Cocktails & Dreams (25 page)

“Pretty much. After she advised me on phone sexing and reminded me to be careful because we didn’t want any little accidents running around, your dad wrestled the phone away from her, apologized, and threatened, quite nicely, to make me disappear if I didn’t pay attention to your mom’s last piece of advice or if I hurt you in any way. And he reminded me about Thanksgiving dinner.”

“I see.” Jena wasn’t even embarrassed anymore, strangely enough; she’d passed that threshold at “Twinkie.” She rolled the cool bottle against her neck and temples. “That’s another reason for you to stay away from me, Nicholas. I come from a long line of crazy people.”

Jena opened her third beer and sipped. As she lowered the bottle, a small trickle of liquid ran down its neck, and she caught it with her tongue, glancing quickly at Nicholas when he made a low sound in his throat. He was staring at her mouth, his own lips slightly parted. Their eyes met and locked, and they smiled.

Nicholas pulled the bottle from her hand and set it on the counter. “Aren’t you being a little hard on your parents, Jena? They just want to take care of you. I can understand that,” he said quietly. His hands skimmed down her sides to her hips, and he pulled her against him, trailing his open mouth lightly up and down the side of her neck.

“Maybe just a little,” she sighed, closing her eyes and tilting her head to the side opposite his teasing mouth. The vibration from his laugh made her shiver again. “Mom is like a private detective, though. Give her a little information, and she’ll know everything about you in an hour.”

“Everything?”

Jena’s eyes rolled up in her head, and she had to lean her hands against the counter behind her for support. “Let me clarify—everything available on the Internet. Is
everything
available on the net?”

“Not to my knowledge.” Nicholas laughed and ran his hands up her sides again, guiding her arms around his neck and ghosting his hands down her back. “The only time I’ve been messed up enough not to notice filming was with you.”

“Then your YouTube virtue is safe. I’m a total technophobe.”

“I hope to God only my net virtue is safe, Jena.” His gaze roamed her face, and the naked need in his made her swallow. Hard. Jena dropped her eyes to his chest and watched her fingers trail over his skin. Nicholas raised her face. “I want to talk to you about everything, I swear, Jena, but I…
fuck, I want you
.” His voice was raw, and his hand shook as he ran the back of his fingers from her temple to her jaw, and underneath to stroke the soft spot under her chin. “I can’t think about anything but how you feel and how damned badly I want to taste you right here.”

“Just there?” she murmured, twitching an eyebrow upward and ignoring the warning bells that sounded like Travis’s voice, reminding her of his advice to stay out of bed and just talk.

“No more talking.” Nicholas crushed his mouth against hers hard, immediately seeking her tongue with his as he held her desperately close. Needing to feel more of him, Jena boosted herself up onto the counter. He smiled against her lips. “You read my mind,” he said as she wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him against her.

With a quick yank and a flick of the wrist, her shirt was over her head and sailing in the direction of the living room. “I need to feel your skin,” she said breathlessly. Running her hands over his shoulders and up his neck, Jena angled his jaw so she could kiss the tendon that ran from the back of his ear to meet his chest. She swirled her tongue in that vulnerable spot and blew softly on his damp skin.

“Oh, fuck…” he moaned, pulling one of her hands down and pressing it against himself as he grew even harder from the pressure. “Enough. Now. I can’t wait any longer.” His voice was rough and low as he wrapped an arm around her waist and cupped her hip, pulling her off the countertop. “Where?” His kisses were almost frantic, deep and hungry and needy, and Jena could feel his heart pounding.

Her mind raced.
Where?
The couch seemed like the obvious choice, since it was close and she wanted his remaining garment off
now
. Protection was the problem, though. If Nicholas didn’t have anything with him, they were shit-out-of-luck, and once she peeled the jeans off of him she wouldn’t give a damn.

Nicholas tired of waiting for her answer and headed for the living room, tugging at the button on her jeans as he backed her toward the sofa. A shiver ran down her spine, and she forgot what the problem was for a second as she tightened her hands in his hair and bit his lower lip. Nicholas squeezed her hips and pressed against her insistently; Jena dragged her mind back to responsibility with effort.

“Wait…Nick.”

He just hummed and kept walking, nibbling at her shoulder. Her head rolled back, and he took advantage of her position to turn his attention to her throat. “Nicholas…” Jena moaned. “You have to stop that for a second.”

“Why?”

“Do you have protection with you?”

He stopped moving and let Jena slide down his front as he closed his eyes, trying to catch his breath. “You don’t?” His hands were shaking as they ran up and down her back.

“Nope. Any I might have once had would be sadly out of date by now. And I just started the pills right before…” She let that thought die right there, unwilling to jump into the time they’d been apart right then. “So I haven’t been taking them long enough. Not exactly a ho-bag here.”

“Well, fuck.” Nicholas rested his head against hers, still breathing raggedly.

“Or not.”

Nicholas groaned. “Not funny. This might be easier if I could stop touching you, but I can’t.” His fingers lightly traced the lace on her bra, skimming over the swells at the top of the cups before he started dropping kisses on her overheated skin. “I’m glad you’re not a ‘ho-bag,’ Jen, but it’s damned inconvenient right now.” His head raised suddenly, hope rising in his eyes. “What about Travis?”

Jena’s brain was still fuzzy. “Yeah, Travis was a man-ho, but not since Leisa…”

He pulled her off her feet, walking toward the bedroom. “Good to know. Now, what would a ‘man-ho’—where the hell do you come up with these things?—most likely keep handy?”

Light dawned. “I hope you’re right. Let me down.”

He lowered her feet to the floor, and she backed down the hall toward Travis’s room, grinning, as Nick started to unbutton his jeans and backed into her room, eyes fixed on her.

She rushed into Travis’s room, mentally apologizing to him for ignoring his advice to stay out of bed with Nick as much as for invading his room, and praying that he still kept a stash of condoms. She shouldn’t have worried. One whole drawer of his nightstand was stuffed full of a wide variety of protection. Grabbing a handful, Jena almost skipped back to her room to find Nicholas stretched out on her bed, hands behind his head.

His eyes widened, and he started to laugh when he saw the array in her hand. “Wow. I don’t think I can live up to that kind of expectation.”

“Shut up.” She tossed them on the nightstand and stretched out beside him, running her hand lightly over his chest and stomach and playing with the line of hair that began below his belly button. He inhaled sharply, hips rising off the bed, seeking contact with her hand. Jena slowly popped the buttons on his jeans open.

“Tease.”

She smiled. “It’s not teasing when you plan to follow through.” She leaned over him to kiss him lightly on the forehead and then pressed soft kisses all over his face. Pushing the fabric of his jeans to the sides, she slipped her hand inside as she kissed his chest. Nicholas moaned, sending shivers down her spine. He put his hand over hers and let out a shaky laugh.

“Do you want me to stop, Nicholas?”

“Absolutely. Never touch me again. Dork.” He shook his head and rolled toward Jena, rubbing her hand against him. “You’re just lucky that I took care of business in the shower this morning, or I couldn’t have lasted this long.”

He drew back as Jena squeaked, “What?”

Her mind immediately flashed to her dream: the bracing arm. The intense look on his face as the water dripped from his hair and lips…She moaned and slid her hand farther inside his jeans to lightly scratch his skin.

“Christ, Jena—” he gasped, and started tugging at her jeans. “I need you
now
.”

Jena giggled, and his head shot up from where he was nuzzling her breasts as his hands pushed impatiently at the heavy denim. “Patience, grasshopper,” she said. “This would be a lot easier if I didn’t have shoes on.”

He looked down and chuckled, flopping over on his back with an arm over his eyes.

“Carry on with the de-shoeing.”

Jena sat up, still snickering, and quickly untied her sneakers, toeing them off onto the floor and kicking her jeans the rest of the way off before she lay down. “All systems are go, captain.” She closed her eyes.

“Open your eyes, please,” Nicholas said. Jena looked into his suddenly solemn eyes. He touched her face hesitantly. “Thank you for giving me a chance to love you better.”

She nodded. She traced the lines of his waist and hips and thighs before she hooked his jeans with her toes and pushed them the rest of the way down and off. “Show me, Nicholas. Show me you love me.”

They started slowly, with soft touches and laughter, taking the time to appreciate the curves and planes of the bodies they’d known so intimately and loved so completely. Soon, though, breathing roughened as touches became caresses on skin damp with sweat, hands grasping and sliding. Whispers turned to moans; words were lost and the only the sounds were skin on skin and unsteady gasps of pleasure.

Jena felt her eyes closing as she concentrated on the sensation of being filled, feeling Nick tremble above her as his movements became fast, almost frantic.

“Jena…” he gasped. “I can’t…” He froze, face twisted and head arched back as he cried out his pleasure.

She traced gentle fingers over the tendons in his neck as they stood out in sharp relief before he buried his face in the hair at the crook of her neck and lay shaking over her. “I’m sorry…I couldn’t wait…”

Jena stroked the hair at the nape of his neck until he relaxed. “There’ll be other times,” she whispered soothingly.

“Promise?”

She nodded solemnly.

After a minute, Nicholas shifted to lie next to her, pulling her half over him and holding her tightly. “I love you,” he said, kissing her hair. “Please don’t leave me again.”

Jena moved until she could see his face. The vulnerability in his eyes was sobering. She was beginning to realize how frightening it must be for him to leave himself so open. Her feelings had always been so close to the surface that a reaction like his had never occurred to her before. She smoothed the sweaty hair off of Nick’s forehead, and he closed his eyes with a smile.

“I’m not going anywhere. I love you. That won’t change.” Laying her head on his shoulder, Jena placed her hand in the middle of his chest where she could feel his heartbeat just starting to slow.

Nicholas put his free hand over hers on his chest. “This is what I need. I thought about this every night when I tried to sleep. I missed your hand right here; I don’t sleep well without it.”

Jena hesitated to ruin the moment with a difficult topic, but there were things that needed to be discussed. “You haven’t been sleeping much at all, according to Conor. Or eating.” She stroked his chest. “I’m sorry, Nicholas. I should have—”

He jiggled her head on his shoulder sharply. “Don’t. We both could have done things differently. It’s over now.” He dropped another kiss on her head and tightened his arm around her.

Now for the topic she really didn’t want to approach. “Nicholas?”

“Yes?” He sounded wary.

“What happened with your parents? I heard that it was big ugly.” Jena leaned on her elbow so she could see his face.

Nicholas pulled a long hank of hair over her shoulder and rubbed it on his cheek. “Travis?” She nodded, waiting. “I actually don’t remember a lot of what was said. I was pretty upset.” His eyes flashed to hers, and he swallowed. She nodded again. “The upshot was that I’m done with them, my dad specifically. If he wants me to choose, I will. And I did.” He dropped her hair and rested his hand on hers again, trying on a smile that didn’t stretch to his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Jena whispered. It seemed like such an insignificant thing to say.

Nicholas laced his fingers through the hair at the back of her head and kissed her lingeringly. “I’m not,” he said when he finally released her lips and formed a real smile. He eased them both onto their sides, wrapping his arm around her. “The good news is that school was all paid for at the beginning of this year. I’ll probably have to get a job next year, but maybe I can get something at the hospital.” He sighed. “Then I wouldn’t have to pay rent at all, since I practically live there now.” He shifted a little, seeming to be making a decision. “Jena…I was going to ask you that night if you’d consider staying with me more often. I can’t handle only seeing you every week or two.” He pulled her more tightly against him. “I need you right here. I want to go to sleep and wake up with you every day. I don’t think I ever told you that, but I’ve been thinking it for months.” He squeezed her again. “I’ve been thinking a lot of things that I was too scared to say.”

Jena felt a tightness in her chest as she kissed him, worried about screwing up what they already had by moving too quickly. “Me, too. I can’t promise you every night, but how about we stay together as often as we can?” Her stomach growled loudly, and Nicholas chuckled.

“The beast speaks.” He started to rise, and she grabbed his arm.

“Can you stay for the rest of the weekend? I’d like that.”

“Yep. I was advised to take this weekend off and think about whether I really wanted to come back, actually. Apparently I haven’t had my mind on the job lately.” He stood up and stretched, laughing as she dropped her eyes.

“Nicholas, I’m so—”

He pulled Jena out of the bed and kissed her hard. “Nope. No more sorry. I want to eat, and sleep, and put a huge dent in your sin pile before Monday morning.” He nodded toward the heap of assorted condoms on the nightstand and waggled his eyebrows. “Can your stomach wait for a shower?”