded area on the side of the building. “Nick, I just want to thank you. I’m sure you probably would like to have spent your weekend doing something more fun—” Holly didn’t get a chance to finish her thought before Nick broke in.
“My perfect day, Holly, is any day I spend with you, no matter what we’re doing. I can’t imagine anywhere I’d rather be.”
Holly felt her stomach quiver with nerves and a lump form in her throat. These were all the right words she’d waited her life to hear—but they were coming from the wrong person. Theirs was a no commitment, no frills relationship. She broke his unwavering gaze when, gratefully, she heard one of the Korby people calling her name. It was time to finish up here and get home.
There were hugs and tears all around. A number of the young women in the shelter wept silently. They had said several times that in all their years of foster care, they’d never had people take the time to put together rooms of their own. It had been a surprise when one of the board members had presented each girl with a hand-embroidered pillow for her room in a favorite color, with her name stitched in.
Nick drove them. Holly was quiet, overcome with a whole gamut of emotions she couldn’t put a name to. She usually didn’t participate directly in the volunteer activities. Holly would never be able to get all of her other work done if that were the case, but occasionally
she jumped into these “done in a day” projects. It helped her remember why she loved her job, especially on those interminable mornings filled with endless budget and marketing meetings. It was on days like today that she was never so happy that she had changed the direction of her career. Holly could see that she was making a real impact on the community.
He pulled into a parking space near her building and followed her up to her apartment without invitation, like they were a real couple.
“Are you hungry? I could throw together a little something for dinner.”
“Do you mind?” he asked wearily.
“No, you did a lot of the heavy lifting today. Go. Relax in the living room. I’ll need about twenty minutes.”
Holly found only some late summer squash and a wedge of parmesan cheese in the fridge. She pulled out pasta, an egg, and some garlic and got to work. She heard the TV come on and knew Nick had gotten comfortable. Twenty minutes later, she had a hearty zucchini carbonara ready to serve.
“Nick?”
He didn’t answer. Holly stepped into the living room only to see that he had dozed off on the couch. Forgetting dinner for a moment, Holly gazed at him. His perfect features were beautiful when he slept. She walked over and gingerly sat down next to him on the sofa. Holly caressed his chiseled features lightly, and when he didn’t stir, she continued her exploration, greedily taking him in. She touched his dark, gently waving hair that, like hers, sometimes seemed to have a life of its own. She smoothed her hand along his jaw, rough with half a day’s stubble. When she rubbed a thumb along his full masculine lower lip, Nick grasped her wrist, startling her. Her first reaction was to snatch her hand away, but he held her firm.
“Dinner’s ready,” Holly said unnecessarily. The odor of garlic, olive oil, and sautéed vegetables had permeated the small apartment.
Nick pulled Holly to him, and suddenly off kilter, she landed solidly on his chest. Nick gave her another of those sweet, gentle kisses filled with more promise than sensuality.
