Chasing Di'Maggio: a BWWM romance (6 page)

“Mom, don’t give me that look,” Nico said. “This stupid guy, Gabe, is joking. You actually think I’d make out with him? Wow, I don’t believe all of you guys at this table. Thinking so low of me.”

Gabe chuckled, “Low? What? I thought I was a good catch, right, Matt?”

“Shut up, Gabe.”

“What’s your problem? Forgot to take your meds today again, bro?”

“Real funny. I can’t stop laughing, Gabriel.”

“Okay, okay sorry.”

Gabriel knew when Matty was mad and right now it was a bit more than that. Gabriel knew he only got this mad when it came to Nicolette; he got mad the same way when Nico came over to their house crying once. Boy, did that kid ever get the beating of his life. When Matty was that mad, no one dared try him or even push him because he’d end up socking you and it hurt.

Gabriel quickly wiped the smirk off his face and went about his business, engaging everyone in a different conversation so that Matty didn’t think about him and Nico at all. He did not want to face his big brother today.

A few hours later, it was finally time for everyone to start heading out. Nico was exhausted from being around everyone all day; it was time for her to go home and watch TV for the rest of her Christmas as she did each year since Tommy left. Before he left, they used to stay at their parents’ house and watch Christmas movies until they fell asleep, but today she wanted to be alone. She was still in a foul mood and she thought the best way for her to get out of that mood was to be by herself.

“Well, guys, I think I’m heading out. Merry Christmas everyone, and have a good night.”

“Nico?” Gabriel knew that Nico was in one of her pissy moods and that meant she would go home and ignore everyone until she felt like she could talk to them again. He hated when she was like that because then he didn’t have his buddy around to bug him or worse; she would ignore him too and isolate herself from the whole wide world.

“Yes, Gabriel?”

“Going so soon?”

“Yep, I’m tired and you guys all look tired too.”

“Well, are you leaving, Roxy?”

Gabriel knew that he was teasing Nico, and Nico didn’t care if Roxy stayed. She seemed to fit in pretty well with everybody. Plus she was still chatting it up with Matty. What’s the point in taking her away from that? Nico didn’t get the hint that Gabriel was throwing at her. And although Roxy seemed super interested in Matty, Matty did not care much about her. He just wanted to be left alone for the night to just crash and sleep his anger away. He was still angry and it was about two hours after brunch. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to go back with Nico, but he definitely didn’t want to stay with his brothers; that would just make him more upset. So he decided to take the opportunity and hoped she didn’t shut him down.

“Don’t worry, Gabe, I’ll go with her. Plus, we still need to talk a lot about this proposition. Right, Nicolette?”

Nicolette didn’t want to look at Matty, but as soon as he said her full name, she knew he was mad. She slowly turned her head and saw how angry he was. Unless you knew Matty pretty well, you wouldn't know how furious he was. Nicolette could tell from the tone of his voice, the way he addressed her, and the vein that was popping out of his forehead. It wouldn’t be good or safe if Nico tried to upset him more right now. He would never hurt her, but she was afraid he would hurt someone else and she didn’t want that at all. She was too tired to break up a fight, so she decided to give in.

She turned to face Gabriel. “Yeah, Gabe, I’ll call you tomorrow and as for Roxy, I’ll drop her off. She told me she is going to her sister’s house. She lives ten minutes from me.”

“Okay then. Well, you guys have a great night.”

Finally everyone said their goodbyes. Even when they were walking to Nico’s car, Roxy and Matty kept engaging in a conversation. It was really starting to bug Nico now.
How much can two people who just met have in common? Why don’t they just cab together?
All this jealousy was starting to give her a headache....
Oh my God, jealousy, of course,
Nico thought. She stopped dead in her tracks and had to think it over again. Was Nicolette Elizabeth Richards jealous? It was way too funny to her so she started laughing like a mad person. She forgot that Roxy and Matty were behind her. They stopped their conversation and started staring at Nico like she was crazy.

“Nic, are you okay?” Matty was a bit shocked and terrified that Nicolette was laughing as though she was crazy.

“Jealous?” She continued to laugh at herself. “Oh my God.”

“Nic, you want me to drive?”

Nicolette turned around and looked at Matty as if he was on drugs. She never let anyone drive her car. He was watching her with a worried look on his face. How was it possible for him to make concern look so sexy? Nicolette was beginning to question her own sanity.

“No, no. That’s okay, Matty.”

“Nic, give me the keys, you’re clearly not well in that mind of yours.”

She shook her head and chuckled at her own ridiculousness. “I guess. Here you go.”

Nicolette finally gave in and let him drive. Besides, she needed some time to think the word “jealousy” through and what it meant for her. Matty snuck glances at Nicolette as he was driving, trying to see her facial expressions and understand what the hell her problem was.

It was just hysterical to Nicolette. She wasn’t really the jealous type. When she was younger and girls liked Matty, she wouldn’t be jealous because he always paid attention to her no matter what. She even got cursed out for it but she didn’t care because Matty didn’t let anyone come before her. But now, at her age, she was jealous. She couldn’t stop thinking about it through the whole drive home. Even when they dropped Roxy off, she wasn’t entirely there.

Nicolette was relieved when they pulled into her driveway.

“We’re here, Nico,” Matty said.

“Okay.”

Matty didn’t understand what the hell was going through this girl’s head. She wasn’t listening to any conversations in the car, she didn’t properly say bye to her friend. She didn’t even complain about Matty speeding in her car and he did it just because he knew that she hated it. Nico went straight to her room, she didn’t say a word so Matty assumed that she went to nap. He decided to kick back and watch Christmas movies for the rest of the night.

Half an hour later, Nico emerged from her room wearing a pink sweat shorts-suit, her multicolored, knee-high toe socks, and she had her hair up in a bun. Nico wasn’t aware that Matty was staring at her while she walked past him to the kitchen. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her, so he decided before he tried something, it’d be better to go sleep it all off.

Matty stood up and started to head to the guestroom. Nicolette walked back from the kitchen. She was too curious and she just had to know.

“You like her?” she asked.

“What? Like who?” Matty was confused as to who Nicolette was talking about.

“Roxy. Do you like Roxy?”

Matty knew his answer but he wanted to know why she was asking.

“Why?”

“Nothing. Forget it.”

Matty was surprised that Nico actually asked him that, he wasn’t used to that. She never asked him if he liked some girl, she usually just minded her own business, which he hated. He liked the fact that she asked and that brought him back to the hysterical laughing from earlier. Now he understood. Nico was thinking about herself. Was she jealous? Matty didn’t want her to be jealous of Roxy. He didn’t even see Roxy the same way he saw Nico. She had nothing to compare to her at all, so why would she be jealous? The thought made him smile. He wasn’t even angry anymore. He walked back to the couch and sat down. He waited until Nico joined him and watched her curl into the couch.

“No, I don’t like her. I told you, I already have someone else in mind, and Roxy doesn’t even come close to the woman of my dreams,” he answered as he was intensely staring into her eyes.

“Oh. Well, am I ever going to meet this woman of your dreams?”

Although Nicolette asked this question, deep inside she wished that girl jumped off a bridge or something. She was filled with so many questions about this girl. What did she look like? Was she pretty? Short? Tall? Nicolette wanted to see what kind of girl captured his heart, especially because she wanted to be the one. There it was again, her admitting that she was jealous and it made her feel sad and mad at the same time. She decided to shake off that dreaded feeling that was creeping up inside her over a girl she’d never even seen.

“Yes, one day when I’m ready. Now come over here.” He patted to the empty spot next to where he was sitting. Nico scooted over and curled into Matty’s body, which had always been a perfect fit for hers. Little did she know, he thought the same thing.

“One more thing, Matty.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t you ever speed in my car like that again?
Capisce
?”

“
Si, bella donna
.”

Nico wondered what that meant. Matty knew that Nico wouldn’t know that he’d said, “
Yes, beautiful woman,”
and he couldn’t help but smile to himself. Not only was he allowed to say what he wanted to her in a different language, he had her where he wanted her to be… in his arms.

Nico felt so comfortable. She knew she was in her house and in her king-size bed. She felt the luxury of her silk sheets as she moved around, then she felt a hand pull her closer to stop her from moving. She froze; she didn’t know what the hell was going on.

What in the heck was going?
She turned around to see whose face matched the arm wrapped around her. To her surprise, it was Matty; he grabbed her face and started kissing her. She was in heaven, the sweet kisses that he was giving her, the want in his kisses, the way he caressed her face when he did it. It made her feel so loved, so happy. She didn’t want the moment to pass. Then she heard a knock. She didn’t want to stop, so she hesitated. Then she woke up.

“What the hell? That was a dream? God, it felt so real.”

Nico wanted to cry. What was wrong with her? Was she really that hung up on Matty? It was weird for Nico to dream of sleeping in the same bed as someone else. Even though she was once in a relationship with Andrew, she never slept with the guy. She was happy that she didn’t choose him as the first man to be with. She was very happy with her decision to remain a virgin at her age. Although a lot of her friends made fun of her, she didn’t care. She preferred to wait until she was married. Oh, the irony! She was getting married, but would that mean that she would lose it to her pretend husband who she was secretly in love with?

As Nico was thinking things through the doorbell rang. She hated getting out of the comfort of her bed but she had to because the person that was at her door was starting to piss her off.... And why the hell was Roxy here this early?

“Roxy?”

“Well, good morning to you too, Boss. Don’t you think you should be getting ready for work? It’s almost 6:30 am, which means if we don’t leave in half an hour, we’ll be late.”

“Ugh. Oh yeah, go make yourself something while I get ready. What time is our client coming?”

“She said around 8:30.”

“Oh my! Okay, be right back.”

Nico didn’t even think twice and walked right into the bathroom, taking her clothes off.

Matty was coming out of the shower stall at the left and froze when he saw Nico and how she was hopping around from one place to the other to get her clothes off. He couldn’t help but smile because he knew she would freak out when she finally turned around. This would be the best damn morning of his life. Matty didn’t bother grabbing a towel because it was right next to Nico, so he thought about entertaining her for a little while. He decided yesterday that it was finally time to lure Nico in and let her know that he was all in...

Nico finally got all her clothes off and managed to brush her teeth; she was racing against time and she wanted to beat the traffic. She was so mad at herself for forgetting to set her alarm on for 6am. She wondered if Matty was already awake. Wouldn’t he need to be at work too? Finally, Nico turned around and she froze. She was so embarrassed! She had no clue that Matty was standing there the whole time! What was she supposed to do? She couldn’t help but stare at him. Matty was gloriously naked in front of her. She couldn’t help it. She stared at him up and down slowly. She took in every inch of his perfect chiseled body. His whole tanned Adonis body was beautiful. He had a six-pack with the v-cut, and she couldn’t stop herself from checking him out. She would never forget the way Matty looked naked. Everything on his body was so flawless.

She finally got the courage to look at his face and he just had a smirk. You could see his dimples. His dimples were her favorite things about him but now, something else might be her favorite. She quickly looked back down and it took her about a minute to register that she was fully naked too.

Matty couldn’t feel much more attracted to Nico, especially now. The way she looked at him, the way she checked him out slowly. He didn’t intend on just standing there but he was frozen into place too… He was checking Nico out too. She looked so cute with her hair in a messy bun. The way her body was structured, it was so beautiful. Her chocolate skin was so smooth on her. Her breasts were the perfect size; they were definitely bigger than he thought. She had the most beautiful legs he’d ever seen. She was gorgeous from head to toe. Was there such a person in the world that could make Matty’s heart stop like the way Nico just did? He didn’t think so. Whatever invisible force that was pulling them closer and closer was stronger than ever and that made the both of them really nervous.

“Want to pass me a towel, Nic?”

“Ye…Yeah sure,” Nico stammered. “Here you go.”

Matty couldn’t help but smile at the way she was trembling while giving him the towel. It reminded him of when they were kids: she trembled when he asked her for something and each time, he would tease her by touching her in the process.

“So are we riding together?”

“What?”

“Are we driving to work together, Nic?”

“Yes, I’ll be ready in a little bit.”

“Okay. I’ll get my car when we move to make everything better.”

“Yeah sure, no problem,” Nico muttered, avoiding his eyes as she moved about the bathroom.

A devilish smile crept across Matty’s face. “Well, Nic, I hope you liked what you saw.”

Nicolette couldn’t help but smile at him. She felt butterflies in her stomach again, and he just kept leaving her speechless.