CHAPTER 23 #2
She slid her hands up his shoulders, kneading them before reaching to thread her fingers through his silky hair. Gently, she massaged his scalp. He broke the kiss and shuddered, exhaling as if releasing a world of pent-up tension.
“Don’t stop,” he murmured.
She tried to think of what to say. “Thank you for trusting me with all of that.”
“You are the only one I’ve ever told.” And then, he closed his eyes as she continued her ministrations, hoping that the little she was doing was somehow helpful, relief flooding her when, gradually, he relaxed and drifted off in her arms.
She watched him for a long, long time. In sleep, he looked so vulnerable …
her nose and eyes stung from the horrific images he’d imprinted in her mind.
His own father … she thought of her loving dad.
She couldn’t fathom what Nick had been through.
It would have broken many people, but somehow, he had moved on and grown stronger, both physically and mentally.
Now that she knew why he had disappeared right before graduation, she wished she didn’t.
She also wished she didn’t have such strong feelings for Nick Kent.
·
Nick
“So, this is where you live.”
Nick pushed open the door to his apartment, stepping aside to let Jannie pass.
Being here felt strange. Sterile. He felt removed from it, somehow. Aside from a few trips to pick up clothes, he hadn’t set foot in this space since he’d brought Jannie to Las Vegas.
“More like where I used to crash,” he said. He couldn’t qualify what he used to do here as living. Existing, maybe. Living? No.
“Bad choice of words.” Jannie shot him a half-smile.
Yeah, crashing might not have been the thing to mention.
He knew she was nervous about the checkride tomorrow.
Unnecessarily, he thought. Out of all the pilots he instructed, none had better instincts and reflexes than Jannie.
But this morning, it was clear she needed a distraction, and since she had shown interest in seeing his place, Nick decided today would be the day.
She did a double take, then pointed to the round, gray robot sitting in its charger against the wall. “You have a Roomba!”
He smiled. Only Jannie could get so excited at the sight of a robotic vacuum. “Why, yes, I do. I bought it as kind of a joke, but the thing did such a good job, I kept it.”
“Aren’t they great? I have three. It’s the only way I can keep up with the German Shepherd hair.”
“I should have brought this to the house.” It would have spared her the daily vacuuming, which she’d done diligently and with zeal.
Her gaze circled the small space, skipping over the bare walls and tiny kitchen. “It’s small.”
His gut tightened. Exactly what Myla had said. “I didn’t need anything bigger.”
“It’s bright.”
“Yeah.” Sunlight streamed through the bare sliding glass doors and windows. He hadn’t bothered with shades or curtains.
“It’s clean. And there’s no clutter.”
“I like to keep things simple.”
She turned to him then, smoothing her hands up his chest. “I like it.”
“Do you?”
She nodded, gripping his shoulders.
He bent his head, taking her lips in a deep kiss. “Then you’ll really like the bedroom.”
“Is that an invitation?”
“It’s a summons.” He slipped an arm behind her knees and lifted her.
A laugh sailed from her lips, suddenly filling the sterile space with warmth. She could be anywhere, he thought, and the space around her would instantly be brighter.
“You promised to show me around,” she said, feigning protest.
He gave her his best wicked grin, wriggling his eyebrows. “I’ll show you whatever you want to see.”
She looped her arms around his neck, burying her face in his throat, then nuzzled his chin and ran her tongue along his jaw.
His body instantly reacted. That was her favorite first move in foreplay since he had let her shave off his beard, and once again, he congratulated himself for that decision.
Shaving daily was a pain, both timewise and comfort wise, but Jannie’s pleasure made it worth it.
Shouldering the door open and crossing the threshold with her in his arms triggered another high school fantasy. He used to picture himself carrying her just like this, to carefully place her on a bed and look down on her as she crooked her finger in a come-here gesture, her eyes seeing only him.
Placing her gently on the bed proved impossible. She didn’t let him go, and he ended up falling on top of her, her long legs trapping him.
Her mouth immediately went to his jaw. “What did you say you’ll show me?” Her hot tongue swirled around his pulse point.
He inhaled sharply. “Anything and everything you want.” He closed his eyes, relishing the feel of her beneath him, convinced that if the woman asked him to show her his heart, he’d unhesitatingly rip it out of his chest and offer it to her.
“Hmm.” She kissed his chin. “Show me your tie collection.”
Nick blinked. “My … tie collection?”
“Yeah. Didn’t you brag that you had a big one?”
“I do have a big one.” He smirked. “Huge.”
She smirked right back, looking him in the eye. “Well then, prove it, sir.”
He rolled off her, his hands going to his belt buckle, but she gripped his wrist.
Nick stared at her. “You really want to see the ties right now?”
She nodded.
The woman was serious. With an inner sigh, he looked to the closet, then sat up, discreetly adjusting himself. “OK.”
With Jannie right on his heels, he took two long strides to reach the door and pulled it open, stepping aside to let her see his modest selection of clothes.
He studied her face as she scanned the jeans and T-shirts, sweatshirts and shorts, all sitting on two shelves.
One navy suit, one gray, hung to the side along with a few dress shirts.
He had taken all his uniforms to the house, so the space they usually occupied was empty.
She seemed pleased, undoubtedly because everything was neatly folded and arranged by category.
“Where are the shoes?”
“Some are at the house. But I don’t keep them here. They’re in the hallway closet.”
Her grin was huge.
Nick grinned back. “I take it you approve?”
“Shoes do not belong in the bedroom.” Her gaze roamed around the small closet. “I don’t see the ties.”
“Ah.” Nick pulled aside the suits, revealing a concealed cabinet. “Go ahead.”
She opened it.
There, mounted on a dowel, hung four motorized revolving racks, each filled with silk ties in various patterns and colors.
Jannie’s eyes widened. “You weren’t kidding.”
“I never kid about something as serious as ties.”
“You grouped them by color!”
“Of course. Is there any other way if you need to find one fast?”
She surveyed the four racks, shaking her head almost imperceptibly, a tiny smile curving her lips. “How many does each one hold?”
“Seventy-two.”
She looked incredulous. “You own two hundred and eighty ties?”
“Two hundred eighty-eight,” he corrected. “Not counting the plain uniform ones.” He pointed to one of the two buttons on the middle rack. “Hit that blue one.”
Jannie did, and the ties started to spin in a whirl of colors and patterns.
She hooked a hand around his neck and pulled. “This makes me hot.”
He pushed the red button to halt the rotation. “My neckties make you hot?”
“The organization.”
“Ah.”
She kissed him then, with all the sweetness and aggression that was Jannie. “How long did it take you to collect all these?”
“I bought my first one in high school.”
“Oh? Which one?”
He went to the first rack, pushed the button, and watched the silk strips swiftly rotate until he found the one he sought: a sky-blue tie with tiny white polka dots.
He handed it to her.
She took it, sliding the smooth fabric between her fingers. “Why does this look familiar?” Her gaze sought his. “Did you ever wear it? To a school ceremony, maybe?”
He shook his head and slipped his hands into his pockets.
“Hmm. I swear I’ve seen this before.” Slowly, recognition dawned in her eyes. “My dress!”
So, she remembered the dress she often wore—her favorite, he assumed—the one with white lace on the hem, short enough to show off her long legs but not so short as to be trashy.
The one he imagined taking off her when he was alone at night, in bed, his teenage mind filled with vivid images of her, his fist wrapped around his painfully hard shaft.
“I even had a matching headband!” she said.
Oh, he remembered that, too.
Her gaze moved from the tie in her hand to his face, and then she reached to cup his cheek, her thumb stroking his jaw. “Did you buy this for a reason, Nicholas?” she softly asked.
Nicholas. She used to call him that whenever she spoke to him back then, leaving him nearly tongue-tied, and damned if he didn’t feel the same way right now.
He shook his head.
“You sure?” She slipped the tie around his neck. “Because it seems to me—” twisting the ends, eyes blazing, she took a step back “—that it was more than you just liking a nice tie.”
Jannie kept walking backward, tugging him by the tie until her knees hit the bed, then she lay down, bringing him with her.
Even fully dressed, the way she looked at him made him feel exposed, as if she’d stolen the secrets of his soul and uncovered all of them. Just as she had the night he’d had his nightmare, when she made him feel like he could open up and tell her what he’d never revealed to anyone.
He held himself up on his elbows, hovering over her, the ends of the tie resting on her chest, right where her tank top revealed the tops of her breasts.
“Show me, Nicholas. Show me what you wanted to do to me when you bought this tie.”
For a few moments, he just looked down at her, allowing the years to fade away, fantasy meshing with reality, and as he slowly, reverently, bent his head to take her lips, he realized he was shaking.
“Jannie,” he murmured.
God … I love you.
The declaration went unspoken, turning into a deep groan that he breathed into the sweet bliss of her mouth. With infinite care, he kissed her, just as he would have all those years ago if he’d had the unbelievably good fortune to do so.