Ian's Way Read online

  It was her personality though, that truly entranced him. The way she took such spontaneous joy in life, the way she pursed her lips when stumped by a problem, the way her eyes went wide when she screwed something up, like the Bunsen burner incident.

  “You’ve changed perfumes,” he noted. “No more honeysuckle.”

  “You actually remember? Wow. I’m impressed.”

  Actually he recalled everything about her. Every detail. Remembering had proved the perfect exercise all those months in the hospital, his bones and muscles knitting together after the accident, his body struggling against all hope to reconstitute itself.

  “Who could forget? The honeysuckle suited you. So does what you have on. Vanilla and a hint of jasmine, right?”

  “Ever the scientist,” she teased.

  “It’s not science that I have on my mind right now.”

  “Um, I can tell.” She was referring to his erection, which was currently pushing against her with gusto.

  Ian cleared his throat. “I’m afraid I haven’t gotten any better at disguising my feelings for you.”

  “You used to want me…like this?” She sounded genuinely surprised.

  “Only every goddamn minute.”

  “You never said a word.”

  “Would it have changed anything?”

  She frowned, her lovely brow knitted. “I don’t know, Ian…really, I don’t.”

  Ian couldn’t resist a nibble at her earlobe. How he loved her honesty, her disingenuousness. “Believe me, you were my fantasy girl. I made it with you in every conceivable position, in every single corner of the school.”

  “You seemed so wrapped up in your studies.”

  “I was wrapped up in you. Studying was a cover.”

  She looked up at him now, confusion and wonder on her face. Nikky had never looked so stunningly beautiful to him, her hair swept up, sophisticated as a princess, her cheeks glowing.

  He kissed her.

  She did not resist as he touched his lips to hers, registering the texture, communicating the deep potential between them.

  Nikky was soft as a rose petal, seemed completely innocent, as though he were her first. Ian tasted and tasted and tasted for the better part of a minute.

  More than enough time to change everything.

  “Come to bed with me.”

  “I can’t,” she breathed.

  She was aroused, the rising and falling of her chest proved it, and the way her nipples pushed out, so needful.

  “Your body wants it, Nikky. Needs it.”

  “Too much history.” The words seemed to catch in her throat. Her lips were so full, begging further kisses, one after another. There was no way he would let this opportunity pass, not after all he had suffered.

  “We don’t have that kind of history, Nikky. We’ve never been here and I promise where we’re going, no man’s ever taken you. You have nothing to lose. It will be no strings attached. In the morning, you can go your way and I’ll go mine.”

  It had to be this way, one time only. That’s what would make it perfect, magical. It was the only way to change her life.

  She moved to break free. “No, Ian. I’m sorry, I can’t.”

  He held her for one more question. “Tell me this, Nikky, have you gotten the pleasure you deserve? Has a man ever taken his time with you? Has he made you the center of his world, nothing on his mind but making you come in every way he can think of with his fingers, his lips, his tongue?”

  Nikky’s mouth dropped open. “If you were anyone else, I would slap you.”

  “What about with his cock, Nikky, has a man ever made you come that way…or any way at all?” Ian already knew the answer. He could tell by the way she moved—hungry, sad—still a virgin in the most important way.

  Damn it, why did she have to be so stubborn. It was all he could do to keep from grabbing her hand and dragging her upstairs to his room. Hell, why wait that long. He could make love to her in the elevator, pressing her tight, breathing in her scent as he pulled up her dress and yanked down her panties.

  She would be wet, he was sure of it, open and ready for him to thrust deep and hard, filling and enveloping her at the same time. He would let her cling to him, wrap her legs around his waist and ride him as she let go.

  So long as she screamed his name and no one else’s.

  “You know,” he pressed, trying to control his breathing. “There are over a hundred basic sexual positions. And did you know the act itself can be prolonged for hours?”

  “What did you do, read a bunch of books? Never mind, I already know the answer. Look, Ian, we need to leave well enough alone before we ruin the nice memories.”

  Ian released her. It had to be her choice. “I am staying in the Presidential Suite upstairs. You can come up any time tonight. We can make love, take a bath together or just talk. It’s your call.”

  Something flashed in her eyes. Her lips trembled. He could tell she wanted to give in but she was afraid. She didn’t trust him. She couldn’t because he was a man.

  “Goodbye Ian, I hope you have a nice life.”

  “You too,” Ian replied. “You too.”

  He watched her walk off, hips swaying, the most naturally enticing creature he had ever laid eyes on.

  Would she take him up on his offer? Either way, he did not plan on getting much sleep tonight.

  * * * * *

  Nikky was standing with Kaity and Gretchen Silverstein, barely listening as the two of them did a blow-by-blow account of who had gotten what cosmetic surgery.

  “There is no way Monica Huey’s breasts are real. She was flatter than a pancake, last I saw her,” declared Gretchen, who was on her second set of implants.

  “And look at Bobby Jones’ wife,” Kaity added eagerly. “There’s enough collagen pumped inside those lips to fill a bucket.”

  Gretchen giggled and sighed, sipping her scotch. “I do wish I knew how you and Nikky manage it. You both look as skinny as you did senior homecoming. Have you made deals with the devil or something?”

  If anyone had made such a deal, it was Ian. How had he changed himself so completely?

  It wasn’t just his muscles, it was the way he moved, the way he danced, holding her close, leading without making her feel like a rag doll, totally respecting her space and her person while still making it abundantly clear how much he wanted her.

  How was she supposed to resist that kind of energy?

  He had made it sound so simple.

  Come to bed with me. No strings attached.

  Just like that, an invitation to spend the night with Ian Hamilton, doing all the things her body had been missing for so long. Hell, he was offering things she had never had before.

  It was pathetic but true. No man had ever brought her to orgasm—not on top, not on bottom, not in any way at all. As for getting off on oral sex from any of the men she had dated over the years, she would have had an easier time finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

  Nikky had no one but herself to blame for that one. The kinds of guys she had been with had possessed way too much ego and way too little patience to take their time with a woman.

  The first time for Nikky had been with Bobby, the high school quarterback, in the backseat of his dad’s car. It was their senior year. The sex had come and gone in the wink of an eye, Bobby pumping and shaking and releasing himself inside her before she had felt a thing.

  Afterward he had looked her in the eye, sated and hopeful all at once, asking if it was good for her too. Instinctively she had said yes.

  They did the deed a few more times that month before she found out he was cheating on her with a college freshman. Nikky had blamed herself for failing to keep him interested and from then on she’d tried to do a better job of faking her climaxes.

  Men were so easy to fool. They believed what they wanted no matter how outlandish and self-serving. She actually had one lover tell her that if she didn’t come it was her own fault on account of how sexy
he was.

  Ian was promising to make her come for real. And not just with his cock. Her pussy tingled just thinking about receiving that kind of attention, his mouth on her inner thighs, kissing, teasing, working his way up to her sex, preparing her for the inevitable insertion of his tongue, pushing and vibrating like a tiny cock inside her pussy and back and forth over her clitoris.

  Oh god, the idea was enough to make her want to grab the man and drag him into the nearest broom closet. Thank goodness Ian was nowhere in sight. Had he gone upstairs already?

  Perhaps he was already waiting for her. Her pulse raced. Would he be naked or still in his clothes? What would he do to her first? Would he give her more wine or skip to the good stuff? How would he undress her? Would he lick her breasts first, suckle her nipples, run his hands between her thighs?

  “Oh please,” Kaity trilled, waving her hand in the air as if she weren’t soaking up every bit of Gretchen’s flattery. “I am a complete wreck. I would be a goner without pushup bras.”

  “But you two must exercise or diet or something,” Gretchen insisted.

  “A little here and there,” said Kaity, who in reality used up enough energy on the treadmills at their gym to light a small city.

  “What about you, Nikky?” Gretchen asked. “Do you work out?”

  Kaity elbowed Nikky who hadn’t heard the question.

  “You will have to forgive her, Gretchen, Nikky has geek on the brain.”

  “Kaity, zip it,” Nikky warned.

  It was too late. Gretchen-the-busybody had been reeled in hook, line and sinker. “What geek do you mean? Come on, girls. Don’t hold out on good old Gretchy.”

  Nikky cringed. She hated when people referred to themselves in the third person, though it didn’t hold a candle to having Kaity air out her private life like so much dirty laundry.

  “Well, if you insist, Gretch. It seems Ian Hamilton managed to beat everyone in the cosmetic surgery department,” Kaity said, putting her usual comic spin on things. “He’s had a full body transplant—nerd to hunk—and now he wants to drag Nikky off to his cave and do freaky, calculus stuff to her.”

  “Ian Hamilton is a hottie now?” Gretchen was no doubt doing a little math of her own, trying to figure if he might work as future husband material. “That seems hard to believe.”

  “Ask Nikky. He was ramming his tongue down her throat so deep on the dance floor I thought we were going to have to call a plumber to pull it out.”

  “He didn’t use his tongue,” Nikky said.

  Not that she would have minded if he had. Her pussy dripped now as she remembered Ian whispering in her ear as they danced, telling her what he wanted to do to her.

  Her thoughts drifted as she imagined him whispering to her again, telling what he wanted to do to her right there on the dance floor.

  He would tell her not to resist because he was too smart, too knowledgeable about female anatomy.

  She would sting with embarrassment and shame but it would feel so good as she let him kiss her, his tongue exploring, devouring, just like a small and eager cock.

  She would move against him, desperate to feel his erection against her. She would silently beg for him to put his hands on her anywhere—on her ass cheeks, her back, wherever he desired.

  Everyone would be watching, her entire graduating class, and when the dance was over and she was panting and flushed they would watch as he led her by the hand off the dance floor and to the nearest elevator. There would be no doubt in anyone’s mind where they were going and what they were going to do.

  In the elevator she would make her move. She would take off her dress, wantonly displaying her braless breasts. His eyes would light up.

  She would ask if he wanted them and he would tell her yes and then he would show her—

  Jeezus, talk about fantasies. It was all she could do to keep from making a mad dash to Ian’s suite right now. Some nerve he had, getting her all worked up like this, with no chance to sort through her feelings and her memories.

  So long ago…and yet so fresh.

  Nikky tried to tune back into the conversation. They were still talking about Ian.

  “Is he rich?” Gretchen asked. “I bet he invented something. He was always doing weird experiments.”

  “I have no idea,” Nikky said. “We didn’t talk about money.”

  “Did he ask you out?” Gretchen pressed.

  “He has a suite upstairs,” Kaity volunteered, her mouth working faster than her brain, as usual. “He invited Nikky to stay with him for the night.”

  Nikky glared.

  “Oh my gosh,” exclaimed Kaity looking like the proverbial deer in headlights. “I wasn’t supposed to tell.”

  “You know,” Nikky fumed, furious over the broken confidence. “Ian said I deserve better lovers and maybe I deserve better friends too.”

  Kaity’s eyes went wide with hurt.

  Nikky wished she take the words back.

  Ian was the one she was really upset with, on account of his coming back into her life and turning everything upside down. From platonic friend to enticing would-be lover—zero to sixty, no context, no nothing.

  After a decade of giving her the cold shoulder.

  It didn’t add up. Here he was all pumped up for one night but he was making it clear the sex wouldn’t lead to anything else. Ian was a lot of things but superficial wasn’t one of them.

  No, there was something off here, a flaw in Ian’s usually impeccable logic, and she meant to find it.

  Chapter Two

  Ian had passed the point of hope when he finally heard the knock on the door.

  He was naked except for a pair of silk boxers, having changed into them for his nightly meditational exercises.

  “Hello Nikky,” he said, his voice even, his breathing perfectly centered.

  She stood in the doorway, momentarily taken aback. There was no mistaking the way her eyes travelled down his body, lingering just a little too long on his crotch.

  The action was healthy and normal on her part but it seemed to embarrass Nikky that she had been caught.

  “I am not here for sex,” she informed him quickly. “So you can wipe that idea right out of your mind.”

  “I don’t have anything in mind, Nikky. I told you, it is your call.”

  Her gaze narrowed. He had touched a nerve. She pointed a single, pink-nailed finger at him. “No Ian, I’m not letting you pawn off all this on me. This so-called offer of yours is a joke. It seems so noble and I’m supposed to just give in, right? Sex with no strings attached or else I look like the bad guy, turning you away after you’ve had all these fantasies?”

  He was ready with a response but she was just getting wound up. “The thing is,” she said, barely pausing for breath. “Sex always comes with strings attached, at least for people like us. Or are you telling me this is going to be something our bodies do, no feelings, in which case you might as well pay a hooker. But you don’t want a hooker, you want to live out this illusion—the perfect cheerleader girl you didn’t get to fuck in high school and now you can get her to come to you because she is so hard up.

  “What’s the deal, Ian? You got friends you are going to brag to about this tomorrow? I have Kaity and she will talk about this to everyone. She won’t be able to not talk about it just as I won’t be able to keep from telling her all about it tomorrow morning after you and I go our separate ways. And what happens after that? Am I going to be a notch in your belt? That doesn’t fit with the Ian I knew if I can say I ever knew you.”

  Ian arched a brow. “Wow, now why don’t you tell me what you really think.”

  Nikky tried not to laugh. This shouldn’t be funny, not by a long shot.

  “I think I need a drink,” she decided.

  Ian let her in. “I took the liberty of getting some wine and a few other things too.”

  Nikky blinked, taking in the surroundings. The living room was lit by candles, dozens of tiny shimmering lights set at various heig
hts on the coffee table, the bar, the windowsill. There were flower petals spread all over the floor.

  A path of them led into the bedroom.

  “Geez, no pressure or anything,” she quipped as he handed her a glass of wine.

  “I wanted it to be perfect.”

  Nikky braced herself with a healthy swallow. It wasn’t like her to drink much but this was certainly a special occasion. “That’s another thing. What exactly is it supposed to be?” she asked. “You are telling me I will have this mind-blowing, scientifically guaranteed experience, etcetera, etcetera. What’s in it for you, other than the obvious mechanics of semen release?”

  Ian smiled. He was standing close, way too close for comfort. She had always been a pushover for tall men. In high school he’d been a beanpole, now he was a certified female-hormone trigger.

  He moved his finger over her lips, light as a feather. “Now who is the overly scientific one? This is about letting go and giving in.”

  Before she could generate a proper retort, he was already on to the next step, moving his hand to the back of her head, undoing her hair. It fell in cascades down her back.

  He ran his fingers through it, his lips just brushing her forehead, his pelvis barely touching hers, drawing her in, lighter than air, her whole body wanting to be taken in, absorbed, cocooned.

  “That’s it, baby, just relax,” he murmured.

  “Stop using your voodoo or whatever it is Ian, I mean it.”

  “This is all coming from inside you. That’s the secret.”

  “Which means it is all just some stupid dream,” she accused. “I’m probably in bed right now, late for work, ignoring the clock radio and sleeping through the Zoo Crew on 99.7 FM.”

  Ian bent to capture her neck, breathing the soft scent, feeling her skin pulse as he kissed it, enjoying her sharp sigh in response.

  He used his teeth now, tiny nibbling motions. It was a calculated move, intended to awaken her deeper passions.

  It did just that.

  Nikky groaned softly and reached for him.

  “That’s it,” he encouraged as she raked her fingernails down his chest. “Don’t hold back.”

  His skin came to life under her sizzling touch. It was all he could do to hold still, let her set the pace.