Touch of Fire (6 page)

Nicole stood there, transfixed, as he poured himself a refill of the scotch before climbing into the water. Steam rose, evaporating into the cool night air and she shivered. “It’s cold out here. And the air is really smoky. I don’t think you should be breathing this.”

She heard him inhale deeply. “Maybe I’ll asphyxiate. Nod off and drown. That’d be a good way to go.”

“That’s it!” She grabbed the drink from his hand and took a swallow herself. “Look at what you’ve done! You’ve driven me to drink!”

He couldn’t help but smile. “God, you’re adorable.”

“Oh no, stay on topic! No more sweet talk.” She took another swallow. “And no sexy talk either. I’m too tired to take another ride on Garrett-the-emotional-roller-coaster tonight. Damn, you’re a lot of work.”

He turned away from her slightly.

“And—and no pouting!” She finished his drink, then sat down on the edge of the tub and sighed. “Talk to me.” She dangled her legs in the water next to him.

Garrett’s head dropped back. She followed his gaze.

“The stars are beautiful. But there are so few,” Nicole said.

“It’s the smoke. You can’t see them, but they’re still there.”

“I used to love to wish upon the stars when I was a little girl. Do you ever wish upon the stars?” Nicole tilted her head back and searched the heavens.

“Not for a long time.” Garrett wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her into the spa and onto his lap. The bottom of the white dress shirt she was wearing floated up and around her waist. The top half soaked through, clinging to her breasts. “I turned down a hand job. There’s got to be something seriously wrong with me.”

She wrapped her arms around Garrett’s neck. “Is that what all the drama is about? Tell me, what do you think is wrong with you?”

“Obviously, I’m either turning into a woman or I’m stuck in some hell dimension where I’ll never experience happiness ever again.”

Nicole caressed his cheek tenderly. “Or it could be something else.”

“Something else?”

“Maybe you’re in the midst of a deep existential conflict. You’ve experienced what it was like to have a great love, an all-consuming, toe-tingling, I-want-to-be-with-you-forever kind of love.”

“And?”

“And it sustained you. It was part of your reason for being. Without it you feel empty. Settling for something less would be a constant reminder of what you lost. But the possibility that you might find that kind of love again, that’s almost more frightening.”

“How so?”

“You’ve boxed yourself in with your whole ‘Amanda was the great love of my life’ thing. Who can compete with that? If you let someone, does that mean you were wrong about Amanda? Can someone be so lucky they fall in love not once, but twice like that in a lifetime?”

Flint sat there in silence as Nicole rolled on. “Anyone? Anyone?”

“Maybe,” he said quietly.

“But?”

“I could lose it all again?”

“Bingo!”

“You’re really smart. You know that?”

Nicole shrugged. “Or it could be the hell dimension thing. That was a good theory too. I want to dunk my hair, hold me?”

*****

Nicole straddled his lap, leaned backwards, and dipped her head into the water so that her hair floated around her.

She was exquisite, his white shirt clinging to her, now transparent. Her breasts jutting out as she arched her back. He knew with certainty that she had to be able to feel the length of his erection resting against the cleft of her ass.

“You look like a modern day Ophelia, floating in the water under the moonlit sky.”

Almost without thought he reached up with one hand and slowly unbuttoned the shirt, opening it up so that her breasts were bare before him. He ran his hand reverently down her body, resting it on her firmly toned stomach. Then he watched in rapt attention as she lowered her arms into the tub, submerging them. The weight of the fabric pulled the shirt from her body leaving her naked.

Garrett lifted her back up. Rivulets of water coursed down her body, over her lush breasts. “‘I hold it true what'er befall; I feel it, when I sorrow most; 'Tis better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all.’”

“Shakespeare?”

“Tennyson, he’s one of my favorites.”

“You’ve studied literature?”

Garrett smiled. “Back in college. Used to write a bit too. Seems like a long time ago.”

“You’re a poet.”

He was about to protest when he felt her rise up onto her knees. His erection sprang up and without moving he found himself poised at her entrance.

“Nicole,” he said hesitantly.

“Shh.” She lowered her lips to his and kissed him.

“I’m not a poet. I’m not a hero. I’m just a guy.” Her hand was wrapped around his shaft, his were at her waist, holding her in place. “I’ve got a daughter, and issues—”

Nicole pulled back and looked him steadily in the eye. “We’ve all got issues. I get birth control injections. I’ve never had unprotected sex. You had the same partner for over a decade. I don’t know how you found me, what brought us together, but here we are. I want this. I want you.”

Garrett released his hold on her and watched her face in awe as it registered the pleasure of being filled by him. He closed his eyes for the briefest of moments, battling between the desire to regain some modicum of control and the consequence of missing the mere sight of her face.

“Don’t move,” he gasped, trying to stave off his orgasm. “Oh, Nicole… I’m so sorry… I can’t hold…”

Nicole tilted her pelvis up ever so slightly before lowering herself again, within seconds building a nice, steady pace. “Come for me, Garrett,” she whispered into his ear, her voice raw with emotion.

“This isn’t going to last.” Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. He was holding on by a thread.

“Yes, it will.” Nicole promised.

Garrett flew over the edge, reaching forgotten heights, and losing his heart.

Epilogue

Seventeen months later.

“What are you doing here? You aren’t supposed to be here until tomorrow!” Nicole said, surprised to find Garrett sitting outside her office.

He waited until the shy-looking girl that Nicole was escorting out left the waiting area. “The principal sent me.” He held up a slip of paper. “I’ve been a bad boy and you’re supposed to spank me. I’ve got a note and everything.”

“Let me see that.” She grabbed the piece of paper. “Forging the principal’s signature could get you…” She looked up at Garrett, then across the hall to find her boss leaning in the doorway, a huge smile plastered on his face. “I should never have introduced the two of you. I can’t believe you wrote him a note.”

Roger held up two tickets. “These are Lakers tickets. Hell, I offered to spank him myself. He preferred you. You also have the day off tomorrow.”

Nicole yanked Garrett into her office and closed the door. “You’re in trouble.”

“Oh yeah?” He backed her up until he had her right where he wanted her. Between him and the desk. “I missed you this week. I kept fantasizing about you and this desk. I just about went crazy.”

“So you’re going with the horny defense?”

“I’m going with the I’m-crazy-in-love-with-you defense. You done for the day?”

“I am. Where’s Sam?”

Garrett tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Back at your apartment with Ann. She’s thrilled that Ann came home for the weekend to help celebrate her birthday, by the way.”

Nicole leaned in to give him a quick kiss, then pushed him away. “Just let me log out and we can get out of here.”

“Hey now!” He grabbed her hand and pulled her back toward him. “What kind of a hello kiss is that? That was terrible. This is a hello kiss.” He dipped her low to the ground and kissed her thoroughly. “See the difference?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe you should demonstrate again.”

Garrett spun her around and swatted her playfully on the bottom. “Come on, hurry. Ann asked that I pick up steaks at Simon’s on the way home.”

*****

“Honey,” Nicole said, “you took a wrong turn.”

“No, I’m pretty sure this is right.” Garrett reached down and turned off the radio.

“This is Birch. I used to live on Birch. Simon’s is on Date. That’s two streets over.”

“Really? This is the street you used to live on? Where?” He looked around with renewed interest.

“Just up the block. It’s that yell—now apparently gray house.” She pointed to it. “It’s on the market again.”

“It looks like it sold.” Garrett pulled over, stopped the car, then opened the door.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m gonna go take a closer look. I’m curious. Want to come with?”

“I don’t think so,” she said, sadness creeping into her voice. “I hate to think of other people living there.”

“I’ll just be a minute.” He climbed out and closed the door.

Garrett walked across the lawn and onto the front porch. He cupped his hands around his face to block out the sun and peered in the dining room window before trying the front door. It opened. He looked back and grinned triumphantly, then stepped over the threshold.

*****

Five minutes passed and Garrett had yet to return.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” Nicole nervously tapped her fingers on the car seat. After checking her watch, she climbed from the car and headed for the entrance.

“Honey?” Her voice sounded loud as it echoed throughout the empty house. “Simon’s is going to be closing in—”

“I’m sorry.” He appeared at the top of the stairs. “Guess I got a bit carried away. It’s a great old house. They don’t make them like this anymore.”

“No, they don’t.” Nicole rubbed her hand along the smooth wood of the banister. “I have so many memories tied to this place.”

He walked down the stairs to join her. “Tell me.”

“They’re too many to count. Certainly too many to—”

“Don’t do that. It’s important to talk about the memories. You taught me that.”

Nicole reached up and caressed the side of his face.

“I love you,” he said, intertwining his fingers with hers.

“You do?”

“Most definitely.” They walked back onto the front porch. “Shoot. I left my keys in the kitchen. Wait for me?”

“Sure.” Nicole sighed. Just as she was about to sit down on the old porch swing her eyes came to rest on the giant oak that stood on the front lawn. She had spent countless hours while growing up staring out at it from her bedroom window. But what she was noticing now was new.

Walking down the stairs, she slowly made her way over to it. There, slightly above eye level, was a fresh ten-inch heart carved into the trunk with the names Nicole and Garrett in the middle of it. Her hand flew to her mouth and she spun around quickly only to run into the solid wall of his chest.

“Whoa! Careful, you’re going to make me spill the champagne.”

“You bought the house!”

Garrett held out one of the glasses. “Surprise! Roger called and told me it was back on the market. I put mine up for sale Monday. By Wednesday I was in escrow. I took the day off today so I could get down here and make an offer the owner couldn’t refuse.”

Nicole accepted the champagne. “You’re moving to Sonoma? But your friends and family are all in San Diego, not to mention Sam’s daycare and—”

“You’re not there.” He smiled and touched the side of her glass with his.

Nicole tilted the glass to her lips and took a sip.

“Marry me,” he said simply.

“Marriage?” Nicole stared down into her glass at the diamond ring, then looked up into his bright blue eyes. “That’s a big step.”

She held her breath, her heart racing. She needed Garrett to be sure. If they were to do this, it needed to be about creating something new, not about recapturing what he’d lost.

Garrett nodded. “Yes, it is.”

Nicole swallowed. “Are you sure?”

“I’m not new to this. I know marriage is a big commitment. I’m an old-fashioned guy, Nicole. I want to spoon up behind you every night and feel the weight of your breast in my hand as I drift off to sleep. I want to open my eyes to the vision of your hair splayed out across my pillow. I want to raise my child with you. I want to see you in that kitchen in there, barefoot and pregnant and yelling at me as I chase you around, begging for a kiss. And, God willing, I want to sit up on that porch with you, drinking champagne and rocking in the swing as we watch the sun set together during the twilight of our lives. I want to do all those things with you.”

“Me?”

Garrett smiled. “Marry me, Nicole. Live your life with me.”

Her eyes filled with tears. She blinked and they spilled over.

He reached for her hand. “Honey?”

Nicole’s throat was so tight, she wasn’t sure she could speak.

Garrett hitched up one leg of his pants. “Maybe I should have gotten down on one knee?”

“No! It was… You’re…”