Free I Love My Hope (Nicole's Erotic Romance) by Sabrina Lacey

me.”
    I shake
my head. “No.”
    “Nicole,
please.”
    I open my
eyes, trying hard to mask the anger and hurt.
    “It’s not
because I don’t want to carry you into the bedroom and do things to your body
that have never been done before. It’s because I don’t want to do them
tonight.”
    I blink a
couple times, defeated. “Okay,” I whisper.
    “Hey. I
need you to believe me. I’m trying to do this right.”
    “Are you
married?” I ask, point blank, vulnerable.
    He smiles
through a sigh. “No. God, no. That would be a terrible
thing to do to you. No. I’ve never been married. I have no girlfriend back
home. I promise. Believe me?”
    I search
him and find only truth. “I had to ask. I didn’t, once.”
    He kisses
me again to push away my fears. All the feelings of his lips on mine, race
through me again, and double. I slide my arms around his neck, nibble his lips, touch my tongue to his. The kiss grows more heated and
dangerously pulls at both of us to deny his wishes, and maybe my own. Because I
think deep down, I want what he wants. I want to do this right.
    I pull
away. He groans. I shoot him a look as I step away to hold onto the wall to
steady my spinning head.
    “Nicole.”
    I don’t
look at him for fear I’ll jump on him and rip his clothes off. “I love the way
you say my name.”
    He smiles
and I can’t help but look over my shoulder to see it. He walks past me toward
the door and says, “If you have plans tomorrow, cancel them.” He turns. “I want
to spend the day with you. The night, too. We’ll go to
Central Park and to dinner…and do anything else you want to do. I want the
whole day.”
    I lean on
the wall, and smile. “Okay.”
    “After
one o’clock, that is,” he adds, holding his finger up.
    I laugh.
“What’s before one o’clock?”
    “The
meeting with potential investors.”
    “Oh,
right. Well, then after one o’clock, I am all yours.”
    “I don’t
want to leave.” He shakes his head, using a hell of a lot of will power to walk
away. I follow him, my eyes scraping up and down his gorgeous body. His ass is
to die for in those pants. He is killing me. He turns around and I look up. He
smiles, catching me in the act, and reaches over to pull me to him again, passionately
kissing me as he lifts me a little off the ground. I slide my fingers into his
soft sandy-brown hair, pressing against him. This feels so good.
    I groan
against his lips, “No. I think you’re right. I want to wait, too. Why is this
so hard?” and push him away, kick my feet to be let down.
    “We’re
idiots.” He sets me down and drags his feet the last couple steps. He opens the
door and stands in the hallway, shaking his head at me. I lean on the open door,
rest my head on it.  
    He points
to my welcome mat. “I’ll meet you here – right here – at 1:30 p.m !”
    “I’ll be
here. Oh!” I run over to where I dropped my bag, pull out a card from my
wallet/phone case and run back. “Here! Just in case you’re running late… or
something happens.”
    He takes
it and gives it quick flick with his finger. “Deal.”
    We look
at each other for a tormented second. “Bye, Mark.”
    He shakes
his head. “I’m not saying goodbye to you.”
    He walks
away to the old elevator, still waiting on my floor. He throws me one last look
and waves before the doors close. I don’t wave because already my imagination
has gone places I don’t want it to. I close the door and go inside, trying to
shut my brain off. “Stop it!” I say aloud, as I imagine him getting hit by a
car, or running into that girl. All imagination leads to my never seeing him
again and that being our last kiss. These are the types of thoughts that always
come when I’m feeling happy.
    I say
aloud, “Don’t be stupid, Nicole. He’s going to be fine. You’ll see him
tomorrow.”
    But the
fear feels very real.
    I pace
around and call out to my guardian angel. “I didn’t get the cigarettes, right?
You owe me one! Go