Saint Nicholas (21 page)

Carter winced, and turned his gaze away from me, saying, “I don’t think it’s my place to tell you, so why don’t I just show you.”

“Show me? Is he with her right now?”

Carter nodded.

What. The. Fuck?

After everything we’d been through, after all the years of separation only to find each other again and the promises and truths and sex…how could he do this?

“You might want to put some clothes on first.”

“Fuckin’ right I wanna put on clothes,” I said, as the hurt turned to anger and I went back to get dressed. I couldn’t believe it. Nicholas. My Nicholas. A fucking cheater.

I knew it was too good to be true.

We drove for about ten minutes before Carter pulled up to the curb by a row of storefronts. I looked around, confused. “I thought you said he was with her?”

“He is, in there.” He pointed to a shop that had packing paper in the windows and looked to be abandoned. “From what I’ve been able to deduce, she’s a catty bitch, so I’d watch myself if I were you.”

I stormed out of the car, mumbling, “I’ll show her catty,” to myself.

Carter followed me, hot on my heels as I ran up to the front doors and swung them open. The air inside reeked of sawdust and the lightning was dim, casting abnormal shadows over the empty interior. A set of stairs off to my right led up to a second level that overlooked the first, and it was there that I saw Nicholas, smiling down at me.

“Hey babes,” he said.

“Hey babes? That’s all you have to fucking say?”

He frowned, looking from me Carter to me, and back to Carter. “What the hell did you tell her?” he asked.

Carter started laughing and I whirled on him, my jaw hanging slack. “You son of a bitch,” I slapped him hard on the arm and he recoiled. “What the hell is going on?”

Nicholas came bounding down the stairs, and I cursed myself for thinking the worst. How could I ever think for one second that he would betray me like that? It was impossible.

“Look, Sarah, I don’t know what this lunatic told you, but it’s not true.”

“I know, I know,” I sighed. “I just—you’ve been acting so strange all week, I didn’t know what to think.”

He grinned, taking me by the shoulders and glaring at Carter before meeting my eyes. “I know,” he smiled, “but it’s for good reason. I was trying to put together the finishing touches on the deal.”

“Deal? What deal?” I looked around the interior of the store for a moment, wondering why we were here. It was huge, with a big open center and shelving units all along the side walls. On the far side was a long counter, and from what I could tell the upstairs level contained even more wooden shelving and—

Holy shit.

As he saw the realization dawn on my face, Nicholas nodded, totally elated that I was seeing what he wanted me to see.

This was my store. Our store.

Novel Idea.

Tears of joy threatened to consume me as I looked on in shock, asking “How did you do this? I don’t understand.”

“This is yours Sarah, just like you always wanted. We used to talk about this when we were kids all the time, and when I saw you putting your dreams on hold to take care of your father last year, I couldn’t just stand by and watch. Remember that book idea I was telling you about? My Blake Steel one?”

“Yeah,” I said, feeling my knees starting to weaken.

“Well, that was a lie. I haven’t been writing any Blake Steel books, I’ve been writing something else this entire time.”

He led me over to the counter on the far side of the room. There was a small blanket covering something and he whisked it away to reveal one of the best books I’d read all year.

Lost & Found
by Kelly Sorento.

It mirrored my own life so closely that I remembered thinking at the time it could have been written about me. Nicholas had gotten it for me because he thought it was something I might like. Since then I’ve read her other three books, which were just as captivating and emotional.

I looked at Nicholas, and he stood there, waiting for it to dawn on me what he meant.

“You mean…”

“I’m Kelly Sorento, Sarah. These are my books.”

“Holy shit,” I gasped.

“All thanks to me,” Carter boomed, coming over to us with open arms.

Nicholas nodded. “He’s right. Remember that night at the dinner table, the same night your father…well, anyway. Carter was the one who suggested I write a romance novel, so I gave it a shot, and wouldn’t you know it, I loved doing it.”

“Nicky, that’s amazing, but I still don’t understand how that led us to here.”

“Well, they sold, Sarah. They sold really, really well, and they’re still selling. On just the four books alone I was able to get myself out of debt, and pay for this place for the first six months. The landlord wanted me to sign a year’s lease, but I talked him down to six.”

“And I managed to get a loan for the renovations,” Carter added.

“There’s also this,” Nicholas said, running around the counter.

I was flabbergasted. I didn’t know what to say. All this time he’d been writing in secret. Four books over the course of a year and I didn’t even know it. Now just any four books, either. Four Kelly Sorento books, filled with lust and romance and passion and steamy hot sex that made me wet just reading it. Damn. My guy had some skills.

He yanked out a newspaper and handed it over to me. It was a copy of the New York Times.

“Look at the seventh list,” he told me, barely able to contain his excitement.

“E-Book Fiction,” I read, my eyes scanning the list. They instinctively went down through all ten books and I didn’t see his anywhere, and then they flicked to the number one spot. “Lost and Found, Kelly Sorento.” My fingers trembled and I looked up at Nicholas, dropping the paper on the counter. “It’s what you’ve always wanted.”

I couldn’t hold back any longer. The tears started to flow and Nicholas jumped over the counter and embraced me as I cried tears of happiness into his shirt.

“We did it, babes,” he whispered in my ear.

“You did it,” I corrected.

“No way, this was us, because without you there is no me, Sarah. There never has been. You’re my everything. You give me life, you give me strength, and I don’t want to spend another moment being apart from you. This is just as much your success as it is mine, because without you I’d have none of it.”

“You’re the best, you know that?”

“We’re the best, babes.”

He took me by the shoulders and held me at arm’s length, staring into my eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Looking up at him, seeing the love swell in his heart, I knew then that everything we’d ever been through, together and apart, had been worth it. For all the pain and heartache that it bred, we’d come out on top, and we were stronger for it. It was the perfect moment.

Or so I thought.

Nicholas dropped to one knee and reached into his pocket, drawing out a small box.

“Oh my God,” I gasped.

“Sarah Danniels,” he opened the ring box to reveal a beautifully elegant diamond ring with a white gold band. His hand trembled when he held it up to me, tears sparkling in his eyes. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes!” I shouted. “Yes, so much yes.”

He stood, taking out the ring and placing it on my finger. It was the perfect fit.

We were the perfect fit.

I kissed him and he took me in his arms, lifting me off the ground into a gigantic hug. I glanced over at Carter, who was drying his eyes with a balled up piece of tissue.

“I love you,” Nicholas said.

“I love you so much.”

He put me down and I held out my hand, admiring the ring for a moment before I heard movement from upstairs. I looked, and standing along the top railing were Angie, Shakes, Mrs. Rossi, and Nicholas’ sister, Helena. People I hadn’t seen in ages, but who held a special place in my heart nonetheless, and always would.

This
was my perfect moment, and as they all descended the stairs to congratulate the both of us on our successes, I stared into Nicholas’s eyes and saw in them my future, one that was more than eight years in the making.

TWENTY-NINE

-
Nicholas
-

We sat alone overlooking the main storefront, sipping from glasses of champagne. Everyone had bailed an hour ago with the promise of dinner out together just down the road at La Leguine, so they’d gone to freshen up, leaving Sarah and I to our own devices before meeting up later.

I had my back against the wall, with my legs spread and Sarah leaning against my chest. A small lamp on the floor next to us provided all the light we needed to see by.

It had been the perfect day, despite that little wrench thrown into it by Carter. Telling Sarah I was cheating on her. Please. As if that would ever happen.

“It’s a gorgeous ring,” she said, holding out her hand. She hadn’t been able to take her eyes off it for most of the morning.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“How did you know my size?”

“Swiped one of your other rings and had it sized.”

“Sneaky bastard,” she craned her neck back and kissed the bottom of my chin.

We sipped from our glasses and she shifted against me, causing my cock to stir.

“How did you manage to get everyone together?” she asked. “I haven’t seen Angie and Shakes in forever.”

“It wasn’t easy. They were halfway around the world when I contacted them on Facebook and told them what I’d planned on doing. They weren’t sure if they’d be able to make it, but they made a special trip back for this. Angie’s mom is looking after their little girl.”

“That was nice of them, and your mother? How did she take it when you told her you were going to propose?”

“Are you kidding? The first thing she asked me was ‘when am I going to get a grandson?’”

Sarah laughed and set her glass down on the hardwood. Her and ma had made up about ten months ago, clearing the air and getting all that junk out of the way. It was a relief, because I didn’t want our marriage to start off on the wrong foot.

Marriage.

God, I still couldn’t believe that after all these years I’d gotten the one girl who’d stolen my heart that day outside Ollie’s Italian Cuisine. Life sure does have a funny way of bringing things back around to you.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked.

“Just how much I love you.”

“Oh yeah?”

She turned around, staying on her hands and knees while grinning at me. I knew that grin very well.

“Yeah,” I said, placing my glass down and moving in to kiss her. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking we need to christen this place.”

“Mmm, definitely. You want naughty, or nice?”

She tapped the side of her cheek and rolled her eyes up, thinking. “Hmm, naughty or nice? Well, Saint Nicholas, how about naughty.”

Sarah stood up, leaving me sitting on the ground to stare up at her while she unzipped her jeans and slid them down her legs. She was gorgeous. More gorgeous than I could have ever imagined her to be. I stared into her eyes, burning with desire as the throbbing between my legs increased tenfold.

She swayed her hips from side to side, looking down on me with a hunger that I was eager to satisfy.

“Come here,” I said, beckoning her forward with a crooked finger.

She placed her legs on either side of me, bringing the sweet smell of her sex closer to my nose. I licked my lips, looking at her panties while she planted her hands on the wall above me. I slid my palms up the backs of her thighs, relishing in the goosebumps breaking out all over her smooth flesh, and rested them on her ass before giving it a tight squeeze. I kissed around her bikini line and she brought her covered pussy closer to my lips.

“You’re so wet,” I said, cupping it in my hand and feeling the dampness of her underwear.

“You drive me nuts,” she said, smiling down from above.

“What do you want me to do?” I asked, kissing her covered slit.

“Do that for a little bit,” she smiled.

I happily obliged, depositing tiny kisses all over her until I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed to taste her, so I tugged her panties to the side and gingerly slid my tongue up the length of her slit, causing Sarah to shiver.

“That feels good,” she gasped.

“Do you want more?”

She nodded, and I reached around to bring her closer to my mouth, cupping her ass while my tongue went to work slipping and gliding all around her wetness. I lapped up as much of her as I could until her thighs trembled and she let out an exasperated cry of pleasure as she came. It tasted amazing, and I wasted no time unzipping my pants and yanking them down around my knees. My cock sprang free and swayed in the open air, with Sarah looking down on it expectantly.

She got down in a crouch and took it in her hand, rubbing the throbbing head between her legs. When it was sufficiently coated in her juices she made to bare down on it, but I stopped her.

“Turn around,” I commanded.

With a twinkle in her eye, Sarah did as I asked and sunk me deep into her reverse cowgirl-style. Knees on the ground, she rocked back and forth and I watched as my cock disappeared and reappeared, slamming in and out of her pussy again and again. She took hold of my feet and I spanked her—hard—leaving a handprint on her ass and the echo of a loud moan reverberating off the empty walls. My shaft was slick with her cream and it wasn’t long before the sight of myself penetrating her had me wincing as I tried to hold back the pressure that was building up. I wanted this to last for as long as possible, but damn if she didn’t feel so good it made me want to pump deep inside of her.

“Do it,” she said, looking back over her shoulder at the expression of pleasurable torture on my face. “Come inside me.”

I didn’t have to be told twice.

I grabbed hold of her ass and thrust myself up as she bore down. The sound of our flesh slapping together was such a turn on, and after another three pumps I groaned as I exploded deep inside her, my cock twitching and throbbing with sweet release.

“Mmmm,” she moaned, holding me in while the smell of our sex wafted through the air.