by Mia Caldwell
But that smile died away from my lips the minute I walked into the restaurant - if the restaurant was truly the right word for such a place. It looked more like a palace. White gloved waiters swished past silently as a fountain burbled quietly in the very center of the vast expanse. Each seated couple was more gorgeous than the last, nibbling delicately at beautiful plates of artfully placed food.
I felt completely out of place. That is until Zach swooped in and took my arm again. "I love this place," he grinned looking around like it was nothing more than a neighborhood dive bar.
I exhaled nervously. "How often do you come here?"
He pointed upward. "I'm living upstairs," he grinned. "Coming down here is like walking into the kitchen."
I shook my head, baffled at how different our lives were. If this place was his kitchen, then I couldn't help but laugh about what he thought of as his closet. It certainly wouldn’t be some three foot by two foot deep affair behind a mirrored folding door that never stayed on its track…
Zach quickly guided me over to a table in a little alcove up on a raised platform. He pulled out the chair and gestured for me to sit down.
I smoothed my skirt over my hips and allowed him to push the chair forward. I felt like we were on display over here, like everyone was looking to see who the power couple was that took the best seat in the house. Once more I saw several women look enviously at Zach and then me and then back to Zach again.
He sat down like he owned the place, throwing a confident arm back over the back of his sumptuous chair. "Good evening Neil," he smiled at the smooth, unctuous waiter that appeared silently at his elbow.
"So nice to see you again, Mister Kinglsey, sir," Neil replied. "Will you be needing menus this evening?"
"Let's leave it up to Gerard tonight."
"A wise choice sir," Neil gave a slight bow at the waist, then disappeared for a moment, reappearing with spindly looking glasses of clear liquid that he placed in front of us on the table. Then he disappeared again in one fluid motion.
I reached for the glass, marveling at how light and fine it was in my hands. It was so delicate that I was afraid it would snap in half in my fingers.
Then I lifted it to my nose and grimaced. Alcohol.
I couldn't drink. Gingerly, I set the glass back down again, trying to ignore how Zach's eyes bored into me.
Zach
☼ ☼ ☼
The cocktails Neil brought out were some of my absolute favorites. I was already lifting my glass for a toast when I saw Kia sniff and grimace, setting the stemware down delicately like she was afraid it would burst in her hands. And once more I was filled with the regret of assuming I knew anything about her. Maybe she didn't drink at all?
I took a deep breath and reached across the table, letting my hand rest over hers. My thumb traced the line of her wrist, strong and sure, but somehow delicate too. I loved her hands, how capable they were with a needle, how finely tuned they were. I could feel the weight of all that was unsaid between us bearing down on my shoulders. I needed to do this right. "I'm sorry, Nakia," I began.
Her warm brown eyes snapped up at me, instantly defensive. "Why are you sorry?" she asked, with more vehemence than I was expecting.
I moved my other hand to envelope hers and lifted it to my lips. She inhaled sharply as I kissed her fingertips delicately before setting her hand hack down. "I should have done this first," I explained, gesturing to the restaurant, the fancy silverware, the hushed conversation. "Taking you out. On an actual date. Where we could talk about something other than the Winxching account."
Her lovely soft lips curled into a smile, and I saw her shoulders relax slightly. She reached over, sipping her water, consciously avoiding the cocktail. "This is nice," she murmured, her voice thick with something unsaid.
"I mean it," I told her, leaning back. "I fucked things up, I know I did. I know I put too much pressure on you. I should have known it was too much."
"You didn't," she interjected vehemently, squaring her shoulders and looking me right in the eye. "I knew what I was getting into, Zach. I knew what I was doing and I was good at it."
"You were...," I tried to interject, but she slipped her hand out from mine and held it up, silencing me with a raised eyebrow.
"No, I am. You don't have to build me up. I have endured a lot harder things than working for you."
I felt chastened. "Like what?" I asked her. When I saw the skepticism in her face, I leaned forward. "No, Kia, I want to know. Tell me about yourself. I want to know everything."
Her lips parted slightly. "You do?"
"More than anything." When I said that, I knew I was speaking the truth.
When she opened her mouth again, the torrent of words poured out and I knew I was finally seeing the real Kia, my Kia, for the first time. She spoke of being raised by her mother all alone, the two of them a team from the very beginning. She talked about her mother's struggles, the nights she went to bed with no supper so that Kia could eat. She teared up slightly when she spoke of her mother's diagnosis and the nights Kia sat up with her, holding her hand to help her mother sleep as the pain wracked her body. Then she recovered herself and talked about how her mother had taught her to sew, to alter her clothes so they would fit and flatter her body. About the shoes I had noticed, those little luxuries both women shared. About how they pinched her toes because they were the wrong size but she would never stop wearing them.
Then she sat back, her words spent. As I looked at her shyly playing with her napkin, she was suddenly more beautiful, more radiant than I had ever seen her before. "Thank you," I exhaled.
She lifted her eyes a little, peering at me through the dark fringe of her lashes. "I just chewed your ear off," she smiled. "And you're thanking me?"
When I leaned forward to grab her hand again, this time she leaned forward too. Whatever I was feeling for her there in the soft candlelight, the magic of her words, of having her open up to me, it caught me up so completely that for once I didn't consider my words before I said them. "Let's start from here," I declared, raising my glass. "The past is behind us, let's start over again. A toast," I told her, lifting the cocktail glass, "to us."
I expected her to smile, to laugh, to show her pearly white teeth so perfect against her caramel skin. I definitely didn't expect her face to slam shut on me, all of the openness and trust draining out while she stared at me in shock and fear. "I can't drink," she blurted.
"Why not?" I pressed. I was feeling expansive. I wanted her to share in my delight.
"I just can't."
"Are you too young or something?" I smiled at her, teasing. "I promise, I won't tell."
"No Zach."
"You really won't have a drink with me?"
"I can't."
"Could you at least tell me why?"
"Because!" her eyes snapped and I saw the color flare on her cheeks as she slammed her napkin down and stood up, her chair screeching across the floor. "I'm pregnant," she hissed, low. "I can't drink because I'm pregnant. And it's yours."
She turned on her heel and stalked towards the door.
Nakia
☼ ☼ ☼
Every step towards the door seemed to take hours. I found myself hysterically wondering just how long the hallway could possibly be. I didn't remember it taking this long to walk into the restaurant, but that was before I had messed up everything, irreparably.
Instead of staying firm, I had let him inside. I had told him about my mother, my most private, treasured memories. I had laughed and joked and fallen back in love with him over the course of one meal. I hated him for that, and I hated myself for being so weak that I couldn't resist him a second time. So that instead of speaking with dignity, I had thrown my pregnancy in his face, using it as a weapon to hurt him the way I was hurting.
The way he had looked at me, like my words had knocked the wind out of him, made me bolt for the door.
I couldn't stand to see Zachary Kingsley look at me with such
feeling. I just wanted to get out of the door, away from him, away from my humiliation. And I was almost there.
"No, Kia, stop."
Zach's hand was iron around my wrist, and when he pulled me to him, my anger reached a fever pitch. "No! Do not call me Kia! Don't be nice to me, don't cut me slack, don't try to fucking placate me. I'm going to do this myself, dammit. I don't want your help, your money or any of that bullshit! I knew what I was doing and I am going to do it right, dammit. I'm going to do this right!"
Zach closed his other hand around my flailing arm and pulled me closer. He wrapped his arm around my waist tightly, then cupped my face in his hand.
"You're right, you are," he said, soft and low. "And I am too."
Something crumpled inside of me. Something hard and unyielding, yet somehow still fragile, tumbled to the ground and I sagged into Zach, letting him hold me up. He slung his arm around me and led me into the lobby of the hotel. I buried my face into his suitcoat, silent tears flowing freely. When I stumbled, he swept me up into his arms, carrying me to the elevator as I lay my face in his neck.
The elevator dinged open into a huge suite on the top floor of the twenty story hotel. The lights of the city twinkled outside of the windows, giving off just enough light so that I could see Zach's face as he set me lightly down on his bed and kneeled in front of me.
"Nakia," he said carefully. "Please listen to me. From the moment I met you, the past had no hold on me. I was only interested in the future and the only future I can accept for myself is one with you by my side. You are my second chance, a blessing that an asshole like me doesn't deserve. But somehow you're here anyway, and I swear to you that this time I'm going to get it right." He brushed his hand up my cheek, wiping away the tears. "We already know we make an incredible team, don't we?"
I sniffled a little and nodded my head. I had to give him that.
His smile widened. "We are a great team," he echoed, "So I know we'll make great parents too."
I felt my stomach flop over. The remnants of the thing that had shattered and broken inside of me were swept away as I watched his lips as he spoke.
With a quick darting motion of my head, I brushed his lips with my own. It was so quick and so sudden that I could almost claim it was an accident.
But it wasn't.
It was a test.
And when I felt the desire flame to life inside of me, I knew. As much as I wanted to fight it, this was the right thing. I had been fighting it for so long, but now it seemed so damn easy.
And then his mouth crashed into mine, and I knew he was not testing me. He knew.
He held me immobile as he parted my lips with his tongue, letting our mouths melt and mingle. I melted into him, yielding to his frightening kiss. There was no going back now. He pulled up from the kiss gasping, his eyes as dark as storm clouds, searching my face....
"Yes sir," I breathed.
And then we were together again. And suddenly there were hands everywhere, clutching, gripping, kneading and tearing. I heard the sound of stitches popping as he yanked my dress down over my shoulders. I wiggled the dress down, and let my bra strap fall to the side. His lips travelled downward like they were a moth dragged to a flame and he groaned out in frustrated agony as his lips touched the tender peak of my breast.
"I thought I had lost you," he groaned, drawing his teeth up lightly across the sensitive flesh. I felt my nipple pucker and harden, then stand at rigid attention. Each curling dart of his tongue sent electricity directly to my clutching, needful core.
"But you found me," I exhaled, pulling him up and kissing him full on the mouth. He crushed me to him with incredible strength, and the gasp he squeezed out of me allowed him to pry my lips apart with a forceful jab of his tongue. I breathlessly tried to match the skilled movements of his tongue, but it was all I could so to stay upright. I lost control of my already treacherous limbs and sagged into him.
I moved my fingers to his fly and heard him hiss as I took the metal pull-tab and pinched it between my fingers. Fixing him with my eyes, I mutely asked permission.
He gave a slight, anguished nod.
I dropped to my knees and pulled the zipper down. Hooking my fingers over the waistband of his trousers, I took a deep breath and yanked downward.
I knelt down on the cool marble floor and opened my mouth wide.
"No, Kia," Zach growled, pushing me back lightly. "You first."
I stumbled and fell back onto the bed, bouncing lightly as I landed in the cloudlike comforter.
He unbuttoned the top button of his shirt and lifted it over his head.
I drank him in, taking in the tanned skin, drawn taut and smooth over bunching and bulging muscles that rippled and twitched with every tiny motion of his torso. As he bent his head down towards me, I was treated to a long, lingering glimpse of the cut 'V' of his shoulders and the small mountains he called biceps. I hadn't seen him this way in our frantic coupling in the office. This time I was really seeing Zach, my Zach.
"Zach," I breathed. "You're beautiful."
He knelt down onto the marble floor and gave a slight tug to my dress. "I want to see you too, Kia," he murmured thickly and I lifted my hips obediently, shivering as his strong fingers brushed against my skin, drawing goosebumps upward with every burning touch.
He stood back up and flung my dress aside. I lay back on the bed, panting, my whole body blushing to have him see me this way, nervous and gasping and half naked on a bed.
"Kia, you are gorgeous," he breathed.
When his finger dug into my thighs, parting them with authority, I gasped and bit my lip. He worked his fingers upward, letting me get used to his touch on my skin. At the first brush of his fingertip against the sensitive flesh hidden under my panties, I gasped again, electrified by the sensations his fingers were eliciting. He answered with a low, animal noise and took a deep breath.
And then in one swift motion he yanked my panties free and laid me bare in front of him, exposed and completely vulnerable.
My whole body flushed, even before he touched me, so when that first swipe of his tongue parted my soft folds, I was already on high alert. My overloaded nerves sang out, sending vibrations up my spine that set my hair standing up on my neck. I squeezed my thighs together, the intensity of his attention making me nervous. "Zach?" I questioned....
"Hush, Kia," he murmured up at me, his warm breath hitting my sensitive nub and sending my nerves into overdrive again. "Let me love you."
His words shut my lips tightly, and I felt a tear prick at the corner of my eye and roll silently down my cheek. Mutely, I nodded and I felt his tongue swipe upward eagerly once more. This time my nerves sang for a different reason. His hot, eager tongue was delving upward, eliciting gasps as he swirled it around my virgin opening before moving upward to concentrate the full of its focus on my buzzing, needful clit.
With each lapping stroke, my hips began to move of their own accord. I sank my fists into the comforter, needing to grab ahold of something before I floated away on the waves of pleasure from my Zachary's tongue.
"Zach!" I cried, but this time there was no fear in my words. I cried out his name, over and over again, shouting it at the top of my lungs as the pressure inside of me built to the breaking point. Just as my frenzied nerves stretched to the limit, I felt something inside of myself shatter and break and suddenly I was falling and falling, cascading through the abyss as I let Zach love me with his mouth and tongue.
When I drew my last shuddering cry, I started to squirm. "Too much," I moaned as I wiggled, trying to escape his insistent tongue.
"I'm not done yet," he grunted into my sex, and he sank his fingers into the flesh of my thighs and pinned me down to the bed.
Unable to escape, I had no choice but to submit to the pleasure a second time. As the shockwaves took me upward, I cried out his name in a strangled, agonized cry. My mouth was thick and garbled, my brain a useless quivering mass of pudding. All that mattered was his tongue, his lips
and his fingers inside of me.
I sat up in the bed and cradled his face in my hands, drawing my brother up from his post between my legs and kissing him full on the lips. He tasted like my secret, sensitive places and the smell of it inflamed me so much that I growled into his throat. He answered my animal sound with one of his own, tipping me backward onto the bed so that his body was stretched full along me, our naked skin brushing and pressing and rubbing flesh on flesh.
"Now let me love you," I commanded
"No, I'm..." he whispered, but then tailed off, his lips moving soundlessly, for I had already found his cock.
He hissed as my fingers sought and found that object of my desire. I allowed myself one fleeting grasp of his taut buttocks before I moved my hands forward. Down I blindly delved, for he was kissing me too hard and too ardently for me to break free. But I found that cock and I clutched it, making him gasp into my mouth as I began to stroke it, slowly at first, and then faster. I gave in to the rhythm of his hips as he began to thrust blindly into my hand.
The soft smooth skin was in direct opposition to the rock hard heft of his member. It was such an exquisite combination that I had to see it. I yanked my head away from his kiss with a gasp and bent my head down. I shimmed down so that my head was underneath his hips and I opened my lips wide. At the first little lap of my tongue, Zach groaned and thrust forward. I pulled away, gasping and choking as the hard thrust invaded my throat.
"Shit, Kia, I'm sorry, you got me all worked up here," he hissed, shame flooding his voice.
"Stop," I commanded him. I smiled as I looked up. "Do it again, sir."
He widened his eyes and then lowered his hips slowly. My mouth was invaded, his hard cock passing over my lips and into my mouth, and then down my throat. I clutched his thighs when I reached my limit, and he halted. I worked my tongue over and around the shaft, and then pulled back up, slurping my lips closed again. "Wow," I breathed as I looked up at him again. "You feel really nice."
His eyes darkened as he looked at me. "You do too," he gasped, then lowered his hips again.