Nick
Two hours later,
I’m back at my apartment with Lori in my lap.
We started out
making out at Cleopatra’s after her shift ended. But after twenty minutes of
that, she quickly agreed to come home with me. Considering I’m her boss’s boss,
there’s probably a sexual harassment suit in there somewhere, but I never got
hit with one. I’m always nice to the girls, and I got an instinct for the crazy
ones I need to avoid. Tony, on the other hand… let’s just say we had to make a
couple of payoffs.
Lori goes nuts
when she sees my apartment, even more than she did when she saw my BMW. “It’s
so big!” she squeals, spinning around with her arms outstretched. “I share an
apartment the size of your bedroom with two other girls. No joke.”
I believe her.
I let Lori pour
herself a drink from the small bar I got in the living room. I’d pegged her as
being in her early twenties, but now I’m wondering if she’s younger than that. Maybe
nineteen or twenty. She’s gotta be at least eighteen to work at Tootsie’s, so
I’m safe there. You don’t gotta be twenty-one to serve alcohol—only to drink
it.
“This is my dream
apartment,” Lori says. “Someday…”
I’m guessing Lori
didn’t move to Manhattan to be a waitress, even at a good place like Tootsie. “So
what do you want to be?” I grin at her. “Like, when you grow up?”
She giggles. “You
ask me that like you’re somebody’s dad. You’re not that much older than me.”
I shift in my
chair. “How old are you?”
“Twenty,” she
admits.
I was right.
“How old are
you?” she asks me.
“Guess,” I say.
She hesitates,
clearly not sure what number would offend me. Better to overshoot or
undershoot? I don’t really care is the truth.
“Thirty-five?”
she ventures.
She overshot by
three years. To be fair, I could never have achieved this level of success at
my age without my father’s head start and connections. I’m just glad she didn’t
say forty. “Close enough.”
“I want to be a
model,” she says. She adjusts the tight pink dress she put on over the bikini
she wore at the club. She’s pretty, although not as tall as she should be if
she wants to be a model, and not as beautiful as Natalie was. I’m guessing
she’s not having a lot of success. “So far, it’s hard to break into the
industry.”
I watch her down
the rum and coke she poured for herself. “I could make some calls for you…”
Her eyes light
up. “Would you?”
“Sure. Why not?”
I know a couple
of people. Lori might never be a big success, but I could get her some work. Maybe
she could get a bigger apartment for herself.
I’ve made her
real happy. She settles back into my lap, kissing me with renewed gusto. I always feel like I gotta do something for
these girls, but maybe I don’t have to. She was willing to come here with me
before I offered to get her a job. Now I’m sitting here and wondering if she
wants me so bad or she’s just excited about modeling.
Fuck it. Who
cares?
Lori is unzipping
my pants and getting her hand down in my boxers. I’m guessing she’s got her
hand around my dick, but who the hell knows? I don’t think about that. I get
the dress off of her and then she’s back in that bikini costume. I wheel the
two of us to my bedroom, and lift her onto my bed as she squeals. I’m sure she
expects me to climb into the bed next to her, but I don’t do that. Instead I
stay in my wheelchair and pull down her bikini bottom.
“Nick,” she
whispers.
I spread her legs
apart and I can tell that she’s surprised. I figure half the guys want her to
suck them off and then they’re done. But that’s not what I like to do.
I lick the inside
of Lori’s thighs. She groans and throws her head back. I tease her, doing what
I do best. By the time my tongue touches her clit, she’s trembling and her
abdomen is coated in a layer of sweat. “Oh, Nick!” she moans. “Oh my fucking God…”
I try to draw it
out, but she comes fast. She might be young, but she’s loud. She screams and shakes and probably yanks some hairs out of
my head, but that’s okay. I forgive her.
When the spasms
stop, she wipes actual tears from her eyes. I know she wants to help me out,
but she’s too spent to move.
“Jesus Christ,”
she whispers. “I didn’t expect that from you.”
I take it as a
compliment.
I transfer into
the bed next to her, and she seems recovered enough to press her body against
mine. Her hand instantly goes to my pants again and a few seconds later, she’s
freed up my dick. I watch her squeezing it as it grows larger—that’s a reflex. Without
pills, I can still get hard. Maybe half of what I used to, which isn’t enough
to actual fuck her, but the pills get me the rest of the way. I can’t feel any
of it though. Thrusting is impossible. I’ve thought about getting a special
bench that the girl can lie on and is supposed to be helpful for guys in
wheelchairs to be able to thrust with better control. That said, I don’t have
any control over whether or not I’m hard. The whole thing is frustrating, so if
the girl isn’t begging for intercourse, I’d rather avoid it entirely.
Lori’s got her
mouth on my dick in record time. I can’t say I don’t like to watch a pretty
girl with my dick in her mouth—it’s sexy. But at the same time, there are other
things that would do more for me. I should explain it to her, but the thought
of it exhausts me. I hate having the “I can’t feel my dick” conversation. Maybe
I should let her suck me off, pretend to have an orgasm, and leave it at that.
“Do you want to
fuck me, Nick?” Lori breathes.
She’s pushing the
issue. Fine.
“Listen,” I say,
“what you’re doing is great and all, Lori, but I like other stuff better.”
She straightens
up, a worried expression on her pretty eyebrows. “Do you want me to pee on
you?”
What?
“I’ll do it if
you really want,” she says. “But… well, I’d prefer if you didn’t pee on me. At
least not today.” She bites her lip. “Well, you can, but just not in my mouth.”
“No, Lori.” Jesus
Christ. “I meant—”
“I’m okay with
you fucking me in the ass,” she quickly adds. “I do that all the time.”
I really wish
she’d stop guessing.
“No, that’s not
what I meant,” I say. “I just meant… listen, I don’t have a lot of sensation in
my lower body. So I’d prefer you stayed, you know, above the belt.”
She looks at me
like I just said something in Latin.
“You don’t even
want me to give you a blow job?” she asks.
“Well, you can if
you want.” I force a smile, which she
doesn’t return. “But it doesn’t do a whole lot for me, if you know what I mean.
I’m really sensitive on my nipples and neck and ears though…”
“Oh…” Lori chews
on her lip again. “So… you’re saying that you just want me to just lick your
nipples and stuff? And not pee on you?”
Jesus, are that
many guys into watersports? “Right.”
A smile spreads
across her face. “Okay, I can do that.”
The next time
Lori’s lips are on me, they’re in a place I can feel. And I’m really sorry I
hadn’t felt them on my dick, because man, that girl’s got a mouth like a
Hoover.
_____
I let Lori spend
the night. I prefer not to let girls stay over, but she did such an amazing job
that I didn’t have the heart to tell her to get lost. It’s the closest I’ve
gotten to an orgasm since I had Natalie. And maybe I’m kidding myself, but she
seemed to be enjoying herself. It never felt like a favor she was doing for me.
Lori’s great. But
I’m not going to make the mistake of attempting any sort of relationship with a
twenty-year-old waitress from my club. I may as well be back with Natalie if I
do that. Lori was a diversion—a way to relieve a little sexual tension while I’m
playing the long game of getting Jessie back.
Lori goes to
sleep like a light. Looks like I wore her out, wink wink. I’m tired too, but
out of habit, I grab my phone to check messages one last time before I go to
sleep. An email from Alex Mitchell immediately grabs my attention:
Sorry to hear that your girl Jess isn’t
going to be performing anymore. You were right about that one. She will be
missed.
My girl Jess
isn’t going to be performing anymore? What the hell is Alex talking about? I
had no idea about this.
Then I remember
that asshole who spotted her performing at the club the other night. Shit. I
told her to let me know if there was any trouble. How could she just quit
without saying anything to me? What the hell is wrong with her? Didn’t she believe
me I could fix this?
Before I let
myself get too worked up, I call Jessie on my cell phone. It isn’t until I hear
the sleep in her voice that I realize it was probably too late to be calling
her. Well, fuck it. If she didn’t want me to call her at two in the morning,
she should have been honest with me.
“What’s wrong?”
Jessie mumbles into the phone. She sounds so fucking sexy when she’s sleepy. It
makes me wonder what it must be like waking up next to her. Seth is so damn
lucky—he gets to wake up next to her every morning. He better appreciate it
while he’s still got it. “Are you okay?”
“You’re
quitting?” I hiss into the phone so I don’t wake up Lori.
There’s a pause
and finally Jessie says, “Nick, it’s two in the morning.”
I hear an angry
male voice in the background. Looks like I woke up the loser fiancé.
“Why didn’t you
tell me?” I say, louder this time. Lori isn’t waking up—the girl looks like she
could sleep through a hurricane.
There’s another
pause on the other line. “Look, this isn’t a good time to talk about this…”
“Meet me tomorrow
for lunch then at Blue Moon. Noon.”
Jessie sighs.
“Okay, okay. I’ll meet you.”
Good. It would
have been a pain in the ass to show up at her work.
I hang up the
phone, but I don’t feel settled. I need to figure out a way to keep Jessie
singing at Cleopatra’s. And I need to figure it out fast.
Jessie
During the entire
subway ride to Blue Moon, I’m nervous about seeing Nick. I know he’s going to
try to talk me into staying at Cleopatra’s, and it’s going to be difficult to
say no. I want to stay at Cleopatra’s. I want it more than anything.
But at the same
time, I don’t want Nick talking to people at my company to get them to keep me.
I don’t want to be the woman at work with mob connections. It’s bad enough I’m
the one who was a singer in a seedy nightclub. I’m sure Nick could put pressure
on the higher ups to keep me by doing… well, whatever it is he does. But I have
to convince him it wouldn’t be in my best interest.
When I get to
Blue Moon, I approach the pretty brunette hostess, who smiles brightly in my
direction. “May I help you?”
“Yes,” I say. “I’m
meeting someone here… Nick Moretti?”
The smile slips
from the hostess’s face. She looks me up and down, and the haughty expression
on her face lets me know she thinks I’m nowhere near worthy of my lunch date. “Come
with me,” she snips.
Nick is already
seated at his usual table on the side. I take a few seconds to watch him before
he notices that I’ve arrived, and I can’t help but marvel at the way he commands
the room. Every single waitress passing by stops to smile at him, then they
blush when he smiles back. Nick would say it’s because they know he owns the
building, but I doubt that’s what it is. There’s just a quality about Nick that
makes him seem… important. Powerful. Intense.
And oh my God, so
sexy. Let’s not forget that.
He had that
quality even back when we were kids—it was the reason everyone always did what
he wanted them to do—but it’s a hundred times more powerful now. I know he
worries that the fact that he obviously doesn’t have the ability to walk
diminishes the respect he gets, but it’s clearly not the case at all. The
wheelchair doesn’t take away from his impact.
I’m not sure if
Nick himself even realizes how he comes off to people. Not to say he doesn’t
know—he does have a certain confidence that’s part of his appeal. But I think
his intensity is even more powerful than he knows.
Sometimes I worry
if he were to realize what he’s got going on, he might become dangerous. Right
now, he doesn’t take anything for granted. He thinks through every decision he
makes, and he’s never, ever cocky. Every success he’s ever had is earned.
Nick spots me and
his eyes light up the way they always do. I remember the way he put his hand on
top of mine just before that asshole Sidney interrupted us. His palm felt so
rough compared to the way it used to be when he held my hand when we were
kids—but in a good way. It was sexy. His hands felt so strong. My whole body
was tingling.
He leaned in
toward me, and for a moment, I thought he was going to lean forward and kiss
me. I wanted him to kiss me. I was ready for it at that moment. I wanted him so
badly, it hurt.
But now, in the
light of day, I realize it’s better he didn’t kiss me. Women in real life don’t
leave their fiancé for a hot mobster. They just don’t.
“Sorry I’m late,”
I say as I slide into the seat across from him. “The subway got stuck. The
lights went out and I’m pretty sure the guy standing next to me started to hump
my leg.” I shudder. “You know how it is.”
“Actually,” Nick
says, “I don’t. I don’t take the subway. For obvious reasons.”
The obvious
reason being that it’s hard to manage the New York subway in a wheelchair? Or
because he’s got his own car and a
chauffeur?
“Consider
yourself lucky,” I tell him.
He just shakes
his head. “Have a drink. What do you want?”
“Oh no.” I wag my
finger at him. “I’m staying sober for whatever you want to say to me.”
He smiles
crookedly. “What do you think I’m going to say?”
“I’m not sure,
but…” I hesitate. “I don’t want you to talk to my boss. Or anyone at my
company. I know you think you can convince them, but… I don’t want you to. Trust
me—it’s better to let it go. It’s not that big a deal.”
“First of all,”
Nick leans forward, his dark eyes meeting mine, “it is that big a deal. And second of all, I wasn’t going to offer to
talk to your boss.”
“You weren’t?”
He shakes his
head soberly. “I was going to offer to kill him.”
Oh my God. No.
My mouth falls
open and I look around to make sure nobody heard. “Nick…”
“Of course,” he
says, “you’ll have to plant the gun for me somewhere. Maybe a bathroom. But
just point me in the direction of his office and…” He points two fingers at me.
“Bada bing, bada boom. Then you get to keep singing.”
I’m actually not
entirely sure he’s joking until I see the smile spread across his face. I smack
him in the arm. “Not funny, Nick.”
He leans back in
his chair, chuckling. “What’s disturbing is you thought I meant it.”
“No, I didn’t,” I
huff.
“Jessie, you got
white like a sheet.” He still has that amused expression on his face. “What—you
really think I’d kill someone?”
Do I? I look at
Nick’s handsome face, the same face I’ve known since I was fourteen years old. He’s
a good person—that, I know. He’s saved me plenty of times. I’ve never seen him do anything I thought was
morally wrong. I can tell he treats all the people he works for really well,
which is why they all like him so much. But I can’t deny that he obviously has
some connections to the mob. Very intimate connections. But do I think he’s
capable of killing someone?
Yes. I do.
In fact, I
believe there’s a reasonable chance he already has.
“Jessie.” The
smile fades from his face. “That was a
joke. I’m not a mob boss. You believe me, right?”
“Of course I do,”
I lie.
And that’s why Nick
and I can never happen.
“So here’s the
deal.” Nick shifts his weight in his chair. “A girl we got performing at my
other club, Tootsie’s, just quit. She was doing three nights a week. If you
take over her spots in addition to Cleopatra’s, I can pay you three times what
you’re making now. With benefits.” He raises his eyebrows at me. “That’s got to
be close to what you’re making at your job, right?”
“Pretty close,” I
agree.
“Good.” He nods
like it’s all settled. “You quit your job and come work for me instead.”
My mouth falls
open. “Quit my job? Are you kidding?”
“Well, why not?”
He shrugs. “You love to sing, and you’re really good at it. Why not do what you
love?”
“Because…” I
struggle to come up with a reason because he’s actually making a very good point.
“Isn’t Tootsie’s a little more… risqué than Cleopatra’s?”
That makes him
hesitate. “Okay, yeah. It is. But it’s not like you’d be singing naked,
Jessie.”
“Well, that’s a
plus.”
“You got the body
for it.” His eyes dip down to my boobs, then quickly go back to meet my face. “I’ll
make sure whatever you wear is tasteful. If they make you wear anything you
don’t like, they’re going to answer to me.”
For the first
time since Rob laid down that ultimatum for me, I feel a bubble of excitement
in my chest. Singing every night would be a dream come true. And getting to
quit my stupid boring day job to live out that dream… well, there are no words.
But at the same
time, I’m still hesitant. Even though Nick wouldn’t be my direct boss, it’s
troubling to know that he’ll be the one essentially paying my bills. It doesn’t
take a genius to know it’s a mistake to give a guy who’s in love with you that
kind of power. He’ll deny it if I ask, but there must be strings attached to
that offer.
Also, there’s
another concern. Eventually, Nick’s going to meet another girl. He’ll fall in
love with someone who isn’t me and he won’t obsessively show up to every single
one of my shows. It’s inevitable. And when that happens, he won’t be around to
make sure the owner of Tootsie’s doesn’t make me perform in a string bikini or
worse. I’ll be the least of his concerns.
But to hell with
it. I’ve been trying to make logical decisions my whole life, and look where
it’s gotten me. Why shouldn’t I go with my heart this time?
Nick raises his eyebrows
at me. “We got a deal?”
I hesitate only
one more second before I nod my head yes.
His face breaks
into a grin. “Great. Shake on it.”
He holds out his
right hand to me and I take it in mine. And just like every time my skin
touches his, my body starts to tingle. I’m sure Nick shakes hands a hundred
times a day, and he probably didn’t mean it to be more than a simple handshake.
He didn’t realize that just feel of his large, warm palm against mine would
make my heart speed up this way.
Our eyes meet across
the table, and I realize that I’ve kept my hand in his far longer than is
normal or appropriate. I yank my hand away, my face burning. Why does Nick
always do this to me? I thought with my wedding fast approaching, my feelings
for him would fade away. Instead, it seems like every look and every touch gets
me more wound up. Why can’t I keep myself from wanting him? What’s wrong with me? Maybe it was a mistake to
agree to work for him. Maybe I’m tempting fate.
But I can’t back
out now. We’ve already shaken on it.
To be continued…
I like where this is heading. A question: is Nick invited to the wedding? That could open up a whole bunch of feeling.
ReplyDeleteI doubt he'd be invited, but it isn't going to get to that point :)
DeleteI am just so in love with this story and the characters. Nick is absolute perfection. Your writing is incredible. They way you brought these two to life is amazing. Can’t wait for the book.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!! Still struggling with the release date, but it will be soon.
DeleteVery,very nice!
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteWill you be posting this Christmas novella?
ReplyDeleteTc
Yes! Will post another couple of chapters of this, then switch over to the novella. I plan to post the whole thing here, but will make it available on Amazon too for cheap.
DeleteLove it..thanks ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteAs always, great writing! I'm a little worried about Nick and Jessie though with Lori and the wedding approaching. I need them to have a HEA! And hopefully a sexy scene too! Thanks for posting. Looking forward to the book and Christmas novella.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry! Have I ever posted a story that hasn't had a HEA? :)
DeleteOk wow. This was the best yet. Devvy, but also touching. They both want it so badly, just get together already. Can’t wait for more. Can’t wait for the book. Can’t wait for the Christmas novella. Thanks for sharing this. It’s so great.
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks :) I think the next chapter is pretty damn devvy too ;)
DeleteI sure hope she DOES tempt fate! Terrific story, as always.
ReplyDeleteHaha, she will! Thanks for commenting :)
DeleteThe angst between these two is excruciating! Nick is trying so hard not to push Jess for fear of driving her away, and she is trying so hard to be "logical". Unfortunately for her, "logical" = "souless". Nick is the only one that can make her happy. So glad we've got an HEA coming!
ReplyDeleteYes, there will be... I promise... :)
DeleteNext week... at least a kiss? :) Loving it.
ReplyDeleteI can promise a lot of things, but I think that's doubtful :( Soon though.
DeleteWhat a clever way to keep Jessie working at the club! Ten points to Nick! :) However, when this news reaches Seth, there will probably thunder and lightening...
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing and can't wait the book!
Yes, there will be! Thanks for commenting!
DeleteI'm just obsessed with this story, it felt like Christmas when I saw a new chapter posted, AND when you said you're working on a novella!!
ReplyDeleteWow, thank you SO much! I can't tell you how much nice comments like this inspire me :)
Delete