Shattered (Shattered #1) (10 page)

Nick shook his head at me in disbelief, “That’s what you want? Are you
sure? I mean…this date wasn’t supposed to be about this,” he waved his arms
around. “I wanted to take you somewhere nice. Show you a good time,” he
swallowed.

“Another time,” I smiled up at him. “I want pizza tonight…and you.”

Nick gave a quick nod, “Alright then. Get in,” he pointed to the truck.

I giggled as I climbed in, and called down to my dad’s shop to order us
dinner.

ooooooooo

After grabbing the pizza, we drove back in silence to Nick’s house. As I
sat there watching out the window of the truck, my mind was spinning.
Was this really happening?
I had only
been back home a little over a week, and things seemed to be moving rather
quick.

I glanced over at Nick out of the corner of my eye. He didn’t seem
nervous or concerned about what we were doing at all. It made me wonder if this
was the way things had been for him.
Had
he been bringing girls home like this regularly?

Nick was the rebel when we were younger. Always getting into trouble,
always with a different girl each weekend…until he met me. It took me months to
give in to him when we first met. He pursued me with a vengeance when we were
younger. I guess I must have seemed like a challenge, being the “good girl” and
all. I’d pushed him away so many times I’d lost track. Cam and I had been good
friends then. We’d worked out together, and both ran for the team. He’d finally
convinced me to go on a date with Nick. Nick had been the perfect gentleman
that night, and as they say…the rest was history.

Tonight, though, it seemed that being gentlemanly was quickly flying out
the window. After our exhibition on the sidewalk, I secretly wondered if we’d
even eat the pizza while it was still warm. I glanced over at Nick again and
could feel my face heat.

“If you don’t stop staring at me, I’m going to pull over and take care
of you here,” Nick warned bringing me out of my daze.

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “I was just thinking…”

“About what?” he asked.

“Nothing…it’s not important,” I tried in vain to change the subject.

“If it’s got you that worried, I’d say it is. Now, what is it?”

“How many?” I murmured almost too quiet for Nick to hear me.

“How many what?” he wrinkled his forehead.

“Never mind,” I shook my head and turned away from him.

“Don’t do that,” he begged. “You always do this to me,” he sighed.

“Do what?”

“Shut down. Every time something happens, you shut down, and don’t want
to talk about it. We’re here where no one else will bother us. Talk to
me…what’s bothering you,” he continued to beg but there was a harshness in his
voice.

“I just wondered how things have been since I left. You seem…different,”
I mumbled.

“Different how?” he began to get a slight edge in his voice.

“I don’t know,” I groaned and rolled my eyes. “Just different.”

“That’s not what you mean, and you do know. Just tell me,” he put the
truck in park, and cut the engine.

“When I left, you seemed so settled…” I trailed off. “Now I was just
wondering if you still were.”

“You talk in puzzles, you know that?” he shook his head at me. “I seemed
settled? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“With us…you settled down,” I shrank down in my seat regretting ever
starting this conversation.

His eyes lit up as if understanding had just dawned on him, “Let me ask
you this…have you been with anyone else since you left?”

My face flamed and I swallowed hard, “Nick…I’ve been training.”

“That’s not what I asked. Have you been with anyone else?” he turned to
face me.

“Can we go in,” I pointed at the house with a single porch light
illuminating its front steps.

“Not until you answer the question,” he reached for my hand and held it
in his lap, “Have you been with anyone else?”

I dropped my chin to my chest, “It depends on what you mean by that.”

“Either you have or you haven’t…there’s no in between, Leah,” he sighed
at that fact that I was avoiding answering him. “By the way you’re acting, I
think I already know the answer.”

A single tear gathered in the corner of my eye, “It didn’t mean
anything. We were only together for a little while. He was a trainer for the
team.”

Nick shook his head, “Why was that so hard for you to tell me?”

“I don’t know,” I wiped at my eyes. “I just feel like maybe I shouldn’t
have, but we weren’t together.”

“You’re right, we weren’t…and I’m not mad at you,” he stated. “I’ve had
girl friends since you left. Nobody that I would say was serious though. Last
one was about three months ago.”

I looked up at him for a minute before directing my gaze at the pizza
box in my lap, “Can we go in and eat this? I’m getting kinda hungry.”

“Sure,” he chuckled.

ooooooooo

As I watched Nick dart around the living space of his house, I snickered
slightly. The place looked just like I would have imagined. A true bachelor
bad. A brown leather sofa was pushed against one wall with end tables at each
end. The largest flat screen TV I’d ever seen was hung on the wall opposite it
and over a mantle. The wood burning fireplace was focal point in the room. You
could tell that Nick had spent many nights in here by a warm fire doing who
knows what with a date. The room just screamed romance. Pictures of various
football and basketball players hung in frames on the walls, and a soft rug was
centered under the coffee table near the center of the room.

“Sorry it’s such a mess,” he groaned as he tossed a pile of magazines to
the side. “I wasn’t planning on us coming back here.”

“It’s alright. You have a nice place,” I smiled softly as I glanced
around. “Maybe you can give me a tour later.”

“Sure,” he mumbled and shook his head. “I’m going to go get some paper
plates and something to drink. What do you want? I think I have diet soda,
water, beer, maybe some wine…”

“Whatever you’re having is fine,” I shrugged.

“That would be a beer,” he chuckled. “Last I checked, you didn’t drink
those.”

“A lot’s changed since then,” I smirked.

“Alrighty then…beer it is,” he grinned.

When Nick returned from the kitchen, we settled on the rug, and ate
using the coffee table. Awkward silence soon turned into laughter and teasing
conversation as we began reminiscing about old times. It was like the last five
years had never happened, and things were still the same between us.

As the night wore on, I began to wonder how the ending to our evening
would play out. I was hoping that Nick would want me to stay, but I was
prepared to leave if that wasn’t the case.

Nick glanced over and smiled at me like he was thinking the same thing.
He wanted me to stay too, only he didn’t want to be the one to suggest it.

“So…can I have that tour now?” I stood and grinned down at him.

“Sure,” he nodded as he unfolded himself from the floor, and rose in
front of me. He pointed in the direction of the hall, “There’s three bedrooms
down that way, and a guest bath.”

I walked off not letting him finish as I ventured down the hall. The
first room I passed was made up like a guest room. The second one contained a
desk, and a weight bench. I assumed he used it as an office. I didn’t go in
though, just stuck my head in the door. When I reached the end of the hall, I
pushed open the door to what I assumed was the master suite. It was beautiful.
A large wooden frame bed was pressed up against one wall with a chest of
drawers across from it. A large window draped in a heavy burgundy fabric ran
along the far wall. A door, which I assumed was for the master bath, was in the
far corner. It looked so manly, but yet so welcoming.

“This is my room,” came Nick’s voice. I was so lost in my thoughts that
I hadn’t even heard him come up behind me. “I’ve thought about this since I
bought this house,” he mumbled as he placed his hands on my shoulders, leaning
in, and kissed the side of my neck.

“Thought about what?” I whispered.

“Having you in here,” he skimmed his nose up the side of my neck and
nuzzled the shell of my ear. “Stay with me,” he whispered as he reached to turn
me so I was facing him. “Stay with me tonight,” he leaned in and brushed his
lips across mine. “I’ve missed so many moments with you Leah. I don’t want to
miss anymore. Please…stay,” he begged before he deepened the kiss.

I groaned as I opened my mouth to let him in. His tongue swept across my
lips before dipping in and claiming me. Now that we were somewhere private,
somewhere where people couldn’t see us, it was like I had unleashed a beast.
Nick was going to make me remember what we were like. He was going to show me
what I’d missed. His dominate side was coming to the surface, and I couldn’t
help the fact that it thrilled me. He’d always been so sweet when we were
young. This Nick wasn’t a kid. He’d grown up, and learned some new tricks.
Tonight…tonight he was going to be the teacher, and me…I was more than willing to
let him.

Chapter 10

Leah

As we began moving backwards toward the bed, Nick reached up, and began
pulling the straps of my dress off my shoulders. The soft fluttering of his
fingers caused a shiver to run straight through me. I’d missed this. I didn’t
realized how much until this very moment.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered as he trailed kisses up the side of
my neck. “More beautiful than I remember.”

My head lolled back as he moved lower, running his fingers along the
neckline. The trembling I was feeling in my legs began to spread. Nerves mixed
with longing waged through me.

“Nick,” I whimpered. “Please…”

“Please what?” he mumbled as he pushed us closer to the bed.

I felt my legs hit the edge, and I released his shoulders from my grip.
As I ran my palms down his chest and abs, I felt them tighten. He groaned and
moved to capture my mouth once again. The soft caresses that had started slowly
began to gather force, and turn the burning fire between us into a raging
inferno.

I grabbed the edge of his shirt, and began pushing it up his torso until
it was high enough to yank it over his head. When he tossed it behind him, we
crashed back together in a fiery kiss.

“Oh fuck, I want you so bad right now,” he growled as he grabbed the hem
of my dress and peeled it up my body.

I reached for his belt buckle, and began fighting to release it. It was
like I was all thumbs. I grunted in frustration as it mocked me.

“I got it,” he gasped as he covered my hands with his, and freed the
clasp.

His pants dropped to the floor in a pool around his ankles as he reached
to pick me up. When my feet left the floor, they instinctively wrapped around
his waist. It was as if things had never ended between us. This, though, was so
much better than it had ever been in the past. How I had left this man behind
still baffled me.

We toppled backward onto the bed, and Nick climbed up over me, kissing
his way down my body. When he reached my hip, he stopped, and grinned up at me.

“What?” I gasped when I looked down at him.

“I never thought you’d be one to get any ink,” he fingered the edge of
my thong where my latest tattoo graced my hip. “
N'abandonne
jamais
.
It’s fucking sexy,” he
growled. “What does it mean?”

“It’s French…it says ‘never give up’,” I groaned as he fingered the
script.

“Why French?” he leaned forward and began tracing it with his tongue.

My body shivered and quaked beneath his as he tortured me with pleasure.
“It’s personal…my choice who I tell about it,” I panted. “Can we talk about it
later?”

Nick chuckeled as he watched me squirm, “Sure…although I am having fun
exploring here. What else are you hiding under these?”

He grabbed the edge of the purple lace and began peeling it down my
thighs. As his mouth followed his hands, and I couldn’t help but squeeze my legs
together as I fought for control. I couldn’t remember the last time I was this
turned on. His body vibrated with amusement as he watched me.

“Eyes open,” he growled as he pushed my knees apart. “I want you to
watch me.”

I blinked trying to clear my head enough to handle the sight before me.
This man was going to dominate me. He was slowly taking me somewhere I had
never been before. Sex was going to have a whole new meaning after tonight.

I bent my knee to skim my foot along his side. He was still wearing his
boxer briefs, and I wanted them off. It had been too long since I’d seen him,
and here he had me spread eagle in front of him.

As he grabbed onto my thigh, he growled at me, “Hold still!”

I swallowed as I watched a smirk slide into place. I’d never seen this
side of Nick before, and I’m a little embarrassed to say that it turned me on
in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Before I could absorb everything that was
happening, I felt him. His soft sandy hair tickled against my thighs as he
leaned forward and brushed his lips across me. My hips bucked off the bed at
the sudden onslaught of sensations running through me. Before I could recover,
he mumbled something, and his tongue plunged in.