Home: Ky & Nick (Six Degrees Book 1)

by Sandy Smith

  He kissed my stomach. “Merry.” And he kissed my hip. “Christmas.” And he kissed my thigh. “My.” And he kissed the tip of my dick. “Love.”

  Holy fuck.

  “Ugghh.”

  He chuckled lightly and sucked the head of my dick into his mouth, running his tongue around the head. Back arching, I was encased in his sweet warmth. It only took a minute or two before I was tapping his shoulder to warn him, and he sucked me down as far as he could just as my muscles tensed and I shot down the back of his throat.

  My brain was still offline when I felt his head lay on my chest. I blinked and looked down to see his messy blonde hair. His hand drew shapes on my chest.

  I kissed the top of his head. “Merry Christmas, baby.”

  He looked up at me, sleepily. “I love you, Ky. I was telling you that every time I called you love in a text or on the phone, but I wanted to say it in person the first time. I love you. You have no idea what a gift you have given me this year.”

  My chest squeezed, and my whole body felt warm. I knew he loved me without him saying it, but hearing it still took my breath away.

  I squeezed him gently. In a husky voice heavy with emotion, I whispered back, “I love you too, Nick. So fucking much.”

  I held him for a few minutes as I collected my thoughts. “Nick, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking while you’ve been away.” I felt him tense and kissed the top of his head, hoping that reassured him. “I, umm. I know I overreact to things sometimes, and I know it probably feels like I don’t trust you.”

  Nick pulled back so he could look me in the eyes as I talked. He didn’t interrupt, only watched me.

  “I need you to know I do trust you. I talked to Ant, and I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and… well, I got a referral from Tim. I’ve been seeing a therapist.” I spat the last part out in a rush. I paused, unsure how he’d react. In theory, I knew there was nothing wrong with admitting you needed help. And I would never think any less of anyone else seeing a therapist, but saying it out loud still felt like a big deal. Asking Tim if he knew anyone I could talk to had been really hard, and I had taken a week after my talk with Ant to build up courage.

  I should have known better. Tim only smiled, sent me the contact details of a young therapist he thought I would work well with, and then told me he was proud of me. That’s the last I heard of it from Tim. He had been right. The guy was great. I had only seen him twice, but I had a good feeling about him.

  When Nick didn’t say anything to my spat-out confession, I continued. “I know you already told me my past isn’t everything about me… but I guess it’s taken me a while to accept that. I think I’m starting to be able to see it doesn’t mean I don’t deserve to be loved. Or at least I’m trying to see it, anyway. I know at least you believe it, and I’m getting there on believing it myself. So thank you. Thank you for showing me that maybe I am worth loving.”

  Then I slapped him on the arse. “Now get a move on. We both need a shower, and we need to get to Mum’s soon.”

  In reply to what I said, he grabbed my arm before I could move too far away and held my gaze, then gave me a quick hard kiss. He whispered, “You amaze me. Ky. Thank you for telling me.”

  The drive was blissfully short with very few cars on the road yet. I looked at the clock for the millionth time.

  “What are you up to?” Nick asked.

  “Nothing. I just... Well, your present isn’t something I could wrap. I organized something, with Eric’s help. I guess he mainly did it, but still, I’m nervous. Maybe I should have talked to you rather than surprising you.”

  I chewed on my lip and tapped my hand on my leg, until Nick’s hand covered mine, stilling it.

  “I’m sure whatever it is, I will love it. Relax. I honestly don’t need any sort of present. I just want to spend the day with you and your family.”

  “Our family,” I corrected.

  “Oh, remind me when we get home later to tell you what Eric is up to.”

  “Oh God. What has he done now?”

  He chuckled. “Nothing bad. Nothing bad at all. But I will tell you tonight. Today I want to concentrate on us.”

  I quickly texted Mum to let her know we were there as Nick got the gifts out of the back of the car, and then I grabbed our bags and followed Nick up to the door. The door was unlocked, so as Nick opened it, my mum engulfed him in a hug, then me. She kissed us both and wished us a Merry Christmas. Smiling, Mum nodded to me, and I dropped the bags in the entranceway to grab Nick’s hand. “Before we do anything else, you need to come to the lounge room. Umm, your present is in there.”

  Nick glanced at me, but then walked hesitantly towards the lounge room. The moment he got to the doorway, he froze. I could see his shoulders moving as he breathed, but he didn’t make a sound.

  “Nicholas! Oh my goodness. Look at you.”

  “Molly?” Nick’s voice was small and unsure. I had never heard him sound like that, and I started to worry I had made a huge mistake.

  “Nicholas, get your naughty bottom over here and give me a hug.”

  Tentatively, Nick stepped forward, then rushed the last couple of steps and threw his arms around Molly.

  I had met her and her husband, Rob, who was standing quietly off to the side with tears in his eyes, two days earlier when they arrived. Mum rubbed my back as I watched Nick cling to Molly and cry for the first time since I had known him. Sobbing, they whispered to each other. I shifted my weight, wondering if we should move to the kitchen to give Nick and Molly some privacy.

  Then Nick barked out a laugh. He pulled back and wiped his face on his arm.

  “Manners, young Nicholas. Jesus, did I teach you nothing, child?” Molly scolded playfully, smiling affectionately at him.

  Nick sniffed and wiped his face again as he turned to me. “You did this?”

  I shrugged. “With a lot of help from Eric. Well, mainly it was Eric.”

  Nick almost knocked me over as he threw himself at me, wrapping his arms around me. As I laid my head on the top of his, I breathed him in. One year and one person had given me everything I could have ever needed.

  Nick lifted his head and kissed me gently on the mouth. “I love you, Ky. I am going to spend the rest of my life showing you how grateful I am for everything you have given me. A love, a family, a home.”

  Epilogue

  New Year’s Eve.

  Five Years Later

  I glanced across the table, and Nick smiled at me and nodded. We made our excuses to the people seated with us, and Nick glanced at Eric to give him a quick nod. Eric smiled and told us he would see us the next day. While Nick said a few more quick goodbyes, I wandered over to the bar to grab the bottle of wine. We would see them all tomorrow for Eric’s celebration anyway, but New Year’s Eve would always be ours. It was only a short walk to Nick’s villa, but we weren’t in a rush now that we were on our own. Chatting, we strolled through the gardens and across the bridge over the pond to the private part of the resort, where Eric and Nick both had villas. I glanced at the lights along the beach walk.

  “I know I have said it every year, but you and Eric really did an amazing job with this place.”

  He squeezed my hand. “I can’t say I was overly enthusiastic the first time he said he had found a property at Byron Bay. I was imagining a hippy commune with lots of stoned surfers.”

  “Not exactly what you ended up with, huh?”

  When we got to our villa, we kicked off our shoes and socks, grabbed the picnic blanket and two coffee mugs, and headed out onto the sand. Nick carefully laid the blanket in the exact same spot he had the previous five years, opened the wine, and poured it into our mugs. I smiled, remembering how flustered he was that first year when he forgot to grab glasses and we had to sneak coffee mugs out of the builders office. From the look on Nick's face, he was remembering the same thing.

  We stood by the blanket and watched each other. His eyes still held me hostage, and his voice still soothed me. I
waited for him to speak. He always went first.

  He cleared his throat. “Ky, this next year is going to be busy. I’m going to have to head to Queensland a few times as well as London, and you’re going to be busy with the new job, but you are going to be the best damn Squad Commander the Serious Crimes Directorate has ever had. It’s going to be harder to balance this year, but I promise you, just like I have every year, that more than anything, I want you by my side. Just me, promising you, here and now that I am not going anywhere. That no matter what else happens in our lives, I choose you. Every day, every week, I choose you.”

  When he brought me out here that first year with a bottle of wine and two stolen coffee mugs, he promised me the same. That he chose me. Hearing the same each New Year’s hadn’t lessened what it meant, and I hadn’t found it any easier to respond.

  “Nick, I didn’t realise I could love you more than I did that first New Year’s when you poured the wine into my coffee mug as you berated yourself for forgetting the glasses.” I paused to clear my throat. “But I do. I promise to take the time to be with you, to talk to you, to share with you. And I promise to love you and cherish every moment with you even more this year.”

  We both laughed lightly as we wiped at our cheeks and whispered to each other the same words we whispered the first time: “I choose you.”

  The end

  About the Author

  About the Author

  I am an Aussie author who has always loved reading and the voices inside my head starting nagging me into telling their stories. I have been an avid reader since I was a young kid and have no intention of stopping anytime soon. I love reading everything from romance to crime to fantasy to classics.

  I live on the beautiful east coast of Australia and love the isolation while at the same time hate the cost of getting anywhere to indulge my other passion of travel.

  I work full-time, write part-time and parent occasionally. Luckily my kids are far smarter than me so not much parenting is required.

  Come and hang out with me on Facebook!