ONLY ONE TOUCH

by Madison, Natasha

  “Yeah,” I say softly. “I don’t know what to do,” I say. “I don’t know where to go. I feel so defeated, like there is nothing left, and I have no idea what to do with these feelings.”

  “I wish I had the answer,” she says. “I wish that I could make it all better.”

  “You and me both,” I say. “I’m going to take a shower and head to bed.”

  “It’s six.” She laughs. “Aren’t you going to the game?”

  “Nah,” I say to her. “I’m going to watch it from home.”

  “Okay, let me know if you need anything.” I press the end button, then get up and go shower.

  I don’t bother watching the game. Instead, I go outside and sit down. Looking up at the stars blinking in the sky, I sit here until the sun starts to come up, my eyes never even closing once.

  I walk back into the house, coming face-to-face with Lizzie and Laurene, both in their robes raiding my fridge. “What are you guys doing?” I ask, causing them to both yelp.

  “You scared the shit out of me,” Lizzie says, dropping the loaf of bread she was holding and putting her hand on her chest. “What the fuck?”

  “Why are you up?” Laurene asks, the bag of chips in her hands squashed to her chest.

  “The question is, why the fuck are you in my fridge?” I tilt my head to the side.

  “I had no food,” Lizzie says. “And you have food, so …”

  “Have you not been to bed?” Laurene asks.

  “I had things on my mind,” I say.

  “She’s gone,” Lizzie says, looking at me. “Took off to Turks.”

  My heart speeds up, my palms getting wet. “How do you know?”

  “I ran into Francis and pretended I knew,” Lizzie says. “Told him she called me about houses.”

  “Did he say how long she will be gone for?” I ask, the lump coming to my throat.

  “She isn’t sure yet. At least for a month,” she says, and I just nod at her.

  “Turn off the lights when you’re done,” I tell them, walking back to my room. I slip into bed, thinking about Becca alone on some island.

  When I wake the next day, it’s after nine, and I feel like I’m hungover even though I haven’t drunk anything. I walk around with a hollowness in my chest, knowing a piece of me is gone. Unless I get her back, that piece will be gone forever.

  I pick up the phone and call Lizzie, who answers right away. “Do you have time?” I ask. “I want to talk to you.”

  She comes down a minute later. Sitting here in the living room, I tell her my plan. She wipes tears away from her cheeks and a sob comes out. “Are you sure?”

  “I haven’t been more sure in my whole life,” I say. “I need to do this. For me. For her. For us.”

  “But,” she says and then stops. “But …”

  “But nothing. It’ll be fine. It has to be fine. I love her,” I say, trembling. “So much, Lizzie, I feel like I can’t breathe without her. I feel a piece of me is missing, and she has that piece.”

  “When do you think you are going to leave?” she asks.

  “Tomorrow,” I say. “I just need to find out where she is, and as soon as I find out, I’ll be on the next plane out.”

  “Francis and Trevor are the only ones who will tell you where she is.” Lizzie grabs a tissue from beside her and blows her nose. “And Manning.”

  “I’m going to Manning’s house,” I say, and she nods.

  “Do you need me to come with you?” she asks, and I shake my head. She gives me a hug, and I walk to the door, getting in my car.

  I pull up at Manning’s, and I ring the bell. I hold my breath when I hear the lock opening. Evelyn greets me, and there is not even a smile on her face like always. “Nico.”

  “Hey, Evelyn, I was wondering if Manning was home?” I ask, and she takes a step back for me to walk in. Manning comes to the door and sees me. “I just need a minute of your time.”

  Evelyn walks over to him and holds his hand. “I know she’s gone,” I start talking. “And I’m going after her.”

  “For what?” he asks.

  “Because I’m dying without her,” I say. “I die a little more inside every single day that I’m not with her.”

  “What about Laurene?” Manning asks.

  “I can’t tell you what it’s about, but it isn’t what you think it is,” I say. “You just have to trust me on that.” He just watches me, and I can see his head turning. “I’m stepping away.” His mouth opens. “I’m naming Lizzie my new GM.”

  “That team is your life,” he says.

  “No,” I correct, “that team was my life. She is my life.”

  “If she finds out I told you, she might never speak to me again,” Manning says.

  “Unless this is what she needs,” Evelyn says.

  “If you fuck her over,” Manning says, “I won’t give a shit who you are. I’m going to beat the shit out of you.”

  “If I fuck up again,” I say, the pressure on my chest getting tighter, “I’ll tie my hands behind me.”

  I walk out of there and call Lizzie. “I need a plane in an hour,” I say, rushing home and packing my bags. She drives me to the plane, and when I hug her goodbye, she is softly crying.

  Looking out the window after I board the plane, my mind goes all over the place as I put my speech together. The aquamarine color of the ocean surrounds me when I land. There is a car waiting for me, and when I pull up to the house, the maid lets me in. “I’m looking for Becca.”

  “Right in the back.” She points down the marble hallway toward the outside. I make my way outside, my eyes not even taking in everything that the house has. My only focus right is getting to Becca. I walk out, and the sun hits me right away. I put my hand over my eyes as I look into the massive backyard that leads to the beach.

  A man walks back my way with a tray in his hand. “She is on the beach,” he says, pointing in the direction he just came from. I walk, my heart thumping in my chest. I spot her on one of the covered canopy beds.

  The soft breeze makes the curtain on the canopy flutter. I just watch her as she watches the ocean. She must sense someone is staring at her because she turns my way, and her face is filled with shock. She swings her legs off the canopy bed and comes to me. I take her in; she’s wearing a baby blue bikini. The closer she gets to me, the more I feel alive. “What are you doing here?”

  I just look at her as she pushes the hair away from her face. I had this whole speech planned out and knew everything I wanted to say. Yet right now, at the moment, the only thing that comes out are two words. “You’re here.”

  Chapter 35

  Becca

  I feel eyes on me and turn my head. “Nico,” I whisper, and suddenly think I’m having a heatstroke. He can’t be here. How is he here when only four people know where I am? I get up, my feet moving without my consent toward him. “What are you doing here?” I ask, shocked that he is actually here.

  He just looks at me as if he is trying to come up with the words. The soft breeze blows my hair in front of my face. My heart is beating so hard in my chest I don’t think I hear him when he says two words that rock me off my axis. “You’re here.”

  I shake my head. “What?” The sound of the waves crashing near us seems like it’s in speaker mode. The wind suddenly starts to pick up, and I wonder if it’s just for us. If Mother Nature is throwing us another curveball.

  He steps closer to me, his hands landing on my hips, and my whole body suddenly awakens. “You’re here,” he says, and his hand reaches up, and he tries to tuck the hair behind my ear. “I just …”

  “You shouldn’t be here,” I say. “It’s not …”

  “There is nowhere else I belong,” he says, and he looks down. “There is nowhere else I want to be.” He palms my cheek with his hand. “Becca.” When he says my name, I try to stop myself from feeling anything. I try to stop myself from giving in to him. I try so hard, but my heart has other ideas. “I don’t know if I can say any w
ords that will make you forgive me.” The tears start to come as well as the lump in my throat. “There is nothing that I can do except show you just how much I love you.” My hand moves up to my cheek. “I don’t even know how to do this. I had this whole speech planned. A whole declaration of love that I was going to say. Yet with one look at you, I’ve forgotten everything.”

  “Nico,” I say through the lump in my throat.

  “When you left me, my heart stopped,” he says, and I can feel his nervousness through his touch. “I felt empty. I felt hollow. I felt nothing.” I swallow instead of saying anything. I don’t think I could say anything, to be honest. “Every single day, I would wait for something to happen. I would wake, hoping that today I would feel something, but nothing came.” His forehead goes down to mine. “My heart started beating again when I saw you just now. It’s as if I was brought back to life.”

  “I don’t know what to say,” I answer honestly.

  “Let me stay,” he says. “Let me stay and prove to you that I will put you first every single time. Let me stay and show you what you mean to me.” His voice dips low. “Please, Becca.”

  “I know how you feel,” I finally say, trying to say the words without my voice shaking, but I fail miserably. “I’ve been here in paradise,” I say. “Waking every day, hoping the pain stops. I wake every single day, hoping you will be here, and this will all be a terrible nightmare.” I lick my lips, the tears flowing like a river downstream. “Every single day.” My voice cracks.

  “Becca.” I know he wants to kiss me, but he’s stopping because he’s waiting for me to make the move. Making sure I’m okay with all of this. “I’m not going anywhere, not this time. Not ever.” There is so much to talk about, so much to discuss, but all that slips my mind when I take one step forward, closing the little distance between us.

  “Nico,” I say his name again, but all the words are gone except for the next two words. “Kiss me.”

  I don’t even finish the last word before his lips crash on mine. His other hand comes up to my face the same time his tongue slips into my mouth. In all of my dreams, there is always him kissing me. In all of my dreams, I feel his hands on me. But nothing and I mean nothing could compare to this kiss.

  My arms go around his neck as I push my body into his. We both moan into each other’s mouth. “Nico,” I say breathlessly, letting go of his lips. My inner body groans. His hands fall from my face. “Come with me.” I hold out my hand to him, and he grabs it, his fingers slipping into mine.

  “We have so much to talk about,” I say as I lead him back to my bedroom. “There is just so much.”

  “How many people are staying here?” he asks, looking up at the massive house, and I laugh.

  “It’s just us,” I say as I walk toward my bedroom. Slipping off the path into my bedroom, the cold air hits me right away. “Welcome,” I say.

  I don’t say anything because he grabs me, his mouth coming back to mine. “Later,” he says, taking his mouth off mine. “I’m going to enjoy this bikini more,” he says. “But for now, I just want to make love to you.”

  I smile at him. “Then what are you waiting for?” I say, and he grabs me around the waist. The kiss is soft and slow, as he walks me backward toward the bed.

  He picks me up at my waist and lays me on the middle of the bed. He looks down at me. “I’ve prayed for this moment since you left,” he says, pulling off his T-shirt. “I would have made deals with the devil to get you back,” he says, and I know the feeling. I know all of this because I would have done the same. I would have given everything I had to go back to the last time I was with him. I would have given everything just for one more minute with him.

  He comes down on me, and my legs wrap around his waist as he kisses my neck, sucking in softly. My eyes close as my back arches up when he switches sides. “Nico,” I whisper, my nails scratching down his back. His tongue trails up to my mouth, my tongue coming out to meet his. He gets up on his knees, his hand going to my chest right on top of my beating heart.

  “You own me,” he says, looking into my eyes. “Every single piece of me is yours.” He unbuttons his pants with his one free hand. “I’m yours.”

  I move my hands to my hips and the two little bows keeping my bikini bottoms intact. I untie them and my bikini bottom falls open. “I’m yours,” I say, “heart, body, and soul.” I sit up and kiss where his heart is, pulling down his pants from his hips. I lie back down as he takes his cock into his hand and rubs up and down my slit. We both watch as he enters me, moaning when he gets all the way in. He falls on top of me with his elbows on either side of my head. Our eyes lock on each other as he thrusts into me over and over again.

  It’s almost as if our eyes are making a memory of this moment. Our lips on top of each other’s but not touching. I wrap my legs around him even tighter, not willing to let him go. “I love you,” he says to me over and over again.

  My back arches into him as I come, and he follows me. He falls on me, and I welcome his weight. My hands go to his hair as he buries his face in my neck. “I love you,” I say to him, and I feel his soft kisses on my neck.

  He wraps his arm around my waist, picking me up with him. “Time for a nice shower,” he says, and I just wrap my arms around his neck as he walks to the shower. He spots the tub. “Or a bath.”

  “We can just go in the pool if you’d like,” I say as he places me on the counter.

  “I have to have you again,” he says, and I just watch him as he walks to the tub and starts the water, his pants hanging on his hips. “And I’m not doing it in the pool.”

  “How long can you stay?” I ask, and I know that I shouldn’t be bringing it up yet since he just got here. But I have to prepare myself to be without him again.

  “As long as you want me here,” he says, and I smile.

  “I want you to stay all the time, but I know that you have a team to get back to.” He shakes his head, and I just look at him.

  “I left it,” he says three words that if I wasn’t sitting would have knocked me on my ass.

  “What do you mean, you left it?” I ask for clarification.

  “Lizzie is the new GM,” he says, pulling down his pants and boxers in one fluid motion. “I still own the team, but I’m not going to be involved that much.”

  “But …” I say the word. “But you love that team.”

  “I do.” He comes to me. “I love that team.” He kisses my lips. “But I love you more, and I choose you before the team.”

  “Laurene,” I say. “This isn’t going to hurt her, is it?”

  He blinks and laughs. “Another reason you are too good for me.” He kisses me softly. “Instead of thinking about you, you are thinking about everyone else.”

  “I’m thinking about you,” I finally tell him. “I’m thinking that you couldn’t live with yourself and the guilt if you didn’t fulfill a promise,” I say.

  “The marriage was annulled yesterday,” he says, and I don’t think he could shock me more. “Not sure if the press picked it up or not, and we don’t care. If the company takes back their sale, it will look bad on them.”

  “I can’t believe all this,” I say the truth. “That you are here. That you came for me. That you are single. It’s just so much.”

  “Well, good news.” I reach behind me and pull on the string to make my bikini top fall. “I can spend the rest of my life showing you that it’s real.”

  Chapter 36

  Nico

  My eyes flicker open, and I look over at the empty bed. I just lie here with the bright sun beaming and the blue turquoise water in the distance. I don’t think I could ever tire of this view. I hear the toilet flush, then turn to see her walking out of the bathroom. Her hair is hanging loose, her skin looking sun-kissed. “Good morning.” She crawls into bed with me, and my cock stirs awake. She leans down and kisses my lips. “Hi,” she says softly, putting her hands right by my head.

  “Hi,” I say, pushing the sheet of
f me so my cock can come out. “When did you wake up?” I ask, my hands going from her hips, slowly moving up to her tits. Her nipples pebble when I roll them between my thumb and forefinger.

  “Not too long ago,” she says, sitting up just a touch and reaching in behind her for my cock. She lines it up and slowly slides down my cock. The both of us close our eyes. “I have to say.” She puts her hands on my chest as she slides up and down. “I like to wake up with your face between my legs.” She smirks at me as she moves all the way up and slams down on my cock.

  “I can arrange that.” I watch her as she rides me. “So wet for me.” I lick my thumb and find her clit. “You like that, don’t you?” I can feel her pussy getting tighter and tighter as I play with her. “I’m almost there.”

  “Me, too,” she pants out and I wait for her to come before holding her hips in my hands and slamming her down on me as I come inside her.

  “Now that was a good morning wake-up call.” I slap her ass as she collapses on top of me. I roll her over to the side and slide out of her to go to the bathroom.

  I’ve been here for over two weeks, and I don’t regret it even for one second. The days are spent with us lounging around in this massive house. You can always find us wrapped up in each other’s arms. I’m pretty sure the staff thinks we are nymphomaniacs because they’ve caught us daily in some phase of undress.

  “Do you want to head down to the beach and have breakfast?” she asks, and when I walk back into the room, she is putting on another bikini. I swear I have her every hour I’m awake, and it’s still not enough. “Stop looking at me like that.”

  “Like what?” I ask with a smirk as I walk over to grab a pair of shorts.

  “Like I’m the one you’ll be having for breakfast.” She laughs, slipping her feet into flip-flops. “We gave the girl a heart attack yesterday when she came back to collect the plates, and you had me spread on the table.”