“Ivy, I’m very happy to have met you. Grey is a lucky man,” Nicola said sipping his champagne. As Ivy turned towards him, he caught a whiff of the perfume in her hair. He loved the jasmine and lilac aroma it gave off. She smiled a lazy smile at him.
“I wish someone would tell him that,” she said placing her foot under her to get more comfortable. “You know, you are special, too.”
“Well, thank you.” He blushed slightly showing his boyish grin. He wasn’t expecting that considering he had just admitted to being the enemy.
“You’re welcomed.” She hoped that he could feel her attraction towards him. “Nicky, aren’t you going to kiss me sometime tonight?” Her lips were pouty and inviting.
He wasn’t expecting that either. There was a long silence before he replied. “I had planned on waiting until I dropped you off back your place.” She was making a move on him! He couldn’t believe it.
“Why don’t you kiss me now?” Ivy asked moving over towards him slightly.
“Because I know I won’t be able to stop.” His smile disappeared as he began to recognize the look in her eyes. Lust. He knew that look better than any look in the world. He just didn’t expect to see it in her eyes tonight. It was much too early for a girl like Ivy. “Any more questions,” he asked clearly mystified.
“Yes, just one.”
“I’m all ears,” he said in a whisper looking at her moist lips.
She stuttered slightly. “Since you won’t kiss me yet, will you at least make love to me before I go.”
There was a long desperate silence as Nicola debated with what would be his verbal answer. Damn, he thought quietly. She looked great and smelled great. It was a hard decision because his body said hell yes, but his mind said back off.
“Why would you ask something like that of me right after you have given me a conscious? Did you not hear what I said? I’m the type you avoid at all costs.” Nicola was like a werewolf under a clear full moon. He could already feel the stir in his pants at just the thought of taking her, but he tried frantically to control himself.
“Believe me when I say that it’s definitely out of character for me, but it’s really what I want to do right now.” Ivy refused to back off.
“Now, you want to do this, but later you’ll regret it. Believe me.”
“No, I won’t.” Ivy took his hand. “I’m asking, because I feel something for you that I haven’t felt for a man ever. I know that I will not regret it. I don’t care about what happened with you and some other woman yesterday or ten years ago. I want you, because I see something special now. Something that maybe only I see.” She touched the side of his face affectionately.
Nicola was lost for words. This was a first. He told her that he was a dog, and she wanted him more. Women…go figure. “Don’t get me wrong, Ivy. I really want to be with you more than you could possibly imagine, but if we do this you can’t go back.” He hoped she understood what he was saying.
“I can’t go back to Grey?” She was extremely confused.
Nicola sighed. Obviously, she didn’t understand. “No, you can’t go back to this…being innocent. As you gain more experience in anything, you begin to see the world differently. It either becomes more beautiful or more grotesque. In my opinion, it becomes more grotesque.” He shook his head in disbelief. Here he was being the philosopher when he could be naked. What was wrong with him?
“Nicola, some things are meant to be experienced.”
“And some are not.” He paused abruptly while trying to find the perfect words to sat to her. Her eyes were fixed on his. He looked away at first but found the strength to face her. “I know that you’re hurting right now. I can see it. You can’t hide it. And normally that would be my queue to jump in and do what I do best. But Ivy, I think more of you after only knowing you a few days than have thought of most of the women I’ve know for years. So, I can’t be who I normally am. I…I want to be your friend.”
Ivy was silent, moved by his sincerity. She looked down at him holding her hands tightly, stuttering over himself to reach her. “You want to be my friend?” She said in a near whisper.
“Yes, I do. Right now, you see me as the guy that will make everything better. But I could be the guy who makes everything worse.”
“Do you have an incurable sexually transmitted disease or the innate desire to choke women during sex?” Ivy lifted her brow.
“No and hell no!” he laughed. This girl was crazy.
Ivy’s voiced lowered. “Then you couldn’t possibly make my life worse.”
“Baby, you’re just so…innocent.” Running his fingers down her shoulder, he watched goose bumps pop up on her body.
“Is that what all of this is about? You think that I’m too innocent for you?” Her brown almond eyes shined at him awaiting an answer.
“Oh, I know you are innocent. I can literally smell it on you.”
“I may have only been with one man, but that doesn’t make me the sacrificial lamb. It makes me choosy. Now, I have chosen you,” she said pleading her case as she touched his chest. “Choose me back. Let’s make love on our own terms with no games. You don’t have to trick me, lie to me or commit. God forbid. You just have to please me. Is that so hard?”
