Playing With Fire

More than it should.

“But Pam?” Nicholas said, narrowing his eyes in confusion. “When you hurt your shoulder, you were dating Pam.”

“I know, I wasn’t perfect.” Wendell faced Zienna. “I’d been with Pam since college,” he said, as though that was supposed to make his betrayal forgivable. “What can I say? Temptation got the better of me.”

Zienna guffawed and jerked her eyes from his.

“Wow,” Nicholas said, and when she looked at him, she saw that he was shaking his head in disbelief.

“I was just the fuck buddy,” she said, her voice overly sweet. “No need to worry.”

Ghita arrived with the bill at that moment. She seemed to sense the tension, and quietly slipped the check onto the table before turning away.

“Like I said,” Wendell went on, speaking to Nicholas. “You’re my friend. I didn’t want to keep this secret from you, especially when it’s not like there’s anything going on between us now.”

A few seconds passed. The glum mood at their table was accentuated by the happy laughter that came from people nearby.

Nicholas suddenly turned to Zienna. “How serious was this relationship for you?”

“What?”

“Wendell said that you were just a fling. Of course, his heart was with Pam. I don’t agree with what he did—and he knew I wouldn’t, which is why he never told me about you years ago.” Nicholas paused. “But what about you?”

Zienna frowned as she regarded him, her heart thundering in her ears. “You heard Wendell. It wasn’t a serious relationship.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Nicholas asked her. “Why didn’t you tell me yesterday at my place?”

Her lips parted, but much like an accused person sitting on the witness stand, she felt stunned and disoriented, and didn’t know what to say.

Finally, she said, “I do not want to do this. Not here. You want to talk about this, I’m more than happy to leave now, and we can do that.” And then she faced Wendell. “What were you trying to do, dropping a bomb like that without any warning? We’d just had a nice dinner. This was not the time nor the place.”

“You wanted him to keep me in the dark?” Nicholas accused.

Zienna stood, flustered. She didn’t like Nicholas’s tone, even if she could understand his shock. Because suddenly, she was the bad guy, when she hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Sit down,” Nicholas said to her.

“No. No, I don’t think I will.” She spun around, pausing only to say, “And don’t follow me. I swear.”

She made it several steps before she heard her name. Wendell. As if he had the right to even speak to her right now.

“Zienna,” he said again.

She glanced over her shoulder. He was standing just outside the curtains that gave their table privacy. Knowing that Nicholas wasn’t able to see her, she gave Wendell the finger and then stormed off.

She was almost at the exit when her heel slipped on something. And unlike earlier, when Nicholas had been there to catch her, this time she went down on her knee.

Zienna heard the collective gasp of nearby patrons, a group of five who were standing in the entranceway.

“Oh my goodness!” The hostess rushed over and offered her an arm to help her up. Zienna took it, not facing the woman. She got to her feet unsteadily, tears filling her eyes. As she extended her leg, pain shot through her knee. She winced.

“Zee—”

Zienna looked up at Nicholas, who was suddenly beside her, gazing at her with concern. Wendell stood about a foot behind him. In the distance, she saw a concerned-looking Youssef heading toward them.

Zienna swatted Nicholas’s arm away and walked off.

The cool night air washed over her when she stepped outside. She wished she could be like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and simply click her heels together to make a quick getaway.

“Come on, baby,” she heard Nicholas say. “I was just surprised.”

Anger consuming her, she faced him. “You’re treating me as though I was cheating on you. For God’s sake, you just introduced me to Wendell last night. Of course I wanted to tell you. But I was trying to figure out the best way to do it. And it’s not like the relationship mattered,” she added, the words tasting bitter on her tongue.

“Come back inside,” Nicholas said. “Finish your dessert.”

“After I’ve been humiliated in front of everyone?”

She hobbled to the street and threw her arm up to flag a passing cab. As the taxi came to a stop, she was already digging her phone out of her clutch.

Alexis didn’t live far from here. Zienna could go to her place.

“Where are you going?” Nicholas asked.

“You’re so good at figuring things out. I don’t need to spell it out for you.”

“Come on,” Wendell said. “It’s done now.”

Zienna turned to glare at him as she pulled open the taxi door. It was the only thing she could do. And she hoped that her eyes conveyed just how much she hated him.

Then she got into the taxi, slumping into the backseat. She felt crushed.

If only she’d driven herself here tonight. She had dressed to the nines for her man, bought special lingerie.

All gone to waste.

“Eight-fifty West Adams,” she told the driver, giving him Alexis’s address. When the cab made a U-turn, she glanced out the window, saw Nicholas throw up his hands in frustration.

As she expected, a few seconds later her iPhone rang. She saw Nicholas’s photo pop up on her screen, and she quickly pressed the icon to reject the call.

Zienna knew how this was going to play out. No matter what he said, he wouldn’t be able to handle the fact that his best friend had once had a relationship with her, meaningful or not. The fact that she’d slept with Wendell was the hurdle she and Nicholas wouldn’t be able to overcome.

It was that man code, much like the female code, in that respect. You didn’t date someone your best friend had been involved with.

Zienna’s iPhone made a little musical sound, and she glanced at the screen to see that Nicholas had sent her a text message.

Come back. Let’s talk.

She didn’t bother responding.

Craning her neck for one last look as the taxi drove away from Café Tagine, Zienna saw both Nicholas and Wendell still standing on the street.

God only knew what they were saying.

“You know what, take me to the Near North Side instead. Kingsbury.” Last night, Alexis had told her that she needed to come clean with Nicholas. And Zienna wasn’t in the mood to hear any I-told-you-sos.

She just wanted to be alone.

She eased her head back and closed her eyes. Why had Wendell spilled the beans to Nicholas? Without even a heads-up to her beforehand? What was his game plan?

And that’s when a fleeting thought came to her, one that was no doubt ridiculous.

The thought that Wendell had brought up his past with her because he’d deliberately wanted to sabotage her relationship with Nicholas.

7

Zienna was asleep in bed when she heard the door buzzer going off several times in rapid succession. She had barely drifted off before she’d been jarred awake by the loud, annoying noise.

Her eyelids heavy, she lifted her head to glance at the clock: 2:21 a.m.

Good Lord, she thought, plopping her head back down. It was Nicholas. It had to be.

He’d called her several times since she’d abandoned him at the restaurant, and had left her at least six text messages. But she hadn’t responded, and had ultimately turned the phone off.

She wasn’t ready to talk to him about her relationship with Wendell. Not after his reaction at the restaurant.

The buzzer sounded again. Zienna didn’t get up.

If she were honest with herself, she knew that a big part of why she wasn’t ready to talk to Nicholas was because it would require telling the absolute truth. And the last thing she wanted to do was confess to him that her feelings for Wendell had been stronger than she’d let on.

It wasn’t that it mattered anymore, because it didn’t. It was how Nicholas would deal with the knowledge.

She certainly couldn’t deny that seeing Wendell again had left her reeling. No matter what she said, Nicholas would be smart enough to figure out the truth. And Zienna could only imagine that he would conclude Wendell was a threat on some level.

Nicholas was tall, dark, handsome and successful—but an ex-past girlfriend had devastated him when she’d had an affair. It was the reason he had put Zienna through the ringer in the beginning. Not in a way she hadn’t been able to handle, because she knew what it was like to have your guard up. But she’d had to work extra hard to put his mind at ease and assure him she was the faithful sort.

They’d gotten to a happy place...and now Wendell had threatened everything.

The buzzer sounded again. Clearly, Nicholas wasn’t going away.

Zienna rolled over, wondering if she should continue to ignore him. If only she knew his frame of mind... If he regretted what had transpired over dinner was one thing. If he still felt she had betrayed him, that was another thing altogether.

It was too late and she was too tired to rehash the argument. The last thing she wanted was to fight about Wendell—not when he had so easily pointed out that she hadn’t mattered to him in the least.

She’d been an easy lay. That was all.

Zienna glanced at the clock: 2:27 a.m. The buzzer hadn’t gone off for a few minutes, and she wondered if Nicholas had finally decided to leave. Snuggling against her pillow, she figured it was just as well.

Not more than ten seconds later, the knocking started.

Finally, Zienna threw off the covers. She slipped into a robe and made her way to the door. There was no doubt that Nicholas wouldn’t go away until she answered.

She looked through the peephole, and there he stood, his expression dour. She grinned a little, suddenly glad he was here. Of course he wouldn’t be here if he was mad at her. Obviously he was here because he, like she, hadn’t been able to sleep with how things had ended between them.

But Zienna didn’t open the door immediately, letting him suffer a little bit longer. He’d hurt her, and she wasn’t going to let him off that easily.

“How’d you get in?” she called through the door.

“I followed someone in through the front door.”

“What do you want?”

“Are you going to let me in?”

“Why should I?”

“I’m sorry. I was just shocked. But I talked to Wendell, and everything’s cool.”

“Everything might be cool for the two of you.”

“Let me in, Zee,” Nicholas pleaded. “Come on.”

Inhaling a deep breath, Zienna unlocked the door and took a step backward. Saying nothing, she pulled it wide, allowing him to enter.

He looked wary, his expression uncertain. “I’m sorry,” he said without preamble.

Zienna walked the short distance to her living room and took a seat on the armchair, where Nicholas couldn’t sit beside her.

He dropped to his haunches in front of her, the look in his eyes making it clear that he truly regretted having freaked out. He delicately rubbed her right knee. “How’s your knee?”

“I’ll live.”

Several seconds passed in silence. Nicholas was looking at her, she knew, but she wasn’t meeting his gaze.

“You’ve got nothing to say?” he finally asked.

“Seems to me you and Wendell have it all figured out.”

“I didn’t dream Wendell would tell me he used to sleep with you. That was the last thing I was expecting tonight.”

You and me both. “It was a long time ago.”

“I reacted badly. I admit it.”

“You didn’t even want to have a decent discussion about it. You just acted like I’d screwed around on you.”

“No,” Nicholas said firmly. “I didn’t. But I acknowledge that I didn’t handle the news in the most mature fashion. I was caught off guard, and yes, I get that you were, too. But now that Wendell’s investing in my business, I don’t blame him for wanting to get this whole deal into the open.”

“Why should you blame him when you can blame me?”

“Zee...”

They stared at each other for a long beat, neither saying anything. Zienna was the one to speak first. “So...now what?”

“I told you I was sorry, didn’t I? I talked to Wendell and he assured me that your relationship wasn’t serious. Nothing like what you and I have together.”

“So Wendell drops his bombshell, and yet he’s the one to reassure you when I can’t? How do you think that makes me feel?”

“What do you mean?”

“When I told you the relationship meant nothing, you got mad at me. You weren’t hearing it.”

“We never got to have a real discussion.” He quickly held up a hand. “Not after my knee-jerk reaction. That’s why I called you all night. That’s why I’m here.”

“You remember what you said to me, right? You had no problem believing that I meant nothing to Wendell, but you didn’t seem to believe that he meant nothing to me.”

“I came to apologize,” Nicholas said, sounding a little exasperated. He stood and turned toward the window that faced the river. “But it seems to me you want to keep fighting. I can’t help wondering why.”

Well, that hadn’t gone the way Zienna had hoped. She stood and wrapped her arms around her torso. “I’d like to go back to bed.”

Nicholas spun around and stalked toward her, and she actually reeled backward as he reached her. Then he placed both his hands on her shoulders.

“I got upset, yes. But it’s not so simple.” He paused. “When I heard...” He expelled a sharp breath. “The truth is, Wendell’s my best friend, but we’ve always competed. This isn’t the first time we ended up dating the same girl.”

Zienna narrowed her eyes in question, but said nothing.

“Some of the best of friends have the biggest rivalries, even if they love each other. You and Wendell...it brought me back to our college days. In a way, my reaction wasn’t even about you.”

“Really?” she asked disbelievingly.

“Yes. The point is, it’s over now.”

Suddenly, Zienna was hit with a disturbing thought. “How do I know that you didn’t already know about me and Wendell? You two were always competing, maybe you got involved with me because you knew he was coming back to town. What better way to one-up your friend than to be dating the girl he used to sleep with?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Isn’t it? You question my loyalty, but maybe I’m the one with reason to question yours.”

“Enough,” Nicholas said. Both his hands went to her face. “Enough.” He brought his lips down on hers, ever so softly. “Enough.”

He eased back and pinned her with a gaze that was now filled with lust. Taking her hand in his, he forced it to his groin. “I am really tired of fighting.”

He was rock hard.

“This is our first real fight, isn’t it?” He trailed the fingers that were on her face down her neck, to the opening of her robe, dipping them between her breasts. “I’m ready to make up.”

Zienna said nothing, but her breathing became shallower.

Nicholas’s hand slipped lower, parting her robe a little more, but not fully. “This is what I was looking forward to. From the moment I picked you up and saw you looking so incredible.”

Zienna’s lips parted. But all that escaped was a wisp of air.

“Are you going to tell me you don’t want this?” Nicholas asked, his voice low and sultry.

She could, but she would be lying. She’d been turned on the moment she started getting dressed for dinner hours ago, anticipating what was to come. Wendell’s appearance and bombshell had thrown her plans for one hell of a hot night down the toilet.

“I’m still mad at you,” she told him. But she was also aroused. Her chest was heaving from a mixture of anger and lust. And all she could think was that makeup sex was just about the best sex there was.

“You won’t be mad for long.”

His words were a promise.

And with that, he loosened the knot on her silk robe and let the folds fall apart. As his eyes traveled downward, taking in the sight of her, he groaned with pleasure.

She was still wearing the lacy bra and thong she’d bought earlier. Just seeing the look of desire in Nicholas’s eyes had her forgetting all the unpleasantness of the evening.

He reached for her, pressing his warm palm against her belly. His fingertips stroked her skin before venturing a little lower, toward her thong. “Did you expect me to show up?” he asked, his warm breath fanning her face. “Is that why you’re wearing this?”

This was the way Zienna had hoped to end the night. She pressed her body against his hand, and Nicholas slipped his fingers into her panties. When he stroked her, a carnal sound of pleasure pushed past her lips.

Nicholas put his free arm around her waist and pulled her against him with force. Then his mouth came down on hers and he began to kiss her ferociously.

Heat consumed her. They shared a hungry, urgent kiss, the kind they hadn’t had in a while. Their relationship had become comfortable, and their kisses these days were more sweet and emotional than wild. The passion between them was generated by knowing that what they were doing was more than simply having sex.

But now, as he kissed her, he slipped his hands into her hair and tugged, creating a little pain.

Zienna made a purring sound. She liked it.

Nicholas drew her bottom lip into his mouth and sucked on it before grazing it with his teeth. Then he plunged his tongue into her mouth again, tangling it with hers.

His hands found her bra, and he none too gently shoved the lace covering her breasts downward, over the large mounds. The Nicholas of yesterday would have taken his time removing the delicate fabric.

“Are you still mad now?” His lips trailed her jawline, and teased her skin there while his fingers squeezed her nipples.

In response, Zienna gasped.

Nicholas’s mouth made its way to one of her nipples. He flicked his tongue around the tip before pulling it into his mouth.

“What about now?” he asked. “Still mad at me?”

“No,” Zienna rasped. “No, baby.”

He grinned, then took her other nipple into his mouth and suckled it until she was moaning.

Although lust had taken over her body, somewhere her senses kicked in. “The windows,” she said. “The blinds aren’t closed.”

Her breast was still in his mouth as he turned toward the window. “You’re right,” he said around her hardened peak. And then, obviously not caring if someone from the next building might be looking in on them right now, he laved the erect tip with his tongue.

Not with the tender, soft flicks of his normal style, but with fervor, as though he was trying to brand her as his.

He moved his mouth to her other breast and teased her with the same intense determination.

Zienna didn’t have the strength to stop him. The sensations were too electrifying. He sank his teeth into her nipple, again creating a mix of pleasure and pain. Then he moved his mouth to her other breast and drew it so deeply into his mouth, it was as though he wanted to swallow it.

“I want to do you right here, and I don’t care who sees.” He flicked his finger over the nipple he was currently torturing. “Almost,” he added, grinning up at her.

Zienna hadn’t encountered this Nicholas before, but she liked him. Liked him enough that she could make love to him right here, any onlookers be damned.

“Nicholas, baby, what’s gotten into you?”

“You.” He lowered himself to his knees and kissed her stomach.

He pulled at the sides of her thong, so hard it snapped. Zienna gasped as the elastic waistband stung her skin. But the next moment she moaned, when Nicholas’s fingers found her sweet spot.

“You’re wet.”

“Nicholas...” He wasn’t really going to do her right here, was he?

“Yes,” he said with resolve, seeming to have heard her silent question. He stroked her nub. “I can’t wait.”

But he was smart enough to angle her body so that her back was to the window. And then he swept his tongue over her most sensitive spot.

“Oh, God...” she moaned.

His fingers and tongue moved faster, heightening her pleasure. Her eyelids fluttering shut, she gripped his shoulders. She was caught up in rapture, mesmerized by this carnal side of Nicholas she had never seen.

He tantalized her as though his only goal was to please her. He used his tongue, his teeth and his fingers, until she was coming, coming hard. Then he scooped her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom.

Weak from her orgasm, she let Nicholas take off the rest of her clothes. Then he positioned her on her knees and entered her from behind with a blinding thrust.

Zienna cried out, arching her back.

He gave it to her hard, his thrusts relentless. “Oh, my God, Nicholas. Ohhh...”

“Tell me you love me,” he said.

“I love you,” she managed to reply, with a breathless sigh.

“Tell me I’m all you need.”

“You’re all I need, baby. You’re all I need.”

“No one can give it to you better than I can. Ain’t that right, babe?”

Even in the midst of her pleasure, the comment gave Zienna pause. What was he going on about, needing to hear that he could rock her world sexually? This wasn’t like him.

He slipped his arms around her waist and drew her upward so that her back was against his front, while he was still inside her. He pressed his lips to her ear. “Tell me no one can give it to you like I can. Tell me.”

“No one...only you, baby.”

He kissed her, sucking on her lips and her tongue, his lust for her on overdrive.

And as he continued to make love to her, Zienna couldn’t help thinking that he was doing her harder than ever before to erase any feelings that she might still have for Wendell.

8

When Zienna’s eyes opened, she found Nicholas looking down at her, smiling. He was lying beside her on the bed, but perched on his elbow so that his face was above hers.

“Good morning, baby.”

“Morning,” she said.

“How’re you feeling?”

A slow grin formed on her face. “Amazing. Definitely sore in a lot of places, but amazing.” She stroked his cheek and added in a playful tone, “What got into you last night?”

“You mean The Slayer?”

Now Zienna giggled. “Is that what you call it?”

“Yes. But I only let him out sometimes.” He gave her a tender kiss, one that lingered. It was sweet and full of meaning—not burning with the carnal need of the night before.

“I am sorry about last night,” he told her when he pulled back.

“It’s forgotten.”

“Damn.” He gazed beyond her to her bedside clock. “It’s already after seven.”

“Ugh. I don’t want to get up.”

“I hear that.” He trailed a finger along her neck bone. “And I take all the blame. I barely let you get any sleep. But I wanted to give you the night of your life.”

“That you did, baby.”

“Cappuccino?” Nicholas asked.

“Yes, please.”

He got out of bed, slipped into his briefs, then exited the bedroom. Minutes later, he returned with a steaming mug of cappuccino for her. On her birthday last month, he’d given her one of those fancy coffeemakers that brewed coffee and made espresso and cappuccino. Zienna had yet to figure out how to operate it.

“Thanks, sweetie,” she said, sitting up to accept the mug from him.

“I have to get going. I’m off to the new restaurant before I head into Reflections.”

“One more week,” Zienna said, smiling.

Nicholas began to put on his pants. “I know. One week until the big grand opening.”

“Are you nervous?”

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t. But mostly, I’m excited.”

“So,” Zienna began, then paused. “What exactly is Wendell going to be doing for you?” She wasn’t sure if she should mention him, but the issue had been resolved last night, hadn’t it? There was no doubt she would be seeing Wendell in the future, and certainly she should be able to ask a question about him.