Atonement (The Atonement Duet Book 1)

by Selene Chardou

  We certainly didn’t stand out, and no one gave us a second look. Colin was tall and blond, like almost fifty percent of the crowd, and although I could not be mistaken for being an ethnic Norwegian, the place was a regular United Nations. There were people from all over the world enjoying a beer with friends and colleagues as they spoke animatedly, mostly in Norwegian.

  We sat at a table, and I sipped from my lager. It was strong but went down smoothly. I people watched as he pulled out a pack of Camel Crush and politely offered one to me. I knew I shouldn’t, since I had done so well at quitting beforehand, but as a former ex-smoker, the thought of sitting there and not indulging was too tempting, so I took one and he immediately lit it for me.

  He lit his own cigarette, inhaled and exhaled with ecstasy. “Oh, wow. That’s what I have been missing. Once we get back to Seattle, I’ll quit again, but it’s just too tempting here not to indulge in all my naughty habits.”

  “Yes, smoking does seem very European, doesn’t it?” I asked. We both laughed, and it came so easily to both of us. “So, how did you find this place anyway? I was expecting some ratty little dive full of university kids with bad eighties music playing on the jukebox.”

  “How do we ever find places? I Googled nightclubs in Oslo and this one seemed promising. Technically, it isn’t a nightclub, but there are some pretty cool ones not far from here if you’re in the mood later. I thought this could be our first place to explore. We could have a couple of drinks, loosen up, and then head to a nightclub.”

  “Sounds good to me,” I said as I took a swig of my lager and began to enjoy the nice buzz I was experiencing.

  Our situation should have felt somewhat weird or awkward since we’d known each other for such a short time, but the feelings we had for each other were natural and organic. We’d shared the same bed with each other since we’d been staying in his grandparents’ home, and not once had we tried anything sexual with one another.

  The most intimate activity that had happened between us so far was a bit of cuddling and spooning, but we’d both been clothed at the time. Moments like that made me feel like we were two inexperienced teenagers who didn’t know exactly where this would go, but since we liked being with one another it was enough for the time being.

  Now, here we were at an upscale beer bar sharing lagers and cigarettes. It felt so post-university, the thought actually made me laugh. The outrageous prices charged for a glass of lager didn’t faze me in the least because it wasn’t something we had to worry about since we weren’t roughing it or backpackers. We were both grown people who could most definitely afford this trip we had taken, including the side excursion to Norway, one of the most expensive countries in the world.

  The prices didn’t even put a dent in our prospective budgets, and thus one lager turned into two, which turned into three. The more we drank, the more festive we became and the louder we seemed to laugh.

  There were so many silly moments that had happened since we’d been there in that week. Colin was great at recalling them. He’d have me in stitches as he would talk about those moments, and I couldn’t help the laughter that flowed freely from me. We both smoked too much and had way too much fun, but I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else at that moment.

  Colin had just returned from the bar with another set of lagers. We were working our way through their selection on tap, and it proved as enjoyable as our witty conversation. I’d just swigged my newest lager when a female voice said, “Colin, is that you?”

  My smile disappeared, and I turned in what seemed like slow motion to come face to face with a beautiful young woman. She was our age easily, though she looked quite young. Her brilliant medium-brown skin glowed under the subdued lights, and her eyes were bright. She was short, no more than five feet and a few inches, give or take, and no more than one hundred and ten pounds.

  Her clothes were strictly designer label, and everything from her makeup to her pixie hair cut screamed money. She wore a pair of dark indigo boot-cut jeans, a pale gray vicuna sweater that had a deep-V which emphasized her breasts, and a pair of black five-inch booties with the prominent red-soled bottoms on display as she sat across from him and crossed her slim legs.

  “Clarissa, what are you doing here?” he asked. His voice was a mixture of happiness, annoyance, and curiosity.

  “I live here now. You know, after our whole…breakup, I kind of just felt lost. I left the States and traveled all over Western Europe. I actually met Ambros in Barcelona. We just clicked, and when I found out he was from Norway, I never thought about ending what we had. By the time we realized what was happening, we agreed it would be easier for me to move here than him moving to the States.”

  “I’m sorry, Ambros?”

  Clarissa pointed out a tall, young Viking who walked toward us with two bottles of Aass Bock in his hands. He was lean yet he possessed a lot of hidden muscles. With his lightly tanned skin, golden blond hair, and bright steel-blue eyes, he looked every bit the stereotypical Norwegian.

  He pulled up a chair and joined us. I don’t know why I felt so nervous, but I couldn’t help thinking that there was a real history between Clarissa and Colin, and though it shouldn’t have bothered me at all, it did. I hated those feelings were starting to get to me.

  “I’m sorry. My manners must have deserted me and for that, I apologize,” Colin began. “This is Deirdre. She is a very good friend of mine, and we are actually visiting my grandparents. They live in Oppegård, and we have pretty much been chillin’ out there in the suburbs. This is our first night exploring the city properly. Deirdre, this is Clarissa.”

  Clarissa rolled her eyes in a playful way. “You have always been so bad at introducing people, Colin. Nice to meet you, Deirdre,” she said as she held out her hand. I shook it warmly.

  “Colin and I were first loves a million years ago, back when we were in college. He broke my heart and I was so distraught, I left the semester before I’d finished my degree. I traveled all around: France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and Spain. It was a complete and unexpected coincidence that Ambros was also visiting Barcelona too. We fell for each other quickly, and we have been married for four years.”

  Colin choked on his lager. “That is great. So, you’re no longer Clarissa Jones then?”

  “Nope. Ambros, this is my ex, Colin, and his girlfriend, Deirdre. And I’m now Clarissa Evenstad.”

  Oh boy, talk about awkward.

  All this time, Colin thought “Carrie”—real name, Clarissa Evenstad—was licking her wounds and still hadn’t gotten over him. Not only had she healed quite well, but she was now married to a very sexy and handsome Norwegian. What were the odds we would have run into one another at all?

  “Nice to meet you.” Ambros shook both our hands before he slipped an arm around Clarissa’s waist possessively. “I suppose I should thank you for dumping Clarissa. Otherwise we would have never met. I knew she was special from the moment we ran into one another, and every day with her is like heaven.”

  She smiled at her husband before she kissed his lips gently. “You are so wonderful and such a gentleman.” Clarissa turned toward us again. “Ambros works in this area, so we try to get together a few times after he gets off of work so we can spend some quality time together. It isn’t easy to be a full-time mom, and though I adore Henrik, he’s a lot of work.”

  Major bombshell number two. Not only was she married, but they’d had a child together and looked blissfully happy with one another. I turned toward Colin, but his face was completely impassive. I didn’t take this as a good sign.

  Soon, conversation began to segregate between the sexes, and I spent my time talking to Clarissa while Colin seemed to have recovered enough to carry on a conversation with Ambros.

  “So, if this is the first time you’re getting into the city, I assume you haven’t shopped yet?” Clarissa asked with a smile on her face, her amber-brown eyes warm and gentle.

  “Not yet. I didn’t bring many
clothes either because I planned to shop here, but we’ve been staying at the house Colin’s grandparents own and we haven’t really gotten around to visiting the city yet, not until tonight,” I responded after I took a sip of my lager.

  “I’ll give you my number. Henrik has a nanny and I can leave him with her. We could spend a girl day together: manicures, pedicures, facials, and then lots of shopping. Ambros makes so much money and he complains I don’t spend enough, but the cost of living here is insanely expensive and I have always been the frugal type. It’s nothing like the States. It took time to get used to it, but now I don’t want to ever leave. I just can’t see us having the same quality of life we’ve got here if we left and moved to the States,” she explained.

  The more she spoke, the more I liked her, and this was definitely a good thing. I thought she would be an uptight bitch, but she was actually a very sweet person. I now knew what Colin meant when everyone thought they’d been the perfect couple and how let down everyone must have felt when the relationship ended.

  It did feel a bit strange to be speaking to someone who had been intimate with a man I hadn’t slept with yet.

  Although I didn’t think it was right, I suddenly felt jealous. Here was this beautiful, sophisticated woman sitting between two men she’d slept with, and yet what was I? A frightened woman—not much younger than Clarissa—afraid of starting a relationship with Colin because of…what, exactly?

  A feeling of pure pleasure surged through my body and all of a sudden, I wanted to share myself with this wonderful man who had great taste in women and lager and places to hang out. However, I couldn’t do anything with him, not in his grandparents’ house. It felt too perverse and inappropriate. It was then I formulated a plan in my head to get him to a hotel and then, only then, could we consummate what seemed like a tease between us for the past two weeks.

  Everything in my body screamed it was too soon and I should hold out a little longer, but we weren’t kids. We were adults. Relationships followed their own course, and I was not about to play “The Rules” game. We’d been on more than three dates and had shared the same bed for a week. He had never touched me in any way that was considered inappropriate. What was I waiting for, exactly? The only way I would erase the memories of said impropriety with Liam would be to consummate my relationship with Colin, but could I do it and would I go through with it?

  I was feeling no pain, having had more than my fair share to drink, though I wasn’t shit-faced by any stretch of the imagination. We’d been at the bar for over three hours, but it wasn’t like we’d pounded lager after lager without taking a breath. I was more than ready, and I knew tonight would be the perfect night.

  Besides, knowing how Colin was, he would never initiate anything sexual between us at this point. I’d told him I wanted to take it slow, and two weeks wasn’t slow by any stretch of the imagination unless one took into consideration I’d spent the last two weeks sharing living space with the man in question with no sexual advances.

  Before Clarissa and Ambros left, we exchanged phone numbers and she told me she would call me the following afternoon so we could go shopping. We all said our goodbyes. Shortly after they left, I turned toward Colin.

  “Are you ready to leave?” I asked.

  He finished the rest of his lager. “Definitely…only, I don’t think it would be safe for me to drive. The drunk driving laws here are a lot stricter than they are in the States, and I would hate for us to be stopped by the cops. What do you think we should do?”

  I pulled out my Android and Googled the closest hotels to where we were and TripAdvisor recommended the Clarion Collection Hotel Folketeateret. It was the number one hotel recommended, and I immediately called them and booked a room with a young woman who spoke good English and snapped up my credit card details.

  “We’re set. Let’s go. Where did we park the car?”

  “I used one of those paid parking lots, so we’ll just have to pay however much it will be for parking overnight.”

  “Sounds good to me. We can get a taxi. Come on then—the night is still young,” I said as I grabbed my sweater coat and slipped it on.

  Colin grabbed me by the arm and whipped me around to face him. It wasn’t painful, just unexpected and sudden. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  His clear blue eyes searched my face for indecision, but I knew he wouldn’t find any.

  I nodded my head, my own eyes never leaving his. “I’ve never been surer of anything in my life. Let’s get out of here.”

  He slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him. “Okay,” he merely said before we left the Beer Palace.

  Chapter Twelve

  Check-in took a little over ten minutes. Then we received our card keys and walked up to our room.

  Our room was the height of Scandinavian efficiency and beauty. It was done up in hues of burgundy with a comfortable queen-size bed, purple hotel chairs, a flat screen television, and a clean bathroom.

  I immediately took off my shoes and slipped out of my sweater coat, which I set on a chair. Colin threw his leather jacket on top of my sweater coat and circled my waist with his arms from behind. He buried his face in my hair and inhaled deeply.

  “Mmm, you smell good, like shampoo, orange blossoms, lemon and something else…a hint of crushed roses,” he whispered into my ear.

  I smiled at his comment. “It’s Classique by Jean Paul Gaultier. It’s one of my favorite fragrances by him, but I am glad you approve.”

  I felt like we were dancing as he turned me around in his arms and slid his arms down the sides of my body. “I don’t want you to do anything you would regret. I know how tough it must have been to run into my ex, but that’s all she is. Clarissa is married and has a child. I think it is safe to say she’s not a threat.”

  I placed my hands against his firm chest. “This doesn’t have anything to do with Clarissa, Colin. I thought about our situation and I asked myself what I was waiting for and I couldn’t think of a good reason why we haven’t taken this relationship to the next level. We aren’t sixteen. We’re adults, and I want to do this with you, more than I have ever wanted to do this with anyone in a long time.”

  “Would you believe me if I told you I feel the same about you? I have wanted you from the moment Drew introduced us, but I am so happy we waited. I didn’t ever want you to be a one-night stand because you’re so much better than that. You’re a good person. I just don’t want you to ever think this is a mistake.”

  “It never could be,” I said.

  “Wait, I want to tell you something…”

  I pressed a single finger to his mouth. “Not now, not tonight. It can wait, okay?”

  “I have protection just in case you aren’t on anything. I didn’t want to be presumptive…”

  “My last STD and HIV tests were right before we left for this trip. What about you?”

  “The same. I had to go to the doctor because of an injury I sustained in an accident. It’s a pinched sciatic nerve I suffered in an automobile accident, and he adjusted my medication by taking me off a low dosage of Vicodin and Prozac. Instead he just gave me a steroid injection and told me I should be fine until we get back to the States. He ran a full blood panel just in case, so I’m clean too.”

  “Good. I’m protected. I’m on a low hormone birth control pill so we only have to…I mean, if you want to…”

  Colin placed a finger underneath my chin and stared me deeply into my eyes. “Do you usually use condoms with your significant other?”

  I shook my head. “After Drew and I…well, when our relationship changed and we were no longer exclusive, I insisted because I didn’t want all the intimacy involved when condoms aren’t part of the deal. It just…it does create a barrier, and I don’t feel as connected, which was a good thing in our case.”

  He grabbed my hand and led me to the bed. His hands were slightly chilly on my warm skin as he grabbed me by the waist and pulled me toward him. Our first kis
s was soft and innocent before his mouth opened and his tongue sought entry in my mouth. Our tongues intermingled with a thrilling urgency that shot a feeling of pure pleasure from the top of my head to my lower belly.

  Colin’s hands wandered underneath my sweater and met with bare skin. Everywhere he touched me, goose bumps spread. His index finger slid up and down my spinal column as our kiss grew deeper, and I felt myself relax in his arms. Why did my skin feel absolutely electric everywhere he touched me? It was such a different feeling from when I had allowed Liam to claim my body. Although it felt crass and rude, I couldn’t help but compare their techniques.

  Colin slipped my sweater over my head and revealed a pretty lace bra which matched my sweater. He traced my collar bone and between the slopes of my breasts. I shivered, not because I was cold, but because I felt like he was purposely teasing me to draw out this experience as long as possible. I pressed my body against his, but he stepped back, though not quick enough for me to feel the hardness of an erection bursting to break free.

  “This isn’t about me, Deirdre. It’s about you,” he murmured in my ear. He left a trail of kisses from my neck to my shoulder.

  I wanted him to rid my body of the lace bra already, but he slowly worked his way down, unbuttoning my skirt and freeing it from my body. Then he took off my tights, and I stood in front of him in nothing else but a matching thong and bra set. My hair was a wild mess of waves around my shoulders, and I was forced to stare at his clothed body.

  “Take off your clothes,” I finally said as I stepped onto the bed and rested my ass on knees in a demure and almost submissive position.

  Colin leisurely took off his shirt and pants. He was wearing a pair of black boxer-briefs underneath, and I soon realized why he never wore them to bed when we slept together at his grandparents’ house. They were highly revealing and left nothing to the imagination, including a monster hard-on that was aching to be released.