One Simple Step (Journey Series)

by Williams, C. A.

  We got started once we finished our lunch. I was amazed at how efficiently she worked, and really, it didn’t end up being that bad. “I don’t know about this color.” Ally scrunched up her nose as she stood back, arms crossed over her chest, causing the tops of her boobs to pop out from the tiny white tank top she had on even more. I had been itching to rip it off ever since she showed up.

  “What’s wrong with it? I like green.”

  “I know you like green, but do you really want to wake up to this every morning? I feel like I’m inside of a Christmas tree.”

  “Actually, yes. And you’re my present that I get to unwrap every morning.” I yanked her towards me, and kissed the top of her head as she buried her face in my chest and giggled.

  “Well, okay then I guess I can’t argue with that.” She pushed against me with both hands, and wagged one finger at me. “Hands off, we’re almost done.”

  Damn, I loved this girl.

  She knew it, too. I couldn’t help myself when I said it late one night, while she sat on my lap and we stared out into the inky black water. She leaned her head against me and it just felt so right. I was nervous as hell that she wouldn’t say it back, even though that wouldn’t change how I felt.

  I knew it was fast, especially after we had both just come out of long-term relationships, but I didn’t care. I about pissed my pants when she said it right back without skipping a beat. The timing was right for both of us, and our relationship seemed to get even better after that, if that was possible.

  What I really wanted to do, what I felt would be the next step up in our relationship, was to ask her to move in with me. She was already here a few nights a week, and I missed her like hell when I woke up to an empty bed on the nights she wasn’t. But I wasn’t so sure I should. I was being held back by the curveball that Kara had thrown at me. It could change my life for good, and I wasn’t so sure how Ally would react to it. One of the main reasons I hadn’t told her, and instead, was holding it in, letting it rip me apart on the inside.

  “There. I guess it doesn’t look so bad.” Ally took a long sip of her water, emptying the bottle and chucking it in my direction. She of course missed.

  “Oh, you’re gonna pay for that.”

  “Really?” She giggled, quirking one eyebrow at me. “How?” I answered with a swipe of the lovely green paint that she loved so much.

  Her mouth fell open and she touched her wet cheek before I saw her eyes light up, and I knew what was coming. It was game on.

  She came at me with a roller, and I was so glad we had put drop cloths down because I could tell that this was going to be one hell of a mess, but a fun one.

  I grunted as she hit me right in the chest with a roller and we both fell backwards. “Ow!” Ally rubbed her forehead that had bumped into mine when we landed. I craned my neck to kiss it, but before I could, her hand shot up, smearing paint across my face.

  We rolled across the floor after that, taking turns swiping paint onto each other, so when we were finally finished, we were both covered from head to toe. “We’re a complete mess,” Ally stated, rolling out from underneath me since I had her pinned against the floor. Just where I wanted her to be. “Let’s take a shower,” she suggested as she stripped out of her clothes, leaving a trail behind her as she made her way to the bathroom. Well, on second thought…

  “That sounds like a great idea,” I said pulling my shirt over my head as I hurried to catch up and she squealed when my hand smacked her bare ass. I made quick work of my shorts, and we were both standing in the steamy bathroom, naked but still covered in paint.

  “I don’t think I like this color.” I grazed her stomach with my hands, and she sucked in a deep breath, holding herself up against the bathroom counter. “I love it, on you at least.”

  The feel of her bare skin against mine was almost too much to handle, and when her hand slipped in between us, her fingertips feathering over my hardness, I about came unglued on the spot. I could barely stand it, but I needed more.

  My hands fisted into her hair, tipping her face up to mine, and I attacked her mouth and jaw, licking and nipping as she twisted her hips against me. I cupped her ass with one hand to pull her harder into me, and she complied, knowing exactly what I needed by wrapping her legs tightly around my waist. “So wet and ready for me,” I murmured into her neck as my hand disappeared to explore.

  “Nick,” she panted out, squeezing her eyes shut before popping them back open, her blue eyes full of want. And I wanted nothing more than to give her exactly what she wanted. She dug her nails into my backside, trying to guide me wordlessly, but I definitely didn’t need any instructions.

  I pushed quickly inside, letting out a loud sigh as I entered her warmness.

  Pure. Fucking. Heaven.

  Her hips arched off the countertop to meet mine every time, and I picked up the pace in a hurried frenzy. Her head fell back, and I dropped my lips down to take her nipple into my mouth, pulling one of her legs up even higher against me, filling her as much as possible.

  “Oh my...” Ally couldn’t even finish her sentence as her breathing quickened, and I couldn’t blame her, it wasn’t that easy to think when this right here was happening. I pulled out almost completely, and she whimpered once with need, before I slammed back into her, and her hips pushed back down to meet me.

  That was all she needed. Her body shuddered around mine, and I rocked into her once more, before I was right there with her. I let my body weight completely cover her, and she giggled pushing at my chest. “Um…my ass is in the sink.”

  I peeked over her shoulder to see that all of our movement had slid her practically across the counter and one of her very fine looking ass cheeks was hanging over the sink. A low laugh rumbled up from my chest, but she gave me a look that instantly shut me up. I could tell she wasn’t amused.

  I pulled out slowly, groaning at the loss of connection between our bodies. I would be inside of her all day for the rest of my life if I could, but I don’t think she would really go for that.

  I lifted her up, and she wrapped her body around mine once again. “How ‘bout that shower then?”

  “Okay,” she whispered against my neck, and just with that simple answer, I knew we would be doing a whole lot more than showering, and I was all set to go.

  This girl was absolutely blowing my mind.

  Chapter 17

  Ally

  I pushed myself up on one elbow, and put my chin in my hand as I stared down at Nick with a smile. My finger traced over the well-defined muscles in his bare, tan stomach, and I hitched a leg over his to snuggle my body closer into his warmth.

  I couldn’t believe how far we had come in such a short amount of time.

  Teddy kept to his promise, and a week after the night he had dropped back into my life unexpectedly, I received the divorce papers from his lawyer’s office. All that was needed was my signature, and things moved pretty smoothly after that.

  I didn’t want Teddy’s money. I wasn’t some money grubbing ex that planned to take her husband to the cleaners. Teddy was right though, when he said that I had basically been their manager for the past couple of years, and when he proposed one lump sum instead of monthly alimony, I agreed.

  So, I was officially divorced, and a free woman.

  Well, as free as I could get I suppose. Nick had stolen my heart practically the minute I met him, and I didn’t want it back.

  And now here we were in Indiana. Nick wanted to make things right with Leah and my family, and properly meet everyone. So, after he made sure Aaron, his assistant manager, was totally capable of running the resort on his own for a weekend, we scheduled a trip to visit my parents.

  At least I didn’t have to worry about work anymore. As soon as Leah left, I took her advice about starting up my own business, and jumped in feet first. My bedroom and Nick’s house had been overtaken by headbands, flowers, bows, and tulle.

  I already had some mad marketing skills on my side from work
ing with the band, so the first step I took was setting up a website. The Internet was everything with this type of business. From there, I started adding pictures of all the different creations that I made, and started to get custom orders quickly.

  I became so busy that eventually working at the resort just didn’t make sense anymore, even though I knew that would cut the time in half that I got to spend with Nick. He said we would make it work when I gave my notice, and we had done just that.

  We spent his days off together, and days that he worked, we ended up having lunch, or I would pop in during his breaks.

  He hadn’t asked me to move in, but we were practically living together. It just felt right waking up in his bed, and if I stayed back at Remy’s, I just woke up lonely and missing him.

  I continued to watch him sleep, frowning when I saw his eyebrows scrunch together. It looked like he was worried about something, even is his sleep. I had noticed things were a little off with him, but every time I asked, he brushed it aside and played it up to being stressed from work.

  I knew his job was stressful, but I could tell it was something else. I had no idea why he wouldn’t just tell me. I’m sure it was something that we could easily work out so that it wasn’t eating at him like it seemed to be doing. For now, I would just have to wait, and hopefully he would be able to trust me with whatever it was.

  I heard his phone beep, and I grabbed it from the small table, hitting a button on the side to silence it. I was reaching to set it back down when my eye caught the name Kara, and I did a double take. I hated to feel like I was spying on Nick, but what in the hell was that girl still contacting him for?

  My stomach dropped when I slid the unlock button across the screen, and I tried to discreetly read it, even though I felt extremely guilty. If I had paid a little more attention when I was with Teddy, though, maybe I would’ve caught onto the cheating. That wasn’t what was happening here, was it? Just the thought made me sick.

  I decided against reading it, and laid the phone back down on the table. Nick wasn’t Teddy, and I needed to trust that. Just because I had been burned in the past didn’t mean it was going to happen again. I was just jumping to conclusions, and we know where that landed me the first time. I think I actually remember him saying she had a box of his stuff that had been mixed in with her things when she moved out that he still needed to pick up. See, perfectly good explanation.

  “Are you watching me sleep?” he asked in a husky voice, not yet opening his eyes, but his lips twisted into a smirk, flashing a dimple at me. I loved those things.

  “Yup, I am.” I giggled when his hand shot out, and he grabbed around my waist, pulling me on top of him. I straddled his body, giving a little wiggle, and his eyes finally popped open.

  “Don’t even think about it,” he said, digging his fingers into my hips to lift me up slightly. He pointed a finger down to the tent that had appeared in his shorts and shook his head. “This stays in there as long as we’re at your parents’ house. I don’t need your dad kicking my ass out of his house for doing very naughty things with his daughter.” I pouted my lips at him and swung my legs around to the edge of the bed. “Even though I really want to.”

  “Mmhmm, I’m sure you do, so if you want to behave yourself we better head down for breakfast, before I can’t control myself.”

  “Alright, I’m gonna go take a cold shower, and I’ll be down in five.”

  I rolled my eyes, even though a cold shower was probably exactly what I needed, and it would be even better if it was with Nick. I walked down the stairs, loving the fact that I was back at home. It was just so comforting to be in the house that I had grown up in, remembering all of the great memories I had with my family. I smiled at the picture of Owen and his wife Brenna that was displayed above the brick fireplace. They looked so in love on their wedding day, and still were after being married for eight years. It made me sad to think that they lived so far away now in California where Owen had just recently been relocated for his job.

  “Morning, Mom.” I smacked a kiss on her cheek. She was standing at the stove flipping pancakes, and she began giving me instructions to help with breakfast.

  “Ally, dear, make sure you grab the maple syrup that Ben likes. And there’s fresh strawberries in the back of the fridge. Does Nick like pancakes and bacon? I hope that’s alright.”

  “It’s perfect, Mom, he’ll love whatever you make.” She wiped her hands on the front of her apron, before grabbing up her coffee mug that had “Mom” spelled out in tiny jewels. Something that I made for her one Christmas when I was around ten, I think.

  “I like him,” she said after taking a long sip and sitting down next to me. “He’s a very nice boy, and so handsome. I’ve always had a thing for dimples.” That must be where I get my obsession from then.

  “You know I was never a fan of Teddy’s, you just didn’t seem to be yourself when you were with him. I think he stole a little bit of that light that I love about you so much. It seems like you have all of that back now.” She reached out and patted my cheek before standing back up to flip a pancake.

  I was a little shocked at what my mom said. She never once mentioned anything about not caring for Teddy, or a change in me. My dad and her were always so supportive of everything I had done in life. I guess they felt they needed to support me in that, too. I was glad that she had taken a liking to Nick, though.

  “I’m glad you like Nick, Mom,” I said as she sat a stack of pancakes in the center of the worn table that had been around longer than I had. “But you know you can always tell me your opinion. I never had a clue that you didn’t like Teddy. It would have helped to have your input, and maybe I wouldn’t have made such a huge mistake by marrying him.”

  “Ally, that was your decision to make, not mine or your dad’s. You were happy with him at the time, and you did what was in your heart. It’s all a part of the journey, honey, even if it was a bit of a bumpy one. You wouldn’t be where you are today if it wasn’t for Teddy. And now your journey has led you to that one. Maybe I can finally get myself some grandkids,” she added with a wink.

  “Definitely not from me,” I responded quickly. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be ready for kids. They’re such a pain in the ass,” I said sarcastically.

  My mom knew that I’ve always wanted kids, I just wasn’t sure about the when. I don’t think Nick and I were really to that point quite yet in our relationship where we needed to talk about it, but I could see myself having kids with him. With Teddy, that picture had always been kind of blurry. Maybe it had been that way for a reason.

  My mom pointed to the stairs that I could hear creaking as she ruffled my hair, and I looked up to see Nick walking into the kitchen. Just the sight of him made me smile. My mom was right, there had been something missing, and with Nick, it felt like I had that missing piece back.

  Chapter 18

  Nick

  Me: No

  No.

  It was amazing how much a tiny two-letter word could actually mean. I wasn’t even sure what it meant when I finally responded to Kara’s text that sat unanswered for weeks.

  I had given myself a time limit. I knew that after visiting with Ally’s family back in Indiana, I just needed to make a decision. I tried not to think about it while I was there, though.

  Her family was great, and I could see that they had helped shape her into the outgoing, caring, and overall perfect girl that I loved so much. We didn’t do much while we were there, just more of a getting to know you type of thing, playing board games and cards, but it had been just what I needed. It kept my mind off of things, while I got to spend all of my time with Ally.

  “Dude, what in the hell is wrong with you?” Danny tipped his beer back before slamming it back down, and leaned forward in his chair.

  We met up at Clammy’s as soon as I got back into town and had dropped Ally off at Remy’s place. I wanted her to come home with me, but she said she needed to catch up on orders that customers place
d while we were gone. She was going to try to come over later since I had been promising to do very bad things to her once we got home.

  “And don’t tell me ‘nothing’. I’ve known you for like twenty-five years or some shit like that. Is it about that bitch, Kara, again? Please don’t tell me you’re actually thinking about getting back together with her or something.”

  “No, Danny.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “It’s so much worse than that.” I swallowed thickly, letting the words roll around on my tongue before I said them. I hadn’t actually said them out loud to anyone, but I needed to, and doing it with my best friend seemed like the best idea that I could come up with.

  “Kara’s pregnant.”

  There, I said it, now maybe it would seem real. Yeah, it seemed real, too real, and judging by Danny’s shocked face, he knew I wasn’t joking about this. It wasn’t the type of thing that I would joke about.

  Danny’s hand smacked down loudly on top of the table as he leaned back in his chair and let out a low whistle. “Holy. Motherfuckin’. Shit.”

  Yeah, that just about summed up what I was feeling the first time I heard about it, and I’m pretty sure that’s how I still felt.

  Danny’s mouth was hanging open as he stared back at me silently, at a loss for words for probably the first time since I met him.

  Kara had told me the night that I met her at the restaurant. A million things had been running through my head at why she wanted to meet up, but that had not been one of them. When she first uttered the word, I thought she was joking, and I actually laughed about it.

  All I got in return was a glare, and she pointed to her stomach. I looked at it least three times before I actually noticed a little bit of a rounded bump underneath the bulky black sweater she had on. I don’t know why I didn’t question that earlier in the night.

  Kara always wore black, but it was always something tight to show off her curves. She had a nice body, one of the reasons she never went on birth control, she said she didn’t want to gain weight, but we had always been super safe when it came to wearing condoms.