When I woke up, the moon was high in the sky, my lights were off except for a lamp on the end table and I was covered by a blanket. The house was quiet and Nicole was gone.
I pushed the blanket to the side and when I sat up, my foot nudged something on the floor. My phone. I picked it up and noticed I had a few messages.
Scrolling through, I found one from my enigma.
Handsome,
Thanks for the cuddles, the warmth, and the relaxing afternoon. I didn’t want to overstay my welcome and would have woken you up, but you looked too peaceful so I let you sleep.
Enjoy your weekend,
Your Ice Queen (with confusing tendencies)
A smile spread onto my face. She knew that I had been upset with her, but despite that and her fears, she had been concerned enough to check up on me.
Tracey would have never done that.
I brushed that thought away and sent Nicole a reply.
Beautiful,
Thanks for the cuddles, but I wish you’d woken me up. I’m now feeling the chill from the pool of water you left behind when you shed that layer of ice. The blanket was a nice touch but I can’t help but wonder what you would have done if there wasn’t one around.
Your Jackass
Within minutes, I had a reply.
I would have stayed to keep you warm. ;-)
Texting was a nuisance to me, so I hit the call button.
“Hello?”
“I hate blankets.” I smiled into the phone. She laughed. “I wish you would have stayed.”
“And then what?”
“I don’t know, but do we really need to figure it all out right now?”
“I suppose not.”
“What are you doing?”
“Hanging out with my guitars and a glass of wine while sporting some rather pitiful looking pajamas.” Her voice sounded relaxed, peaceful, happy. “You?”
“I’m right where you left me,” I told her. “So about those pajamas… are they as bad as those penguin ones you used to wear when you slept over back in high school?”
“Oh God!” I could just imagine the mortified look on her face. “Those were nasty!”
I laughed. “They were cute.”
“These ones aren’t that much better.”
I have to see for myself.
Chapter 22
I grabbed my keys, slid on my shoes, locked my front door and jumped in the car. Our banter continued as I teased her about what I thought she was wearing.
“Take a picture and send it to me,” I told her with a smile as I reached her house.
“No way!” I could tell that she was smiling through her mock horror.
“Then I’m coming over.” I rang her doorbell. “Expecting someone?”
“No. Hold on a sec.”
Door opening, her jaw dropped and I howled with laughter as I took in her hot pink jammies that looked a decade past due for the trash. Her tank top read I am woman, hear me roar. Figuring the damage was already done, she turned around, presenting me with the full picture and I found a Sweet Cheeks fading away on her bottom.
“Prickly but sweet, it’s completely you.”
She groaned, but backed and allowed me entrance. “Shut up!”
“What? It’s kind of cute,” I said while shutting her door. “I have to agree with you though; you’re definitely overdue for new jammies.”
“If you don’t like them then feel free to take them off.” She crossed her arms at her chest and smirked.
I grinned. “Do you really want me to do that?”
“No?” Disappointment reigned only momentarily as she started past me, heading toward the stairs. “I guess I’ll just have to do it myself then.” She pulled her pants off at the bottom of the stairs.
Standing there in lacy black underwear and her top, she said, “Catch!” She threw the garment at my face. “Hold on to those while I get rid of this shirt will you?” I watched as she paused half-way up and reached for the hem and yanked her top over her head. All I could do was stand at the bottom of the stairwell, staring up at her. “Maybe we can burn these when I get back. It’s been a while since I’ve had a fire in the hearth.” She threw me her shirt and that’s when it clicked that she wasn’t wearing a bra. The woman may have worn ridiculous looking jammies, but what was underneath was far from ridiculous at all.
“Sure,” I said, but my feet were already moving in her direction.
I hung a right at the top of the staircase like I saw her do and it wasn’t hard to locate her. She was rummaging through her drawer and humming to some tune I couldn’t make out.
I leaned up against her bedroom’s door-frame and smirked at the sight.
“You play dirty, you know that?” I said, making her jump.
She turned, covering her tits with her arms. “And you’ve grown soft since Austin.”
“Are you trying to get me riled up?”
“If it works.” She approached me and stopped when we were toe-to-toe. I kept my hands to myself. “Which it seems to be.” She looked at my crotch. “So what’s it going to take to make you give in, big guy?”
I laughed. “If you want to play, all you have to do is ask.”
“What if I don’t want to ask?” She ran her finger along my jaw and down my neck, making me shiver. She stood on the tips of her toes. “What if I want you to take what you want?” she whispered over my lips.
I growled and she shut me right up by kissing me hard, her arms winding themselves around my neck as she pushed her tits into my chest. I could feel her hardened nipples through the thin material of my shirt.
My hands went straight for her ass and palmed it as she began to walk backward toward her bed.
“Let’s do this right.” She pulled away, biting her lower lip. Her hands went for my belt and after tucking the condom I had with me between my lips, mine went for my shirt.
Standing in my underwear, my dick aching to feel that silken heat of hers again, I pulled her into me.
“If we’re doing this right, then allow me.” I grabbed her by the waist and with a girly yelp and giggle, I lifted her off of her feet and threw her down onto her back atop her mattress. “Fuck you’re gorgeous.” I slid my underwear off. Her eyes widened and she blushed at my nakedness – or was it the fact that I had stroked myself a few times after donning the condom that made her so bashful?
I crawled up between her legs, taking in the sight of her body. She was tiny, but flawless. My head bent to take one of her nipples in my mouth, tantalizing it with my tongue and teeth while I massaged her other. Perfect handfuls they were. She moaned, her hands feathering through my hair as I switched to her other breast and gave it the same attention.
My mouth followed my hand as it caressed the indentation that followed the middle of her abs all the way down to her navel. Goose bumps broke out all over her torso.
Blowing a puff of hot air on her mound granted me with an arch of her pelvis. The musky scent of her arousal permeated my senses, making my mouth water for a pure unadulterated taste of her.
Slow and torturous, I slid her underwear down her legs, making sure to pay them some attention too. Her musk was more potent now that she was bare to me and I took my time admiring the small tuft of hair she had left on her mostly bare pussy.
I looked up at her and our eyes connected.
“Y-you don’t have to do that.”
Here she was apprehensive when I felt like a kid in a candy store at Christmas. “I want to.”
“But…”
“Nic, is this new to you?”
She blushed. “No?” She bit her bottom lip. “Well, only once.”
“Seriously?” She nodded. “Why?” I allowed a finger to skim her folds, delighting in the heat, the wetness that had begun to manifest.
“It never really did anything for me.”
Damn. What she meant was that no other partner had taken the time to show her how good it could be. The selfishness of those past partners made me
mad. “Really?” She nodded again. “Well that’s about to change.” I lowered my head and licked up her slit.
“Oh God, Mike! This… this is… oh, God, yeah!” Everything else afterward came out in an assortment of moans, groans, and mewls once my mouth fused to her core.
Never did anything for her, my ass!
Her thighs twitched with each stroke of my tongue, her breath caught when my fingers found her sweet spot. With a flick of my tongue onto her clit, her body went rigid.
“I’m coming!”
She tried to pull away from me, but I wrapped my arms around her thighs, pulled to keep her against my face and latched onto that swollen bud of hers, shaking my head from side to side which made her cry out in ecstasy.
Her passion-filled cry rang out in my ears as her body shook with her orgasm.
Pulling away, I kissed her inner thighs as I stroked her heat with my fingers, bringing her down from her high before ascending her body to bring her back to the brink once more.
Before I could pay my respects to her tits again, she pulled me up and attacked my mouth and moaned. Having her taste herself from me like that, and her not pulling away in disgust, was erotic as all hell.
“Does it do anything for you now?” I smirked, giving her another light kiss.
Nicole’s face broke into a grin and she nodded. “Very much.” Her feet rubbed the back length of my legs and my dick, hard as granite, begged for release, poking at her slickened slit.
Arching her hips for me, I slid in slow, watching her eyes glaze over.
Our momentum was fast-paced and frantic, our search for release, imperative. The sweat of our bodies mingled and we glided together with perfect synchronization and ease.
“Fuck!” I said, when her inner walls began to contract around me. My balls tightened up against her ass and I let myself go, body shaking with the force of our combined releases.
I flipped us over so that I wouldn’t crush Nicole with my body and she lay over me, her head on my chest. I began to play with her hair, eliciting a sigh of contentment from her.
“I may have enjoyed our stunt in your office, but I have to say that this beats all,” she said.
“Is that so?”
She lifted her head and winked at me. “That was fun.”
I agreed, but wondered why she felt inclined to put it in those exact words. Soon enough, I discovered why she had.
Nicole tried to exit the bed. I pulled her back to me, settling her with her bare back to my chest and I nipped her earlobe. “You’re not getting away from me as you have with your others,” I whispered. “I happen to enjoy my cuddles and, like I said before, I’m not playing.”
“I just thought.” She sighed. “Never mind what I thought.”
I kissed her temple, tightened my hold around her and buried my nose in her hair. Her body relaxed and her fingers interlaced with mine. I knew that I shouldn’t, but I closed my eyes for a moment. I didn’t expect to fall asleep with her in my arms, but I did for the second time today. It had felt so natural to do just that.
It was midnight when I woke to an empty bed and music coming from downstairs. Reaching for my boxers, I tiptoed to investigate. I stood in the entrance to Nicole’s den and leaned on the wall as I watched her.
She sat, wearing nothing but my dress shirt and I presumed her underwear, her guitar in hand. When her voice faded at the end of her song, she turned enough to see me. She smiled and, as opposed to being tense like last night, she was relaxed.
“I’m sorry, did I wake you?”
I shook my head and walked up to sit on the couch beside her. “Couldn’t sleep?” I tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and kissed her cheek.
“Not exactly.” She smiled. “Inspiration struck. It’s most likely the curse of me picking up my guitar again after being away from it for so long.”
“So last night…?”
“… was the first time I picked up a guitar and played in almost two years.”
“Why the sudden impulse?”
“I think it’s because of you.” She looked down, appearing nervous and tweaked a few chords.
I tilted her chin up and gave her lips a chaste kiss. “Play something for me?”
“I don’t…”
“How about that song you played last night when I walked in?”
She scrunched up her nose. “That song sucks.”
“I loved it.” I wasn’t going to let her know that I had heard it before then. Not yet.
Her lips tilted up to one side in that nervous quirk of hers. “Okay.”
She hiked up her feet onto the coffee table, giving me a nice view of her legs and began to strum.
I smiled and nodded my encouragement to her and off she took me on a whirlwind serenade with one of my favorite tunes of the past.
Chapter 23
On my way home the next morning, I felt guilty for imposing the same end to my time spent with Nicole as she had bestowed upon me yesterday afternoon.
I walked through my front door and rushed to get changed, not bothering with a shower since I had been lucky enough for another round in Nicole’s bathroom before we had called it a night.
Exhausted, but nowhere near as tired as I was upon waking yesterday morning, I shaved and dressed.
Ready to go and face my sister’s wrath, I texted Nicole.
Beautiful,
I’m sorry I couldn’t be there when you woke up. Had to go to Dani’s.
Forgive me? I’ll call you later.
Hope you have a great day,
Mike
Upon entering the Landen household, I was met by the boisterous cries of twin babes. Peering into the living room, Jordan was trying to mute things out with a head-splitting volume on the television.
Jake popped into my field of vision, running from one end of the kitchen to the other with a baby and bottle in hand.
“Someone’s in trouble!” Jordan said in an amused tone and turned the TV off.
“What makes you say that?”
“Mom said so.” He smirked. “What’d you do now?”
“I’ll let you in on it when I know myself. It looks like they could use a hand in there.” I walked into the kitchen and made my presence known.
“Mike.” Danica’s eyes were piercing me.
Here we go! “Here.” I extended my arms and made to grab Gabby, my niece. She went from panic to calm and lay in my arms, her dark baby blues taking me in. “That’s right, Uncle Mike’s here.” I smiled down at her tiny form.
“A baby looks good on you, bro.” Jake handed me a bottle and then popped one in baby Marco’s mouth.
“Thank God!” Danica massaged her temples. “I couldn’t think. One was tough, but two? Having them at the same time is one thing, but did they have to be on the same schedule for everything else too?”
“Sit down and relax, sis. Jake and I have it under control.”
“Let’s talk since you’re stuck here for the next half hour, at least,” she said.
“I’d rather not, but I don’t think I have a choice do I?”
“Nope.”
“Before you start asking questions, here’s the deal,” I said.
“You mean I won’t have to force it out of you?”
“Let me talk, woman.” I sighed. “I like her, Dani, I mean, really like her.” Christ! Could I have sounded any more like a nervous teenager?
I told Danica about what had been going on since the night she had gone into labor up until the night before last.
“When you called yesterday, I thought I was alone.”
“What happened?”
“I know that she’s been hurt bad in the past, she’s told me what happened with Dean, but I got mad. Anyway, when she hesitated and became distant, I gave her the brush-off and went home alone. I was so exhausted that I passed out on the couch. When I woke to take your call, she was curled up against me.
“I know I should have kicked her out after I was done talking to you,
but she wouldn’t wake up and then I realized that I didn’t want her to leave, so I let her sleep and I slept some more.
“When I woke up, she was gone, but she left me a text, apologizing for leaving without waking me. She’d come by because she knew I was upset, Dani.” No one but my family and Ben had ever done that.
“There’s just one problem.” I sighed. “I know she’s not one for playing people, but I can’t shake the fact that this is more for fun than anything serious with her. I like her too much to hurt her, and I’m scared shitless of getting hurt again. I don’t need another Tracey, though I know Nicole wouldn’t do that to me. She knows how it feels to be on the other side.”
“So you mean to say that you’re falling for the short, scrawny, brunette that sported pigtails, funky jammies, fuzzy slippers, and braces; the same girl that you terrorized while we were growing up?” Danica asked. I gave that some thought, but didn’t answer. “Well, are you?”
“Yeah, I guess I am,” I said. “I hate arguing with her, but I love it at the same time. She challenges me in everything; even over that stupid pitch of Winthrow’s.”
She looked puzzled. “You like arguing with her?”
A short laugh escaped me. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but yeah.” I smiled. “The air gets filled with so much tension that when it breaks, we’re left with...”
“Heat,” Jake supplied.
I nodded. “Lots and lots of heat.”
“Men!” Danica shook her head. “I love you both, but I’ll never understand either of you. Well, at least not completely.” That garnered a chuckle from her husband and I. “So what do you plan on doing if she’s only in it for fun? You can’t keep going like this and falling for a girl who won’t worship the ground you walk on, even if she is my best friend.”
“I don’t know.” I looked down at Gabby who’d fallen asleep on her bottle. I rubbed her cheek and she started suckling for her food again. That was the crux of the matter, wasn’t it?
Danica broke the silence. “I have an idea.”
Chapter 24
Play Me to Infinity (The Broken Men Chronicles Book 3) Page 9
