Page 43 of Meet You in the Waves
It was nearing ten before I heard the side door that led to the garage open and I about jumped out of my seat. Fortunately, Dane was transfixed on the boring as hell movie and didn’t notice that I had suddenly developed a severe case of ants in my pants.
Nick suddenly moved into the room like a breath of fresh air, bringing all the oxygen in the world in with him. His eyes found mine as quickly as mine found his.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi,” I managed to stumble out. “How was your course?”
“Good. But long and exhausting. I’m gonna,” he said, indicating with his head upstairs. Right, go to his bedroom. Of course. Not sure what else I’d been expecting from him even though I’d been listening out for his car since about three in the afternoon. Did I want him to stride over to me with his long, tanned legs and sink to his knees? Take me in his arms and kiss me again with his brother sitting right alongside? Finish what we’d started this morning?
And more importantly, did he sleep naked?
“Night,” I rasped, eyes locked on him the entire time as he turned and headed for the stairs. He caught me looking half way up, sending me a wink that had my heart spiking in my chest. Okay what? What was that wink supposed to mean?
I fidgeted through the rest of the movie, my mind a puddle of overactive hormones and confusion. It was one of those extra long movies too, a real thinker. I could not have given even the simplest summary of what it had been about. The second the credits started to roll I was out of there, almost running up the stairs to the second floor.
I stalled in the hallway, eyes on Nick’s closed door. I could hear the sound of soft music floating through the gap in the door and I wondered desperately what he was doing. What he looked like when he was lying in bed.
I took my time brushing my teeth and then made my way back to my bedroom. I stripped out of my clothes and pulled on the loose boxers I liked to wear to bed, the silky kind that felt nice on my skin. Except not tonight. No, every bit of fibre in contact with my skin was too much, my body a heated, molten mess.
I tossed and turned for an hour, the sound of Nick’s soft music calling to me like a lure. I threw the covers off my body, accepting that I was not going to find sleep any time soon.Everything about me was just so hardwired for the man at the end of the hallway.
Was I brave enough?
Was I brave enough to walk the handful of steps down the hallway, knock on his door and see what was up? That kiss from this morning now felt like a taunt, like dangling a piece of meat in front of a lion that didn’t know he was starving until he had caught the scent.
I whooshed out a deep breath. Yes, I was brave enough. I was strong enough to take what I wanted. And what I wanted was to see Nick. I drew on that scrap of inner strength, one of the things I had always admired about Nick which was probably yet another thing to reclassify over to the lust pile, and stepped out into the hallway.
The soft beat of music coming from Nick’s room was the only sound up here, the otherwise silent space amplified in my pounding ears. I glanced in the direction of Dane’s bedroom to see that his door was closed shut and there was no light coming from under the gap. Hopefully indicating he was fast asleep and not about to bust me attempting to make a move on his older brother.
I focused my attention back the other way in the direction I had been looking since I had first stepped foot on the sand down here. I stepped out into the hall, padding carefully down the floorboards, trying to keep my steps as silent as possible so that I could back out again if I lost my nerve.
A loose floorboard creaked under my foot, the sound like a shotgun in the otherwise silent night. Of course I had managed to find the one squeaky floorboard in the entire hallway. I froze, knowing my game was up and cursing the floorboard for taking my decisions away from me. I had to go through with it now. There was no way Nick hadn’t heard my clumsy little giveaway.
Of course, it was possible that maybe he was asleep already. Maybe he just used the music to drift off to sleep after his long day on the training course. Maybe he hadn’t heard the squeaky floorboard. Maybe he had no idea I was currently lurking outside his door like a creeper. Maybe I should just man up and find out.
I squared my shoulders and stepped up to Nick’s door, rapping my knuckles like a whisper.
“Come in.”
His voice hit me deep and low and my heart sprang to life in my chest like a marching band. Not asleep then.
I slowly twisted the nob, opening the door and trying not to have a heart attack when I found Nick lying in his big queen size bed. He looked up at me with those sparkling blue eyes as mine took a quick detour down all that visible chest on display.Damn.
Nick was scrolling through his phone but immediately shut it down and placed it on his bedside table.
“I was hoping I’d see you again tonight,” he smirked, casual as could be. Unlike me and my fast pounding heart and my sweaty palms and oh, were those butterflies in my stomach?
“You were?”
“Mmhmm,” he replied, tucking one arm behind his head and drawing all my attention to his flexed bicep. Dammit, everything about him was just so hot. My bravery up and vanished as I froze to the spot, so out of my depth where this guy was concerned. He seemed not to notice or maybe he took pity on me because next second he drew back the sheets of his bed beside him.
“Want to join me?” he asked.
I answered by closing the door behind me with a soft click, the finality of that little snickety sound feeling momentous. I took a measured step into the room, my mouth drying out and hands a little shaky. But then my body decided it was going to take control, leaving my head to its own games and it was all I could do to stop myself from running to him. Nick’s eyes were on methe whole time, watching every step as I climbed onto his bed, feeling awkward and out of balance as I lay down beside him. I angled my body towards him, feeling a little breathless when he did the same.
“I was hoping you’d come find me tonight,” he said softly as my nerves bubbled up inside me. He hadn’t even touched me yet, a clear foot of space separating our two bodies as we lay facing each other. I guessed Nick was playing this carefully with me too and part of me appreciated that. The other part wanted him to just take control, lay waste to me and forget about the pretence.
“You didn’t say anything downstairs.”
