Kirsten:

The next morning I awoke early. I felt fit and got up immediately after the alarm clock went off. I sat up straight in bed and my mind wondered off to Nick. I liked it that he’d texted me yesterday. I couldn’t believe he asked me on a lunch - date. I was already a bit nervous for Saturday. I didn’t know what to wear. I had the rest of the week to find the appropriate outfit but of course I wanted to look the best that I could, without making it to obvious to him that I had a crush on him. I sighed. “Get a grip on yourself. Relax”.  I smiled and got up. I turned on my cell phone and I walked into the bathroom and took a nice warm shower. After that I put on my mascara and blow dried my hair. I chose a black short skirt to wear combined with a creamy white cashmere V – neck sweater and nice beige pair of high heeled boots. With that I put on a silver bracelet and a pair of silver earrings. I liked to dress up. Being a Secretary didn’t mean you had to dress like a non. In fact, as a secretary you are the face of the company. You can only make a first impression once.

When I got back into my bedroom I glanced briefly at my cell – phone, which was on the bed, and there was a text message. I quickly started reading it.

I’m thinking of you! Love Nick

I started blushing and smiled. Oh my God, I can’t believe this is happening to me. I did a quick happy dance. I checked at what time he had send the message. He apparently texted me at 2 a.m. in the morning. Maybe he had trouble sleeping or maybe he always went to bed that late. I didn’t knew.

I texted back: I’m thinking of you too Nick. I’m going to work now but my thoughts are with you. Xx Kirsten.
 
My cheeks glowed and I felt butterflies in my stomach. Anyway,  I had to hurry to get to work in time. I was already late. I got in my car and drove off to work. I had trouble focusing on work today.  Every five minutes I checked my cell phone to see if I had received any new text messages. 
I didn’t received any. And I started feeling a bit nervous. What if he didn’t liked me. What if there was something wrong. What if I had it all wrong and he wasn’t that in to me? Maybe he was mad at me. I was making myself crazy. To protect myself from getting to distracted I picked up my phone and I putted it on the table behind me. That way, I couldn’t look at it and maybe it would help. It did, for fifteen minutes. Meanwhile I tried to finish a letter to a client. I literally had to force myself to finish this letter. I just clicked on the print button when I heard the sound of an incoming text message from my phone. I immediately turned around and grabbed my phone.  I opened my inbox. It’s from Nick.

Good morning Gorgeous, I just woke up. I didn’t sleep too well last night. How is work? I have to go to the studio this afternoon. Me and the guys are writing some new songs. I wished it was Saturday already xxx Nick

I smiled. Suddenly James, my boss, walked into my office. He stared at me. “Are you in love Kirsten?” he asked. I blushed. “ehm well ehh..”. James laughed and answered “I’ll take that as a yes”.  My cheeks got a deeper shade of red. “I’m sorry if my comment made you feel uncomfortable” James said. “But I’m happy for you. You deserve it to be happy”. “Thank you James, thank you very much”.

“Would you mind booking me a flight to Canada for next week. I have a meeting on Wednesday with Matthew in Calgary”. “Oh sure, and would you like me to book a hotel of are you staying over at Matthew’s house?”.   “I’ll stay over at Matthew’s”.  “I’ll make the arrangements” I said.  I wanted James to leave the room so I could text Nick back. I heard the sound of another incoming text message. I turned red again. James smiled. “I’ll leave OK, so you can answer to your man” he laughed. And got out of the room. Gosh that was awkward. I looked at the new message.

“Hey Gorgeous, where are you? You didn’t answered my first text. Did you receive it? Xxx Love Nick.

I decided to call him. I dialed his number on my phone at the office and he immediately picked up. “Carter” he said. “Hi, it’s me Kristen” I said softly. “Oh, hi” he sounded surprised. “Do you have time to chat?” I asked. “Yeah of course” his voice sounded cheerful.  “Are you at work right now” he asked softly. “Yeah I am. But I have an office all for myself. So there is nobody who can hear me” I answered. My heartbeat raised while I heard his voice. “O.K., that’s nice”. For a moment we were both quiet. He asked me, with his soft voice “Would you like to come over to my place tonight? Because… to be honest I can’t wait to see you again”. If he would be able to see me right now he would see something that looked similar like a tomato. “I would like that” I replied shy. “And what time do you have in mind, are you staying for dinner?” Nick asked. “Well I’m finished working  around five, but first I have to get home and walk AJ for at least half an hour”. “Okay, well I’ll meet you at 5:30 at your house. I’ll join you with your walk with AJ” Nick said cheerfully. “Yeah, sure. I’d like that” I said. “Ok, I see you this afternoon. I have to go now Gorgeous” Nick said. “OK, bye” I softly said.

It took ages before the afternoon ended and I was finally ready to go home. I got really nervous. After all, the man of my dreams was coming over to walk AJ with me and later we would have dinner at his house. And he said that he couldn’t wait until Saturday to meet me, Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. At four thirty I sneaked to the toilet to make sure if I looked good enough to meet my dream hunk in less than an hour. I looked OK. Finally I got in the car and after a twenty minute drive I was home. I still had about ten minutes before he would arrive. I went inside and AJ was happy to see me. His tail wagged and he cheerfully ran to the door. Expecting me to get the leash so that we could go outside. “No AJ, you have to wait for a couple of minutes. Nick is coming with us”. I got very nervous. About five minutes later the doorbell rang.

I opened the door. And there he was. He completely mesmerized me with his gaze and his dazzling smile. I felt my knees were getting weak. “Hi” I said shy. I felt that I was blushing and for a moment I hated myself. “Hi Gorgeous” Nick said with his sexy soft voice. My inside melted by the sound of his voice. He gave me a smile that caused me to stutter. “Ehh, wwwould you like to come in?” I asked. I barely dared to look at him. “I would like to” Nick answered. He stepped forward and gave me a kiss on my cheek. I felt that my cheek was on fire. “I missed you” he whispered in my ear. Oh, it was so appealing to kiss him full on his mouth. I wanted him so bad but I was too shy to kiss him first. “I missed you too” I whispered back. He lifted up my face with his hand under my chin so that I had to look him into his eyes. His eyes pierced into mine. I sighed. I couldn’t take it anymore. I felt that I went nuts. Something had to happen soon. He gently pushed me to the wall in the hallway and his face came close to mine. You could feel the tension between us. You could almost touch it. And then his soft lips touched mine. God he smelled so good. His scent was delicious. It made me want him even more. He approached me gentle. He kissed me softly and I kissed back. He softly pushed his tongue into my mouth and a sensual French kiss followed. An army of butterflies were racing in my stomach. Oh my God, that is the best mind-blowing kiss I had ever had. Wow, it was breath taking. His soft lips touching mine and his strong arms wrapped around me. He pulled me close to him and our kiss wend on and on. Every fiber in my body screamed for this kiss not to end. This kiss was as good as the best chocolate ever made. The kiss got more and more passionate and meanwhile he caressed my back, hips and my ass. He completely turned me on. I wanted him, right now. He made me so horny. He stopped kissing me. I opened my eyes and tried to get my breath back. “That was…” I sighed “Awesome” Nick finished. “Wow” he smiled. “I imagined our kiss to be good but this was… better than I ever had” he whispered.

I glanced briefly at AJ. “He really has to go outside” I said. Nick stepped back “yeah of course, come on lets go outside” he said.

I got AJ on the leash and we walked out of the door. Nick walked next to me. We were both quiet for a while. “How was your day” Nick asked to break the silence. “Oh, well okay I guess. I couldn’t really  focus on work today but you can’t always stay one hundred percent focused right?” Nick grinned “I know, same here”. He looked at me and smiled. I felt so shy it was ridiculous. I mean, I am grown woman just walking with a guy. Why did I feel like a thirteen year old? “And how was your day” I asked. “Same as yours. I got a comment from one of the guys if I could act a little bit more interested  because we needed to make some choices for our upcoming show”.  “ I’m sorry that I’m the one who’s distracting you” I said with a soft voice, feeling a little insecure. “Oh, no, really don’t blame it on yourself. It’s me.  I need to force myself on staying focused when I have to work. Kirsten, it’s not your fault” he smiled. He took my hand and we walked further. AJ was really cheerful today. I let him loose at the dog park and he played with a couple of other dogs. We watched him running and playing with these dogs. After a while we sat down on a bench. Nick put his arm around me. “You have to tell me something” he said while looking at me with his beautiful blue eyes “you are not originally from the USA, right? Because the vet’s assistant named your last name and it didn’t sound English”.  “No, that’s correct. I’m not from the USA. I’m from the Netherlands”. “Really?!?” Nick stared at me with big eyes. “Yes, really” I grinned. “But that’s on the other side of the world, wow. And how do you pronounce your name?  I heard you correct the assistant but it sounded strange” he asked. “My last name is Harkema”. Nick tried to repeat after me “Garkemaah”. I giggled “No, Harkema, with the H as in Hi”. “Ok, I’ll try again” Nick said “Harkemoah”. “Almost, haha” I laughed “Harkema, and in the end it’s aaa “. “Dutch is a difficult language” he laughed “Harkema” he said. “Yeah” I cheered. “That’s the right way of pronouncing my name, you’ve won a brand new washing machine haha” I laughed. “Nick couldn’t stop laughing. “What? haha”. “That’s Dutch humor. We had a show called “Rad van Fortuin” in English it’s called “Wheel of fortune” and in the early days you could win some small prices like a computer or a dishwasher or a washing machine” I explained. He laughed and suddenly he brought his face close to mine. His lips touched my cheek. “You’re beautiful, did you know that?” he whispered in my ear. I didn’t answer. As in a reflex I closed my eyes by hearing the sound of his soft voice and his lips found mine.  His hands cupped my chin and he kissed me intensely.  His tongue slithered against mine and they danced with each other in our mouth’s. A soft groan came out of my mouth. I was on cloud nine. It was like the world stopped for a second. What a kiss. Suddenly I felt two paws on my knees and a wet nose touching our cheeks. As I opened my eyes I found out that AJ had found us and decided to join the party. I started giggling and couldn’t stop anymore. AJ became, of course, very happy with so much attention and happiness and so he jumped up Nick’s lap. “Hey doggie, you want some attention to, hey!”And AJ wagged his tail real fast. So we stroked him for a moment. “He’s a wonderful dog” Nick said. “Thank you, and he is. He is like a friend who never argues with you haha” I said. Nick laughed. “You’re funny” he said. “Well thank you, mister Carter, but I think you are quite funny yourself also” I said prominently. Nick laughed. He stretched out his arms and said “I’m hungry, do you mind if we drop off AJ at your house. Then we’ll go to my place to get some food”. “Sure” I said. And I got AJ back on the leash and we walked back to my house.      

Later on we got in Nick’s car. On our way to his house we chit – chatted about different subject. I told him about my parents who lived in Friesland, the Netherlands, in a small village called Hindeloopen. And we talked about music, his dogs, my dogs, our families. And after a twenty minute drive we stopped. He opened the gate of his house with a small remote control and slowly drove further on his driveway.
  
We arrived at Nick’s place. I walked into the hall and it was nice. It had a nice atmosphere and a beautiful wooden floor. We walked on into the living room. The room was decorated with beautiful furniture. He had a beige 2 and a 3 sits couch with big light green cushions and other nice light colored furniture. “Wow, you have a beautiful house Nick” I said. “Yep, I worked hard to get it like this. But it’s finally finished and I’m glad for that”.  He took my hand and showed me around the house. The whole house was decorated in the same style as the living room. It looked nice and friendly. Women proof to be honest. “Did your sisters help you to decorate this house? Or is it your own style” I asked teasingly. “Well” he sighed “Honestly, my ex – girlfriend and I broke up about six months ago. And we were supposed to live here together. But then things went a little different than expected and we broke up. So, to answer your question, she’s the one that helped me decorate this place”. There was an awkward silence after he told me that. I glanced briefly at him and for a moment I swear I could see a glimpse of sadness in his eyes.  “I’m sorry” he sighed “I really don’t want to talk about her. I’ll tell you the story later but now is not the time. Besides I’m with you right now and I really want to have a great night  with you. And that means that there is no room for ex – girlfriends of ex – boyfriends for that matter. I smiled but I felt that I got insecure, again. He gazed into my eyes and gave me a small kiss. Come, I’ll show you the rest of the house”.

After the tour we went downstairs and Nick released the dogs from the garage. They came into the living room and immediately started sniffing around and checking me out. At first I ignored the dogs so that they would be able to smell my scent and to make sure that they felt that they could trust me. Nick came out of the kitchen with two soda’s. I noticed him looking at me and he was surprised to see the dogs being so calm. The dachshund laid right next to me and was half asleep. The Pug laid on the floor and stared at Nick hoping to get a dog biscuit. “I don’t believe it” he said surprised “You manage to get the dogs all calm down and relaxed. How did you do that? Normally they are all hyper for the first half hour and they won’t let you sit down and relax”. “Well, honestly, when you enter a room with dogs you have to ignore the dog. No touch, no talk and no eye contact. If you do look at the dog and you go “Hi how are you, ahhh, did you miss mommy, ahhh good boy, good boy” (I squeaked) then dogs get way to excited. And then you get into the situation where you find that it’s a lot harder to calm them down. So the best way, like I said, is to ignore them. Let them come into the room and allow them to smell your scent. That’s the natural way of dogs greeting each other. And when they are calmed down then you can give affection and attention” I explained. “Wow, how do you know that?” he asked. “Well I watch the Dogwhisperer a lot and I have some of his books and DVD’s. And I found out that his techniques works for AJ and most of the other dogs too. I mean, it’s all about staying calm and balance yourself. Your dog is like a mirror of your personality. And it’s true because when I’m not balanced AJ doesn’t listen to me at all.” Wow, please teach me because I want to learn it too” Nick said. “You know what, next time you’re at my place I’ll borrow you a couple of his DVD’s. And of course I’ll help you with your dogs as much as you want. I may not know everything but I think I can help you a bit.” “Cool, thanks” he said. “You mist your calling” he said. “I believe you should think of a career in helping dog owners” Nick said. “Well” I laughed “I did think about it, but I don’t know if I have enough courage to do that. It’s a risk and what if doesn’t work. Then I don’t have a job and I can’t pay my bills” I answered. Nick looked at me “If you have a dream go for it. Do not let anything stand in your way into becoming what it is that you want to be. Look at me, I live my dream. It’s hard work, and definitely not easy, but  I am living my dream. And I think you should give this a go. I can see you are a natural. Seriously, think about this.” He did his best to convince me. “Maybe” I sighed “maybe in the future. I’ll think about it” I said. Nick got up from the couch “Come with me, it’s dinnertime” he said. We walked into the kitchen. It had a great view on the hills behind the house. Nick had warmed up a couple of left over’s. He had some Chinese food, some smoked chicken, baked potatoes and a bowl with vegetables. It all tasted real good. During our meal we chit-chatted some more and it was really nice to be with him. He was so outgoing and nice. A nice person to hang around with.


After dinner we got back into the living room. Nick asked me if I wanted coffee and I told him I did. He walked away to prepare it and I quickly looked at my cell phone. My brother texted me how I was doing and I quickly texted back that I was all right and that I would call him this weekend.        

Nick came out of the kitchen with two cups of homemade cappuccino.  “Hey, I saw that” he laughed. “Oh” I showed him my cell phone “I got a text from my brother”. “I’m only teasing, you don’t have to answer to me” he said laughing. “It’s none of my business who you do or do not text” he said. “I know, but I don’t have any secrets.” I laughed.  Nick sipped his coffee. He didn’t smile. “I guess your hinting on my ex-girlfriend” he said. “Oh no, no I didn’t mean it like that” I defended myself. “No, it doesn’t matter. Maybe it’s for the best to tell you what happened. There are people who are telling bad stories about me on the Internet, about me and my ex, but these stories are bullshit. My ex and I broke up because she had cheated on me”. I wanted to respond but Nick made a gesture with his hand not to. “She was upset because I didn’t had much time to spend with her in the last couple of months.  And we got into a huge fight. She walked out of the house that night and returned the next day. She wanted to make things right with me but by then I already got a call from Aaron, my brother, that he had seen her in a club with a guy. And she was all over him. Kissing, caressing, the whole nine yards”. “I’m sorry things happened that way” I said with a pitiful look in my eyes. “I don’t need pity but the last couple of months have been tough for me. And after a while I’ve heard that there were people who spread rumors that I was the one who wasn’t honest and that I was the one who cheated. It could be that my ex told a different story to others. To make herself look better. But I haven’t spoke to her in a while, and frankly I don’t want to. I had enough of her” Nick explained. He gave me a sad look. I stood up and gave him a hug.  “Listen” I whispered to him “You are the one who really knows what happened. It doesn’t matter what stories there are on the Internet. And you don’t have to explain yourself to me or to anyone else. I think you are a wonderful person and I’ll never treat you the way she did”. Nick’s eyes pierced into mine. “Thank you, that’s really sweet” he gave me a little smile and kissed me. I looked him deeply in into his eyes. “You’re special Kirsten” Nick said. He kissed me again. He gave me little kisses on my lips and wrapped his arm around me. “Do you feel like watching a movie” he asked. “Yeah, I’d love to”. We watched the movie “Chocolat”. I curled myself on his couch with him and during the movie we made out. Man he was great. So sweet and so loving. After the movie ended he brought me home. I had to work the next day and he had to work also. We walked AJ together and after a mesmerizing kiss we said goodbye.