Chapter 5 #2
“You’re not rushing me. I like to think we’re going with the natural flow of things and seeing where we land. Hopefully it will be somewhere pleasant for both of us. I think we should test the waters though, to start the flow.”
“Okay, what do you have in mind?”
“I don’t know, what do you have in mind?”
“Would it be overzealous or presumptuous of me to ask if I can kiss you?”
“No, I think that’s a good idea to start the flow. It’s a wonderful idea.” He puts his arm around my waist, pulling me against his body. Leaning down, he gently kisses my lips, and I snake my arms around his neck, opening my mouth to him. “Mmm…nice.”
“Mmhmm, wait, it gets better. I’m pulling out all the stops.” I laugh, and he glides his tongue over the roof of my mouth, setting off tingling sensations in me. Keeping his mouth against mine he says, “I think the flow is turning into a steady rush.”
I agree, smiling, and as he’s about to kiss me again my phone rings. Breaking the contact between us, I hold up a finger moving back to answer my phone without looking. “Hello.”
“Hey, what’s up? I haven’t heard from you in a few days. I wanted to make sure you’re okay. How’s the morning sickness?”
Oh dammit, Nick. Awkward feeling. “Hi, I’m fine.”
“Are you sure, you sound a little…I don’t know?”
Geez. “I was actually about to step out. I’ll call you later, okay? Bye.”
“Wait! What’s going on? Where are you going on a weeknight at this time?”
I give a strained smile to Matt and turn away from him. “I’ll call you later, I have to go,” I say, trying to dodge his questions and get off the phone.
“Are you going on a date? With him?”
“Yes, I’ll call you later, bye.” I hang up before he has a chance to say anything else. I turn around giving Matt an apologetic smile.
He shakes his head and smiles back. “Let me guess—Nick. He sure knows how to ruin a good time. You’re talking to him again?”
“We’ve come to an understanding, and he knows we’re dating.”
I see the skepticism all over his face. “And he’s fine with this?”
I didn’t say that. “He’s respecting my choice. Shoes—two minutes and I’ll be ready to go,” I tell him, effectively ending an uncomfortable topic.
The date was great; we laughed and talked like we always do, but I was waiting for that feeling one gets when the proverbial stars align and becomes all aflutter with anticipation at the end of the night.
I didn’t get it, but the kisses were good…
it wasn’t the I-want-to-slap-you-but-still-kiss-you-at-the-same-time feeling most people would be a bit puzzled by—except for me it seems.
Two days later, I got a surprise at my door. I was expecting Chloe, and Isabelle with Conner, but it was Nick. “What are you doing here?”
“I felt bad about your morning sickness.” He holds up a bag and hands it to me.
I take the bag and look inside. A box of saltines, ginger ale, and two kinds of seltzer water. I smile, putting the bag down. “Thank you, but don’t just show up like this. You can’t do that.” So not good if Matt was here.
With sad puppy dog eyes and a pout he says, “You’re going to make this often brash but well-meaning, pigheaded ass of a man dissolve into a puddle of tears, with my tail between my legs, all because I was concerned? Concerned about you and brought you a care package.”
I stare at him, unmoved, and out of nowhere he drops to the floor on one knee, pulling me toward him with his hands on my hips. “What are you doing!” I take a quick look around to make sure no one is coming down the hall.
“Catherine Reed, I will be down here groveling at your perfect dainty feet until the day you decide to forgive me for being such a screwed-up, insensitive jackass. How dare I show up at your door uninvited and worried about you.” During his speech, I try to unglue his hands off me until I finally give in and say, “Yes, yes, fine, I forgive you. Get up.” He instantly releases my hips and pops up, kissing me on the cheek, and I can’t stop myself from smiling at his antics.
“Sorry I had to pull out the big guns, groveling and all that. I’m pleased to see you’re not immune to it. I’ll call next time.”
“Thank you.” I watch him lean against the doorframe, not trying to talk his way inside.
“I was really concerned. How’s the morning sickness?”
I rest the bag on the floor and answer him. “It’s off and on during the day. At the moment it’s off.”
“Tired?”
I smile, thinking about my day and the nap I had to take on my lunch break. “Yes, but I’m managing to get a few well-timed naps in here and there.”
His eyes move up and down my body, assessing for himself, stopping at my face. “Good, I don’t want anything to happen to you and the baby. I don’t know what I would do.”
Always looking out for me…nothing’s changed there. We stand there for a while in silence, and I contemplate what he means as the old familiar feelings stir inside me. If I could feel more of this with Matt it would solve a lot of problems.
“I’m going to go so you can get some rest. I just wanted to give you these and make sure you were feeling okay.” He points to the bag on the floor. “I hope you don’t need to use those.”
“Thanks for bringing these, and I’m hoping the same thing.” I’m about to say something else when I hear, “Hey, Cat.”
To my shock, I see Isabelle and Chloe, with no other than Matt himself trailing behind them. This is all I need. I can see ice crystals in the air when Nick turns toward the sound of Chloe’s voice and makes eye contact with Matt.
Chloe, as usual, pushes out her chest and runs her hand down Nick’s arm, needlessly touching him, and moving in for a kiss on the cheek, which he gives her with a smile.
I can only imagine how he’s managing to keep that smile up.
“Hey, Nick, fancy seeing you here. Are you staying? I love it when the unexpected happens in the form of two gorgeous testosterone-filled men. Only very good things can happen: one for me, one for Cat.”
Where is a cliff when you need to throw yourself off it?
Nick shakes his head while still maintaining his smiling face. “Unfortunately I won’t be able to stay to enjoy yours and Isabelle’s lovely company. I’m afraid the testosterone will overflow and someone might end up with pistols at dawn, fighting over your affections.”
Chloe, who’s in her element and doesn’t seem to mind compliments being thrown her way, beams up at Nick, brushing her body against his as she walks inside, saying, “Nick, I’m a girl who knows how to share, there is enough of my affection to go around.
By the way, I fully intend to give you that call for the one-on-one consultation we talked about. Later.”
Nick lets her pass by without saying a word and looks at me apologetically with an imperceptible shake of his head.
I let my facial expression do the talking for me.
Isabelle clears her throat, looking between us with an amused smile.
Nick kisses her on the cheek as she goes in and she blushes a bit, saying, “Hi, Nick; bye, Nick. Nice to see you again.”
The last person, whom I haven’t looked at yet, stops dead in front of Nick. The look on both their faces is unmistakable, especially Nick’s. Not wanting my friends to hear them, I step out as far as I can, pulling the door shut.
“I heard you were back,” Matt says.
“You heard right.”
“Good luck.”
“Don’t need it. I’m not going anywhere.” He turns to me and his expression morphs from frosty to affectionate. Brushing his thumb across my face, he says, “Goodnight, Cat, and in case I don’t get to say it tonight, sweet dreams.”
Oh, man. “Goodnight.”
Matt watches him walk away then catches me off-guard when he blurts out, “What the hell was that, why was he here?”
“I could ask the same of you. I was not expecting to see either of you here tonight. I didn’t invite him over. He came to say hi. We’re friends. I don’t appreciate the way you’re acting, because I didn’t do anything wrong. Do you want to tell me who I can and can’t see now?”
“I’m not saying that. I was in the area, bumped into Chloe and Isabelle, and they said I should come with them. I thought it would be a great surprise.”
“I’m happy to see you. I just wasn’t expecting you, just like I wasn’t expecting Nick. Let’s not argue about this.”
“Okay, but all I’m saying is it’s unnerving seeing him with you.”
I don’t say anything to that. Instead, I pull his head down for a kiss and say, “He left, we’re here together, let’s go inside with our friends and enjoy the rest of our night. You are a good surprise.” He takes my hand and closes the door.
I could tell he was a little tense the rest of the night, as he didn’t join Chloe when she tried to get him to dance.
He did sit next to me the entire night, holding my hand, and letting Isabelle and Chloe know when they asked that we were dating and seeing where it would lead to.
Isabelle was her usually happy self, especially with the prospect of another couple she likes going out on a double date with her and Kevin.
Chloe was way too excited, pleased that Nick was all free and clear for her.
But, the end of the night, all of us were laughing.
Matt and I made plans to go on a date next week when he comes back from his business trip.
The week was uneventful with Matt gone. Every night we would talk on the phone and then like on some freaky radar, Nick would call me and he would be the last voice I heard at night instead of Matt’s.
It wasn’t bad, though, because he was the only one who knew I was pregnant, and when a little groan would escape from my nausea, I didn’t have to pretend it was a yawn or me clearing my throat, which gets old fast. He would just say in a soothing voice, “Lie back and breathe.”
Even though we didn’t talk about Kate or what happened, I found I was less and less angry with him each day. And still not one word about Matt or what happened in the hallway between the three of us.