One Simple Step (Journey Series) (11 page)

I looked back up at him as he smiled down at me, trying to catch my breath and will my head from spinning, from what basically amounted to some heavy petting. Damn, this boy was really screwing with my head, and my body, and I couldn’t help but love it.

I don’t know if this was the
someday more
thing going on, but whatever it was, I was going with it and I was hoping this high would be everlasting.

Chapter 12

Nick

I don’t know exactly when things between Ally and I changed, but I knew they were different now. I mean, I always felt an insane connection with her since the first second I saw her at Clammy’s, but I had been afraid we weren’t ready to take things any further.

I think maybe having her sleep in my bed for the night was possibly what pushed things over the edge. I had to have this girl be mine, and no one else’s.

It was a good thing my parents were in love after just one visit.

Their approval was important to me, especially since they never liked Kara. Obviously, they had known something I hadn’t, and their judgment was a hell of a lot better than mine was, but I didn’t need their opinion to know that Ally was special.

She had shown up looking sexy as hell in a tiny white dress that clung to every inch of her gorgeous body. Her hair had been pulled up, revealing her slim neck that I instantly wanted to bury my nose against, just to breathe in that scent of hers. I could tell she was nervous by the way she clung to me as we walked in the house, but I really didn’t mind.

Dinner went well, and then my dad pulled me into the garage to show me some car parts that I had seen a million times before. I knew he was just trying to distract me so my mom could talk Ally’s ear off, and get some kind of information out of her. My mom had been bugging me to bring her over ever since the first time I mentioned Ally’s name.

I was glad they were getting along, but all I really wanted to do was have Ally all to myself for a little while before she headed home. I knew her best friend was in town along with her older brother, and I understood that she wanted to get in as much time with them as possible.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow at work then. Say hi to everyone for me.”

I had to stop what we were just doing, or I’m pretty sure I would have pushed Ally right up against her car, burying myself deep, just so I could feel what it was like to be inside of her. Mom probably wouldn’t have been so happy with me, and our first time together was definitely not going to be like that. However sappy as it sounded, I wanted to make it special, because I knew without a doubt that there would be plenty of firsts for us.

Ally stared back up at me from the driver’s seat of her new car that she was so proud of; her wide blue eyes glittering as she gently touched her lips that mine had just left. She always did that after one of our kisses. I liked to think it was because she missed my lips being there.

I could kiss that girl all damn day.

“Oh, I’m just heading back to an empty place. Everyone’s out and probably won’t be back till later.” She gave me a shy look and, I swear, batted her lashes as she peered up at me, while biting her bottom lip.

“Um…do you think you want to come over for a little bit? I think I have a six-pack in the fridge.”

I’m almost certain she was playing the whole innocent act with me, but I didn’t need to be asked twice. I would love to do nothing more than to pick up right where we had just left off, but anything Ally was up for was fine with me, as long as I got to spend more time with her.

“Al, you don’t need to tempt me with beer, all I need to know is that you’ll be there, and I’m in.” She smiled as I dipped my head down to kiss the corner of her mouth and stood back up. “I’ll meet up with you in a bit.”

My phone rang just as I went to strap my helmet on, and I grinned when I saw it was Danny.

“Hey, dude. How’d it go with Ally? Did she drop your ass yet? Because you know I’m more than willing to take things over when you mess it up with all of this slow shit you think needs to happen. I’m just saying.”

“Yeah, Danny, I know you’d be more than willing, but I’m pretty sure Ally’s told you on more than one occasion that she’s not interested. And there’s no way in hell I would ever let that happen in the first place.”

Ally had actually taken a liking to Danny and my other friends. We hung out as a group at least once a week, and after a while, she fit in just like one of the guys, not some pampered princess who thought guys were gross and sports were boring. Having two older brothers probably helped.

Ally told me that one of the main reasons she had turned Danny down was because he reminded her of Teddy. But apparently she had judged the book by the cover, and now thought he was a pretty decent person. He was an ass most of the time, but once you broke through that shell, he really was a good guy.

“Right, buddy. Well, I’m sure your mom loved her. You wanna meet up at Clammy’s for a beer? That jackass Riley bailed on me.”

“Nah, can’t. I’m heading over to Ally’s.”

“Aw, yeah man. Is it finally happening between you two? You know, me and the guys have this running bet on how long it would take for the two of you to finally hook up. My money’s on—”

“I don’t wanna hear that shit, dude,” I interrupted. “Only the three of you would seriously bet on something like that. I’ll meet up with you another time, but I need to head out so Ally doesn’t think I ditched her.”

“We wouldn’t want that. Hey, I keep forgetting to ask you. Have you heard from Kara again?”

I groaned when Danny brought up her name.

Did he really have to try to ruin my night or something? I had been hoping that I was done with her, especially after meeting Ally, but that didn’t seem to be the case. She first called about a month ago, and I had been stupid enough to answer the phone. She kept insisting that she needed to meet up with me, which was the reason for her call.

I told her exactly where she could stick her little meeting.

She had been calling and texting ever since. Danny told me just to change my number, or that he would handle her crazy ass for me, and that she was just trying to mess with my head by fucking around with me. I knew that’s exactly what was going on. I wasn’t a dumbass, but her calls were wearing me down.

We did have something together for a really long time, after all. It wasn’t like I instantly hated her the second she ended our relationship. You just can’t turn those feelings off for someone, no matter how big of a bitch they are.

I had finally given in when she called for the tenth time earlier this morning. I just wanted to get it over with. There was no way in hell we were getting back together, and absolutely no possible way I was giving up Gunther if she tried to pull that bullshit again. We were done. I was trying to move on, and I really wanted that to be with Ally.

“Nah, I think she must have finally given up.” Luckily, I was telling him over the phone or he would know right away that I was lying. I didn’t need Danny to give me any shit about Kara still having me pussy whipped, so I wasn’t telling him that I was going to meet her.

“Sure,” he dragged out. I could tell he didn’t believe me, but he left it at that. “Well, have fun with Ally. Don’t fuck up and let that one get away.”

Not a chance that was going to happen. “Later.”

I knew what Danny meant without him even having to say it, and I thought about it the whole way to Ally’s place. There was no way in hell I would let Kara come back into my life. It took her ending our relationship for me to see just how unhappy we had been.

I couldn’t be myself with her, so yeah, maybe our relationship had grown a little boring, but last time I checked it took two people to make things work. Being with Ally had shown me a lot of what I had been missing all these years.

“Come in,” I heard through the door, and I twisted the knob to find it unlocked.

The living room and kitchen were completely dark, and the only light I could see was coming from the direction of Ally’s room. Clearly we were alone and Ally was taking advantage of it. We didn’t really hang out here too often since Remy worked third shift, and we didn’t want to interrupt her sleeping with watching movies and eating take out.

I had no clue what was going on in Ally’s head as she called me into her bedroom. I was hoping she wanted to take whatever happened earlier a little farther; even just an inch would be good with me.

“Hey, you really shouldn’t leave your front door unlocked. What if I was some—”

Any coherent thought completely left my head as I rounded the corner and saw Ally standing there in nothing but the pale pink lacy underwear I felt up earlier, and a matching bra. I think I literally died and went to heaven right there on the spot. Clearly, I had to be dreaming.

“Holy shit.”

Ally

I chewed on the inside of my cheek to stop myself from laughing at the reaction I was getting out of Nick. I had been nervous as hell just to throw myself on out there like this, but I had a feeling he really wouldn’t mind.

And apparently, he didn’t.

I could tell that Nick was trying to take things slow with our relationship, and I appreciated that he knew that’s what I needed. But at the same time, what I really needed right now, was him. I was done putting my life on hold just because one relationship hadn’t worked out. I wasn’t going to let another one
not
happen because of it.

Nick’s mouth was still hanging open as he stood in the doorway, just staring at me, so I stepped an inch closer. “I was just about to jump in the shower. Wanna come?”

He groaned when my hand landed on his chest, and reached out to wrap his arms around my waist. “More than you know,” he answered with a wink, and I couldn’t help but think that my question had two different meanings. I wonder which one he was answering.

“I think you’ve been a real dirty girl.” He lifted me off the floor, and I laughed, wrapping my legs around his waist as he headed towards the bathroom.

“Really? I think that was the cheesiest thing I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth.”

“Mmhmm,” he murmured against my neck as he held onto me with one hand and turned the shower on with the other. “I can guarantee you’ll love this mouth by the time I’m finished with you.”

Oh. My. God

Just him saying that had me squeezing my legs tighter around him to relieve the ache between my thighs, and wishing I had just skipped the whole showering idea. Can’t we just forget this and land right in my bed instead?

Somehow he managed to get both of our clothes off without ever setting me down. I couldn’t help but take in every inch of his well-defined body, and I knew from the heated stare he was giving me that he was doing the exact same thing.

My nipples brushed against his chest as he finally set me down under the steaming water, and they instantly perked up as his lips finally found mine. Every part of my body was humming as our mouths collided, and I tangled my fingers into his wet hair. He moved his hands slowly down my sides, over my stomach, and I whimpered when they finally landed on the inside of my thighs, teasing me with what was to come next.

One finger, and then another, slowly pushed in, twirling around. I was almost done on the spot as the water rained over both of us, and all that could be heard was our erratic breathing.

“Nick, I—” He cut me off with a hard kiss, before pulling back to softly murmur against my lips. “Don’t, just let go. I promise this is only the beginning.”

That was all I needed to push me over the edge as he pumped his fingers into me. I thrust my hips up, riding out the high for as long as I possibly could, moaning out his name and then slowly sliding to the shower floor. He soon joined me, pressing his forehead into mine before scooping me up into his arms, and walking both of us back into my bedroom, dripping wet.

He laid me down gently in the center of the bed and climbed over me, hovering over my body as his knee wedged in between my legs. His head dipped down to capture my nipple between his teeth, giving a slight pull, almost to the point of pain, but bringing a pleasure that was indescribable.

“So beautiful,” he whispered in a husky voice after he pulled away and stared down at me, balancing himself on his elbow. It was so dark that all I could really see was his blue eyes looking down at me, and they were filled with so much heat in that moment, I knew what we were doing was right. What we were doing was for all of the right reasons. We hadn’t rushed into it. It wasn’t some one-night stand, and this was just the beginning, in more ways than one.

I felt his thumb glide down my stomach and land on my hipbone before his lips followed, kissing a trail down the inside of my thigh. My legs opened up even wider for him as his mouth landed in between them, and I inhaled sharply as his tongue slipped inside and turned my world even more upside down.

My hands were running through his hair as he licked and swirled, and my back arched up when he added a finger. Warmth rippled all the way to my toes as I screamed out his name, thinking that I couldn’t handle anymore, right before I felt his body shift above mine and he pushed inside of me with one thrust.

Well, there goes that thought right there.

“You feel so damn good, Ally. Perfect.” I looked up to see his eyes squeezed tightly shut and the look on his face made me ready for round three.

I cinched my legs tight around his waist as he pulled my body towards him, and he buried his head against my neck as our haggard breathing filled the room. I couldn’t believe I was this close to my third time as he moved in and out of me, a quicker pace with each thrust. I felt myself coming apart once again as he whispered incoherent words into my ear. I threw my head back just as I felt it building, and I knew Nick was coming undone at the same time when he said my name in that husky voice and his fingers sunk sharply into my hips.

We collapsed together, our sweaty bodies sliding against one another, as Nick pulled me in close to him. I had a feeling we were both going to need another shower, but I also had a feeling Nick was far from being done as I felt his lips hit my ear and his hand stroking my bare back.