One Simple Step (Journey Series) (16 page)

I needed to take a walk after that. I knew she was hurting and confused, but I needed a minute. I felt like I wanted to pound a hole into the wall, throw something, or better yet, beat that fucker’s ass for touching my girl like that. I know that sounded dumb. They were technically married and all, but still—Ally was mine and I was hers.

I came back into the room to find her in tears so I quickly dropped to my knees, wrapping her in my arms, and telling her that everything was okay. That I wasn’t giving up on us, when us had just started.

“You still want me?” she whispered, her voice muffled as she spoke against my chest. I pushed on her shoulders, so I could see her face, and moved her hair back.

“Ally, of course I still want you. We both made mistakes by not talking things out. Let’s not just jump to conclusions right away ever again, alright?”

I should have told her right then what was going on with Kara. I should’ve, but I didn’t. I didn’t want anything else to get in the way of what we had.

“Nicholas, where are you, honey?”

“In here, Mom,” I yelled from my bedroom, gaze locked on the stark white ceiling. I was hoping it would give me some answers, or something. Anything. All I could really think about was Ally. She was probably the one reason I hadn’t gone insane, yet.

“Why are you sitting in the dark?” The lights flipped on, causing me to squint my eyes, and I groaned when she threw a pillow at me. “And why are you lying in bed in the middle of the day? I know something’s wrong, Nicholas. A mother just knows these things.”

I rolled my eyes as I sat up, and hers turned into narrow slants as she studied me. “I know it can’t be anything with Ally because, well, you two are perfect. I still can’t get over the fact that the whole family instantly fell in love with her when they met her at the wedding. It would be pretty hard not to.”

I silently nodded my head in agreement and smiled at the memory of taking her to my cousin Maria’s wedding a little over a month ago. We danced together almost the whole night, even though all of my cousins and uncles tried to cut in non-stop, wanting to dance with the ‘angel’, as they called her, which I had brought as my date.

I made it clear that Ally was more than just a date, and they could all kiss my ass if they thought they were prying her out of my hands. She buried her head in my chest to muffle her laughter as I glared at my family. It had been cute when my aunts got ahold of her, and she turned beet red when they insisted our wedding would be the next one in the family.

I knew what Ally was thinking. She had just gotten out of a marriage, and it definitely wasn’t something we had talked about. I had no clue if she even wanted to get married ever again. But I had a feeling if she did, I would make sure that it was to me.

“Nicholas.” Mom snapped her fingers in front of my face twice, pulling my attention back to her.

“Yeah, Mom. No, it’s nothing to do with Ally. I just have some sh—some stuff to figure out right now. Nothing that I can’t handle. ” I corrected my language quickly, while lying straight to my mother’s face. I hated doing that.

She patted my cheek, and smoothed a non-existent wrinkle on my bedspread. “Alright, son. Well, if you need to talk, you know I’m here. I’m sure your job has you a bit stressed out anyway. How did you manage getting today off?”

“I have a new assistant manager that I’ve been training for a while to take over my old position. I figured he was finally ready for a day on his own.” I sneaked a glance at my phone to make sure I hadn’t gotten any phone calls from Aaron. Nope. That was a good sign.

Aaron had worked at the resort for the past couple of years. He started to show interest in a management position when Leo was getting ready to leave, so I had taken him under my wing to show him the ropes. It was nice to have someone there that I could depend on, and not have to constantly worry that the place was gonna burn down while I wasn’t there.

The only thing that I didn’t like about him was that he seemed to have a thing for Ally. I made it pretty clear to him that it was never happening after I caught him staring at her ass one day when she wore one of those tight skirts. It was hard not to look at it. I had been doing the exact same thing when I caught him, but she was my girl, only I had the rights to it.

“Oh, that’s good, honey. You work too much, so it’s nice to have some extra time and what better way to spend it than with Ally. She called me a little while ago and said that she’s picking up some paint rollers on her way over. I put some sandwiches in the fridge for the two of you, and the paint’s on the table. I like all of the colors you picked out, but don’t you think the yellow for the extra bedroom looks a little bit like a nursery color. Oh my God!” She covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes getting wide. “Is Ally pregnant? Please tell me she is, Nicholas. How could you have not told me?”

“Mom.” I grabbed onto her hand that was literally shaking with excitement. “Calm down. Ally’s not pregnant.” I swallowed over the lump in my throat. “It’s just a paint color. Ally said I should do something neutral, so I picked that.”

“Oh.” Her face dropped but she quickly replaced it with a bright smile. “Well, I’m going to get out of your hair. You two have a fun afternoon together,” she sang, wiggling her eyebrows at me, and I groaned as I pushed her towards the door.

“Bye, Mom.”

Ally showed up just as I was setting sandwiches out onto the counter, along with paper plates and two bottles of water. I wasn’t sure exactly how much painting we would end up getting done. I tended to get a little distracted whenever she was around.

The place was looking good, though. There were new hardwood floors throughout that made it much more convenient when coming in from outside with sandy feet, and I had refinished the cabinets and installed new countertops in the bathroom and kitchen. Painting was last on the agenda, even though I should’ve probably done it first. Ally was really the one pushing me to do it. She said she couldn’t stand looking at the ugly paint that had been covered up by the aged wood paneling we’d removed.

“Hey, handsome.” She placed a kiss on my cheek before grabbing a sandwich and dropping two bags on the table. She slid backwards onto the counter, and I wedged myself between her legs, my hands landing on her bare thighs. I loved how at home she was, and how everything just seemed better all-around when she was here.

“You ready to get this over with?”

She threw her head back and let out a loud laugh. I loved hearing that sound, especially when we were alone because it seemed to turn me on and then I could do very dirty things to her. “I promise it’s really not that bad. We’ll make it fun, and it’ll be over before you know it.”

We got started once we finished our lunch. I was amazed at how efficiently she worked, and really, it didn’t end up being that bad. “I don’t know about this color.” Ally scrunched up her nose as she stood back, arms crossed over her chest, causing the tops of her boobs to pop out from the tiny white tank top she had on even more. I had been itching to rip it off ever since she showed up.

“What’s wrong with it? I like green.”

“I know you like green, but do you really want to wake up to this every morning? I feel like I’m inside of a Christmas tree.”

“Actually, yes. And you’re my present that I get to unwrap every morning.” I yanked her towards me, and kissed the top of her head as she buried her face in my chest and giggled.

“Well, okay then I guess I can’t argue with that.” She pushed against me with both hands, and wagged one finger at me. “Hands off, we’re almost done.”

Damn, I loved this girl.

She knew it, too. I couldn’t help myself when I said it late one night, while she sat on my lap and we stared out into the inky black water. She leaned her head against me and it just felt so right. I was nervous as hell that she wouldn’t say it back, even though that wouldn’t change how I felt.

I knew it was fast, especially after we had both just come out of long-term relationships, but I didn’t care. I about pissed my pants when she said it right back without skipping a beat. The timing was right for both of us, and our relationship seemed to get even better after that, if that was possible.

What I really wanted to do, what I felt would be the next step up in our relationship, was to ask her to move in with me. She was already here a few nights a week, and I missed her like hell when I woke up to an empty bed on the nights she wasn’t. But I wasn’t so sure I should. I was being held back by the curveball that Kara had thrown at me. It could change my life for good, and I wasn’t so sure how Ally would react to it. One of the main reasons I hadn’t told her, and instead, was holding it in, letting it rip me apart on the inside.

“There. I guess it doesn’t look so bad.” Ally took a long sip of her water, emptying the bottle and chucking it in my direction. She of course missed.

“Oh, you’re gonna pay for that.”

“Really?” She giggled, quirking one eyebrow at me. “How?” I answered with a swipe of the lovely green paint that she loved so much.

Her mouth fell open and she touched her wet cheek before I saw her eyes light up, and I knew what was coming. It was game on.

She came at me with a roller, and I was so glad we had put drop cloths down because I could tell that this was going to be one hell of a mess, but a fun one.

I grunted as she hit me right in the chest with a roller and we both fell backwards. “Ow!” Ally rubbed her forehead that had bumped into mine when we landed. I craned my neck to kiss it, but before I could, her hand shot up, smearing paint across my face.

We rolled across the floor after that, taking turns swiping paint onto each other, so when we were finally finished, we were both covered from head to toe. “We’re a complete mess,” Ally stated, rolling out from underneath me since I had her pinned against the floor. Just where I wanted her to be. “Let’s take a shower,” she suggested as she stripped out of her clothes, leaving a trail behind her as she made her way to the bathroom. Well, on second thought…

“That sounds like a great idea,” I said pulling my shirt over my head as I hurried to catch up and she squealed when my hand smacked her bare ass. I made quick work of my shorts, and we were both standing in the steamy bathroom, naked but still covered in paint.

“I don’t think I like this color.” I grazed her stomach with my hands, and she sucked in a deep breath, holding herself up against the bathroom counter. “I love it, on you at least.”

The feel of her bare skin against mine was almost too much to handle, and when her hand slipped in between us, her fingertips feathering over my hardness, I about came unglued on the spot. I could barely stand it, but I needed more.

My hands fisted into her hair, tipping her face up to mine, and I attacked her mouth and jaw, licking and nipping as she twisted her hips against me. I cupped her ass with one hand to pull her harder into me, and she complied, knowing exactly what I needed by wrapping her legs tightly around my waist. “So wet and ready for me,” I murmured into her neck as my hand disappeared to explore.

“Nick,” she panted out, squeezing her eyes shut before popping them back open, her blue eyes full of want. And I wanted nothing more than to give her exactly what she wanted. She dug her nails into my backside, trying to guide me wordlessly, but I definitely didn’t need any instructions.

I pushed quickly inside, letting out a loud sigh as I entered her warmness.

Pure. Fucking. Heaven.

Her hips arched off the countertop to meet mine every time, and I picked up the pace in a hurried frenzy. Her head fell back, and I dropped my lips down to take her nipple into my mouth, pulling one of her legs up even higher against me, filling her as much as possible.

“Oh my...” Ally couldn’t even finish her sentence as her breathing quickened, and I couldn’t blame her, it wasn’t that easy to think when this right here was happening. I pulled out almost completely, and she whimpered once with need, before I slammed back into her, and her hips pushed back down to meet me.

That was all she needed. Her body shuddered around mine, and I rocked into her once more, before I was right there with her. I let my body weight completely cover her, and she giggled pushing at my chest. “Um…my ass is in the sink.”

I peeked over her shoulder to see that all of our movement had slid her practically across the counter and one of her very fine looking ass cheeks was hanging over the sink. A low laugh rumbled up from my chest, but she gave me a look that instantly shut me up. I could tell she wasn’t amused.

I pulled out slowly, groaning at the loss of connection between our bodies. I would be inside of her all day for the rest of my life if I could, but I don’t think she would really go for that.

I lifted her up, and she wrapped her body around mine once again. “How ‘bout that shower then?”

“Okay,” she whispered against my neck, and just with that simple answer, I knew we would be doing a whole lot more than showering, and I was all set to go.

This girl was absolutely blowing my mind.

Chapter 17

Ally

I pushed myself up on one elbow, and put my chin in my hand as I stared down at Nick with a smile. My finger traced over the well-defined muscles in his bare, tan stomach, and I hitched a leg over his to snuggle my body closer into his warmth.

I couldn’t believe how far we had come in such a short amount of time.

Teddy kept to his promise, and a week after the night he had dropped back into my life unexpectedly, I received the divorce papers from his lawyer’s office. All that was needed was my signature, and things moved pretty smoothly after that.

I didn’t want Teddy’s money. I wasn’t some money grubbing ex that planned to take her husband to the cleaners. Teddy was right though, when he said that I had basically been their manager for the past couple of years, and when he proposed one lump sum instead of monthly alimony, I agreed.

So, I was officially divorced, and a free woman.