Author's Note: This chapter gets a little "intense" towards the end so feel free to skip over it if you'd prefer.
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By Tuesday, the rash on my hand had mostly disappeared and the flowers were starting to wither; but Ian still never showed up.
What had started off as concern for his safety transformed into fury at his irresponsible vanishing and my restless nights.
I'd kept waking at the slightest noise and it was turning me into a zombie at work. Snapping at Trish when she asked to borrow something was only the start. I did my best to keep to myself since I knew I was being irrational, but I failed more than I wanted to.
That wasn't the only issue I had either. There was this ghost of a breath at the back of my neck every day and I couldn't figure out why. When I found myself alone at several of those times, a chill struck so strong it shook me to my core. Glancing around never relieved it, but I felt compelled to search for something as the catalyst of this fear.
My hand slowly cupped my cheek, the mysteriously bruised one that had long since healed. I never did figure out what had caused that. After blinking a few times, my computer screen blurred before my eyes and I saw a coffee table with papers neatly displayed across it. Blotches of my old favorite color of blue smeared across my vision, wiping out everything else.
Something brushed my shoulder and I jumped, nearly ripping my wired mouse out of the computer and knocking loose my earphones.
"Shit, Nicole, chill out. It's just me." Janiel's hushed voice broke through my music. "Geez, what's with the creepy piano music?"
I pulled out the other earphone now and realized how loud the music was compared to the eerily quiet office.
"I don't know. It just came up in the queue and I was too focused to change it," I said, tapping the save button and then pausing the music. "Where is everybody?"
Her raised brow and slightly sassy frown made me glance back at my computer screen for the time. The numbers stared back at me, 5:52 PM.
"Oh, wow. I had no idea it was so late." I barely stopped myself from mindlessly scratching at my slightly irritated hand again. "What are you still doing here?"
"Same as you, I assume. Working. Shouldn't you be getting home to your boyfriend?"
I guess her snarkiness was deserved. I'd snapped at her too today over nothing and maybe yesterday. "How did you hear about that? Nevermind, it doesn't matter. He's not my boyfriend."
"Not anymore, it seems. I wouldn't want a bitchy girlfriend either." She leaned against the wall of my cubicle and watched me. She wasn't holding anything back today. Damn, I must've really pissed her off.
"No, what I mean is that we're not official or anything. I haven't seen him all week so we haven't been able to clarify anything."
"Well, maybe what you need is a nice, quiet night together with him to clear your mind. You know, I've heard that'll do wonders for moodiness."
"Yeah," I faltered, glancing up at her. Was she jealous or just sick of my behavior? "That'd be great if he ever showed up."
"Well, maybe he'll be back now. Staying at work all night isn't going to help you see him either." She stood up and walked back over to her space to grab her purse. "I'm leaving so I figured I ought to snap you out of your head. Go home, get laid, and come back in a better mood tomorrow."
With that she left.
And I just stared after her, jaw dropped in disbelief. When had she become so direct and frankly, so rude?
I shivered, that was probably my fault too. She was right though. Staying here wasn't going to help improve my mood. Yesterday had proven that already. Gathering up my things, I shut down the computer and headed for home.
If Emily knew that I was with-holding concerns over this sudden paranoia I'd developed, she would, for sure, lose it on me. We'd had an awkward enough conversation on Saturday and she'd only resorted to texting me every other day since then to ask how I was doing. Thankfully, she wasn't prying too much now, but that was probably because she was too busy like she'd warned.
As I stepped out of my car in the parking lot next to my apartment building, another tingle at the back of my neck had me shivering and glancing about. I was alone in the parking lot with most of the cars returned to their spots as was ordinary for a weeknight. Lisa's curtains were drawn and she had a couple lights on, like her neighbor next to her. Everything was as it should be so why did something feel out of place?
The lamppost next to me flickered on, making me jump. The last thing I wanted right now was to be alone in the dark and it wasn't even that dark out.
Hurriedly, I locked my car and jogged into the building and up the stairs.
Once I was safely secured behind the locked and bolted door of my apartment, my heartbeat began returning to normal. Hopefully my takeout wasn't too shaken up from the sprint through the lobby and then up the stairs. It was a bit out of the way, but I went for Thai since Em had suggested it the other night.
My stomach grumbled at me loudly now that my heart wasn't blasting in my ears. "Yes, yes, dinnertime it is. I'm on it, all right?"
It only grumbled softly after that as I grabbed a glass of milk to help cool the burn from my green curry. Then I sat down at the table and dug in.
Tossing the few dishes I used into the dishwasher, I resumed my position on the couch from the last few nights. I was tired of hoping he'd show up. The disappointments were starting to get to me. Without hesitation, I picked up the controller and set about browsing my choices for tonight's distraction.
Halfway through my show there was a loud knock on the door, followed by two brief, lighter ones. It startled me out of my mindless TV binge and I stumble to the door. A quick peek through the peephole proved that I hadn't needed to get my hopes up, again. It wasn't him.
"Evening Lisa, what's up?" I asked, trying to not sound or look disappointed that she was on the other side of the door once I opened it. "Is everything okay? You look a little pale."
Her brown hair bounced a little as she shook her head. "I'm fine. Just feeling a little under the weather. Actually, I was wondering if I could ask you something. I know you just have a way with cooking and I've got something I'm not sure what to do with downstairs and thought maybe you could help me figure out how to incorporate it. Would you mind stopping over?"
"Um, sure, I guess. What is it?" I asked, but a door closing from upstairs caught my attention. My whole body turned to face that direction and I narrowed my eyes in order to see what the noise was. Had he just come back? And he hadn't bothered to even stop by and relieve my worrying? Crap, what if he was leaving again? "Actually, can you hold on a second? I need to go check something. I'll be right back."
Without waiting for her consent, I started up the stairs.
Her voice carried through the echo-y stairwell after me. "Oh, it's okay. Maybe you can check it out tomorrow. Good night."
I didn't turn back around because I spotted the object of my irritation, locking his door. Stopping at the top of the stairs, I thrust my hands out to each side to block as much of the way as possible. "Oh, no you don't. We need to talk. Now."
Ian looked a little tired, but no worse for wear after being attacked last week. He sighed and turned to face me. "I meant to call you."
"Yeah, that's not a great way to start this. How about we step inside for a bit? I'm sure this won't take long. You obviously have more important things to deal with."
"I..." He looked sidelong at me before pulling out his keys again and jamming them back into the keyhole. "Okay, come in."
He swung the door open and gestured for me to step inside. After he closed and locked the door, he lead the way over to the kitchen. "So, what's the problem?"
I stared at him in disbelief. "Surely, you're aware that you just up and disappeared on me for what four? Five days? You said you were taking care of a few things. I thought you'd be back by morning, not almost a week later. I couldn't even call or text you to make sure you were okay. I mean, after what happened to you last week, I didn't know if you were lying dead in a gutter somewhere."
His head cocked to the side as we settled into the kitchen. "You were worried? About me?"
My cheeks heated a little so I kept my face turned down. "Well, it's rude to get a woman all riled up and then disappear on her. You almost died. What was I supposed to think? You're not exactly the straightforward, honest type."
He raised a hand and brushed it through his hair as he continued to stare at me. "I'm still surprised that you were worried about me. This might be a first in... forty years? Wow."
"Sure, okay. We've addressed that. Can we move on?" I snapped at him and glared. Really there were so many other, less embarrassing things to focus on and discuss. He would pick the one thing that I'd rather not bring up again. I leaned against the refrigerator and tried to act casual.
In less than a blink, he was standing next to me with a hand lightly brushing over my cheek, that same one that had been bruised. "That healed nicely. I'm glad."
"Yes, I am too. I'm lucky I didn't get a black eye. That would've taken longer to heal. Speaking of that, I have a few questions for you."
"Wow, I even missed your irritating inquisitiveness," he said, staring down at me. "You've been on my mind all this time and here I thought it was just my desire for the taste of your blood."
I stiffened and turned my head to see the living room, seeing the couch made me blush even more. "I, um, we have a very serious discussion ahead of us. We need to set some, uh, some boundaries for ourselves if we're going to continue with this behavior. I'm finally getting into a rhythm of normalcy and I can't keep lying to Emily."
"You're not going to tell her the truth." His voice was rough, threatening with his secret on the line. Even still, his hand gently traced the outline of my face.
"Which is why we need to figure out our history together and decide what to do about our future."
"Well, that's rather forward of you. Liked it so you wanna put a ring on it?"
I pulled myself out of his grasp and walked towards the couch, rolling my eyes at his arrogance. "Oh yeah, that's totally what I meant. Please, we've barely kissed at all and you think I'd want to marry you? That's a bit too naïve even for me."
He laughed to himself and followed me into the room. "Okay, okay. I admit that was a bit extreme. You're not that bad."
"Thank you." I paused my forward movement when I felt a light pressure around my waist. A quick glance enlightened me as to the cause. "Ian, what are you doing? Let go."
His grip on me tightened possessively and his chest came flush with my back. With it, a mild chill crept into my skin. He leaned towards my ear and whispered, "you sounded dissatisfied with the lip service so far. And here I thought you weren't all that fond of me kissing you."
That chill turned into a shiver that ran from my neck down to my toes. It felt even cooler as my internal temperature rose along with my embarrassment. "Think, Nic," I scolded myself, but my breath shuddered as his other hand started tracing the length of my arm from my pinky to my shoulder.
"Nah, let's not think, Nic." He nuzzled my curly hair and took a deep breath, blowing it across my neck. "I've had a long week and I could use a welcome distraction."
If I wasn't running a fever before, I certainly was now. The longer he held me against him, the brighter red my face turned I knew it so I closed my eyes. His cologne wafted over me and I breathed it in willingly. I exhaled through my mouth, trying to calm my racing heart a little.
"You shouldn't make faces like that around anyone." His voice was a gentle whisper, floating through my hair into my ear.
The pounding in my head wasn't painful even as my breathing hitched. I slowly turned my face to his and opened my eyes. "I guess that includes you?"
His eyes were as bright as the lights overhead but had that beautiful steel blue hue to them. He leaned in so close our noses grazed each other for a moment before he growled out, "especially me."
My lips curled into my own brand of smirk. It was nice to see the playing field leveled for once. "Then I'd better leave because I'm not sure I can keep from making that face around you right now."
His hands readjusted across me, pinning me tightly against his chest. "Now, you're definitely not going anywhere."
"Good to know the dead can rise too." I chuckled and leaned my head back onto his shoulder, looking at his profile and tempting him with another timid smirk.
"I have no problem rising everyday if I want to." He glanced down at me and shook his head while he joined in my chuckling.
"Believe it when I see it. I haven't seen you rise once since we met." I lifted my head back up and wriggled about in his arms. "You're always awake before me or have magically disappeared. Oh, except for that one time when we both passed out on my couch. You weren't particularly a perky morning person then."
"Oh, just stop talking." He whirled me around in his arms so quickly my head spun. I never got my bearing though because immediately he claimed my lips with his own, nearly knocking me over.
This kiss wasn't patient or gentle. It ravaged my mouth and stole my breath away while his tongue caressed the roof of my mouth before provoking my own tongue into action. Our lips spread wider and wider as we exchanged more of ourselves. A burning sensation began in my head and my reciprocating slowed, but it didn't stop.
Suddenly, Ian released me and I instinctively sucked in air.
"Forget to breath, did you?" His smile was infectious as I felt a matching one crawl across my face amid my labored breathing.
"It wasn't... a priority... at the time," I huffed and puffed out. Slowly my breath eased back into a more relaxed rhythm. "You're not going to, to take it easy on me now, are you? You have several days to make up for."
"If you can talk, then I'm not doing my job well. How about I fix that?" He stepped up to me and gently pushed me backwards.
I completely lost my footing and fell over the arm of the couch.
"Thanks for the soft landing," I said as I propped myself up with an arm. "What now?"
"Now I leave you breathless again," he replied, sauntering his way around the couch over to me.
He looked hungry in every meaning of the word and I couldn't suppress a shiver of excitement as our eyes met again.
I rolled onto my side and raked my eyes over him. That sly smile back on my face as I raised an eyebrow as he stood there, transfixed. "What was that just all talk?"
He shook his head, breaking eye contact. "No, just spellbound. And you're sure you're not a witch?"
"Would that change anything?" I asked, more than a bit confused.
"It would explain why I'm so deeply entranced by you." He dragged his gaze from mine down my body and back up. "But, no, it wouldn't change anything."
"That's a relief, because who knows what's in my family history," I whispered acerbically, rolling my eyes back and laying my head down on the cushion beneath me.
He crouched down and sat next to me, gently placing a finger against my lips. "Remember? We're not thinking right now. Let me help you with that."
His other hand traced my arm again, but this time continued running along my waist over my hip and down part of my leg. As he brought it back up, it trailed by in waves, back and forth, on my thigh and stomach, then onto my back before meeting up with my cheek and his steady hand that lightly stroked my lips.
I just laid there, watching his eyes for any hint of what to expect next and trying to focus on breathing. I kept failing with both tasks though. My eyes did notice when his brow rose in amusement as I gasped involuntarily several times. They couldn't keep up though as one of his hands slipped under my chin and the other began weaving delicately across my skin again to draw all sorts of shapes. It surprised me where he wandered and nearly tickled so I closed my eyes to distract myself.
Of course, he'd take that moment to tenderly brush his lips against mine, nudging them around before he'd snuck back into my mouth. My eyes fluttered open when his chilled fingers caressed the skin of my stomach and continued up. Goosebumps spread out from his touch, enveloping me as I shivered and caught his gaze.
He pulled back enough that he could whisper through my lips. "One word is all you have to say and I'll do it."
"Hell no," I snapped, wrapping my arms around his neck and back. "Not this time."
Then I leaned forward that half an inch to snatch up his lips and we continued where we had left off.
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Well, that didn't turn out exactly as I had intended. Hopefully the pacing works and somebody likes it.