“Cat, you need to get a car. If you had one we wouldn’t be stuck out here getting rained on.”
“What about you?” I say, trying to hail down a cab.
“What about me?”
“I don’t have a car, Ava. You do, but you don’t drive it. It’s parked in your building’s garage while we’re out here getting wet.”
“You should get a car, Cat.”
“I don’t mind public transport or walking, and you know I can’t afford the car I want yet.”
“This again?”
“What again?” I look around to see what she’s talking about.
“I’m talking about you. Nick will get you any car you want. I bet he already offered, didn’t he? And you turned him down.”
He did and I told him no, giving me his card was enough. “You have a brand-new BMW sitting in a garage. Use it and next time we won’t be standing in the rain frizzing out our hair.”
“You know I don’t like to drive unless it’s out of state. The driving in New York is too aggressive for me. You know I’m prone to road rage.”
“Yes, you are. The last time you drove out here we were almost in a fist fight with a lady and her two kids.”
“Kids my ass, did you see those two baby giants? Looked like they escaped from jack and the beanstalk a Grimm fairy tale version.”
I laugh and watch her hail down a cab that stops in front of us. She is right, those kids were about eight or ten but they looked more like morbidly obese mini-adults chewing down on Doritos and mini-Snickers bars. Ava opens the door for me.
“Get in. I don’t want you to catch a cold. The last thing I want is Nick chewing me out about having you out in the rain shopping.”
She closes the door and as if he could hear us talking about him my phone rings. I smile and hold it up for her to see the screen. She rolls her eyes at it. I answer, giggling. “Hello.”
“Hey, babe. You’re in a good mood, what’s so funny?”
“You and your cousin.” I sit back and rest my arm on the door.
“You’re with Ava?”
“We were shopping, we’re in a cab heading home now.”
“She’s trying to convince you to take me to the poor house again.”
“You know it.”
“You and the baby doing okay?”
“We’re fine, we miss you.”
“I’m missing you too. I’ll be home soon. I have to be in a meeting in five minutes, I wanted to hear your voice and to check up on you. I’m going to be working overtime to see if I can get home to you a day early. By the time I’m finished working you’ll probably be sleeping.”
“It doesn’t matter what time you’re finished working, call me.”
“I love you, gotta go.”
“Okay. Talk to you later.”
“Tell Ava I said stop trying to corrupt you. I can imagine what she’s trying to get you to do while I’m gone. Absolutely no clubbing!”
“Scouts honor, no clubbing.” Ava points her thumbs down and silently boos. I swat her hands away and she sits back.
“Like me you were never a scout,” he says.
“Then your only alternative is to trust me as much as I trust you.” There’s a slight pause, I think the phone gets disconnected. “Nick?”
“I trust you. I have to go, bye.”
“Bye.” There it was again. He sounded fine until the end of the phone call. Like he wanted to say something else then he changed his mind. It’s probably nothing, my mind and emotions are working overtime because I miss him. I put my phone back in my bag and look at the raindrops slide down the window.
“How’s Chris?” Ava asks minutes later.
“He’s fine.”
“I haven’t seen him in a while. You should invite him over and we can hang out.”
“Hang out? You know he might not come if he knows it’s you, me, and him alone.”
“Don’t tell him I’ll be there.”
“That would be lying and he’s working late today. I talked to him yesterday.”
“Invite him over another day when Nick comes back. You can do that as a friend, can’t you?”
“I guess I can. I haven’t watched Tom and Jerry since I was a kid. The way that cat chased that mouse no matter how many times he escaped was exhausting but hilarious.” The corner of my mouth lifts in a half smile and Ava looks confused.
“What does an old cartoon of a cat unsuccessfully chasing a mouse he’s never going to catch…” The look on her face tells me she’s made the connection. She runs her tongue over her perfect white teeth trying to suppress a smile. “Whatever. Shut up.”
I press my lips together and shake my head. “For the record, I didn’t say never. I would like to think he eventually caught his mouse.”
“Speaking of cat and mouse games, Matt asked me about you.”
“When?”
“A few days ago. He wants to take Chloe and me to some new hot club. He hinted at inviting you. I didn’t have the heart to tell him you were in no shape to hit up a club.”
“He texted me the other day to say hi and I texted him back. He doesn’t know Nick and I are back together. The last time he called I couldn’t answer my phone, Nick was sitting across from me, and I sent it straight to voice mail.”
“When are you going to tell him and put him out of his misery so he can stop keeping hope alive?”
“I’ll tell him after I tell my family when Nick comes back.”
“You’re going to tell them with Nick there?”
“Do I look crazy to you? That would be gasoline and dynamite and I would be the match.”
“Nick would definitely be the dynamite?” She holds up her hands and makes the sound effect. “Boom!”
“Exactly.” The cab stops in front of the apartment and I tell Ava to put her money away while I pay the driver. Rushing to get out of the now pouring rain, I slip on the steps, my hands break my fall, but my knee is scraped. I was okay but Ava was more shaken up than me. After she fussed over me, I changed my clothes and she made sure I was fine and insisted she call Nick. I practically yanked the phone out of her hand.
“We are not calling him. I’m fine.”
“Cat, you have to tell him. He’s going to be upset with both of us if you don’t.”
“He’s in a meeting. If you tell him all he’s going to do is spaz out, worrying about nothing. He’ll be calling me every minute on the minute.”
“You’re going to tell him, Cat.”
“I’ll tell him later after his meeting. I promise. I’m not feeling any pain, I’m fine.”
“I’m going to spend the night.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know, I’m staying in case you need anything and it would make me feel better. I know Nick would feel better too.”
It was fun having Ava spend the night. It was like living together again, we cooked and watched old eighties movies, Sixteen Candles and For Keeps, we made it a John Hughes night. I told Nick about the fall and I played it down as much as I could. To confirm what I said he insisted on talking to Ava. After being grilled by Nick she thought it was best to follow my lead. He was glad Ava decided to stay the night. He told her to check on me every hour. He still called me in the middle of the night to check on me, twice. Ava didn’t get up once to check on me, she was sound asleep, as she should have been, snoring.
Two days later I get exactly what I wanted, my man is home. A day late because his flight was canceled due to severe weather. Thunderstorms and hail, it does rain in California after all, sometimes golf-ball-size hail. He didn’t tell me what time his flight was coming in that night and it was the best surprise I could have gotten. I was so excited to see him if it wasn’t for my belly I would have jumped on him and attacked him. He looked better than when he left even with a rumpled suit from sleeping at the airport. He said he couldn’t spend one more night in the hotel room because it was stifling him and all it made him do was think about how much he m
Nick
June
I put my bags down at the door and head straight for the bedroom when I don’t see Cat. She’s coming out of the bathroom tying my white robe around the top of her baby bump. She sees me, her face lights up, and she rushes toward me. I smile and bend down so she can wrap her arms around my neck without squishing my baby.
“Did you forget you had a little passenger on board?” I kiss her and she kisses me back.
“I missed you.”
“Not like I missed you,” I say against her lips, my hands low on her back and side. “I like when you wear this robe, it reminds me of our first long weekend together.”
“The first time you made love to me,” she says.
“Hmm hmm.” My hands go up the sides of her legs, and I sink my teeth into the flesh underneath her chin, making her mouth to open. She pushes my hands back down her legs away from where I want to go. I growl in protest and she scrunches up her nose at the feel of my tongue on her skin, licking away a stray drop of water from her shower.
“Nick, no, not yet. You need to take a shower.”
“It’s better dirty. I like it dirty.”
“I’m sure it is and I know you like it dirty, but I have something for you and in order for me to give it to you, you need to take a shower first.”
Nuzzling her neck, I flex my fingers against her robe. “Babe, I want to feel you. I missed you.”
“I missed you too.” She leans her head back and pushes against my shoulder. “Something is mixing with your cologne.” She shakes her head. “It’s not good. It almost smells like cheap perfume it’s clawing at me. Why is that?”
Fucking Paige! It wasn’t enough for her to put it on in the room she had to bath in it next to me on the plane right before we got off. Offending not only me, but the people around us too. She did it on purpose, it wasn’t her usually expensive perfume. I straighten up and shift back from Cat. “I sat next to a woman who decided to spray herself with perfume before we got off the plane. The perfume was about as cheap as she looked. Smelled like it came straight out of the local gas station rest stop.”
“Nick, that’s mean.”
“Mean is being stuck in the air with a person that grates on your nerves entombing her fellow passengers with her toxic fumes.”
“I’m sorry it was such a horrible flight.” She smiles at me, cute as always with her hands on my arms.
“You have no idea.” The whole damn trip was horrible. Thanks to Paige I’m lying to Cat.
“Poor baby, come here.” She puts her hands on my face and dots kisses against my lips, making little kissing sounds.
“I’m coming back. I’m going to take a bath and wash this stench off. Keep it warm for me.” I run my hands over the curve of her ass and press my lips against hers.
“Absolutely,” she says in a low sultry voice.
I unbutton my shirt and head to the shower. God, don’t strike me down. You’re supposed to be a merciful God. Technically, I’m not lying, I’m keeping the peace. Nothing happened so there’s nothing to tell. I’m not telling her I was sharing a hotel room with Paige. Case closed.
I wrap a towel around my waist and dry my hair with another one on my way out the bathroom. “Hey, babe, I was thinking—” I stop at the sight of her on the bed and forget what I was thinking. “Wow.”
“You like?”
“I love.”
She’s sitting in the center of the bed near the headboard, skin glowing in a lavender see-through lace tank, her legs tucked under her with matching panties that tie at the sides. Walking over to the bed I drop my towels. “I’ve never seen anything I liked more in my life.”
She raises up on her knees and I stop her. “Don’t move.” I move my hand down her arm and kneel down behind her, spreading her legs farther apart. My fingers go around her waist; moving up, the tips skim across both her breasts. “I love this.” She shivers in my hands as I gently press my lips to the back of her neck. My dick jumps against her ass with the rise and fall of her breasts as her breathing gets deeper with every touch of my hand and my lips.
“Is all this for me?” I ask her, moving the straps of her top down, exposing breasts.
“Yes,” she says, barely above a whisper.
I gently pull on her over-sensitized nipples and apply pressure. As I roll them between my thumbs and forefingers, she releases a breath with her lips parted, whimpering, and softly moaning in her rising need. “I need to hear it, Cat. Is all this for me?”
“Yes,” she whispers, her hands over mine, holding tight against the assault of my finger on her breasts. “Nick…”
“Yeah, baby,” I say as she continues to try and stop the slow torturous build of pressure my fingers are sending through her. I know she doesn’t want me to stop and I won’t. Her head falls back on my shoulder and her jaw clenches, her nostrils slightly flaring with every deep breath she takes. I relent and move my hands over the sides of her stomach, into her soaking wet panty; alternately rubbing hard soft circles against her, making her moan out loud.
“Shh... Let it build.” I run my tongue over her ear and suck on her lobe while I slide my fingers into her warm wet center, pulling them out slow and steady to coat between the folds of her sensitive lips.
I firmly squeeze her clit between my fingers, making her moan my name again, “Nick.” “Shh...Take slow-hard-then fast,” I say, mimicking the movement of my fingers. “Exactly the way I like to fuck you till you scream my name and I come all over you.”
“Nick, please don’t make me beg tonight.” I smile against her neck and suck on the spot while listening to her moan.
“I like it when you beg. It turns me on.”
“Nick, nooo,” she pleads when I slide my fingers out of her wet needy body, smearing the side of her lips with her fragrant scent. Knowing what I want, she slides out her tongue and licks her juices. Our tongues meet and I join her, licking off every drop, loving the taste and smell of her. Briefly slipping my middle finger back inside her I watch her grind against my hand for release. I slide out of her, pulling my hand out of her panties. She makes a disgruntled sound and tries to put my hand back inside her. Telling her no, I take her hand and replace mine exactly where she wants it. “Play with it for me,” I whisper against her ear, putting her fingers at her very wet opening and tell her what I want her to do. “Put your fingers in it, make it drip for me.” She does and closes her eyes. “Push it in farther, say my name.”
“Nick.”
“Again, louder.”
“Nick!”
“Good girl. Put another finger in, move them in and out, just like that.” She does, tilting her hips forward and closing her eyes as I watch her move the tip of her tongue across her mouth. I can’t help the erotic tempting picture she makes, enticing me to run my tongue across her lips. Covering her mouth with mine, I suck her tongue into my mouth, soft and sweet like her very wet pussy begging for me to enter her.
Unrestrained, she sucks hard on my tongue, grazing it with her teeth; swirling my tongue around, I moan into her mouth and she moans back. Unable to wait longer I impatiently rip the ties on the sides of her tiny lace panties, letting them fall. I take her hand from between her legs and rub the head of my dick between her swollen drenched clit, making us both wet. Putting her hands against the headboard I tell her tersely, “Hold on tight, lean forward with your ass out, and don’t let go. Tell me if you need me to stop.”
“I won’t. Get inside of me now, Nick!” she rasps out of breath.
“Hell yeah.” I grab my dick, rubbing the head against her, stroking smoothly all the way up in her. “Oh shit, you feel so fucking good.” I lose all control of my words, so caught up in the intense feelings of love and lust. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I don’t want to be without you, Cat, I fucking love you.” It’s the absolute truth.
“Nick, Oh God yes, yes…Nick…” she says louder and louder each time.
The more she says my name the harder it is for me to control myself, and the harder and faster I drive into her. She pushes back and I push in even harder until the walls inside her tighten around my dick, gripping it so tight we come together in an uninhibited outburst of words between moans and screams. We’re so fucking loud if we had neighbors they would call the cops for disturbing the peace once again.
With my arms under her, supporting her weight, I’m pressed against her back, breathing hard and sweating. I help her up and kiss her cheek. “Do I get a repeat performance of this when I go away again?”
“Every time.”
Helping her lie down on the bed, I pull her into my chest and run my hand over her stomach, it’s smooth and firm. I wonder if the baby is all right. It would make me feel better if I could feel him move. I don’t want anything to happen to them. This is my family. I kiss her hair and I smile when I feel her sigh against me.
“You okay?”
“Yes, I’m tired. You wore me out.”
“You sure you’re fine?”
“Yes.”
“You’d let me know if it was too much, right? I don’t want anything to happen to you or the baby.”
“Babe, we’re fine. I’m glad you’re home. Maybe next time I could come with you. Wouldn’t that be nice, to come back from a long day at work to me waiting for you in your room?”
I rub circles around the smooth skin on her growing stomach and pull the covers up over us. “I’d like to come back to my hotel room and see your beautiful face at the end of the day.” I place a kiss on her shoulder and tuck her in closer in my arms. The only way I’m going to let that happen is if I know without a doubt Paige’s ass will be sitting here in New York with no hope of leaving.
Cat
I’m hot, I have to go to the bathroom, if I can pry Nick’s arm off me without waking him up. I gently push his arm back and awkwardly try to scoot away from his body with my belly. This would be easier if I weren’t pregnant. A lot of things would be easier if I weren’t pregnant. I didn’t realize being pregnant could hinder you from doing so much. Like walking too fast when I’m late for work because Nick has turned my alarm off again after I told him a hundred times not to do that. I get cramps in the side of my stomach and I have to slow down or stop for a minute.
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