Just One More Breath (17 page)

Shawn

I hadn't heard a peep from Nicole all day, which hopefully meant she was having a successful reunion with Zena. It also meant she hadn’t turned her television on either. I had been on the local news websites all day and they all seemed to agree that a devastating storm was brewing and moving closer and closer to the city. I checked Nicole’s address and sure enough she lived in a zone one. So her neighborhood was expected to sustain severe flooding and damage from the storm.

My
work phone rang and I checked the caller ID. It was my mother, which meant she saw the news as well.

"Hey
, Mom," I said with a smile.

"Hey
, Shawny," she said sweetly and I cringed at her words.

"Did you watch the news?
There's a big storm coming and it's supposed to do some serious damage to Staten Island. They're saying everyone needs to evacuate," she continued ignoring my groans of annoyance.

"I know, I saw. I'm going to let Nicole know when I get to her place tonight
," I answered.

"How is she doing?"
my mother asked.

"She's good, her ex showed up yesterday and they went to her son
’s grave."

My
mother gasped. "Shawn, that's huge. How has she been since then?" Her words were full of hope.

"Better
. It's as if the chip on her shoulder is gone," I said, feeling good about the change.

"That's a good sign
, Shawn. Now is the perfect time for you to make your move," she cheered.

There were few things
I hated more than my mother giving me relationship advice, very few things. "What move, Mom?" I asked, playing ignorant.

"Don't play foolish with me
, boy,” my mother warned sternly.

“You’re trying to tell me that you don't like Nicole
?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"I do like her
," I agreed.

"Good
. Now is the time to act on that. I think she's ready."

I
could feel the big smile she was sporting. "Mom, she's grieving the loss of her son, she isn’t looking for love."

"She will always be grieving her son
, Shawn. That will never stop. But I honestly think Nicole is ready to be happy, and I know you are the man that will make her happy."

I
contemplated what my mother said for a good bit after our conversation ended. For many years, I’d sat back and wished for a chance with Nicole. Had the time really come for me to step up to the plate? I typed a text to Nicole telling her about the upcoming storm. I also let her know she could stay with me and to pack up my things along with enough things for at least a week.

When
we pulled up at my small apartment in Brooklyn, I felt nervous. Aside from the fact that my apartment was a serious bachelor pad, it was also a mess. I hadn’t been home in weeks, so I feared the smells and sights that awaited us. I had Nicole drive her car to my house just in case the flooding really turned out to be as serious as they were predicting. So while she pulled into a parking space, I made a mad dash inside to assess the situation. 

Just like
I suspected, my place smelled like a dump. I began to wildly throw everything in sight into garbage bags, and then I opened the windows and lit some candles. When Nicole knocked on the door, I grabbed the huge bags of trash, and then opened the door breathing like I just ran a marathon. I smiled at Nicole and slid past her to dump the trash, and then I motioned Nicole inside. “Come on in and I will go get the bags. Then I will show you around.” 

When
I came back inside I gave her quick tour of my place, and showed her where she could put her belongings.

Nicole
scrunched her nose as we walked past the kitchen. I caught a glimpse of her face and felt embarrassed. “I’m sorry, Nic. I know these aren’t your usual living conditions.” 

She looked at
me as if I was speaking a foreign language. “Shawn, I could tell you were trying to clean up before I got here. The kitchen still has a bit of a funk to it, but you have no reason to apologize. I really appreciate you letting me—”

Her words were interrupted by a loud shriek. Nicole rolled her ankle on a random shoe left in
my hallway; luckily I was able to catch her before she hit the ground.

“Shit! Nic, are you
alright?” I asked as I effortlessly pulled her up and into my arms. “I’m so sorry, sweetie,” I whispered into her ear.

She shook her head
. “I’m fine, it’s not broken or anything.” She tried to wiggle her foot and grimaced again. I didn’t believe her; I wanted to take a look at it for myself, so I carefully carried her over to the couch and set her down. Then I pulled the injured foot into my lap for further inspection. I frowned at the redness but felt relieved when I realized that the injury wasn’t serious. I could never forgive myself if she was seriously injured because of me. I gently slid her foot off my lap and fetched a bag of frozen peas from my freezer. I wrapped it in a few paper towels before placing it on Nicole’s injured foot.

I
alternated between icing her ankle and massaging it with my hands. Nicole made small whimpering noises as I worked over her leg. I placed the ice pack on her ankle again and then began slowly inching my hand upward, gently massaging the entire length of her leg. Squeezing and kneading her calf, and then finally up to her thigh. Nicole lay back onto the chair, enjoying my treatment. After a few seconds, I looked at her with a smirk on my face.

“You know
,” I murmured, obviously pulling her from a relaxing daydream, “If you wanted my hands on you, you didn’t have to fake injury. You could’ve just asked,” I said, adding wink for extra effect. 

Nicole gaped and placed a hand on her chest. “I did not fake that
,” she said convincingly. “I 
was
almost seriously injured in your pigsty of an apartment.”

I
held eye contact with her, my hands still working her leg over thoroughly. “You’ll have to excuse me, milady. I’ve been too preoccupied with someone else’s pigsty of a house to clean my pigsty of an apartment.”

Nicole narrowed her eyes at
me, I eyed her back, waiting for a response, but instead she closed her eyes and sank her teeth into her bottom lip. Something shifted in the air and it caused my cock to jerk in my pants and I shifted to relieve the discomfort of it pressing against the seam of my pants.

I
moved forward to make myself a bit more comfortable; Nicole exhaled and leaned forward at the same time, ramming her lips into mine violently. Her move caught me completely off guard and when I tried to pull away, she slid her fingers into my hair, locking me in place. Her brazen move made me mad with lust and I lowered her onto the couch. Then removed her hand from my hair and pinned both hands above her head. I had been in this situation with Nicole before, but this time I knew she was ready. This time it felt like two adults, doing exactly what we both desired.

Fucking hell. This girl ca
n kiss.
The kiss was passionate and HOT. I had never been kissed like this before.
She was devouring me.
Our tongues moved hungrily in and out of each other’s mouths in harmony. I was completely lost in her. She was teasing all of my senses in ways no other woman ever had and I loved every fucking second of it. I was hooked; the sexy look in her eyes as we kissed was mesmerizing. The delicious taste of her lips was intoxicating; and her sweet, sweet smell was invigorating.
She was aroused.
The feel of her sexy body as she writhed beneath me sent chills down my spine. And those sexy noises that slipped from her lips, orgasm inducing.

If
Nicole could get me this worked up by kissing me, I had no doubt that she would completely blow my mind if we were naked together. She moaned and ground against my body, but when she felt my erection, she gasped, breaking our connection, and ending the moment.
Holy shit that was intense
.
And holy shit I want more.

We
both sat up in the couch, trying to pull ourselves together. Nicole glanced at me with apologetic eyes. “I’m sorry I just threw myself at you like that.” She forced her mouth into a half smile. “I underestimated how good a masseuse you are.” She shrugged, obviously trying to lighten the mood. “We should just forget it happened,” she said, as she tried pulled herself to the edge of the couch, putting a bit of weight on her ankle and testing it out.

Oh no you don’t
, Mrs. Miller. I’m done playing games.

When
she grabbed the bag of frozen peas off the ground I pulled her back down onto my lap. “I can’t forget, Nicole,” I confessed. “I want to kiss you again, and I plan to.”

“Oh my
,” she said on a whisper. Her pulse was still racing. As was mine.

She must not have
realized that she was squeezing the bag of peas until it popped and semi frozen peas went flying all over the ground. I lifted her off me and left her in the living room cleaning up the mess, knowing that my words would be replaying over and over again. And hoping that she was feeling as hot, bothered, and anxious as I was.

Nicole

We
sat at the dining room table waiting for our Thai food to be delivered. After our sizzling make-out session we didn’t really say much with our lips, but we were constantly eyeing each other. The looks were heavy with want, need, and promises of delicious things, and I felt jittery. Shawn said he would kiss me again but I had no idea when. The suspense was killing me.

The
doorbell rang and I almost jumped out of my skin, which of course, made him laugh as he walked over to the front door. He returned a few minutes later with two bags of food. Shawn opened the bags and spread the items across his table like a buffet of Thai goodness. Then he picked up a plate and silently began scooping food onto it. Every so often, our eyes would meet and the look on Shawn’s face sent strings of electrical charges all through my body.
I really, REALLY wanted this man.

By the time
we both sat down to eat I was shaking with nervous anticipation. Everything he did turned me on. Every move of his hand, every blink of his eye, and every twitch of his lips. I tried desperately to contain myself while I ate, but not even the delicious food in front of me was enough to calm my nerves. I stole another look in Shawn’s direction and he was just…eating. No shakes, no shivers, no desperate squirming to take the edge off. Just eating.

I’m about to spontaneously combust, while he’s acting as cool as a cucumber?
I thought to myself. The word
cucumber
took my thoughts from PG-13 to Rated-R, and my face turned bright red. I sprang up from my seat and accidentally knocked my food over.

Shawn’s eyes widened
. “Nicole, are you okay?” he asked in a voice filled with concern.

“Yes, I’m fine
,” I replied, while simultaneously trying to scoop my noodles back onto the plate and get my breathing under control.

Shawn stood and made his way to
my side of the table. “Sit down,” he demanded gently while guiding me back onto the chair. “Why are you so antsy, Nic?” he asked as he knelt in front of me.

“I-I’m not nervous
,” I stammered, but even I could hear the anxiety in my voice.

Shawn grabbed
my hand and stared into my eyes. “Yes you are, you need to calm down, sweetie.”

I
tried to pull my hands away, mumbling something about them being dirty; in reply Shawn straightened my hand and sucked the leftover pad thai sauce off my fingers one by one. I shuddered and sank deeper into my seat with a loud exhale. Shawn paid special attention to my pinky, nibbling, and wrapping his magical tongue around it. I felt every sweep of his tongue over the pad of my finger on the tips of my rock-hard nipples.

When Shawn w
as satisfied with his cleanup job, his kisses began floating farther and farther up my arm. The electricity in apartment went out and it was at that moment that I realized while a storm of sexual tension had been brewing in this house, an actual thunderstorm had been happening outside. The sudden darkness did nothing to stop Shawn’s movements. When his cheek brushed up against my breast I moaned and pushed my chest outward in a silent plea. Shawn smiled and he squeezed and massaged them through my clothes. I wanted to feel his hands on my bare skin, so I reached for the hem of my shirt.

Shawn caught
my hands and halted my movements. “Slow down, baby,” he whispered, “there’s no need to rush, we’ve got all night to enjoy each other.”

My
throbbing pussy went from wet to completely drenched as he pulled me into a sweltering kiss. My hands fell away from my shirt and I wrapped them around Shawn’s body instead.

He slid
my body off the chair and onto his still-crouched body. I wrapped my legs around his waist and he stood effortlessly. When Shawn made it to an upright position our bodies aligned so that the seam of my jeans pressed firmly onto Shawn’s hard cock. I moaned as our lips met again. Need took over. I began to gyrate against him. Every time our bodies collided in that one perfect spot, I moaned into his mouth.

I
could hear the faint sounds of rain against his windows as Shawn carried me into his room. I was surprised that he was able to make it there safely; I couldn’t see anything but his highly aroused face as he walked. He set me gently on my feet and broke our kiss. Then in one smooth move, he knelt at my feet. Shawn lifted his hands towards the buckle of my jeans, but before he touched the button, he searched my eyes for permission.

I
nodded eagerly and Shawn chuckled, then he snapped my jeans open and slid them slowly down my thighs. I used his shoulders for leverage as I stepped out of my pants.

I
stood in front of Shawn, clad in a shirt and panties and his mouth hung open, making me feel sexy and wanted.

“I’m seriously fighting the
urge to press my face between your legs, Nicole,” he said in an aroused, sexy-as-hell tone.
Yep, dripping now.

I could see
the internal struggle written all over his face.

“But I want to take
things slow. A body like yours needs to be taken slowly.”

I’ve heard Zena use to term “swoon” when she spoke about books, but never have I ever felt like swooning
. Until now.

Shawn grabbed the hem of
my shirt and brought it over my head as he stood. Then laid me on the bed and stood back. Just then lightning struck and we got a good look at each other for the first time in what felt like hours. Shawn was clearly enjoying the view.

“You
are absolutely stunning,” he whispered. “Your eyes are low and glassy, and your lips are red and puffy.” He licked his lips and his eyes continued down my body. The nonstop flashes of lightening teased us. “Your nipples are fighting their way through the lace material of your bra,” he murmured hungrily. “I have never seen anyone more exquisite and I’m going to worship every inch of your body. Right. Now.”

Gulp. Bring. It

His words were full of all kinds of wicked promises, promises that I couldn’t wait for him to make good on. He lifted my leg. “And I’m going to start here.” He planted a wet, open-mouthed kiss to the arch of my foot. My entire body bucked off the mattress. I never imagined that a kiss on my foot could feel that good. Shawn continued his journey blowing my mind with his sweet words and even sweeter mouth.

“Even your knees are sexy
,” he whispered, passing his tongue over my knee. My head became fuzzy and my lungs burned with protest. It was only then that I realized that I had stopped breathing. Shawn’s next stop was my stomach, I tried to cover the scattering of stretch marks that covered my abdomen, but Shawn lightly slapped my hand away, and gave me a look of slight reprimand. Just as his eyes made their way toward my stomach, the bouts of lightening stopped.

The darkness had no effect on Shawn; he was a man on a mission. He passed his lips over
my stomach. “It’s going to take more than a blackout to get me to stop.” Then he continued licking and kissing my stomach. “Even these stretch marks are sexy. Do you know that, Nicole? Do you know how incredibly sexy everything about you is?”

I
shook my head, even though I knew he couldn’t see me. Shawn inhaled deeply as he slid farther up my body.

“These breast
s,” he said, moving the cup away and flicking his tongue over the tip of my stiff nipple, before slipping it into his mouth.

I
slipped my hands into his hair. “Oh, Shawnnn” I mewled.

Shawn spoke against the wetness left behind by his mouth
. “They’re perfect,” he said in amazement as he cupped them. “They fit perfectly into my hand.” He jiggled them up and down a few times to prove his point. “These breasts are mine, Nicole.”

I
giggled a response. However, Shawn wasn’t joking, he lowered his voice. “Say it Nicole, say they’re mine,” he demanded.

Thunder rumbled outside, like the perfect background music to his words.
I had become the Ana to his Christian with those words.

Those moves sent jolts of pleasure straight to
my pussy. I moaned. “They’re yours, Shawn.” My words satisfied him, and he continued. His next stop caught me off guard. Shawn placed his hand on the left side of my chest. “This heart.” He kissed my lips and lightening flashed, giving us a good look at each other. “I know it’s broken, Nicole, but I want to use my love to mend the broken pieces.”

A few tears streamed down
my face. Didn’t Shawn know that he was already mending my heart? Didn’t he know how much he’d helped me? That he’d literally brought me back to life? Of course he didn’t know, I’d never told him. And what did he mean by using his love? Did this mean that he wanted to be with me? I was just about to ask Shawn what he meant, but his next movement stopped all thought.

Shawn rolled to his side and pushed his pants and boxers down his legs. Then he hovered over
me again, his rock-hard cock brushed against the inside of my leg.

“This isn’t just sex
, Nicole, I want to make love to you,” he said sweetly.

My
hips moved, desperate to feel him inside of me.

“And this isn’t a one
-time thing. If we do this we belong to each other, just you and me, Nicole.” 

I
grabbed him and pulled him forward, moving him so he could became one with me. Joining us in the most intimate way possible and silently answering his question.

Despite
not having had sex in so long, Shawn had me completely wet, soft, and ready before he eventually slipped on a condom. I never expected to be on the receiving end of the extremely gifted and sexy Shawn Burns. Thankfully he took his time, easing in my opening inch-by-inch, careful not to force too far in at once. At times it felt like my muscles were forcing Shawn back out, but he kept pushing on.

I
gasped and groaned sounds of pained-filled pleasure into Shawn’s mouth as he kept thrusting forward. He worked at it until I felt his balls touch the curve of my ass. Then he took a moment to catch his breath as I tried to adjust to the feel of him inside me.

“I’m surprised I was able to get all the way in without coming
,” Shawn admitted with a laugh.

“Trying to stroke my ego
, Mr. Burns?” I asked.

“Hell no
, woman. You feel more amazing than I ever thought a woman could feel. Your pussy is warm and snug, and I fit perfectly.”

He
held me tightly in his arms and made slow circles with his waist while he continued pleasuring me with his fingers. This man was a god between the sheets, and I was in a state of euphoria I hadn’t known existed. It had been so long since I had felt this connection to a man. It had been so long since I had felt this turned on. He increased his pace, and I moaned. He kissed me so passionately. The feel of his skin against mine was electrifying. The rhythmic collisions with pleasure brought me to an unexpectedly fast orgasm.

“Oh, Shawn
,” I panted in between breaths. “You’re making me feel sooooo good, baby.”

He
grunted. My words made him tremble. I grabbed his back and pulled his hard body onto mine. My nipples pressed against his chest and the mixture of our perspiration enhanced the contact, driving me insane. I ran my nails up and down his back and sunk my teeth into his shoulder.

He
pumped and worked his way to the peak, screaming my name as he climaxed. Kissing me all over my face, loving me, adoring me. I felt relaxed, content, and maybe even happy.

I
smiled from ear to ear. “Nicole, I love you.”

His words covered
me like a fluffy warm blanket, melting all of the brittle ice inside me. Those three simple words nudged my heart out of its extended hibernation, bringing it back to life.  I answered in a small, almost nonexistent voice, “I love you too, Shawn.”

He
hugged me into him, into the same position we’d slept in countless nights before. Only this time it felt different. I exhaled, feeling pleased, blissful, and then slipped into the best sleep I had had in a very long time.