Love Me Now (Encounters #4)

by Fifi Flowers

  Nipping the insides of her thighs once I’d reached the heavenly treat, I followed up with soothing licks that caused even me to moan, as well. Moving into my mouth, I slowly slid my tongue up and down each lovely lip a few times before flicking and sucking her treasured button of nerves between my lips. “Yes, yes, yes,” softly filled my ears and kept me delighting her with the same intricate pattern that seemed to please her. I had to confess that it was affecting me so much so that I had to concentrate on not expelling like an overly excited teenage boy. Wanting her to come apart before I made her mine completely, I slipped a finger inside of her sugary wetness to complement my mouth skills. Whispering against her soft skin, imploring her to come for me, my Sugar’s insides tightened and pulsed around my finger as she pushed up while holding my head in place. Pure sweet perfection—that’s what she is!

  Ready to spill, literally, I crawled up her body planting soft kisses to various areas as I made my way to capture her mouth with mine. “I love you, Sugar.”

  “I love you so much, Nick. Let me give you a proper birthday present.” Her words were breathless and beautiful. “A baby…” was the last words I understood as I happily entered the love of my life.

  So warm, so wet, so tight, so mine! We moved together slow to start, wanting to enjoy every sensation plunging in and out, sure to hit the spots that had her digging her fingernails into my back. Feeling the same clues before, I amped up my speed and felt her legs lifting up and wrapping up around me. The best… the ultimate best is the only way to describe the way we became one—bonded, connected—panting and striving to make our goal a reality. And as her orgasm began to ripple, my hips moved more rapidly until I couldn’t hold out any longer. Joining Sugar in bliss, capturing her mouth with mine, I hoped to drown out any roar that could’ve possibly escaped into the night air and scared the neighborhood. And though I knew that I was finally, truly home, there was no need to announce it to the entire block in quite that fashion.

  Kissing my Sugar once more, I left the warmth of her body and moved to the edge of the bed. Reaching underneath it, my hand came back up with a fancy box tied up with satin ribbon. “You may want this before you slip off to dreamland.”

  Taking the packaged from me, she sat up and untied the ribbon, lifted the lid and peeled back the tissue paper to reveal a green lace and satin, thigh length sleep slip. “It’s beautiful,” she said taking it out of the box and slipping it over her head. Then laughing she added, “I have something for you too!” before jumping off the bed and disappearing in the closet.

  Returning, I took in a perfect view of her body nicely hugged by the satin bottom of the sexy nightie. But it was seeing her breasts encased in the lace that had my body on high alert and ready to spring into action again. It couldn’t hurt to add an extra batch of my swimmers to her womb. But for the moment, my naughty thoughts were stifled as I was presented with a snowflake gift bag held closed with an elaborate ribbon and a dangling St Nick figurine.

  “I think we had the same idea,” she said with a smile.

  And she was right I realized as I removed silky boxers from the bag. With a child… children in the house it appeared that sleeping naked together wasn’t going to happen for a few years. Fine by me, I would just have to open a lingerie account to keep my woman’s body draped in silk and lace, up against me every night. And so, after talking Sugar into one more Christmas present exchange, I settled in closely behind her, wearing our new silky garments, and fell into a deep peaceful night’s sleep.

  It was a good thing that we stopped at round two, since Cupcake, my cellphone, and our doorbell were signaling that it was time to get up. Luckily, my mother still had the house key and knew the alarm code to let everyone in while we pulled on some clothes and brushed our teeth.

  Downstairs, the festivities began as the two doors to the living room were hidden back in the walls. Screams and giggles filled the morning air as Victoria hit the switch to light the Christmas tree and magically a train appeared from behind the tree on a track I hadn’t noticed. Then with the help of parents, each child was directed to their own toys on display. The scene had me pretty choked up. Sure I had been part of the process over the years, but I had never been on the other end of the line. Watching my child witnessing the fairytale experience of Santa’s visit was a whole other thing. Nothing had ever brought me as much joy on Christmas morning as seeing Cupcake dancing around and squealing with delight calling out, “Look Mommy, look Daddy!”

  I had almost forgotten that I had other gifts to be given out to everyone and they had ones to hand out too. Thankfully, all of the adults agreed to wait until a large pot of coffee was brewed and all cups filled to the brim. It was apparent that my sister and her husband had gotten very little sleep back at the hotel with two children wanting to see if Santa had delivered their package for sure. Settled in the living room with a fire roaring in the fireplace thanks to my father and an extra carafe of coffee for refills, we commenced paper ripping. More for the kids from grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins, and we grown-ups exchanged ours as well.

  I was happy to see the room filled with smiling people, everyone seemed pleased with the presents that they had received. My Sugar was thrilled with the baking items I had bought her, I couldn’t wait to taste everything that she whipped up. I was also looking forward to her modeling the other presents I had hidden upstairs for her to open later in private—of course, one wasn’t enough. And the best gift I received from Sugar alone, I hoped was baking in her oven. However, the best gift that I got from Victoria and Cupcake came in a light blue Tiffany box wrapped with red holiday ribbon. Inside to my delight was a beautiful sterling silver keychain with one house key attached to it, and I couldn’t hide my feelings as a couple of tears spilled involuntarily down my cheeks.

  Thankfully—before anyone had time to razz me—I was saved by the front doorbell buzzing over and over. “Hey Cupcake, I’m pretty sure that you need to get your cousins and go answer the door.”

  Doing as I said, I waved everyone to come and witness what I had planned for everyone or maybe I should say, what St Nick had in store. With everybody in the foyer, Cupcake opened the door and instantly screamed, “Snow!” And then three little cherub faced children dashed out into the front yard that was filling up with white manmade snow. And then there was the unmistakable St Nick tag, prominently placed on the front of a black top-hat sitting atop of a snowman, strategically positioned facing the front door.

  Sugar was immediately at my side, wrapping her arms around my waist. “You did it! You brought my dad back to life. And how did you know that I lost my mother’s special copper chocolate melting bowl?” It was a miracle that I understood any of her words as she sobbed them into my chest.

  Rubbing her back and kissing the top of her head, I let her know that our little Cupcake is a fountain of information. On my first morning with her making pancakes, she had told me stories that she had heard from her mother about how her grandmother taught Victoria everything she knew about baking sweet treats. And within her many revelations, she also mentioned that they often made candy too, mainly with chocolate. But since her grandparents had gone to heaven, some things had gone missing when her mommy had their things moved to our house. Among those items was a large bowl; hammered copper on the outside, stainless steel on the inside, perfect for melting chocolate. It was the essential item on my list for my Sugar and it proved to be the hit!

  Speaking of hits, we were quick to break apart when we were blasted with a couple of snowballs courtesy of my sister and her husband. Gathering up our own icy ammo we fired off a few rounds before we were called upon by our little ones wanting rides. Round metal discs with ropes attached to them allowed us to get a real workout pulling kids across the lawn during the hour and a half window I had blocked out with the snow making company. With the sun beating down, it was necessary for the guys to keep blowing snow for the kids to play in, otherwise the lawn would’ve been receiving good watering. Fort
unately the snowman they had set up was artificial, otherwise he would’ve been a puddle too. Another thing that I noticed about Frosty—the laminated St Nick tag had disappeared from the rim of his top hat—already had me thinking about the future surprises for my family.

  Family, that is what the holidays are all about. Not only had I missed Victoria and Cupcake, but I had also been denied seeing my parents, my sister and her family by going off by myself or my friends every year. I vowed as I looked around at everybody while cooking breakfast—after wrapping up our snowing adventure—that I would never be away from the ones I loved so dearly again.

  “You look rather serious, Sugarbug,” my mother said knocking her hip into mine standing next to me. I had to smile down at her after she called me by the same name I loved hearing Victoria call our precious little girl.

  “I’m blessed. Thank you for putting your foot down and stopping me from going off to search for her. I don’t know what would’ve happened or how much longer I would’ve had to wait to find her.”

  “Things happen for a reason, Nick. It wasn’t me that made this all happen, although I would love to take full credit. But it was just time for you to find your way back to each other. No more wondering. No more what ifs. No more regrets. This is just right. How it was supposed to be. And for whatever reason, regardless of what you believe that you’ve missed out on, fate works in mysterious ways, and I truly believe that everything fits into place when it’s meant to. Enjoy every moment forward with them, don’t look back to those years of torture.”

  All of her words hit me square in the chest, I guess it’s true; mother knows best. Luckily, she followed up her Phyllis-ophical words with funny stories of Christmas’ past that had everyone joining in with more tales as they chipped in to put breakfast on our plates faster. A new tradition that Sugar had insisted on, all of our bellies were satisfied with Bertie’s magical French toast topped with whipped cream cheese butter and drizzled with boysenberry syrup along with my famous bacon skills. Everyone was “oohing” and “aahing” over Victoria’s sweet treats from the special breakfast toast to my birthday cake to her gingerbread cookies. She looked so beautiful, surrounded by people who loved her, talking about her mother teaching her everything, and proudly showing off her family cookbook. I think they were especially delighted to hear her promise to make my sister and my mother each a copy of the book.

  Her mention of printing the book had my mind reeling; thinking of all the things I had put into motion since finding her, along with all of the things I wanted for our future. And I couldn’t seem to let them go as the day rolled on with our family celebrating the holiday with many new and old traditions that seemed to commingle beautifully together. I was loving every moment as if I was living a dream… her dream… our dream. It was vivid. It was real. And seeing us all hanging out together had me thinking back to the first day that Sugar and I spent together.

  “Someday I’m going to have a cozy mountain cabin with a big stone fireplace. I will spend Christmases with my parents, my husband and my children… and I guess with my in-law family.” She smiled into her mug as if she could see it all vividly and I felt a bit jealous of those people.

  “You better have a big house rather than a cozy cabin.”

  God, how I wanted to take her back to my cabin and get real cozy with her… there was a pot belly fireplace.

  “A big place can be cozy too. It’s all in how you make it homey and inviting. Pillows, throws, comfy furniture you can melt into… and baked goods.”

  I was thinking about slipping together and experiencing each other’s warmth imagining what she pictured until her last words. “Baked goods?”

  “Yes, the smell of them says home! Home baked cookies, cakes, pies! Yum!”

  “Sounds delicious.”

  I wanted to add that I bet she tasted just as, or more, delicious than any of those sweet desserts she mentioned. And if I had any more of the spiked hot beverages that seemed to continue to our table, I was certain that my graphic thoughts would be breaking free and spilling from my lips. I was also afraid that I would offer to give her everything she pictured if she would just agree to love me now—at that very moment. Or that I may drag her caveman style back to my cozy bed. Thankfully or not, our drinking came to a halt as others snapped me out of my fantasy and back to reality.

  As much as I loved being one big family, I relished the quiet time after everyone said their goodbyes and loaded up their things into the rental van and departed. It had been one long day that had our little Cupcake plum-tuckered-out, as my mother said earlier, and ready for a quick tub and bedtime story. Taking my turn, I told her about a little mouse that lived in a snow chalet and begged his parents for skis so he could soar down the face of Mammoth Mountain. His father and mother told him he was silly—skis weren’t made in his size. But he refused to give up his dream and one day he found a Popsicle stick and two toothpicks on the ground and quickly brought them home. Chewing the stick in half he had his skis and with a bit of honey he was able to get them to stick to his feet. So with his skis and two toothpicks for poles he climbed to the highest hill and then once he had worked up enough courage he swooshed down the snow accomplishing his dream.

  “I want to ski too,” tumbled sleepily from her lips as she closed her blue eyes.

  “Someday,” I told her as I kissed her goodnight.

  Then Sugar and I walked to our room to settle in for the night and I realized that in some ways we were living her dream minus her parents. Though they would always be in our hearts and I could say that truthfully without ever meeting them because they had created Victoria for me. And I realized that I wanted her dream too. I never wanted to fall asleep without her. I wanted her always at my side within reach. She was part of me; my heart, my breath, my soul, my sight, my taste. I never wanted another, only her—to protect, to keep safe, and to love always.

  “Nick, love me now, please.”

  “Victoria, I will love you now and forever, til the end of time.”

  Epilogue

  Two years later

  Nicolette…

  I’m writing this with the help of Gramma Phyll, Grampa Will and Auntie Lulu (that’s what I call her now even though she’s not really my aunt). I asked for their help because they know much bigger words than I do. So if you read something that sounds too grownup for me, that was their help. So let me start at the beginning.

  My mommy and daddy got married in our really big cozy cabin up at Mammoth Mountain. Daddy surprised Mommy with it as a wedding present since she refused to take any money from Daddy for our house. I got to be the flower-girl and I wore a really pretty pink dress. Mommy wore a fancy white lace dress like a princess. She even had a crown with pearls and diamonds attached to her veil. I want to wear it when I grow up and get married. Grampa walked Mommy down the aisle to Daddy dressed in a tuxedo like Prince Charming and Gramma cried. Auntie Gracee was the maid of honor and Uncle Pierce, who is very handsome, was Daddy’s best man. I want to marry him some day. I got to dance with him at the party when we had vanilla cake wrapped with a white pearlized fondant. Uncle Gram couldn’t make it to the wedding because he was stuck somewhere baking French double-cookies so he had Mommy and Daddy’s cake flown in, made by his favorite pastry baker. It was really delicious and topped with two cute miniature gingerbread cookies that looked like a bride and groom.

  Everyone always loved my mommy’s baking and cooking so much that Daddy had her cookbook published. It made the bestseller list in New York and it’s sold all over the world and in different languages. She’s kind of famous. She has been on television too. But she prefers to stay at home and refuses to write another book for now.

  Besides, she is busy with me and my little brother Bradley William, named after my two grandfathers. Yep, I’m a big sister and I like to help take care of him when I’m not at school. Our birthdays are only a few days apart, but our sister, Emily Grace, is going to be born in a different month. Daddy insisted that
they name her after the two girls that brought them together. Mommy agreed only because Emily was her mother’s name too, but she told Daddy that he was done giving her babies. I think that’s a good idea, I only have two hands to hold when we walk to the corner mailbox to mail our letters to Santa.

  My letter to him this year is going to be very different; I have my Daddy, Mommy and Daddy are married, I have my little brother, a new sister coming, and all of my other family. I even got to have a real white Christmas and learned to ski on real snow! What more could I ask for? I have everything a girl could ever want!

  THE END

  Other Books in the Encounters Series

  All standalone with connecting characters

  Reclining Nude in Chicago, book 1

  Set to interview Matisse expert and curator Pierce Marten in a Chicago loft, freelance art writer Julia Van Rothfelder is mistaken for an artist’s life model.

  Finding herself reclining nude posing for a handsome casually dressed curator, nothing like what she had imagined, a well-groomed man in a business suit enters the artist loft.

  As Julia surveys the two men standing before her, she wonders…

  Who is the new man?

  Who is the man behind the canvas?

  And better question, why am I nude?

  Taming the Curator, book 2

  Chloe Erikksen, museum worker by day and burlesque singer by night finds her world completely turned upside down as her life is taken over by a man who most women would say was unattainable… untamable.