The Beginning of Us (211 page)

“Karly come out with me!” Emma shouts and runs to the backyard. She’s in her bathing suit, running and jumping in the warm pool. I shudder thinking about being near one. It’s been so long and I can’t shake off my fears. I close my eyes and silently count to ten.

“Come in with me!”

“No honey not tonight. Don’t stay in for long because you need to get to bed. You have school tomorrow!”

Emma covers her mouth and pretends to cough. “I’m so sick Karly. I don’t think I can go to school.”

My little drama queen!
“Well I guess you’ll just stay home with me and clean. There’s still sooooo much to do,” I exaggerate.

“Not fair,” she pouts.

I sit on one of the chairs, lean back and relax. It’s been a long weekend and I’m ready for bed! Things between Nicholas and I are pretty good for the most part. Sometimes I feel like he’s avoiding me and the situation, but I keep reminding myself to give him space and time.

“Can we talk?”
Oh shit that voice
. I slowly turn around and see Nicholas standing behind me wearing sweat pants and a tight black shirt, which accentuates his beautiful, mouth-watering muscles.
Oh my.

“I wanna get Emma ready for bed then I’m all yours.”

His eyes are dark and hooded after I tell him that. Without saying anything else, Nicholas turns around and walks away.
What the hell does he wanna talk about?

After a few more minutes I get Emma out of the pool and ready for bed. She changes into her Princess pajamas and slides under the covers. We snuggle and talk about the weekend and the new house. Soon her breathing steadies and when I look down her adorable face is peaceful and in a deep sleep.

Slowly moving away, I head downstairs and find Nicholas in the kitchen sitting at the table with a glass of Whiskey in his hand. “You okay?”

He looks up and there’s an unreadable expression on his face, “Yeah. Fine.”

Okay, what’s going on now?
I grab a bottle of Moscato from the fridge and pour myself a glass. It’s been a long weekend and I need a reward. I pull out the chair and sit down across from him. I can’t figure him out. “What’s wrong?”

He lets out a heavy sigh and knocks back his drink. “I don’t know. Having you here in the house with us is harder than I thought.”

“Okay so do you want me to move out?”

“No!”

“Then what’s wrong? We lived together at the apartment and now we’re living together at your house. What’s the big deal?”

Nicholas gets up and steps closer to me, twisting the chair so I’m facing him. This is not what I was expecting for tonight. “It’s hard. You’re doing great staying away from me and looking at me like a friend, but I fucking hate it Karly. You’re all I fucking think about. There’s more about me that you don’t know. I don’t want to drag you through my bullshit. Look at you. You’re perfect…” his voice trails off and I lean in to kiss him. It’s a simple kiss and I know I shouldn’t have done it, but I needed to.

“I’m not perfect either. We’re gonna learn more about each other as the days turn into nights.” I hold his face in my hands, “I’m not perfect and neither are you, but we’ll be perfect for each other. I’ll wait until you’re ready Nicholas.”

“No Bradley?” He quietly mutters.

I lift his face up and look into his eyes, “No Bradley. He’s my friend and that’s all there is.” I kiss him again and head upstairs after saying good night.

Once I’m in my room I fall on my bed and let out a frustrated cry. My heart pounds in my chest and all I can think about are his eyes and the way he stares at me. The depths of his soul are in his eyes, and each time we look at one another, a piece of his soul belongs to me. I’m not sure how we can still be friends. The electric charge between us is undeniable. His kisses make me weak. His eyes make me melt. That smile, wow, his smile, makes the world stop and everything seem clearer.

Chapter 11
Nicholas

“Good morning Mr. Hayes.” Leslie, my personal assistant, comes in with a large cup of coffee.

“Good morning Leslie. Have a seat and tell me what’s on the agenda today.” She rattles off a few meetings and I make some notes.
      

“Do you need anything?” She asks getting up from the chair.

“Yeah actually,” I write down the address and hand her the paper. “Can you have flowers sent to that address, please?”

Leslie looks down and smiles. “Mr. Hayes?”

“Thank you Leslie,” I give her a smile before she heads out of the office. I grab my coffee and notebook to head to my first meeting of the day.

Back to back meetings again today. When I get back to my office there’s a few messages on my desk and cell phone. I ignore the messages on my desk and unlock my iPhone to read the text messages.

Alexis: You little shit! You like Karly!

Mom: Nicholas Landon is there something you need to tell me?

Alexis: You got her smiling! Just be careful and remember what I said. Slow Nicky

Mom: I’m happy for you if you’re happy Nicholas. Just be careful. She’s very special to all of us

I get messages from everyone but not from Karly.

Me: I’m glad you like the flowers.

She doesn’t respond. I look at the clock and see I have another meeting in ten minutes. “Come on Karly text me back,” I whisper. I thought the flowers could show her how sorry I am for some of the things I’ve said. A few minutes go by and still nothing from her. I can’t wait any longer. I grab my notebook and laptop and head out to my meeting. Maybe when I get back there’ll be a text waiting for me.

The back-to-back meetings are getting old. Every Monday is the same thing. Each merger, each plan of attack, each report is exhausting. It’s a little past one in the afternoon when I head back to my office. I immediately look at my phone and smile.
A text from Karly.

Karly: Thank you for my flowers! They look beautiful =) We’ll see you tonight. Oh! And enjoy your lunch!

Before I can text her back Leslie walks in with a bag. “What’s that?”

“Your lunch. Karly dropped it off.”

“Thanks Leslie.” She leaves my office and I open the bag, taking out the containers. I wonder what she got me. I open the boxes and smile.

Me: Thanks for the sushi. How’d you know sushi is my favorite?

Karly: You’re welcome…Alexis told me =) Enjoy! Emma and I are gonna go down to the beach.

Pulling into the driveway I walk in the house and the aroma of food hits my noise. After my quick lunch I had to finish an extensive report for Peterson. My brain is fried and I need a night to stop thinking about work.

“Daddy you’re home!” Emma jumps in my arms and we walk in the kitchen. Karly’s by the stove cooking and I can’t take my eyes off her. She’s wearing tight black leggings and I swear her ass got bigger. How is that possible? I walk up to her with Emma in my arms and peek over her shoulder.

“Smells good.”

She nudges my stomach, “Go away and get ready for dinner.” I look in the frying pan and see chicken cooking in a buttery sauce. I can’t wait to eat. Emma leaps out of my arms and grabs the plates. She sets the table and wanders in the living room to finish watching her cartoons.

Pouring a drink from the bar in the kitchen, I look back and stare at Karly. All I can see are her eyes in my head and looking incredibly sexy in my kitchen. I admit that I have strong feelings for her and we have a great connection, but I’m not sure I’m ready to do the relationship thing again. The thought of claiming her as my girlfriend scares the shit out of me. Dating again is going to suck. I’ve done the wine and dine and romance with Jamie. Can I do it again?

I walk outside on the deck and place my glass down. Would I be able to fall in love again? I loved Jamie and gave her the world, but she threw it back in my face. Karly’s not Jamie though. Not even close. She makes me feel again and she sees past my faults and accepts me…for me. We’ve only known each other for a short period of time, but she’s all I think about. Maybe tonight we can talk.

* * * * *

“Alright Emma’s in bed and I’m exhausted.” Karly makes her way outside and sits down next to me. I grab her legs and place them on my lap giving her feet extra special attention. A moan escapes her beautiful lips and I’m instantly hard.
Shit.

I need a distraction. “Did you and Emma have fun today?”

“Yeah. Her teachers are really nice and Emma’s making a lot of new friends. We have a lunch date tomorrow with a few of the moms and girls from her class.”

“That’s good. I’m glad you two are having fun.” My raging cock calms down, finally.

Silence fills the space between us as we take in the calmness of the night. Sometimes we don’t need words to be comfortable or get to know each other. I study her expression on her face and she looks at peace and in her own quiet world.

“What are you thinking about?”

Her eyes look lost and distant. Before she says anything a soft sigh whimper leaves her lips. “When I was ten, my dad and I used to drive to the park. It was just us. He turned off his phone and focused on me. We spent all day walking around and taking pictures. He loved photography and the beauty of nature. It’s one of the better memories I have of him.”
      

“Alexis told me what happened between you and your parents. I’m really sorry.”

Her body tenses, but quickly relaxes. “Yep that’s my life. I woke up and found my mom next to me. I tried waking her up but it was no use. She overdosed on pills and died holding my hand. As freaky and weird as that sounds, I don’t know, it makes me feel a little better I guess.”

I continue massaging her feet. “I get it. What happened afterwards?”

“I called the cops and I was rushed to the hospital. I had a million surgeries but nothing took away the scar on my face. It’s permanent. A reminder of my fucked up past.” She wipes her tears away. I quickly get up from my chair and kneel down before her.

“You’re alive now, Karly. That’s the most important thing. You survived a shittest past and now look at you. You’re absolutely beautiful.” I touch her face and she leans into my touch. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, and I know I don’t say it much, but you mean a lot to me and Emma. You brought back my little girl’s smile…And mine.” She lets out a sigh and closes her eyes. In this moment I can feel her heart beating with mine.

Chapter 12
Karly

I drop off Emma at school and tell her I’ll be back in a few hours. It’s a pretty relaxing Thursday and all my errands are done. I look around the quiet town and decide to head to the beach. A couple strolls past me and immediately my mind goes to Nicholas. After telling him what happened with my parents’ things are…Good. I thought he would’ve ran away, but actually he’s been more attentive and loving. We’re still friends even though we want more.

I sit on the sand and look at the ocean. I love being on the beach, watching the ocean and thinking. As the waves hit the shore my life comes a little clearer. When it comes to Nicholas we’re going to keep crashing and going back into the motions just like the waves. I know I told him I’d wait, but how is that fair for me? For anyone? I’m about to send him a text when I hear someone walking toward me. I turn around and notice Bradley walking over.

“Mind if I sit with you?”

“Sure,” I simply respond.

He sits next to me, his leg touching mine. That butterfly feeling I get with Nicholas doesn’t exist with Bradley. What we had in Boston, in high school, is gone.

“You okay?” He turns his head to me and places his hand next to mine on the sand. “You seem sad. What’s wrong?”

“Have you ever been in a situation where you wanna be with someone but that someone isn’t ready and you told them you’d wait until they were ready?” I stare off to the ocean, not looking at Bradley. I don’t want him thinking I’m talking about him. “I like him, Bradley. My boss.”

My eyes are still on the ocean. I can’t look over to my right and see the expression on his face. Even though I don’t have feelings for Bradley, I’m not that heartless to want to see his pained look. I let out a sigh and pick up some of the sand, letting it flow freely out of my hands. Why can’t things be easy like this? Why can’t two people be together if they like each other?

“If you really like him and wanna be with him then you should wait. If you don’t mind me asking why isn’t he making you his?”

“He’s been hurt before. His wife, well ex wife now, left him and Emma so he’s scared to fall in love again.” A deep sigh escapes my lips. I didn’t realize the tears coming from my eyes until Bradley takes me in his arms. When did everything get so complicated?

“I really like him. I think I’m falling for him.” Bradley holds me tight allowing time to let my emotions flow freely. For some reason I feel better as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I can finally breathe. “I want you to be happy Karly and if being with Nicholas is gonna make you happy then I want that for you.”