Off the Cretan Track chapter 27

 

Nick took a swig of his beer, rested his head on the back of the chair and sighed with contentment. Sal watched him, still grinning at their playful banter, before taking a sip of her wine and mirroring his actions.

His eyes flicked sideways at her. "Are you copying me?"

She giggled and took another sip of her wine. He watched as she basked in the glory of having got the upper hand over him; she’d actually made him blush! She was filled with confidence, but not for long. Nick was well practiced at flirting with women and knew exactly how to extract the reaction he wanted from them.

In particular though, he thoroughly enjoyed the competitiveness between himself and Sal, especially since he normally got the better of her and at his mercy, which is just where he liked her. Only today had been a little different. Today there had been times when he had actually been at her mercy, and he was surprised to find that in some ways he quite liked it. Okay, it was a little disconcerting, but exciting all the same. He was rarely, if ever, in the company of a woman who could throw him off balance, but today, with Sal, he’d felt the excitement of both giving up and getting back control.

He’d totally taken control when he’d thrown Sal over his shoulder and spanked her bottom in front of a café full of people, he’d liked that, and the way she’d been so embarrassed when he’d offered to be her ‘gigolo’ for the night. But then, there were times when he’d got lost in the moment, like when he’d been watching the towel slip from her and was unable to move off the bed, and just moments ago, when he’d let slip that he’d obviously been thinking about Sal a lot and then gone excruciatingly red. Then there was that moment on the beach… there wasn’t a shadow of a doubt that both of them had lost control then. It had been an unexpected few moments of molten feeling which had him burning up just by the memory of it.

"This is nice." Sal cut into his thoughts. She tilted her head upwards to stare into the night sky. "I've missed doing impromptu things like this. I love Fay and all that but...," She went on to ramble slightly as the wine began to free her tongue. Nick had come to expect some rambling every now and then from Sal though, and now, more than any time before, he found himself wanting to know more of her thoughts. He'd missed being impromptu too; in many ways they were so similar in their thought patterns and what they took pleasure in. Hmm, what Sal took pleasure in...Nick's mind returned to his favorite train of thought as far as Sal was concerned. He could pleasure her like she'd never been pleasured before should the right situation arise. That was the problem though, wanting Sal was like gazing into a toy shop at the Scalextric set in the window and knowing that you were the only person on earth who could really do it justice if only you had the opportunity...or the pocket money...which he'd never had. "...and this winter she spent every last minute with Adam. Not that there's anything wrong with that," Sal nattered on, pausing briefly and turning to Nick. He was watching her thoughtfully. "I mean, they are in love, and I'm really happy for her, but...it did get a little bit lonely for me over the winter, hence all the crazy cooking i did."

"Well, I'm not complaining; that food today was..." he whistled, "...first class Sal."

She smiled. Compliments from Nick always made her smile. "Thanks. But what I was going to say is that I'm glad you're back Nick..." Nick’s gaze suddenly intensified, his eyes flicking over her face inquisitively. In her head, that was going to come out perfectly naturally, but maybe it was the way that Nick had interrupted her flow with that compliment that had made the statement suddenly sound...somehow too...complimentary...or like she'd been waiting all winter just for him to come back. Oh God, she was in trouble again, and now it was her cheeks that were burning up, and not for the first time that day... only this time she couldn’t blame it on sunburn! She turned her head and scanned the horizon, her eyes flicking tensely to and fro, waiting for either Nick to say something, or at least for her face to stop burning! All was quiet for what seemed like an eternity though. Damn it, why wasn’t he saying something? Maybe she was over thinking everything and he was just waiting for her to continue. "So anyway..." she went on at an attempt of skimming over her embarrassment. She moved her eyes quickly towards him but that did nothing to dispel her previous attack of nerves; she’d never seen him with that kind of expression before. Although there was a hint of a smile on his face, it was the softest of smiles, coupled with such intensity in his eyes that it pushed all other thoughts out of her mind and she found herself trailing off again. His eyes sparkled at her through the darkness and she held her breath for a moment, wondering what he was thinking and trying to refocus. So, she was glad he was back because? Because? Her face continued to burn. Oh God, just say anything! "Yeah, so, after I'd baked like a million or so pies," she blurted out, "I used to…sometimes…I’d look up at the stars," she said, demonstrating, and jumping at an opportunity to distract some attention away from her, "and try to figure out where things were. Like, that," she said, pointing to a cluster of stars, "is that the plough?"

Nick had continued to watch Sal as she resumed her chatter, a slight smile still on his face, until he registered her question and looked upwards, squinting a little.

"No, not there, it's there Sal," he replied, pointing lower in the night sky.

Sal frowned. "Where?"

"There, look, it looks kind of like a saucepan," he said, tracing the lines with his finger. "There," he said again, still unsure if she could see what he was trying to show her.

She rose out of her chair and moved in front of him to follow his line of sight. "Okay, I can't see a saucepan in the sky Nick, are you sure you just haven’t had too many beers tonight?" she chuckled.

"Come here, dippy," he sighed, taking hold of her arm and urging her back towards him. She took a step backwards but her leg came into contact with the hard frame of his chair underneath the cushion seat and she stumbled slightly. Glancing behind her, she realized that the chair was maybe just big enough to fit two in the seat.

“Here, take this,” she said, handing him her glass of wine and preparing to sit beside him. Lifting one leg backwards onto the cushion, she sat back on it and swept her other leg around so that she was curled up next to him. “Now show me.”

He put one arm around her, taking hold of her shoulder and pulling her even closer to him until their heads were almost touching. He pointed. “There,” he whispered, extremely softly into her ear. His warm breath teased her senses and spread a tingling sensation all throughout her body. She was looking into the sky but registering nothing apart from the sensations his touch and voice had created, and he knew it. He couldn’t help himself. He wanted to see and feel a reaction in her, to know that he could he could affect her like that, despite the fact that he knew even if she had wanted to do something about it, she wouldn’t. He was very physically attracted to her; it was pointless in denying it to himself, he had been from the start. And he was desperate for her to feel that too, even if he was taking advantage of her weaknesses: the wine she had drunk, and fact that she hadn’t had a physical relationship in some time. Okay, so his pride would have liked to know that she was being turned on by him, Nick, not just because she hadn’t had sex in a long time, but for the moment, he’d take what he could get.

“Can you see it now?” he asked.

Sal’s head was fuzzy, her skin warm and somehow more sensitive to everything. Was that the wine? She was acutely aware of Nick’s hand on the bare skin of her shoulder. It began to move down her arm, his fingers skimming gently over her skin, Nick’s fingers… What was he going to do?  Then his hand fell from her arm and she felt its presence again on her waist, the warmth of his whole palm transmitting to her through the material of her dress. His hand felt so intimate there, stroking up and down her side slightly until… oh God, she could feel the length of his fingers accidentally but repeatedly making contact with the underside of her breast, just above her waist, as his hand moved up and down. He didn’t realize but she could hardly tell him. Then she had a secret thought, one that popped into her head just out of nowhere. It wasn’t her fault; she couldn’t help it. She imagined his hand touching more than it was at that moment, purposely covering and squeezing and teasing, her body began to ache for it.

“Yes,” she replied, lying. The stars were the very last thing on her mind at that moment. Her voice had sounded odd when he had replied, like she had forced the word out, and the tone was different to how she normally sounded.

Sal was still staring upwards, but on hearing her reply, Nick’s gaze fell to her face, his heart thudding with excitement at what he might find. He wasn’t disappointed. Her face was flushed, but it had nothing to do with sunburn because the heat had spread down her neck too. Her eyes were dreamy; she wasn’t even focusing on anything, let alone the stars. Her lips were parted slightly, her breathing shallow. Sal was aroused. Sal was aroused by him and the realization made him want to ravish her right at that moment, there and then.

Sal could feel that Nick’s eyes had been on her now for some time and it was unnatural for her to keep staring upwards at the sky, not even saying anything. She had no choice; her head was moving of its own accord, moving downwards and turning, as if in slow motion, to Nick’s face so close to hers. Her eyes rose, gradually, gradually until they met his.

She held her breath. His face was as close as it had been just before they had kissed on the beach. She could see the small details again of Nick, Nick up close, Nick who was just a friend but who she’d never realized before was actually so damn good looking: his baby blue eyes and the slight smile on his face, it was sexy; it made her heart thud. His eyes were searching hers, hers were searching his. Something was going to happen, she could feel them on the verge of it. She wanted it; they were so close, but… if they kissed now, this time there could be no excuses. They would be taking a massive step into…what, she wasn’t sure, but she wasn’t prepared to find out, not then. And suddenly clarity hit her.

“Nick,” she said, “When is Jen coming back?”

The smile immediately fell from his face and he turned his head from her to stare out at the sea, but at the same time, he pulled her back to him and linked both arms around her middle, holding her firmly there.

“Let’s just sit here for a bit Sal, finish our drinks and enjoy the view,” he said, avoiding her question.