Enlightened (Untwisted Series Book 4) Read online

  I could literally feel his arousal ebbing away as my words sunk in. Poor man. In general Nicholas was opening up to me far more regularly, but I still struggled to really read him because as much as he was beginning to let his guard down, he still kept quite a good deal hidden. Right now though, his emotion was blindingly obvious; he didn’t want to go to the event – at all – but he was torn because he felt like he should accompany me.

  ‘I’m not sure, Becky …’ he started hesitantly, ‘It’ll be crowded, hot, and full of overly hormonal woman fighting for the best deals, won’t it?’

  ‘No! It’ll be nothing like that!’ I replied cheerily, brushing off his concern, even though I suspected that it would be exactly like that. ‘There’s a bar … with free champagne,’ I blurted in desperation, although given how rich Nicholas was, the pull of free champagne was probably dimmed slightly by the fact that he could buy as many bottles as he liked without even marginally denting his finances.

  He clicked his tongue in annoyance and shook his head in apparent exasperation, ‘Exchanging a lazy day of sex with being squashed in a hot, busy room whilst we’re hassled to death.’ Exhaling a long breath Nicholas stared at me for several more seconds before finally nodding curtly once. ‘Let me go and change and we’ll leave,’ he mumbled petulantly as he slid from my arms, ‘It’s just as well I love you,’ he muttered, dropping a kiss on my forehead as he lumbered from the room with far less grace than usual, leaving me giggling in his wake at his continued struggle to be a ‘normal’ boyfriend. Bless him.

  Thank God the traffic hadn’t been busy today. We’d made it to Earls Court and managed to find the parking space that I’d pre-reserved when I booked the tickets, all within half an hour of leaving Nicholas’ house. Nicholas hadn’t complained again about accompanying me, but he had been rather quiet during the drive and if we’d ended up stuck in traffic as well that might just have topped off his brooding mood and caused him to turn for home.

  Following the signs pointing us from the car park up to the front steps of the building and into the main hall we stepped through the doors and were immediately met by a cacophony of sounds and sights, and as Nicholas had predicted, it was totally rammed with people.

  Crap . Even to me, the supposed blushing bride, this place looked like a nightmare. God only knows what Nicholas was thinking. I got a pretty good idea about a second later when his hand found mine by my side and took hold with such a tight, panicked grip that I almost winced before turning my head to look up at him. The urge to laugh was almost impossible to hide; Nicholas looked like a deer well and truly stuck in the headlights. His face was pale, eyes wide, and a sheen of sweat was actually forming on his brow. I knew he hated crowds, he’d told me previously that the only way he survived his concerts was to lose himself in his piano music, and now I was going to make him traipse around his own personal version of hell. Oops. I suppose the fact that he was even willing to do this showed how much he cared for me.

  ‘We’ll be as quick as we can,’ I promised. Stella and I had planned to spend the morning checking out bridesmaids’ dresses, then grab some lunch and free champers, before going to my florist appointments and looking around at the flower arrangements and table decorations. But there was no way I could do even half of that now. Firstly we were far later arriving than I’d originally planned – my accidental lie in was the cause of that – but in addition to the lack of time, the very thought of making Nicholas look at bridesmaid dresses as well as flowers was nearly enough to make me laugh hysterically. The free champagne might not be a bad place to start though, it was gone lunch time, after all, and it could work to loosen him up a bit.

  Checking my map I saw the bar was to our right, as was the first florist I needed to see, so I tugged my reluctant man through the throngs of people and after depositing a full glass of sparkling wine in his hand I watched in amusement as Nicholas downed it in one and then looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

  ‘You know I have a plan to get you back for this hell,’ he said with a smirk. ‘Next weekend I’m going to take you to a ballroom dancing event, and I’m going to make you dance every single dance I know.’ His mouth tweaked with one of his half smiles and I laughed at his statement. Nicholas knew how much I hated formal dancing. I could wing it on the dance floor of a club for a while and enjoy myself, but actual choreographed dancing that involved skill, timing, and rhythm? I was disastrous. Worse than disastrous. I tried ballet as a child and was told that as well as having two left feet, my co-ordination was akin to that of a newly born foal, as in, completely absent.

  However, the idea of Nicholas being able to dance was rather appealing, and not one we’d ever discussed before. ‘You can dance?’ I asked curiously, swapping his empty glass with my full one, which he immediately took to his lips, although thankfully with a more refined sip this time. It had never crossed my mind that Nicholas might be able to dance, it seemed quite a soft thing for a tough, closed-off guy like him to know.

  ‘I can,’ he stated, slipping an arm around my waist and pulling me in closer where he started to slightly sway his hips in demonstration. Now that I thought about it, his hips were clearly skilled in other rhythmic and naughty activities, so dancing would probably come pretty easily to him. ‘I learnt at school. Nathan and I did as many after -school clubs as we could to avoid the house.’ Which I took to mean, to avoid being around his abusive bastard of a father. ‘During certain terms the only clubs available were dance ones, so I did lots of classical dancing and even some salsa for a while.’ Ho-ly shit. The idea of Nicholas salsa dancing almost blew my mind; hips gyrating, torso slick with sweat as he moved to the hot, sensual beat of the Latin music … what a thought. It was enough to make my groin wet and throat suddenly dry, and I snatched back my glass to have a sip and moisten my parched mouth.

  ‘Maybe I’ll teach you one day,’ he murmured, lowering his lips into my hair and still lightly swaying his hips against mine, ‘After all, I seem to have failed to teach you how to play the piano with any great skill, so I may as well try something else.’ His dig at my piano skills bounced right off me because he was right, I was still dreadful no matter how much practice I did.

  ‘You didn’t exactly give me much time to learn though, Nicholas, did you?’ I responded in a pointed tone, keen to tease him back and distract my mind from my raging arousal. ‘You would drag me off to the bedroom almost as soon as I arrived for my lessons. It’s no wonder I’m still crap.’ Grinding his hips firmly against mine he flashed me a welcome smile, and I was relieved that our banter was relaxing him, even if it was getting me turned on almost to the point of no return.

  ‘I suspect the same thing might occur if I were to attempt to teach you to dance,’ he said breathily against my ear as he performed another rub with those devilish hips that had me moaning whilst he merely leant back and grinned down at me. ‘Except I doubt we’d make it as far the bedroom.’ With the way he was making my arousal soar by just swaying against me I doubted we’d even make it to any proper dancing, but still, it was quite a tempting thought, especially when he leant in close to my ear and added his final remark, ‘I’d probably end up fucking you right there on the dance floor.’ Nicholas didn’t curse that often, and although he often gave commands when we were in the bedroom they weren’t dirty talk as such, so his statement literally made me shudder with arousal as images of him losing control and taking me on the dance floor leapt to my mind.

  A wave of dizziness swept my body and I ended up clutching at his arms to steady myself before I gave in to the temptation to beg Nicholas to take me right here in the packed exhibition centre. Raising the glass with the remainder of my champagne Nicholas finished it off in one swift swig, and then looking completely unaffected by the last five minutes of hip grinding, pulse raising teasing he gave me a calm smile and offered me his elbow. ‘Let’s go and look at these flowers, shall we?’

  Blinking several times in disbelief at his ability to change so erratically from on
e second to the next, I eventually steadied myself enough to slide my hand through the crook of his arm and nod, but I have to say I felt far from steady as we made our way through the crowds to meet the first florist. My dizziness certainly had nothing to do with the minimal champagne I’d had though, but it might have had a little to do with my man and his talented hips.

  By the time we were at the third florist stand in a particularly busy section of the hall it was well over two hours later. The florist – a lovely lady called Julie – was telling us the details of how the bouquet could be taped and trimmed when Nicholas suddenly stood up, his chair almost toppling backwards with his haste. Flashing me a desperate glance he began to dig in his jacket pocket, removed his silent phone, and then blinked twice at me as if trying to pass some secret message to me which I completely failed to understand. ‘I have to take this call,’ he blurted. So he had to take a call, did he? The call from his phone which wasn’t ringing? With that he spun on his heels and was gone through the crowd quicker than a flash.

  Watching his rapidly disappearing figure I turned back to Julie with a relaxed smile. Nicholas’ departure didn’t overly worry me, to be honest, given the cloying environment we were in I was amazed he’d lasted this long. Three overly enthusiastic florists vying for his money was more than I’d ever thought he’d deal with. ‘Sorry about that, Julie, he’s very busy with work at the moment.’

  The florist smiled politely, and then continued to write up a quote for me. ‘No problem, Rebecca. Good-looking fella, isn’t he? Lucky you! That’s what I say.’ With that she folded up the quote and some sample photographs, gave me a wink, and slid them into an envelope. I had a good feeling about Julie, her prices were competitive with the other florists and her arrangements were beautiful, but the biggest point in her favour was her relaxed, down-to-earth manner.

  Once I had finished with Julie I gathered up my handbag and the various freebies I’d been given earlier and set off in search of Nicholas. As much as I hadn’t been surprised by his sudden departure from the wedding fair, I was slightly worried it might have freaked him out and that he might be in need of calming down.

  The cold air of the December day almost took my breath away as I burst from the stuffy hall to the steps outside the centre. Initially as I looked around the people milling about the pavement outside I couldn’t see Nicholas and felt panic rising in my chest. What if the wedding fair had panicked him more than I’d thought? Scanning the crowd again I was just about the reach for my mobile phone when I felt a hand at my wrist.

  Turning with the pull of the grip I found Nicholas leaning on the wall beside the numerous sets of double doors, still with a slightly pained expression on his pale face. For a second or two we just stood there staring at each other; his eyes locked on mine as he blinked slowly and me holding my breath whilst I waited for him to say something. His grip was looser now, but his hand was still on my wrist, and suddenly he used this link to guide me forwards into his arms where he pulled me tight against him and immediately buried his head in my hair.

  After seemingly inhaling my scent for a second or two Nicholas burrowed his face deeper and kissed the skin of my neck by my ear. ‘I’m sorry, Becky,’ he whispered, his voice was hoarse and strained, the warm breath making my skin tingle. ‘I let you down. I tried to stay. I wanted to, I know that stuff is important to you … but it was so crowded, I had to get out.’

  Leaning back so that he was forced to look at me I smiled reassuringly. ‘Actually, given the event and the fact that you were practically the only man in there I think lasting over two hours is pretty good going.’ Glancing at my watch I grinned. ‘Nearly three hours actually.’

  Watching as his eyebrows rose I maintained my calm smile and felt his arms begin to relax around me. It seems he had been expecting me to angry with him, but how could I when he’d tried so hard for me?

  ‘I know you want a nice bouquet and for the tables to look good, but in all honesty, the only thing I need on our wedding day is you,’ he murmured. Given his occasional reluctance with emotions that was quite a statement. ‘Seeing as I deserted you in there my opinion might not count, but I really liked Julie.’

  Nodding I smiled broadly, ‘Me too. She’s based just north of Birmingham and she’s willing to travel so I guess that’s the florist chosen!’ Taking his hand an idea suddenly occurred to me and I felt excitement settle in my belly. ‘Kensington isn’t far from here, is it?’ I asked as Nicholas turned us in the direction of the car park.

  Looking down at me as he wrapped a possessive arm around my shoulders Nicholas shook his head, ‘Just north of here, probably five minutes in the car. Why?’

  ‘I have a reward for you for being so good and coming with me today. Will you let me drive your car?’

  Now Nicholas looked completely confused as he continued to walk but stared down at me with furrowed brows. ‘You’re insured on it, but why do you want to drive?’

  ‘You can drive now, but I’ll drive us home later. Take us to Kensington High Street, you’ll need to find somewhere to park near the Tube station.’ I instructed him, smirking at his baffled expression as I dished out my instructions.

  Just over fifteen minutes later we were standing on the pavement outside Piano, a very funky bar on Kensington High Street famed for its live piano music. Granted we were a little early, it had just gone five o’clock and the bar had literally just opened its doors, but that was actually perfect because the place was deserted and a little calm would do us both good after the hectic environment of the wedding fair. I knew from my internet search that the live music didn’t start until seven and so my plan was to try and get Nicholas a slot at the piano beforehand. Regardless of how much of a bad day he’d had, Nicholas could always turn to his music to relax him, and after the stress of the wedding fair I was hoping that this distraction might soothe his earlier tension.

  Pushing open the door we stepped into the plush interior and made our way towards the bar. ‘I found this place on the internet a while ago and kept meaning to bring you here. I thought you might like it,’ I murmured as Nicholas looked intently at the large grand piano across the room with the stirrings of a smile beginning to twitch on his lips. ‘Seeing as we were just around the corner this seemed like a good reward for coming with me today. Am I forgiven for dragging you to the wedding fair?’

  Turning back to me I could see an excited twinkle in Nicholas’ eyes as he slid his hands around my waist and pulled my hips firmly against his until the heat from his body almost seemed to be burn through my jeans. ‘You have no reason to need forgiveness. It’s my wedding too, I want to support you with the plans. I’m sorry I freaked out,’ he murmured as he dropped a brief kiss on my lips, making the skin tingle. ‘However, you will be especially in my good books if you get me a few minutes playing that piano,’ he added cheekily, throwing another glance at the huge instrument in the corner.

  Straightening my spine confidently, I nodded. ‘Leave it to me,’ I said before wandering over to a man sat at the end of the bar with a large smile on his face. The man turned out to be the owner, Les, a lively fellow who clearly loved his music, and after instantly recognising Nicholas gave him a sturdy handshake and quickly ushered him towards the piano with great enthusiasm.

  ‘I saw you play at Wigmore Hall about two years ago, Mr Jackson, you were bloody fantastic,’ Les said with a hearty nod.

  Nicholas settled himself on the stool looking far more animated. ‘I remember that gig; it was a concert raising money for the local hospital. Intimate venue, but great acoustics. I’ll have to set up another concert at the Hall now you’ve reminded me of it.’

  Leaving the two men to talk piano I slipped away to the lone barman and ordered myself a bottle of chilled water. Just to try and perfect this experience for Nicholas I got him a double shot of his favourite single malt whisky – the reason I had asked if I could drive him home – and after paying my tab I crossed the bar, placed the drink on a table beside Nicholas, a
nd propped myself on a stool by a high table to listen.

  ‘This is no ordinary piano, Becky,’ Nicholas informed me in an impressed whisper, looking like a kid in a sweet shop. ‘It’s a Collard and Collard. Amazing,’ he murmured in awe. ‘This must be over a hundred years old,’ he added with a respectful stroke of the lid.

  ‘Actually, it’s one hundred and sixty years old,’ Les informed us proudly as he stepped away from the piano and joined me at the table.

  I had to stifle a grin at Nicholas’ enthusiasm; pianos were beautiful, even I could see that, but they were clearly precious to Nicholas because he looked almost on the verge of orgasm from just touching the keys. Smiling contentedly I sipped my water and let Nicholas wow Les with some of his music while enthusing about what a fantastic instrument it was. First we’d found our florist, and now my idea of a treat for Nicholas was going down rather well, it seemed today had been resurrected into a good day after all.

  Eight –Stella

  ‘It’s great to see you looking so much better Stella, and I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you’re well enough to come shopping this weekend,’ Rebecca said as she sifted through a rail of bridesmaid’s dresses of all imaginable shapes, colours, and sizes. ‘Taking Nicholas to that wedding fair last weekend was an absolute nightmare!’

  The thought of slightly socially awkward Nicholas Jackson surrounded by frantic women in a wedding fair made me grin so much that my cheeks hurt, and I paused in my dress perusal to look across at Rebecca in amusement. ‘I’m still amazed he actually went with you. What did you have to promise him? A blow job a day for a month?’