“Tris, I am so horny..” he stopped in the middle of his announcement, to actually take a look at her and notice that she was very dressed up. “Wow… you look hot.”
She blushed a little, “Thanks… I’m going out with Ethan tonight… an office party.”
Nick’s expression changed instantly. “Oh.”
“Sorry… “ She wasn’t sure what else to say to him, she’d figured she’d tell him later in the night, when everything was over.
“It’s…okay…” he lied. It wasn’t okay, he didn’t want her going out with Ethan, especially when he wanted her as badly as he did. “Call me, later, maybe?”
“I’ll come over later, if you still want me.” she said, intentionally phrasing the sentence to mean more than one thing.
“Yeah, I always do.” He leaned down to give her a kiss, wrapping his arms around her. He wished she was dressed up to go out with him… he knew he’d be unable to get the picture of her out of his mind for the rest of the night. He also knew he’d spend the night moping that she was out with Ethan, instead of tangled up with him. But maybe he’d still get her later. He’d take whatever he could.
When he pulled away from her, she went to kiss him again, even longer and more sensually than the kiss he had initiated. “I’ll be over later.”
He nodded, disappointed the kiss had ended, and took one more look at her, then let himself back out the door.
~~~~
When the doorbell rang, Tristan spritzed on the perfume that Ethan had given her, and went to the door again, her sexiest smile playing on her lips. She opened the door to see Ethan, holding a bouquet of brightly colored flowers. “Aww, thank you.” She took the flowers and gave him a sweet kiss on the cheek.
“You look amazing, Tristan.” Ethan said, following her into the kitchen and watching as she put the flowers in a vase.
“You look pretty hot yourself, sir.” she said, giving him a grin. “Are we ready to crash this party?”
Ethan held his hand out to her, feeling the apprehension he’d been feeling all day easing. He’d been worried she wouldn’t come out with him at all tonight- she’d been acting strangely the past few months… but she’d never come right out and given him a reason to worry. He lead her to his car, and opened the door for her, smiling to himself that he would no doubt be with the most beautiful girl in the room at the party. And she was all his.
***
“Ethan, I’ll be back in a second…” Tristan said, grabbing her purse and excusing herself from the table full of Ethan’s co-workers.
He nodded, barely paying attention to her as she escaped to the bathroom.
Tristan dropped down onto the couch in the sitting area just outside the ladies room, and dug in her purse to find her cell phone. She dialed Angela’s number, hoping she’d pick up and give her a distraction for a little while. When the phone finally picked up, Tristan realized she was talking to Spring, and after a few minutes of small talk, asked if Angela was there. She tapped her foot impatiently on the floor as she waited for Angela to pick up the phone, amused by the sound of her high heel clicking against the ceramic tile. When Angela got on the line, Tristan greeted her with, “It’s about damn time.”
“Nice to talk to you, too, Tris.” Angela snapped back.
“Sorry… I am just, literally, dying of boredom.” Tristan told her.
“Where are you? Oh wait, isn’t tonight that party thing?”
“Yes… it’s horrid! Everyone, excluding me and Ethan, is completely trashed and telling ridiculous stories… his boss won’t quit hitting on me... or well, hitting on my chest, because he has yet to actually look at my face…all the other women are sitting around at a table and complaining about what little dicks their husbands have… ”
Angela interrupted, “So why don’t you drink something and go complain about Ethan?”
“Because if I start drinking, I’ll end up drunk because I’m bored and then I won’t do what I am anxiously waiting for the opportunity to do.” Tristan explained.
“Ah, so tonight is the night, huh?”
“Yeah… I can’t do it anymore.”
“Well, to quote someone very dear to me, ‘it’s about damn time’.” Angela said.
“I know, I know. Maybe I’ll see if I can drag him out of here soon.”
“In the meantime, have a drink. Or two. Or seven.” Angela suggested.
Tristan laughed, “Yes, ma’am.”
“And tell me how it went later, okay?”
“Will do.”
“Good luck.”
“Thanks.” Tristan hung up the phone and went to the mirror to re-apply her lipstick, making a kissy face at herself in the mirror. She giggled as she imagined leaving dark purple lip prints all over Nick, and went back out to face the awful crowd waiting at the table.
She slipped back into her seat next to Ethan, contemplating the best way to get him out of there. She began by placing her hand on his knee, while pretending to be enthralled by the story the guy across the table from Ethan was telling. She slowly moved her hand up his leg, stopping mid-thigh for a moment, and then moving the rest of the way up, until her hand was between his legs, her palm rubbing ever-so-slightly against him- causing him to turn and look at her, wide-eyed. “Maybe we should go for a walk.” she whispered.
Ethan practically jumped up out of his chair, grabbing Tristan’s wrist and pulling her away from the table and out onto the verandah at the side of the ballroom. “What are you doing??”
“I wanted to talk to you, and that seemed to be the most efficient way to get your attention.” she said. She knew Ethan was annoyed to some degree, which was fine, but also ridiculous at the same time, she knew Nick would have had her pinned up against the wall, ripping her clothes off by this point.
Ethan shook his head, “Alright, what was so important?”
“I’m breaking up with you.” Tristan told him. She had to bite her lip from laughing at the look on his face, he obviously hadn’t seen that coming.
“What?!?” he squeaked, unable to believe what he’d just heard. Surely he hadn’t just gone from being groped to getting dumped that quickly.
“Ethan…we… you and I… do not work. We tried, okay, you, tried to make it work and I just went along with it…. but you are such a sweet, thoughtful guy… and you deserve someone who appreciates all the things you love to do to be affectionate… and that girl is just not me.” Tristan said. At one point she had planned on attempting to be as nice as possible about the whole thing, and let him down gently… but in the end, the direct, honest approach had taken over.
Ethan couldn’t think of anything to say back to her. A few hours ago he’d allowed himself to believe everything was fine between them, despite the fact she never wanted sex anymore… but had tried to believe that didn’t mean anything. But obviously it had.
“I’m sorry, Ethan. Go back into the party, have a few drinks, and forget about me. Go flirt with that cute Filipino girl in the green dress who’s been eyeing you all night.” She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and grabbed her purse. “Go have fun… don’t think about me… I’m not worth it.” She winked at him, and walked back through the doors from the verandah, through the ballroom and to the lobby of the hotel, asking the desk clerk to call a cab for her.
As she sat in the lobby waiting for the cab to come, she thought about what she’d told Ethan.. that she wasn’t worth thinking about. Really, to him, she wasn’t worth it.. she’d been cheating on him, lying to him.. she’d been a really bad girlfriend to him… and she felt bad about it to some degree, because he did deserve better than that. But she also deserved better, she thought, she deserved being with someone who made her happy, and that’s exactly who she was going to.
~~~~
Nick jumped a little at the sound of the doorbell. He’d fallen asleep on the couch, watching a movie waiting for Tristan to show up. He hated the idea that she could have been having sex with Ethan while he was lying alone on the couch, wanting to be with her so badly. He tried to shake the thought as he got up and went to the door. He opened the door to see Tristan pulling the jewel-studded pins that had been holding her hair back out, and then her shaking her hair out to fall down over her shoulders. “Wow…”
Tristan looked up, smiling at him. She walked through the door, dropping her purse. She turned her back to Nick, “Unzip this thing will you?”
Nick was happy to oblige, his eyes following the zipper down her back. When she stepped out of the dress, he looked at her, his mouth dropping slightly open at the sight of her. The beautiful black dress she’d been wearing had been hiding something even better- a black corset and lacy garter belt… which to him looked amazingly sexy with the high heels she was still wearing.
She watched him as his eyes traveled up and down her body, smiling. “You like?”
Nick nodded, but drew his eyes back up to meet hers. “Did Ethan see it first?”
Tristan shook her head, “Nope…” She turned and began walking towards his bedroom, casting a ‘come-hither’ look over her shoulder to him, even though it wasn’t necessary- he was already right behind her. Nick followed her into the room, and obeyed her motions for him to sit at the edge of the bed. She crawled onto his lap, and pushed him back onto the bed, and straddled him, sitting right on his chest.
He looked up at her expectantly, just waiting for whatever she was going to do next. Had he known the night was going to turn out like this, he wouldn’t have been so upset when he’d left her apartment earlier.
“I think I decided I’m just a bad girl or something… because I want to be with you. I like who I am with you… just like I think you like the way you feel when you’re with me…” she paused as Nick nodded, agreeing with what she’d said. She rearranged herself, lying down on him, propping herself up on her elbows to look at him as she spoke. “I broke up with Ethan tonight… that’s the only reason I went out with him… I hated to see you leave earlier… because I knew what I was going to do… but I couldn’t wait to come back over here.. and tell you that I wasn’t with him anymore… and that I want to be with you… if you want me.”
“I told you before, I always want you.” Nick said, slipping his arms around her back. “I was so jealous tonight, knowing that you were out with him… when I just wanted you to be here with me. You’re right, I do like the way I feel when I’m with you… because I’m in love with you…and I like the way that feels.”
Tristan leaned down to kiss him, wondering why it had taken them so long to get to this place. She felt him gasp in the kiss as she began a slow grind against him, and then started to trail kisses down over his neck. She ended by his ear, nibbling gently on his earlobe. “You know, I love you… I think I knew I could the first time we were together… and I just didn’t want to think I could be in love with someone I’d met the way we did… but I was wrong.. because it just seems like I get crazier about you every time I’m with you.”
Nick rolled over her, a sexy gleam in his eye as he looked down at her. “So, I can keep you this time, right? The bad girl you, the good girl you.. and all those other things you are that are so much fun?”
Tristan giggled a little, “Whoever I am.. whatever/whoever you want me to be… You’ve got all of me… if that’s the way you like it.”
Nick lowered himself onto her, feeling her legs wrap around his hips as he licked and sucked along her collarbone. “I like it… really, really like it…”