Page 16 of Just Screwing Around

He held his hands up and backed out but rather than heading back to work as I’d hoped, he stopped on the other side of what would become the front counter. “Fine, fine but I want a muffin when they’re ready, and you still didn’t answer my question.”

“We were talking about me,” Kim blurted out.

I shot her a grateful look. She knew about the issues between Derek and Nick and if she suspected what had happened between me and my new roommate, she knew Derek’s reaction wouldn’t be good.

Once Derek was out of earshot, Kim rounded on me and raised an eyebrow.

“Fine, yes. Nick and I, last night.”

She covered her mouth and let out a little squeal. “Must have been good from the way you’re glowing right now.”

Fuck, she had no idea. “God, yes. We are one hundred percent doing it again.”

“So, is it just for funsies or are you putting a label on it?” she asked, leaning against the counter next to me.

I flicked the mixer on for a moment to stall answering. It was complicated because of our history, well his history with Derek, and we both had shit going on with work. I clicked it off again and leaned against the counter next to her. “All I know for sure, is that we are getting along and having fun together. I don’t know what it means or if it will go anywhere. I don’t even know if either of us want it to.”

She sighed. “I won’t bug you about it then. Just let me know if you want to talk.”

“I will, and for the love of god, don’t tell Derek.”

She rolled her eyes. “Obviously.”

I got a few more answers about where Nick was at, when I arrived home after work that day. He came through the door just after five as he’d been doing for the last week. I wasn’t sure what the protocol was here. Should I greet him with a kiss or just stick to our usual roommate routine?

He made the decision for me. “Hi, how was your day?” He leaned over my shoulder to see what I was cooking and kissed me on the cheek.

“It was fine. How was yours?”

“Long.” He put a stack of mail on the counter and started setting the table.

We continued to chat away about our day through dinner and cleaning up afterwards. All those years I’d missed his friendship because of the boys stupid feud had me angry all over again. Nick was a really good guy. He was funny, he was thoughtful and because we’d grown up together, we had a lifetime of shared experience. The fact that he wasn’t intimidated by my vibrator didn’t hurt either.

As he closed the dishwasher and hit the start button, I crowded behind him wrapping my arms around his waist and resting my head between his shoulder blades. He leaned back into me and we stood like that for a moment. Sometimes I didn’t realize how much weight I had put on my own shoulders until someone else helped me carry it. A simple hug from Nick made it all feel more manageable.

He turned in my arms and brought his big hands to the sides of my face and kissed me long and slow. He explored my lips with his, nibbling first the bottom and then the top, like we had all the time in the world.

His lips moved lazily along my jaw and down the side of my neck leaving big open mouth kisses in their wake.

I buried my face into his neck taking in the smell of his skin and fresh cut lumber. I was about to suggest that we take things to the bedroom, when my eyes caught on the envelope at the top of the stack of mail. I pulled back. “Sonofabitch.”

Chapter Ten

Nick

Just as I was thinking that this thing between Charlotte and I had to be the easiest start to a relationship I’d ever had, she blurted out the words no man wants to hear. I pulled back. “What’s wrong?”

She snatched an envelope off the counter and tore it open like a rabid raccoon. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.” She dropped down into a chair at the table.

I sat down in the chair next to her, every muscle in my body feeling the hours of work I’d already put in that day. My concern was only for her and why she was upset.

She dropped the paper on the table between us and scrubbed her hands over her face. “This is the reason I never became an accountant.”

I had no idea how to help because I had no idea what the problem was, but I ran a hand over her shoulder in solidarity.

She pushed the paper in front of me. “I’ve looked over the spreadsheet of my business expenses too many times to count. I’m still weeks out from the official opening. I thought I had accounted for everything.”

I picked up the paper and ran my eyes over it. It was a bill for business insurance by the look of it, and it was past due.

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