One Simple Step (Journey Series) (9 page)

I nodded my head in response, and let him carry me out of the water, my legs locked around his waist the whole time. He walked us through the house, flicking on lights along the way, until we ended up in the bathroom attached to his bedroom. He sat me on the countertop, and moved to the shower, the tiny space quickly filling up with steam.

“Here, let me help with these so you can get warmed up.”

All of a sudden, I felt like an awkward, prepubescent girl again when he stepped in front of me, and his fingers landed on the bare skin underneath my t-shirt. “Um...” Any other words caught in my throat as he slowly peeled my shirt up and over my head, and I mentally thanked God that I had worn a sports bra underneath it.

He remained silent as he stared at me, his eyes filled with a look that I hadn’t seen before, before he quickly shook his head, backing up a step. “Towels and washcloths are under there.” He pointed to the cabinet that I was sitting on. “And I’ll throw one of my t-shirts in for you. Need anything else?”

You.
At least that’s what I wanted to say.

But instead, I shook my head and he left, closing the door quietly behind himself. Well, that was confusing. I felt a mixture of disappointment and relief, which was a pretty odd combination. I wasn’t sure I was ready for that next step, with Nick or anyone at this point.

I actually felt thankful to Nick for not attempting to take it further, when he most certainly could have. I don’t think there was a question as to what would have happened, seeing as how my mind had been a giant blob, and I turned into mush whenever Nick touched me.

Chapter 10

Nick

It took everything I had in me to leave Ally sitting half-naked on my bathroom counter.

She looked gorgeous, her hair dripping wet from the water, and her clothes clinging to her body. Lucky shirt.

Her blue eyes widened as I helped strip off her clothes, my fingers lightly sinking into her smooth skin, being electrified by every simple touch.

Well, most of her clothes.

If I had helped with those tiny ass shorts of hers that hugged every inch of her curves, I probably wouldn’t have been able to stop myself. And I could tell that Ally had been having pretty much the same reaction. I think I even heard a tiny moan escape those plump lips of hers that were still swollen from our little make out session.

I hadn’t had one of those since high school, but with Ally, I could do it every damn minute of the day.

What I really needed right now was a cold ass shower, but I guess I was just going to have to find another way to deal with my
problem.
Think about…football. Yeah, I
guess
that could work.

I stripped out of my wet clothes and threw on a pair of pajama pants, thinking the issue had been taken care of, until I stopped outside of the bathroom door and heard Ally singing loudly through the door, something about ‘putting it right there’. Damn, what in the hell was this girl trying to do, make me explode in my pants like a twelve-year old boy?

And I thought I was gonna end up having a shitty night after the phone call I got earlier.

Yeah, I really couldn’t think about that right now, especially when I saw the door swing open and Ally standing there in my t-shirt, looking sexy as hell with one hand on her hip.

“Do you really expect me to get back to Remy’s in only this?” She pointed at the shirt, the only thing I had tossed in there for her, and raised her eyebrows at me.

“Hell, no. I would have to beat the shit out of every guy you walked past, then. I figured you could just stay here with me for the night, that’s why I just gave you a shirt.” I bit my tongue, waiting for her response.

I think we were walking a very thin line right now, between the friends and the
maybe someday more
. Or maybe that line had become blurred out in the water, because friends most certainly didn’t do that. Unless, I guess, they had some sort of friends with benefits thing going on, but I didn’t want to give Ally that kind of impression because that definitely wasn’t what I wanted.

I wasn’t some jackass just looking for a fuck buddy. Never had been, and probably never would be. I would leave that to Danny.

But at the same time, I didn’t want to jump into something, and think it was my forever without knowing first. I thought that with Kara, and look where that had gotten me. A knee to the balls, and one big giant “F-U.”

Ally was still just staring at me with her eyebrows lifted, a small smile playing on that mouth of hers. I really just wanted to have those lips on mine again, but I didn’t want to give her the wrong idea of why I asked her to spend the night.

“Besides, you look way better in my shirts than I do. But if you want, I’m sure I can find something for you to wear back to Remy’s. If you want,” I added again. “But I’m tired as hell, and I figured we would just get to sleep. We wouldn’t want that asshole boss of yours to be pissed if you show up for work late.”

“I guess I can stay,” she finally answered nonchalantly, with a slight shrug of her shoulders. “But only if I get the bed.” She laughed as she ran past me, and took one giant leap, her long legs flying through the air before she landed with a bounce on my bed.

“Well, I’m not that nice of a guy.” I jumped on to the bed next to her, and she squealed when my fingers sunk into her sides, hitting the exact two spots I knew were her most ticklish. I mean, couldn’t even breathe, almost pissing her pants kind of ticklish.

It was the sexiest thing ever having her squirm underneath me. Someday she would be squirming underneath me for something else too.

But it wasn’t going to be tonight.

“I plan on sleeping right next to you all night, if you don’t mind sharing.” Luckily, she gave me a quick shake of her head in answer, and an almost…shy look? I didn’t know that was even possible with Ally. She was probably one of the most confident women I had ever met, even when she was at her lowest.

At first, it seemed a little awkward between the two of us when I hit the lights, and Ally crawled under the blankets. I could hear her breathing quietly, but I knew she wasn’t asleep.

It was like she had been working up enough courage with all of her tossing and turning, until she finally rolled onto her side and pushed her body back into mine. As soon as our bodies made contact, a groan escaped.

There was no way in hell she didn’t know what kind of effect she was having on me. In fact, it would be pretty impossible for her to miss.

I wrapped one arm around her waist, and buried my nose in her hair, still able to smell the scent of the ocean mixed with the sweet scent of Ally that was all her own.

She let out a little sigh, and I could feel the tension ease out of her body as she snuggled closer into me. It took everything in my willpower not to just flip her over and play out every single fantasy I had in my head since meeting her. But for now, I would settle on spending the night with her in my bed, and sleep was the only thing that would be happening.

“Night, my little mermaid,” I murmured into her hair, and I heard her laugh lightly before her breathing turned heavy and eventually into a loud snore. Somehow, I was able to contain my laughter, but my whole body was shaking the bed. I hadn’t been expecting
that.

This girl just kept surprising me over and over again, even with the simplest things, and I knew that was one of the reasons that I think I was slowly falling in love with her. What in the hell had I gotten myself into?

Whatever it was, I hoped I would figure it out soon, but one thing was for sure: I got what was probably the best sleep of my life with her wrapped in my arms.

Ally

How in the hell did I end up spending the night at Nick’s place?

Oh yeah, it was pretty simple. He just had to give me one of those panty-melting smiles and a flash of his dimples, those blue eyes staring back at me, and I was done for.

I woke up missing the warmth of his body, but that feeling was quickly replaced when I smelled breakfast cooking. Could this guy get any better?

After he stuffed me full of every breakfast staple under the sun, he dropped me off at Remy’s when he headed into work. Luckily, I had an afternoon shift, so I had time to go home for a while, and float around on the cloud Nick had sent me on.

I could still feel his warm hands on my body. I almost thought that he was too good to be true. How in the hell could a guy have that kind of control? And I started to question myself, until I felt something poking into my ass as I drifted off to sleep. I wasn’t going to lie, I felt completely smug in that moment knowing the effect I was having on him.

The door whipped open before I could stick my key in, and I did a double take before I realized who was really standing there. “Leah?” I squealed, my mouth dropping open as I rushed forward and threw my arms around her neck, squeezing her tiny body as hard as I could. I think I just had to do it to make sure she was really there.

“Yes, Al, it’s me,” she said dryly in that way of hers that I loved. “I missed you, too.”

“I can’t believe you’re really here. You really are, right?”

She reached up, prying my fingers off of her neck and gave me a wide smile. “Mmhmm, and I brought the hubby with me.” She pointed a thumb over her shoulder, and I immediately saw Chase sitting on the couch, giving me that signature Chase wink. And who was that...

“Oh my God, Ben?”

My feet were immediately lifted off the ground, and I was twirled around in circles until I felt dizzy. “What are you doing here? How are you here? Did you guys come together?” I blew out a breath as my eyes started to focus after all of the spinning, and Ben collapsed onto the couch next to me.

“Well, Leah called Mom to tell her that her and Chase were planning a little trip down here, so I figured I would tag along. It isn’t every day I get to visit with my little sis,
and
get a vacation. Did you miss me, kid?” He reached over and stuck his hand in my hair; I’m sure making it into even more of a tangled mess. It was something he had done ever since I could remember, and it drove me nuts, but at the same time was so comforting. It reminded me of home.

“Of course, but don’t think I’m dumb. I know Mom put you up to this. Did she think I needed checking up on or something?” I eyed the three of them, and of course got an eye roll from Leah. I had actually missed those.

“Ally, I have two kids at home, who I love to pieces, and work a full-time, ass kicking job, but it’s nice to have a break every once in a while. Don’t you think I need a vacation with my sexy husband sometimes?” Chase snorted, and reached over to pull her on to his lap, burying his nose in her hair.

They still to this day acted like newlyweds. It was refreshing, and I was glad my best friend had found her happily ever after. Theirs was the real deal.

“And what better place to visit than where my best friend is? Now, Ben here, he might possibly be doing a little bit of spying action for your mom, but what’s the big deal? You look like you’re doing really well, and apparently, you are.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me.

“Care to explain where you were all night? We got in around five this morning, and I know you weren’t up before then. Remy wouldn’t spill anything.” Leah shot a dirty look at Remy, who just smiled brightly in return.

“I was...” My eyes darted back and forth between her and Ben.

Out of my two brothers, Ben and Owen, Ben had secretly always been my favorite.

Where Owen was the more outgoing of the two, and our personalities were really similar, Ben was the complete opposite. He was quiet and reserved, studied his ass off in school instead of being a social butterfly like me, or a sports nut like Owen, and continued that way into college.

He finished his accounting degree in record time, and was then instantly hired at one of the biggest companies in Indiana. To say I was proud of my big brother was a definite understatement.

“I think we can talk about that later,” I replied to Leah out of the side of my mouth, pointing my head in Ben’s direction.

Ben might be quiet, but he was also protective, just like Owen. Although the two of them had been a few years ahead of me in school, they somehow always knew my whereabouts, every single one of my friends, and whom I was dating or even interested in dating during high school.

So, where my parents had been more than supportive about my shotgun wedding to Teddy, Ben and Owen had been pretty pissed off. The few holidays or visits that we made to Indiana were really awkward. It had actually been a little funny to see Teddy squirm under their glares, their giant frames and personalities intimidating to pretty much anyone.

“Well, even if you did come to spy on me, I’m glad you’re all here. Especially you, Ben. I’ve missed having my big brother around. I just wish I would’ve known, I could’ve tried to get my schedule switched around at work a little bit so we could hang out more.”

“Yeah, she has an in with the boss,” Remy piped up. “He would do
anything
for her. Isn’t that right, Al?”

I gave Remy a look, but promptly ignored her. We weren’t getting into that right now. Leah would give me the third degree if Nick was brought up, and probably want to meet him right this second, when I didn’t even know what was going on between the two of us. I mean, technically, I was still married. Did that make me a whore?

Leah never really took a liking to Teddy, even though he was Chase’s best friend. She thought he was a man whore, and nothing else. Her attitude towards Teddy had been one of the reasons I hadn’t informed her that we were getting married, and instead forced Chase to bring her out to Vegas.

I could tell when I broke the news that it took everything in that tiny little body of hers, not to drag my ass back to Indiana and beat some sense into me. Now, I wish she would have. It would have saved me a whole lot of wasted time and heartbreak.