Chapter 62
AN: HUGE thanks to Bianca and Veronica for reading this chapter
ahead of time, and especially to Veronica for offering suggestions and
literally adding to it for me. You both
rock!!
…A moonless night
With only sound for a view
It’s funny what an ocean can do…*
Claire had
expected to spend the night in Nick’s house for the first time in over a week
that night, but instead she found herself wrapped in his arms beneath a thick
blanket and an open sky. It was a
beautiful night – there was no moon, but the inky black sky was clear and
sprinkled with stars that glittered like diamonds against a background of lush
velvet. Nick had been itching to go out
in his boat, he’d told her, so they had decided to take it out for the night
and sleep under the stars.
With no
moon out, it had gotten very dark after the sun had set and they’d drifted away
from the city lights on the shore. She
could barely make out Nick’s features through the darkness, but she didn’t
mind. She could hear his voice and feel
the vibration in his chest as he spoke… the warmth of his arms around her… the
gentle rush of his breath in her hair... and all of it made her feel safe and
protected and loved. This was what she
longed for every night she had to go to bed alone.
“So could
you tell Laureen was really nervous around you tonight?” asked Claire, her
voice cutting through the quietness of the night.
Nick’s
laughter tumbled over to her. “Yeah, I
kinda noticed that. Hopefully I didn’t
scare her off with the cancer story.”
“Oh yeah,
Debbie Downer!” Claire exclaimed, hitting his shoulder playfully. “The look on Tim’s face was worth it, but you
sure upset Laureen, understandably.”
He laughed
again. “Well, tell her I’m sorry next
time you talk to her then. I only said
it to make that guy stop tellin’ his nasty-ass stories. Did he talk about shit like that when he took
you out on dates?”
Claire
giggled. “Not quite that bad, but of
course he told the mascot stories – you remember that.”
“Yeah, I
heard some of them even back then,” Nick replied with a snort. “You have no taste in men, you know that?”
“Oh, says
my fiancée. What does that say about you
then, huh?” Claire kidded, poking his chest.
“Hey, I
dunno what you’re doing with me. But I’m
glad you are.”
Claire
rolled her eyes. “Your self-pity turns
me on,” she quipped sarcastically. “What
do you think I’m doing with you, Nick?”
“I know
what we could do,” came his suggestive reply, and though she could
barely see his face, she imagined him waggling his eyebrows the way he always
did.
She smiled
and ran her hand across his chest, remembering how insecure and reluctant he’d
been to make love to her even just six months ago. He’d come a long way in a short time, just as
their relationship had progressed as rapidly as it had. Had they really only been together for ten
months? It seemed so much longer than
that, but it hadn’t even been a full year.
And they were already engaged.
Her own parents had dated for close to three years before getting
married. It had crossed her mind before
that maybe she and Nick were trying to move too quickly, that she’d accepted
his marriage proposal with just as much haste as he’d made it with, but it felt
so right. And even when she had her
doubts, Nick’s embrace was enough to reassure her that he was the man she
loved, the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
He turned
his head and caught her lips with his, pulling her into a passionate kiss. She closed her eyes, savoring the taste of
his kiss and the feel of his hands in her hair.
“Mm,” she mumbled, her voice muffled by his mouth. “I miss you so much... I miss this…”
“You don’t
have to miss me now,” he murmured in response, his voice low and thick with
mounting desire. “I’m right here, babe…
all yours… all night.”
She wanted
more than just a night with him, but for now, this would have to do. Trying to simply enjoy the moment and not
think of him leaving again the morning after next, she boosted herself up so
that she was leaning on one elbow, her other arm free to touch him. She trailed her fingers down his torso again,
pausing to unbutton each of the buttons on his shirtfront. She parted the lightweight material, exposing
the thin, white wifebeater he had on beneath it. He sat up just far enough to shake the
unbuttoned shirt off of him and let her slide the wifebeater up and over his
head. “Much better,” she said as she
eased him back down onto the blankets and leaned over him, bringing her lips
down to kiss his bare chest. He sighed
with pleasure as she left a trail of kisses down the center of his chest and
across his stomach, giggling as her tongue dipped into his belly button.
“Ticklish?”
she asked with a teasing smile, moving up to the spot she knew he definitely was
ticklish in – his neck. She lightly
kissed the side of it, breaking the kiss to laugh as he involuntarily shrugged
his shoulder and tipped his head towards it, as if trying to get her pesky lips
away from the sensitive spot. She moved
up to his jawline, starting just below his earlobe and slowly working her way
back to his lips, which she drew back into another lingering kiss.
As they
kissed, she felt his hands run down her sides, stopping at her hips. Using them as handles, he guided her body up
and over so that she was draped over him, her lips still locked with his. She pulled away to get a breath in, but a few
seconds later, she was drowning in his kiss again, as his hands moved to the
small of her back and found the hem of her shirt, pushing the material up and
out of the way. The blankets had fallen
away from their bodies, and she flinched as the cool night air met her exposed
skin, causing the fine hairs on her back to prickle as goosebumps rose. His hands shifted to the area her shirt had
covered, warming her again as they massaged her lower back, his fingers working
her muscles and sending delightful shivers shooting up her spine.
Breaking
the kiss again, she let her head fall to his shoulder as her body went limp
against him. She lay still, enjoying the
sensation of his hands on her back and the way her body moved up and down with
the steady rise and fall of his broad chest.
Closing her eyes again, she buried her face in his neck and concentrated
on their breathing until her shallow breaths matched his perfectly. Inhale… exhale… As the air flowed in an out of her lungs, she
could practically feel the blood rushing to every part of her body, which was
stimulated and alive with an almost electric sort of tingling.
Meanwhile,
Nick had made progress, sliding the shirt up to the center of the back. His fingers fumbled with the clasp of her
bra, eventually undoing it and letting the elastic fall away from her
skin. She sighed freely and sat up,
allowing Nick to finish his job of taking her shirt off by helping him guide it
over her head. She shimmied out of her
loose bra and tossed it aside, leaving herself fully exposed. Her nipples rose and hardened as the cold air
hit them, but again, his hands rose to cover them, sending shockwaves of warmth
and pleasure through her. Holding onto
his shoulders as he tenderly kneaded her breasts, she tossed back her head and
let a moan escape her throat.
“That feels
so good,” she murmured breathlessly, as he dragged his warm hands down her
sides and over her stomach, his fingers sliding beneath the waistband of her
pants. He eased them over her hips and
down her thighs, pulling her panties with them.
She took a shuddering breath and leaned over him, planting another kiss
on his lips before she rolled off of him just long enough to tug her pants the
rest of the way down and kick them off of her.
Now fully
unclothed, she threw a knee over him and straddled his hips, her fingers moving
to undo the button on the waistband of his jeans. She unzipped the fly and pulled the pants
away from his waist, her fingers latching on to the elastic of his boxers as
her heart began to race with desire.
God, she
wanted him, wanted to touch him and feel him inside her. There was nothing more intimate than that
sensation, that moment when their two bodies joined,
as if
becoming one, physically matching the way they felt about each other emotionally. She a part of him, he a part of her. The dance they did then was special, meant
for them only, bringing them closer like never before. She’d experienced it with others, and so had
he, but together, it was something new and different for both of them.
Raising
herself up onto her knees, she moved back and started sliding both garments
down. He lifted his hips as she slipped
them down his thighs. The left leg was
freed quickly, allowing her to whisk the pants down the length of his right leg
with ease. He kicked the last of his
clothing off of his ankle as she repositioned herself over him.
She ran her
hands over his stomach and hips, purposely avoiding his hardening length until
the time was right. He moaned as she let
her hands roam to his thighs, squeezing his flesh with her fingers. “You ready?” she asked him, her fingers
creeping up the insides of his thighs.
"Whenever
you are," he answered through shallow breaths. Taking hold of her hips again, he helped
guide her to just the right spot, and she lowered herself onto him, gasping as
he slid into her.
With the
rush of physical sensation came a rush of emotions. God, how she’d missed this, missed the
connection, the space only he could fill. It had never been like this with
anyone else, never this right. The
sensations, the feelings, only he could evoke.
He knew all the right places to touch, to caress; he knew her body
unlike any other.
They easily
fell into rhythm with one another, Claire gripping Nick’s arms while he
clenched the blankets beneath them in his fists, his eyes closed, face all
scrunched up. Claire watched him… the
look of ecstasy on his face - she knew it well, for she felt it too. The heightening of the moment, the rush of
blood through her veins… there’d never be another feeling like it, and it was
theirs.
She
murmured his name through her erratic breathing, and he cried out hers when he
came, filling her with searing, satisfying warmth.
Collapsing
against him as he slid out of her, she buried her face in his neck once again
and kissed him softly, tasting the beads of his sweat on her tongue. His chest heaved beneath her, and she rolled
off of him, curling up at his side instead and snuggling against him. His arm came around her, bringing their
flushed, moist bodies closer together, and he drew the blanket back up and over
them. Claire sighed, never wanting to
leave the warm, soft cocoon he’d created for her.
Gradually,
their rampant breathing decrescendoed into a soft, steady harmony once
again. Hooking a leg around his, Claire
ran her fingers lightly over his chest as she gazed up at the starlit sky,
enjoying the peaceful quietness of the night, broken only by the soothing
lapping of the ocean waves against the hull of the yacht and the soft hiss of
their breath. With the same gentleness,
he caressed her back and arm as she lay in his embrace. The chill of the air that managed to seep
under the blanket coupled with her heightened sense of touch made the warmth of
his hand on her skin feel extra nice.
“I see Orion,”
she said randomly, noticing the familiar pattern of stars twinkling down at her
from a patch of ebony sky.
“Huh?” Nick
croaked.
“The
constellation. Right up there,” she
said, pointing. “Can you see it?”
“Uh… which
one is it?”
“You see
those three little stars, all in a row?”
“Oh –
yeah?”
“That’s
Orion’s belt. Then there’s four stars
around it in kind of a lopsided rectangle – two on top and two on bottom – and
those are supposed to be his arms and legs.”
“Ohh… I see
it! You’re good,” said Nick with a
chuckle. “Only star I know is the Death
Star.”
She
laughed, patting his chest. God, she had
missed him. And when he left town again
on Sunday, she’d miss him again, probably even more. He was like an addiction - the longer she
went without seeing him, the more she was able to settle into her own routine
and keep herself from missing him, but as soon as she did see him, it was that
much harder to let him go again. He was
beer to an alcoholic, chocolate to a sweet tooth – comfortable and
irresistible. It was hard enough not to
think of him all the time when he was not around, but nearly impossible not to
want more of him when she’d been given a taste.
This weekend with him, just like last weekend, was going to make the coming
week without him even harder.
Don’t think about it, she told herself firmly, trying to
cast aside the issues that had been putting pressure on their
relationship. She didn’t want to worry
about any of that now. Just enjoy the
moment. Enjoy tonight.
Tipping her
head back to plant a soft kiss on his neck, she snuggled deeper into his arms
and decided to do just that.
***
Nick awoke
the next morning feeling perfectly content.
Lying there, stretched out on the pile of blankets they’d spread across the
deck of his boat, with Claire fast asleep in his arms, he decided that nothing
could beat waking up like this.
Everything he loved was right there with him.
There was a
slight chill in the air that morning, probably because they were far out in the
water. He pulled the blankets tighter
around himself and Claire to ward it off, not quite ready to get up and hunt
for the shirt he’d thrown off of himself last night. No, he’d be quite happy to stay just like
this while he could.
It felt
nice to be back in Florida for the weekend, away from the busy schedule he had
in LA. He and the guys had been working
hard, and he’d had to get up early every day that week, whether he was hungover
from a night of clubbing with Howie and AJ or not – and often, he was. It was nice to be able to relax – no pressure
from his management or the record company or even the other guys, no front he
had to put up when he went out clubbing or encountered fans. There on the boat with Claire, he was far
away from all of that. He could do what
he wanted to and just be himself because that was the man she’d fallen in love
with – the real Nick Carter, flaws and all.
He intended
to drop by the Tampa police headquarters and call his home security company
later that day to get some more details about what had happened on Halloween
and find out what was being done to assure that it wouldn’t happen again. But that could wait. The sun had just barely risen past the
waterline on the horizon, and he knew it was still early. He could stay here with Claire for a few more
hours, resting… drifting… loving. He’d
discovered the value in simplicities like this – a night on his boat, sleeping
under the stars, holding his girl. Maybe
it had taken a near-death experience to really make him appreciate the simple
things in life, or perhaps it just came with age and growing maturity.
Either way,
as he bent his head to place a gentle kiss on the sleeping Claire’s head, Nick
felt he wouldn’t trade this moment for anything.
You’re my secret place, where I can be myself
You connect with me like nobody else
Even though our circumstances changed
Our love still remains
Keep me on the ground, still you help me fly
You taught me to be patient; I taught you to rely
So no matter what tomorrow brings
We got the simple things
‘Cause love is
Kisses in a beanbag chair
The two of us with no one there
Love is
The moment that I climb the stairs
To hold you in my arms after we make love
Love is
Waking up to see your face
Or kissing in the morning rain
Love is
The only thing that keeps me sane
At the end of the day is that I’ve got you
- “Love Is” by the Backstreet Boys
***
*Lyrics taken from “I’ll Hear Your
Voice” by Rockapella