Whispering Wishes (18 page)

“That’s right.
It keeps me very busy. I’m hoping to make partner at my firm in the next year or so if I’m lucky. They work me to the bone, but that’s okay. I’m hoping it all pays off in the end.”

“That’s great.
If I ever need an attorney, I know who to call now,” I say with a smile. I’m so lame. This awkward getting to know you conversation sucks ass.

“What about you, Aspen?
Meg told me that you were in banking but recently left that profession to pursue something else?”

I glance over at Meg to see she’s hiding a smile behind her hand, and I know instantly she didn’t tell him the details of what “recently left” means.
Thank goodness for that.

“I did recently leave and actually one of my best friends owns her own metaphysical shop in town called Moonstones, and I’m helping her out there
. Actually, I just got a job as a hostess here, too. I want to take my time finding something I’d really like long term, but needed something in the interim and this was perfect.”

“I’ve seen that store before, but I’ve never been inside.
And this is a great place. Since it’s new, I bet you are busy when you work.”

“You’ll have to stop in to Mischa’s store some time.
It’s really great. And yes, it is really busy here, but I don’t mind it. I do know that I want a job where I interact with people regularly because I love it. I think working at the bank for so long made me enjoy those kinds of interactions. Anyway, I’m loving this. I enjoyed the bank, but I realized in the end, I wasn’t happy there. It wasn’t it for me, does that make sense?”

“Ah yes, you are looking for something that you’re passionate about.”

“Exactly. I have a degree in business so that basically means I can pretty much take that anywhere, but while some may be horrified because I no longer have a great job at the bank, to me, I’m happy I got out when I did. I’d rather find something I love and take my time figuring out what it is, then get stuck in a job that I hate just because it’s easy and familiar.”

“That’s great.
A lot of people wish they could be so lucky.”

I almost snort at his use of the word “lucky”.
If he only knew I am anything but lucky. That’s okay. Not tonight. Looking at Nick, I can’t help but think maybe my luck has turned around. He gives me a soft smile and I feel him gently brush my hair back from my shoulder. It makes tingles break out all over my body in an “oh my God, a man touched me” kind of way.

Plates smacking against the table top shake my attention from Nick, and I look up to see Wes’s angry stare.
“Here is your bruschetta,” he says as he places it on the table. “Would you like to order anything else?”

“Anyone want anything else
?” Meg asks, giving Wes an odd look. I shake my head no and look at Nick. He doesn’t answer, he’s too busy looking at me, which makes me smile and flush softly, looking down.

Wes clears his throat – loudly.
“Okay, well I will be back to check on you shortly.”

I take a drink of my wine and Nick places some bruschetta on my plate for me.
Nick and I continue to talk amongst ourselves and Wes comes back to the table a couple times, bringing new glasses of wine when we order. His attitude never changes, but I completely ignore him with Nick taking up my complete attention. He asks me all kinds of questions about my likes and dislikes. Even my vacation, animal, and dessert preferences, making me laugh. He’s so nice and easy going, and I find myself easily falling into a banter with him.

Meg and Jay talk amongst themselves
, too, and I should feel like I’m being rude for not engaging them in conversation more, but Nick is so engaging.

I’m also easily on my third glass of wine and am feeling its effects.

“Aspen,” Meg says my name
, pulling me from a conversation with Nick about one of the funniest cases he’s tried.

“Yes?”

“I’m going to go freshen up, would you like to join me?”

“Sure
.” I look at Nick, “please excuse me.”

“Of course.”

When I stand, he stands as well. What a gentleman. “Hurry back,” he whispers, making me nod.

Meg and I make our way to the restroom and as we walk I happen to look towards the bar.
Wes is there and is already looking at me. He’s completely surrounded by women. They are at the bar and all in a group in front of him. There’s a girl feeling the muscles under his shirt, and as we get closer I can hear one loudly ask if she can touch his hair and something else about doing a body shot. “We aren’t that kind of place,” I hear Wes say, but nod his head yes about letting her touch his head while looking at me.

For some reason
, that makes my stomach hurt. He doesn’t belong to me so why should it matter? But seeing a girl running her hands across his head makes me upset and frown, which makes a smirk appear on Wes’s face. If I didn’t know any better, I would think he’s behaving like he’s jealous.

I look away and walk into the bathroom with Meg.
We’re barely inside before she pounces.

“So what do you think?
Did I do good or what? I told you that Nick would be perfect for you. As soon as I met him I knew.”

She’s a chatter box and it makes me laugh
. “Meg, you did an AMAZING job. He’s so nice and extremely handsome. And just wow. I like him. I really like him.”

Meg squeals in excitement.
“I’m so glad. I can tell he really likes you, too. In fact, Jay whispered to me that he’s never seen Nick completely taken with a woman like he is with you already. He can’t take his eyes off of you and honey…” she looks me up and down, “you seriously outdid yourself. You look ah-maz-ing.”

I laugh at her excitement
. “Thanks, I really wanted to look nice.”

“Well you definitely succeeded.”
Meg reapplies her lip gloss and I fluff my hair in the mirror. “So what do you want to do after this?”

My mind instantly goes to Wes and all the girls he’s surrounded by, and I feel angry and resentful.
Whatever. I like Nick, Nick likes me, and I’m a grown ass woman. “Meg, promise you won’t think I’m a slut?”

Walking back to
our table from the ladies room, I can’t help but sneak a peek and notice that Wes is still surrounded by chicks. I do my best to regain focus on Nick, a secret smile on my face. I’m doing it. I’m inviting him back to the house. He’s sexy, smart, successful, and I’m horny. Why the hell not? I never do this on the first date, but there’s a first time for everything.

Suddenly, a thought occurs to me; one I don’t usually have to worry about.
It stops me in my tracks and I turn to Meg, “Go ahead, I’ll be there in just a moment.”

“Okay,” she says and gives me a curious look.
I turn and walk to the bar.

Wes is flirting with a girl and doesn’t see me approach.
I can hear her questions, “Do you have a girlfriend, and if not… do you want one?” She’s got the three b’s and is using them to her full advantage, blonde hair, big lips, and big tits. She’s got the latter pressed against his arm and keeps flipping her hair over her shoulder while she bites on her lip, looking at him with hooded eyes waiting for his answer. I roll my eyes at how stupid she looks and sounds – Wes of course, grins at her.

I waste no time interrupting
. “Excuse me, Wes?”

He jerks his head towards me at the sound of my voice, and instantly puts a lazy, sexy, I don’t give a shit about anything grin on his face
. “Yeah? Did you guys need something else? I’ll be back to your table in a second as soon as Ginger here shows me how she can tie a cherry stem into a knot with her tongue.”

“Gina,” the blonde bimbo wearing a shirt that barely restrains her breasts says correcting him, making me snort.
She’s super classy, but Wes doesn’t seem to mind. Whatever. I don’t care. Not tonight.

“No worries, I will just wait right here
, then. But when she’s done, can you let me know what time you get off of work tonight?”

“Not for a couple hours yet, why?”
I have his complete attention now, and it occurs to me that I can really irritate his protective nature, which, I think, he deserves. I know he has no clue I have feelings for him, but I’m still bothered about the bitch he let touch his head. I throw a sexy grin on my face that easily rivals his and he immediately looks suspicious.

“Oh, I was just wondering when I can expect you home
.” At this the girls surrounding him turn to look at me for the first time. I take all three of them in – they clearly are processing and not liking the idea that we live together at all. All of them are looking at me like they wish death upon me and every child I may ever conceive and it makes me smile wider. Then I throw out the comment I know will piss him off. “I wasn’t sure how long I’ll have the house to myself.”

His eyes become hard and he opens his mouth, but doesn’t say anything.
I stare at him a moment, waiting and when he doesn’t answer me, I shrug my shoulders, turn on my heels and head back to my table. I smile at Nick who’s looking at me with a question on his face. I look at Meg and Jay, Meg grinning at me knowing what I’m about to say. “I hope you don’t find me terribly rude, but would you mind very much if Nick and I leave you here to take care of the tab?” I look at Nick in question, “I mean, that’s assuming you’d like to come back to my place, Nick?”

He looks at me for a beat, grabs his wallet
, and throws some money at Jay while he stands immediately, making me laugh out loud. “I guess that’s a yes?”

“That’s a hell yes,” he offers his arm and I take it
, giving Meg a smile and a wink. I should be embarrassed, but I’m not. At all.

“Bye you two, have fun,” Meg calls loudly
. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

I throw her a smile over my shoulder, and as I do, in my far peripheral fields, I see Wes glaring at me from behind the bar as Nick and I keep heading out the door.
You aren’t my father or my brother, Wes
.
Deal with it.

“Do you want to take my car or yours?”
Nick asks.

“Would you mind driving?
I’ve had one too many glasses of wine. It would probably be smart to just leave my car here. I’ll come back for it later. Is that okay?”

“Of course, I don’t mind at all.”
He leads me to his car, and when I shiver from nervousness, he mistakes it for cold and wraps his arm across my shoulders.

Once we’re in his car, an extremely sporty BMW with soft leather seats that feel amazing, I give him directions to the house.
“Just a heads up, I just moved into this house, so I still have boxes around that I need to unpack. Not many. I hope you don’t mind. Oh, and I have a roommate.”

“A roommate?”

“Yeah, but he shouldn’t be home for a while.”

“He?” he looks at me in curiosity.

“Yes, he,” I confirm. “A guy friend of mine,” I reassure him.

“A few boxes won’t bother me.”

When we walk through the front door, I throw my key in the bowl on the table and gesture to the living room
. “Do you want to have a seat? I can get you a drink if you’d like something?”

“Not really.
A drink is not what I want,” he says, looking at me.

I’m not nervous in the slightest.
I want this. I can feel the juncture of my thighs ache and get wet immediately in anticipation. It has been far too long since I’ve done this. I’m tired of playing by the good girl book and being careful with everything in my life. I want crazy. I need to take a few risks. I also want to stop wanting a guy that doesn’t want me – at least for now. For a little while.

I walk to Nick and press my body against his and look up into his face.
He doesn’t hesitate and leans down to kiss me. When his lips capture mine, he swallows the sigh I emit. He’s a really nice kisser. I feel my hormones go into overdrive and I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him back with everything I have.

When we break apart, we’re both breathing hard.
I grab his hand and tug, “Follow me.”

I head up the stairs and Nick follows me.
When we reach the door to my room, I turn around and press my back against the door and look up at him. He kisses me again, and this time I moan in response. I turn the doorknob behind me and we break apart and go into my room.

For a moment, I think I hear the house front door open and close, but it must be my imagination because Wes won’t be off work for a while.
I close my door, lock it, and busy myself with kissing Nick once again. We are clumsy as we make our way to the bed in the dark, laughing as we stumble.

“I know this is fast.
I never do this,” I confess.

“I’m so glad you are,” he murmurs
, making me laugh.

“Hold on,” I tell him and go to the bathroom turning the light on and cracking the door so we can each see each other with a minimum of light in our background.

I head back to the bed and face Nick, who is standing at my bedside. I reach out and start unbuttoning his shirt. I slide it off his shoulders and look appreciatively at his chest and stomach, running my hands over them, making him groan.

I stop when it sounds like something creeks outside my door
. I listen with a slight turn of my head. “What is it,” Nick murmurs?

I don’t see a shadow or anything.
“Nothing. Just thought I heard something.”

I reach up and kiss his chest and trail kisses down to his stomach, making him groan
. “I want to touch you, too.”

“You will,” I promise and unbutton his pants and slip them off of him until he’s just in his boxers.
I push him back. “Lie down,” I instruct.

He does and I walk around to the other side of my bed and grab candles out of the drawer.
I place them on the bedside table and light each one. Once lit, I turn the light off in the bathroom and go back and stand in front of the bed. Nick’s eyes are on me while I slowly start unzipping the dress at my back.

Nice and slow I slide it down, then let it fall off my shoulders, slide down my hips, and drop to the floor.

He groans at the sight of me in my panties and thong, making me warm
from head to toe. “Beautiful,” he murmurs.

I get on the bed and start crawling up his body like I’m a lion.
That’s right. I’m a freaking panther. A sex panther. I am totally going to be sexy and hot and become the sex goddess I’ve always wanted to be. Nick’s not going to know what hit him – just that his world was rocked. Oh yeah.

Nick watches me with heavy lidded eyes as I crawl up his body, and place a kiss on his lips then sweep my tongue into his mouth
, teasing him. I straddle him and grind myself against his hard erection that’s still restrained in his boxers. He groans, loudly. “Shit, Aspen, I want you.”

Smiling, I lean forward and place kisses, bites
, and licks all over his chest. He starts touching me and before I realize it, he’s got my bra undone and my breasts are spilling into his hands and he’s squeezing my nipples.

He sits up and leans down to take them into his mouth eliciting a groan from me and a whispered, “Yes.”

I hear a door slam - I know I do this time. It makes me jump, and then roll my eyes. Wes probably brought his own date home.

I push Nick back down and slowly start pulling down his boxers.
I vaguely wonder if I should pull them off with my teeth, but decide that would maybe be a bit over the top. As his erection is freed from his boxers, I gasp in surprise. I’m… well… I’m not exactly awed and amazed, I’m surprised. He’s not big. Considering how tall he is, he’s damn small. Well, shit. I’m kind of disappointed, but hey, it still works the same, right? And it’s all about how you use it - I think?

Doing my best to cover my surprise, I look up at him with a smile.
“You up for a little fun?”

“What kind of fun?”

“Does a little pain bother you?”

“Pain?”
A flash of nerves hits his eyes, but I see him brush it off and elect instead to appear manly. “You can do whatever you want to me, baby.”

Yuck.
I hate when guys call girls “baby’”. I’m not in diapers, am I? I choose to let it slide. Smiling, I work my way back up his legs and reach over him to grab the candle off the table. His eyes widen and I think I see nervousness there again for a moment.

I hold the candle above his chest and say, “You sure?”

“Sure, I’ll try anything once.”

I saw this in a movie once, and I’ve always wanted to give it a try.
When I saw the candles for sale at the sex party, I figured why the hell not – that has to be what they’re for anyway. Turning the candle on its side, I drop just a little bit of wax onto his chest and he hisses as it burns his skin. I immediately blow on it, then follow it up with a kiss and a lick and he moans in pleasure.

I remove the wax from my mouth, then move to another spot on his chest and repeat the same thing.
His groan is much louder this time as I lick and suck the wax off his body. I do this a few more times and then he says, “Enough. I need to be inside of you now.”

He sits up to grab me and inadvertently bumps my arm as I was pulling away
, making the wax sitting on the top of the candle fall. I watch in horror as it pours right onto his dick - and not just a little - a lot. Nick immediately screams in pain, “FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK. IT BURNS! IT BURNS!”

“Oh my god!”
I put the candle on the table and run to the bathroom. Wetting a towel as fast as I can, I run back to the bedroom with it and give it to Nick so he can use it to get the wax off. He’s whimpering and I think maybe crying?
Oh my god, I burned his dick!
It’s okay, he’ll be okay. I mean, it’s still there.

“Do you want to get in the shower?
Will that help?”

Without a word
, he jumps out of the bed and heads to the bathroom, closing the door behind him. I don’t know what to do so I sit there listening to the water run behind the closed door. Knowing I should put some clothes on, I grab some out of the closet, because no doubt, our sexy time for this evening are over.

How the hell does this shit happen to me?