The Leaves 03 (Nico) (18 page)

“No panties,” I stated.

“It ruins the lines,” she said offhandedly.

“Just my luck.” I took one hand away and gripped my dick, moving it from her wetness to just play a little with her other entrance.

We’d done a little anal play, but not much. I was just too big for her, and the last thing I wanted to do was hurt her. It wasn’t worth it.

But when I slipped one finger upward where 308/510

my dick had just been, I felt her shudder under me.

“Nico…” she begged.

“What is it, babe?” In that moment, I was the tease. I was going to make sure I took this bad fuckin’ day and turn it into something she would remember happily.

“You know what I want,” she moaned.

“Don’t move.” I walked away, into the kitchen, and dug into one of the bags. The store fuckin’ got me, what could I say. I was gonna barbeque in style next summer. But one thing my kitchen needed was a new spatula.

Nice rubber handle, strong and wide, flat, heatproof silicon… perfect for what I wanted.

I came back and rubbed over her left cheek, pulled away for that perfect first contact and…

Thwack
!

“Oh!” She gasped, her hands gripped and tensed the leather under her. My girl, she fuckin’ loved it.

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I rubbed the cheek with my palm and moved to the other.

Thwack
!

“Ahh!” She threw her head back, her corset covered with a cascade of blonde, and I felt like I was the star of my own porn.

“Fuck, babe, you look hot.”

“Nico, a few more and then you better fuck me or I’m taking matters into my own hands.”

I got two in on each cheek in quick succes-sion before I couldn’t stand it anymore. The spatula long forgotten, my dick about to explode, I ran my hands between her legs to find she was absolutely ready. “Jesus, Lark!” I lifted her skirt and slid right into her tight pussy and fucked her while I fingered her ass right there in the middle of the living room. We both came quickly, but that only meant a change in position, both of us beyond worked up in that moment. I turned her around so her ass was on the back of the 310/510

chair, her arms around my neck. I unhooked the top of the corset and grabbed her tits roughly. I bit and sucked each one as I lowered her onto my dick and started thrusting into her. Each movement building, harder and harder as her nails pulled against my flesh, for sure breaking the skin beneath.

I had never fucked her this hard or this rough, because, she was right, I did hold back with her, but I was wrong to ever assume anything with Lark. She was my match in every way, and while we both came in unison, me yelling and her screaming my name, she grabbed my arm by the elbow, brought my bicep to her mouth and bit into my skin.

“Oh my good Lord,” she said trying to catch her breath.

“Jesus, babe, you’re an animal.” I was stunned, not only that, I was still hard and ready to go again.

“I have over six years of boring vanilla sex to erase. Let me just have something to drink 311/510

and we’ll do it again?” She tried to move off of me, but I grabbed her and held her, my hard dick still buried inside her warmth.

“Lark…” I said it quietly. I didn’t want the moment to be about sex. I wanted it to be about our connection. “I meant what I said about a ring. I am going to marry you. I’m going to fill that belly of yours with a baby.

I’m gonna watch you grow more beautiful each year of our lives until I take my last breath on this earth. I love you, Lark.” She never got that glass of water. We made love, slept and made love again, until I left a sleeping Lark in our bed. I dressed, grabbed my journal and went to the front porch.

Chapter 14

Dear Dish –

It’s 4am.

So much happened today, I don’t even
know where to start. What I do know, I saw
another side of Lark tonight. She let herself
go with me sexually and I hadn’t realized I’d
been holding back, as well. It just proved to
me that I…

“Nico? What are you doing out here?” She was wrapped up in one of her huge quilts.

“Come here, babe.” I held out my arms and tossed the journal to my feet.

She moved into my arms and asked,

“What’s wrong?”

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“Nothing,” I replied too quickly and kissed her

forehead,

closing

my

eyes

in

contentment.

“Nico, I can tell when you’re lying,” she said. “You didn’t like it.” Her voice was on the verge of tears.

“Like what?”

“Me… us… tonight.” She turned her head to meet my eyes.

“Oh, babe. No, tonight was… it was incredible. I loved every minute of it.” I let my fingers glide across the soft skin of her face. “It just reminded me of who I used to be. I already fucked up once today. I don’t want to do anything that’s going to make you change your mind.”

She shifted her body weight, and with it was a shift in her mood. The girl about to cry in front of me sat almost defiant. Her shoulders set back, like she was bracing herself for a fight.

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“Nico, I want you to listen to me and listen good. Before Shane, I was different. I was wild, I told you that, but I was also careless. I could have been raped and murdered so many times just from being an idiot. You could call it teenage rebellion, but it was more than that. I had serious trust issues.

Those issues started a long time ago. I thought that even if I found a guy that said he loved me, he was probably lying.”

“Lark, I am not lying—”

“I don’t feel that way now,” she interrupted. “I’ve seen the eyes of a bad man, shared a house with him, and watched from a corner of the room while he pretty much killed my mother. You never forget those eyes. I look at you and all I see reflected back at me is love.

It took me four years to share that with Shane. You know what he asked me after I told him?”

I shrugged. I couldn’t answer. She was telling me about her past. I never expected it, 315/510

not in the middle of the night after such a crazy-ass day, but I couldn’t let her see that on the inside, I was screaming for her.

“He asked me if I still talk to my dad. I mean, I get it, he wanted to know where he was, maybe to make sure I was safe or something, even though I had already told him my parents were dead. But if you told me, ‘Yeah, my friend died, he was murdered.’

The first thing I would say is, ‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry.’ He didn’t get it, he never got it.

Shane had no empathy, and when I looked in his eyes after I shared my history with him, I only saw pity.”

I pulled the blanket open so I could hold her hands. “Lark, I don’t know what to say.

Jesus, I’m so sorry.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Nico. An overprotective relative and a run-in with an asshole ex… I don’t spook that easily.” She stood up and held the blanket closed with one hand. “Come back to bed with me.” 316/510

I followed her inside. She went back to bed. I locked up and looked around the place. Everywhere, this woman had left her mark, on me, on my home, in my heart.

Tomorrow, I was going to see a man about a ring.

***

According to the frenzied phone call from my mother, Lark was going to be a superstar.

She went on to explain that, apparently, this new client had been to the wedding of her cousin, Joanna Anastos, a known socialite, who had been wearing a veil that Lark made.

This woman, Irena Christopolous, was shopping for a dressmaker that could create her vision of the ultimate wedding gown a reality.

And outdo her cousin.

I watched Lark throw fabric swatches, lace,

a

sketch

pad,

and

a

portfo-

lio—something I’d never seen before, so I 317/510

started to flip through it before she snatched it out of my hands—and finally, a finished head-piece she needed to deliver to my mom.

“And you know what else your mom said?” Lark asked as she grabbed about twenty pairs of shoes from the closet.

“What did she say?” I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face; she was just so damn happy.

“She said I could use the shop. She and the owner had a big talk about it and they are happy to let me do fittings there, whatever I need until I have my own space!” She was breathing like she had run a marathon.

“Come here.” I held out my arms.

“I can’t, I have to—”

I grabbed her and pulled her onto my lap.

“Just for a second, you can. You should be really proud of yourself. You create these beautiful things. It was only a matter of time.”

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“Well, Mr. Bossy, it hasn’t happened yet.” She gave me a giggle and leaned in for a small kiss.

She decided on the brown cowboy boots, jeans, a brown, suede blazer, and a shiny scarf she wrapped around her neck in a way that transformed it into jewelry. She had about forty bangles on each wrist, but the one thing I saw clearly was the necklace I’d given her the night before.

“How do I look?” she asked.

“You don’t want to know what I’m thinking.” I shot her a devious, full-tooth smile.

“I’ll take that as a good thing.” I carried the crate out to my truck for her.

She had this shitty little car which got her from point A to point B. I knew she loved driving my truck, and she looked good in it, too. I put the crate on the front seat next to her.

“I love this truck,” she said and gave it a little gas.

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“Be nice to her. Don’t blow off your appointment and go hot-rodding in it or anything. Good luck, babe.” I kissed her through the open window, stood back, and watched her drive down the alley.

***

“So, she liked the necklace?” my smartass jeweler, Walt, asked.

“Yeah, she did.”

“So you need a ring now.”

“I think I just might.” I smiled, remembering her reaction to the necklace.

“What did you have in mind?” I stared at him with a blank expression. I mean, how do you choose a ring for the person you want to spend the rest of your life with? “Hang on a tick.”

He went into the back as I browsed around the shop. He came back out, locked the front door, and proceeded to open what appeared to be… his lunch.

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“I’m starving and I’m a diabetic. I have to eat now. You’re welcome to join me. The wife packs all sorts of crap in here I never even touch. Half the time, I give most of it to the homeless guy at the bus depot. Now then,” he said, taking a bite of his sandwich. “I made this about ten years ago. I had extra diamonds and garnets leftover from another project. I got a great deal on those gems so I kept ‘em, thinking I would make a nice ring for someone someday. That someone being my wife.”

At this point, I was looking at a square box. He pushed it toward me and with a mouth full of food and said, “This is your ring.”

It had a wide band, smooth and shiny, with inlaid tiny white diamonds and garnets.

It reminded me of a garden path you see sometimes with a polished stone or the bottom of a glass bottle set in the concrete. In the middle stood a long rectangle-shaped 321/510

diamond with the smallest garnets in the setting beneath, like they were holding it up.

It was perfect.

The only problem was, even though I probably had the money, I thought this might wipe me out.

“Jesus, Nico. You should see your face right now.” He let out a hearty laugh as lettuce fell onto the counter. He wiped his mouth with a paper towel and asked, “Do you know what makes this ring special?”

“Nope,” I answered.

“It’s kind of like a patchwork quilt; you have the garnets from making my wife’s anniversary ring. The diamonds are left over from making a pair of fortieth birthday earrings. The platinum was meant to be for our thirtieth wedding anniversary until she showed me a picture she saw in some magazine and said, ‘Instead of jewelry, Walt, let’s go to Hawaii.’ So, I’m going to Hawaii in August… for a month. Closing the shop and 322/510

taking my wife on her dream vacation. And she also told me she prefers gold. All these years, now she tells me.” He laughed. “I priced the tickets yesterday, first class to Hawaii. You know Drew over at Tiki Time Travel? He’s just getting everything together for me.” He took his last bite and sat back, wiping his face. “I’ll never sell this ring to anyone else. We have a daughter, but she insists that her ring is going to come from Tiffany’s, even though I could make a ring that would look exactly the same, if not better. Something about a damn blue box.” He stood up and took a look at his creation. “I didn’t know who you were at first. I went home and told my wife about you after you came to have your necklace made. Then she said, ‘Walt, that’s him. That’s the man Martin told us about, the one he left the cabin to. Don’t you dare charge him a single penny.’”

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I felt my chest constrict and my throat close. Fuck me. I couldn’t talk.

“Martin was my best friend. Aside from my wife, he’s the only real friend I had as an adult. I was hoping you’d come back for a wedding ring. I charged you for the necklaces, so I could save this argument for now.

I took a risk, hoping you’d come to me for the big purchase. That’s why I teased you about it before. And don’t argue with me, because arguing with me is like arguing with my wife. So you either take it or you have to take your business elsewhere.” He grinned.

“Can I pay you to make a single band for me to match it?”

“Don’t tell my wife.” Walt held out his hand and I shook it. “Pleasure doing business with you, Nicolas Grant.” I thanked him, profusely, and left the shop.

Then I went to see Drew at Tiki Time Travel and bought first class plane tickets to 324/510

Hawaii. I also arranged a special dinner, with Drew’s help, for Walt and his wife on the beach with their own personal waiter and chef.

***

I walked into the studio to see Becca and Zack shoving Mexican food in their faces, a very pregnant Anika with Cole close behind, along with Gus, holding a little tiny baby and his wife, Aimes, Anika’s best friend.

“Dude, Nico!” Aimes exclaimed. “You look even hotter with short hair! Sorry, sweetie.” She batted her eyes at Gus, who just smiled at her.