NICK: O’Connor Brothers #3
Page 31
“Nick…” This time, it escapes me like a prayer.
“I’m hungry…and I want dessert.”
“Oh, God!” I yell, as soon as his mouth presses against my clit.
I grip onto the side of the tub as his hands start to graze my inner thigh, before brushing lightly against my clit with his fingers, making their way inside me. His tongue is suddenly inside, too, suffocating me with desire.
I can’t help but watch the scene in front of me. His head is moving between my legs; I’m overcome by the sensation of having him totally inside me. It’s an intimacy I could never have imagined; but it’s exactly what I want.
His tongue plays with my clitoris, his fingers tormenting me, faster, more insistent. His beard tickles against my skin as his mouth devours me, his hands pushing me closer and closer to the edge. As soon as I feel him sucking at my swollen pussy – as if it really were his favourite dessert – I feel my body start to shake, my mind finding its way into a point of no return. His fingers are penetrating, his hot, wet mouth pressing against me; I let myself go completely, letting the most powerful orgasm I’ve ever felt shudder through my being.
Because no one has ever loved me like this.
No one else is Nick O’Connor.
He watches me excitedly as I moan, panting, before finally calming down. He lets go of my body and I float gently back into the water, as Nick comes closer to me, pressing his lips against mine. I can feel from that kiss how much he enjoyed it – and how much he wants to do it again.
“I love watching you enjoy yourself,” he says, his voice so seductive that it makes me tremble again.
“And I love this jacuzzi.”
“And I love how you look inside it. And the way you come…” he says, going back to my lips. “I promise I’ll make you come the second we step foot into the new house.”
I look at him, confused. “New house?”
“Didn’t I tell you?”
“What?”
“I want to buy a house here.”
“When did you decide that?”
“About five minutes ago. Somewhere between Nick and Oh, God.”
“Is this another one of your impulsive decisions?”
“I think it’s time I started putting down some roots.”
“Oh…?”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t know what to say…”
“Tell me that you’ll live with me. That you’ll fill the house with you: with your eyes and your light. With your sweetness, your sarcasm. I’ll buy you a huge wardrobe, where you can keep all your fucking T-shirts that I love so much. And I want a giant bed, where we can make love in every corner, ever position. And I want to give us both a home, because you are my home. I want something that’s ours, if you…well…if you think you can do it. If you think you can be with me.”
“Are you serious?”
“I’ve never been more serious in my life.”
“You’re not going to play around anymore?”
He floats towards me again, his mouth speaking right into mine. “No, Casey. I’m done with games, now.”
“You won’t miss them?”
“You were my last match.”
I barely keep back my emotions.
“You were the match of my life, Casey. And I swear it was the only one I ever wanted to play. Because you’re the only thing I want.”
“Nick…”
“What about you? What do you want?”
I weave my hands into his hair and pull him back towards me.
“I just want my Nick.”
He sighs into my lips. “I’m all yours. There’s not a single part of me that isn’t. I always have been. Always. Casey…you’re the only woman I’ve ever loved in my whole life, and I could never love anyone else.”
“Just…just me?”
He nods, nervously. “Just promise me one thing. Promise me that, one day, if you wake up next to me and you realise that you’re not happy, you’ll tell me. Even if you know it’ll break my heart. Because I can live with a broken heart, but I could never live knowing that I’d broken yours.”
“Nick…”
“Please, this is important. I want to make you happy, okay? But if I can’t be the one to do it, then I want you to be happy when you’re away from me.”
“That’ll never happen, Nick. Never.”
“Promise me anyway, and I’ll stop asking.”
“The only thing I can promise you is that I’ll never lie. For better or worse.”
Nick sighs. “I think that could work.”
“No more lies, Nick.”
“No more lies, Casey. Just the truth. Just us.”
“Us,” I echo, emotional.
“Well, us and the rest of those idiots.”
I burst into laughter, shaking my head.
“We’ll never get rid of them. You know that, right?”
“I really hope not, Nick. I love your family.”
He pulls me into him. “They’re your family, too, Casey.”
I try – and fail – to hold back the tears.
“They always have been.”
74
Nick
“Wow. You weren’t joking when you told me we’d never get rid of them.”
“Unfortunately not.”
My dad opens their front door to us.
“Dad…” I say, emotional.
“Nick, Casey…”
Casey drops my hand and launches herself at my father, almost making them both tumble to the floor. “I’m so happy to see you.”
He smiles over her shoulder and affectionately pats her on the back. “I’m happy, too, dear. Really happy.”
She lets him go, a little embarrassed, and tries to compose herself.
“Come in, everyone’s waiting for you both.”
She steps inside to follow my dad, but I pull her back, hugging her waist and bringing my forehead down to meet hers.
“Have I told you today how much I love you?”
“Actually, you haven’t.”
“Then let me tell you now. I—”
“Jesus, I’m going to throw up all over the hallway.”
Holy shit.
Casey laughs, hugging Ryan – a little too warmly, for my liking. It’s a little too intimate. A little too…everything.
“Hey!” I cry.
“What?”
“Isn’t that a bit much?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“When did you two get so close?”
“Jesus, Nick, are you serious?”
“Does it look like I’m joking?”
Ryan crosses his arms and glares at me triumphantly. “Do you get it now?”
“What?”
“You want to break my nose, right?”
“Of course I fucking do. Did that look like a friendly hug?”
“So you think the way you hug Christine is normal?”
Oh, fuck. Now I get it.
Shit. I really owe Ryan an apology. Not that I’d apologise to him in a million years.
“Fuck you,” I say instead, taking Casey’s hand and leading her inside.
The whole family’s here. Big shock. Especially on a Sunday.
Mum comes barrelling over, throwing her arms around Casey. Looks like she’s picking up her role as the family victim today. I could save her, shift the attention onto myself – but I’m not going to. She needs to learn how to fend for herself in this family, to swim with the sharks without losing a limb. It’s good for her. So I leave her to my mother’s chatter and head into the garden, where Ian is trying to take a nap with the love of my life resting on his chest.
“Hey, bro!”
“Shh! Fuck, Nick. I’m trying to get her to sleep.”
“Give her to me, I’ll take care of it. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
“And you do?”
“Obviously. I can do everything.”
“Shut up.”
“J
ust give her to me. I haven’t seen her for two days. That’s two days too long.”
Ian lets me take his daughter, and I immediately feel full. She’s in my arms, so pure and so beautiful, her scent wafting into my nostrils. It’s something I want so badly – but I know it won’t be easy to get.
“You’re so in love with her,” Ian says, shaking his head. “I’d never have guessed it.”
“I can’t help it. It was love at first sight.”
“I’m not talking about my daughter, you idiot.”
“Mmm?”
“Your T-shirt,” Ian says, gesturing towards my chest.
I love her arse it says.
I shrug.
“What does hers say?”
“It says I love his beard,” Casey says, appearing behind me.
“Congratulations. You’re officially both losers.”
“What the fuck is your problem? I like it. And it’s true: I really do love her arse.”
“Do you really have to say that out loud?”
“Everyone already knows, anyway.” Ryan’s voice chimes in. “Come on, give her to me,” he says, taking Jamie from my arms.
“You know she’s not a toy, right?” Ian asks.
Ryan ignores him, sitting on the patio with Jamie, as Casey makes herself comfortable on the lawn. Of course: we have at least ten chairs out here, but she chooses to sit on the grass.
I sit down next to her as she kicks her shoes off, stretching her feet out in the cool grass.
“I really like being here,” she comments, her head tilted up to the sun. “This house, your family. It’s so peaceful.”
“I’m sorry,” I say suddenly.
“For what?”
“For taking all this away from you for so long.”
She turns to look at me.
“You know, sometimes, I think about the things I want…”
“Like what?”
“Have you ever wanted to meet someone again, for a second time? As if you’d never met them before. To start from scratch. That first glance, the first impression. The first time you hold their hand, the first time you kiss them. The first time you hurt them.”
“Are you talking about me?”
I shrug. “Sometimes I really want to go back in time and redo it all. To have acted differently, to never have left…sorry, I’m being stupid. Forget it.”
Casey takes my hand. “Nick. It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not fucking okay. If I keep acting like this we’ll never move forward.”
Casey is silent for a few moments.
“You weren’t the only one who left.”
“What…?”
“I went to the airport. The day you left. I ran to the airport because I wanted to tell you how I felt, that night in the pool. I wanted to tell you what I wanted.”
“You came…?”
“But I didn’t have the courage to talk to you, so I left. I saw you. You looked so happy, so proud…you were…”
“I was terrified. And I didn’t want to go.”
“I bumped into your dad.”
“He never told me.”
“I asked him not to.”
“Well, at least one of them knows how to keep a secret.”
“Do you know what he told me?”
I shake my head.
“That you’d be back one day.”
I smile. Typical Dad.
“And he was right. It doesn’t matter that it took eight years, that we didn’t do everything right. It doesn’t matter that we can’t have another first kiss, or meet each other for the first time – the only thing that matters to me is what we can have.”
I squeeze her hand on the grass.
“I’ve told you how much I love you today, right?”
She smiles. “You can tell me again, if it makes you feel better.”
I take a deep breath and lean in to her. I tell her again and again how fucking much I’m desperately in love with her.
* * *
For the first time in ages, when we all sit at the table together, I don’t feel a strange atmosphere around us. No one’s going to take the piss – maybe we’ve all changed, we’ve matured. Maybe now we’ve all shed our skin – metaphorically, obviously, because none of us will ever really be able to change that much – we can finally have a normal family dinner.
Maybe I could even bring up a new, mature topic of discussion.
I clear my throat and everyone freezes.
Fuck. Maybe I spoke too soon.
“Er… I’m looking for a house.”
The first fork clatters onto a plate.
“Somewhere around here. Like, in this neighbourhood.”
Fuck, I hear someone murmur.
I know exactly who it is. That little bastard.
“So if anyone’s heard of anything up for sale, then…”
“For sale, Nick?” Mum asks, her voice strained. “Are you planning to stay?”
“What do you think?” Dad smiles at her.
“You know, Nick, I think there’s something on the market in our road…” Chris can’t finish, because someone’s kicking her under the table.
Now this I don’t want to miss.
Chris snaps her head towards Ryan. “Did you really just do that?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You just kicked her under the table,” Evan pipes up.
Have I already mentioned how much I adore that kid?
“Mind your own fucking business, Evan,” Ryan scolds him.
“Never,” he shoots back.
Chris glares at Ryan for a few seconds, before turning her attention back to me. “There’s a house for sale down the road, Nick. You should come and see it.”
Ryan lets his head fall onto the table in defeat, banging it against the surface.
“Really? Interesting…”
“I can give you their number later, if you want. Then you can call them right away – it would be such a shame to waste the opportunity.”
“Thanks, Chris. You’re an angel.”
“You’re welcome. Anything for family. Right, Ryan?”
“Leave me alone.”
“Ryan, don’t be a brat,” Mum says. “It would be nice for you boys to live so close to each other.”
“A dream,” Ryan comments sarcastically.
“What about your apartment?” Ian asks. “Don’t you like it anymore?”
“I was thinking about finding something more…permanent.”
“Oh, but…but…” Mum says, barely keeping her emotions at bay.
“What are you going to do about work?” Ryan asks, trying to one-up me.
“I’m still thinking about it. I’ll find something.”
“So, no more photo shoots, Nick?” Riley asks me.
“No more photo shoots,” I say, taking Casey’s hand – a gesture which escapes no one around the table. “It’s time to drop the bullshit and think about the future.”
“I’m happy for you, Nick,” Riley smiles. “It’ll be so nice to have you around all the time.”
“Fantastic,” Ian mumbles.
“Oh and…just so you know…Casey’s going to live with me.”
I can distinctively hear more than one person spit out their drink.
“Oh, but…but…but…” Apparently, Mum can’t speak today.
Thank God.
“Does she know that?” Ian asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Of course she does.”
“Has she agreed to it?”
“Maybe we should let Casey speak,” Riley says.
“Maybe Casey doesn’t want to talk about it with you.”
“You’re the one announcing it to the whole family. Now we want to know what Casey thinks, for fuck’s sake!” Ryan’s face starts to flare up.
I turn to Casey, who’s sitting there, staring silently at her plate. I’m scared that’s not a good sign.
“Casey?” I ask her, squeezing her hand.
“So it’s true.”
“I told you.”
“The game’s over.”
“The game’s over, and we won, Casey. We both won.”
She gets to her feet and throws herself hard at me. “Remember to bring the jacuzzi,” she whispers into my ear. But it’s pointless: everyone bursts out laughing. They heard her, clear as day. “And the fridge, too. The big one.”
Everyone’s laughs grow louder, but I don’t join in. Not because I’m not happy, but because a different emotion is much stronger in me right now; tears are starting to sting at the back of my throat.
I think it might even be gratitude, or something.
Another emotion nobody knew Nick O’Connor could feel. And they’re fucking wrong if they think I’m going to waste it.
I kiss Casey on the head and she lifts her face to mine: I can see the same emotion reflected back in her beautiful blue eyes.
“I’ll bring anything you want, love. Anything you want.”
75
Nick
I swing into the driveway and jump out of the car. I walk nervously up to her father’s front door, so terrified that I’m shaking. I have the strange sensation that someone’s going to get a beating tonight – and there are no prizes for guessing who it’ll be.
I step towards the door, just as the coach opens it. I stop in my tracks, my hands in my pockets and my head hanging, ready for the insults to rain over me.
“O’Connor.”
“Coach.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to pick up Casey.”
“Then you’re at the wrong door.”
“I wanted to talk to you, first.”
I finally lift my gaze to meet his, which is as cold and hard as ever.
“I’m listening,” he says, forcing me to speak.
“Well, you see, I know that I’m not… Well, I’m not exactly what you’d hoped for your daughter.”