Out of My Element (4 page)

“Are you okay, Nick?” Chelsea was
leaning over me with a smirk on her face. The little shit was hardly even
winded.

“I think … I’m dying.” I gasped as
she sat next to me, giggling. My chest burned as I tried to take deep breaths.

“Come on. Sit up.” She held out her
hands and pulled me into a sitting position. “We need to stretch.”

She straddled her legs in front of
me, and I did the same, so that our feet lined up. If I wasn’t in such
respiratory distress, I might have been turned on. She grabbed my hands and
pulled me forward. I could see a treasure that I desperately wanted as I leaned
forward toward the center of her legs, but the burning and pull in my
hamstrings brought me to an abrupt halt.
Shit, I seriously needed to work on
my flexibility
. I did the same for her, watching as she laid her chest
fully on the grass with little effort.
Lucky grass
. If people knew how
to read minds, I’d be so screwed! After about five minutes of stretching our
arms and legs, I was finally beginning to feel human again.

“Shit, Chelsea, you must think I’m
such a pussy.” I shook my head.

She threw her head back and
laughed. “No, actually, you did great! It gets easier, and just imagine how
much it will help your stamina.” She stood up and swung her arms back and
forth.

I stood up with much less grace.
“I’ve never had any complaints about my stamina.” I grinned at her.

“Does everything always come back
to sex for you? I was referring to soccer.” She shook her head at me, laughing.

“Having the ability to turn any
thought into a sexual innuendo isn't a bad thing, but true talent.” I grinned
and laughed as she rolled her eyes.

“Do you want to grab a drink?” She
pointed at the coffee shop.

“Sure.” We walked through the
doors, and the aroma of fresh ground coffee beans flooded my senses. I looked
over at Chelsea in time to see her close her eyes and inhale deeply.

“Is coffee your beverage of
choice?” I asked.

“Coffee is not just a beverage
Nick, but a moment of pleasure,” she informed me.

We stepped up and ordered two large
coffees, and Chelsea grabbed two bottles of water.

“Water first, then coffee.” She
smiled, holding them up.

I pulled out my wallet and paid for
our drinks as Chelsea took the waters to a small table by the window. After
grabbing our coffees, I followed her. “Cream or sugar?” 

“Nope. I’m a simple girl.” She
grinned as I set her coffee down in front of her.

“Me too. Well, I’m not a girl, but
I like my coffee black, too,” I corrected.

She giggled. “Thanks for clearing
that up, Nick.”

I sat down, took a sip of my coffee
and groaned loudly. “Mmm, can I just say that I love the way you taste when
your warm silkiness slips softly between my lips, warming every inch of my
body?” Two men sitting next to us stared at Chelsea with wide eyes.

“Nick!” she gasped.

“Perverts! I'm talking about my
coffee!” I shook my head.

“Water first, you weirdo.” She
giggled, pointing to the bottle. “So Nick, why did you become an accountant?
You don’t really fit the stuffy businessman persona.”

“Thanks … I think.” I laughed. “I
was always good at math; it was just easy for me. For the most part, I like my
job, even though it can get overwhelming working for such a large company.”

“I get that. Some days I feel like
I’m caught up in so many projects. Big companies can be exhausting sometimes.”
She finished off her water.

“Yeah, and I’m sorry you have to
work so closely with Trevor. That must be exhausting in itself.” I grinned,
knowing that Trevor was actually an easygoing guy.

She laughed and shook her head.
“Yeah, he’s a tough one; thank God Ava keeps him in line.”

“Speaking of
work, I probably should get going so I’m not late.” She stood up and I
followed, taking a second to check out her tight ass.
Nice
.

I walked her
to her car and gave her a quick hug. “Thanks for letting me tag along.”

“Thank you
for the drinks.” She held up her coffee and smiled. “Have a good day, Nick.”

I watched her
drive away before walking to my car to head home for a quick shower.

***

I couldn’t
believe how great I felt. By the time I’d made it to work, I felt so refreshed
and awake. I jumped right into my ever-growing pile of work and had made quite
a dent before I grabbed a sandwich and sat back for a quick lunch. Maybe this
running thing was a good move; even though I was pretty sure it almost killed
me today. I better make sure Chelsea knows CPR.

I had just
finished my sandwich when my phone rang. “Hey, Trevor, what’s up?”

“Hey. You up
for dinner with the four of us tonight?” 

“Oh sure, I’d
love nothing more than to be the fifth wheel,” I chuckled. I was actually quite
okay with it. The four of them never made me feel unwelcome, and in truth, I
was so happy that Trevor and Tom had found such great women.

“Whatever,
Nick,” he laughed back. “Hey, we could invite Chelsea, too?” Trevor suggested.

“That would
be cool.” I smiled.

“Really? So I
guess the date went well?” he asked, sounding quite surprised.

I laughed.
“It wasn’t a date in the sense you are thinking, but we had a good time. She is
actually a lot of fun to be around,” I explained as I threw away my lunch mess.

“So, are you
interested in her?” Trevor asked warily.

“Let me put
it this way—I like being around her, and I don’t want to screw that up by doing
what I do, so it doesn’t matter if I am interested or not, I’m not going to
take it there again,” I confirmed.

“That’s good
to hear, Nick. Ava and I don’t want to see her hurt. She’s such a sweetheart.”
Even though I knew Trevor wasn’t trying to put me down, it still kind of pissed
me off that they had such little faith in me. Deep down I understood where he
was coming from. My track record spoke for itself.

“So, I’ll see
you all tonight.” I hung up and dove back into my work, still thinking about
Chelsea and how much I was enjoying our new friendship.

***

I was the
last to show up at the restaurant. My boss had come in right before five and
sat down to chat about deadlines. My mind had been so fixated on getting out of
there that he had finally taken pity on me and told me that we could finish up
in the morning.

“Hey, sorry
I’m late.” I couldn’t help my grin when I noticed that Chelsea had come.

“What do you
want to drink?” Tom asked as the waiter approached.

“I’m just
going
to drink water and behave tonight.” I laughed at all of their shocked faces.
“I'm sorry; I just wanted to see what it felt like to say that.” I
ordered my beer and took a quick look at the menu, so they
didn’t have to wait any longer on me.

Chelsea
leaned toward me. “How do you feel? Are you sore from this morning?” She looked
so cute as she bit her bottom lip. Part of me wanted to grab her and bite that
lip myself.

I heard Ava
gasp. When I looked up she was openly glaring at me. “What?” I asked
innocently.

“What the
hell did you do, Nick? Why would you be sore from this morning?” She folded her
arms across her chest and looked at Trevor with her eyebrows raised. I looked
at Chelsea and winked before turning back to Ava.

“Well, not
that it’s any of your business, but our girl Chelsea here gave me one hell of a
cardio workout this morning.” I waggled my eyebrows at them.

“What the
hell Nick? I thought you told Trevor you weren’t going to pull that shit with
her.” I looked over at Chelsea and noticed her trying to cover her smile, obviously
aware that I was just giving them a hard time.

“Shit, Ava,
chill out. I didn’t do anything to hurt Chelsea. We went running together this
morning, and she just about killed
me
, just so you know. That’s why she
was asking if I was sore.” I chuckled when Ava’s mouth dropped.

“I’m sorry,
Nick. I shouldn’t have assumed the worst,” Ava apologized.

“It’s okay.”
I winked at her.

“Talia,
you’re awfully quiet tonight. It’s actually quite refreshing.” I raised my
drink to her.

Talia leaned
forward and smiled at me. “I keep telling myself that there has to be a reason
why our lives have crossed paths, Nick. You know what? I think I’ve finally
figured it out. I’m pretty sure you were brought into my life to help me learn
about tolerance.” She smirked at me before nestling back into Tom’s arm.

“Oh, come on, Talia, I'm pretty
much destined for greatness. To be honest, I'm actually pacing myself so I
don't freak you out.”

“That’s right, Nick, believe in
yourself,” Tom mused.

“Yeah, because the rest of us think
you’re an idiot,” Trevor chimed in.

“I’m not an idiot … just socially
unique.” I grinned as I took a big draw from my beer.

“What is
that
?” I asked as
the waiter set Chelsea’s food in front of her.

“A double cheeseburger and onion
rings, why?” She looked at me like I was crazy. Who was this girl? She was
athletic, she drank beer, and she ate like a linebacker. I was pretty sure I
might be in love with her.

“Hmm.” I looked begrudgingly down
at my bowl of pasta. What the hell was I thinking when I ordered this? I looked
back up as Chelsea set half of her cheeseburger on my plate and smiled. I
grinned and picked it up, taking an enormous bite. “Oh. My. God. This is
amazing!” I groaned.

“You better have your ass down at
the river at five tomorrow,” she mumbled as she stuck her fork into one of the
pieces of shrimp in my pasta, shoving it in her mouth and winking at me.

I picked up my beer to take a drink
and caught Trevor’s eye. He was staring at me with his eyebrows pulled
together. I raised mine in question, and he just shook his head and went back
to eating. Shrugging, I went back to basking in the sweet heaven that was
stuffed between two buns on my plate.

Chelsea

I glanced at my watch again. 5:15.
He was late. I finished stretching and stood up, swinging my arms back and
forth. The more I’d gotten to know him, the more I saw a different side of him.
I was honestly enjoying the time we spent together, and it was nice to see that
my impression on him from the wedding was wrong. Well, to an extent anyway. He
was someone I could see myself spending time with, but I wasn’t planning on
throwing myself at him again.

I took a large cleansing breath and
set off, running at a steady pace, enjoying the crisp morning air against my
face.

“Chelsea, wait!” I turned around to
see a frazzled Nick running my way. “I’m sorry. My alarm didn’t go off,” he
panted.

I couldn’t help but feel elated
that he had, indeed, shown up. “Did you stretch, Nick?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Go ahead, I’ll wait for you.” I
smiled at his relief and looked off toward the river while I waited

“Okay, I’m ready. Don’t kill me,”
he joked as we set off along the trail.

“I figure we will go four miles
today and then six tomorrow.”

“Six? Shit, Chelsea, I almost died
after five,” he scoffed.

“Good grief, you didn’t almost die,
Nick. Stop being a drama queen. Just focus on your breathing. Breathe in for a
three count and out for a three count.” I smiled as I continued to watch him
concentrate. He didn’t give himself enough credit. He was in much better shape
than most people. You had to be to run up and down the soccer field for an
entire game.

Our run flew by, and Nick almost
couldn’t believe we had gone four miles.

“That wasn’t too bad,” he said as
he swung his arms back and forth.

We helped each other stretch and
walked to the coffee shop again. I insisted on paying this time, while Nick
grabbed us a table by the window.

“I have a soccer game this evening,
if you can make it.” He took a drink of his water as he looked at me with a
hopeful expression.

“I’d love to watch you play.” I
grinned. It would be fun to see him in action, playing the game that seemed to
evoke such a passionate response in him.

“Great! If I get a ride from one of
the guys, would you want to go for a bite to eat after the game, and then drop
me at my place?” He finished his water and replaced the cap. I watched as he
rolled it nervously between his hands, waiting for my answer. He was so unsure
of himself sometimes, almost like a little boy needing approval.

“Sounds perfect. If you win your
game, I’ll buy dinner; but if you lose, dinner is on
you,
baby.” I
winked.

He hesitated. “Wait, why would I
buy if I lose? Isn’t that like adding insult to injury? Shit, Chelsea, why
don’t you just kick me while I’m down?” He did his best to look wounded.

“Maybe, but I don’t want to spend a
perfectly good evening watching you play a half-assed game of soccer. If you
lose, you will have to make it up to me with dinner,” I teased.

“You are a cruel woman, Chelsea.”
He shook his head in mock disgust as he lightly kicked my foot under the table.

“Well, don’t lose and it won’t even
be an issue.” I giggled.

“I’ll do my best,” he said as we
stood to leave. “So I’ll see you later then?”

“I wouldn’t miss it, my friend!” I
gave him a quick hug and walked back to my car.

***

Nick was incredible on the field.
He aggressively went after the ball and always seemed to be in the right place
at the right time.