I watched her for about twenty more minutes, laughing quietly as she smiled in her sleep, convinced that she must be dreaming about her daddy. I carefully crept out of the room; not wanting to wake her, sleep normally didn’t happen that often with Ariel. Maybe it was my lack of experience, or maybe it was because my mom had warned me against constantly holding her, but she seemed to only be comfortable in my arms. I loved it, but it did get a little draining sometimes.
I collapsed on the couch, flipped on the sports channel but hit the mute button, thinking about everything that happened with Ally. I wanted her to be a part of our lives, but I wasn’t so sure she wanted to. I guess only time could tell, but time was a real bitch, and I hated waiting. Would it be days, weeks, never, that I would hear from Ally?
A knock on the door pulled me out of my thoughts and I rolled off the couch, scratching at my chest as I pulled the door open, and feeling my heart stop when I saw Ally standing on the front porch. I pressed the tips of my fingers into my eyelids, reopening them to see that she was still standing there, a small smile on her face as she stared back at me.
“I think I’m ready to talk.”
I silently backed up a step, letting her pass by me and deeply inhaling that flowery scent of hers that I missed so much.
She stopped in the kitchen, turning around to face me, as she wrung her hands tightly together. I could tell she was nervous, and that had me worried. Was it because she was going to tell me things were over for good, no going back?
“Honesty, Nick,” she started, and I tensed at the word. I never meant to not be honest with Ally. But the fact was that I had lied, even if it was to try and protect her. “If you can agree to always be honest with me, no matter what, I would like to be a part of your life again, both of your lives again. I don’t know what the future holds, but I really do want you in mine. And Ariel,” she added, laughing. “Sorry, I’m still not used to the idea of you actually having a daughter.”
I was…stunned. No, that wasn’t even the word for it. There really wasn’t one word that could do the feelings running through me justice. She was giving me exactly what I wanted, exactly what I needed to hear, and I couldn’t comprehend what that really meant.
I couldn’t help myself any longer. I leaned forward, smashing my lips against hers, my tongue eagerly entering her mouth so I could taste her. I had missed her taste so much. I couldn’t get enough as she twined her arms around my neck, pulling me close. She moaned into my mouth as my hands slipped underneath her shirt and I ran them along the smoothness of her skin. I wanted to touch every part of her body, memorize every inch, and explore everything that I had missed.
“Nick, wait.” She weakly pushed at my chest, and I pulled back slightly, leaning my forehead against hers. “I think we should take things slow.”
“Slow?” I repeated, the word tasting sour on my tongue. I didn’t think I could take anything slow with Ally.
“Mmhmm.” She nodded her head, and laughed. “Don’t look so sad about it. I just think that we need to take things slow. I don’t think we should just pick right back up where we left off. Plus, you have Ariel now, and just like you said things are different, our relationship is going to be different, too. Do you think you can handle that?” She smirked, knowing that I would find this pretty agonizing, but as long as I had her back in my life, I would do anything.
“Yup, I can totally handle that.”
Chapter 29
Ally
I might have told Nick that I wanted to take things slow, and when I said it, I really did mean it, but in the end, I don’t think that was actually possible. I think we were only able to keep our hands to ourselves until halfway through our “first” date.
Kelly was babysitting Ariel for the night so Nick could take me out, because he said if I wanted to take things so slow, then we were going to do it properly. We needed the first date, the first kiss, all of the firsts, to start our new beginning together.
Kelly had been more than willing to help him out. One, because she was so in love with being a grandma, and two, because she was so ecstatic that Nick and I were back together. I didn’t know who was happier, her or us.
“Shouldn’t we be waiting until, like, the third date or something like that?” I panted out as Nick slowly removed my dress, pulling it up and over my hair until it was lying in a pool at our feet.
He stepped back to look at me, sucking in a deep breath, the moonlight that was pouring in through the open window reflecting off his eyes.
“See something you like?” I asked, batting my eyelashes, one hand on my hip. He took a step closer, his fingers reaching out to skim over the lacy material of my panties.