Kiss Kiss

by Various Authors

  “You have nothing to apologize for, Avery.” In the dim light she could see sincerity in his sensuous eyes, and it melted her. He confidently closed the distance between them. This time she could actually feel his lips before chaos stopped them in their tracks.

  “I said get the hell off my property, you stupid ho!” Lauren’s voice raged in the distance. Shilah and Avery looked at each other and smiled.

  “We’d better go see who she’s after now.” Avery sighed and they headed in the direction of the barn.

  The silence was deafening as Aaron and Nicole rode into town in his truck. Aaron felt his pulse steadily slowing, as he tried to focus on the girl to his right and not the guy he’d left behind. He’d heard enough of their conversation to know that Nicole had told Jason no more than once. He wondered if he’d made a mistake not putting him out of his misery, but he’d wanted her out of harm’s way.

  He could see her shaking in his peripheral vision and tried to ignore it and keep his eyes on the road. He knew if she started to cry, he would turn the truck around and finish what he’d started. Desperate to distract himself, he turned the radio on in a vain attempt to clear his mind and that was when Nicole spoke.

  “Aaron?”

  It took a lot of fortitude to look at her. When he did, he could see the fear in her eyes and realized it wasn’t Jason that had her scared.

  “It’s gonna be okay.” His voice sounded surprisingly steady, considering how much he wanted to snap Jason’s neck. Reaching over to place his hand on hers, he felt it trembling. He pulled into the driveway behind her house and put the truck in park. He realized he’d entwined his fingers with hers but couldn’t let go. They sat in silence for a minute or two, both looking straight ahead.

  “Thanks for the ride.” He could feel her looking at him and forced himself to turn to her again, but she had pulled her hand away and opened the door.

  “Let me walk you inside.” He turned off the truck. They climbed out and he followed her to the back door. She fumbled with the lock a couple of times and sighed, turning to him.

  “I’m sorry. My hands are shaking too much…” She sounded frustrated and embarrassed. He took the keys from her and opened the door.

  “Do you want to come in for a little bit?”

  “I’d better not, Nic.” He looked away and stood his ground.

  She sighed deeply and shrugged. “Thanks again, Aaron.”

  As she moved in and hugged him, he stood stoic for a minute. Feeling her warmth and softness against him, his defenses collapsed and he put his arms around her. They embraced for a long moment. He could smell the delicious, citrus scent of her hair. On instinct, his face was in her hair and he kissed the top of her head. She tilted her head to look up at him and his lips were on hers before he could stop himself. She opened her mouth in response, encouraging him to taste her more deeply. As their tongues intertwined, a moan escaped him and he felt himself harden against her.

  No one had ever gotten to him like Nicole, and years of repressed sexual frustration made it impossible for him to contain himself. He wondered if she felt the same when her arms came around his neck, and she pulled him insistently into the kiss. His hands traveled past the small of her back and he hoisted her up onto him, feeling her legs cinch around him. He pushed open the back door and stumbled with her to the washer and dryer. He sat her down as her hands gripped his hair and pulled his mouth to hers, urging him on. He shrugged off his jacket as they pawed at each other like horny teenagers. She tasted amazing, just like he remembered. He waged an internal battle between wanting to see her and wanting more kisses. She grinded against him, and he felt a frustrated growl escape his throat. She pulled herself away from him long enough to whip off her shirt. The sight of her in just a white lacy bra brought him back to reality. He froze, taking in the beauty of her skin, and he knew if he went one step further, he would never be able to recover. He paused and saw her eyes narrow doubtfully. She looked down at her breasts self-consciously and back up at him.

  “What’s wrong?” The question hung ominously between them. He looked away. He knew he should turn and walk out immediately, but his hands were still on her thighs.

  “I have to go.” He groaned and pulled away from her, trying to catch his breath. Unable to look at her for fear of throwing caution to the wind, he averted his eyes.

  She inhaled sharply and exhaled a long slow breath. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her pull her shirt on over her head and slide slowly off the dryer. She walked to the door and opened it. He finally forced himself to look at her face. With obvious hurt in her eyes, she regarded him tiredly.

  “Nicki…” He wanted to say a million things; so many unformed thoughts tumbled over each other in his mind like items in a dryer.

  “Just go, Aaron. I’m sure Joy’s wondering where you are.” She looked at the floor. He was out the door and in his truck before he could change his mind.

  After she prevented Lauren from committing assault, Avery had to distract her by doing a couple of shots with her. She vaguely remembered throwing up not long after, and Lauren falling into her bathtub while getting a toothbrush and mouthwash from a high cupboard in her bathroom. After laughing so hard they nearly peed their pants, Avery had crashed in Lauren’s camper. Sunday she awoke at sunrise with a hangover. The weather had finally turned and she was freezing her ass off.

  Shilah slept beside her fully clothed and some friend of Jack’s was in the bunk across from them, snoring loudly. For a moment, she felt panicky and couldn’t remember if they’d had sex. Racking her addled brain, the last thing she could remember was rambling to him about Jason, and listing off all the reasons they had been incompatible. Embarrassed, she decided to leave before they had to have an awkward conversation. She managed to sneak out of the camper without waking either of the men.

  Chilled to the bone, she grabbed her leather jacket from the trunk. As she climbed into her car, she noticed Jason’s parked not far from hers. She headed home relieved that he'd had the brains not to drive.

  She took a long bath, ate a big breakfast and forced herself to drink a ton of water. When it was finally a reasonable hour, she called Nicole. Her phone rang and rang. No answer.

  She decided to take a hike in the trail in the woods in lieu of her normal morning run. In an effort to avoid being shot by a poacher, she wore neon yellow workout gear with Under Armor to keep her warm. As she traversed the uneven terrain, she listened to the calming sound of the river. Though she tried to clear her mind, her thoughts continued to return to Shilah. His chivalry had her impressed. He seemed perfect, and in her experience, if something seemed too good to be true, it usually was. Common sense told her she needed to proceed with caution. She didn’t want a transitional guy. Battling with herself as she hiked, she finally came to the conclusion that she just didn’t have enough information to make a judgment call.

  Back at the house, she jumped in the shower once more. Busying herself with a few household tasks, she headed out the door to get groceries and tried to call Nicole again. As the phone rang, she’d glanced at the clock. It was now 11:00 A.M. Nicole answered on the third ring.

  “How are you feeling this morning?” Avery asked.

  “Cold. I just picked up Ike from your parents’ and I’m heading home.” Nicole’s voice sounded off somehow, but Avery couldn’t put her finger on it.

  “What were Jason and Aaron fighting about last night?”

  “I really don’t want to talk about Jason … or Aaron today, Avery. I have to go.”

  Avery opened her mouth to object when the line went dead.

  “What the…” She looked at her phone in disbelief. Not one to be easily deterred, she drove to Nicole’s and trotted up to the door.

  Nicole opened the door and waved her in without a word. She was wearing sweats, a flannel shirt, and slippers. Her eyes seemed puffy and her color was rosy. The look on her face was troubling.

  “All right, Nic what the f—” she started a
nd Nicole shushed her, pointing to Ike who was asleep on the couch.

  “Okay, are you going to tell me what happened with Aaron last night?” Unable to contain herself, she blurted out a loud whisper.

  “Jason was wasted and being stupid. Aaron gave me a ride home. “

  “He never came back after he left with you. Joy was stranded there and pissed. I think she spent the night on Lauren’s couch.”

  Nicole seemed to take a while to process that bit of information.

  “So he didn’t spend the night?” Avery tried to act casual as she asked.

  “No. He wasn’t even here ten minutes,” Nicole snapped as she busied herself with kitchen tasks.

  “All right. I think it’s time you tell me what the story is with Aaron. It’s obvious to everyone that you two are into each other.”

  “I have no idea what to think.” Nicole looked genuinely disappointed.

  Avery sighed and rolled her eyes. “Bullshit. Tell me what happened between him and Ryan.”

  Nicole threw her towel on the counter and looked at Avery with a hand on her hip.

  Avery looked back at her expectantly, and Nicole sat on the barstool next to her with a sigh.

  “Do you remember when Ryan was attacked by that psych patient and ended up with a broken nose?”

  “Yeah. The guy kicked the crap out of him and bruised his ribs. What about it?”

  Nicole had looked at her as if she were an imbecile.

  “There was no patient, Avery. That’s how he came home from the Vikings game in Minneapolis.”

  “Did they get into a fight at the game? A bar fight? What?” Avery shook her head. Nicole sighed and rolled her eyes. She took a drink of her coffee.

  “Aaron did it.”

  “Aaron … beat Ryan up? Why the hell would he do that?” Avery had stared at Nicole in disbelief.

  “I don’t know. When Ry got home, he was a train wreck. All he would say was that they were no longer friends.” Nicole was playing with her ponytail and staring into her coffee cup. Avery stared at her, mouth hanging open. Finally, she found her voice.

  “But you have suspicions…” She watched Nicole’s body language closely.

  “Are you sure you want to hear this, Avery?” Nicole’s tone was calm, but something about her demeanor had Avery startled.

  “Try me.”

  “Ryan had a mistress in the Twin Cities. He thought I didn’t know, but I did.”

  Avery felt as if Nicole had kicked her in the chest. She’d opened her mouth to say something and closed it again. She sat in silence.

  “I’m pretty sure she wasn’t the first. I think she was the last, but who knows?” Nicole continued.

  Avery felt like she’d knocked the wind out of her. She wanted to scream at her to shut up, but she was speechless.

  “About a month after Ryan and Aaron’s fight, I found her thong in my bedroom when I came back from a design show in Boston. I flipped. I told him I’d had enough and that I was leaving him. We fought for hours. I had just taken a pregnancy test the day before. I’d been so sick. I told him I was keeping the baby, but that it would never know him.” A single tear streamed down Nic’s cheek. She stopped talking for a full minute and looked out the window. Avery got chills.

  “I think that’s probably my biggest regret … saying that to him. Sometimes I feel like karma lashed out and took him from Ike because of it. He got down on his knees begged me. He said he would never look at another woman again … that if I gave him one more chance, he’d become the perfect husband and father and spend the rest of his life making it up to me. And I guess he did.”

  She walked into the office, leaving Avery floundering with this new version of her brother. Then she returned with a box.

  “Everything from Ryan’s work locker is in this box. Maybe this will give you some closure. I’ve never been able to bring myself to look inside.”

  Avery was crying openly, struck dumb with rage, denial, and grief.

  “So, what do I think happened? I really don’t know, but I’ll tell you this much … they didn’t go to that game. Ryan was back in Chicago before halftime. He changed our phone numbers that same day, and told me if I loved him I’d never speak to Aaron again.”

  Avery couldn’t listen to another word. She grabbed the box and was out the door, and before she knew it, she was speeding toward Foster’s Farm.

  Unfortunately, Aaron was nowhere to be found. His sister, who was stocking the tables, said he was in a meeting. She sat on the hood of her car for 45 minutes, replaying Nicole’s words over and over. She paced for another half hour, but customers were starting to stare at her nervously. Realizing that she could be waiting hours, she abandoned the idea of grilling Aaron for information and headed home. She stared at the box Nicole had given her for over an hour, and finally put it away in the closet.

  The rest of her week had the same flavor. Work was a series of unfortunate events. There was a leak in the kitchen at Onyx, and the cold weather seemed to end the golf season abruptly. She continued to forward contacts to Nicole via email, but she wasn’t ready to see her again. She had no idea what to say to her. Shilah hadn’t called and with every passing day, she was more disappointed. In all fairness, she hadn’t given her number to him, but a part of her hoped he’d asked someone for it.

  On Friday, things went from bad to worse. Her mother appeared at the clubhouse unannounced. Dressed to the nines, she opened Avery’s office door without knocking.

  “Mom. Hi.” It was very much out of character for her mother to visit her at the office. Avery stopped typing mid-word.

  “Avery. You look lovely today. Do you have time in your schedule to have lunch with me?”

  “Sure.” Avery shrugged and grabbed her purse. “Where do you want to go?”

  “Let’s go to The Old Mill.”

  As they rode along in her mother’s luxury car, Avery locked her fingers in her lap so she wouldn’t fidget. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was about to be served her last meal. Feeling ridiculous, she tried to tell herself she was a grown woman and wasn’t in trouble. This didn’t help a whole lot. She was still a bundle of nerves as she pretended to read the menu.

  “So I understand you’ve met a new beau.” Her mother placed her napkin on her lap and set her menu aside. Her mother had an impeccable poker face, and Avery looked over her menu at her, eyebrows raised in surprise.

  “Really, Miss Scarlett?” She drawled in a facetious southern accent. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Some foreign gentleman who works for Jonathan Gates.” Sandra ignored her sarcasm and foul language. She sat down her coffee cup with an expectant glance.

  “I’m afraid reports about who signed my dance card have been slightly exaggerated.” Avery continued to scan the lunch menu. This sort of gossip was one thing that made her hate small-town living. She wasn’t in the mood for her mother’s shenanigans.

  “I suppose I should be disappointed, but I have to admit the blow has been softened by Nicole’s blossoming romance with Jason. We might just be able to unite the Gates and Harper families yet, in a roundabout way…”

  “What are you babbling about, Mother? Nicole isn’t seeing Jason.”

  “I hear they were quite friendly at that gathering at the Smith’s.”

  “Jason is shiftless, and Nicole isn’t stupid.”

  “I hear he sent her flowers Monday. Two dozen roses.”

  Avery tossed down her menu a little too forcefully.

  “What is the purpose of this lunch date? Are you trying to piss me off?”

  “Darling, I’m just trying to have a nice chat with you. I realize it’s is a foreign concept to you, but this is what some mothers and daughters do.”

  “Let’s cut to the chase. Yes, I met a man. He’s Native American … you don’t get much less ‘foreign’ than that. And no, we are not betrothed. Yes, Jason was hanging all over Nicole. No, she’s not interested. Are we finished? Shall I call a cab
?”

  “Oh, quit being so dramatic. I won’t apologize for wanting to know what’s going on in your life. However, I certainly hope you won’t influence Nicole and color her opinion of Jason with your own. She could do a lot worse for herself and Isaac.”

  Avery stared at her mother, amazed that the woman could still surprise her. She knew her mom had never thought Nic was an appropriate match for Ryan. It was the biggest point of contention between Ryan and Mom, and the only thing she’d ever seen Ryan yell at her about. Her mother taking an active interest in Nicole’s love life tickled her funny bone. She broke into a grin in spite of herself.

  “Did I say something funny?” Her mother took another sip of her coffee, and the burgundy lipstick stain left on the cup momentarily distracted Avery. Her eyes shifted back to her mother’s.

  “Not at all, Mother. I suppose you’ll take it upon yourself to arrange a dowry for her.”

  The lunch digressed into the usual tired arguments and shallow conversation. Avery was relieved and overjoyed when her mother dropped her off at the clubhouse door.

  Nicole dropped Ike off at the sitter’s and returned home ready to dive into a new project. Passing through the kitchen, she admired how well the white roses were holding up. She added water to the vase in the kitchen. As she continued into the dining room, dozen number two greeted her. They were Jason’s idiotic attempt to make amends. When they’d been delivered she almost tossed them all in the trash. Sensibility and her love of all things beautiful won out and she decided they were too stunning not to enjoy.

  When they arrived Monday afternoon, she’d had a brief and delusional thought that the flowers were from Aaron. She pulled out the card hurriedly, and when she saw it signed by Jason, her face fell. His card would have been laughable if his actions hadn’t been so disturbing.

  Nicole,

  Please accept my apology for our misunderstanding.

  Jason

  The baby’s breath had to go. The smell of it reminded her of the bouquets Ryan was fond of using, first to seduce her then to beg forgiveness. She tossed both the card and the baby’s breath into the garbage.