I Love My Chance (Nicole's Erotic Romance 3) (5 page)

He stays inside of
me as long as he can. My mind is clear now. Blissfully relaxed. Happily blank.
He pulls out and turns me toward the water, cupping it in his hands and rubbing
it around with his thick fingers to rinse me off. He tenderly kisses my
shoulders and smiles at me. I smile back and let him slowly clean me all over.
Even on my feet and in between my toes. He guides me to turn around and I watch
his handsome face as he concentrates on cleaning my breasts. He’s very
thorough. My breasts have never been this clean. I bring my hands to rest on
his taut shoulders as he massages them as long as he wants to, the feeling
soothingly divine to me.

He looks up and
meets my eyes, a shyness in him that I haven’t seen yet.

“What is it?” I
ask.

“Is it wrong for
me to say out loud that you’re the first…” He hesitates, blinking, thinking if
it’s okay to go on.

I take a stab at
what he’s thinking. “Black girl?”

A small, grateful
smile tugs at his sexy lips. “Yeah. You’re the first.” He looks down at his
hands cupping my breasts, massaging soap bubbles around my dark nipples. “Your
skin…it’s so beautiful,” he whispers, entranced. A sensation of well being and
confidence washes over me, as he moves to clean my arms next, caressing them
like he cherishes me. With slow circles, he washes my stomach, poking a finger
in my belly button and making me laugh and swat him away as he grins. Finally,
he reaches down and cleans the place I now want no one else to touch, ever
again.

When he’s done, he
gives himself a fraction of the attention, just a splash around with a little
soap on his cock as he smirks at me. As he bends to turn off the water I run my
hand over his ass, the tense little lines of muscle flexing and oh so hot.

We dry each other
off and he picks me up, takes me to the bedroom. “You want to get dressed?”

“I’d like to take
a nap,” I say, gazing longingly at the bed.

“There’s no rush,
right? We can do whatever we want to tonight. No one waiting for us. No plans.”
He sets me down. Then he climbs onto the bed like he did earlier, on all fours…
a 6’4” beast of amazing.

I repeat what he
said, tasting the sound of relaxation on my tongue. “No one waiting for us.
No plans
.”

He pulls the
covers up over our naked bodies as we wrap ourselves into a cozy pretzel for
two. I lean up to receive a kiss on my nose as if I’ve done it a million times.
With my hand on his chest, my head resting in the nook of his arm, I fall
happily asleep. When I dream, I dream of a translucent blue ocean with white
sand beneath an orange sunlit sky, with no one around… but Mark and me.
 

A Half Hour Later

We’re both jarred awake by a loud knock at the front door.
I blink, reaching back from the fog. Mark’s furnace-warm body is wrapped around
mine, and the heat of him makes it harder to realize where I am, what I heard,
what’s going on.

“What was that?” I mutter.

He stretches and waits. His voice is as groggy as I feel.
“A knock?”

My heart begins to beat harder. Who would be knocking with
that much force? The only answer that that makes sense is
Michael.
 

Another knock comes, and it sounds less loud, less sure.

“Guess so,” Mark says, and starts to rise.

“Wait,” I apply pressure to him with all my limbs,
snuggling up. “You’re so warm. I don’t want to get up.”

He hesitates and tenses. “Don’t you want to know who it
is?”

I shrug, my head hidden against his chest so his x-ray
emotion-vision can’t see my face. There is no way I want a face-off with Mark
and Michael right now. My heart twists just thinking about it. This day has
been so wonderful. I don’t want to let my happiness go just yet. Why is he here
exactly when I don’t want him to be? Why wasn’t he here when he had the chance?

I deflect Mark’s curiosity. My head is still lying on him,
my eyes hidden from his view. “It’s probably my neighbor wanting to use the
phone. She always forgets hers somewhere. Such a ditz.” I make a little
scoffing sound and squeeze my eyes shut tightly, hoping he’ll accept this and
stay here in bed with me.

He relaxes and adjusts his bare legs so that they encircle
mine. “Well, looks like she gave up.”

I don’t agree with him. Not yet. I don’t want to jinx it.
We wait in silence. I pray
Michael, go
away
… if it is him. I’m also dying to know, which is the horrible part.
Part of me wants to go peek, but of course, that would be stupid. Masochistic.
Wrong.

No knock comes. Soon Mark’s chest rises and falls back into
dreamland. I close my eyes, but I can’t fall asleep. With my heart beating as
hard as it is, with the guilt and the shame pouring through my veins, I’m
picturing Michael standing at my door with ferocious determination. Michael, so
obsessed with me that he came all the way over here. The thought is absurd!
Michael is only obsessed with art. But his showing up here last night makes me
think it isn’t as absurd as my insecurity would have me believe.

It used to be me who showed up at the studio night after
night just to see him, compelled to be around him as often as I could. Now the
tables are turned, and if that was him, now
he’s
the one showing up unannounced.
He’s
the
one who can’t stay away. How his eyes must have gleamed with need as he waited
for me to open the door. His heart – how it must have raced. I know
exactly how that feels. Mine used to race like that. If I’m honest with myself,
it’s racing now.

I look up at Mark’s face and watch him sleep, his mouth
slightly open, eyes relaxed and closed. I tell myself,
stop it, Nicole.
Stop
thinking about Michael!
Like a junkie picking up the needle after finally
getting clean, I cannot afford the luxury of thinking about Michael Benitez. I
will not fall down the rabbit hole and blow everything!

I squeeze my eyes shut and try my hardest to fall back
asleep. The sound of Mark’s breathing is comforting, but it isn’t enough. I
want a cigarette. Dammit! My heart won’t slow down. I have to get up. I can’t
lie here anymore. I lay my head on Mark’s chest and listen to his heartbeat, so
soft and steady. I look at his face, thinking,
he deserves better than this
. I bring my finger to lightly trace
his nose, so straight and regal. He doesn’t wake and I watch him sleep, wishing
I was ready for a man like him.

Another knock on the door. I sit up fast, heart slamming me
into an upright position.

Mark wakes abruptly and looks toward me, then the door.
“Another knock?”

I nod, slowly. “Mmhmm.”

I don’t know how I’m going to get out of this. What do I
do? What do I say? I dart my eyes down to Mark. He’s inspecting my face, my
emotions.

Uh oh.

I roll my eyes. “She just bugs me when she does this.”

He nods and sits up, but he’s still looking at me like he’s
not sure what’s happening, or what he should do.

Go kick Michael’s ass, Mark! Rip him out of
my head while you’re at it.

I smile and slide out of the bed, snatching my short silk
robe from a hook in my closet. Mark starts to get out of my bed, but I hold a
hand up to stop him.

“It’s okay. I’ll be right back.”

He shakes his head and climbs out. I watch him, horrified.
A harder knock reaches us. Jesus! That’s three. Mark passes by me naked to get
his jeans from the bathroom. I race to the door, my heart beating so hard it
hurts, my eyes darting around as I try helplessly to plan what to do. It’s
impossible! There is no planning something like this! There is no way I can
stop this train from sliding off the rails.

I grab the doorknob. Mark walks into the studio behind me,
zipping up his pants. I look over and see he has no shoes, no socks, no shirt.
His hair is all over the place. I’m sure mine is no better. We look like we
just fucked. My head starts to spin and despite the voice screaming in my head
don’t open the door
, I open it. Kathy,
my neighbor, is standing on my welcome mat, annoyed.

My lungs suck in relief. “Kathy!”

Kathy is tall Chinese girl with a clipped accent. She moved
here to go to school and never left. She pulls her coat tight around her, her
scarf up high under her chin. “Can I use your phone?”

I glance back quickly to Mark, throw him an urgent
I-told-you-so-look, which makes Kathy see him for the first time, half naked,
leaning against a wall, looking gorgeous.
 
Her eyes turn to saucers. Her mouth makes an ‘O.’

“This is Mark.” I smile, motioning to him as I leave the
door open, and go to find my phone.

She takes a step in and shakes his outstretched hand.

“Hi Kathy.” He motions to the heavy coat and scarf. “Is it
cold out?”

“Not anymore,” she says.

He laughs. I sneak a sideways glance at him, from where I’m
bending to search my coat for my phone. What an idiot I am. This man is amazing
– look at how easygoing that smile of his is. Michael is long gone
– dead to me – and for good reason. I have to stay in this moment
and try to get used to being with someone who actually makes me feel good. Who
doesn’t make me feel emptier – more alone – when I’m in his company.

Mark’s eyes dance at Kathy’s blank, open gawking. He tries
another tactic to make conversation. “Did you leave your phone in a cab?”

Kathy stares at him for two empty seconds. She blurts out,
finally hearing he asked her a question, “What? No. I left it at work. Have to
call my boyfriend. I have a boyfriend.” She takes the phone from me while she
stares at Mark. She mutters, but not quietly enough, “But he doesn’t look like
you.”

He pretends not to hear her, but I’m sure he finds this
hilarious. Kathy looks to the phone to dial, but stops. She looks at me. “Oh
look. Someone texted you.”

I snatch it from her before she can say,
Michael
. But looking, it’s not from him.
It’s from Jessica.

Jessica: Heard you met a guy. Details!

I shoot a quick look up to both of them. “Sorry. Just give
me a sec.”

I text back: Details later. He’s incredible, which means
I’m losing my shit. Yikes.

Jessica: Ha! Come out tonight! Let’s meet him. I’ll call
Amber.

I read it and look up to Mark. His eyebrows rise. Do I want
to bring him out with my girlfriends or enjoy the time alone with him?

Mark cocks his head. “What’s up?”

“My friend – the one I told you about – she
wants us to come out with her and Amber tonight. Do you want to?”

Kathy puffs impatiently behind me. Partly from wanting my
phone. Partly from being disgusted that I’m even considering going out over
staying in bed all night doing wonderful, lascivious things. I hold out a hand
telling her to wait.

Mark’s thinking it over. He wants to say yes to make me
happy, but he’s reticent. He shrugs, “Why not?”

Kathy says, “No!”

I look back and her and laugh. Mark smiles and melts her
even more.

“You sure?” I ask him.

“Yeah. Let’s do it.” He pushes himself off the wall, walks
over and kisses me before he turns back to the bathroom to get dressed.

I text Jess: Sounds good. After dinner.

I hand the phone back to Kathy, who’s looking at me like
I’m crazy. I ignore her. I want him to meet my friends. For once I have a man I
want to bring outside with me. There’s something kind of awesome about that.
“Okay – here you go. Come all the way in and close the door. I need to
get ready.”

Kathy nods and points to where he was. She mouths,
wow.
I nod and point to the phone,
hurry up
. She quickly gets ahold of her
boyfriend and is talking to him as I leave.

“Casual or dressy?” I call from the bedroom.

“What?”

I walk to repeat again through the closed bathroom door,
“Should I dress casual or dressy?”

It swings open and Mark steps out, fully clothed, hair
tamed. He has a sexy smirk on his mouth as he looks me over. The idea of me
dressed up appeals to his imagination. “Dressy.”

Kathy’s voice in the other room wafts over, heavy in
irritated explanation. “I thought I had it! I don’t mean to leave it
everywhere. Do you think I’m stupid or something? I’m a frigging doctor! Don’t
act like I’m stupid or I won’t do that thing!”

Mark whispers to me, “Is she?”

“Acupuncture,” I nod. “To help fertility. She’s good, too.”

Kathy’s practically yelling, “Look. I have too many things
on my mind, so just get off my back! And… take me out tonight! Somewhere nice.
I deserve a night out. Yes, I’m serious.” Mark and I try so hard not to laugh.
“Good! Come get me.”

She hangs up we both walk out and find her standing
triumphantly.

“Nicely done,” I smile, taking the phone.

She opens the door, happy as a clam. “I’d rather
he
thought of it, but at least I’m going
out! Nice to meet you.”