He stood and reached for her hand to help her up. Without thinking she put her hand in his. It wasn’t the first time he’d helped her and she remembered the feel of his firm torso against her shoulder at the Stop and Go. Maybe it was the worried look on his face or the touch but seeing the compassion on his face, Nikki stretched up with the intention of giving Pete a reassuring kiss on the cheek. But at the last moment, he turned his head and her kiss landed on the side of his mouth.
Before she could pull away, he whispered against her mouth, “Did you mean to do this?” His lips found hers square on and lingered as he kissed her lightly. Softly.
She jerked back. “Actually, no.” Unable to meet his eyes, she considered slapping him but it was too late. “I meant to kiss your cheek to reassure you there’s no hard feelings.” When Pete cleared his throat, she detected a suppressed chuckle. “And you shouldn’t have made it more.” She turned to go.
He took a step in front to block her and held up his hands in surrender. “I actually thought you were trying to kiss me. And then I just wanted to reassure you too, but you seemed to force the issue, like
you
wanted to kiss
me
. So I let you.” He was making fun of her.
“I did not!” She flashed him a look. “That is not true and you know it. Come on, Elvis.” The little dog trotted around now as if he’d never rolled under Pete’s truck.
“I apologize,” Pete said. “But now that we’re kissing buddies,” he continued, “I’m wondering if you’re going to stay here at the lake for another few days?”
What?
“We are not any kind of buddies. I don’t even know who...I don’t know you.” True, she’d participated in the kiss but for only the tiniest of moments. And he knew. Her face felt hot as she scooped her dog up and turned to the neighbor. “And, I’m not available for anymore of that kissing, if that’s what you mean.”
This time he didn’t hold back a chuckle. “Sounds like you’re sticking around then. Maybe we can have coffee tomorrow or the next day. You could get to know me.”
“No, we definitely can’t and furthermore, you have a lot of nerve after hitting my dog and then trying to kiss me to suggest such a thing.” Nikki shot him a look and left him standing at the side of his truck as she stomped into the house and set the alarm that would alert her to creepy neighbors skulking around.
****
Night had descended on Louisa Lake when Nikki pulled a lounge chair to the beach and plunked down. Elvis had fallen asleep on his kitchen bed, exhausted from his ordeal. Touching her lips where Pete’s had been, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Now I really hope he isn’t writing a book about me.
Stupid. She’d only leaned in to give him a cheek kiss to say thanks. But what was a cheek kiss anyhow? Was she some silly maiden, honoring a suitor with a brush of her lips? Pete Bayer was a good-looking man who smelled like a Caribbean vacation, but she wasn’t free to go around kissing him. She didn’t know anything about him. If that memory didn’t get squelched, she’d have to leave the lake just to get the kiss out of her mind.
Bats circled overhead, hunting for flying insects. A loon called to its mate and she waited for the answer. Loons mated for life. Such an honorable act. That had been her intention. And now she was divorced from one man, pregnant by another man, kissing another, with no firm plans beyond the next few months.
The baby would be born in April. Her heart twinged at the thought of the fetus’s fragility and she mentally shook away the statistics of miscarrying at her age. Regardless of what happened, she’d never regret leaving the spotlight of the music business. Her retirement hadn’t been all about the pregnancy but knowing she’d conceived was the impetus.
The sexual encounter eight weeks earlier had been so brief in the grand scheme of her life. A minuscule portion of time, now etched in her mind forever because of what it produced. Nothing would ever soften the memory and she wished the moment itself had been beautiful for the child’s sake and hers.
Goldy had been booked at the Dolphin Amphitheatre in Miami for two shows. When she heard that a certain sexy movie star was in town filming, something ignited in her mind. He was recently divorced from his wife and because she was now officially divorced and had drooled over him in his latest spy thriller, Nikki made the decision to stand at the edge of the dating cliff and jump off.
“See if he wants to come to my show on Friday,” she’d said to her assistant, Merilee. “Offer one ticket.”
Merilee looked excited to be in on this momentous occasion. “What if he wants two?”
He didn’t.
After the show, he waited for her in the green room. Nikki ran off stage from her last encore and Merilee handed her a fresh towel.
Sweaty, and still buzzing from the performance, Nikki patted her face and steeled herself for the possibility of something wonderful. She sauntered into the green room flanked by her bodyguards.
His eyes sparkled at the sight of her. “Nice to meet you, Goldy.” He stood and lifted her hand to kiss it, just like the characters he played on the big screen.
Oh my God, he’s gorgeous!
“Did you enjoy the show?” She knew the answer.
After showering, she changed into jeans and a simple T-shirt and stepped through the bathroom door looking more like a farm girl than a rock icon. His face froze. Hadn’t he ever seen a photo of what she looked like out of costume?
“Where’s your leather and chains?” His British accent would’ve been an aphrodisiac in itself, if he hadn’t sounded disappointed.
“They’re too hard to get out of…quickly…”
Oh God. How cheesy was that?
He grinned, appeased for the moment.
They shared a glass of champagne, then, just before they left the Amphitheater, Nikki pulled on a pair of black leather stiletto boots, darkened her eye makeup, teased her hair and they walked out with his hand on the small of her back.
Dining on the hotel suite’s balcony, with the ocean in front and the lights of Miami spread out to the north, they eventually found conversation. Usually ravenous after a concert, Nikki was only able to push the savory dinner around her plate. The possibility of sex hovered between them like a party gift not yet opened.
“You are beautiful without the rock star package, you know that?” He grinned over his wine glass.
“Thank you.” Nikki reminded herself that she could handle this man even though Goldy was the huge flirt. As the rocker, Goldy had a plethora of provocative witticisms that Nikki had no idea she even knew. As Goldy, flirting had always been easy when words didn’t need to be backed up with action. But tonight, Nikki was willing to try.
By the time dessert was served, Nikki’s flirting muscle had loosened and flexed. “Tell me about your new movie. Are you dangling from high wires, dodging bullets, and fashioning guns from tin cans?”
“Of course. What would be the fun in anything else?” He was a beautiful male specimen, even though he was slightly reserved conversationally. Stiff. Nikki sensed his words were well-rehearsed material. Talking about his new movie relaxed him though and, in watching him talk, she found herself aching to touch him. Most women in the world who’d ever gone to the movies probably had the same idea—that the man in front of her had the most perfect face she’d ever seen. Studying it with the tips of her fingers would be heaven. The wine was making her heady. She hardly noticed that he hadn’t asked anything about her. Until this.
“I always wondered what the life of a rock star would be like.”
“It’s a wild ride.” This was not a question, but a good start. “Do you sing?” she asked.
He laughed. “Not unless I’m being tortured.”
Nikki laughed, even though she’d heard this answer countless times. Giving herself a two-minute time limit to explain the life of a rock star, she chose words like “hectic,” “thrilling,” “pervasive,” and “fantasy.” It was her standard answer, crafted especially to avoid boring anyone with a short attention span. Her dinner companion did not last long and lost interest after the first minute.
“Does your husband approve of you entertaining men in your hotel suite?” he interrupted like he was trying to get the party started.
“I’m not married anymore.” Nikki wrinkled her brow. She’d told Merilee to explain that fact, discreetly. “We haven’t announced it yet.” She peeked at him from under her eyelashes and tipped her head coyly, knowing exactly how that looked in photographs. She hoped Nikki did it as well as Goldy.
Setting down his fork, he wiped his gorgeous mouth with a linen napkin and looked directly at her. “So, here we are, having a lovely supper together. I’m wondering what comes next.”
Although it sounded like a borrowed line from a movie, Nikki could have jumped him right then and there. “I’m sure you understand discretion in your personal life,” she said.
“I do.” He raised his glass. “To impeccable timing.”
She joined the toast. She gulped her wine, thinking they were right where they should be in his process.
With the promise of a night of passion laid out in front of them, they found themselves at the railing kissing, his tongue slipping into her open mouth. He tasted like wine. Expensive wine that she paid for. Feeling more desperate than she wanted, Nikki reminded herself to go slow. They had all night. She pulled back to look at him and took a deep breath.
His hand wove into the back of her long hair and gathering a handful, he pulled her to him. She rubbed against his hips. Nothing yet. Nikki reached up to cup his beautiful face in her hands, simply examining his cheekbones, his jaw line, his jade-colored eyes. She was close enough to see his contact lenses. As she stretched to kiss him again, he cupped her breasts. She moaned and, as though this was his signal, he slipped his tanned hands under her shirt and undid her bra.
Oh yea. This was going to be good. He pulled her T shirt over her head and threw her lacey bra over the edge of the balcony. They watched it fall thirty-five stories. “Poor sucker below who won’t realize its worth,” he joked.
Seeing her stripped to the waist, his enthusiasm picked up and he bent to take a nipple in his mouth. She pressed his blonde head into her chest and leaned back as he moved from one breast to the other. They crossed the floor hurriedly to the bedroom and, standing beside the bed, Nikki reached down to feel his readiness.
He pulled her hand away. “Not yet, love. It’ll be over too quickly. First, let me satisfy you,” he whispered against her hair.
Pulling off her boots, jeans, and panties, he slid the boots back on, grinning as he did so. He pushed her back on the bed and she lay naked, except for boots, on the crisp, white coverlet of the hotel bed. “Oh yes, you are lovely, aren’t you?”
“A condom?” she whispered.
“Right here.” He pulled a package out of his pocket and tore the wrapper off with his teeth, smiling rakishly with one eyebrow raised. She couldn’t help thinking it was probably something he’d practiced in the mirror.
Nikki looked down to see the level of his arousal but it was difficult to gauge with him fully clothed. “Let’s take your pants off and you can make me feel lovelier.”
“Patience, darling.” He lowered himself on top of her and dove on her neck again. A move that held more drama than emotion.
Reaching down, Nikki unzipped him and managed to pull his pants a few inches down his long thighs. He wore skimpy bikinis and she hooked her thumb around an edge. So far she hadn’t felt a reason to get the briefs off but she couldn’t be certain.
As she tugged, his hand slid between their hips and undid her thumb. In one motion he raised his briefs to their starting position. Nikki unbuttoned his shirt. Skin on skin was her ultimate goal.
“No, not yet,” he whispered.
He was holding on to his clothes like a life preserver in a storm.
Running her hands up under his shirt, Nikki wondered why. From what she felt, he had the finely chiseled body she’d seen on screen and so far was doing very little with it. He was mostly gyrating around on top of her, fully clothed and kissing her neck. When he moved his hips back and forth on her pelvis he seemed to be concentrating on something. Whatever it was, it wasn’t her pleasure.
She waited, slightly annoyed that he was so out of touch with her lack of interest. She tried to pull his shirt off but he reached up and grabbed it. “Oh, no, you don’t,” he said, like she was a naughty schoolgirl.
Did he have shameful scars? A third nipple? It was dark in the bedroom. And besides, what would it matter? She was naked, and they were halfway to having sex, for God’s sake.
Before she realized what was happening, he bit her bottom lip then thrust his tongue down her throat. His hand slid between them and with some fumbling against her thighs, Nikki felt something slightly inflated try to slip into the V of her pubic area. The image of a softened breadstick came to mind and Nikki froze, wondering what was happening. He barely had enough there to make the plunge, which ended up being more of a slip and slide. Two little shoves later, he collapsed in a heap on her, panting. Or was he pretending to pant? She wasn’t sure.
Her face froze, her brow furrowed. The act was unlike anything she’d ever experienced before, not that she’d had many lovers. Listening to him breathe too lightly to have climaxed, Nikki was hesitant to ask if he was done. With two hundred pounds of muscle, motionless on top of her, she wasn’t sure what was going on. His heart wasn’t pounding against her chest. He wasn’t trying to regain a normal breathing rate.
“Is there anything I can do?” she whispered, stroking his back with one hand and reaching down with the other to wedge her hand in to assess the situation.
“What? No.” He grabbed her hand quickly. “That was great.” He lifted himself off her and stood. His bikini briefs were in their preferred position with little to fill them. He quickly slid his pants up and zipped.