Chapter 25Nick
Chapter 25
Nick
NOVEMBER | Tarot: Queen of Pentacles
Annie answered the door with wet hair and a broad smile. “Hey, sorry. I’m running late. Takes forever to wash all this hair.”
I smirked, stepping over the threshold and closing her door. I took her chin between my fingers, loving how she leaned into the touch. “You’re in trouble.”
“That makes us even,” she cooed, her grin dazzling. “You’re still in trouble for grabbing my butt and boobs when I said you could only pick one.”
“Hmm. Who will do the punishing then?” I moved in like I was going to kiss her and instead rubbed my nose with hers.
She gasped. “Hey! No fair!”
“Oh, Miss Friends-with-Benefits is begging for kisses, is she?”
“You’re the needy one, Oberbeck,” she said.
“Not how it looks from where I’m standing.” My eyes traced over her hair. “I didn’t know you had wavy hair.”
“Sometimes wavy. Sometimes just wild and I have to tame it into submission.”
“What do you have to do to keep it wavy?”
“Why? You like it?”
“I do. It’s very California Annie.”
“Too bad you don’t get to choose how I wear my hair,” she said, strutting away.
“Too bad someone was wanting kisses, then,” I said, sitting on her couch and checking my nails.
Her mouth dropped open. “Cruel!”
A hairdryer sounded, soft music played, and twenty-some-odd minutes later, Annie emerged in a cloud of vanilla wearing a grey t-shirt that made her boobs look amazing, a pair of jeans, and some white sneakers. And her hair was wavy.
“Ready to eat?”
I stood, walking toward her and gripping her hips. “Yeah. You got your stuff to stay overnight tonight?”
“Oh, I’m staying over, am I? Are you sick again? Otherwise, I’m not sure I should stay over.”
“In that case, yes. I’m very sick. Greg too. Very sick. Very desperate. Very much in need of the blonde lady with the wavy hair.” I gathered her hair into a ponytail and tugged, a lazy smile breaking over her face. I drizzled light kisses from her ear down her neck, then whispered in her ear. “I was thinking maybe the cure could be me making you come.”
She hummed. “You already made me come today.”
“That was both of us. I think I’m ready to get some lessons. Do a little homework. Become teacher’s pet.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Definitely,” I said. “Why don’t you go pack a bag?”
“I only pack bags for kisses,” she said with a drowsy blink.
“So damn needy, Markham,” I said before giving her what she wanted. Her lips felt amazing, and I wondered how I’d gone the half hour since I got to her place without kissing her. I could get a gold medal for self-restraint. This was our first time kissing totally alone, not in some contrived, absurd setting in a semi-public place. My stomach swooped and my heart took off, completely losing myself in the feel of her: her mouth, her hand on my side, her neck and waist in my hands.
I realized at that moment just how very screwed I was. It was never going to be just friends for me. Annie was everything: the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the darkness in between. Why did I always find myself drawn to the forbidden? Why couldn’t I want someone I could have? What kind of twisted masochism drove this tendency of mine?
When she pulled away, I was chasing after her, desperate for more. She gave a soft laugh. “Look who’s needy now.”
She took pity on me and gave me one last smooch before sashaying into her room to pack her overnight bag. I adjusted myself and followed, leaning into her door frame while she gathered her stuff. She smirked over at me.
“Don’t you have a game tomorrow afternoon?” she asked. “You shouldn’t be staying up late with me.”
“I’ll take a nap,” I shrugged. “I know what I’m doing.”
I absolutely did not know what I was doing, other than digging myself a grave I’d never climb out of. A grave with Annie’s name on the marker, as she was going to be the death of me.
“What will Greg think?”
“He’ll think his mommy’s come home.”
She raised her eyebrows. “I’m already Mommy?”
“He gets attached quick.”
She strutted toward me, stopping where I blocked the doorway with her bags in hand. “I don’t think he’s the only one, bub. Let’s make sure we stick to friends who really like and respect each other, with benefits like great kisses and orgasms. ‘Kay?” She patted my chest and I stepped back to let her through. Busted .
“Ready?”
I took her bags, a bunch of reusable grocery bags. “Do you need a bigger bag?”
She groaned. “My duffel’s zipper broke sometime when I moved. I’ve just been living out of multiple bags since.”
We were at her front door, but I stopped her, dropping the bags and taking her waist in my hands. I caged her against the door frame. “One more time before we’re in public.”
Annie’s cheeks tinted pink as she tipped her face up. Soft, tender lips met mine, her fists clutching my jacket. My hands coasted from her waist to her hips, getting lost in her again.
Would I ever get tired of kissing her? Would it ever not feel like the most peaceful moment, and simultaneously the most thrilling?
My knee was lodged between her legs, and I gulped down her little moans and squirms.
“Nick,” she sighed as I kissed down her neck.
“Yeah?”
She went on her tiptoes and whispered in my ear. “I’m getting really hungry, and I get kinda mean when I’m hungry.”
I nuzzled her nose and she giggled. “Let’s go feed you, needy girl.”