Songs for this chapter are:
Cough Syrup- Young the Giant
Something Great- One Direction
Closer- The Chainsmokers feat Halsey
As You Are- The Weeknd
...
"Do you want to help me make the cupcakes?" Nora walks over to the fridge and pulls the door open. She grabs the butter and the carton of eggs and sits them on the counter top.
"If by help you mean, emotionally support you through your baking process then, yes. I would be happy to help." I tell her and stand to my feet. She's humored by my answer and I love the way her soft laughter fills my small kitchen. I'm no help in the kitchen, my mom can vouch for that.
Nora stands on her toes to grab more ingredients from the cabinets. I begin to wonder why she unpacked all the groceries if she knew she was going to use them. Women are weird.
"Let's play my game again," Nora suggests.
She's standing next to me. Her busy hands are measuring white powder in a cup. Flour maybe?
The fact that she wants to play her truth game again means she's willing to share more truths. This makes me happy. I've never felt so desperate for information in my life. She says so little, yet I feel so much for her. How is it possible? She makes me question everything I thought I knew about relationships. With Dakota, everything was pretty simple. It took months, maybe even years, for me to realize that what I felt for Dakota was more than friendship. Dakota was first to confess her feelings for me, which made it easier to share mine with her.
"Let's play my game instead." I say, not sure exactly what my game is.
Nora turns to me and licks her lips. It's like she knows how sexy she is and she uses this knowledge to torture me. This woman is going to make me crazier than I already feel.
"My game..." I search through the pages of my cluttered brain. "My game is that I get to ask you three questions. You have to answer at least two and can pass on one. Then it's your turn and I do the same."
Nora raises an eyebrow to me and leans against the counter. "And what's the prize for your game?"
I look at her and hope that my excitement doesn't show through my words. "The truth, just like yours."
She nods and stares at me, taking me in. "You didn't change your shirt." She points to my coffee stained -tshirt.
I look down and wonder why I didn't change when I got home. I had time, I've been laying on my couch for almost three hours now. I definitely could have changed.
Wait... I look at her and shake my head.
"No distractions," I take a step toward her. I know her game and this time I'm not going to let her distract me. "Are you scared to play a silly little game with me?" I lower my voice and notice the way her neck moves when she swallows.
She has a faint cluster of freckles on her chest, climbing up the base of her neck just above the collar of her oversized t-shirt. I follow the curve of her neck up to her face. Her eyes are on mine and this time I'm not looking away first. I want to be in control of this game, this time.
"Nora," I take one more step closer to her. Electricity hums through me, straightening my spine, steadying my voice. "Are you?" I ask, and she swallows again.
Nora's eyes are wide and her hands are behind her, gripping the countertop. Her heart is pumping. I swear I can hear the blood rushing through it from here. I reach out. My fingers graze over the skin of her shoulder and I trace a line down her chest, across where her heart rests and back up to her neck. She's breathing heavily, her chest is rising and falling under my soft touch. My heart is racing, just like hers. I wonder if she can feel it through my fingers on her skin.
I close the rest of the space between us and Nora's body leans into mine. She's so close, but I don't touch her. Her eyes never leave mine and I want to kiss her for the rest of my life.
Nora blinks and my heart stops. Did I say that out loud? Please, please tell me that I didn't say those words.
"I go first," Nora blinks again and pushes past me. Relief floods me. My mouth can't be trusted to stay quiet when she's around. She pulls open one of the bottom cabinets and grabs a mixing bowl.
"How long do you plan on living here, in New York? What's the last song you listened to? Where's your biological dad?" Nora's first round of questions are solid, to say the least.
I don't want to answer about my dad, but I can't expect her to be open to me if I don't plan on doing the same.
"I don't know, I thought about moving back to Washington, but I'm starting to like it here. The last song I listened to was..." I pause, trying to remember. "It was, As You Are by the Weeknd. And my dad, he's dead."
Nora's expression changes and I get the feeling she thought I would skip the last question. If she were me, she would. I wanted to.
"My turn," I say before any condolences can be expressed. "How long have your parents been married? What's the last book you read? How long was your last relationship?"
Nora's eyes turn on me. I look away. I know which question she's going to skip.
She takes a deep breath and pretends like she's completely focused on her baking.
With another breath, she speaks. "My parents have been married for almost thirty-two years. Their anniversary is in just a few weeks. The last book I read was called Marrow, it was so good and so fucked up. And I'm skipping the last question."
I nod, taking in her answers. I wish she would have proven me wrong and answered the last question, but I'm not going to complain. Not yet at least.
Nora doesn't waste any time before taking her next turn. "What do you like more, sports or reading? What's your favorite memory from your childhood and how did your dad die?"
I stand a few feet away from her and lean against the counter.
"Reading. Though, I love sports almost as much. My favorite childhood memory is really hard to choose," I skim through the happiest memories I have. "The first that comes to mind is when my aunt and her husband used to take me to baseball games when I was younger. We went a lot, every time was my favorite. My dad died from natural causes."
"No one dies from natural causes in real life." Nora says. The smell of onions fills my senses and I back away slightly. Nora chops the onions like those chefs on t.v. It's pretty cool to watch.
"My dad did. He had a heart attack right before I was born."
Nora regards me quietly, and her hand moves the spoon in quick circles to mix the batter.
"My turn." I say. "How did your parents meet? If you weren't a pastry chef, what would you want to do? Why did Dakota kick you out of the apartment?" I slid that last question in pretty gracefully I would say.
Using a spoon, Nora drops her mix into the cupcake pan. "My parents met while my dad was on a business trip in Colombia. He does a lot of work with charities and he had a team in Bogota to train surgeons at a local hospital there. My dad is from Kuwait, but was already living in Washington state. My mom worked at the cafeteria in the hospital in Bogota and my dad fell in love with her," she explains.
I look over at her, taking in her features. What a beautiful mix of ethnicities she is.
Nora continues, "If I wasn't a pastry chef, I would open up a food truck, like the ones that park on the streets in Williamsburg. Dakota kicked me out of the apartment because she felt threatened by me. She told me to stay away from you and I didn't listen. So now I'm homeless," Nora smiles, laughing lightly.
I frown in frustration. "It's not funny that you were kicked out of your apartment." I tell her.
Nora rolls her eyes at me and walks over the oven, pan in hand. I move over to her and open the oven door. She sits the pan on the center rack and closes the door. She turns to me.
"My turn," she says. "How many people have you slept with? How did you meet Dakota? How often do you think about fucking me?"
I can't begin to describe the noise I made when she asked her last question. My body tenses and blood flows through me, straight to my cock. I push and push the thoughts away, but the mental images of Nora straddling me are so hard to battle.
"I've only had sex with one person, I'm sure you can guess who that is. I met Dakota when I was just a kid, she was my next door neighbor and I'm skipping the last question." I tell her and she shoots me a dirty look. Dirty as in pissed off, not as in she wants to rip my clothes off.
"Hmm.." Nora purrs and taps her index finger on her lips.
I clear my throat and pray that my jeans can hide what I'm thinking.
"My turn." I can hear the change in my voice. It's thick with longing and need and I really just want to push her soft body against the counter and lift her shirt over her head and taste her skin.
I ask the first questions that pop into my head without screening them. "How did you meet your last boyfriend? Does it bother you that I've only slept with Dakota? And how often do you think about fucking me?" I boldly ask her.
Her eyes dart away from mine and she carries the mixing bowl to the sink and turns on the water. "I met him through my parents. My dad has some business with his. Yes, it bothers me like you wouldn't believe. I think about fucking you nearly every minute of every day."
My voice gets caught in my throat and I can't breathe. My stomach flutters, like a thousand angry moths are swarming inside of me.
"Oh," I ball my hands into fists to keep them from reaching for her.
Nora doesn't look at me and I don't trust what my body would do if she turned around. She washes the bowl and pats it dry with a kitchen towel.
"My turn," Nora says. "Do you trust me? What's your favorite t.v. show? And..." she tilts her head back and forth, thinking. "If Dakota came here right now and begged for you to take her back, would you?"
I hate this game. Why did I create this stupid game anyway?
Instead of calling it quits, I suck it up and continue with the next round of answers. "I do. I don't know if I should, but I do trust you. My favorite t.v. show is Arrested Development and no. I don't think I would."
Nora finally turns around to look at me. After making brief eye contact, her eyes fall to the floor quickly. "Don't think you would? Or wouldn't. You don't sound very sure."
I grab a rag from the counter to busy my nervous hands. "I wouldn't."
Nora nods and stands still, leaning her back on the counter next to the fridge. I jump into the next set of questions, intentionally keeping my body a few feet away from hers.
"Do you trust me?" I steal her question and she notices, regarding me with an eye roll. "Did your last relationship end on a good note, or a bad one? And lastly, do you have feelings for me? Beyond sexual attraction?"
Nora's fingers play with her braid. Her fingernails are painted black and she has flour dusted on her knuckles. Her nails are long, filed into an almond shape. She tugs at the loose pieces of her braid.
"I trust you. I don't trust anyone else in the entire world the way I trust you and that frightens me because I barely know you and you don't know me at all," she explains.
I want to interrupt her and tell her that I know her better than she thinks. I want to tell her that I'm going to know her even better than she can fathom. I'm going to know her better than she knows herself, and I'm willing to play this game every day until I do.
On paper, I couldn't write her down. I could make a bullet point list, but I couldn't draw her with the vibrant colors she deserves. I'm learning the depths of her each time I'm with her and it's not an easy fleet, breaking down wall after wall, but I will learn her soul. I will study every page of her until I can recite them from memory.
"My last relationship ended on a bad note. Worse than that, really. And I'm skipping the last question," Nora's hands are still fidgeting with her hair and she shuffles her feet. I look down at them and she moves again. She's restless and so am I.
"I want to go again. Then, you can go twice. Okay?" I ask her. She nods, staying silent.
I step closer to her. She seems so small now, in my kitchen. With blushed cheeks and downcast eyes. She's still the warrior I met, but she's without her weapon.
"Do you have feelings for me, aside from attraction?" I ask her again, taking a wide step to her. She tugs on her hair but doesn't move. She nods her head and I move to stand in front of her body.
She looks up at me and I touch her chin with the tips of index finger and thumb. She sighs into my touch.
"Next question," I bend my neck just enough that my face is positioned just above hers.
She waits patiently, her eyes on mine. Her eyelashes shadow the tops of her cheeks when she blinks. I keep my fingers on her chin so she can't look away from me.
"Does it scare you the way you feel about me?" My question is heavy and I feel the weight of it pass to Nora.
She nods. I cup her cheek now, gliding my hand over her skin, to rest on her neck. I lean closer, so close that I can hear each draw of breath her lips take between them. I can see so many things from here. The worry in her eyes, the set of her mouth. I try to keep my nervous hands steady as I take her into them. I slide my free hand behind her back and grab the counter. She's intoxicating, so sweet and addicting that I can't look away from her. I have her cornered now, caught between me and the counter.
Fire is burning up my spine, inside of my chest.
"What's your last question?" Nora whispers and I taste her breath.
I move my hand down her arm, touching her just enough to tickle her skin. Bumps form in my wake and a shiver moves over her body. "Do you want me to kiss you?"
(Author's note: I'm working on the next chapter now, I'm going to try to double update today since I couldn't update yesterday. Unpacking my house is occupying so much time! lol.)