Ian's Way (6 page)

Nathan was working on catching his breath, hands on his hips. Like Ian, he was in top shape though there was no keeping up with Ian today. “The way you’re playing? I would rather go up against Damien from
The Omen
. Wait, maybe you are possessed. I’ll call an exorcist. In the meantime give me your tickets for the big
game,
you’ll be busy floating around spewing green vomit for the foreseeable future.”

“It I do spew anything, it will be all over your office. Face it, man, you’re just getting old,” Ian dismissed.

Nathan slapped him on the back good-naturedly. “I’m old enough to know something’s up with you. It can’t be business because we are kicking ass in the profit department, thanks to everyone needing our services in a bad economy. So that leaves woman trouble. Buy me a drink and I’ll help you out.”

“I don’t have woman trouble and why the hell should I buy you a drink? You’re the one who lost.”

“Because you’re the one needs the advice. It’s simple logic.”

“Logic, my ass,” Ian muttered, though he was secretly happy for a chance to unload a little.

The truth was
,
he had been badly shaken this morning when he’d woken up to find
Nikky
gone. It wasn’t as if they were in a relationship but she could have at least said goodbye. According to the front-desk clerk, she and her friend
Kaitlyn
had checked out bright and early.

That’s what he got for sleeping in until eight. When was the last time he had done that? Usually he was up by five-thirty. Making love to
Nikky
had chilled him out completely. He had slept like a baby. Talk about a perfect experience.
For him.
He wasn’t sure he had given her everything he’d promised.

It had been like a virgin climb, all the excitement and thrill of a new mountain, placing the spikes, making the calculations, working the ropes, balancing adrenaline against cold, steely reason—the perfect mix of man against nature. And the excitement had overcome his resolve and his plans for a slow night of lovemaking—just for her.

Climbing had been Ian’s life and on one fateful occasion it had nearly taken that life. Since then he had never fully let his guard down—not in business, not in play, and certainly not in his love life, what little of it there had been these past few years.

Tracking down Nikki had been something he had thought of many, many times. But Ian had come to believe very strongly in fate. There was a deeper peace to things, a deeper meaning than could ever be seen on the surface. His time in the Himalayas had taught him that.
As had the courageous silence of the Buddhist monks.
Their tenacity and ferocious oneness with the butterfly wings of eternity had served as his guide.

Thus it was that Ian had taken it as a sign when he’d stumbled across an announcement for the reunion on a random blog. A quick scan of the list of respondents had told him
Nikky
would be there. And so he had resolved to go after her, win one dance with her…and one splendid night of lovemaking to follow.

Except it hadn’t worked out right at all.
Sure the sex was incredible, more than he could have imagined and he knew he had satisfied
Nikky
but the more the hours passed the less secure he felt. Had he done his job? Had he changed anything for her? Made her feel better about herself? Maybe, but if she had truly enjoyed a blossoming of self-esteem, why sneak off in the middle of the night?

It took Ian until halfway through the second beer at their favorite pub to explain all the particulars to Nathan.

From across the table, Nathan just stared at him as if he were the biggest fool east of the Mississippi.

“So let me get this straight,” Nathan said, showing off that inimitable twinkle in his eye. “You just turn up out of the blue and tell this woman, who you’ve never so much as dated, that she’s been your fantasy for fourteen years and that she saved your life and now you want to repay her with sex? Have I got it so far?”

“I didn’t tell her about saving my life but the rest is true, yes.” Ian could tell where this was leading and he braced himself accordingly. One thing he could count on from Nathan was the unvarnished truth, preferably in its most unflattering form.

“Close enough,” said Nathan, licking the foam from his mustache, deep in thought. “So, let’s cut to the chase. You, in your infinite wisdom and humility, decide that all you have to do to even the cosmic scales of justice is to screw this woman, just one time. And this would be a fair trade because…what? You are god’s gift to vaginas everywhere?”

Ian glowered. “Fuck you, okay?”

Nathan chuckled. “If you want someone to blow smoke up your ass, go on Oprah.”

“Maybe it does sound a little conceited,” Ian admitted. “But I felt it in my gut. I knew I could make love to her the way she needed.”

“And did you?”

“That’s the problem. She took off before I could talk to her about it.”

Nathan shrugged. “Can you blame her? What the hell was she supposed to do, the way you built things up? It’s awkward enough for a woman the first time out of the gate without her feeling like she has to take out a full page ad singing your praises between the sheets.”

“I didn’t expect anything like that and you know it.”

“It doesn’t matter what you expected. This
Nikky
of yours was left with two choices and she took the lesser of two evils. She could either stay behind and take her chances on letting you down, and god knows that’s easy to do, or else she could let you both off the hook and make a noble exit. She obviously chose the latter.”

Ian drummed the table with his fingers. He had to agree that Nathan was the only person in the world who could match his keen, analytic mind. Together they had built up a fantastic consulting business, specializing in engineering tech problems. Unfortunately, Ian was not in the mood for logic.

“I want to see her again,” he said.

“Why? You
gonna
set yourself on fire in front of her house like those Buddhist monks of yours?”

“I just want to see her,” Ian declared, though he was interested in doing a lot more than looking at
Nikky
.

He wanted to smell her soft skin, hear her sighs as she touched him, trailing her delicate fingers over his hard abdomen. He would touch her as well, from the tips of her coral pink nipples to the moist slit between her thighs, her puffy labia and the swell of her throbbing clit.

Ian wanted to be inside her, losing
himself
in the rhythm of their heated, animalistic movements, like two perfectly suited jungle creatures.

There, he had admitted it. Ian wanted to screw
Nikky
again and another time after that for good measure.

Would that finally satisfy his desire?

Ian had his doubts. Hell, when it came down to it, he wondered if he could ever get tired of that sexy, sensuous body of hers and the wicked, inventive mind that went with it.

Nikky
had surprised him with her passion. She had been anything but a shy, retiring violet. More like a tigress, willing and able to take what she wanted.

Good. Ian had no problem with that. It meant she was well on the way to controlling her own destiny. Her future was limitless.

So why did he feel so fucking miserable?

“So much for no strings attached,” Nathan said, throwing Ian’s own words in his face.

“I didn’t say I wanted to go back and marry her,” Ian shot back, a little more forcefully than he had expected.

Nathan arched a brow. “Touch a nerve, old buddy?”

“I’m just saying that we hadn’t seen each other in a decade and the time we spent together then, well, we were way too young to have formed a serious bond, that’s all.”

“Which one of us are you trying to convince?” Nathan quipped.

“Neither. Look, I had a thing for her in high school. So did every other guy. She was the ‘it’ girl. Just walking past Dominique Neill guaranteed a guy an instant hard-on.” Ian’s voice tightened and so did his balls. He had been among those guys and apparently he still was.

“
Jeezus
,” he recalled now, sighing heavily. “
Nikky
had this way of sucking on her pencils. She had no idea the effect it had. I would have killed to have those ruby lips on my shaft, licking like a lollipop, biting down, teasing.”

“And did you get your wish last night,” Nathan queried. “Or were you too busy being the woman’s sex therapist?”

“At least I wasn’t busy being an asshole, like you,” he retorted.

“I’m scientist problem solver,” said Nathan. “And right now I am calculating the odds that you will grow a pair and actually call
Nikky
back for a second round.”

“I will let fate decide,” Ian announced, draining his glass. “Got a coin?”

“Is this you or the beer talking?”

“Both. Give me the damn coin.”

Nathan produced a quarter. “Heads—you make love to her again. Tails—you make my fucking day and drop the whole sorry-ass subject forever.”

Ian snatched the quarter and tossed it in the air.

It plinked down onto the table, circling on its edge for several seconds before finally falling flat.

“There you have it,” said Nathan. “It’s a done deal.”

Ian frowned.
“How about the best two out of three?”

“No way, dude,” Nathan said. “Not a fucking chance.”

* * * * *

Nikky
met
Kaity
for lunch at Greens ‘n Things. It was a brand-new restaurant, salads only. Since the two of them worked less than a five-minute walk from each other in the business district they made it a practice to try out every new place in the area at least once.

At
Kaity’s
insistence, they took turns paying, though
Nikky
felt bad on account of her higher salary.

Over the years
Nikky
had worked her way into a creative position at the advertising firm where she worked while
Kaity
was still slaving away as an executive assistant at a medium-sized consulting company.

Kaity
had had offers for advancement. Unfortunately they always came with strings attached. Her current boss, Mr. Musgrove was more than willing to stroke her career, provided she stroked him first, preferably in his office behind closed doors.

Kaity
blamed her hair color.

“Guys think blondes are easy,” she reasoned. “We are supposed to want to spread our legs at the drop of a hat.”

People also tended to think blondes were dumb. It was a stereotype which
Kaity
managed to reinforce with her off-the-wall exuberance.

Nikky
was one of the few people in
Kaity’s
life who had ever truly understood her.
Nikky
knew she wasn’t a fool nor did she intend to come across as mean and spiteful at times.

Her brain just had a way of getting ahead of her mouth, especially when she was feeling threatened.
The upshot was that
Kaity
said and did the things most people only thought about.

Kaity
had been
Nikky’s
hero growing up because she had been the first person in her life to speak against
Nikky’s
father, even if it was just in the form of hushed whispers at sleepovers.

Oh boy, could
Kaity
make her laugh, and think too.

With
Kaity’s
help
Nikky
had learned to express her anger, even if not directly against her father.

The upshot was that
Nikky
had felt more valued because of
Kaity
.
Nikky
, in turn, showed
Kaity
a loyalty
Kaity
had never felt with any other friend. They were a perfect match. Except at those inevitable times when they competed for the same guy’s affections.

“So, are you ever going to talk about it?”
Kaity
asked as
Nikky
passed her the salt.

“Talk about what?”
Nikky
blithely sprinkled pepper in her soup.

“Ian, what else?
And don’t say there’s nothing to tell. You have been acting weird since you came back from his room last night. And if you put any more pepper in that soup, girlfriend, you will sneeze us both to Timbuktu.”

Nikky
frowned, eying the thick black layer obscuring her cream of broccoli. “I guess I am a little off.”

“There’s the understatement of the century.”

“I should never have gone to his suite,”
Nikky
concluded. “I knew it would make for a big mess.”

“Why? Was he really a dud between the sheets?”
Kaity
was on one of her speaking-without-thinking rolls. “You don’t have to lie to me. The really hot guys usually are. Same with fast cars, they don’t handle in the snow at all.”

“I already told you, the sex was fine.”

Fine?
It was off the charts.
Nikky
couldn’t even begin to compare it to anything else. It was just so far beyond what any other man had given her.

Kaity’s
eyes danced. “Is his cock big?”

“
Kaitlyn
, for heaven’s sake, will you stick to the main point.”

“It
is
big, isn’t it?”
Kaity
exclaimed, reading
Nikky’s
embarrassment.
“You lucky little thing.
He knows how to use it too, I’ll bet. Did you do anal? Mindy Garner told me last night that her husband does anal on her. He gets drunk and it hurts.”

“No, we didn’t do anal.”
Nikky
surveyed the surrounding tables, praying no one’s hearing was that good.

“What about oral?”

“Drop it,
Kaity
.”

Kaity
let it go for all of ten seconds. Between bites of her “artichoke explosion” salad she said, “So why did you take off on him in the middle of the night? You could have had a quickie this morning at least.”