by Simply BWWM
They went first to the Boston Public Gardens, which spread over a large area of ground in the center of the city. Within the gardens was a lake, and on the lake, there were big white swan boats, and people lined up to get a chance to ride in them.
Nick and Chanel waited in line with everyone else and finally got a turn at sitting in one of the big swan boats as it toured around the beautiful water, passing by weeping willow trees and groups of ducks and other water fowl that lived on and near the lake.
When the ride was finished, they walked around the big park and enjoyed the fresh air together, talking about many things and holding hands, both of them loving the closeness they were sharing. He whistled for a taxi when they got to the sidewalk, and he asked the driver to take them to Hanover Street. It wasn’t far, only a short ride away, but it was enough time for them to kiss long, slow, and sweet in the back seat of the car before the driver eyed them in the rearview mirror and they stopped.
He let them out at the bottom of Hanover, and they walked along through the neighborhood there known as Little Italy. It was filled with old red brick buildings and narrow streets. Among the buildings was a seemingly unending wealth of Italian restaurants and shops, selling everything from Pizzelle cookies and Boston cream pie at Mike’s Pastry shop to gelato and cappuccino all along the avenues, and the finest Italian food in the city, prepared by Italians who had brought their grandmothers with them from the old country, and did it as right as it could be done.
They stopped together at one such small restaurant and were lucky enough to get one of the best tables, just in the corner, under a framed image of Frank Sinatra, who was also crooning out love songs on the overhead speakers. They ordered pasta and wine and were more than pleased with the meal that they were served.
As they enjoyed their time together, they talked about even more than they had talked about before, and it seemed like their friendship was growing just as fast and as strong as their budding romance had taken off. Chanel felt that somewhere in the back of her mind she should probably be concerned about moving so fast with him. She had promised Chris that she wouldn’t do that, but it seemed to be happening anyway, right around her, or around them, like a cocoon, and there wasn’t anything that they could do about it but enjoy it completely and love the time that they were spending together.
When their meal was gone and they had finished their cappuccinos, they headed out into the streets of the city again and toward the oldest commissioned ship in the Navy, nicknamed “Old Iron Sides”. It had once been in a battle with another ship, and when the other ship had fired its cannons, the cannon balls had bounced off of the sides of the Naval ship, and thus the nickname had been born.
They strolled to the dock where they could see it clearly, and as the last light of day began to fade and the sun set on the horizon, the colors were lowered down the flagpole, and the men on duty blasted the cannon, sending a cannon ball shooting out of the side of the ship over the water.
Chanel was amazed. “I had no idea that they did that!” She watched in amazement after she recovered from the shock of the loud boom of the cannon.
“They do it every night at sunset. They also haul the old ship out once a year and go for a sail in the harbor, taking passengers along for the ride, and then they bring it back into the dock here, facing the other way. It’s supposed to help keep the wear and tear of the ocean waves even on both sides of the ship. It’s quite an event every July.” He winked at her and she wondered to herself if it would ever be something that they would do together, go and see it turned in the harbor, or even ride on it, if they were lucky.
He kissed her as the colors of the warm summer sunset faded, and the blue sky began to pale and grow darker. Then he took her hand, and they walked back to the road where a limousine was waiting for them.
“How did…?” she trailed off, wondering how he could have had a car waiting, but then she saw Andrew get out of the front seat with the driver and open the door for them. She smiled and waved at him, saying hello. He said hello back to her and tucked them into the car, closing the door before he headed back to the front seat with the driver.
The limousine slipped quietly through the streets of the city and finally stopped in front of her house. During the ride, they had started kissing, and the kissing had turned to a heated embrace and the touch of longing fingers and hands over one another, but when they reached the house, Nick pulled away from her and walked with her to her door.
She gave him a sort of coy smile and looked up at him with a sultry gaze.
“Would you like to come in?” she asked, fully expecting him to say yes to her.
He looked disappointed as he frowned slightly and sighed with a reverent quietness. “I would love more than anything to come in with you, but I’m going to have to pass tonight. I think I’ll wait. I’m so sorry about that.”
She didn’t know what to say and her mind was a complete blank of any reason why he wouldn’t come in. They had spent almost the entire weekend making love in his bed and in hers on the boat. Even in the wee hours of that very same morning, before they had gotten off of the boat to return to their normal lives, he had made love with her, but there he was declining her offer to spend the night with her. It was definitely unexpected, but she wanted to respect him and his wishes, so she nodded and tried to smile for him.
“All right,” she said quietly, not sure at all of what else she could say.
“I would love to see you again, soon, very soon.” He looked imploringly at her.
Chanel nodded. “Yes, I want to see you again soon too. I’ll be done with the painting not too long from now, and I’ll bring it to you.”
He smiled and held her in his arms, giving her one more long, slow, sweet kiss before letting her go and looking all the while like he wanted nothing more than to take her straight into the house with him, but once she was inside and waved to him from the window, he turned and gave her a last look over his shoulder before he went back to the waiting limousine.
She watched it drive away and wondered to herself why he hadn’t come in. She wanted to wave it away, thinking perhaps he was tired from all the time they had spent together on the boat, or perhaps he had an early morning the next day with meetings and other responsibilities, and he had to think of that, rather than of a long and heated night with her. She did comfort herself with the fact that he had no qualms whatsoever about making out with her in the limousine and kissing her on her doorstep, and more than that, that he was so anxious to see her again soon.
She went to bed that night with a big smile on her face and light in her heart. He was a beautiful man, inside and out, and he wanted her, and she wanted him, and it was going so very, very well. She laughed to herself as she began to fall asleep, that her dreams could not be nearly as sweet as the reality of her life just then.
Chapter6
Chanel was working more on the painting when the door of the studio opened, and she looked up to see Chris walking in toward her with two cups of coffee in his hands. “There she is!” he crooned to her as he neared her.
She took one cup of coffee from him and simultaneously gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She eyed his slim jeans and cashmere sweater. “You look divine. May I pet you?” she asked in a partly teasing tone as she ran her hand down his sleeve.
“You may.” He grinned and looked heavenward with innocence in his eyes as he held his other arm out to her. “It’s lovely, isn’t it?” he gushed, turning around in a circle so that she could see it.
“It is lovely. And thank you for the coffee. This is exactly what I needed. I’m hitting my late morning lull and my energy and attention is fading some.” She sighed and sipped the coffee, closing her eyes as she did so, as if it might be the nectar of the gods.
Chris walked around her and looked at the portrait she was working on. “This is your Greek god billionaire lover?” he asked in amazement as he studied it. “You were right. He is beautiful. My word, girl, you don’
t fool around when you find a guy to land. Whew!” He whistled, and she laughed softly at him.
“Oh, Chris… if you only knew.” She winked at him.
“I have an idea.” He winked back at her. “So, what do you think about going out to lunch? I’m starving. I thought that we could be really bad and go to Cheers for lunch. I haven’t had a great burger and a beer in so long that I’m not even sure my last one was in this lifetime.” He gave her a slightly pouty face, and she rolled her eyes and nodded.
“Anything for you, my dear, you know I love to spoil you.” She grinned, and walked over to the sink to clean her hands off before reaching for her purse and walking out of the studio door with him.
They strolled along the streets sipping their coffee as they headed for Boston Public Garden, and just across the street from the park, they went into the original Cheers pub, where they were seated for lunch. Both of them ordered a burger and a beer, and soon enough they were both enjoying their treats immensely.
“This is the best in the city, isn’t it? I love this place,” Chris looked around and sighed happily, “even with the tourists here.”
Chanel waved her hand dismissively. “Ah, there are more tourists over at the Faneuil Hall Marketplace Cheers. Most of them don’t know that this one is here.”
Chris laughed as he lifted his beer to his lips. “Then let’s not tell them, ever. We’ll keep it our own great secret.” He took a long sip and savored the amber liquid before setting the glass back down and eyeing his friend closely.
“So, tell me how things are going with your new hunk of man.” He spoke lightly, but his eyes were serious.
“Good!” She beamed at him, sighing blissfully. “He came to the studio and picked me up, and we walked through the public garden. Then we went up Hanover Street and had really great Italian food.” She thought back over their long date night.
“I love Hanover. It’s my favorite. No one does Boston Cream Pie like Mike’s.” Chris swooned at the thought. “Let’s go over after lunch.”
Chanel laughed at him and reached her hand up, tucking her loose hair behind her ear. “Then he took me over to the old ship in the dock… Old Iron Sides. Have you seen that?” she asked curiously.
“Yes. They blast that damn cannon off every night at sunset. I’ve seen it.” He took another drink of his beer.
“You knew about that? I didn’t know about that.” She looked dumbfounded for a long moment. “How come you never told me about it?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t know that you didn’t know. Now I know that you know.” He laughed softly at his joke.
She rolled her eyes and set her glass of beer down on the table. “Well, so we saw that and then he took me home.” She frowned slightly and he gave her a curious look.
“He took you home and? What happened?” He leaned a little closer, obviously expecting to hear something that shouldn’t be overheard by other ears.
She frowned and shook her head. “Nothing happened, actually. I was really disappointed about it. I mean, he kissed me, and wow, was it an amazing kiss. We made out in the limo all the way back to my place from the ship, but once we got to my house, he just… sort of kissed me goodnight and went back to his car and that was that. I thought he would come inside and stay the night, but he didn’t.”
Chanel knew that it was ridiculous to pout. They had spent the whole weekend together, and she shouldn’t begrudge him a night to himself at all, but she was a little disappointed all the same, and Chris saw it.
He frowned too. “I wonder if there’s some secret or mystery about him, something that you don’t know yet, some skeleton in his closet that you’ll have to find out about.”
“He doesn’t have skeletons in the closet!” Chanel defended him, even though she knew that she didn’t really know the actual truth about it. She felt confident that he probably didn’t, because they had talked about nearly everything that there was to talk about, and nothing had sent up a red flag for her.
“Honey, everyone has skeletons in their closet. It’s part of life. Think about it, if you ran for public office, there would definitely be something in your past that you wouldn’t want everyone to find out about. It happens. It’s called life. Everyone has secrets; it’s just the way that it is. I only hope his aren’t big bad secrets, because I don’t want you getting hurt.” He looked at her intently.
“I’m not going to get hurt.” She waved her hand dismissively. “I’m being careful.”
He gave her a serious eye then. “Are you? Remember, I told you to take your time with him.”
“I am,” she answered with a dutiful smile. “I mean, I’m falling for him, there just isn’t any way around that, but I am trying to be careful about it.” She gave him a heartfelt smile, and he sighed and pressed his lips into a thin, frustrated line.
“I guess you can’t really stop from falling for him, but please try to take your time and be careful.”
“I will,” she promised him.
They finished their burgers and their beers, and Chris insisted that they head over to Mike’s for cannoli before they said goodbye for the afternoon. Neither of them regretted going to Mike’s; their dessert was the best in the area.
A few days passed by, and all the while Chanel was finishing up the painting and thinking of Nick and all that they had shared, so deep and so fast. She was happy, and it was a powerful feeling in her. She was glad that she had met him, glad that she had taken the job and done the painting, and more than all of that, she was so very glad that they had become lovers and friends.
Nick called her three days later, and she was completely elated to get the call from him. She tried not to sound as excited as she felt, but it couldn’t be helped, and he sounded just as excited to hear her voice as she was to hear his.
He asked her if he could pick her up for a whole day, and she told him with great excitement that he could. When he did, she was surprised when he told her that they were spending the day appreciating fine arts. She hadn’t expected it of him, though she knew that she shouldn’t be surprised by it. He was a fan of her art and of other fine artists whose work he had seen in studios and galleries.
The first place that they went to wasn’t as much a gallery as it was an experience. They were dropped at the doors of the Mary Baker Eddy Library, and as they walked in, he took her hand and she leaned over to speak softly in his ear.
“I love libraries, but this is a Christian Science library. I’m not sure what we’re doing here.” She looked around at the beautiful interior in surprise and wonder.
“Well, first of all, it’s got a great look to it inside, wouldn’t you agree?” he asked, indicating the hanging spheres and the beautiful artistry of the building.
“I would have to agree with you, and some architecture is definitely art.” She smiled at him and looked around at it all.
“And second, we’re here to see the world.” He gave her a grin with a twinkle in his baby blue eyes.
“The world?” she asked in surprise. “What are you talking about?”
He motioned to one of the employees and spoke with the young man for a moment, and the young man nodded and walked with them to a door. When they went inside, they found themselves on a transparent glass walkway that spanned the entire interior of the world. There was a stained-glass globe around them, and all of the countries were inside out because the view of the world was from the center of the world, the middle of the globe, looking outward toward all the edges of the earth and the universe beyond it.
The guide warned them not to speak with indoor voices, but rather to whisper, as every sound in the room was magnified to a tremendous decibel.
Chanel stared wide eyed at the world around her, and Nick looked at it as well, but most of his attention was spent on her. She was astounded by it.
“This place is amazing! I never knew this was here!” she gasped and whispered as quietly as she could, though her whisper echoed loudly around them.
He
held her hand and they stayed for a short while, looking at all of the artistry and the countries of the world that were exhibited on the globe. The guide explained that it wasn’t up to date because so many of the countries had changed names or changed borders, and it was impossible to keep up with all of the global changes, so they left it as it was, and that was that.
When they had spent all the time they wanted inside the world, they left and stopped in the gift shop for a few things before they walked back outside, and she shook her head in utter amazement. “That was so beautiful. I can’t believe I didn’t know that was there. I’m beginning to feel like I don’t know this city nearly as well as I thought I did!”
He shook his head. “You know it much better than you think you do; it’s just that many places have secrets, you know, special things tucked away that most people don’t know about, and you have to look and discover them. Uncover the secrets.”