by Gold, Bella
Although Nicole and Tyler had been friends now for over fifteen years, Tyler’s family had yet to accept her as part of his life. Tyler had one sister that he wasn’t particularly close to. She was ten years older than Nicole and Tyler and she’d married and moved to Oregon when the two were still in middle school. When she did come home to visit, she spent most of her time criticizing his lifestyle choices and although Tyler never admitted it to her, Nicole got the feeling she was one of the choices his sister didn’t agree with. His mother wasn’t necessarily rude, but there was no warmth at all in her eyes or her voice when Nicole saw her. Nicole got the impression from her and from Tyler’s father when he was still alive that they worried Tyler might fall in love with her someday. They had big plans for their handsome, intelligent Japanese-American son’s future and a mixed-race wife would be like throwing a wrench in the works.
Tyler bent down and gave her a peck on the top of the head. They had never been anything other than friends, but they were so close that people in the small town they lived in speculated otherwise. It wasn’t that they hadn’t considered dating, but neither of them wanted to risk losing what they had. They made a promise to each other in high school that no matter what happened with their lives or who they ended up with someday that they would always be best friends. Nicole felt things stronger than friendship when Tyler touched her or gave her a friendly kiss but she’d learned how to hide it from him and the rest of the world.
“I’m hungry,” she said. She knew if they stayed alone here in the park much longer that she’d lose her battle with the tears and she’d beg him not to go. The longest she’d ever been apart from him was when he went to film school in New York for two years, but that was when her brother was still home to help so she’d visited him often and it went by fairly quickly. She had a bad feeling, this time, was going to be different.
Tyler laughed. “You’re always hangry.” He’d coined that term for her when they were in seventh grade. Eating was one of Nicole’s favorite past-times and when she was hungry, she wasn’t happy. Tyler called it “hangry,” a combination of hungry and angry.
“Yes I am and you better feed me because I’m about to get mean.”
He laughed again and pulled their arms apart and put his around her shoulders as he led them back to his car. They didn’t have to talk about where they were going to eat. There was only one café and one pizza parlor in town. He drove them straight to the café. Nicole was in the mood for comfort food. She loved how he knew her so well. They were greeted by Megan, at the door. Megan’s mom Lucy owned the diner and Megan waitressed for her several nights a week.
“Hey you too, we have meatloaf tonight for the special,” she told them as she showed them to their table and handed them each a menu they both knew by heart.
Nicole rubbed her belly which was beginning to growl. She thought of her metabolism as both a gift and a curse. She’d never really had to worry about her weight, but sometimes being hungry all the time really sucked. “I was counting on it,” she told Megan with a grin. Tyler rolled his eyes and said,
“Give me a salad with mine Megan instead of the potatoes, please. Some of us can’t process all of those carbs the way this girl can.”
“Hater,” Nicole told him with a wink. She glanced out the window next to the booth they were sitting in. It overlooked the surrounding mountains and this time of year they were a riot of color. It was a breath-taking view even to someone that had lived here all of their life. Nicole tried to never take for granted how lucky she was to grow up in a place like this. The two friends made small talk for a while about the job Tyler would be doing out in Los Angeles, until Megan brought out their food. As soon as she sat Nicole’s plate down she picked up her fork and Tyler said, “I’m going to miss watching you eat.”
Nicole grinned and sat up straighter. Gesturing at herself she said, “All this and that’s all you’re going to miss?”
He smiled but it fell away quickly as he said, “I’m going to miss everything about you, Nicole. I’m going to miss all of the things we do together and having cheesecake at the bakery when I had a bad day and…”
“Okay, stop. I’ve been trying to be positive about this for days now. You’re going to force me to cry.”
“You know how much it means to me that you’re so supportive, right? My family…not so much.”
Tyler’s mother was never easy for her only son to please. Her disappointment had begun when he was a sophomore in high school and told her that he wanted to work as a film editor someday in Hollywood. He worked hard to get a scholarship for the vocational film school in New York because he knew that his parents wouldn’t consent to pay for it. Tyler’s family owned a big chunk of real estate in Copper River. They rented out some of the homes they owned year round and others were vacation rentals that were usually booked up weeks or months in advance. The family had a full staff to run the business, but his parents had always expected him to take the helm someday. After his father died his mother hired someone to do it until Tyler was finished with school. They had a terrible fight about him going to film school in New York, but in the end, he’d won out by promising to take the job for a year when he got home. If he didn’t like it, his mother told him he’d be free to do what he wanted at that point and she’d sell the business to his father’s old partner. Tyler hated it. He told Nicole the idea of going to work in an office and wearing a suit and tie every day for the rest of his life made him crazy and he just couldn’t do it. He’d kept busy sending out applications and taking film editing jobs online while doing the job he promised his mother he would do. The year was up now. The business had been sold, and Tyler had been offered a position editing film for a crew that was just starting up in Los Angeles. Tyler was brilliant and besides what he’d learned in film school he’d read every book and watched every video on the subject that he could get his hands on. The film crew was thrilled with online work he’d done for them and they hired him to help with their newest project. The only catch was that he’d have to move to L.A. for a few years at least until the movie was finished. The crew had managed to get a producer to work with them who was well-known in Hollywood and because of that; they now had an A-list director and an Oscar-winning actor as well. This was Tyler’s big break, Nicole knew it and she wasn’t about to do anything to stand in the way of that. She wished his mother felt the same. She knew that her opinion was important to him even though he denied it.
“Once your mother and sister see how successful you become they’ll be thrilled for you.” She wasn’t sure she believed that herself, but she did want that, for his sake.
Tyler smiled at her. “We both know that’s probably not true, but thank you for saying it.” They ate in silence for a while and when they finished their meals he said, “How about we take a drive up to the lake?”
“Sure. Mom is watching Papa and Granny tonight so I don’t have to hurry home. I wanted to spend as much time with you as possible. She understands.”
The ride was silent with both of them lost in their own thoughts. When Tyler drove off the main road and onto the long dirt one that led to the little man-made lake Nicole suddenly pointed out the window and said, “Look!”
Tyler turned his head in the direction she was pointing. At the edge of the road were two small bear cubs. They had both lived in Copper River long enough to know better than to stop. Two cubs meant a big, brown Mama bear around close by and more than one curious tourist had been mauled over the years by not following the directions the rangers gave the when they bought their camping permits. “They’ll be sleeping soon.”
“Sometimes I wish that I could hibernate for months,” Nicole said, wistfully. She’d like to hibernate until Christmas, which was the first time that Tyler was supposed to make it home for a visit. The reality of that was setting in and it was depressing.
He reached over as he parked the car in view of the beautiful lake that was shadowed by the silver moon and he took her hand and squeez
ed it. “We’ll Skype and Facetime and Facebook…it’ll be like I’m still right here,” he said. Then he did something that freaked her out a little bit. With his other hand, he reached over and cupped her chin. He tipped her face up and simultaneously moved across the seat and brought his lips down to meet hers. Nicole didn’t have the willpower at that moment to fight what she was feeling. He’d initiated it and she was going to go with it. She reached up and put her hands around his shoulders and parted her lips to allow his probing tongue access to her mouth. They’d never kissed like this and it was unlike any kiss that Nicole had ever experienced. Her whole body went warm when his lips pressed into hers. Her core lit on fire when his tongue began its all-out assault of her own. It felt like Tyler was pouring years of pent up desire into that one kiss. He wrapped her curls up in one of his hands and gently tugged on them to move her head where he wanted it. Fireworks exploded inside of her head when he sucked her full bottom lip into his mouth and ran his tongue across it. He didn’t let her go until they were both starving for air. As she panted and gasped for breath she searched his face and his dark eyes hoping to find a clue about what he was thinking.
“I’m sorry,” he said in a breathless voice. “I’ve just wanted to do that for so long.”
“Really?”
He chuckled. “Yes really. God Nicole, you’re so beautiful. Do you have any idea how hard it is just being your friend?”
Nicole was speechless. She had a good idea because of how hard it was for her to just be his friend. “I never…I mean, I didn’t know…”
“You didn’t know that I think you’re the most beautiful woman on earth? Sometimes I think I’m hiding it so well, and other times I can’t imagine that it’s not written all over my face. My mother knows, you know?”
Nicole laughed nervously. “Your mother?” That actually explained a lot.
“Yeah, it’s why she’s been so dead set against us being friends for so long. She says she can see it every time your name is mentioned. When we run into you in town she says my tongue is practically hanging out when I look at you.” He looked really sad then and said, “She and my sister still think I’m going to marry a nice Japanese girl someday. You know it’s not about you specifically, right? She’s just so darned old-fashioned it’s a wonder that she hasn’t arranged a marriage for me by now.”
“I know Tyler; I don’t take things with your family personally.” She wasn’t going to let their opinion bring her down on herself. “About the other…I just don’t know what to say.”
He looked sad again. “You don’t have to say anything. You’re my best friend and I never wanted to jeopardize that. You know everything about me, good and bad, and you still love me. If I had told you how I felt and you…” he hesitated and she spoke the words for him,
“And I felt the same?”
“Yeah, if you did and we decided to pursue this, what would happen if it didn’t work out?”
“That question is exactly why we never pursued it before.”
“Do you think it would change things…between us?”
She shrugged. “I guess we never know unless we try, so the real question has to be are we willing to risk it?”
“Nicole do you think about me that way?”
She felt her face go hot as she spoke her next words, “Only every night and every day and every minute in between. And if you’re asking my opinion, I think it would be worth the risk.” She couldn’t actually believe she’d just said that, but Tyler didn’t ask any more questions. His strong arms were around Nicole in the next second and when he pulled her in for another hot kiss she lost herself in it. She’d hoped and prayed for this moment for so long. She felt like this was where she belonged. This was safe and warm and comfortable. This was sexy and hot. This was home.
CHAPTER TWO
Tyler was in a semi-state of shock as he kissed this beautiful woman. He hadn’t planned on telling Nicole how he felt but the idea of being across the country from her was nearly killing him. He was so excited to finally be getting far away from his over-bearing mother and then to be part of making a major motion picture at his age and with his level of experience was practically unheard of. But no matter how many times he reminded himself how lucky he was, he couldn’t get past the ache in his chest when he thought about leaving Nicole. He’d been in love with her since he was five years old. In kindergarten when she’d noticed how upset he was she’d wiped her tears and reached out her chubby little hand toward him. He’d taken it and since then she’d always been there anytime he needed to take it again. How could he not love her? He was the guy that won every wrestling match in high school and could lift double his weight on the bench press…but she was the strong one. She had no idea how strong she was. She was the one that stayed strong for her mother when her dad died. She held the family together and she sent her brother off to college in her place. When her grandparent’s health both started to fail at the same time she stepped up again and better than any nurse they could have hired she made sure they had everything they needed every day. Tyler didn’t know how she did it all, but watching her do it was a privilege and a pleasure and he fell deeper in love with her every day.
He broke their kiss and looked into her cat-shaped tawny eyes to make sure she was still okay with this. All he saw there was the same kind of desire he was feeling. She wanted him too and he considered kicking himself for wasting so much time. He reached over the back of the pick-up seat and grabbed the blanket his mother insisted he keep there for emergencies. This was an emergency. Taking her by the hand he opened the pick-up door and said, “Come with me.” She followed without question as always. Tyler led Nicole around to the bed of the truck and put the tailgate down. He let go of her hand and spread out the blanket. Nicole glanced around them and he laughed,
“Are you afraid Mama Bear and the cubs will see us?”
The moon was so bright that he saw the color in her cheeks deepen. “If we see headlights…”
“I’ll flash them.”
She laughed. “That will only make them want more,” she said. Tyler wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her off her feet. She let out a squeal as he sat her in the back of the truck. He followed her in and grabbed her again, wrapping her up in his arms and pulling her down on the blanket. He couldn’t believe this was happening. He’d thought about it so many times. He imagined it almost every day since he was a teenager and now the night before he had to leave her…no, he wasn’t going to think about that. He was going to let the rest of the world disappear tonight. It was just him and Nicole and tomorrow he would deal with all the rest.
Tyler brushed the hair back from Nicole’s face and looked at her. He loved her curly hair. She called it “nappy” and she hated it. Her eyes were more gold than brown and the sexiest thing he’d ever seen, especially now that they were filled with desire. Her skin was a light mocha color and her full lips were naturally red without a stitch of make-up. That would all have been enough he thought, but she’d also been blessed with a body that Tyler thought would make an Atheist believe in God. Her petite five-foot-three-inch frame had more curves than the hills that surrounded the village they lived in and Tyler loved every one of them.
He kissed her again and at the same time he slowly pushed up her shirt. When he got it underneath her arms she broke the kiss and pulled it the rest of the way off. Her bra was red like the shirt she was wearing and made out of delicate looking lace. The swell of her dark breasts made him shiver and he had to bring his hand up and touch them. Her skin was so soft and as he ran his fingers across it goosebumps rose in their wake.
“So beautiful, Nicole,” he whispered. She brought her sexy mouth down to his neck and while she kissed and licked and sucked on it, her hands worked at the buttons on his shirt. With trembling hands, he gently nudged hers away and let her concentrate on driving him crazy with her mouth while he finished unbuttoning the shirt and shrugged out of it. As soon as it was gone her soft hands were on his c
hest, tracing the hard muscles there. He heard her suck in a breath through her teeth and he moaned. She moved those luscious lips down across his collarbone and to his chest and began her sweet torture there while he reached behind her and unhooked her bra. He felt her breasts spill out against him and he took her by her shoulders and nudged her back gently so that he could look at her. He groaned when he saw her. In none of his dreams had he come close to imagining her true beauty. His palms itched to touch her and when he reached out and covered each breast with one of his hands and felt her hard nipples pressing into his palms he groaned again and she pressed her chest into him and whimpered. He rubbed circles on them for several seconds watching the pleasure cross her pretty face before he leaned in and sucked one into his mouth. He used his tongue to trace the outline of her dark nipple and he felt Nicole’s hands come up into his hair. She wound her fingers through it and pulled him into her chest tighter. Tyler sucked and licked and even nibbled until the sounds Nicole was making nearly drove him to the brink.
“Take off your pants, baby,” he told her.
She smiled at him and stood up. He watched her kick off her shoes and then unbutton and unzip her jeans. He felt like he could hardly breathe as she pushed them down. Her little lace panties matched her red bra and he couldn’t even wait for her to finish undressing before he reached up and touched her between her legs. She let out a little cry as he ran his fingers along the wet crotch and felt her hard clit already pressing against the light fabric. He teased her for a minute before saying, “Take those off too.” She pushed those down more quickly and as soon as they were out of his way Tyler wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in so his face was between her legs. All of his senses were assaulted by her at once. Her body smelled so good, always like cinnamon and brown sugar from the bakery…but it was so classically her that no matter where he was those smells elicited thoughts of Nicole. She was also so wet, and when he let his tongue come out and taste her he couldn’t believe how sweet she tasted. He gripped onto her firm, round bottom with both hands and buried his face in her pussy. He moved his tongue in and out of her, feeling her tight, velvety walls clamp down on it each time. Then he licked her from one end of her wet slit to the other and sucked her swollen clit into his mouth. She cried out again and it egged him on. He brought his hand up and let one of his fingers probe inside of her while he used his lips and his tongue to elicit wild sounds from deep in her chest. He slipped in a second finger and he felt her walls stretch around them. He cocked one in half and began to move them in and out. He loved how responsive she was. He loved the way she moved her hips in time with the thrusts of his fingers. The front of his pants was becoming uncomfortably tight and he was light-headed, probably from the lack of blood to his brain. He didn’t want to stop what he was doing, though. Every sound she made was burning itself into his memory and if they never got to do this again, he’d savor those memories forever.