Dalt
Nikki opens the door while I’m still struggling to strap on the nylon belt which holds my water bottle.
“Come in for a minute. I have to get my running shoes. There’s fresh coffee in the kitchen. Help yourself.” She exhales a long breath. Her apparent exasperation doesn’t escape me.
Ahh. The smell of fresh brewed coffee is a welcome distraction. I’ve been living off instant since Batt left. Even though we all try to help out, he’s kind of the master chef. I guess having an Italian mom who believed it was her duty to feed as many people on the planet as possible at their kitchen table helped him hone his skills.
“All set?” Nikki walks in the kitchen as I take a gulp of the delicious brew. “Or you want to just stay here and have a relationship with that coffee you’re moaning into?”
Little smartass.
“No thanks. I’m good. Been missing the taste of fresh brewed. I’m all set.”
“Okay, Juan Valdez. Let’s go. I want to get this over with. I’ve got a shit ton of stuff to do today,” she says and walks out.
Nice. Can’t get over how thrilled she is to be spending time with me.
I finish my coffee with one more savoring swallow and hurry after her. When I get outside I make a piss poor attempt at stretching and warming up my muscles. I’m a little preoccupied. I can’t take my eyes off Nikki as she stretches. She’s got on her usual spandex running shorts and a Ninja Turtle tank top. As she bends and touches the ground with her hands and then stretches each leg in front of her the spandex clings to every curve of her body. I’m pretty sure take me I’m yours just flashed across her ass. No. It may have been my mind the words were flashing across.
I don’t want to go running with her. I want to carry her back inside, lay her across her bed, and use our 98.6º furnaces to warm each other up. But she almost didn’t agree to go running with me, so I’m fairly certain she’d say ‘fuck off’ to sex.
We head toward the combination bike and running trail around the harbor. Our feet point us in the direction without our brains giving it a thought. It’s the same place we ran almost every day when we were together.
The weather is perfect. The sky is such a clear, vivid blue with the bright sun climbing the horizon, it’s the perfect panorama for a picture postcard. A slight ocean breeze is blowing in from the dark blue water of the harbor and a matrix of swaying, anchored sailboats complete the picture. The seagulls squawk over our heads in easy conversation. Makes me wish humans could converse as easily; tell each other exactly what’s on our minds without hesitation.
It was that easy between Nik and me. In the past, we completed each other’s sentences. Now there’s this brick wall of uneasiness separating us. I don’t know how it got there, or where it came from, but I plan on demolishing it today over breakfast. It’s not the ideal place to have the conversation, but I figure if we’re in public she won’t be able to kick me in the balls for trying to have a serious talk with her.
Will she?
“Having a hard time keeping up, hockey boy?”
I jump out of my thoughts to see Nikki running backward several strides ahead of me. “Ready for those pancakes?” I ask, picking up my pace to catch up to her.
“Fine by me if that’s as far as you can go. Like I said, I have a lot of work to do today.” She stops running. She’s not even breathing hard. And while my t-shirt is drenched, she hasn’t even broken a sweat. Guess my dripping shirt is the reason she thinks I’m done. Although, we were together long enough for her to remember how I sweat during vigorous exercise and how long I can go, double entendres intended. She’s just trying to get under my skin with her taunting.
I don’t protest her comment insinuating I’m too tired to go on. I don’t tell her I could go another ten miles if she wants, because I don’t want. What I want is to get her back into my life as more than a running companion.
“Yeah. That’s it for me today.” I stop next to her and pull my wet shirt over my head, using it to wipe my face and chest. I don’t miss the way Nikki’s eyes follow my shirt as it moves over my pecs. It’s the perfect opportunity to play with her a little. I drag it in a slow, suggestive circle down my abs to the edge of my running shorts. Her I’m-going-to-eat-you look, which drives me wild, flushes her face.
“I’m so hungry.” My honeyed tone emphasizes my actions. “Looking forward to those pancakes.” Her ogling gaze jerks back up to my face. “Batt wasn’t here to make our usual Saturday morning breakfast and I’m starving.” I lick my lips to add an extra tease and she closes her eyes for a second. I could swear I hear her whimper. This is good. The brick wall has an apparent fissure. She doesn’t completely dislike me.
“Fine.” She huffs out a long, frustrated breath. “Let’s run back to our houses and take showers before going to breakfast. You look like you need one.”
She runs ahead of me toward the house. Yes. After the way I just teased her, I need a shower. A very cold shower.
***
“Fuck.” When I reach into the nylon belt which holds my water bottle and cell phone and is supposed to hold my door key it occurs to me, in my hurry to get to Nik’s this morning, I forgot to take my keys. I cup my hands around my eyes and peer through the window on the side of the front door. There they are, minding their own business, hanging from their hook, just where they shouldn’t be right now.
I head back over to Nik’s, but when I knock a couple of times there’s no answer. I send her a text.
Me: Locked out of my house.
After a few seconds a message flashes across my screen.
Her: So what do you want me to do about it?
Me: I’m at your front door.
Her: I’m in the shower.
I stand there staring at the screen like a mesmerized idiot. Like she’s going to send me some kind of visual confirmation.
Her: Just a minute.
I can almost hear the annoyed tone in her text. Two minutes later the door opens and she’s standing there wrapped in a white towel, all five feet five inches of dripping wet gorgeousness. I will my eyes to stay focused on her face and my dick to calm down. I can’t allow myself to linger on the thought of what’s underneath the towel. I’m already pushing the limits of restraint here when it comes to being this close to Nikki.
“Can’t you just climb in a window or something?” There’s the I’m-so-happy-to-see-you tone she loves to greet me with.
“They’re all locked and I don’t want to break one. The landlord will lose his shit.”
She shrugs and steps back, opening the door wider to let me pass. “You can take a shower in Tracey’s and Dak’s bathroom. I’m sure Dak has something that will fit you. You guys are about the same size,” she says and gives me another hungry once over.
“Uh, thanks. I’ll figure out how to get in my house after breakfast.”
I follow behind her up the stairs.
When she gets a couple of steps ahead of me her short little towel is leaving nothing to my already overactive imagination.
Fucking hell.
“I have to finish washing my hair.” She turns and comes to an abrupt stop when we get to the top of the steps. I wasn’t expecting her to stop and I plow into her. My hands automatically reach out to grab her arms to keep her from falling. The sweet weight of her towel-covered breasts is pressed against my bare chest. Christ. She smells so fucking good, like fragrant strawberries on a warm summer day. She’s trembling and there’s no way to will my cock to calm down now. He’s totally not interested in calming down. All he wants, what we both want, is to be back home inside this woman.
“I…I’ll be out in a minute,” she whispers, glancing up at me. I think it’s the first breath either one of us has taken.
When she walks away I’m still not sure I can remember how to breathe.