Someone Like You (9 page)

74

“That’s silly, Leah.”

“No, it’s not. It’s…” She gestured to her figure under the duvet. “My body.”

He frowned, looking down at her. “You don’t really seem to mind when we’re

having sex.”

Geez, he was such a man sometimes. “I guess not. Still I’m a lil bit unsure, so

yeah.” And could they please now start talking of something else?

“Come on.” He sat up, her head lolling back to a pillow as she watched him climb

off the bed and stand there, completely naked. And completely uncaring by his present

lack of clothes. Hand outstretched towards her, he motioned her to get up. Considering

that she, for one, wasn’t going to stand up and walk around his house naked, she

frowned and shook her head. “Come on, Leah. I wanna show you something.”

At his words, her gaze travelled downwards until she spotted his now familiar

erection. Smirking, she looked back up at his face and said, “I already see it.”

He looked down at his crotch and shrugged. “Damn. I didn’t mean that.” Funny

how he hadn’t even noticed he was hard. Oh well. “Come on, Leah. Or else I’m gonna

have to lift you up from the bed and carry you to the bathroom.” Knowing his threat was

going to be effective, he walked out of the bedroom and didn’t look back. After all, if she

was shy enough not to want him to see her walking naked, he could understand that.

He’d wait. Except she took a rather long time. His patience wearing thin, he stalked

back to the bedroom and stood in the doorway. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Trying to find my clothes.” Or rather, trying to get dressed, but no one had

warned her that holding a duvet over yourself while trying to put your panties on was

that difficult. She needed both her hands to tug them up her legs, but one hand had to

75

be free to hold the duvet. Or she could try and tug it beneath her breasts, and then both

hands would be free; but then when she had tried that, she had nearly fallen flat on her

face.

“Why? I want you naked.” Well, it wasn’t the first time he had told her that.

Probably not the last time either. Grabbing her right hand, he pulled her with him and

only stopped when they were both standing inside his en-suite bathroom, looking at

each other’s reflection in the wall mirror. “That needs to go,” he said, before tugging the

duvet down.

“No! Nick!”

“I already told you, babe. I know your body now. Chill.”

Easy for him to say! He was stronger than her in any case, and she watched

desperately as her cover slid down to the floor, pulling at their feet in a heavy white

mass. Damn it! She threw him a dark look, well she threw his reflection a look, but it

was supposed to have the same effect. Except he just grinned at her and moved closer,

his chest cradling her back. Their bodies were now so near that all you could see was

the difference in the color of their skins. One tanned and golden, and the other, rather

creamy white.

She closed her eyes at the obvious display of flesh, really not wanting to look at

herself like this. And certainly not compare herself to him. He was just so damn

gorgeous. His arms were muscled, his legs were just wow. And don’t let her get started

on his butt!

“Leah, open your eyes, baby,” he whispered in her right ear, his arms closing

around her midriff. Her big midriff, that is. She shook her head in denial and tugged on

76

his hands, intent on getting far, far away from that mirror. “Please. I want to show you

something.” His warm breath hit her neck and she shivered, her skin starting to buzz as

she felt his obvious arousal on her back. He was watching her, standing there naked,

and he was still aroused. The image wasn’t repulsing him, rather it seemed to have the

opposite effect. His voice had been gravely with lust and his hands on her stomach had

begun moving, his fingers drawing small circles on her skin. She gulped hard and

opened her eyes, her gaze instantly locking with his. The brilliant smile he gave her

made everything worthwhile for a second, until she remembered the mirror. Until she

looked at her reflection and moaned with disgust. “Shush,” he soothed her, his hands

moving up to palm her breasts. “Look at yourself.”

“That’s what I’m doing,” she replied dejectively.

“I love your breasts,” he murmured in her hair, his hands cupping them and

weighing them with apparent relish.

“They droop,” she informed him churlishly.

He grinned slightly and bent his knees, so that he could lay a tender kiss on the

back of her neck. “That’s ‘cause they’re big. Men love big breasts.”

“I…I know.” She glanced at him quickly and he spotted the curiosity in her clear

eyes.

Smiling, he moved his fingers over her breasts, softly tweaking them until she

responded by pressing herself against him; her hips moving in a way that made her butt

caress his arousal. He gritted his teeth and let his fingers glide down her stomach,

whispering, “So soft.” before nudging her head with his.

She looked at him wonderingly and smiled when she spotted the lust in his eyes.

77

That was it. He had managed to get her where he wanted her. When she wanted

him, when she knew he wanted her, she let go of her defences and embraced his

caresses willingly. Very willingly, he mused, his cock twitching against her butt.

She moaned as his hand found her curls, pushing her body even closer to his.

Damn, he wanted her. He had to have her, and the sooner the better. His skin felt taut,

his muscles bunched as he thought of how he was going to take her, standing there

bent towards that mirror. Watching her come, watching her breasts flush with

excitement.

Leaving her soft skin, his left hand pressed her face towards him until their

mouths met; until their tongues touched and caressed each other. His fingers trailed

down to her core, the kiss growing more urgent, his caresses growing bolder. They

started grinding against each other, but it soon became too much. He had to be inside

her, feel her heat wrapped around him. Tight.

They made love, standing there in front of the bathroom mirror, their groans

echoing against the ceramic tiles. But her eyes were opened and she finally understood

the joy of being in that particular position: watching Nick’s eyes darken to a midnight

blue as pleasure swept through him and he let go, screaming his release, his eyes

locked with hers.

78

Leah recalled that scene as she stood in front of the produce section in her local

grocery store. They’d flown back to Miami days ago but she had yet to see Nick. Every

time the café’s door opened, she looked up, eager to spot his cheeky grin. But it was

never him. Oh, he’d left her a message to say he was going on an expedition with his

tutor, but surely those didn’t last days? Did they? Shoot. She bit her lower lip, as she

realized she should have asked him more questions about his life.

They’d spent so much time in bed, conversation had fallen off the wayside.

Shivering at the thought, she looked at the unappealing bag of carrots she held and

sighed. She was tired of this diet from hell. Eating nothing but veggies and fruit was

getting to be boring awfully fast. She’d nearly fallen off the wagon last night, after

another day spent without hearing from her boyfriend. She’d stopped at a McDonald’s

and had had to physically restrain herself from going to the counter and ordering a

Double Cheeseburger. Damn it all! She groaned inwardly and dropped the carrots back

where they came from.

She couldn’t deal with this now. She was tired of her life, tired of forcing herself to

fit people’s perceptions of what looked good. So, she had big bones. So, what? Nick

liked her as she was, didn’t he? He’d forced her to eat all weekend long, as if he’d

understood why she claimed she never was hungry. He’d pushed and prodded until

she’d shared a pizza, the melt-in-your-mouth cheese tasting so divine after months

punishing herself that she’d nearly had an orgasm on the spot. Although it hadn’t been

79

far away as she’d settled on Nick’s lap minutes later, eager to feel him inside her.

Around her. Everywhere.

He was very good at making her feel good. Oh yes, he was. Squaring her

shoulders, she decided she would trust him from now on. So, maybe he didn’t have the

best track record and maybe he was still in love with his best friend’s wife; but he was

still her boyfriend and too bad if he didn’t love her. He did like her however, and he

wanted to make her feel better. So, she’d try.

What did she have to lose anyway? He was the one man she’d fantasized about

since high school and here she was, his girlfriend.

What more could she ask for?

* * * *

Two weeks later and she was a wreck. Nick still hadn’t contacted her and she’d

come to the slow and painful realization that she’d been had. He’d asked her to trust

him and like the stupid, gullible woman that she was, she had. And look where that had

gotten her?

She’d stayed with him that weekend and she’d been very agreeable. Even after

the fiasco of that first night, she’d listened to his pleas and found herself in his bed.

They’d made love- no, they’d had sex. A lot. Enough for him to forget that the love of his

life was pregnant by her husband. Stupid Leah! She’d thought she mattered to him, but

obviously she’d just been convenient.

80

Wiping syrup marks off a table with a vengeance, she ignored the loud

conversations around her and forced the tears away. He’d conned her. The damn man

had made her feel good about herself for the first time in forever, and that had been

enough for her to forget about her principles. She’d been right. It had been too good to

be true. How could she have believed that someone like Apollo Hamilton would ever like

someone like her? She snorted at the thought and decided right then and there to go

back on her diet. No one would ever love her otherwise, her daddy had been right.

“Leah?” A voice said behind her, just as two hands palmed her hips.

She shrieked and whirled around, her soapy mop hitting the man’s chest with a

wet thud. “What the hell?”

Nick blinked back at her before looking down at his ruined silk shirt. “Hello to you

too, baby.”

She stared back at him in silence, her initial burst of happiness dying as she

remembered the past fretful weeks. Sidestepping him, she ignored his attempts to stop

her and slid behind the counter. She would focus on the customers and nothing else. If

he thought he could come in here and apologize, if he thought she’d fall into his arms

and open her legs for him, he had another think coming.

* * * *

He’d been sitting at his usual booth for over two hours now, and she’d yet to

serve him. He watched as she walked around the café, coffee carafe in hand, her eyes

81

stopping on everyone but him. She was ignoring him. He sighed as he rubbed his chin,

knowing it was his fault. He’d screwed up. Again.

No wonder she was acting like this. He was a no-good boyfriend; that’s what he

was. He should have told her he’d be incommunicado for two weeks, but he’d been so

thrown after that weekend that he’d forgotten all about the dive. Until the next morning

when his supervisor had called, reminding him about what he needed to take with him.

He’d barely had time to leave a message on her cell’s voicemail. He was pretty sure

he’d talked about her in bed, rather than the logistics surrounding his trip. His head had

been in his pants. He just hadn’t expected her to be so good, to make him feel so good.

They hadn’t had sex that weekend. They’d made love, as unbelievable as that

sounded. He’d never thought he could find someone else like Mia, his first love. The

one woman who’d been everything to him: friend, lover, confident. Leah was similar in

looks, true, but that wasn’t what was important. No, what mattered was what was inside

her. He loved how she put herself wholly into everything she did. She never held back.

She was a giver, a caretaker.

And she’d been his, he mused as he watched her, his eyes never leaving her.

Remembering…The way she tasted. The way she felt. The way she’d laughed at one of

his stupid jokes. Shit, he had it bad. It was nearly laughable, he thought. Now that he’d

finally found the one, she hated him. Typical. He sighed as he crossed his arms over

the table and dropped his head onto them.

* * * *

82

He was still here. Leah bit her lower lip as she stepped out of the restroom to find

Nick sitting in his usual booth, his head on the table. Frowning, she moved until she was

leaning above him and said, “Nick?” He didn’t reply, didn’t even move. “Nick? Wake up!”

She grabbed his shoulder and shook him a little. “Nicky?”

He heard the female voice calling out to him, that nickname only she used. His

eyes still closed, caught in a state between sleep and awareness, he mumbled, “Mia?

What time is it?”

Leah froze, hurt filling her every fiber. She took a step back, then another, and it

was when the tears threatened to spill that she whirled around and flew out of the

restaurant. The door banged close behind her, startling Nick so much he sat up, eyes