Live-In Position

by V. S. Tice

  My hands found his shoulders and rested there. I felt his body melt into mine and then the motion of him lying back, pulling me down with him. As we landed on the bed, my hands slapped the mattress on either side of his head. I was lying over him, my chest hovering above his face. He rolled us onto our sides and shifted my position to face him. My eyes met two emerald spheres full of what was becoming a familiar intensity, but they also held a hint of childlike curiosity.

  “Am I alone? Do you not feel the same thing that I do?” He raised his brow and in that moment he reminded me so much of his daughter.

  Slowly, I nodded. “Yes, I feel it.”

  “Saturday?” His gaze didn’t falter.

  “I…Dr. Bish—” His eyes hardened on me. “Sorry. Collin, I don’t…I mean, what do you want from me?” I closed my eyes, bit my lip, and waited for his response. Smooth fingers leisurely pulled my lip from between my teeth.

  “Look at me.” It was a standard direct order. With one deep breath I allowed my eyelids to peel back slowly until I was once again caught in his gaze. “I want whatever you will allow.”

  I swallowed hard. “What does that even mean?”

  His soft fingers moved to cup my cheek. “It means I want you, no matter what.” He pulled my face to his, lightly brushing his lips against mine. Then in a whisper against my lips, “The how, is all up to you.”

  “So you want an us, or well, you want to try to be an us?” My eyes searched his face for some sort of clue to the response that he had not yet given.

  “Yes, if you’ll allow it.” His lips started to get closer to mine. It took more willpower than I realized it would, but I pulled away.

  “I don’t like when you pull away from me,” he stated icily. I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyes on him.

  “What happens if this doesn’t work?”

  He looked at me, confused. “What do you mean – if it doesn’t work?”

  “Relationships, or whatever this is, start and stop all the time.” He nodded and motioned for me to continue. “So say that we don’t work, what happens then?” He gave a small scowl. “I mean, starting something like this would put Victoria at risk too, not just us.”

  “I see.” It was his turn to purse his lips. “So you are worried about what she will think about us?”

  “I’m worried about how it will affect her for there to be an us, and I’m worried about how it will affect her if us ended,” I corrected him and his scowl deepened.

  “So you already believe it won’t work?”

  I groaned and rolled to my back. “Do you always only hear what you want?”

  “You said ‘how it will affect her.’ That’s future tense which insinuates it won’t work.” He leaned up onto his right elbow and looked down over me suspiciously.

  “That’s not what I meant,” I groaned again.

  “Then just tell me what you did mean.”

  “I don’t want Victoria to get hurt, either way. I don’t want us to become something that will upset her, nor do I want her to be happy and then crushed if we end the relationship, and I don’t want her to be upset if I had to stop being her nanny.” My voice had risen. I propped myself up on both of my elbows.

  Collin was smirking at me.

  “First, I believe she’ll be thrilled we are together. Second, I have no intention of letting you go once you agree to be with me. Third, I can’t guarantee you’ll always be her nanny, but I can guarantee that you will always be in her life.”

  “You can’t guarantee anything when it comes to things such as –”

  “Oh, I guarantee it, Miss Ashwood.” He winked.

  My eyes widened and I opened my mouth to speak, but he leaned over me.

  “Sophia, shut up.” A crooked smile appeared on his lips before he pressed them against mine. We laid on my bed kissing, tongues gliding and teeth nipping, until breathing became necessary.

  “I still don’t know,” I said apologetically.

  “Go out with me Saturday?” He pressed his body against mine. I moaned. “Say yes, Sophia.”

  The way my name fell from his lips made my heart palpitate erratically.

  I nodded, “Okay.”

  In one rapid motion, he was hovering over my body, kissing my lips and my neck. “Thank you,” he mumbled against the hollow of my neck. A silent moment passed before he moved off of me and the bed. His cool and collected mannerisms returned. “I’ll leave you to get ready for bed.” He offered me his hand and I took it. Pulling me up from the bed and into his chest, he whispered into my ear, “Good night, Sophia.”

  With the quick release of my body, he moved to collect his laptop and then left my room. I blinked a couple of times and tried to wrap my head around everything that just occurred.

  THE SOUND OF my name pulled me from a deep sleep. My sleep-fogged eyes fell on the clock. It was 4:22. I rolled over toward the direction of the sound of my name. There stood Victoria.

  “What’s wrong?” I rubbed my eyes and propped myself on a pillow.

  “I had a bad dream,” she whimpered.

  “Climb in.” I pulled back the covers and she quickly slid under. As I settled back into the bed, she curled against my side. Once her breathing settled into a slow rhythm, I allowed myself to drift back to sleep.

  The next movement that woke me wasn’t Victoria.

  “What are you doing?” I hissed out quietly.

  Collin froze as he lay his head down. “I prefer sleeping next to you.” His cool factual tone broke through the dark hush of the room.

  “Shhh…” I motioned to Victoria, who was sleeping motionlessly next to me.

  “With it so dark, I didn’t realize she was in here.” My eyes had adjusted enough to the darkness so I could see his eyebrows knit together.

  “Is she alright?” He dropped his voice to a whisper and leaned over my body, looking down at her.

  “She said she had a bad dream,” I whispered back. “You can’t stay,” I murmured.

  “I’ll be gone before she wakes up.”

  “No.” My voice rose just above the whisper.

  “No?” His head rose up from the bed and his voice was filled with astonishment.

  “I’m not going to risk her waking up and finding you in bed with us.”

  “Fine,” he grumbled. Dr. Bishop pulled himself up and walked out of my room.

  THE ALARM ON my cell phone woke me the next morning. I stretched out and rolled for my phone, quickly silencing the alarm. Victoria was sprawled out on the right side of the bed. I smiled at her frizzy mess of hair and crumpled pajamas.

  “Hey,” I poked at her side easily.

  She groaned.

  “Time to get up.” I rubbed her arm.

  “No,” she groaned and buried her head under her pillow.

  “Oh, well, I guess I’ll just have to go to the dress shop by myself,” I sighed sarcastically. Her head popped out from under the pillow with a large smile.

  “Today we get to see Miranda?” The excitement in her voice was immeasurable.

  “Yep.”

  Victoria was too impatient to wait for anything but cereal, toast, and juice for breakfast. While we ate, she talked about the kind of wedding dress she wanted to wear one day and how she was going to have her whole family there to watch her daddy walk her down the aisle. When I asked who the groom would be, she stated that she didn’t have him “picked out” yet.

  Victoria had become increasingly more independent with showers and picking out her own clothes so I left her in her room to get ready while I headed toward mine. I chose a pair of loose jeans and a light blue flannel button-up blouse to slip on for the day. I figured it was easy enough to get in and out of for the dress fitting. Once they were laid out on my bed, I took on a quick shower. The warm water felt good. I’d only been in the shower for roughly five minutes when I heard my bathroom door click.

  “You’re finished already?” I called out. I heard a second click but no response to my question.


  “Victoria, are you in here?” I wiped the water from my eyes. The rings of the shower curtain made a screeching noise when I pulled it back. My eyes suddenly widened, and I pulled the curtain around me. “What are you doing in here?” I squealed a tad bit too loud. It took a moment to realize Dr. Bishop was standing naked in my bathroom. My breathing caught in my throat at the sight.

  Lord almighty, he was beautiful.

  He half grinned and stepped into the shower. His eyes raked over my shower curtain covered body.

  “Do you usually shower with the shower curtain wrapped around you?” A minimal chuckle escaped his lips.

  “You need to go,” I stated firmly. “Victoria will be coming in here when she is finished getting dressed.”

  He frowned. “Then I suppose I should make it quick.” One eyebrow was cocked as he pulled the curtain away and slipped his hands against my wet skin.

  I inhaled sharply as our naked bodies pressed against each other and he pulled us under the spray of warm water. His fingers glided up my spine and into my hair, fisting it, he pulled my head back so the water cascaded over my body. He groaned. His right hand traced the water from my neck down between my breasts. He pressed his hips forward. I could feel him against my lower abdomen, causing me to whimper. I grabbed onto his arms and squeezed his biceps tightly, his wet hair sticking to the side of my face. Too soon, he pulled back and looked at me. With a heavy sigh, he spoke. “If only I had more time.” He shook his head and with a spin had my back against the shower wall.

  “Victoria –”

  “Shh…she was just getting into the shower when I walked over here.” He dropped to his knees.

  No more words were spoken as he worshiped me with his hands and mouth until my chest heaved for needed air, and satisfaction rippled through my body.

  “That was…amazing,” I blurted out.

  He chuckled. “If only I had more time,” he repeated. His lips captured mine.

  While I tried to regain rational thinking, Dr. Bishop stepped into the stream of water and began to wash his body. My eyes traveled from his lean broad shoulders, down his spine, and over his sculpted ass. I bit my lip, taking all of him in.

  Rational thinking finally caught up.

  “Shit,” I panicked and jumped out of the shower. Quickly grabbing a towel and wrapping it around me, I hurried into my room to get dressed.

  Droplets of water were splashing on the floor. I pulled off my towel and wrapped my hair up before grabbing a pair of flesh color underwear. Half bent over and stepping into the underwear, a small growl sounded from behind me. Quickly, I slid my other foot in before pulling them over my thighs.

  “I will have to remember that position.” I looked at him. He smirked and leaned against the bathroom doorframe. My cheeks and chest warmed. Turning back to my clothes I hurried to get myself covered.

  VICTORIA AND I headed downtown to the shopping district.

  Circling three times, we finally got a parking spot only one block from the bridal shop. We both ran down the sidewalk, dodging bodies, and giggling at each other. Bursting into the bridal shop with hearty laughter, Miranda stood from a white and pink floral pattern couch.

  “Finally!” Miranda exclaimed with a large smile. She engulfed me in a large hug. “It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever. And you,” she moved to Victoria and pulled her into a hug, “did you grow a foot taller or what?” Miranda grabbed my hand and pulled me through a set of heavy, dark red, velvet curtains.

  “The dress is in that room, just put it on, and then come out here so we can fit it to your body.”

  “Ay-aye captain,” I saluted her before walking into the small dressing room, closing the white door behind me.

  On the back of the door hung a light pink, knee length dress, with a scalloped neckline, wide shoulder straps, and long satin bow attached directly below the left breast. Pink was not my color.

  “Pink, Rand? Really?” I yelled out to her.

  “Shut it, Sophia, and put on the dress,” she shouted back.

  I slipped out of my clothes and into the dress. There was a pearl choker necklace on the hanger so I put it on as well. After I was dressed, I stepped out onto the platform with mirrors around it.

  “Oh, it’s so pretty!” Victoria had her hands clasped together and sat bouncing on a white couch.

  “It looks great on you, and it looks like it fits.” Miranda motioned for me to step up on a small raised portion of the floor.

  I stepped onto the platform and was engulfed in three reflections of myself. Yes, the dress seemed to fit well, and the shade of pink wasn’t as bad as I thought, but I still felt ridiculous in it.

  A small, tanned woman appeared and quickly prodded and pinched at me and the dress. She inserted a few pins at my waist and along the hem before motioning for me to follow her into the dressing room. Once in the room, she shut the door and began to help me out of the dress. When it was off, she flipped it inside out and put it back on the hanger with a slip of paper. Redressing quickly, I stepped out of the room.

  “Where’s Victoria?” I scanned the sales floor and felt my heart thud rapidly.

  “She’s trying on her dress,” Rand smiled smugly.

  “You asked her to be in the wedding?” I couldn’t fight back the smile now plastered on my face. Miranda nodded. “You just may be her favorite person ever.” I laughed and plopped down on the couch next to her.

  “No way, that spot is completely reserved for you.” Rand bumped shoulders with me. “I have to admit, I’m jealous.” I looked at her confused. “I had her for three years, and she didn’t love me the way she does you.”

  “Rand –”

  She cut me off with a smile and a hand on my leg. “I’m just teasing you. I mean, yeah, I’m a little jealous, but I’m happier she has taken so well to you.”

  “Thanks, I do love that little munchkin.”

  “I know you do.” Miranda said. There was warmth in her voice, but it was mixed with a hint of something I couldn’t place. She quickly changed the subject.

  “Lucas has been asking about you,” she smirked at me, “says you haven’t returned his calls.”

  I groaned. “I‘ve texted him, but he wants to be more than friends.” I looked at Rand quickly. “I don’t.”

  She laughed. “I figured as much. I should warn you, he’s in the wedding, too.”

  I shrugged. “I think I can handle him for the night. Plus, I’ll have Victoria to keep me preoccupied.” I winked at her.

  Victoria emerged from the dressing room. She had on a similar shaped gown, but it was a very light green and the satin bow was in the back.

  “You look fabulous!” I shouted.

  “It looks lovely on you,” Miranda gushed.

  Victoria did a twirl and then danced over to the mirrors. She climbed on the platform with the largest grin on her face while the same woman appeared once again to pin the dress. We finished up at the bridal shop and climbed into our cars to drive to a small restaurant. After placing our lunch orders we sat around the table talking about the wedding until it was time for us to head home.

  When we walked into the house, Connor greeted us. I glanced around for Juliet, but she was nowhere.

  “Well, hello there, ladies.” He bowed to Victoria.

  Victoria curtsied and giggled before she ran into his arms. “Hi, Grandpa.”

  “What did you do today?” he asked, kneeling down on one knee in front of her.

  “I get to be in Miranda’s wedding!” she exclaimed while she bounced on her toes.

  Connor climbed up from his knee.

  “That sounds exciting.” His gaze shifted to me, and a small smile seemed to be fighting at the side of his mouth. “Sophia,” he nodded.

  “Connor,” I nodded back. “How have you been? Will you and Juliet be joining us for dinner?”

  “No, she won’t be joining us.” He quickly looked back to Victoria. “How about we have some ice cream?”

  “Definit
ely,” she stated firmly and started toward the kitchen.

  “Not too much. We just ate lunch, and you need to be hungry when it’s time for dinner. I’m making your favorite.” Both of them turned in my direction.

  “Spaghetti?” Victoria’s eyes widened.

  “With meatballs,” I answered with a sly grin.

  “That sounds wonderful,” Connor said. I couldn’t help but wonder where Juliet was and why Connor wasn’t with her.

  I was browning the meatballs and listening to Victoria while she talked about her junior bridesmaid dress. Then she brought up the pink dress I would be wearing.

  “It’s like a pink princess dress. It’s soooo pretty,” she gushed to Connor who seemed to thoroughly enjoy listening to his granddaughter talk nonstop.

  “What is so pretty?” The icy tone immediately caused me to straighten my posture.

  “Oh, Daddy, I get to be in Miranda’s wedding! She asked me to wear this pretty green dress, which is really pretty, but Sophia gets to wear pink and that’s my favorite color. It is the prettiest.”

  “I wasn’t aware you were in her wedding.” There was a hint of something new in his voice.

  Connor cut me off before I could speak.

  “Apparently, she was just asked today.”

  I glanced over my shoulder. Connor was cleaning up the ice cream bowls before getting up from the table. As I drained the meatballs and began to transfer them to the pot full of sauce, I felt Collin’s closeness.

  “So…what are we having for dinner this evening?” His breath on the back of my neck caused goose bumps to form on my skin. He moved closer toward my right ear. I bit my lip and tensed up.

  “I know what I will be having for dessert.” The tip of his tongue grazed my earlobe.

  Chapter Nineteen