Chapter 11 #2
“I’m sure they had a lot more to say.”
“I’m sure they did too. The whole point is they know. If they’re happy for us, that’s great. If they’re not, I don’t give a damn, and they know to keep their mouths shut.”
“Okay, I guess it’s time to tell Chris. I’ll call him tomorrow and tell him to come over. He’s going to want to know why the hell I’m asking him to meet me at your place.”
“I’ll call him.”
“I don’t know…I don’t want our relationship to affect your friendship.”
“Don’t worry about it. I have to be the one to tell him about us because of the way it all went down with Kate and you. The way I handled things before was fucked up. I should have told him about us and Kate from the beginning.”
“It’s not your fault, I asked you not to tell anyone. You were only respecting what I wanted. I know you would have told everyone if I didn’t ask you to keep it a secret.”
“Doesn’t matter. I need to do it right this time. He should hear about us and the baby from me. Tell me you understand?”
I take a deep breath and exhale. I turn around in his arms, raising my head. “I’ll agree to you telling him only if you do it in this apartment when I’m here.”
“Agreed. I’ll call him tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay. You know what I was thinking?”
“You were thinking what it would be like to be pressed up against the cold hard glass of this window. Being able to see everything and everyone outside while I come inside you from behind, no one knowing what’s going on but me and you.”
He backs me up against the window and sucks on my bottom lip, and I move the tip of my tongue against his top lip. Very distracting. “That’s not exactly what I was thinking,” I say, pulling away from the kiss a little breathless.
“You’re thinking it now, and I’m the man that can make it happen.”
A thought crosses my mind, and I know why at this exact moment—I’ve been trying to forget about it all evening. “How many other women have you pressed up against this sturdy window?”
He brushes a finger across my cheek and takes a breath. “Do you really want to know?”
I shrug my shoulders. I’m not certain. I know he’s been with a lot of women but, I’m not insecure about that…
I don’t know, I guess I’m curious with all that talk at lunch and Chloe today.
When I was going through a drawer in his room, I saw a picture of a woman with long blonde hair leaning against this same glass window.
The first thing that came to me was God, she’s beautiful.
She had big brown eyes, and she was laughing.
What made it even worse was she was in a red lace bustier with a pair of handcuffs dangling from her fingers.
Who am I fooling? I’m feeling a little insecure, maybe a bit more than that.
I play with the buttons on his shirt, and he puts a finger under my chin so I can look at him.
“The only thing that matters is you and me. Whatever I did before, with anyone else, shouldn’t play a role in what we choose to do.”
“No, it shouldn’t.”
“At the same time, I want to be honest with you. Sometimes too much honesty isn’t a good thing. Don’t ask for the truth unless you can handle it.”
“I can. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“There was only one other person—Paige.”
“What does she look like?” I already know.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“I told you I could handle it. Tell me, please.”
Disgruntled, he lets out an impatient breath. “She’s average height with blonde hair and brown eyes. That’s it.”
Ah, the beauty in the picture. “I saw her.”
“What do you mean you saw her?” His eyes take on a new look, staring down at me.
“I didn’t see her in person; I saw a picture of her. In one of the drawers you gave me. She’s very beautiful; she’s your type.”
“I had a type. I only have one type now—you.”
“Why did you break up? You went really far with her, further than any other relationship you’ve been in.”
“We had a lot of differences we couldn’t reconcile.”
“You made it that far; I’m sure you could have worked things out.”
“She was growing impatient being my girlfriend. She wanted to be Mrs. Alexander. She wanted to—I’m paraphrasing here—ignite a fire inside of me while keeping her other options open. She made a move she thought would get her what she wanted.”
“What did she do?”
“She dated one of my business associates to make me jealous and show me she had other choices. Then she fucked him, and I told her get the fuck out and take her shit with her. After that she was replaceable, as replaceable as a box of tissues.”
Whoa! “Did you love her?”
“Something like that, we were very close. I cared a lot about her. Big difference.”
“Do you know the difference?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Sometimes you can make yourself think you love a person when you only care about them deeply.” There’s my insecurity rearing its ugly head.
“Where’s this coming from, Cat?”
I look away and play with the buttons on his shirt again and say what I’m thinking.
“Do you doubt your feelings for me, Nick? What if I become replaceable?” His hands tighten around me.
“Hey, look at me.” At the gentle commanding tone he uses, I lift my head slightly. “You are irreplaceable. When I said I love you, I meant it. I’ve always known I loved you.”
“I’m having an insecure moment.”
“You have nothing to be insecure about. I know what love is. I’ve known what it is from the first time I kissed you at thirteen.
Like I told you, it’s changed over the years and taken different forms, but it’s still the same love.
Now that we’re together and we don’t have to hide it, it’s deeper and stronger and if you ever leave me I don’t know what I would do.
I would freak the fuck out. I love you, Catherine Reed, more than you know. ”
“You know how I feel, Nick,” I say, eyes misting, pregnancy hormones kicking in. Why can’t I just say it?”
“It’s all right…I already know.” He smiles at me.
I push up on my toes, pulling his head down and bringing his lips to mine, a caress of a soft gentle touch, communicating without words a mutual understanding of how much he means to me.
Surprising me, he pulls away, making my eyes fly open, confused, until he speaks and I see the dark heat in his eyes, stirring the ever-present need for him inside of me.
“You don’t have to say anything you’re not ready to. When I say I love you, I say it for the both of us,” he says gently with an undercurrent of heat and want.
Without another word he spins me around to face the glass window, making me gasp.
He brings his hands around my stomach, pressing against my back, parting my robe and exposing my naked body.
Leaving me vulnerable and exposed to him, not only on the outside but also within.
Brushing his hand across my stomach, he looks down at me from behind and kisses me behind my ears.
I close my eyes for a second, reveling in the safety and security the weight and the warmth of his body brings to me; I lean my head back on him, forgetting how exposed I am.
“Where’re your clothes?”
“I just came out of the shower. I thought you could help me put something on.”
“No, I can’t.”
“Hmm…oh well,” I sigh, with his lips trailing down the back of my neck.
I rest my hands against the glass, anchoring myself when his hands move to the sides of my waist and he pushes my breasts up against the cold hard glass.
He leans his chest against my back, making my nipples turn to hard tight buds, fully turning me on.
I’m sure my nipples could cut the glass I’m pressed against. I moan, and with a deep rumbling sound, he slips one hand between my legs, parting my folds, rubbing me and making me wet all over.
I bite down on my lip and moan again, dazed, my eyes half open, hardly seeing people walking by below.
I recall my state of undress, but I’m so consumed with the need to be filled completely by him to the point of not caring if anyone sees us. “Nick…are you sure no one can see us?”
“No one.”
I don’t care anymore, considering what his fingers are doing.
My head lolls back on his chest, and he fuses our lips in a scorching kiss.
My fingers thread through his hair, deepening the kiss, and I move my hips, pushing against his fingers and moaning loudly into his mouth.
He finally slips his fingers inside me where I need them to be.
He groans equally as loud, picking up the tempo of his hand.
Unzipping his pants with one hand, he whips my robe to the side and presses his hardness against my bare ass.
“You want it? Say it, let me give you what you want,” he says in a hypnotic voice.
“Yes, give it to me…please,” I moan, desperately spreading my legs wider for him.
He accepts the invitation and slides his length between my wet swollen flesh, rubbing back and forth from my opening to my pulsating clit.
“Oh God, Nick…I need more, it’s not enough.
” I push back, trying to get the head of his dick inside me, but he pulls back and I groan in frustration. “Nick, don’t tease me,” I stutter.
“I’m not. You’re not ready for the things I want to do to you against this window. Not in your condition. Come on, it’s time I put you to bed.”
He unexpectedly swings me up in his arms, his hand under my knees.
I gasp and he walks toward the bedroom giving me a kiss.
When he takes off his clothes and lays me down, the things he does to me and the places and ways he kisses me are so hot they melt away every thought in my head of any other woman he’s ever been with; it’s amazing.
Nick
When Cat falls asleep, I go through every drawer to make sure Paige didn’t leave any more unwanted mementos to remember her by.
I flush that damn picture down the toilet.
I should have told Cat that Paige was the girl I hooked up with when we weren’t together—and she works at the law firm.
But, if she knows we work together sometimes and I have to go away on business with her a time or two, her momentary insecurity is going to turn into everyday worry.
I don’t want her worrying for a second over something that doesn’t exist, especially not when things are so new with us.
I’ll tell her after the baby; there’s low risk of her finding out unless she comes to the office unexpectedly. Then that might be a problem.