Thirteen.
Nick
“And what about you?” Mark prods, lifting his chin to where Joy excused herself. “I see you’re not spending the holidays alone this year.”
“Pfft. He probably has all those Texan women throwing their trucks in park to get a whiff of whatever fancy cologne he rolls himself in from head to toe.” Todd leans in, pretending to sniff my shoulder.
I shove him away, chuckling, “Get outta here with that.”
He barks a laugh. “Oh, yeah. They come at you strong, don’t they.”
Mark shakes his head at his younger brother, nodding in my direction. “You look happy, though. It’s been a while. We should catch up. Bring your girl over for New Year’s if you’re still around. Chrissy would love to see you.” He jerks a thumb in his brother’s direction. “She could use a new girlfriend to chat with.”
I shove my hands in my pockets. “Yeah.” I grin, wondering what Joy would think about staying an extra week. Would she go for it? I mean, she seems to be enjoying herself so far. We’ve gotten over the hurdle of sharing a bed.
My groin throbs at the reminder.
She’s been out of sight for all of ten minutes and I miss her. What does that say about me? About us? I’d argue there is ‘no us,’ but between the butterflies and the twitch in my leg to walk away and find her…it’s not looking good for me. I want nothing more than to get her back to the house, lay her down, and show her exactly how she makes me feel.
I clear my throat. “I’ll give you a shout if we decide to stay.”
A commotion from behind has the three of us turning.
Two paramedics sprint down the sidewalk.
“All right, well, it was good seeing you, man.” Mark claps me on the shoulder. “Don’t be a stranger.”
I say goodbye and head off to find Joy. Oddly enough in the same direction as the paramedics went a second ago. Ambulance lights catch my attention out of the corner of my eye as they take the long loop around the park…heading this way.
An uncomfortable feeling replaces my thoughts of Joy and settles heavy in my gut. I pick up the pace and weave through the onlookers in time to see my father receiving oxygen from one of the medics. Time stops .
Joy is sitting beside him. Her hand is on his back where a heavy blanket has been draped as she speaks to one of the paramedics.
“Dad!” I jog to his side. “What happened?”
I quickly learn that my father was short of breath and coughed up a significant amount of blood. Medical terms are thrown at me like hemoptysis and pulmonary edema , until the ambulance arrives and a cart is removed. The paramedics help my father to stand and get him onto the stretcher.
I watch, a lump in my throat, as he clutches Joy’s hand, refusing to let go as they wheel him toward the ambulance. “We’re going to transport him to St. Mavis Memorial for further evaluation,” one of the medics informs me. “We have room for one more if you’d like to ride with him.”
I shake my head, fishing out my phone. “I need to find my mother. She’s here…somewhere. She should—” The same helpless feeling I had when Dad was diagnosed engulfs me in a fog that I can’t seem to fight my way out of.
I feel like a fish out of water gasping for air.
My dad is in that ambulance .
Joy’s gentle voice consumes my racing thoughts and soothes my rapid pulse, “Go with him. I’ll find Betty and we’ll meet you at the hospital.”
“A-Are you sure? I can—”
“We’ll be right behind you,” she says softly. “I promise.”
I hand her the keys to my rental and pause. She stares up at me with those big, knowing eyes and I brace for the fall .
Because it’s happening.
Whether she knows it or not.
My arms wrap around her and I hold her tight to my chest. “Thank you,” is all I can say. It doesn’t feel like enough to express how grateful I am for her at this moment.
I kiss her cold cheek and climb inside the ambulance.
When we arrive at the hospital, my father is whisked away for several tests. Thankfully, Joy and my mother arrive a half hour later and Mom takes over—seeming to know every nurse and doctor by name.
A doctor later announces he’d like to keep Dad overnight for observation and Mom opts to stay with him. We make plans for me to return in the morning to either swap places with her or drive the three of us home.
I’m hoping for the latter.
By the time we get back to the house, it’s after midnight. I kill the engine and glance over to the passenger seat where Joy’s fallen asleep. I find myself watching her—once again—but not having the heart to wake her just yet.
The moment is short-lived as she rouses slowly, her head lifting. She blinks in my direction. “Hey.” Her smile is small as she sits up to gather our things from the day.
My tongue feels tied without a response. I get out and walk to her side to open her door. I carry the bag of fudge and take her hand as we head inside. We’re silent as we leave our boots and coats by the door and make our way upstairs. The same routine from last night follows as she takes the bathroom first, then myself.
This time, however, she’s wide awake when I come out of the bathroom. My chest bare. I flex for a brief moment under her gaze, then call myself an idiot for even doing so. After the last few hours, the thought of trying to impress her feels…juvenile.
I’m about to climb into bed when I spare a glance at the loveseat and pause.
“I can hear you thinking from here,” she muses as she settles under the covers with a yawn.
“Is it all right with you if I sleep here?”
Joy nods, flipping the covers back and patting the bed in front of me. I suppress a grin. I turn off the lights and get settled, lying down as she adds, “So long as you don’t push me out of bed this time.”
“I won’t,” I say, eyeing her. “But you are on my side.”
She snorts, half her face covered by the comforter. “I think you mean my side.”
I grin into the darkness as we fall into a comfortable silence. Meanwhile, my mind keeps me awake. I try not to think of how the day ended, but it’s hard not to.
Chilled fingers graze my bicep and I turn my head to find Joy’s moved closer. I roll onto my side to face her, then silently reach for her. The action feels natural as she slides into my arms. Her body flush against mine. Her breath fans my chest before she turns her head to rest it against me.
My hold tightens.
We lay like this for some time. The tension that’s been wound in my shoulders eases as the weight of the day begins to fade away. Everything feels better when I’ve got her in my arms. Like it’s all going to be okay.
And it will be. Because of her.
She has no idea how grateful I am to have her here.
“Joy.”
“Hm?” She tilts her head, and the moment I see her lips, I lean in.
The kiss is soft at first, exploring. We’ve kissed several times over the last few days, but there’s something different about this kiss. It’s…more.
Her tongue tentatively grazes mine and my cock thickens. My need for her—any part of her—is growing by the second with every brush of her lips. The soft, almost shy, touch of her hand on my chest.
“Nick,” she breathes.
My hips twitch at the sound of my name on her lips. All breathy and turned on. Fuck . Is she as aroused as I am?
I veer from her mouth to kiss along her jaw, making my way to her neck. She moans in my ear. Her fingers flex over my pecs with a scrape of her nails. The sensation has my cock weeping with precum. I groan against her delicate neck, inhaling deeply. My hand trails the dip of her waist, over her hip, and around her thigh until I grip underneath it. I nip her earlobe and drag her thigh to rest over my hip.
The erection tenting my shorts brushes between her thighs, and Joy’s innocent gasp only fuels my desire. “I want to make you feel good, angel,” I growl, kissing her neck while my hand slides under her oversized shirt. Her skin is soft and smooth, and growing hotter with every kiss, nip, and lick.
I capture her mouth as my fingers graze the seam of her pussy. The thin material of her panties is soaked with her arousal and my mouth waters. I roll on top of her, my arms bracing on either side as I pin her thighs open with me between them. “Say yes,” I pant.
She stares up at me, her chest rising and falling rapidly until she drags me down for another searing kiss and moans sweetly, “Yes.”
I grin against her lips. “Good girl.”
The sound she makes at my praise has me wishing the lights were on. To see her flushed with need and excitement for me— only me.
The thought is possessive. And it turns me on like no other.
She squirms with every brush of my lips on her exposed skin. I tug her shirt up until her breasts are exposed and use my tongue to caress the hard peak of her nipple. I fondle the other, tweaking it gently between my fingers. Her hands thread through my hair as her back arches, keeping me in place and begging for more.
I pull away and continue downward to the sweet arousal waiting for me. I brush her panties to the side and my finger glides along the lips of her dripping pussy. “Fuck, angel. Is all this for me?” I groan at the feel of her. So. Fucking. Wet.
“Nick,” she pants, “please.”
Precum drips from my cock at the sound of her begging and I groan, tugging my shorts down. My cock springs free and I grip it tightly as I push my middle finger knuckle deep into her tight, weeping cunt. I pump my shaft in time with the thrust of my finger to give us both a moment of relief before I pull away to yank her panties down her legs and discard them.
The moment they’re gone, her legs fall open in the most inviting way. I push her thighs to spread wide and drop my head. I lick her from her tight core to her needy clit.
Her muffled moans have me glancing up at her body to find her hand over her mouth. “Move your hand,” I demand. “I want to hear what it feels like to be mine.”
She does, and I eat her pretty pussy with vigor. Lapping at her folds, sucking her sweet clit, and dipping my tongue into her tight little hole. Goddamn . She gasps and moans and squirms beneath me. I pin her thighs between my shoulder and hand when they begin to shake. She grips my hair as she grinds against my face. I’m so fucking turned on by her that I find my hips thrusting against the bedding. The rub of the three-thousand thread count sheets can’t compare to what it’d be like to be inside her, but it’s the overwhelming presence of her that is my undoing.
The taste, the smell, the feel of her under my tongue…
Fuuuck .
I slip a finger into her, curling it to find the rough pad of her G-spot. The moment I do, she’s arching off the bed with a cry of my name on her sexy as fuck lips. I pump my finger, suck her clit, and ride the wave of her orgasm with her as her pussy pulses around my finger, pulling it deeper.
I groan at the beautiful, sopping-wet sound of her release as she comes down from her high into an exhausted slump against the mattress. My finger slowly slips free and I kiss her thighs, hips, the top of her pussy, her stomach, working my way up her body until my lips meet hers.
The heel of her foot presses into my ass, bringing me flush against her. The length of my cock slips between her wet lips and I pump my hips, gliding it in the most delicious torture.
Joy’s breath stutters as she clutches my arms. “Please.”
I grit my teeth.
We shouldn’t , a tiny voice in my head reasons, this is already complicating things .
My resolve breaks. I drag the crown of my dick over her swollen clit. “Please what?”
“Please fuck me, Nick,” she gasps. “Please.”
I preen at her pleas. It strokes my cock in a way nothing else ever has. “You need me, huh?” I grip my cock in hand, aligning the head at her entrance. “Is that it, angel? You need me to fill this pussy. Stretch you. Make you come on my cock…”
“God, yes . ”
Any ration of thought leaves me the moment I push into her. Raw, hot pleasure washes over me instantly. I sink another inch, two, five, seven…
She takes all of me, tugging me down for a kiss as I start to move. My fists tremble on either side of her as I begin pumping my cock into her tight channel. She feels like heaven. “You take me so good, baby,” I growl.
She moans as I drag along the inner walls of her heat. Her legs tighten on my waist as her pussy flutters around me. I pick up the pace. I take one leg and bring it over my shoulder, leaning over her as my thrusts turn rough until I’m pounding into her. “Yes, oh—Nick!”
I watch her face as she comes on my cock. Squeezing me, her lips parted, chest pink, nipples hard, and her gaze euphoric. I slam into her. The muscles of her cunt pull me deeper and force me over the edge with her.
I drop her leg as I fall over her. She clings to me as I fuck and fill her with everything I have. My cock twitches inside her with aftershocks of my release. I wait a beat before drawing back. She sighs as I slide in beside her. Rolling on her side, I bring her back against my front. Our racing hearts beginning to calm.
We don’t speak. I kiss her neck and hold her close. I know I should get up and clean us, but I don’t want to leave this moment. Her breath eventually evens out and she falls asleep wrapped in my arms.
Everything feels better when I’ve got her in my arms .
And maybe, just maybe, Joy could be my real fiancée someday.
It’s wishful thinking at its best, but it feels good to pretend sometimes.