| AGAIN BY TORRI |
CHAPTER 20 |
Part 20
I look into your eyesand get lost in their sheer sparkle.
Staring intently into them,
I see the very depths of your soul.
Entranced.
Pools of desire
daring me to swim forever in them.
Every now and then,
A blink of an eyelid covers them.
Momentarily,
the soft brown eyes
are hidden,
and then revealed again,
in a split second.
I long to feel your deep brown eyes
penetrate my body
And steal my love,
My soul,
My heart.
Rachel's hair is hanging just below her shoulders, held away from her face with butterfly clips. The cream colored, knee length silk dress, clings to her curves perfectly. She sits alone at the table, attracting attention from distant admirers, waiting for Nick to arrive. Lost in her thoughts, she doesn't hear Nick approach her, it's his scent that finally attracts her attention. It is a scent that she has become very familiar with over the last few days.
"Hey," she says without turning around.
"Hi." He kisses the back of her neck, sending chills down her spine. He walks around the table, handing her a bouquet of wild flowers.
"They're beautiful. Thank you."
"You're welcome. Did you order already?"
"No, I wanted to wait for you." Damn, he is so fine. Oh, God, please let him be the one.
"Sorry I'm late. I had to take care of some business back home."
"And which home would that be?"
"New York," he answers, finally looking up from his menu. The tone in her voice told him that something was wrong. Setting his menu on the table, he gives her his undivided attention. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Her eyes avoid him and concentrate on a light in the distance.
"Rachel, what's bothering you?" he asks with a hint of concern.
"I'm just wondering what's going to happen with us when we leave this island. Is this just some sort of vacation fling, or something more." She stares intently at him, patiently awaiting his answer.
He chooses his words carefully, not wanting to hurt or disappoint her. "It's not just a vacation thing, as you put it. I'm a very complicated person-"
"Here it comes, the big kiss off."
"No, let me finish. I'm very complicated, and there are some things that you don't know about me."
"So tell me. I'm the last person to stand in judgement of someone. Or, maybe you're just telling me so you can get off easy."
"No, not at all. Can we go somewhere and talk? Someplace a little more private."
"Alright." She gathers her belongings and walks away. Nick follows a few steps behind, wondering how he's going to deal with her.
The Manning Estate
Dusk
The alarm beeps annoyingly, until Todd enters his code. Tea follows close behind, soaking wet from being thrown into the ocean by Todd. She drips along to the kitchen, partially pissed, partially amused.
"I can't believe you did that. What if I didn't know how to swim?" She washes her hands and searches the fridge for a bottled water.
"Relax. I told you I would make it up to you anyway, so don't worry about it."
"Easy for you to say, you're not walking around dripping wet. You want a beer?" She asks before taking a seat at the table.
"No thanks. Hey, after the past couple of days, you should be used to being dripping wet." He winks at her and licks his lips seductively.
"That kind of wet, I like. This kind, I'm not so sure," he silences her with a kiss.
"Come here." He takes her hand, kisses every finger and looks deep into her eyes, hypnotizing her with his passion. As if in a trance, she follows him to the bathroom. He turns the shower on, letting it warm to the perfect temperature. He unbuttons her already soaked shirt, and peels it from her skin. He slides her skirt off, followed by her panties. Carefully, he unfastens her bra and lifts it from her shoulders. "Get in," he commands as he opens the shower door for her. He undresses himself and joins her.
"Is this the way you're going to make it up to me?"
"This, and other things. Turn around," he commands. She stands directly under the stream of water as he fills his hands with shampoo. He works the soap into a sudsy lather and massages it into her hair.
"Um," she moans, relishing his touch. He takes the raspberry scented soap that he bought for her and squeezes it into a bath sponge. On second thought, he decides to use his hands to bring them both pleasure. He washes her arms, her stomach, her legs, deliberately skipping the vital areas. He wanted to save the best for last. He stops and drinks in her beauty.
She opens her eyes, wondering why he stopped. "Why did you stop?"
"I just wanted to look at you for a minute." He removes the top of the soap, and pours it directly onto her breasts. He plays with her nipples, gently caressing them. They respond eagerly, along with the rest of her body. He runs his massive hands down the front of her body, stopping in her silky hair. He plays with it, enjoying the feel of it sliding between his fingers.
His hand finally makes it to the spot, moving up and down at a painfully slow pace. The wetness on his fingers is water mixed with her own sweet nectar. He rinses his hands and her body, then drops to his knees.
"You, you don't have to do this," Tea says knowing what's coming next.
"I want to do this," he responds as his moves his tongue around her clitoris.
"Oh, shit Todd." He licks the spot inside and smiles inwardly as her muscles in her legs tighten. Her legs start to quiver at never experiencing anything this pleasurable. "Todd, I can't take it anymore." He stands up and kisses her as he picks her up. She wraps her legs around his midsection as he pushes himself inside her. He kisses her softly, but at her urging, the kisses become harder, more urgent. They come simultaneously, moaning with complete satisfaction.
"Are you still mad?" he asks grinning from ear to ear.
"Words cannot express what I'm feeling right now," she says between kisses.
The Beach
Night
Nick and Rachel walk along the deserted beach, she is two steps in front of him. Her pace is somewhat quicker than his, an expression of her anger. "So, what's there to talk about?" she asks as she turns around abruptly.
He sits down, hoping she will do the same. She does, he takes a deep breath before speaking. "Do you remember when I told you that I had killed someone?"
"Yes."
"Well, I wasn't kidding."
"I didn't think that you were. So are you going to tell me about it?"
"I was around fifteen or sixteen, and I got caught up with the wrong crowd. My family was very wealthy, I grew up in the same building as Tea. Even though we had only known each other for a couple of years, we were pretty good friends. My parents were divorced when I was five, and my mom remarried when I was seven. I lived with her and her husband, if you could call it that. They were always traveling, so, for the most part, I was alone. I started hanging out with these guys who were selling drugs and stuff. I started experimenting with different drugs, and I got hooked. Tea was the first to notice a change in me, but I kept telling her nothing was wrong. She didn't buy it, and eventually, she figured out what was going on. She tried to stop me, but at that point, I was too strung out. I got in so deep financially, that my dealer put a hit out on me. "
"Oh my god."
"Somehow, Tea found out about it, and came to warn me, but I had already overdosed. She took me to the hospital and called my father."
"Why not you mother?"
"They were on another trip somewhere. The police got involved, and agreed to give me immunity if I agreed to go into treatment, and helped them arrest the dealer. Tea talked me into taking the deal and once I was released from the hospital, I met with him. I was going to warn him, but he already knew about my deal. We met in an ally, he pulled a gun out on me, but I had one too and I had a faster trigger finger."
"So that's your big secret? I beat a woman to death with a bat and spent the last six months in prison."
"I read about that. But, there's more."
"I'm listening."
"I stayed clean for awhile, but somehow I got caught up again. There was this girl Stephanie, I had been seeing. Things were pretty serious between us, we had planned on eloping right after graduation. One night, I went to pick her up and I was high. She didn't do drugs or anything, she thought I occasionally smoked a joint, nothing harder. As soon as she got to the car and looked at me, she knew that I was pretty messed up. She tried to get out of the car, but I wouldn't let her. I ended up ramming the car into a tree; she was killed instantly."
"Oh, Nick," Rachel says sympathetically.
"Don't try to console me, it was all my fault. I told my dad what happened, and he covered it up. To this day the only people who know what really happened are me, my father and Tea. I haven't really been involved with anyone since then."
"I'm so sorry." She tries to embrace him, but he moves away.
"I'm just a screw up. I've killed two people, and never suffered the consequences."
"So you've been punishing yourself ever since."
"No, I've been trying to make up for it ever since. That's why I'm into so many charity things. I'm afraid that if I take the time to slow down, I'll see the mess I've made of my life and fall back into that same pattern."
"How will you know if you never try?" She puts an arm around his shoulders, not letting him move away. "Do you want to try?"
"Yes," he answers as he wraps his arms around her and allows the tears to fall on her shoulders.
