Touch

Emily

I wish I had woken up with a massive hangover. I wish I had drunk enough not to remember last night. The last part, at least.

I wake up with my phone buzzing, flashes of what happened last night invading my mind, and my back hurts like hell.

How can you have the best and worst night with a guy all at once?

My brain is battling my friggin’ lady parts, and my ego doesn’t know which side to take.

Damn phone keeps buzzing, and I know it’s not work. I do need to make a few phone calls, but that’s not until after lunch. I stretch my arm to reach the phone on the bedside table.

It’s Nic, and the fact that she’s already awake makes me wonder if she’s even gone to bed yet.

“Nic,” is all I need to say when I answer the phone.

Am I getting hungover comatose Nic or caffeinated early bird Nic?

“Oh god, Em! Are you home? I’m on my way, and I bring coffee! I want to know everything about last night, and you have no idea how much I need to tell you!”

Chirpy Nic it is.

“Are you on your way from Alex’s place?”

She says she is, so I know she’ll be here in about seven minutes. “Do you still have the spare key you took from Alex? I need a long shower. If you do have it, just let yourself in.”

“I don’t. That fucker wouldn’t let me have it. But yeah, I’ll be at your place in five minutes.”

“I’ll leave the door unlocked. Just don’t barge into my bathroom, please. I’m gonna need my silent fifteen-minute hot water therapy. Please.”

I’m being serious. Though what I really need is to take care of my back, which is still hurting. It stings, and I don’t want this to be the first thing about last night that I tell Nic.

I will confide in her, but not straight away.

I walk into the bathroom and turn the shower on. As I’m getting undressed, I notice my body still smells of him. Shit, he smelled good. I look up at the mirror. I have IKEA bags under my eyes.

Thank God I’m not working today.

The air in the bathroom is starting to get thick, like warm fog, but I see a mark on my breast.

I look at it, and my mind brings back those blue eyes that were filled with hunger when he marked my breast.

Shit. No, no, no. He does not deserve any sort of arousal from you, I tell my vagina. I really need scorching water to help me relax and take his smell off of me. ~Damn it.~

“It’s ten in the morning, and you’re wearing last night’s dress. Spill it,” I say while walking out of my bathroom, drying my hair with a towel.

Nicole is lying on the sofa. Her honey-blonde hair is pulled up into a messy ponytail, and she’s clearly washed her face, but you can see she hasn’t showered yet.

“Alex asked us to leave since he had work to do, and we’d be a distraction.” Nicole’s eyes shine, and her smile is telling me there’s more.

“What do you mean ‘asked us’?”

She giggles, spreads her arms up in the air, bringing them back down in waves.

“Well… if you must know…”

Nope. I do not have to know. But she’s going to tell me anyway.

“I spent the night with Alex.”

As per usual. Not surprised.

“And Amelia!” She concludes, fanning herself.

“You dirty slut, you!” I laugh, actually surprised.

Nicole is very in tune with her sexuality, which is something I somewhat admire, so her being in a threesome doesn’t surprise me.

I just didn’t think she would ever want to share Alex with someone else.

I guess I was wrong.

“I know! It wasn’t really planned. Amelia was flirting with Alex, and I was totally fine with it. I can’t explain. Ugh. Seeing him flirting back kinda turned me on.

“We eventually ended up at his place, and oh my god, I had no idea it would be that good!”

“I do not want any details,” I beg.

Well… actually, I think this time I do? I need the distraction.

“Em. I even surprised myself! Fucking hell, I fingered a woman! I let her lick my pussy while a man was fucking her from behind, and it was amazing! I lost count of how many orgasms I had! You should have seen it!”

“Nope. No. I should not.”

“You know what I mean! I always thought I would have a threesome with two guys and had never thought about doing it with a man and a woman. Let’s just say it totally exceeded my expectations!”

“I need to ask you something. And I know we’ve talked about this before, but I need to ask,” Nicole is dead serious right now, and I have no idea what she’s talking about.

“You can ask me anything. You know that.”

“This is awkward. Well… kind of… I mean, it’ll be awkward for you, definitely. I’m just trying to figure some stuff out.”

“If you’re going to ask me to join you for a threesome, then that’s a no. You’re like my sister, Nic. Eww.”

She laughs at me, and then her dark brown eyes look straight into mine. I know that look. That’s the lie detector look. Oh boy.

“Was there ever anything between you and Alex? Before I met him, I mean.”

I clear my throat. I don’t know why she’s asking a question to which she already knows the answer.

“He’s my best friend, Nic. He’s never touched me. Sexually, I mean. Or the other way around. You know that. Why do you ask?”

Where the heck is this coming from?

“Seriously, Nic, why do you ask?”

She’s just looking at the ceiling now, tapping her nose with her index finger.

“I’m sorry,” she says, looking back at me and smiling. “I was just wondering why you wouldn’t, you know? Let’s get one thing straight. If you two ever do end up having sex, it’s not going to hurt my feelings, all right?”

I can see affection in her eyes, and then she hugs me.

I have no idea what brought this up. As she’s hugging me, her forearms squeeze my shoulder blades, and I flinch. My reaction startles her.

Yep. Time to kill the mood.

“That motherfucker!” Nicole yells every other minute, getting angrier every time.

“Can we not talk about this anymore?” That’s all I can say.

I told her everything, from the insanely awesome sex to the painful rejection. I am hurt and embarrassed. I really don’t want to talk about it. It’s bad enough that I keep thinking about it.

“That! Mother! Fucker!”

“Yes, he’s got a VIP card to the Asshole Club. I mean, he didn’t purposely throw me against the wall, but yeah, I did ~not~ hit the jackpot on that one.”

“Stop making excuses for him! What kind of shithead does that to a woman? Oh my god, this is one of those times I wish I had friends in the mafia or a gang or something. He would be so dead!”

I’m sitting on the sofa with an extra-large T-shirt on, and Nicole is walking back and forth till she squats in front of me. She cups my face with her hands and asks me if I’m okay.

“I’m just confused. My vagina is screaming for more, and my brain is just infuriated.” I tell her as she helps me take my T-shirt off and starts applying an antibiotic cream on my scraped shoulder blades.

“Can we just stay in today?” I ask, not wanting to keep thinking about last night, and she nods. “But you have to shower, Nic. You reek of sex and alcohol.”

“I know!” she proudly says while heading to my bathroom.

I manage to check my emails and make a few phone calls.

I’m taking the couple staying at the Pascoal Villa on a boat tour tomorrow, so I make all the necessary arrangements.

Mr. Torres had sent me an email telling me I should get a chef on board as they would be having lunch on the yacht.

In his email, he also asked me to answer all questions Mr. Harding might have regarding Mr. Torres’s estate and that I must take a file containing all information about it.

I’m intrigued. Yes, I would sometimes take tenants on a boat tour, but I would act like a tourist guide.

We would sail along the coast, and I would point out the beauty of the hills and tell them they could safely hike there straight to the sea. I’d make all arrangements if they wanted to go on the trail.

I would also tell them about the history of this coastal town and, depending on the place they were staying at, I would show them which beach was their private one.

The captain of the yacht would always stop where the sea was calmer, and the water was clearer. The passengers would go for a swim and enjoy the scenery. And that was it.

I’ve never really had to talk about Mr. Torres’s estate. Who is this couple, and what kind of business are they here for?

“Are you done?” Nicole asks, and I nod. My phone buzzes, and I see it’s a text from Alex. Before reading it, I turn to Nicole.

“Please don’t tell Alex about what happened last night.”

“He saw you and Liam going upstairs to his office. He’s gonna know eventually. Plus, Alex should know.

“The least he can do is ban that motherfucker from the club. God knows he’s done that to a couple of guys just because they were bothering us.”

Nicole is right, and I hate hiding anything from Alex, but I tell her I’m too embarrassed about what happened.

I feel rejected, and I can’t deal with Alex acting like a protective big brother on me right now.

“I won’t tell him if that’s what you want. Now move on to the kitchen, girl! You promised me food, and I’m hungry!

“And if that was Alex asking to come by,” she says, pointing at my phone, “tell him to bring red wine!”

I look back at my phone and read his text.

Shit, I think I did. Why does that somehow make me all giddy?

Damn, I’m really not…

Alex arrives while we’re setting the table. He’s wearing grey sweats and a black V-neck T-shirt. I can hear Nicole sigh, which makes me smile. His cock has a magic spell on her for sure.

He kisses her forehead and gives her a wink. I love how these two interact.

He moves closer to me, as I’m holding a salad bowl, places his arm around my waist, tightens the grip—and I hear the seriousness in his low voice.

“My fucking desk, Em.”