by Nikki Ashton
I smiled remembering our phone conversation earlier.
“Hmm,” I replied. “And I have a vague recollection of you saying you wanted to take me to your apartment and kiss the hell out of me.”
Dex grinned and took my hand. “We both want the same thing then.”
I held my breath, because while I really did want to spend a lot of time kissing him, that was all I was ready for. I didn’t want him to think me going back to his apartment was the green light for more. Dex, however, must have sensed my anxiety because he tugged on my hand.
“Hey, I know. Why don’t we go and get something to eat and then I’ll take you home and we can make out in my car in your driveway for a while. Get some of that kissing out of the way; what do you say?”
“I say I am so damn glad my bag handle broke and my car is crap.” I kissed him gently on the lips, feeling a tingling sensation all over. It was a quick kiss, but it was enough to tell me I wanted more. “Maybe we should just get some take out and go back to your apartment, as long as you don’t mind getting me home by ten. My mum is keeping an eye on Charlie because Annie and Isaac are out.”
Dex looked at his watch and grinned. “That’s awesome,” he replied. “I have two and half hours to spend kissing you.”
“It will only be kissing, Dex,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound stand-offish.
“Good, because you’re not ready for me yet, Katie Cat, but when you are, we’re going to be awesome.
Dex
Katie and I had eaten Chinese food and then moved to my couch to drink our beer. She’d insisted that I drink with her and that she’d get a cab back home, but what she didn’t know was I was drinking alcohol free beer – there was no way she was getting home any other way than in my car.
“So, you have no family left, at all?”
I shook my head. “It was just me, Mom, and Dad. When they both went, I figured there was nothing to keep me in Texas, so came here. The land of my mom’s birth.”
“Did you lose them close together?”
Katie shifted and pulled her legs up, getting comfy, and as I looked at her, I felt so fucking content that I had the need to touch her.
“Mom went first,” I said, taking her hand and linking our fingers. “She had a stroke and never really came around from it.”
“That’s awful.” Katie squeezed my hand. “What about your dad?”
“He died of pneumonia a little over two years later. He’d never really got over losing Mom and hated not seeing her in places he expected to, so he moved from Dallas to an assisted living place in El Paso – why he chose there I have no clue, but he loved the place. Worse part was I didn’t get to see him more than once a month.”
“That must have been hard, particularly as you only had each other.”
I nodded. “Yeah it was, but he loved it there. I think he liked the attention from the ladies.” I grinned remembering Dad slapping on the cologne just to go and check some lady’s outside faucet for her. “He didn’t need to live in assisted living. He was only seventy-two, but he complained his old neighborhood was full of young families who didn’t give a shit whether he was living or dead.”
“He sounds like my mum,” Katie said with a giggle. “She’s always complaining that me, and my brother, Mark, wouldn’t know if she’d been dead for weeks with flies living off her. Seeing as Mark lives in Adelaide, it’s not surprising.”
“Do you see much of her though?” I asked, rubbing my thumb against Katie’s hand.
“At least once a week, so I have no idea what her problem is.” She lifted her beer and took a swig. “If your dad lived in assisted living, how the hell did he get pneumonia?”
I shrugged. “I saw him at Thanksgiving, he came to stay with me and was fine. He had a little cold, but nothing unusual. Within three weeks, I was getting a plane to El Paso hoping he’d last the night. The lady who ran the place where he lived said he’d told them he was coming to stay with me until he felt better. He had his own little apartment, so it was easy for him to disappear. The first they knew he wasn’t with me, was when he rang his alarm for help because he couldn’t breathe.”
“Why do old people never want to ask for help?”
“Pride I guess. Well his pride meant he got pneumonia and I only managed to see him for three hours before he died.”
I let out a long exhale, remembering Dad hooked up to breathing apparatus and tubes. He looked so tiny and frail in the hospital bed and I knew as soon as I saw him, he wasn’t going to make it.
“What about your dad?” I asked, moving a little closer to Katie.
“He had a heart attack just after I had Annie. We didn’t really get on to be honest. He and Mum were divorced and he’d pretty much abandoned us when we were kids. I think I was ten and Mark was thirteen when he left. My mum married Eric about three years later. I didn’t hear from my dad in over fifteen years and then only sporadically. Mark never wanted anything to do with him, but I was a bit more forgiving, for all the good it did me.”
“Why was that?”
“He continued to let me down. He let Isaac down all the time, promising him trips to the park, or to go for a burger. He was just a leech who wanted money from me and whenever he got what he wanted he disappeared.”
“Were you in touch when he died?” I asked.
“No. He’d disappeared about a year before, with over a grand of my money. I’d left my purse in the kitchen when he was at the house one day, and stupidly, I had left the PIN on a piece of paper with it.”
I grimaced. “You don’t expect your parents to rip you off, that must have hurt, a lot.”
“Not really, it’s what I’d come to expect from him. I was more bloody annoyed that I’d been stupid enough to write the PIN down. You can imagine the shit that Carl gave me for doing that.”
I didn’t trust myself not to say something snarky, so I just smiled.
“He died alone,” she continued. “In a grotty flat, so there was some justice.”
I laughed as Katie raised her arms in victory and gave a little ‘yay’. She was too fucking cute and I really, really liked her – more than I’d liked any woman this early on.
When I met Cherry, she was fun and crazy and she was what I needed at the time. Mom had died and there were some days that I felt as though I was being buried alive with the grief. Dad was already in El Paso and apart from my studio, I had nothing to fill my time once the doors were locked – Cherry filled that time. She got me through it and I knew that gratitude was what kept me with her for so long and what made me feel sad about her passing.
“So, you and Carl were childhood sweethearts then?” I asked, thinking we ought to get off the subject of Katie’s shit dad.
“Yeah, we were,” she replied a little wistfully. “I sometimes wish we hadn’t been. Wish I’d had more experience, and I don’t just mean sexually.”
“You don’t?” I asked with a grin.
“No, I don’t.” She giggled and slapped at my arm. “I mean, I wish I’d travelled and done girly holidays or had a gap year. Don’t get me wrong, I loved him deeply and just wanted to spend the rest of my life with him, make a family with him.”
“And that’s what you did.” I reached up and moved some hair from her eyes. “So nothing to regret.”
“I know, but if we were meant to be together, we would have been even if I’d gone away for a while. I adore my kids though and the thought of not having them.” Her voice cracked as she put a hand to her chest. “Shit, that’s just an awful thought I can’t even contemplate.”
“Things happen for a reason,” I said. “Just like your car breaking down.”
Katie smiled shyly, dropping her head so that I couldn’t see her face. I drew in a breath as I watched her, wondering whether I should kiss her and get on with it.
“What about you?” she suddenly asked, stopping my train of thought. “You said you’d nearly got married a couple of times, tell me about them.”
“You r
eally want to know?” I arched my brows. “Neither story is that interesting.”
“I don’t mind, I want to hear them.”
Her lips pursed as she waited for my response.
“Okay, first time was my high school sweetheart. I thought we were going to get married, but she wanted to go be an actress and left me behind.”
“Did she tell you she was leaving?” she asked, her eyes wide with shock.
“Yeah, she did.”
“Even though you were serious enough to consider marriage, she just left you?”
I laughed at the look of horror that had now replaced the shock.
“Yeah, but it’s fine Katie. I was upset for a week and then realized she’d done the right thing. We were too young. Plus, I wasn’t really what her parents wanted for her.”
“Let me guess, they wanted some smarmy executive without tattoos.”
“Something like that, although I didn’t have tats then either. They all started when I went to work for Sam. Point is, I’m pretty glad she left me. If she hadn’t I may have found some secure, boring job to support her, then she’d have resented me because she wasn’t acting and we’d have probably divorced within five years.”
Katie looked totally floored by this and slapped a hand to her chest. “That’s so sad.”
“Katie Cat,” I said on a low laugh. “It didn’t actually happen like that. She went to LA and I stayed behind and spent three years having sex with girls my buddy went to college with. It was all good.”
“Okay,” she replied, sounding less than convinced. “So what about the second time, what happened there?”
“That was with my ex, Cherry. The woman I was with for three years. It started more fun than anything and we kinda fell into living together.”
“Sooo romantic,” she quipped.
I squeezed her knee, making her squeak. “I can be romantic.”
“Okay,” she said with a sage nod. “If you say so.”
“I know so.” I leaned forward and kissed her quickly.
Katie gave a little gasp and I felt pretty good that such a small peck to the lips could affect her. We watched each other carefully for a few seconds before Katie started to move around in her seat. I held tighter to her hand, not wanting her to even think about moving further up the couch.
After a few moments of silence, except for the sound of our breathing, Katie restarted the conversation and I had to admit, I was a little disappointed.
“Carry on then,” she said, before chewing on the corner of her bottom lip. “Tell me about what happened when you fell into living with someone.”
I shrugged. “Not much to tell. We’d been together a couple of years or so and then my dad died and Cherry hinted at wanting to get married and have kids. I was forty-one-years-old and thought maybe she was right, maybe it was time for me to settle down, but when it came to it I knew she wasn’t the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.”
Katie started to scratch at the fabric of her pants with her free hand, seeing as I still hadn’t let go of the other one and had no intention to.
“Are you still in contact with her?” she asked, concentrating on her finger and pants.
“Nope.” I tugged on her hand to get her to look at me. “She died in an accident just before I came to the UK.”
“Oh my God,” she gasped. “I’m so sorry. That’s awful.”
Katie’s hand reached to trail her soft finger tips up and down my bicep and it felt real good. It was warm and delicate and I couldn’t help but wonder what her touch would feel like all over my body.
“We weren’t together, darlin’,” I replied. “We hadn’t been for two years.”
“Even so,” she said softly. “It must still have been a shock.”
I nodded. “Yeah it was. We’d had a drink together and she thought we were going to get back to how things had been, but it was never going to happen.”
“Why did she think that?” Katie’s hand dropped back to her thigh. “Had you done something to make her think that?”
“Nope. No way. It was a drink, that was all. I don’t do that Katie Cat. I don’t give women the wrong impression – it ain’t me, darlin’.”
Katie looked at me through her bangs and nodded. I reached forward and gently pulled her lip from between her teeth with my thumb.
“There’s that over thinking again,” I said.
“I’m sorry.” She cringed and blew out her cheeks. “I’m such a dick head at times. I can’t help it, but I promise that I’ll try to chill.”
“Chill? You been spending time with Isaac and his buddies?”
We both grinned at each other and the atmosphere was suddenly back to being relaxed – we were chill.
“I am extremely young at heart,” Katie quipped.
She pulled her hand from mine and tucked her hair behind her ear. Even her ears were damn sexy with the tiny little diamond studs in them. I felt my dick stir as I thought about pulling the lobe of one between my teeth and then sucking on it.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked. “Have I got a bogey hanging out of my nose?”
Her hand went to her nose, wiping at it. She then held it up and studied it.
“What the hell are you doing?” I asked on a laugh.
“Checking for bogeys,” she said with a tone that said I was an idiot.
Leaning forward, I grabbed her hand and pulled her to me. We were inches apart and I could feel her breath on my cheek. Its smell was a mixture of mint and beer. That, along with her deep pink lips, made me crazy.
“Shit, I really need to kiss you,” I whispered.
“I think I really need you to.”
I didn’t require any more of an invitation and inched forward, moving my mouth over hers. As I threaded a hand through her hair, Katie let out a quiet moan and her lips parted. It was all I needed to push my tongue inside her mouth and entice her to kiss me back. It was slow and deliberate, as our tongues swept against each other’s and our teeth nipped. When Katie placed a cool palm against my jaw and softly dragged her nails along, the desire to push her onto her back was incredible, but I knew I had to handle her with care. This woman needed to be treated with tenderness and respect.
As I thought about breaking the kiss, Katie got up onto her knees and pushed herself closer. Her tits brushed against my chest and I couldn’t help the groan that escaped. My dick was pushing against my zipper and the downside of never wearing underwear was pretty evident. It was fucking painful and I felt sure when I undressed later there’d be a zipper imprint down the length of my dick.
Leaning in to me, Katie pushed me backwards and before I knew it she was on top of me. Her kisses were desperate and she was breathing hard. My hand gripped tighter in her hair that was becoming messier by the minute and her top was riding up and I could feel the coolness of her skin through the cotton of my shirt.
“Katie,” I groaned, as I kissed along her jaw. “I think we need to stop, darlin’.”
“Really?” she gasped breathlessly, her mouth searching for mine.
“Yes, ‘cause if we don’t I ain’t gonna be getting you home for ten.”
Katie let out a disgruntled, disbelieving ‘ugh’ which made me smile big.
“Please,” I begged, as she sucked my bottom lip into her mouth.
She tsked and went to push off me, but her knee was totally in the wrong place so that it pushed straight into my dick.
“Aaagh, fuuuck,” I cried as the feeling of an explosion in the pit of my stomach took over.
“Oh my god,” she squealed. “I’m so sorry. Dex are you okay?”
As she moved to get up, she kneed me again. It wasn’t as hard, but added to the thudding pain I was already feeling, it did not help matters.
“Katie, fuck. Move your damn knee,” I gritted out. “Fuck.”
Katie edged backwards, pushing herself gingerly away from me, allowing me to bring my knees up to my stomach. I rolled to my side, taking i
n deep breaths, trying desperately not to cry. Fucking child birth could not possibly be as painful as a knee to the balls – fucking fact.
“Do you need me to do anything?” she asked, her voice full of desperation. “Anything at all? What about a cold flannel?”
“Nope,” I groaned through clenched teeth. “Just need to let the pain pass.”
I blew out short breaths and moving to my back, dropped my knees and placed a flat palm on my stomach.
“How is it?” Katie asked, and before I could say anything she reached out a hand and placed it on my junk.
“No!” I shouted. “Don’t fucking touch it.”
“Oh God, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. You moved. Oh shit. I’ve maimed you for life.”
I squinted open an eye and looked at her. Her pretty face was crestfallen as she looked down at me, still on her knees.
“I’m so sorry, Dex,” she whispered, a quake in her voice.
“Hey, don’t get upset. It’s fine.”
It really wasn’t fucking fine, but I’d survive – my balls maybe not, but I’d be okay.
“I’m such an idiot,” Katie whimpered. “I can’t do anything right.”
With a grunt and a lot of effort, I pushed up and took her hand in mine. She tried to pull back, but even with pulsating balls, I was stronger and dragged her close.
“Hey, don’t say that,” I said against her forehead. “It was an accident. I’m gonna be fine, darlin’.”
“But I might have damaged you forever,” she cried, putting her hands on my biceps and trying to push me away.
“I’m sure you haven’t. Anyways, I think my baby making days are over.”
“Oh God,” she groaned, burying her head against my shoulder. “That makes it worse.”
Trying not to wince, I gave a short laugh. It took my fucking breath away, but it at least stopped Katie from moaning.
“You sure you’re okay?” she asked, looking up at me.
“Sure.”
I gave a short nod and when her eyes dropped again I drew in a breath and grimaced.
“I suppose that’s the end of our night then?” Katie asked, her eyes finding mine.