Play Me to Infinity (The Broken Men Chronicles Book 3) (22 page)

Nicole wouldn’t agree to take off and fly somewhere, so I figured out an alternative.

Early Saturday morning, the car was once again packed, and Nicole was waiting in it for me as I locked up.

“All good?” she asked when I started up the car.

“Yeah.”  I grinned.  “Are you ready?”

“Let’s get to camping, nature boy!”

“Make fun all you want, but you chose this above a weekend spa getaway.”

“That’s because this whole thing was about you and me being alone.”  She poked my side.  “And face it, handsome, your reign of celibacy will be over before bedtime tonight.”

I laughed.  “Sick of the make-out sessions are you?”

She crossed her arms at her chest and pouted.  “As hot as they are, I think we’ve outgrown them.” 

Two hours later, our tent was set up and Nicole was getting our lunch ready.

Dumping the firewood I had gone to get, I watched as she stood at our makeshift kitchen counter: the small collapsible table I’d brought with us.  She seemed content with us being out here in the bowels of nature, camped out in pure solitude by a lake and its intermittent patches of sand no one would qualify as a beach.

I walked up to her and snuck my hands around her waist, nuzzling her hair, enjoying that little thing she did with her ass.  Pressed up against her, my hands went to her hips and I made sure she felt my reaction to her subtle teasing.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say someone’s hungry for more than just these sandwiches.”  Nicole’s laugh was husky.

“You have no idea.”  I pulled her hair to the side, kissed her neck, and reveled in her reaction when she tilted her head sideways to open herself to my ministrations.  “It’s too bad we have to eat.”

She turned and faced me.  “What do you mean?” She wrapped her arms around my neck.  “You’ve never been one to care about which order sustenance fell in.”  Her lips devoured mine and I gave just a little.

“Honey, let’s eat.” I said between kisses, slowing things down. “I’m starved.”

As if on cue, my stomach growled and I thanked it for the small reprieve.

Her smile didn’t reach her eyes, and her arms fell away to her sides.  “All right.”

Throughout the day, Nicole made advances which I kept shutting down.  I could tell that she was resenting me for doing so, when my desire was as clear as the cock trying to burrow a hole through the crotch of my pants, but I held strong.

I had a purpose.

I bet you’re wondering why it is that two people, who normally can’t keep their hands off each other, haven’t been intimate in over a week when I had all the reasons to jump her now.

I’m being honest when I say that we avoided it at first because of Nicole’s injury.  Now, however, I knew that if she asked, I was out of excuses unless I wanted to volunteer the truth, and I wasn’t ready to tell her just yet.

“What’s going on,
Mike?” she finally asked as we cuddled in front of the fire well after the sun had set.

“What do you mean?” I mumbled into her hair before kissing it.

She turned toward me.  “You know what I mean.”  Her eyes rolled with annoyance.  “What’s the problem?  I know it’s not my injury.  You were there when the doctor gave me the all clear.  Why are you pushing me away?”

I tried to pull her close again, but she pulled back.  I sighed.  “Nic…”

“Don’t you ‘Nic’ me! Tell me!  I know it’s not that you don’t love me, so what is it?”

“Honey, I…”  The words wouldn’t come, so I made another reach for her.

“Don’t!”  Nicole backed further away and pushed herself to her feet.  “What do you want, Mike?  Do you want to dictate how things go?  Do you want to be the boss at home like you are at work?  You know it’s not going to work.”

I shook my head.  “It’s not that.”

“Are you telling me that I don’t do it for you anymore?”  She peeled her t-shirt over her head and chucked it to the side.

Fuck me!

She couldn’t have been further from the truth, and she knew it.  I’d been wandering around the campsite with what felt like a fucking permanent case of blue balls throughout the entire day.

“Nicole,” I began with a shake of my head, “don’t do this.”

“Don’t do what?”  She popped the zipper and button to her shorts and dropped them.  “This?”

I cleared my throat, the bulge in my shorts aching to no end.  “Don’t.”  My voice croaked with lust.  I got up onto my knees.  She backed up a step to stay out of my reach.

Nicole stood before me, her clothes tossed to the side on pine needles and leaves.  Bared physically, with the exception of her undergarments, and without a doubt, stripped emotionally.  She was beautiful, even with the hurt spread across her features.

“Mike, I need you.”  Her fingers skimmed over her stomach, toward her panties.  “I need your lips on my body, your hands touching me.  I want you to-”

As much as she turned me on, she was infuriating me by moving me further away from what I had planned. “Dammit, Nicole!  Enough!”  She jumped at my words.  I got up to my feet and marched to her.  “Just stop this before we both walk away feeling like idiots, all right?  Don’t ruin this weekend before it starts.”

“Ruin it?”  She snorted, her arms going rigid at her sides.  It was as if she’d forgotten she was practically naked.  “You’ve already managed that, Michael.  I’m not the one at fault here.”

“Nic.”

“Stop calling me that!”  She bent over, grabbed her clothes and walked past me.  “I’m going to bed.  Alone!  Goodnight!”

Do something you fucking idiot!

It wasn’t how I’d planned it.

And that’s when the epiphany hit.

Nothing about Nicole and I had ever gone as planned.  Why would I expect it to change now?

I heard the zipper to the tent as she opened it.

“Marry me?” I blurted out on a growl.

The song of the cicadas, the rustle of the leaves in the trees, the lap of the water against the shore was all I heard for what felt like an eternity, but must have been no more than ten seconds before Nicole spoke.

“Michael, that’s not funny.”

I turned to face her.  “I wasn’t joking.” I dropped to my knees on the blanket we had been sitting on moments before.

Well at least you’re on your knees.

I reached in my back pocket and pulled out the small box I had there.

“You can’t do this.” I saw her tears.

“Honey,” I sighed, “I know I’m a fuck up.  Truth is, you’re all I’ll ever want.  You have no idea how hard it’s been to resist you.  I wanted this to be memorable.”

“Well, you got that covered.”  She reached inside the tent and pulled a blanket to cover herself before closing the tent up and taking a few steps toward me.

“Nicole, I love you.  You’re my life, my everything.  You’re my best friend, my partner, my lover, my future wife, and the mother of my unborn kids.  I told you once that we’d be growing old and grey together, and I didn’t lie.”  She moved closer yet again.  “I thought I had more time.”  I looked down at the box in my hands.  “I was planning on giving you this tonight.”

Her feet took her the rest of the way so she stood right in front of me.

“You told me not to in the hospital.  I had planned it to be special this time around and…”

“…I’ve ruined it!” she finished.

“No!” I swallowed the ball of emotion in my throat. “I’ve ruined
it, Nic.  I’ve made you think that I don’t want you when it’s the furthest thing from the truth.  I can tell you it’s because of everything that’s gone on over the last couple of weeks, but it’s not entirely true.  Truth is, I’ve been trying to work this,” I looked down at the ring in its box again and back up at her, “in all day, but I couldn’t find a perfect time.  And now you feel rejected and-”

“Michael,” she dropped to her knees on the blanket, in front of me, “ask me.”

“Huh?”

Her lips pressed together as if she was trying to prevent a smile from breaking out on her face.  “Stop rambling and ask me again,
Michael.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and took a calming breath.  “Marry me,
Nicole.  Let’s make a life together.  There’s no one else I’d rather argue and make up with, no one else I’d rather make love to, to have babies with, to protect and cherish.  There’s no one else I can trust my heart to other than you.  You’re my life, my world, Nicole.  Marry-”

She jumped into my arms and fused her lips to mine.  “I’ll marry you, Michael, on one condition.”

“And what’s that?”

“That if you have to argue with someone, it’s me.  If you have some making up to do, it’s with me.  For everything in your world, good or bad, I’m the one you’ll choose to share it with, and no one else.”

“It’s the only way I want it to be, honey.”

“Then my answer to your question is yes, Michael Withers. I’ll marry you.  I’ll have babies with you.  I’ll grow old with you.  Just don’t make me wait too long for the first two.”

“God,” I cupped her cheek with my free hand, “give me a minute to pop this sucker on your finger and then we can get started.”  She giggled into my chaste kiss.

Pulling away, I hurried to remove the ring from its box and slide it onto her finger.

The woman stared at it for a moment.  “It’s gorgeous!”

“It’ll never be enough.”

“It’s perfect, Michael.  Now, stop worrying about how big you think my diamonds should be, and be the man you promised you would be.”

She threw her blanket off to the side and made haste with my shirt while I got to work on my shorts.

She stood up with me, letting my shorts fall from my hips with my underwear.  I wrapped my arms around her and undid her bra.  Sliding its straps off of her shoulders, our eyes remained locked together.

My fingers caressed her soft skin on their way down.  I dropped to my knees again.  Her hand reached to cup my cheek as she peered down at me, her eyes dancing in the firelight.

I kissed her stomach, my fingers feathering out to pull her closer before reaching for her underwear.  The smell of her arousal, the digging of her fingernails in my shoulders as she tried to find stability, and the shiver that overtook her body as I kissed above her pubic bone were intoxicating.

When I nipped her thigh, her knees gave out and I eased her down over my lap.  I laid her down on the blanket and kept my eyes on hers.

“You’re beautiful.” I kissed the side of her mouth.  “You’re sexy as sin.”  I kissed the other.  “And you’re mine,” I growled before my lips took hers in a hungry kiss.

She moaned into my mouth and I began to trail my lips down her neck.  Her hand grabbed my face and pulled me up.  “I want you inside me right now.  Nothing more, baby, please.”

I slid myself inside, hissing at the feel of her internal muscles clenching down on me.

“I love you,” she said.

“I love you too.”

She began to rock her hips with mine as I set the rhythm, the urge to explode building.

Nicole’s moans filled the air around us and merged with the crackling of the fire we lay beside.

She arched high into me as I felt the first of her spasms.  Holding onto her hips, I buried myself as deep as I could go.

“Michael!” she managed before we both fell over the edge.

My glide grew slower and slower until we were down from the clouds.

Pulling back to get my weight off of her, Nicole wrapped her arms around my neck and forced me back down.  “Stay.”

“I’m crushing you.”

“No, you’re not.”  She kissed my chin.  “Let me hold you.”

I laughed.  “Feel free to do that whenever you want.”

“Good.  I plan on it.  So, did you plan on us sleeping out here tonight?”

“Hmm…”  I rolled over and pulled her into my side, covering us with the blanket she’d covered herself with earlier.  “It is a nice night to do just that, but I was thinking about a midnight swim with my fiancée, and then seeing how warm we can get the tent.”

“God, I love the sound of that.”  She looked up at me with a smile.  “I think I’ll love ‘husband and wife’ even more.”

It was then that I realized, that just like her, I preferred the final title a hell of a lot more than our transitional one.

We spent the rest of the weekend eating and lazing around, making up for lost time.  I couldn’t keep my hands off of Nicole, much like she couldn’t keep hers off of me.

Fires, sticks, and shotguns weren’t needed to keep the critters at bay.

The moans, the cries, the growls and groans filled the air around us and ensured we wouldn’t be disturbed by nature’s residents, day or night.

“Do we really have to go?” Nicole asked as I loaded up the last of our belongings into the back of the car.  She was sitting on the hood, pouting.

“We don’t have to, but I doubt that you want to unpack and set everything up again.”  I laughed.  “And then there’s food.”

“Yeah, you’re right.  So
it’s back to reality, huh?”

“I know you’re dying to get back and flaunt that rock of yours.”  I grinned.

She grabbed my hands and pulled me so I stood between her legs.  “I’d rather spend my days wrapped around you, wearing nothing but that rock of yours.”

I cradled her neck and kissed her.  “You like it out here, don’t you?”

She nodded.  “A lot more now with this.”  She waved the hand that sported my engagement ring.  “I want to come back.”

“How about we make it a yearly thing?”

“At the very least.  Let’s get going before I jump your bones again.”

She squealed when I gripped her hips and pulled her toward me, rubbing my clothed cock against her covered heat.  “I think we can spare a little time, don’t you?” I said against the skin of her neck.

She arched back and opened up to me, moaning when my teeth pinched the skin below her ear.  “You better not be teasing me right now.”

“That’s your job, honey.”  I pulled away and winked.  “I only aim to please.”