Nash and Nate convinced him to let them stay – Nash because he wanted to, and Nate so he could avoid my wrath for the rest of the day. Nick will be coming home tonight so I’m at the grocery store staring at the list the Carters came up with which consists of chips, frozen dinners, salami and bread. I crumple it up and head to the produce section.
My phone dings and I look at it. It’s from Nash and it’s a picture of Scarlet Johansson in a pair of high-waisted jeans that hug her hips and a revealing black tank top that shows off her boobs.
Hey… it’s Presley… think you meant to send this to someone else? Can you text yourself? I’m not sure?!?!
Haha… funny
Her boobs aren’t as big as yours but I think you know where I’m going with this
Oh, crap. Not this again.
I’m not gonna comment on that but I think you know how this ends…
Maybe don’t show him this time?
Not what I meant… your comments about my body lead to arguments… between us
Aren’t you supposed to be hanging out with your dad?
That’s why I’m texting it to you – you can’t yell or scowl at me through the phone so no arguments
And I am hanging out with my dad
He thinks you look like her…
A second later a picture pops up of a young girl with long dark hair standing on a beach; nothing but underwear covering her hourglass figure.
Bridgett Bardot?
Nick, if you’re reading this I’m disgusted. Please stop discussing my body with your son! Both of you are perverts!!!!
I stare at my phone waiting so long for a reply that I’m scared I offended Nick. I start typing out an apology when his next text comes.
Sorry… we were busy goggling girls with hot bodies that look like you
Holy shit… I had no idea
The old man’s got good taste
And I think you were born in the wrong generation
A litany of pictures start popping up, assaulting my eyes.
Sophia Loren, Jayne Mansfield, Raquel Welsh, Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak, Betty Paige, Marilyn Monroe… just FYI if you want to check them out
And don’t even tell me your body doesn’t look like theirs… seriously, look at that one of Sophia… the girl in the piratey looking thing
I’m standing in the middle of the grocery store shaking my head at my phone. I don’t know what the hell he sees when he looks at me, but it can’t be this. He must seriously think I’m pathetic and need a huge, totally inaccurate, boost to my self-esteem.
But I still think I was right the first time
He sends another picture of Lynda Carter, this time she’s not in her costume but has a button down tied up high and is pulling down the waist of her jeans. I roll my eyes.
Not only do you have her legs and waist and boobs but I realized today you have her neck, clavicle bones and shoulders. Dad agrees… by the way
You’re both crazy and I’m at the grocery store buying your food with your credit card, Nick, so that should be a lot of fun for both of you when you get home!
I shove the phone back in my bag and grab two bundles of asparagus.
By the time the guys get home I have the house cleaned from top to bottom, all the laundry and bedding washed and put away, their cupboards and fridge stocked and a pot of chili on the stove. I even managed to shower – after I scrubbed the hell out of the bathroom of course.
I had no idea I was such a Susie Homemaker but every time I stopped to take a break I would think about Nash, and his pictures, and how it felt to sleep with him last night. Better yet, how it felt to wake up next to him. Him and his chiseled to perfection body.
This would all be a little bit easier to stomach if he wasn’t so damn perfect. This being the way I feel about him. Which, now that I’ve seen that Nick is okay, is about all I can think about.
It was the accident. It was the way I felt about him when that happened. It was being around all those people who love and care about all the Carter men and feeling like it was where I belonged. It was spending four days feeling like I had lost the Nash that was mine for good this time. It was realizing, even before the accident, that I was wasting my time trying to make something work with Angel when I knew that everything I really needed I was getting from Nash. It was Hannah talking about him, it was him needing Summer when he needed someone the most. It was the way he let me comfort him even though I’m not her. It was the pain that seeped out of him and broke me. It’s the fact that I know I should go, but here, in their home, is the only place I want to be.
“Dear god, I need to hurt myself more often,” Nick says as he limps into the house and gives me a hug. “Haven’t seen this place this clean… well ever, actually. When are you gonna marry her, Nash?”
“Probably wait ‘til after she graduates I suppose.”
“Ha, ha, funny,” I mutter, helping Nick into his recliner.
“I agree with Presley – it should happen sooner rather than later, assuming you’ll just move her in here?”
“For a while I guess. We’d have to save up some money before we could afford a place of our own.”
I leave them and head to the kitchen, which is only twelve feet away from Nick’s recliner which is not nearly far enough away. But I turn my back to them, filling bowls with chili, doing my best to ignore them.
“If you’re marrying Presley that must mean you’re done with that Hannah chick,” Nate says in a surprisingly hopeful voice. “I would take Presley’s scolding over that chicks water works any damn day of the week.”
I smile at the wall. My god, that girl was beside herself, over a man she didn’t know at all. Even Summer was annoyed, not that she would ever tell me that but it was clear when she told me she understood why I didn’t want to leave with them – that she would make sure Hannah was okay.
“If I’m marrying Presley, which I am, then I’m obviously done with every chick that’s not her.” Are those butterflies in my stomach flapping around and going ape shit? Jesus Christ.
“That’s my boy,” Nick says.
When I’m positive the awkward conversation has passed, I bring a bowl of chili to Nick then sit by Nash, handing one to him before digging into my own.
“What am I? Chopped liver?” Nate says, shaking his head at me.
“I only have two hands. Plus, it’s part of your training.”
He huffs at me but stands and goes to the kitchen.
“Training?” Nick asks.
“Presley’s trying to turn him into a man,” Nash laughs.
“Ah,” he says with a nod of his head. “Pretty soon you’ll have us making you food.”
“That’ll be the day,” Nate complains, sinking back into his recliner.
“Actually, Nash did make me a sandwich once,” I say with a laugh, thinking back to the first time I came here with Tatum.
“God, did I hate you back then… and having to make you a damn sandwich… I seriously contemplated spitting in it.”
“You didn’t?” I ask him.
He rolls his eyes at me. “I suppose it wouldn’t have been surprising if I had. But even then, there was something about you I loved. Not that I realized it, but I liked being around you. Even then.”
“I was your favorite person to torture.”
He smiles at me. “You were.”
“Nash has always acted like a second grader – picking on the girls he likes best,” Nick says with a laugh.
“Huh,” Nash mutters. “You might be right.”
After dinner’s cleaned up and Nash has given Nick his pain meds and antibiotic, Nate turns on some action flick and we all settle into our respective seats. I grab a blanket from the closet where I put them away earlier and snuggle into my side of the couch.
“What are you doing over there?” Nash asks.
I turn to him, “Watching a movie?”
He laughs, then grabs a hold of my hips and drags me to his side, shifting so that both
of our bodies can fit. He lays down with his arm under my head then wraps the other one around my waist, pulling my body back to his before covering me up with my blanket again. “There. That’s better,” he mumbles.
I snuggle into him, feeling more at home than I have in a long time.
The movie is a good distraction; interesting enough to keep my attention but not so interesting that I have to think. It’s the first time my head has been empty in days. Maybe even weeks. It’s nice.
The minutes are ticking away too fast and I don’t want to go home. Jolee and her family will be back. And I’ll have to sleep in that bed alone. I pull out my phone to check the time, “Shit,” I mutter when I see it’s almost ten.
I’m about to ask Nash if he can bring me home when he whispers, “I think you should be mine.”
“What?” I whisper back at him.
“And I should be yours.”
“What are you talking about, Nash?” Is he serious right now?
“I wouldn’t ask you for anything. I wouldn’t expect anything from you.”
He’s serious. And the thought excites me. Truthfully, the whole time I’ve been laying here, wrapped up in him, the thought’s been in the back of my mind. I’m pretty sure we’re acting like a couple. But now that he’s actually talking about it it’s real. And the whole idea seems completely impossible. He’s great at dealing with me as a friend, but how long would my shit be cute for if I was his. I sigh heavily. “And how long would that work out for.”
“However long you wanted it too. Forever if you needed.”
“Forever?” I mutter. “I don’t think any man has the patience to wait forever.”
“Forever. But you’ll see what I see eventually.”
I think he’s wrong about that. “And what if I never do?”
“I don’t care. As long as you don’t leave. As long as you still let me hold you and sleep with you by my side. As long as I still get to have you around. That’s all I want. But you’ll see.”
“I’ll stay here, Nash. I want to. I don’t want to be away from you. And whenever I can, I’ll sleep next to you and I can’t imagine anywhere I’d rather be than in your arms. But you don’t need to make me any promises. I’m not ready for promises.”
He sighs. I can feel his warm breath brushing over my ear. “You’re killing me Presley.”
“Well in that case, I should probably go,” I tell him, turning my body so I’m facing him now. Which may have been a mistake. It’s easier to say no to him when I’m not staring into his eyes. When his wet mouth isn’t five inches from mine.
“I don’t like the idea of letting you go. When you’re away from me things tend to get weird between us. You forget who we are.”
I reach out my hand and cradle his face, letting my thumb drag over his bottom lip, the tip of it wet with his spit. “Show me then. Before I have to leave, show me who we are so I don’t forget,” I try to whisper but it sounds more like a pant.
He leans into me slowly, apprehension that I don’t understand, in his eyes. My thumb falls away and then his mouth is pressed against mine, his lips caught between my own and it’s a rush. It’s something I wasn’t expecting. It takes my breath away and causes my nails to dig into the back of his neck.
And then he starts kissing me.
His lips own mine as they slide gently back and forth, grasping me harder with each kiss. His big hands wrap around my waist pulling me into him and his head shifts as his tongue enters my mouth, softly licking me.
Every nerve in my body springs to life and I’m frustrated as hell that we’re currently in the same room as his family. I want to scream, I want to cry. God, he feels so unbelievably good.
All I can do is show him with my mouth. All I can do is kiss and suck and lick him as ferociously as he’s doing to me. All I can do is cling harder to him, dig my nails further into him.
All I can do is surrender completely to this man because this is something I’ll never be able to give up. I know that already.
“Jesus, Nash. Take her in your bedroom,” Nate says, which obviously has me retreating immediately.
“Oh my god,” I mutter because I never expected any kiss to be like that and because I’m completely embarrassed that I just did that in front of Nick.
Nash laughs under his breath then leans in and gives me a sweet kiss on my lips, but I push him away. “I can’t believe you just did that to me,” I mutter.
He laughs again, “That was my fault, was it?”
“Completely,” I say, even though I’m pretty sure I’m the one who started it.
“That’s fine. I’ll take the blame. It was more than worth it – getting to finally kiss you. Jesus Christ, Presley, you’re screwed now. You’re not getting rid of me ever. I’m yours whether you want me or not.”
I smile at him, like hugely, because what else am I supposed to do with him. “We’ll talk about it later. Right now, you really have to get me home.”
We get in his truck and he pulls me into his side, starting his truck up and backing down the driveway with one hand. I peek up at him and he’s still got a goofy grin plastered on his face. He looks down at me then ducks his head and kisses me on my temple before looking back at the road.
“I’m not gonna be able to sleep tonight. I’m gonna be thinking about you all damn night. And you just washed my sheets, didn’t you?”
I gasp. “Nash, shut the hell up. That’s so gross.”
“Is it? Is the thought of me jacking off while thinking about you gross?” he asks in all seriousness.
I want to say yes, but the image of his naked body, of him stroking himself, mutes me and I admit, “No, it’s not.”
“You can do the same thing if you need to.”
“Ugh. No. That’s gross. You… fine, it’s kind of hot. But me…no. Hell, no.”
“Why not?”
“Please shut up.”
He laughs. “Fine. I’ll do enough jacking off for the both of us, because I was serious Presley- I’ll wait for you. As long as it takes. But I want to add kissing to the list of things I need from you.”
“Mmm,” I murmur with satisfaction from just the thought of that kiss. “God, no wonder the girls love you so much.”
“You think I’ve had kisses like that one you just gave me with other girls?”
I shrug my shoulders, “Hannah seemed pretty impressed by the one you gave her.”
“That wasn’t even close to what just happened between us. No one’s kissed me the way you just kissed me. And, Presley… you have a tongue piercing… why didn’t I know you had a tongue piercing?”
“You’re avoiding the subject. It’s not about the way I kissed you, it’s about the way you kiss girls.”
“I mean, yeah, I can give any girl the best kiss they’ll ever get, but damn, I don’t even know what the hell you just did to me.”
I laugh. “You know what my favorite thing about you is?”
“The way I kissed you? Or no, my body? You couldn’t seem to keep your greedy eyes off my body.”
“That’s all great, but it’s your modesty. I just love how humble you are.”
He laughs. “I guess we’re perfect for each other – I think I’m way better than I actually am and you don’t see half the things that make you absolutely irresistible. We balance each other out like that.”
I want to laugh, I wish I found that amusing, but really, it’s not. “You’re gonna get tired of my crap pretty quickly.”
“What crap?”
“My insecurities, my needy ways, my irrational fears.”
“I’m just afraid that once I cure you of all those things you won’t need me anymore,” he says, and I can’t tell if he’s joking. “And you’re not needy. In fact, I wish you needed me more than you actually do.”
“Stop here,” I tell him, when he passes the corner where he usually picks me up.
He does but says, “How long are you gonna care about what she thinks?”
I sit up and look at him, at the pissed off expression on his face. “I don’t care what she thinks, in fact it would feel damn good having her know that for once, I have something that she can’t have.”
“So why am I dropping you off at the corner?”
If Jolee knows about Nash and me, everyone at school will know too. I’m not ready for that. And then there’s the other reason… “I can barely live in that house as it is. She’s been worse than normal ever since I was at your race with you. I can’t deal with whatever she would do if she found out something real is happening between us… not now.”
He reaches out and hoists me on his lap, kissing me gently before saying, “Fine. Just as long as something real is happening between us.”
I run my hands through his hair. God, it’s so strange touching him like this. Nash. And me. It sounds wrong but it feels right. I lean in and kiss his neck, letting my tongue drag across his salty skin, thoroughly enjoying the fact that I can actually lick him now. He moans and his fingers dig into my backside. When I get to his ear I lick and bite it then tell him, “I don’t know what’s going on between us, but it’s definitely real.”
He turns his head, his teeth grasping onto my lip and my breath is sucked out of me in one fast, loud release. In an instant, we’ve both lost control, our mouths colliding, our tongues fighting, our hands grasping onto whatever part of each other they can. I can feel his hard length under me and I moan, pushing my aching insides into him. Oh hell, this is bad. I’m letting this go too far and as much as the idea of freaking out with Angel scared me, the thought of doing it with Nash is worse.
He clamps down hard on my hips, stopping my motion and pulls his mouth from mine before sliding me further down his legs. “Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to get so hard. Jesus, Presley, I was kidding before but honest to god, you’re gonna kill me.”
I climb off his lap. “No, that was my fault. I’m sorry. I won’t let that happen again… shit.” I run my hands over my face, confused by the equal amounts of desire and fear running through me. “You’re gonna help me, right? We’re gonna figure this out…”
A Son of Carver (Carver High #2) Page 23