Dave had gone out back to have a smoke. She peered at him through the sliding glass door, praying he wouldn’t embarrass her. Fishing a piece of gum out of her purse, she popped it in her mouth before opening the door. And there Nate was, all hot and on her front door step. He was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans and a white button down dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Becka felt her mouth water.
Becka motioned for him to come in and asked if he'd like a tour. She explained that Dave's room was on one side of the house and that hers was on the other. She named off the rooms as they walked.
"This is the kitchen. That’s the dining slash living room. Guest bath. Did you want to see my room?" Becka asked, turning back to him.
Becka wasn’t expecting him to be so close behind her. She could almost feel the heat coming off of him, and, Lord, did he smell good. She had never been this close to him before and not barefoot, so now she had a better idea of how tall he was. She had to guess that he was about four inches taller than her, maybe 5'11.
"Sure," Nate grinned down at her.
Becka loved her room. She had a queen-sized bed with a wrought-iron canopy frame. There were sheer fabric panels tied off at each corner and ice-blue sheer material wrapped around the posts. Her bedding was this dreamy purplish blue swirl print. Becka also had a ridiculous amount of pillows on her bed. Nate walked further into her room and looked around.
Becka’s senses were in overdrive, probably because this was the first time she and Nate were all alone. It felt like her entire being was conscious of his. When he walked past her, Becka felt the movement of air brush her legs. Her room wasn’t huge so, even though he wasn’t right next to her, she could just barely smell his cologne.
"That's cool," Nate said, motioning to her make-shift wall art.
Over her dresser, Dave had mounted a piece of lattice board. Becka loved it and had all of her scarves looped through it. It was a cool cluster of colors on her otherwise white walls. Across from her bed, Becka had a small flat screen TV on top of a brimming bookshelf. Nate walked around her bed, looking at her pictures and picked up her eReader from her bedside table.
Holding it up and motioning to her bookshelf, he asked, "Read a lot?"
She nodded, taking her eReader from him and hugged it.
"Read those dirty books everyone's been talking about?" he asked, laughing. He sat on her bed.
"I have and, don’t get me wrong, they were fun to read, but I like other stuff more."
Before she could fully appreciate the fact that the guy she was lusting after was sitting on her bed, he asked what kinds of books she liked to read.
"Um, a bit of everything. I go through phases and sometimes get sucked into series. I read pretty fast, so I guess my favorite books are really long ones. Otherwise, I feel let down if I'm not ready for a story to end. Pretty silly, huh?"
Nate regarded her. "Nope. I think it's pretty cool. I read a lot too, mainly mysteries. I try and solve them before they give it away."
There was something so sexy about a guy who liked to read. Becka considered jumping him right then and there, but, before she could, Dave popped his head into her doorway. He saw Nate sitting on her bed and raised his eyebrows at Becka.
"Thought I'd come introduce myself. I was outside when you came in. I'm Dave," he said, reaching his hand out to Nate.
Becka noticed Dave trying to puff his chest out to seem as big as Nate and chewed on her lip to keep from laughing.
"Nice to meet you. I'm Nate."
"So what do you crazy kids have planned tonight?" Dave asked, trying to act all fatherly.
Becka shoved him into the doorframe. "Not sure, Dave. I was just giving Nate a tour and then we started talking about books. What did you feel like doing?" she asked Nate.
Nate looked from Becka to Dave and shrugged.
"We could watch a movie or play cards or just talk. What do you think?"
"Cards? Like poker?" Nate asked.
"Whatever." Becka laughed "Poker, rummy, blackjack."
"Go fish?" Dave offered.
"I'm down with poker. Do you play for money?" Nate asked.
"I'm poor. We usually only play penny poker. That good?" Becka asked.
Penny poker it was. Becka grabbed a water cooler jug full of change from the corner of her room.
After Nate eyeballed it, she explained, "My retirement plan."
Laughing, he carried it for her, asking if it was safe for her to gamble her life savings. Dave cleared off the coffee table, and Becka went to grab everyone a beer. They each started with three dollars in pennies, nickels, and dimes. Becka had no poker face but made up for it by playing very conservatively.
Getting bored with cards and curious as to what might happen if they were alone, Becka began trying to motion for Dave to leave every time Nate wasn’t looking. Dave was either flat out ignoring her or just oblivious. So the rounds continued.
At one point, when Nate got up to grab them more beers, Becka hissed, "Go to your room or fear the wrath of my almighty cockblock."
"But I have a really good hand," Dave pouted and ended up staying.
Whenever Nate wasn’t looking, Becka continued to motion for him to leave. One time, Nate must have seen her because he asked if her neck was bothering her. Becka played it off, pretending to stretch it, saying it had gotten a little stiff. Dave, mind perpetually in the gutter, laughed when she said stiff. Becka glared at him and shrugged. Dave and Nate were pretty competitive, basically going head to head until Dave got a text message.
Finally excusing himself, he explained that the bartender from the Irish pub wanted to meet up. He gave her directions to their place then went to take a shower. Becka had to laugh at his certainty that she was going to sleep with him but had to agree with his logic since it was almost two in the morning.
Nate stood, saying that he should probably get going. What? No! Becka thought to herself.
"Are you okay to drive? You could always crash here if you wanted to," Becka suggested.
"I'm good. I've had only maybe four beers in the last five hours."
"I'll walk you out," Becka said, standing. She had been sitting cross-legged on the floor the whole time and was also kind of slouching while they played. She was doing her best to stretch her back out when Nate stopped her.
"Here, stand with your back to mine."
Becka gave him a look like really? He rolled his eyes and turned her so her back was to him, then turned so they were back to back.
"Alright. Now link your arms through mine."
As she slipped her arms through his Becka felt her heart thumping in her chest. Could he hear that?
"Okay. Now I'm going to lean forward pulling you with me. Just relax your back and let gravity stretch it out for you.”
He slowly began to bend forward. She was pressed right up against him, back to back. As he moved forward, she moved with him until her feet were dangling above the ground. His arms were not crazy huge but significantly bigger than any other guy she had been attracted to in the past. Even his back felt ripped. Her back made a couple pops, and Nate slowly eased her back down. Once her feet were on the ground, he turned, turning her to face him.
"Better?" he asked, his hands resting on her shoulders.
"Uh huh," Becka smiled, rolling her head left and right to stretch her neck.
They stood like that for a moment, his hands on her shoulders as she smiled up at him. Then, almost as if he remembered something, Nate pulled his hands down, taking a step back from her.
"I should really be going."
All Beck could think of was that they hadn’t had a chance to be alone. It was a foreign feeling, having a guy that she liked come over and not even try and kiss her. This was seriously confusing. Becka followed him outside and to his car. Nate pulled her into a tight hug, releasing her before she even had a chance to acknowledge the heat of his body and the crush of his arms around her. Becka stood there reeling at the negative space around
her, where he had been just a moment before. Becka did her best to wave cheerfully, even though she was freezing as he drove away.
Once back inside, she crashed. It was late, and the night had been so surreally unexpected. She just wanted to sleep. Plus, she had no interest in hearing Dave and the bartender. Becka was too tired to follow up on her threat to cockblock Dave that night, but as she drifted off to sleep, Becka smiled at how payback was going to be fun.
Sunday morning, Becka called Lilly to tell her about Nate's unexpected visit.
"He didn't!" Lilly gushed.
"I'm not even sure if I believe it, and I was here."
"But what about his girlfriend?"
"I have no idea. She didn’t come up. It is weird that he came over, right?"
"If he still has a girlfriend, yes. If not, maybe he likes you too."
"We talk all the time, but it's like stupid stuff. I still don’t really know anything about him."
"Do you tell him stuff about you?"
"I don’t know. I guess. You know me, I tend to overshare."
At that, Lilly laughed. They went on to gossip about their parents and a girl Becka had gone to high school with until Lilly had to go. Becka ran to the grocery store at one point to do a bit of restocking but, otherwise, Sundays in general were lazy for her. One thing Becka could not help but do was randomly check her phone all day to see if Nate would call or text. He didn’t.
Chapter 3
The next morning, Becka was back at her desk, ready to face another week. It helped that she had an email already from Nate.
Saturday was fun, we should hang out again.
We'll see.
Oh. We’ll see?
I have to protect my retirement plan.
Haha. Fair enough. We don’t have to play cards.
What would you like to do?
That's a dangerous question.
How so?
Nevermind.
I hate it when people do that. Tell me!
You can't make me.
I have my ways of persuasion.
Tell me more.
I will not reveal my secrets.
And I won't reveal mine.
Oh, now it's a secret?
Never said it wasn't.
You are killing me.
I come in peace.
-Nate!!!
What?!?...I'm confused!
Nothing. Nevermind
No really, you lost me….
Subject change. How’s the weather?
The weather here? As opposed to the weather where you are?
Yep
Your smiley face will not distract me.
This went on the rest of the week. Becka found herself grinning like a crazy person every time she saw the little email notification. She was also equally crazed when he didn’t reply for long periods of time. When Nate took a long time to reply, she would try and passive aggressively take just as long to reply to him. Becka didn’t want to let on exactly how eager she was.
They talked about everything except his girlfriend. Becka had to hope it wasn’t serious and that she wasn’t coming between a solid couple. She hoped that because his roommate was a guy that he had gone to college with. Nate and his girlfriend must not be that serious because clearly they weren’t living together. Maybe, she hoped, they would break up and then he would ask her out for real. Nate was the first guy in a long time that made her feel that way.
For the holidays Dave would be driving home to Texas to be with his family. Since Becka's family lived out East, she would be all alone this year. Dave had invited her to come with him, but she didn’t have enough free vacation time to go home, let alone go to Texas. Lucy's family lived in town, so Becka had Christmas dinner with them. Lucy's mom was so welcoming but very bohemian. It was Becka's first experience with a tofurkey. She did her best to choke it down with her wheatgrass smoothie.
Becka excused herself early and went home. She watched It's a Wonderful Life while eating a pint of Cherry Garcia ice cream. Her house seemed so quiet without Dave. Becka texted him to see if he had left any in-case-of-emergency cigarettes behind. She was thrilled to learn he had. She made herself a rum and Coke and smoked a cigarette. It had been a long time since she had smoked a whole one. Feeling gross halfway through, she put it out.
Lilly and Becka Skyped so Becka could talk to and see the whole family for Christmas. Their mom and dad were there as well. It was fun to see them, even if it was over the Internet. Mason loved the talking teddy bear his favorite Aunt Becka sent him, once he got over his initial “did that toy just talk?” reaction. It was bitter sweet to say goodbye knowing that they were all together, and she was all by herself.
At least Becka had New Year's Eve to look forward to. Her neighbors were having a big party. When it came, Becka rocked a short sparkly dress and spent the first part of the night sizing up all of the single guys. Becka really wanted to have someone to kiss at midnight, but none of these guys were doing it for her. She was currently in line for the bathroom, a very long line. Finally realizing how long and how bad she had to pee, Becka just gave up and went home to use her own bathroom. Afterward, she checked her cell phone. Her battery had been misbehaving, so Becka had left it at home to charge.
Oh my God, she thought. Becka had seven missed calls from Nate.
"Nate, it's Becka. Everything okay?"
"Can I come see you?"
"Sure…"
"I'm on my way."
Becka was shaking when she hung up the phone. Nate was on the way to her house on New Year's Eve to see her. He clearly wasn’t going to be kissing his girlfriend at midnight because he would be with her. Feeling the need for a little liquid courage, she poured herself a shot of rum. She raced to her bathroom to check her hair and makeup, changed into the sexiest underwear she owned, and then put her dress back on. Becka took a moment to catch her breath. This was happening. She was shaking. It was almost as though Becka could not wrap her brain around Nate's call. Becka was a bundle of excited nerves as she attempted to function. It felt like it took forever to find a lighter for the candles. She almost gave up, but then she saw it. It was on her dresser right in front of her face the whole time she had been looking for it.
Calm down, she told herself. Having just lit a couple of candles and turned on the TV to Time Square, Becka heard him knock on her door. Taking a deep breath, she went to open it. Nate looked at her for one beat before he was on her. He pressed her up against the wall, kissing her soundly. Using the hand that wasn’t pulling her against him, Nate shut the door behind him. Now free, that hand moved to pull one of her legs up around him.
He pulled back a couple of inches and met her startled gaze. She was actually panting. His hazel eyes were smoldering. He started kissing her neck, moving his way down her throat to her chest, his hands roaming freely from her breasts to her ass and back.
"Can we go to your room?" he pleaded in her ear.
"What about my girlfriend? Shit. I don’t have a girlfriend. I mean your girlfriend," Becka asked.
"I don’t have a girlfriend anymore."
"Thank God," she moaned into his mouth.
Becka felt a weird sense of control. Now that she knew he was interested in her it, took away that feeling of confusion. Hitching her other leg around his waist, Nate carried Becka to her room, his lips teasing her own the whole way. Becka's dress was so short that it had exposed her ass when he had wrapped her legs around him. The heat from his palms felt so intense through her thin panties. He gently laid her down across her bed, stretching out against her. Pulling her towards him, Nate slowly unzipped her dress and slid it from her shoulders. Becka sat up and shimmied until he pulled it from her.
Nate stood as he dropped her dress to the floor and took a moment to just look at her.
"You are so beautiful, Becka."
He lifted her foot and undid the ankle strap of her stiletto, laying her leg back down. He repeated the process with her other foot. Kicking off his own sh
oes, Nate then knelt to the floor and, starting with her ankles, began kissing his way up her legs. Becka was twisting her comforter in her hands, trying to control herself. She was about lose it when he started kissing her thighs. As he moved further up her legs, she was gasping. He nuzzled her right there, promising to return before continuing his path upward.
He lowered the lacy material of her bra and teased her with his mouth. Turning her, he undid the clasp of her bra and slid it from her, returning his attention to her breasts. Even though laying there felt so good, Becka was ready to reach for Nate. She pulled Nate up towards her and kissed him while unbuttoning his shirt, attempting to pull it off of him. Grinning, Nate sat up and, after unbuttoning his shirt at the wrists, he pulled it off and then pulled off his under shirt. Becka gaped at him. Nate's chest was insane, and his arms were bulging.
Nate could have easily been a body double for any action movie film star. At first, his body just overwhelmed her. Becka wanted to not only touch every inch of him but see it too. When he sank down on top of her, she thought she was dreaming. The weight of his body as it covered her own was heavenly. The feel of his bare chest against hers was intense, but the body heat coming off of both of them was almost unbearable. She pushed him off and, getting up to stand over him, Becka pulled the chain to turn on her ceiling fan.
Nate turned on to his back to look up at her. Becka lowered herself back down, and he pulled her onto him. She could feel how hard he was through his pants and rubbed against him. It was almost like a switch flipped in her brain. He wants me, she thought. Becka had learned to see sex as a way to push away any feelings she could not deal with. Sex was simple. It was everything else that Becka tried to avoid. In moments where she was certain someone wanted her, Becka felt good about herself.
Uninvolved Page 4
