Chapter 19
19
Nick
“ O h shit, oh shit. Nick, wake up.”
I blinked a few times trying to get my bearings. I’d never felt so weighted down by exhaustion, but also satisfaction. A few things registered.
One: Nora was buck ass naked scrambling off my lap. Two: my dick was out of my pants and in a full cock stand. My last thought before drifting off an hour ago was that I needed to take her to my bed if I was going to properly fuck her.
Which was my first thought now, except she was slipping on her dress. Pulling those sinfully sexy straps up and over her shoulders.
“Nick! It’s after one. You need to get up and drive me home.”
No. She needed to take the dress off and get on all fours on top of my bed so I could take her from behind.
She turned her back to me. “Zip up.”
“No…thank you?”
“Nick!” she said as she stomped her bare foot on the floor. “I can’t tell my parents we crashed at your place. As it is, they’re going to be suspicious.”
She glared at me over her shoulder when I still didn’t move.
“Are you ready to tell my dad what’s happening between us?” she asked.
That was an easy answer. I was not. I did not want to look at Roy in the face ever again knowing I finger banged his daughter’s ass while she came on my tongue.
I zipped up her dress and stuffed my hard dick back in my briefs, hoping it would get the message.
Nora reached for her panties but I snatched them out of her hands. “Oh no. I told you. These are mine.”
“You’re seriously going to send me home without my panties?”
“Very seriously.”
I pulled my coat back on, fastened my belt and stuffed her panties into the inside coat pocket. Would I be taking them out later to smell them, stroke my cock with them…I would and I wasn’t ashamed of that.
Which was quite stunning, really.
She hopped on one foot as she pulled on a silver sandal. Then, using me for balance, with her hand wrapped around my elbow, slipped into the other shoe.
“Thanks,” she said.
“You can use me anytime.”
Our eyes met and her panic to be taken home melted under the heat of this thing between us. I could, without any effort, get her to take that dress off and go back to my room, but I wasn’t going to do that.
It was nice to know I could, though.
“Let’s go,” I said and she smiled like I was the best thing ever.
I shook my head like a dog shaking off a bath and followed Nora out of my apartment and back down the steps to the car. We did the open her door, unlock my lock thing, and then ten minutes later I was sitting outside of her house.
This is all wrong, I thought. I shouldn’t be leaving her. She should be in my bed right now and tomorrow. We should wake up, have sex and go get breakfast.
“I guess we’ll talk?” she asked me.
“About what?”
“Nick! We had sex!”
“Technically, we didn’t. Which I really would like to remedy. Why did you make me bring you back here? We could be doing it. I could be taking you to pound town.” I laughed at my own joke.
“Are you high right now?”
Yes. I was high on her and I didn’t want it to end.
She opened the passenger door and I scrambled to follow her up the walkway to the front door.
“What are you doing?” she hissed at me, making a motion with her hand as if to back me up.
“I’m walking you to your door, because not two hours ago I had my dick down your throat and you’re not wearing any panties.”
“And whose fault is that?” she said, throwing her hands up in the air.
I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her up against my chest. Dropping my head, I kissed her. Right there on her front porch, where anyone might see, but no one did see because it was nearly two o’clock in the morning.
She pushed me off her with one hand on my chest. “Stop it. We’ll get caught.”
“We’re not two teenagers sneaking around-”
The front door swung open and I swear my life flashed before my eyes.
“I thought I heard voices,” Vanessa said. “I wasn’t waiting up. I promise. I fell asleep on the couch watching a Hallmark movie.”
“Dad doesn’t let you watch those until after Thanksgiving,” Nora reminded her mother.
“I know. Don’t snitch on me.” Vanessa focused in on me and I felt like she could see everything I did to her daughter tonight and wanted to do to her tomorrow night and every night after. “Oh, Nick, is that blood on your neck? Wait, no, maybe lipstick?”
“It was a dancing accident,” Nora said quickly. “We were jumping up and down.”
Which she demonstrated by jumping up and down. Then she whacked my arm as if to get me in line.
“ Jump around. Jump around ,” she sang as I bounced up and down. I caught her eye.
The things I do for you. I telepathed into her head.
The things I did to you, she shot back and I had to concede.
“ Jump up, jump up and get down ,” Nora sang and she did this weird sideways hop into me. “And that’s how it happened. My mouth…landed on his neck. It’s fine. Fun wedding. But wow, am I tired. Whelp, thanks Nick. See you around. At work. On Monday. Because I work for you at your garage.”
“Um, Nora, honey,” Vanessa said, pulling her into the house. “Did you drink too much tonight? Get a big bottle of water and some aspirin. You’ll thank me in the morning. Night, Nick.”
“Goodnight,” I said and watched as Vanessa closed the front door on me. I heard her engage the lock, but still I just stood there. Nora was on the other side of that door and I was supposed to be with her.
Shit. Was I drunk?
No, two beers at the wedding. A sip of bourbon. The things I did to her though. The things I said…
I wasn’t that guy. I wasn’t suck all of my dick and swallow my cum guy. I’d never felt so stripped of every boundary I’d ever possessed. It was like this sex beast I’d caged my whole damn life had suddenly burst free and it wasn’t to be denied anything it wanted when it came to her.
The beast didn’t want to leave now. It wanted to follow her inside the house, crawl into bed with her and fuck her stupid.
Get a grip, man. You’ll see her at work on Monday.
I turned and looked up at the stars, the glow of Mal’s lighthouse in the distance, the moon an ivory sliver in black velvet. I loved Calico Cove because nothing changed, it could be relied upon to stay the same, day after day, year after year. After the chaos of my childhood, it was a gift. A balm.
The breath I took tasted like the ocean and Nora.
My feelings for her were the same too, day after day, year after year. I knew it when I was fifteen. I knew it when she left me six years ago. I knew it when she came back, and maybe if I was better with feelings, I would have been able to name it sooner.
She’d been right the night of her birthday, everything she said, completely right.
I was waiting for her. She was waiting for me. We were special. Fated.
Whistling, her panties in my pocket, I went back home to wait for her some more.
I woke up late after not getting to sleep until after three in the morning. I’d slept like shit and woke up once at dawn to stroke myself with Nora’s red thong. I’d never felt like this before. About any woman. I was obsessed and possessive.
What did she think of me? Was she disgusted? Turned on?
Had I waited too long to come to grips with how I felt, and missed my window?
I had no one to talk about this with, except her, and I couldn’t imagine that conversation. Not yet. I felt like a kid again in the worst possible way. Unsure and worried.
There is someone you could talk to….you have a half-brother less than a mile away who would listen to all this shit in your head and put you straight.
I laughed at the thought. Like I’d go to Wyatt with these…feelings. I’d rather poke out my eyes.
I got out of bed and put on some coffee. I found my phone in my suit pants pocket. Dead, of course. I plugged it in and looked out the window onto the town square. Church must have just let out, people were in their Sunday best getting some treats from Bobette and Belle. Kids played tag around the gazebo.
The sky was so blue it almost hurt and there were a dozen people riding bikes and running on the path near the beach. I was no jogger, but I was so damn restless and in my head about last night, that I was ready to do anything.
I dug out some athletic shorts, a long sleeve t-shirt and sneakers and headed off in an easy jog. Traffic was light through town, but busy enough. I turned down a side road that would lead me closer to the beach. Maybe some time there would calm my mind.
Around one corner I had to stop as a car was driving, too fast in my opinion, for a residential area. I was about to shout that there were kids who lived on this street, when I recognized the driver was Peter.
And he wasn’t alone. There was a guy in a hoodie in the passenger seat next to him gesturing wildly with his hands.
They were gone around the corner before I had a chance to say or do anything, but something about the encounter left me feeling uneasy.
Probably because Peter was a pushy asshole.
At a corner, I stopped running to catch my breath and found myself in front of Wyatt’s cottage.
Right. Well. Maybe there was food inside.
I banged on the front door. “Open up asshole! I need to eat!”
The door swung open and a petite brunette with the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen stood on the other side of the door.
“I hope I’m not the asshole,” she said.
I gaped at her.
“No, of course Wyatt’s the asshole,” she said with a dazzling smile. I was dazzled. “What has he done now?”
“You’re ah…you’re…” say something smart like I’m sorry or nice to meet you or I’m a big fan of your work. “You’re Sydney Malloy.”
She smiled, like she heard idiotic stuff like that all the time. “I am. And you are?”
“I’m Nick. I’m Wyatt and Liam’s…”
Her eyes went wide with pure delight. Authentic and real, and if I wasn’t already in deep with my best friend, I might have fallen for her in an instant. Her smile was that powerful.
“Oh my gosh, it’s you,” she cried. “Come inside,” she took my hand and pulled me in, shutting the door behind me. “Wyatt told me everything about you. Well, everything about you he knows. He says you’re hard to get to know, but he’s working on it. Oh shoot. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.”
“The fuck, Nick? Was that you banging on the door?” Wyatt came down the stairs wearing sweats, a black t-shirt and a scowl.
“I…I didn’t realize she would be here.”
“Of course she’s here,” Wyatt said, planting a kiss on top of her head. It was true. My grumpy, blunt neanderthal of a half- brother was engaged to musical pop princess Sydney Malloy. “She’s been away too damn long. Did I hear you need to eat? We’ve got some bagels left over from this morning.”
“Yes, Wyatt couldn’t eat all six,” she said, hip checking him.
“A man needs food, woman,” he growled.
“A man needs to watch that he doesn’t turn soft now that he’s not playing hockey.”
“I wasn’t soft last night, honey,” he murmured into her ear.
“Maybe I should go,” I said. Clearly they were catching up after her being away in Los Angeles.
“Absolutely not,” Sydney insisted. “I want a chance to get to know you. Now, we have bagels and orange juice and some coffee. How does that sound?”
“Like heaven,” I admitted.
“Well, come on,” she said and I followed her into the kitchen. I sat in the sun at the kitchen table and she put a spread of food out in front of me which included two types of cream cheese to go with the bagels. Wyatt set a mug of fresh coffee down and sat across from me at the table.
“What really brings you here?” he asked.
“I need a reason?” I asked around a mouthful of everything bagel and veggie cream cheese. “You stop by my place all the time.”
“If you think I’m buying you just stopped by…oh shit. Wait. Last night was wedding number two. How did that go?” he asked, looking at me over the rim of his coffee. Beside him Sydney watched with wide eyes.
“Wedding?” she whispered. “Whose wedding?”
“Nick was his best friend’s date to two weddings. The first wedding he got a dick twitch and I’m guessing something good happened at the second wedding.”
“Oh my gosh, you’re falling in love with your best friend.” Sydney clapped. “It’s like a song.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but Wyatt held up a finger and reached for his phone.
“Liam,” Wyatt said, putting the phone on the table between us. It was on speaker. “Nick showed up at the cottage this morning. Wedding number two was last night.”
“ Perfect timing! Kit just took Tess to a play date. So did you fuck her out of your system?”
“What?” Sydney squeaked in outrage. “What kind of half assed advice have you been giving him?”
“ Only the good kind, Syd. ”
“I’m not listening to this. And you shouldn’t either, Nick,” she said, standing up from the table. She pointed a finger at Wyatt. “This one got drunk one night and married someone in Vegas-”
“That was you,” Wyatt interjected.
“And the other one didn’t even know he was in love the entire time he was with Kit. They are not relationship experts.”
“Point taken,” I said and gulped some coffee.
But they are all I have.
“I’m going upstairs to finish unpacking. Don’t give Nick any more stupid advice,” she said.
“ Our advice was spot on. ”
Sydney patted my shoulder as she walked behind me to leave the kitchen. “It was nice to meet you, Nick. I hope you know you’re always welcome to bang on our door anytime.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, still amazed that Sydney Malloy was an actual human in the world. A very nice one at that.
Once she was gone, Wyatt stared me down. “So? Did you fuck her out of your system?”
“No. Nope. Not at all. She is deeply in my system.” In fact, I am obsessed with her panties and I may have developed a sex beast.
“ Ha! I knew it. Dude, you’re in love. ”
“I’m not…” I took a deep breath and put down all my bullshit. These two men hadn’t had the same childhood I did, but we shared the same mother, and that came with a shit ton of baggage. “How do you know?” I asked them. “It’s not like I grew up with that shit, you know? My house was scary until I got to Calico Cove. Like…how the hell am I supposed to know what love feels like?”
I knew what it looked like. It looked like Birdie and Antony. Roy and Vanessa. But that was them, not me.
“Maybe I’m too fucking damaged to be in love,” I said, as honest as I’d ever been.
Wyatt nodded like he understood. “I’m sorry, man,” he said and I shook my head. I did not want their apologies. They were useless. I needed answers.
“Okay,” Wyatt said, going full team captain. “I’m going to ask a question and I don’t need details. Was the sex different than it ever has been for you?”
“Yes,” I said on a whoosh of air.
“ See man, I’m telling you. That’s love. It’s like you get a little crazy when you’re around her. And what the fuck…I want the details. ”
“No details,” I barked. “But I did…I went a little caveman on her. That’s not my usual style.”
“Was she freaked out or into it?”
“Into it,” I admitted.
“That’s it,” Wyatt said with finality. “The Locke brothers work is done.”
“What are you talking about? Nothing’s done. Good sex isn’t love.”
“ Nah, bro, you’re into her and she’s into your inner caveman. That’s game, set, match. ”
“You play hockey,” I reminded him.
“Liam’s right,” Wyatt said. “I’m right. And you know it. You’re just struggling with the reality of it.”
“The reality is, her father is going to kill me.”
“ We’ll have your back. ”
Wyatt nodded. “We’ll have your back. No matter what.”
That feeling that I was trying to avoid around these two guys shifted in my chest again. Made it harder to breathe.
“Bring her to a hockey game. I want to meet her.”
“I don’t even know if we’re officially dating!”
“Then go make it official,” Wyatt said. “When you find her…The One, you got to lock that shit down.”
“You and Sydney got divorced?”
“Yep. So we could get engaged.”
“You know that makes no sense.”
“ Love doesn’t make sense, brother. It just is. ”
I sighed. “Thanks for the bagels. I need to talk to Nora.”