An Early Spring

by Ann Lister

  As the waves of her orgasm began to subside, Nick quickly undid the zipper of Colby’s shorts and pushed the garment from her hips. He spread her thighs with his hand, then pulled his cock from his pants and slid into her from behind. He sunk into her with one fluid thrust, his arms wrapped around her hips, holding her in place against him. His thrusts were deep and skillful, swiftly bringing her to another peak, before allowing the need for his own release to take over his brain. His orgasm seemed to last forever; rocketing straight through his entire body, causing him to stumble forward and almost knocking them both to the floor.

  “I can’t believe we just did that,” Colby said. An intonation of disgust rang in her voice that was difficult to miss. She stepped away from him and pulled up her shorts.

  Nick reached for her hand and began tugging her toward the bedroom. “Yeah, and we’re about to do it again.”

  “No, I don’t think so,” Colby said, and jerked her hand from his grasp.

  “Why not?” he asked with hurt.

  Colby rubbed at her face. “Because I'm moving out, Nick, which makes what we just did a bit twisted.”

  Nick dropped his gaze, disbelieving she could possibly leave him, when they were so perfect for each other in every way. There was so much he wanted to say but the words escaped him. She knew what was in his heart, he thought, and yet, it didn’t seem to matter one damn bit.

  “I’m sorry,” she said softly, noticing the look of confusion on his face. “I never should have let things go that far.”

  Nick followed her into the bedroom. “If I thought for one second you didn’t want that, I wouldn’t have persisted, but it felt like you wanted it as badly as I did.”

  Colby went to the dresser and began to fill a suitcase with her clothing. “I'll get my things packed and leave before this gets anymore uncomfortable than it already is.”

  Nick sat down on the edge of the bed and watched her move around their bedroom collecting her stuff and packing it into any container she could find.

  “I can't believe you want to do this,” he said quietly.

  She spun to look at him. “I don't want to,” she said. “But I see no other options, since you're unwilling to take that test, and I'm unwilling to move forward with you not knowing the truth.”

  Colby left him sitting on the bed and walked into the spare bedroom to pack up her things stored in that room. She had no idea how long it took, but when she finally finished packing, Nick was not inside the cabin. She finally found him outside in the back yard adjusting the seat on his bicycle. She approached him slowly; each of her steps feeling uncertain and clumsy.

  “Do you mind driving me back to the lodge?” she asked. “If you'd rather not, I can call a cab.”

  Nick dropped the wrench onto the ground and stood up. He looked at her for a long moment, then shook his head. “I don’t want you to go.”

  “This is the best solution for both of us, Nick. Unless you’re ready to be completely honest and open with me, I can’t be with you, and sadly I don’t think you’re anywhere near that point.”

  “How am I not being honest, Colby?” he asked, stepping closer to her.

  “I think there are deeper reasons beyond what you’ve already admitted, to why you're refusing to take that paternity test. It hurts you don’t feel comfortable, or have enough trust, to want to explore those reasons with me.”

  Nick shook his head again. “That’s not the case.”

  Colby wiped at a tear on her cheek. “I disagree, Nick. I think you need to take some time to really look at this from every angle. I hope in time you’ll get to the bottom of your issues and take that test. Nathan deserves that much.”

  The ride to the bottom of the mountain seemed endless and as silent as death. Colby kept her eyes pointed forward, but from the corner of her eye she could see the grip Nick had on the steering wheel; his fingers wrapped so tightly the knuckles were white.

  “You can drop me by the hotel,” she said.

  Nick nodded and turned the corner, taking them to the front of the lodge building. He pulled up near the entrance and parked his truck.

  Colby sat beside him. She cleared her throat and glanced at him.

  “Here,” she said, twisting the engagement ring off her finger. “You should keep this.”

  He remained still, his focus looking out the side window and not at her. “I don't want it back,” he said.

  She set the ring on the dashboard; the sun caught the reflecting facets, creating tiny rainbows inside the truck cab. “It'll take me a few minutes to unload,” she said. “Let me go get a luggage cart and I'll be right back.”

  She shut the door and walked into the lobby of the hotel and returned with the cart. She pushed it to the rear of Nick's truck and unlatched the back gate. The whole time Nick remained sitting in the front seat. She was just about to load the last box onto the cart, when Nick stepped from the truck.

  He walked toward her slowly. His eyes were filled with tears. He briefly made eye contact with her and looked away; rubbing at his forehead. His mouth opened to speak, then shut to clear his throat.

  “What can I say that'll make you stay?” he asked softly.

  “Nothing,” she said. “If I stay, we'll end up hating each other.

  “I could never hate you.” His voice was nearly a whisper.

  She stepped closer and lightly touched the side of his face. Her thumb pad running over his eye to wipe away a tear. He took her hand and pressed her finger tips to his mouth.

  “You're killing me,” he said.

  Two days later, Colby was ready to leave the resort. She found Glen on the deck of the lodge and approached him.

  “I heard you're leaving,” Glen said, giving her a hug and kissing her forehead.

  “News travels fast,” she said.

  “Nick wasn't answering my calls, so I went over to see him,” Glen said.

  “Is he okay?”

  Glen shook his head. “No, I wouldn't say so.”

  “I'm hoping in time, Nick will see this was for the best.”

  “I hope you're right.”

  “The timing works,” she said, desperate to put a positive spin on the situation. “My contract with the resort is up and I decided not to extend it. It's a good time to go back to California.”

  “I wish it didn't come down to this,” Glen said.

  “Me, too,” she said. “More than you know.”

  Colby pulled a piece of paper from the pocket in her skirt. “I want you to have this,” she said, handing the paper to Glen. “This has all my contact information on it.”

  “Does Nick have this, too?”

  “I only finalized the details this morning and I haven’t talked to Nick in two days,” she said.

  Glen glanced at the address and smiled. “Malibu?”

  “I’ll be house-sitting for a girlfriend while she’s away on business. The schedule worked out perfectly.”

  “I’m sorry you’re leaving, Colby. I wish there was another way.”

  “I know. I’ve been over this in my head a thousand times and it all comes back to his unwillingness to take that paternity test.”

  “I understand,” Glen said.

  Colby’s eyes began to fill with tears. “Will you keep an eye on Nick for me?”

  “Always.”

  “Nick has a doctor appointment next week to see if he’s physically ready to return to work,” she said. “I’m worried if he goes back to work, he may overdo it and hurt himself.”

  “I’ll watch his back.”

  “You’re a good friend,” Colby said, trying to smile but not quite able to make it happen. “I hope you’ll use those phone numbers to call me from time to time and let me know everything is all right.”

  “And, by saying everything, you mean Nick. Correct?”

  Colby nodded. “I’ll give you a call, once I get settled,” she said, lowering her head and wiping at her cheeks.

  Glen touched Colby lightly on the arm. “I�
��m certain everything will work out for you and Nick.”

  “I gave it my best shot,” she said. “The rest is up to him.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  A month later, Colby found herself settled into the Malibu beach house enjoying her surroundings but still missing Nick terribly. She had talked to Glen twice on the phone since she left Colorado and knew Nick was okay. She also knew Nick had returned to work, but besides being partners while at work, Glen saw very little of Nick outside the confines of the job. Nick fulfilled his daily obligation to the Search and Rescue Team, but beyond that commitment, he had little interest in socializing with anyone.

  Colby spent her time scouring the newspaper looking for a suitable job for herself, walking or running along the beach in front of the cottage, and endlessly flipping through the photo album Nick had given to her for her birthday. The pictures of them together were priceless to her now. As painful as it was to look at the snapshots, it still lent her some amount of comfort. If she couldn’t have Nick, the photographs would have to suffice and the knowledge of that truth hurt.

  It was a Friday morning, when the sound of the doorbell forced Colby from a lounge chair on the deck overlooking the Pacific ocean. She pulled on a pair of jean shorts to cover her bikini bathing suit bottom and padded her way toward the front door of the cottage. She opened the door a crack and saw a dark-haired man standing in the bright sunshine of the driveway with his back facing her.

  “Can I help you?” she asked. “Are you lost?” She kept the door open no more than a crack for safety reasons and waited for the man to face her.

  At the sound of her voice, the man started to turn around. Colby blinked to focus, almost in disbelief of what she was seeing was real. The man stepped forward into the shady overhang of the roof line and smiled nervously, his face now shadowed, became perfectly clear and recognizable to Colby. It was Nick, standing only a few feet from her, wearing blue jeans and a short-sleeved cotton shirt. His smile was endless.

  “Hi,” he said, lifting the dark sunglasses that concealed his brown eyes. “I wasn’t sure I was at the right house.”

  “Nick,” she said, elongating his name with breathless surprise.

  “Glen was kind enough to share your contact information,” Nick said. “I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Of course not.”

  “Can I come in?” he asked, shifting nervously on the front step of the cottage.

  She smiled warmly and opened the door.

  “I flew into LAX last night and rented a car for the trip here today,” he said, his eyes darting around the layout of the house.

  “That was quite a feat to attempt by yourself, when you’ve never been here before.”

  “I didn’t say it was easy,” he laughed. “I got lost twice getting out of the city, but somehow managed to find my way.”

  He moved into the living room and stood with his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “This house is amazing,” he said. Then he crossed the room to stand in front of a wall of windows facing the Pacific Ocean. “Glen said your friend owns this?”

  “She’s in China for three months on business and said I could use it while she was away,” Colby said.

  Her eyes scanned the length of Nick’s backside. The image of his long legs, narrow hips and broad shoulders still powerful enough to make her heart race. She studied his movements. He seemed anxious, his eyes hesitant and full of emotion. She wondered what was on his mind and why he had come all the way to California to see her. She watched him walk out onto the deck and stand in the sunshine. She paused briefly, then followed, standing beside him at the railing.

  Nick watched her approach and smiled. Colby’s skin was a darker shade of brown than he remembered, making her legs look even more delicious. Her breasts were only partially concealed behind two tiny triangles of fabric that made up her bathing suit top. The shorts she wore barely consisted of enough fabric to be classified as being shorts and revealed the muscle tone of her thighs all the way up to her hips.

  His gaze burned across the flat plain of her stomach and stopped on the indentation of her belly button. He remembered the night they stayed in Vail Colorado after he proposed. Their engagement celebration continued in bed, with him pouring champagne into her navel and licking the liquid directly from her body.

  “You look…really good,” he said in a whispered tone, almost choking on the words as they rolled from his mouth.

  “Thank you. So do you,” she said, as the wind blew her long blond hair around her shoulders. “I still can’t believe you’re really here.”

  “I’m a little surprised by that myself,” he said. He held her gaze for a moment before turning to face the ocean, then rested his elbows onto the wooden deck railing and inhaled slowly. His eyes focused on the people below them on the beach, trying to collect his thoughts, wanting to choose the right words to reflect exactly what he was feeling and drawing a blank. He had thought of nothing else on the ride along the coast to Malibu, and now that he was standing beside Colby, his brain was empty.

  “I heard you went back to work,” Colby said, breaking the awkward silence between them.

  “It was a long time coming,” he said. “The first week was hell, like doing double sessions in high school football, and I was really sore. I’m okay now, still not a hundred percent, but I’m damn close.”

  “I was worried you’d overdo it and get hurt,” she said.

  Nick laughed. “My supervisor wouldn’t have allowed that to happen. Everyone did a fine job of babysitting me, especially Glen.”

  “I’m glad you’re back doing something you obviously enjoy,” she said.

  Nick turned and looked at her. The clarity of her blue eyes took his breath away. He thought she was stunningly beautiful when they met, and even more so now, because he knew he was a better man for knowing her. His eyes dropped to her lips and the urge to kiss her became overwhelming, making him feel unsteady on his feet.

  “I’ve really missed you, Nick,” she said, blinking around the fluid beginning to pool in her eyes. “You have no idea how much I wish things could be different between us.”

  Nick nodded his head, thankful for her honesty and the opportunity to talk about something personal, rather than continue with their uncomfortable line of small-talk. He turned against the railing toward her, anxious to tell her the reason he had come all the way to Malibu.

  “What if things were different?” he asked, and took a cautious step closer. “Would you come back to Colorado with me?”

  Colby’s heart began to beat a little harder behind her ribs. “Yes. I would.”

  He took another step; a smile slowly curling his lips. “Would you still want to marry me?”

  “Absolutely. Why? Are things different, Nick?”

  “Yes, I'd say they are.”

  He shifted again and reached; the very tips of his fingers stroking her face.

  Colby closed her eyes when she felt his touch and the warmth that came with it.

  “How so?” she asked, swallowing hard.

  He moved again and eliminated the remaining space between them; nervous she might step away; relieved when she didn’t. He set his cheek softly against hers; placed his hands on the gentle curve of her waist.

  “Nathan isn't my son,” he whispered. He lightly brushed his lips across her face as he said the words, his hands dropped down and squeezed her hips.

  Colby raised her chin to him, loving the sensations that came with his closeness, the scent of him; his heat. “Are you certain?”

  Nick reached behind him and pulled a letter from the back pocket of his jeans, then handed the paper to her.

  “What’s this?” Colby asked.

  “It’s a lab report for the paternity test,” he said. “This proves what I knew all along. He’s not my son. A copy went to Sarah, too, so this is officially a dead subject.”

  Colby quickly scanned through the words on the paper and covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh, my God!”
she sighed. “You really took the paternity test?”

  “I went to see my doctor the day after you left and had him do it,” he said. “I got the verbal results almost two weeks ago but wanted to wait until I had concrete proof so you could see it for yourself. Soon as this letter arrived, I booked a flight to come here.”

  Colby slid her arms around his waist and hugged him.

  “I’m sorry I put you through that, Nick,” she said.

  “I’m not mad at you for insisting I take a paternity test, Colby. You were right. It needed to be done and now we all know the truth. My only regret is that it took me so long to realize you were right,” he grinned sheepishly.

  “If I thought there was any chance you’d submit to that test, I would have stayed in Colorado. The only reason I left was because you flat-out refused to do it. I saw no room for compromise and no reason for me to stay.”

  “I understand,” he said. “And if I’d thought for one minute you’d really leave me like that, I would have relented to the test long before I did. I honestly didn't think you'd leave.”

  He pulled her to his chest and ran his fingers along her spine. Drinking her in; allowing himself to really feel her against him. She fit perfectly in his embrace.

  They stood in silence, holding onto each other tightly for several minutes. The only sounds resonating around them was the crash of the ocean rolling onto the beach below them and the sea birds circling above.

  Colby finally bent backward to see his eyes. Her fingers lightly stroked the side of his face, ran along his jaw line, then down onto his throat fanning over his Adam’s apple. “Are you disappointed with the results?” she asked.

  “Yes and no,” he exhaled. “Honestly, a very small part of me would have been happy if Nathan was mine, but a bigger part - a much bigger part, is thrilled not to have any reason to have further contact with Sarah. It’s finally over and I never have to think of her again.”