Crossroads (25 page)

I feel like I am floating on a cloud the whole way to work.  Even though my head is pounding with the after-effects of drinking, I am deliriously happy.  I can still feel Nick on my lips (and everywhere else) and still see the crinkles near his beautiful eyes when he smiles his sexy smile and those dimples, god I love those!   But the thing I’ve decided I’ll miss most when he is gone is his deep, sexy voice.  I’ve gotten used to hearing it every day and I know it won’t be so easy to stay in contact over the phone once he leaves.  Facebook, texting, emails will be great, but unfortunately they won’t bring the sound of his voice to me.  And that’s why I find myself pulling my phone out of my bag and dialling his number.

“
Hello.”

“Hey.”

“Are you almost at the city?” he asks.

“Yeah,
the train is about to pull into Flinders Street Station.”

“So what
’s up?”

“
Nothing,” I say.  “Just wanted to hear your voice.”

“Oh you miss me already?”

“Well you know how sexy you are, how could I not?”

“True.  It is understandable
, I suppose.”  I can hear the smile in his voice.

“Well I’ve got to go,” I say as the train stops.

“Have a good day Em.”

“You too, I’ll see you tonight.”

I hang up the phone and make my way out of the station.  Heading towards my building, I notice the large pieces of tinsel and the baubles decorating the busy Melbourne streets, reminding me that it’s almost Christmas.  With everything that has been going on, I haven’t given Christmas a single thought.  Normally by now, I would have a tree up in my apartment and done at least half of my gift shopping, but I haven’t even started.  I’m normally a big fan of Christmas, but Nick has consumed me so much that I find myself not caring about it at all. 

I am just about to enter my building when my
phone begins to play ‘I’m Sexy and I know it.’

“
What’s up?” I ask in way of greeting, repeating Nick’s earlier words.

“
Nothing, just wanted to tell you I love you.”  My heart jumps and I stop dead in my tracks with my hand on the door handle.

“I love you too Nick, so much.”

“Good.  Now go, have a great day wasting away at your computer,” he says and hangs up.

***

Wasting away at my computer is exactly what I do,
all day
.  Sophie has given up on trying to make conversation as my mind constantly drifts back to Nick every time we start one.  Apparently my “phasing out” was making her nauseous, so she gave up talking to me and we have been working in silence all afternoon.

Renee, the receptionist
, buzzes my phone informing me that my mum is on the line.  Instantly I’m concerned, she rarely calls me at work.

“Hi Mum.”

“Hello darling, I’m sorry to bother you at work.  I just wanted to let you know I have to cancel dinner tonight.  I’m not feeling the best and neither is your father.  We’ve both got terrible colds.”  She coughs then as if to punctuate her sentence.

“Oh no, you poor thing, you sound terrible.”

“Your dad’s even worse.  It will be soup and early to bed for us tonight.”

“In the middle of summer too.
  That sucks.”

“It sure does.  And I’m sorry I won’t get to meet Nick. 
Maybe next week?”

“Oh, he’s actually going to be in Greece next week.”

“He what?”  She coughs again.

“Yeah
, he’s going to Greece for a month.”

“Oh wow, that sounds exciting!  I bet he’ll have a great time, I’ve always wanted to go to Greece.”

“You have?”

“Oh yes, and Italy and France and England, maybe one day.”  She coughs yet again. 
“A whole month away?  That sounds great.  Oh, but he’ll miss spending Christmas with you, that’s a shame.”

Mum is also a big fan of Christmas.  In fact, now that I think about it, her Christmas tree was up when I went for dinner last week.  Huh, I must have been really distracted if I’ve only just realised that.

“Well I guess we’ll just have to meet him when he gets back.  He can show us all of his pictures and we can live vicariously through him.  When does he get back?  Maybe we can pick a date and have a few others around too.  Have a barbie or something, we haven’t done that in a while with a big group, we can invite the Greenes’.”

And that’s where I have to stop my Mum.  She is getting excited about an event that’
s not going to happen.  So I proceed to tell her all about Nick and his travel plans and I even tell her that he’s been living with me.  I find that once I start talking, I can’t stop, not when it becomes about Nick anyway.  By the time I finish giving her the PG rated details of everything that has been happening in my life, it’s way past home time.  Sophie left partway through the call and I have been gas-bagging a further fifteen minutes since then.  By the time I hang up the phone, Mum is exhausted with her head cold and about ready for bed, I think, and I feel so much lighter, like a burden has been lifted.  I needed that talk with her.

***

When I get home I find Nick in the bathroom shaving.  He watches me in the mirror as I come up behind him and he gives me a sexy smile.

“What are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” he asks, sarcastically.

“Yeah but, I liked that ruggedly handsome look on you,” I say with a pout, wrapping m
y arms around his waist and tucking my head into his side.

“Well
, I want to make a good impression when I meet your folks.”  He continues to shave.  That’s when I take in the rest of his attire.  He is wearing a good pair of jeans with a nice white button-up shirt, nothing too fancy but a bit dressier than what he normally wears.

“O
h!  Dinner’s cancelled, sorry.”  He stops what he’s doing and watches my reflection.  “That’s why I’m so late home.  Mum called to cancel and then we got to talking.  She and Dad both have nasty colds and aren’t up to visitors.”

“That’s a pity.”

“Especially when you’ve gone to so much trouble.  I should have called you.”

He turns to me and tilts his head down, kissing me and covering my face with shaving cream before I have a chance to move my head out the way.

“Yuck!” I say through a smile, wiping at my face with the back of my hand.  He hands me a towel and chuckles, then turns back to the mirror to finish the last of his shaving.

“Well I guess I’m taking you out for dinner then.  Go get changed.”

Em’s
eyes light up when I tell her to go get changed.  They light up in a way that is becoming very familiar to me.  In those beautiful green eyes that are focused on mine in the mirror I can see love, and warmth, and desire, and it is such a wonderful feeling to be the one to put that light there.  She kisses me on my shoulder and then starts stripping off her clothes, keeping her eyes focused on mine in the mirror.

“I might have a shower first,” she says seductively.

I pull the plug from the sink and watch her in awe.  I turn to lean against the bench, folding my arms across my chest as I watch her take the last item of clothing from her body.  She winks at me and then faces the shower, turning on the taps.

“You are such a tease,” I say, forcing myself to remain leaning against the bench.  It takes all my strength to keep from touching her. 
If I do though, I know I won’t be able to stop and for some reason I feel the need to prove to her that I can be a gentleman.

“Yep
, you created a monster,” she says tapping me on the nose, before stepping into the shower.  My eyes linger a little longer, before I slap on some aftershave and then force myself to leave the room.  Walking away from my naked, gorgeous, and wet girlfriend with a stiffy between my legs is not an easy thing to do.  However, knowing I will be sharing a bed with her later does make it a little easier.  Some delayed gratification never hurt anyone.

Ever since I did a strip tease for Nick in the bathroom, I have been in a heightened state of arousal.  The scent of his aftershave has been invading my nostrils and it’s driving me crazy, especially now that we’re stopped at a set of traffic lights in the confines of Nick’s car.  My eyes drift in his direction and I drink him in.  He is tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ by Keane and staring out the windscreen.  My eyes wander over his body, from his manly hands, along his perfectly toned arms, the side profile of his face.  I lick my lips, staring at his strong jaw that I want to kiss.

“Stop looking at me like that,” he says with his eyes still on the road.  “I
’m taking you to dinner, but you’re making me want to turn the car around.”

“What?  I’m not doing anything,” I say with a smirk.  Then I bite my lip
to tease him some more.

He looks over at me with heat and desire swarming in his eyes.  His hand reaches over to my bare leg and his finger lightly trail
s up my thigh, making my skin tingle in its wake.  His fingers reach the hem of my summer dress, but he doesn’t take his eyes off my mouth.  I thought I was excited before, now I feel about ready to explode and he’s barely done a thing.  The car behind us toots its horn reminding us of where we are.  Nick removes his hand and faces the now green light, putting his foot down hard on the accelerator.

A few minutes later Nick is parking his car at a group of restaurants
along the beach.  He shuts the engine off and turns to me.

“Stay right there,”
he says, before jumping out.

I watch him round the front of th
e car and then he opens my door.  He takes my hand and pulls me up against him for a moment, nuzzling my neck.  His body pressed hard against mine, his hot tongue circling below my ear and his warm breath tickling me.

“So, what do you feel like… eating?” he whispers seductively in my ear sending a shiver
down through my body and a bolt of pleasure right to my core.  He moves back to look at my face, giving me a wink.  His hands move to cup my cheeks and he gently and slowly kisses me on the lips.  I just about melt right then.  When he moves back, leaving me wanting more, I almost collapse from weak knees.

“So not fair!”
  I grab hold of his biceps to steady myself.

“Payback for the bathroom I think
.”

“No, you have been teasing me since we left
home, you’re not playing nice at all.”

He laughs
huskily, grabs hold of my hand and pulls me towards the strip of restaurants.  It’s still light out because of daylight saving and it’s rather warm with a light sea breeze, the perfect night to sit outside to eat.  We step up onto the boardwalk and casually stroll hand in hand past the restaurants until one catches my eye.  Nick notices and stops walking.

“How about here?” he asks.

“It looks perfect,” I reply, eyeing the quiet restaurant with red and white chequered tablecloths and chianti bottles with lit candles in them.

“Italian it is then.”

We take a seat at one of the tables and grab a menu each.  My eyes bulge when I see the prices.

“Whoa
, look at how expensive it is.” I whisper to Nick, “We can go somewhere else.”

“Don’t worry about that, I’m paying and you deserve it.  Have a look around Em.”

I look around the decking where we are seated.  We have the whole section to ourselves and a view out to the water.  The flickering candles and the dimming sky make for a very romantic setting.

“
It is beautiful,” I say.

“Yeah you are,” he says, drawing my eyes to his, “and this is the kind of place you deserve to be taken to by the man who loves you.”

Em
nudges her chair closer to me and her hand finds mine under the table.  Our fingers link together on my thigh.  We lean in to one another, our breath intermingling.

“That has got to be the most romantic and beautiful thing anyone has ever said to me,”
she whispers, her eyes full of desire and warmth.  It doesn’t seem right that it has taken so long for Em to hear those words.

“I apologi
se for taking so long to say it.”

C
losing the gap between us, I plant my lips on hers.  Our kiss is short-lived because that’s when the waiter chooses to come over.  We order a couple of Cokes and politely send him away so we can look at the menu.  Our hands remain locked together under the table while we share a menu, each holding one side.

“What do you feel like? 
Pizza, pasta, or something else?”

“Hmm, pasta I think,” she says still looking at the menu.

“Really?  I was hoping your answer would be
something else
,” I say, moving our joined hands from my thigh to hers.  I rub my finger gently along her skin, inching up her dress and lean in to kiss her again.  She kisses me back briefly and then pulls her lips away, squeezing my hand.

“I think you need to behave yourself.”  She gives me a flirty smile.  I move my lips to just below her ear
. “Or not,” she says with a sigh, pushing her neck closer to me.  She stops my hand from going under her dress and I extract my mouth from her skin with a chuckle.

“I think
you
need to behave.  Stop looking so damn sexy.”  The last of my words is heard by the waiter who is now placing our drinks in front of us, he smiles at us which of course causes Em’s cheeks to redden.  “Here,” I say, pushing her glass towards her, “You’re looking a little flushed.”  She reddens even more and kicks me under the table making me laugh.

The waiter takes our order and I notice
Em has a hard time looking him in the eye because of my embarrassing comments.  I love teasing her; she is always so easily riled.

As the restaurant isn’t very busy it doesn’t take long for our garlic bread and pasta to arrive.  Em and I constantly touch in small ways while we chat and eat our meals.  We’re like two magnets,
always drawn back to each other for some skin on skin contact.  I find myself wondering about how difficult it will be not having physical contact with her while I’m away.  Long distance will be so hard.  And will it be the same between us when I return?  Will we still be like two magnets?  Or will it fade?

“I’m stuffed.  That was delicious, but I cannot eat any more,” Em says, pushing the bowl in my direction. 
“All yours.”  Of course I don’t hesitate to dig in, my bowl is already empty.  “I really like it here,” she says.

“You think this is nice, just imagine what it would be like to eat
real Italian food in Italy.  You could sit outside a café, eating delicious pasta, drawing pictures of Tuscan villas and beautiful landscapes.  You could sell those gorgeous pictures for money.”

“Nick-”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.  I’ll let it go.”  I finish off the rest of Em’s pasta and push the bowl aside.  “But I’m still hoping you’ll change your mind.”