Chapter 13

I realised that we hadn’t moved, we were still on the dance floor but we weren’t dancing, we were just looking at each other.

“Come on” he said, taking my hand “let’s get out of here, let’s go and take a walk outside”

I nodded my head in response and allowed myself to be led away. I didn’t notice the looks from my friends and at that moment, I wouldn’t have cared either. Nick Carter was actually holding my hand in public and he wanted to talk to me.

We walked out into the still warm night air, the hundreds of fairy lights dotted around outside showed us the way and we walked around the grounds, hand in hand.

“Look N…Nick” I began, faltering over whether to call him Mr Carter or not.

“Rowena…” he began at the same time and once again, I loved hearing him say my name.

“You first Nick” I said.

“Well, first of all I’m glad you’re calling me Nick” he smiled and looked into my eyes. “Rowena, I know I’ve been a complete and utter bastard to you since the moment we first met. I just want to explain a bit about myself, not that it excuses my behaviour, but I need to make you aware of why I sometimes act like a complete asshole”

“And I need to explain myself to you too” I said.

“Well, ladies first then” he turned and flashed that gorgeous crooked smile, the kind of smile that would be enough to make any sane woman melt.

“I never do this. This isn’t me. I’m not some easy lay. But it’s like when I’m around you, I can’t seem to help myself, I’m drawn to you” I said.

“Same here. Believe me Rowena, this isn’t me either. I’ve never acted this way with anyone. I don’t know if you know this, in fact I‘m pretty certain you won‘t, but I was married once, I got divorced nearly two years ago. I’ve always been a workaholic, always wanted to be successful at what I do and that included my marriage. I loved her and thought that was enough, I thought when I married that it would be for life, and she betrayed me in the worst way possible. Whilst I was busy making something of myself and giving her everything she could possibly want, she was having an affair with one of my best friends”

“Oh god” I said, completely shocked that not only had he been married and betrayed like that, but also that he was opening up and telling me all of this.

“I decided to surprise her one day by finishing work early, she was always on at me for not spending enough time with her. Anyway, I arrived home and found an unfamiliar car in my driveway; I thought nothing of it as she often had her girlfriends over. Little did I know that Joey had just picked up his new car the day before, and so of course I wouldn‘t recognise it. I caught them together Row. Can you imagine what that did to me? My wife and my fucking best friend? I flipped out for a while, but then I decided not to be some weak pathetic man. No, I was going to toughen up and nothing and no one was going to get in my way again. I decided that all women were gold digging bitches and I’m ashamed to admit that I became a bit of a womaniser for a while. I was getting what I wanted and I didn’t care about them” he explained.

I nodded my head to show that I was still listening.

“And then I met you. Almost immediately I knew you were different, you gave as good as you got and weren‘t going to put up with any shit. It became torture working with you because I didn’t want to feel like that, I tried to put you out of my mind, but I couldn’t and then that one day, I snapped. I couldn’t control myself any longer. This is going to sound bad, but I thought if I could just get you out of my system, then I could move on. But I didn’t. I couldn’t get you out of my mind, I was even dreaming of you. And there were no other women. Once I met you, you were all I wanted” he said with a simple shrug of his shoulders.

“Nick, I was the same. When I first met you, I hated you with a passion; I thought you were an arrogant bastard” I giggled at the thought of it. Now he seemed anything but that.

“Oh yeah, well I guess I deserved to be hated” he admitted with a laugh. “And what do you think of me now? Because I have to tell you, I’m falling in love with you. I tried for ages to deny it, I was scared of getting hurt again I guess, but I just can’t pretend anymore, it’s not fair to you or me”

“As I was saying, I did hate you, but now hmm…” I began to tease him and then decided to put him out of his misery “Nick, I think I’m falling in love with you too”

“And we can’t deny that the sex is fantastic” he said with a mischievous smile.

“Oh god, every time just seems to get better and better” I said and blushed slightly. We’d never talked about sex; we usually just went at it like animals and then ignored each other.

“I have a feeling it will be even better now” he said and wrapped his arms around me tightly, pulling me close.

“Oh yeah?” I asked, testing him.

“Mmm” he said and kissed me. It wasn’t like our usual kissing; this was filled with love and sent tingles to every nerve ending in my body.

“So does this mean no more risky sex in public places?” I asked curiously, looking at him with my best flirty look.

“Fuck no, come on” he said grabbing my hand and leading to a very secluded area of the grounds. There was a wooden arbour tucked away in a corner, surrounded by various climbing plants and lots of shrubs, the fragrance coming off them was gorgeous.

He pulled me onto his lap so that I was straddling him; my dress was bunched up around my hips.

“Mmm, Rowena, I haven’t told you yet how beautiful you look tonight” he said between kisses along my shoulders and neck “god, you taste so good too”

“You don’t look so bad yourself” I said and kissed him deeply, enjoying the taste of him, a mixture of Jack Daniels and something spicy, he was delicious.

I began loosening his tie and unbuttoning his shirt, I needed some contact with his bare skin on mine. We couldn’t risk taking everything off out here though, so I undid his trousers and slid them down to his ankles, along with his boxers and he removed my underwear and hitched my dress up further.

“Oh fuck Rowena, I want to make love to you every day” he said as I slid down onto him, taking him all in “you feel so good”.

He held onto my hips and guided me up and down his length as I kissed, licked and nipped at his bare skin with my teeth, savouring every visible part of him. I began to ride him harder and faster, wanting as much of him as I could possibly get. He started to thrust his hips up to meet me, holding me tighter, like he couldn’t get enough. He brought one hand down and began rubbing his thumb over my clit, making me moan out loud.

“Oh god…Nick” I screamed out his name as I came. He pulled me down harder onto him and thrust up against me and then he was throwing his head back in ecstasy and letting out a deep guttural sound as he came deep within me.

“That was fucking amazing” he said as we kissed and held each other close. He planted soft kisses all down my neck, along my shoulders and then back up, all the time muttering his love for me.

I ran my fingers through his hair and wondered at how lucky I was. I was here at this glamorous party, with the man that I loved (now I could finally admit it) and he actually loved me back.

“I love you too” I whispered against his ear.

“Come on, we’d better be going back” he said “and I promise, this time I’m not running away from you”