The Predicament (The Proposition #3.5) (7 page)

When Nate left to grab a quick work out, she had taken Olivia over to Emma’s. Although Casey had tried talking her out of it, Emma remained firm in her resolve to help out. Considering it was a Saturday afternoon, Casey had thanked her and Aidan profusely. After watching the babies play together on a pallet on the living room floor, Casey had a hard time leaving. With a roaring fire going and Chinese takeout littering the coffee table, the room was so inviting, especially with baby chatter echoing off the walls. Aidan and Emma lounged on the couch in their most comfortable sweats and yoga pants.

But she managed to pull herself together and give Olivia a kiss goodbye. The moment she had arrived back home, she’d torn up the stairs and started a frenzy of preparation. One aspect was changing into a comfortable piece of lingerie. While the silk nightie was sexy, it also gave her room to breathe. She sure as hell wasn’t going for anything like the nurse’s costume from the other night.

She had just finished lighting the last of the candles lining the floor along the bedroom walls when she heard Nate’s car pull in the driveway.

After the garage door shut, Nate called, “Babe?”

“I’m upstairs.”

Nate appeared in the doorway with his gym bag slung over his shoulder. Thankfully, he’d taken the time to shower and change before coming home. Not that she didn’t enjoy when he was a sweaty mess. She just preferred being the one to make him perspire.

Although what she had done to their bedroom was a surprise, their sexdate was not. After her coffee date, she had told him that she was planning time for them to be alone.

At the sight of the bedroom illuminated in candlelight, Nate’s eyes widened. “Wow, you really went all out.”

She crossed the room to stand in front of him. “I hope you don’t mind, but I wanted us to try something a little different today.”

Pulling her into his arms, he smiled down at her. “Of course I don’t mind.”

“Even if it seems a little…strange?”

Nate chuckled. “Should I be scared?”

Casey grinned. “Of course not.” Tilting her head at him, she asked, “Have you ever heard of Tantric sex?”

“The ancient Indian practice of using energy through sex,” he rattled, sounding like a textbook.

“I should have known you would know, Mr. Smarty Pants.”

“You know you love my big brain,” Nate teased.

Nodding, Casey said, “Oh yes, it’s my second favorite big body part of yours.”

As Nate nuzzled her neck, he said, “Remind me what your favorite one is.”

“Mmm, your big ass feet.”

Her smart answer was rewarded with a resounding smack on the ass. “Fine, fine. You’re fantastically huge dick.”

“That is more like it.”

Casey pushed herself out of Nate’s arms. “Okay enough of that for now. We need to get busy.”

An amused look twinkled in Nate’s dark eyes. “I thought we were.”

Wagging a finger at him, Casey said, “Today is all about Tantric.”

“Yes ma’am.” After giving her a mock salute, he asked, “Where do we start?”

“With some dancing.” Picking up the remote to the iHome, she turned on a little T.I. to get the blood really pumping.

Tilting his head, Nate eyed her curiously. “What? I’m supposed to dance like I’m at a club?” he questioned.

“No. It’s like this. Stand with your legs hip-length apart.”

Nate’s brows furrowed in confusion. “How am I going to dance like that?”

“Like this.” Casey then illustrated what she had seen in the book, which was basically a full body shake of your arms, legs, and ass. When the corners of Nate’s lips turned up, she demanded, “What?”

“I was just thinking if I saw one of my patients doing this I would swear they were having convulsions.”

She momentarily stopped shaking to smack Nate’s arm. “Not funny.” Jerking her chin at him, she said, “Come on.”

Rolling his eyes, Nate began to mimic her movements. After a few seconds, he asked, “Exactly why are we doing this?”

“It’s supposed to let out all the tension in our body. Once the tension is gone, we can allow more pleasure in,” she replied.

“And how long does it take to achieve that?”

“Just a minute.”

“Thank God.”

After a minute had passed, Casey turned the music from rap to a sensual Indian relaxation song. “Okay. Now it’s time for us to breathe and rock.” Taking Nate’s hand, Casey led him over to the bed. “Have a seat,” she instructed.

“With my clothes on?”

Casey nodded. Quoting one of the books, she replied, “We have to get emotionally naked before we can get physically naked.”

“If you say so.” After climbing up onto the mattress, Nate shifted himself to the center of the bed. For a brief moment, Casey had a flashback of earlier in the week when he did the same thing the night of the disastrous blow job episode. She quickly shook her head and shook herself free of the memory.

“Okay, cross your legs Indian style.”

As soon as he finished, Casey got up on the bed and crawled over to Nate. Once she reached him, she eased onto Nate’s lap to where they were face to face.

Staring into her eyes, Nate wrapped his arms around her. “I like this.”

“No touching yet.”

“Seriously?”

“First we have to become one through our breathing.”

With a resigned sigh, Nate let his arms fall away and rest on the mattress. “So exactly how are we supposed to breathe?”

“We’re supposed to take each other’s breaths in. Like I breathe out, and you inhale. Then vice versa.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Nate remarked.

“While we’re doing it, we’re supposed to stay even further connected by gazing into each other’s eyes.”

“I can do that.”

Casey leaned forward on Nate’s lap. Ignoring his hardening cock beneath her, she brought her lips to where they were almost touching his. As he opened his mouth, she breathed inside. The intensity burning in Nate’s eyes sent a shiver down Casey’s spine. Megan was right—this Tantric shit was pretty epic.

Then the moment was abruptly broken when Nate’s expression changed from desire to concern. He inhaled sharply. "Do you smell that?"

Casey widened her eyes. "I know you’re not trying to say I have bad breath!"

With a jerk of his head, Nate then replied, “No. Nothing like that.”

“Then what.”

“I thought I smelled smoke.”

Grinning, Casey teasingly asked, “Are you getting so hot with anticipation that you think you smell a fire?”

Nate opened his mouth to say something when a small explosion went off across the room. Both of them jerked their attention to the balcony’s French doors where orange flames licked and danced their way up the frilly drapes.

“Holy shit, the curtains are on fire!” Nate exclaimed.

Nate grabbed her by the waist and threw her off his lap. “Oomph,” she muttered, as she bounced on the mattress. As she was pulling herself up, Nate scrambled off the bed. He fleetingly eyed the flaming curtains before sprinting into the bathroom.

Throwing herself into action, Casey hopped down and grabbed her robe off the end of the bed. She started beating down the flames with the fabric. Nate reappeared with a bucket full of water. “Get back!” he commanded. The moment she dipped to the side he doused the remaining flames with water, sending a loud hiss throughout the room.

Once the fire was out, they both stood huffing and panting as they tried to catch their breath. After she felt she could breathe again, she gazed around, surveying the damage.

“Damn,” she muttered. They would have to repaint considering parts of the once khaki-colored wall were now an attractive soot-stained black. The flooring in front of the door would have to be replaced as well considering there were burned out holes in it. It was to go without saying they would need new window treatments since the old ones had been turned to ash.

“I’m not sure how we’ll explain this to the insurance company,” Nate mused.

Casey groaned. “It’s all my fault. I was too caught up in making the bedroom into a Tantric temple that I didn’t realize I put the candles too close to the drapes.” She shook her head. “Guess it’s safe to say that sure as hell didn’t go as planned.”

Nate laughed. “I would disagree. You wanted to put some heat in our bedroom, and a house fire is one way to do it.”

Swatting his arm, she replied, “Oh whatever.”

They stood there for a few minutes just staring at the mess. “What now?” she finally asked. After all, they had a whole Olivia free afternoon to fill. Part of her wondered if they should try to make love just to do it, or if they should call it a day. Considering the acrid smell of smoke still lingering in the air, they would have to use their imagination on where else to do it.

“We could catch up on some sleep, or we could order in some Chinese, watch some Netflix and just veg out,” Nate suggested.

“That sounds good.”

“Or…”

“Or what?”

His dark eyes stared into hers. “We could go get Olivia and spend the rest of the day with her. Maybe go out to eat and take her for a walk in the park?”

Casey reached out and cupped his cheek. “I like that idea a lot.”

Nate grinned. “Good.”

For the second time that day, he sprinted to the bathroom. “I’m going to change. I probably smell like smoke,” he called.

She nodded. “Me too.”

When she eyed the soot blackened wall, she shook her head. Once again, her sex life had gone down in flames, and once again, she wasn’t sure how in the hell she was going to fix it.

A week passed without any improvement. She got slammed with back to back projects at work, and Nate helped out one of his doctor friends by taking their shift, which resulted in nothing but sleep happening in their bed. While the setback was disheartening, Casey wasn’t giving up. She had decided to view the time as a way to recoup and recharge and come back with a better strategy.

Thursday night found her sitting around Aidan and Emma’s dining room table as she bounced Olivia on her knee. Earlier that day, Emma had called to invite her for an impromptu dinner. Thankfully, it was not another meeting about her dying sex life. Instead, they were all there to support their friend, Connor, and his husband, Jeff, in their adoption journey.

As she balanced Olivia on her shoulder, Casey rifled through her work bag. She pulled out a manila envelope and passed it across the table to Connor. “Here is Nate’s and my recommendation letter. I had him do a separate one to lend his medical expertise to.”

Connor beamed as he took it into his hands. “Thank you. And tell Nate thanks for taking the time to do one himself.”

“He was happy to do it.”

“We all are,” Emma said, as she reached over to squeeze Connor’s hand.

When she pulled back, Jeff gave Emma a sheepish smile. “Out of everyone, I’m surprised that you didn’t say no.”

Emma’s green eyes widened in surprise. “Why ever would you think that?”

“Because I didn’t want Connor to have a baby with you.”

“I could never, ever say no to Connor’s and your happiness because of a grudge.” Glancing over at Aidan, she winked. “Besides, it all worked out as it should have.”