Boxset: Destiny Decides.. & Destiny Embraces..

by P. G. Van

  “Good Morning, Meera,” Nate said barely awake.

  “Are you okay, Nate?” I asked.

  “Yes, Srini is going out of town for a few days. I feel crappy thinking about not being with him,” Nate whined.

  If Srini was going, does that mean Nick was going too? I ran back into my room to check my phone and there it was, the notification that I had a message waiting. I opened the message holding my breath.

  Nick: Hey..going out of town for a few days. Message me when you get this message.

  Me: What? Why?

  Nick: Usual business stuff. Nothing to worry.

  Me: OK

  Nick: I still want to see you before I leave. Can I come get you at five?

  Me: Yes. What time do you leave?

  Nick: The jet doesn’t leave until eight.

  Me: Ok. Send me a message when you are a few minutes away from my building.

  Nick: Will do.

  Me: Do you need the address?

  Nick: I have it.

  Me: See you later.

  I hit send and wondered how Nick knew every single detail about me. How much did Nate talk to Srini about me and how much did Srini and Nick talk about me? This combination of people having the conversations that would allow Nick to know everything about me was just plain weird. I shook my head at the thought and went back into the dining area. I badly needed some coffee to clear my mind.

  To add to the Monday morning misery, I took one of the later trains to go to work and the people on the train were not cheerful about going back to work. It was as if I was surrounded by a bunch of depressed Marvins from the movie ‘Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy’. I sat in the crowded train looking up almost every minute hoping Nick would show up even though I knew that it was ridiculous to expect him to show up every time. I spent the rest of the day in a daze unable to focus on my training session and looked at the time every twenty minutes. I left the training room a few minutes before five to use the restroom to freshen up before Nick picked me up.

  I waited patiently as the cold air from the bay blew with sheer force for Nick to pick me up. I looked at the last message I got from him a few minutes ago. I was overcome by a wide variety of emotions. It was a combination of joy, impatience, and trepidation as I stood outside my office building. What was I going to say to him and what was he going to say to me? I had no idea what we had in common except for the deep longing for each other.

  I waited for a few minutes before I spotted a limousine approaching. It was the same limousine that took Nate and me to the ceremony at Nick’s house a couple of days ago. I watched as the limousine pulled up in front of the building and Nick stepped out of the limo looking crisp as usual in a light blue V-neck sweater and dark wash jeans. My mouth went dry as he walked up to me smiling and took my hand.

  “Hey Sameera, sorry to keep you waiting,” Nick said leaning over and giving me a kiss on my cheek and added, “Let’s go.”

  The privacy screen of the limo was on as expected, and we pulled on to the streets filled with commuters heading home. Nick still had my hand in his and was surprisingly very quiet as we sat in stop and go traffic.

  “Everything okay?” I asked very softly.

  He looked at me and smiled and said, “I am pissed off at myself for not spending the night with you.”

  I touched his cheek with my palm and asked, “When will you be back?”

  “It will either be Friday night or worst case, Saturday morning. I will let you know as soon as I find out,” he responded.

  “I will miss you, Nick,” I said looking away from him.

  Nick gently touched my chin and made me look at him, and said, “I am glad to hear the feeling is mutual.” I smiled and hugged him burying my face in his chest. I heard his heart rate go from a normal rhythm to a haphazard one.

  He gently ran his fingertips along the length of my cheek before reaching for my chin. He lifted my chin to bring my lips to meet his warm and sensual lips. His eager tongue explored my mouth for its counterpart as his lips brought on the pressure that held us in unison. He held me to his body with one of his arms around my waist and another hand continued to caress my face. As I reached up to put my arm around his shoulder, the hand that was supporting me dropped slowly to my waist to slip his fingers gently under my sweater. His fingers felt like ice against my heated body and sent my breath to an uncontrollable pace. I moaned against his mouth in reaction to his touch and tightened my hold on him as I dug my fingers into his soft sweater. Nick took in a deep breath against my mouth and drove his fingers down my bare skin to find the chain around my waist. While running his finger around my waist, with a slight tug, he managed to pull the chain out from under the waistline of my jeans. I jerked at the swift burning sweep of metal along my waist, pulled back from his embrace with my palms on his shoulder, and looked at him with surprise.

  “Nick, what is it with you and your obsession with my chain?” I asked laughing and added, “How did you know I had it on?”

  He laughed and pulled me closer by my waist making my body arch towards him and said, “I love to look at the yellow gold against the golden tone of your velvety skin.”

  I blushed and looked out of the window. We were still sitting in traffic surrounded by cars and motorcycles going around the limo and zipping through the traffic.

  “You didn’t think of using your bike on a day like this?” I teased.

  “I did for sure. It would have been technically impossible to have you sitting on my lap on the bike,” he said pulling me closer to him so I was sitting on him. He looked at me with a primitive hunger in his eyes.

  “Too funny Nick. I hope these windows have the darkest tint on them,” I said smiling and shifted to put my legs on his sides so I was facing him while on his lap.

  “Yes, they do baby. Don’t worry,” he said toying with my hair.

  Nick looked at me for a few more moments without saying anything, and when I started to have a quizzical expression on my face, he said softly,

  “I need you to give me something that will remind me of you for the next few days.”

  I smiled and said, “You still have my jewelry.”

  “I know but I need something that I have at all times,” Nick said with a twinkle in his eye.

  “So you already know what you want?” I asked teasing him.

  “Yes, I do,” he said running his thumb on my lower lip.

  I looked at him suspiciously. The thumb that was caressing my lower lip now slipped into my mouth, and he ran his thumb on my teeth.

  “I need an imprint of your desire for me on my skin,” he said and as I took in a deep breath he added, “You have no idea how great it was the other night.”

  “Nick, no,” I objected and added, “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  Nick looked at me with his eyes clouded with desire, “Please, Meera.”

  I shook my head and wound my hands tightly around his neck hugging him with his chin digging into my shoulder.

  “I can’t,” I whispered in his ear and planted a kiss on his hairline.

  As the limo sat in traffic moving an inch at a time, Nick moved slowly down my neck making spiral patterns with his tongue that felt like a sharp knife. He gently moved down to the apex of the V-neck on my sweater and took a few deep breaths. His breathing was ragged, and it felt like he was debating to himself if he should attempt to rip my sweater open to gain access to my tender breasts. He slipped one hand under my inner shirt and moved up to cup my breast over my bra with his hand and as I arched my back towards him, I felt his erected desire for me against my burning sweet spot. The hand that was supporting my back went under my shirt and found my bra clasp and with one tug, he managed to get it undone.

  I jerked at the snap and whispered, “Nick, are you sure it’s a good idea in the car?”

  Nick smiled and said, “Absolutely” and in a flash, he had my nipple exposed with his thumb twirling around it. His mouth took possession of my nipple next as his hand moved to
caress the other nipple. I lifted myself up and down as if he was inside me in reaction to the blast of pleasure waves originating in my chest. He drew circles with his tongue and brought on the pressure on my nipple from the suckling. The wonders his fingers were doing to my other nipple, I thought I would burst out not being able to take in the delectation. I realized I was hot and damp in my pleasure kingdom and felt the rhythm building up down below. I moaned as I threw my head backwards as I started to become oblivious of my surroundings.

  Nick switched gears and switched his attention to the nipple being caressed by his hand. He replaced his hand with his mouth and the heat that built up by the friction was suddenly cooled by the ice-cold goodness of his mouth. His tongue made one slow swirl before I felt his teeth dig into the tenderness, and I moaned grasping Nick by his hair as I peaked. My breathing was haywire as I pulled my nipple out of his mouth collapsing on him with my face on his shoulder. Nick still had his hand on the nipple that he was delving on a few minutes ago and was stroking my back with his other hand. As I lay on him lost in the culmination, he continued to caress and trigger the waves of pleasure and in a sudden swift movement, his fingers pressed together with deep strength with my nipple between them.

  My body spit out a cry of immense pleasure that jerked me to grab on to something with my teeth to suppress the need to whoop. The very next second, I heard Nick groan deeply with pleasure and said, “Awesome” and continued to stroke me.

  It took me more than a few minutes to calm my labored breathing before I could look at the damage I had done to Nick’s shoulder.

  Partially under the sweater he had on was the souvenir that Nick had asked for and managed to get despite my objection. With rage brewing in my eyes, I looked at him for what he made me do, and the anger that was building up was soothed as he smiled back with love and warmth in his eyes.

  “Nick, promise me you will not make me do that again. It hurts,” I said, my voice firm with anger.

  “Sweetheart, this is the best thing ever. How can you deny me such pure pleasure?” he teased and kissed my forehead.

  He reached around me again to put my bra clasp on as I adjusted my clothes. I smiled and ran my hand through his hair to clean out the mess I made. As I moved to get off his lap, he put his arms around me tightly and said, “Please stay like this.”

  “I will until we get to the highway,” I said smiling and leaned down to touch the tip of his nose to mine.

  As we approached the airport, Nick took my hand in his and said, “I have given instructions to Mitch to take you home from the airport.”

  “That’s okay. I can take public transit from the terminal,” I offered.

  “Sameera?” he said with authority.

  “Okay. That works and stop bullying me,” I said meekly.

  Nick laughed warming up my heart and planted a kiss on the back of my hand.

  “Will you call me?” he asked with his lips against my palm.

  “I don’t want to bug you when you are busy, buzz me when you are free and we can talk,” I said smiling at him.

  He smiled, and when he spoke again his voice was husky. “Will you spend next weekend with me?”

  “Sounds like fun, but are you sure it will be fun for you?” I asked teasing him.

  He nuzzled my hair and said, “You have no clue how much fun it is going to be for me,” and added, “I want to take you out for dinner if I get back on Friday.”

  “Finally, a real date,” I said comically.

  Nick laughed and said, “Yes, a date and a sleepover,” and made me blush.

  The limo driver pulled up in front of one of the departure gates, and Nick leaned towards me and brushed his lips on mine and said, “See you on Friday, love,” and got out of the car.

  Nick blew me his signature kiss and closed the limo door. As I saw him walk to the terminal with his overnight bag and his computer bag, I felt a deep sadness descend on me for reasons that I could not comprehend. I felt a twist in my heart and took deep breaths to calm myself. I rode in isolation in the limo feeling the agony of separation. The same feeling I had when I left India to come live in California. I looked up at the ceiling of the limo as if I could find all the answers to all the questions in my mind. Where was I going with Nick? Was I moving too fast?

  *****

  Mitch dropped me off in front of our apartment building and as he opened the door for me, I smiled and said, “Thank you Mitch and so sorry about ignoring you on the way here,” and added, “I was preoccupied with my own thoughts.”

  Mitch smiled and said humbly, “There is absolutely no need to apologize,” and added smiling, “Nick has been the same way the past few weeks.”

  I smiled and thanked him for the ride and headed up the stairs to the entrance.

  “Nate, are you home?” I asked as I opened the door.

  “Here.” I heard Nate from her room.

  “Nate, what are you doing hiding in your room?” I asked as I opened the door.

  “I didn’t get to meet Srini before he left,” she whined.

  “Ohh poor baby, I am so sorry,” I teased and added, “Stop being a drama queen.”

  “Meera, you have no clue how hard it is to be away from the person you spend so much time together, and I am pretty sure I love him,” she snapped.

  “Sorry, I get it,” I said and put my arms around her thinking to myself that I actually understood how it felt to be away from the person you cared about.

  “Did you talk to Srini at all today?” I inquired trying to comfort her.

  “Barely, he just kept texting me all day as he was working in the San Francisco office today, and he could not talk with Nick around,” she complained. When I looked at her surprisingly she added, “Something about a pact they made about working together, so he called me on his way to the airport because Nick ditched him and left for the airport without him.”

  I almost laughed out loud when I heard Nate talk about how Nick ditched Srini to ride with me but I bit my lip and said nothing.

  “What took you so long to get home?” Nate asked casually.

  “Traffic!!” I complained without thinking through the consequences.

  “Why would traffic delay you if you take the train?” Nate asked puzzled.

  Accepting the fact that I was busted, I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat and said very softly, “Nick picked me up from work, and I rode with him to the airport and his driver brought me home.”

  “You did what?” Nate asked in surprise. .

  I sat in silence while she ran through all the events in her mind and as expected, she arrived at the right conclusion as she said in awe, “Nick ditched Srini to pick you up?”

  I laughed at her expression. Nate picked up her phone and said, “Nick is toast. I am going to tell Srini what he did.”

  I laughed as Nate started tattling on Nick to Srini.

  *****

  Thursday was day four of my weeklong training at work. The best part about my training was the view from the training center, the view of the Coit Tower on top of the Telegraph Hill. The Coit Tower loomed regally over the eastern part of San Francisco. As I looked out of the Coit Tower for probably the thousandth time that week, my phone buzzed a notification.

  Nick and I have been messaging each other the past couple days and barely spoke for a minute on Tuesday night. I checked my notification and, as expected, Nick had sent me a message.

  Nick: Hey u, where r u?

  Me: Training

  Nick: Still in love with Coit Tower?

  Me: Best part of my training.. 

  Nick: How much longer are you in training?

  Me: All day this week.

  Nick: Ohh good…got to go…later…

  I read and re-read the last message and wondered what he meant by his last message and gave up after multiple tries. The training was not too bad when the instructor let us do some hands-on work. I was in the middle of finishing my task when I heard a murmur in the classr
oom. I heard someone say, “That is sky typing. How cool.”

  I looked at my phone when it buzzed again and noticed that Nick sent another message.

  Nick: Look outside your window

  Me: ??

  No response from Nick. I looked outside and through the gaps between the people standing near the window, and I saw what looked like characters in the sky. The characters were being ‘typed’ by a handful of aircrafts flying and creating a sentence. As I read the messages, my body started to shudder and I leaned on a nearby desk not trusting my legs.

  The first message was, ‘This one is for you baby,’ and I heard the women in the class go ‘Awww’.

  The aircrafts continued to type with some space as the first message disappeared, and I read the message as it was being sky- typed, ‘Yes, this is love, and I miss you very much’. There was a longer than usual space, and I held my breath as I started reading the message. I read the message as my heart threatened to crack my rib cage, ‘I love you too’.

  I heard celebrations in the room as people got excited and said, “This is so cool,” “What a great idea,” and “Oh my, is this like a marriage proposal?”

  After another pause, another message that said ‘Can’t wait to see you tomorrow… Yours forever, NB’.

  I felt the color drain from my face as I could feel all the blood rushing to my heart to keep up with the pace at which my heart was beating. I picked up my phone, left the training room, and headed to the women’s lounge area on the first floor. As I sat down at one of the ease chairs, I realized that I was still numb from the fact that there were messages in the sky, literally, and the content of the messages was causing conflicting reactions internally.

  My phone buzzed as a message arrived, and it was Nick.

  Nick: Did you look outside your window?

  Me: Yes

  Nick: And?

  I managed to regain my composure and typed the message taking in a deep breath.

  Me: I saw the Coit Tower again.

  Nick: Now you are messing with me…did u not like my messages?