Thus it was that Ian had taken it as a sign when he’d stumbled across an announcement for the reunion on a random blog. A quick scan of the list of respondents had told him Nikky would be there. And so he had resolved to go after her, win one dance with her…and one splendid night of lovemaking to follow.
Except it hadn’t worked out right at all. Sure the sex was incredible, more than he could have imagined and he knew he had satisfied Nikky but the more the hours passed the less secure he felt. Had he done his job? Had he changed anything for her? Made her feel better about herself? Maybe, but if she had truly enjoyed a blossoming of self-esteem, why sneak off in the middle of the night?
It took Ian until halfway through the second beer at their favorite pub to explain all the particulars to Nathan.
From across the table, Nathan just stared at him as if he were the biggest fool east of the Mississippi.
“So let me get this straight,” Nathan said, showing off that inimitable twinkle in his eye. “You just turn up out of the blue and tell this woman, who you’ve never so much as dated, that she’s been your fantasy for fourteen years and that she saved your life and now you want to repay her with sex? Have I got it so far?”
“I didn’t tell her about saving my life but the rest is true, yes.” Ian could tell where this was leading and he braced himself accordingly. One thing he could count on from Nathan was the unvarnished truth, preferably in its most unflattering form.
“Close enough,” said Nathan, licking the foam from his mustache, deep in thought. “So, let’s cut to the chase. You, in your infinite wisdom and humility, decide that all you have to do to even the cosmic scales of justice is to screw this woman, just one time. And this would be a fair trade because…what? You are god’s gift to vaginas everywhere?”
Ian glowered. “Fuck you, okay?”
Nathan chuckled. “If you want someone to blow smoke up your ass, go on Oprah.”
“Maybe it does sound a little conceited,” Ian admitted. “But I felt it in my gut. I knew I could make love to her the way she needed.”
“And did you?”
“That’s the problem. She took off before I could talk to her about it.”
Nathan shrugged. “Can you blame her? What the hell was she supposed to do, the way you built things up? It’s awkward enough for a woman the first time out of the gate without her feeling like she has to take out a full page ad singing your praises between the sheets.”
“I didn’t expect anything like that and you know it.”
“It doesn’t matter what you expected. This Nikky of yours was left with two choices and she took the lesser of two evils. She could either stay behind and take her chances on letting you down, and god knows that’s easy to do, or else she could let you both off the hook and make a noble exit. She obviously chose the latter.”
Ian drummed the table with his fingers. He had to agree that Nathan was the only person in the world who could match his keen, analytic mind. Together they had built up a fantastic consulting business, specializing in engineering tech problems. Unfortunately, Ian was not in the mood for logic.
“I want to see her again,” he said.
“Why? You gonna set yourself on fire in front of her house like those Buddhist monks of yours?”
“I just want to see her,” Ian declared, though he was interested in doing a lot more than looking at Nikky.
He wanted to smell her soft skin, hear her sighs as she touched him, trailing her delicate fingers over his hard abdomen. He would touch her as well, from the tips of her coral pink nipples to the moist slit between her thighs, her puffy labia and the swell of her throbbing clit.
Ian wanted to be inside her, losing himself in the rhythm of their heated, animalistic movements, like two perfectly suited jungle creatures.
There, he had admitted it. Ian wanted to screw Nikky again and another time after that for good measure.
Would that finally satisfy his desire?
Ian had his doubts. Hell, when it came down to it, he wondered if he could ever get tired of that sexy, sensuous body of hers and the wicked, inventive mind that went with it.
Nikky had surprised him with her passion. She had been anything but a shy, retiring violet. More like a tigress, willing and able to take what she wanted.
Good. Ian had no problem with that. It meant she was well on the way to controlling her own destiny. Her future was limitless.
So why did he feel so fucking miserable?
“So much for no strings attached,” Nathan said, throwing Ian’s own words in his face.
“I didn’t say I wanted to go back and marry her,” Ian shot back, a little more forcefully than he had expected.
Nathan arched a brow. “Touch a nerve, old buddy?”
“I’m just saying that we hadn’t seen each other in a decade and the time we spent together then, well, we were way too young to have formed a serious bond, that’s all.”
“Which one of us are you trying to convince?” Nathan quipped.
“Neither. Look, I had a thing for her in high school. So did every other guy. She was the ‘it’ girl. Just walking past Dominique Neill guaranteed a guy an instant hard-on.” Ian’s voice tightened and so did his balls. He had been among those guys and apparently he still was.
“Jeezus,” he recalled now, sighing heavily. “Nikky had this way of sucking on her pencils. She had no idea the effect it had. I would have killed to have those ruby lips on my shaft, licking like a lollipop, biting down, teasing.”
“And did you get your wish last night,” Nathan queried. “Or were you too busy being the woman’s sex therapist?”
“At least I wasn’t busy being an asshole, like you,” he retorted.
“I’m scientist problem solver,” said Nathan. “And right now I am calculating the odds that you will grow a pair and actually call Nikky back for a second round.”
“I will let fate decide,” Ian announced, draining his glass. “Got a coin?”
“Is this you or the beer talking?”
“Both. Give me the damn coin.”
Nathan produced a quarter. “Heads—you make love to her again. Tails—you make my fucking day and drop the whole sorry-ass subject forever.”
Ian snatched the quarter and tossed it in the air.
It plinked down onto the table, circling on its edge for several seconds before finally falling flat.
“There you have it,” said Nathan. “It’s a done deal.”
Ian frowned. “How about the best two out of three?”
“No way, dude,” Nathan said. “Not a fucking chance.”
* * * * *
Nikky met Kaity for lunch at Greens ‘n Things. It was a brand-new restaurant, salads only. Since the two of them worked less than a five-minute walk from each other in the business district they made it a practice to try out every new place in the area at least once.
At Kaity’s insistence, they took turns paying, though Nikky felt bad on account of her higher salary.
Over the years Nikky had worked her way into a creative position at the advertising firm where she worked while Kaity was still slaving away as an executive assistant at a medium-sized consulting company.
Kaity had had offers for advancement. Unfortunately they always came with strings attached. Her current boss, Mr. Musgrove was more than willing to stroke her career, provided she stroked him first, preferably in his office behind closed doors.
Kaity blamed her hair color.
“Guys think blondes are easy,” she reasoned. “We are supposed to want to spread our legs at the drop of a hat.”
People also tended to think blondes were dumb. It was a stereotype which Kaity managed to reinforce with her off-the-wall exuberance.
Nikky was one of the few people in Kaity’s life who had ever truly understood her. Nikky knew she wasn’t a fool nor did she intend to come across as mean and spiteful at times.
Her brain just had a way of getting ahead of her mouth, especially when she was feel
ing threatened. The upshot was that Kaity said and did the things most people only thought about.
Kaity had been Nikky’s hero growing up because she had been the first person in her life to speak against Nikky’s father, even if it was just in the form of hushed whispers at sleepovers.
Oh boy, could Kaity make her laugh, and think too.
With Kaity’s help Nikky had learned to express her anger, even if not directly against her father.
The upshot was that Nikky had felt more valued because of Kaity. Nikky, in turn, showed Kaity a loyalty Kaity had never felt with any other friend. They were a perfect match. Except at those inevitable times when they competed for the same guy’s affections.
“So, are you ever going to talk about it?” Kaity asked as Nikky passed her the salt.
“Talk about what?” Nikky blithely sprinkled pepper in her soup.
“Ian, what else? And don’t say there’s nothing to tell. You have been acting weird since you came back from his room last night. And if you put any more pepper in that soup, girlfriend, you will sneeze us both to Timbuktu.”
Nikky frowned, eying the thick black layer obscuring her cream of broccoli. “I guess I am a little off.”
“There’s the understatement of the century.”
“I should never have gone to his suite,” Nikky concluded. “I knew it would make for a big mess.”
“Why? Was he really a dud between the sheets?” Kaity was on one of her speaking-without-thinking rolls. “You don’t have to lie to me. The really hot guys usually are. Same with fast cars, they don’t handle in the snow at all.”
“I already told you, the sex was fine.”
Fine? It was off the charts. Nikky couldn’t even begin to compare it to anything else. It was just so far beyond what any other man had given her.
Kaity’s eyes danced. “Is his cock big?”
“Kaitlyn, for heaven’s sake, will you stick to the main point.”
“It is big, isn’t it?” Kaity exclaimed, reading Nikky’s embarrassment. “You lucky little thing. He knows how to use it too, I’ll bet. Did you do anal? Mindy Garner told me last night that her husband does anal on her. He gets drunk and it hurts.”
“No, we didn’t do anal.” Nikky surveyed the surrounding tables, praying no one’s hearing was that good.
“What about oral?”
“Drop it, Kaity.”
Kaity let it go for all of ten seconds. Between bites of her “artichoke explosion” salad she said, “So why did you take off on him in the middle of the night? You could have had a quickie this morning at least.”
“Sex isn’t about quantity. We had our experience and that’s that.”
Kaity was studying her. Nikky wished she wouldn’t.
“What if he calls you again?”
“He won’t.”
“Why not? He’s carried a torch for all these years. Seems like one night wouldn’t quite cut it, under those circumstances.”
Nikky’s pulse quickened. She had to admit that she was still a little uncomfortable with the idea of a man being so fixated on her.
Surely he could have any number of better-looking women, not to mention smarter ones. So why her?
“I am sure I let him down,” Nikky dismissed. “He thought of me as this pin-up from high school, his ultimate masturbation fantasy. In real life I’m just…me.”
“Just being you is plenty good if you ask me,” said Kaity.
“Thanks, kiddo.” Nikky tried her soup. It was horrible with all the pepper.
The two of them ended up giggling like school girls.
“Seriously,” Kaity said at last. “If he calls, I mean when he calls, you have to see him again, for women everywhere, just to prove good things can happen.”
“He won’t call. He already got what he wanted.”
Shit. What am I going to do, get all bitter and cry over spilt milk? Over Ian Hamilton?
Where would that lead her except to a guaranteed heartache?
He had wanted “no strings attached” and she was just fine with that. Wasn’t she?
“Trent left me a voice mail this morning,” said Nikky, determined to put the Ian matter to bed forever. “He wants to see me again. Seems his ex-wife is putting him through hell over the child support. I think I might have him over for dinner, just to talk.”
Kaity didn’t say a word.
She didn’t have to.
Chapter Four
Ian worked up the nerve to make the phone call at precisely 2:16 in the afternoon the following Saturday. It had taken nearly an hour of preliminary pacing back and forth across his sparsely decorated living room.
Blast it, his pulse was racing, his heart was in his throat. He hadn’t felt this worked up about calling a girl since college.
Nikky answered on the third ring. She sounded so sweet and raspy that he wanted to jump right through the phone.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” she said back.
“It’s Ian.”
“I figured.”
He laughed. “Guess I’m pretty distinctive, at least in some ways.”
“You are distinctive in all ways,” she replied, her words of praise making his heart swell, not to mention his cock.
“Um, I was hoping we might, you know…” Ian cleared his throat. “See each other some time.”
He heard her breathing. “When?”
“Tonight, if you aren’t busy.
Another hesitation. “I have a date.”
“What about next Friday or Saturday, then?”
“No, I…I don’t think so.”
“Oh.” Crash and burn. He did his best to hide it. “Well, it’s no big deal. It’s not like we had any, you know, agreement between us.”
Quite the opposite. By all rights, she could be reading him the riot act for going against his promise of no strings attached.
“No, we didn’t,” she agreed.
Seconds ticked by. Damn it, say something. “We could grab lunch during the week maybe…as friends,” he said.
“I am not sure that would be a good idea.”
“No, I suppose not.”
“I’m glad you called though, I wanted to…to thank you for the other night.”
“No problem.” No problem? Was that how two people brushed off the most passionate, incredible night of lovemaking ever? Certainly it had been that way for him. Had she not felt the same? This was crazy. “So I’ll see you around, Nikky, huh? Maybe at the next reunion?”
Her laugh was tense, a little hollow. What was she trying to tell him under the surface? “I’m sure I will be a sight at the twentieth. Promise not to make fun of me?”
“We won’t be that old,” he said. “But I will do my best.”
“It’s a deal.”
She hung up.
Ian slipped the phone into his pocket, totally numb. Grabbing his racquetball gear he headed out the door. No telling how many hours of aggressive, punishing play it would take to calm himself down.
Maybe the whole night.
Maybe the whole rest of his fucking life.
* * * * *
Get it together, Nikky.
Trent was going to be here any minute. He had already told her he wouldn’t be able to stay more than an hour or two on account of needing to pick up his kids at their mother’s. They were supposed to stay with her for the weekend but according to Trent, his ex had thrown a fit when she found out he was seeing Nikky tonight and had subsequently threatened to take him back to court if he didn’t get his ass to her house by ten that night.
Why Trent had told Melanie he was seeing Nikky in the first place, she had no idea. He said he liked to be honest, although it hadn’t exactly been his strong suit up until now.
Nikky wondered if he was doing it to make Melanie jealous.
Facing herself in the mirror, she did her best to comb out her freshly washed hair into some semblance of order. She was much too scattered to manage an actual style.
Where would women be without hair clips?
Maybe she wouldn’t see again Trent after tonight and end all the drama. Okay, so they weren’t exactly in a relationship, but they had a connection. For her part, she had been trying to pin him down, get him to talk about the future.
Trent was more into the next meal she was going to cook for him…and the next orgasm she was going to give him.
Something must have shown in her eyes when she answered the door. He cocked his head, momentarily suspicious, before moving on to the parts of her he preferred—her breasts, tightly confined in a scoop-neck pink tank top.
“You look so fucking hot, Nikky.”
She closed the door behind him and immediately smelled smoke. Oh shit, the roast.
Trent grabbed at her from behind as she made a dash for the kitchen. “Not now, for crying out loud!” she shouted.
Trent was laughing. He pulled out the ruined roast for her, set it down on the stovetop and turned on the fan.
“It’s not funny, Trent.”
He pulled her close, putting his hands where he pleased, squeezing her ass cheeks. “Forget the dinner. You know how much I’ve been thinking about you?”
Not enough to call her, apparently.
“I’m not a mind reader, Trent.”
“I bet you can figure what’s on my mind now,” he said huskily, grinding his crotch against her.
Trent had been drinking. Nikky felt a sudden wave of revulsion. Ian wouldn’t do it like this at all. If he were here now, he would be comforting her about the spoiled dinner, laughing with her and not at her.
Only then would he turn to sex, for their mutual pleasure.
“Come on, sweetheart,” Trent growled, trying to paw under her top. “We’ll do it right here, just get me in the mood.”
To Trent “get me in the mood” meant oral sex.
“You know you want to, baby.”
“Want to what?” asked Nikky, feeling strangely detached. “Get down on my knees on my kitchen linoleum and suck you off? Is that what you think gets me hot?”
Trent looked at her strangely. “Where’s this coming from? Are you all right? Is it your period or something?”
She laughed. What else was there to do?
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