Baby, It's Cold Outside (Romance From a Male POV) (Fire & Ice) Read online

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “I am remembering things, please be patient. I don’t want to mess something up because I don’t know what may or may not have happened between us.”

  I got up and walked over to her. “You’re right. I’m sorry but it’s a sore subject with me.” I decided to lighten the mood. “So, what exactly did you remember just now?”

  I laughed when she started blushing because I knew exactly what she had remembered.

  “How can you laugh? It was very humiliating.” She got that much right.

  “Hey, you were laughing when you remembered. It’s only fair I can laugh now. Anyway, you’re right. It’s funny in retrospect, but at the time it was horrible. The look on Cheryl’s face was priceless.” I’m sure the look on my own face at that time was one for the album too. What could be as mortifying that being caught butt naked on a couch which was much too narrow for the activities that were going on? Plus, Cheryl hadn’t even knocked, so we had absolutely no time to try to even try to cover ourselves. She saw everything. I chuckled as I remembered the screams coming from each of us. Not a moment I ever wanted to repeat.

  We stood there for a minute, both of us caught up in our own thoughts.

  “So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day?

  “I don’t know. I picked the farmer’s market earlier, why don’t you choose?” Awesome. I could implement my first date plan.

  “Do you want to play a game?”

  “What do you have in mind?” What a loaded question.

  “Monopoly?” I asked. I could only hope that she would say yes since she really didn’t care for the game anymore, not even my Star Wars edition.

  “Strip Monopoly?”

  I jerked my head back. Did I just hear that correctly? “What?”

  “Huh?”

  “Did you just say strip Monopoly?” Oh lord, this date night might turn out better than the first one.

  “Maybe.” Holy shit, she wasn’t even going to deny it.

  “Well, I was just thinking about playing it the regular way, but if you feel the need to be more comfortable…” I let the sentence hang in the air to see what she’d say.

  She shook her head as if to say no then quickly changed her mind. “Actually, I think I will go put something else on. You get out the game.” She took off down the hall and I went to the coat closet to get the game off of the shelf.

  I separated all the cards and was doling out the money when Justine walked back in wearing one of my tee shirts. “You want Leia, right?” I was sure she would say yes, she never chose any other piece. “I’ll be Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

  “Sure. Do you want to go first?”

  “Sure.” I grabbed the dice and rolled. Hah, doubles right off the line. I had to admit that I was a bit competitive, so I didn’t try to let Justine win or anything. Quite the opposite, in fact. I fucking crushed her. When she landed on one of my cities I could see she didn’t have the rent to pay me. ‘Suck that!”

  She tossed her money down on the board. “Uhg, next time we are playing Scrabble, I told you I wasn’t playing this with you anymore. It’s no fun to always lose.”

  She remembered playing Monopoly with me. Yes, my plan was working! I jumped up and stood in front of her on the couch. “See Juss, it’s all coming back.” I plopped down on the seat next to her and gave her a hug.

  “The game. We’ve played the game before.” I sat there with a little glow. She was actually remembering things and I was facilitating it. I heard her stomach growl. “So you want asparagus risotto, right?”

  I waited for her to make the Monopoly/risotto connection but she didn’t. “Yep. Does that still sound good to you?”

  “Sure. I love it.” She leaned over to the armrest and reclined.

  “Justine, I love you. I just want you to know that.” Sometimes, you just can’t hold it in, and I was really feeling it. I was also feeling sexually frustrated. I had been cock blocked by Cheryl a couple of hours ago and I hadn’t had any kind of outlet. We sat there on the couch absorbed in our own thoughts until Justine broke the silence.

  “Carter, I’ve been having all these memories today and they all center around you. Do you think maybe you could just lean over here and kiss me or something?” Yes! “I mean, maybe kissing you would help me to remember more. You know?” I was watching the rise and fall of her chest as she asked me to kiss her. It was speeding up as she spoke and her tits were pressing up against my tee shirt. “Carter, did you hear me?”

  I didn’t bother to answer her; I just leaned forward and framed her face with my hands. I kissed her lightly on the lips and then a little harder as I crawled up her body. “I love you.” I continued kissing her as I settled between her legs. “I love you so much.” When she hooked her leg around mine and pulled me closer I moved from her lips to her ear. “Please remember me.” I whispered it, but I was full on begging.

  I almost choked on my heart which had shot up to my throat when I heard her say our magic word.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Kumquat.” I jerked up and looked down at her.

  “What did you say?” I could hardly believe my ears.

  “Kumquat? Why? What does it mean?”

  “Are you sure you don’t know?” If she was remembering on her own I didn’t want to mess things up by telling her everything.

  “No. It just popped into my head. Why would I be thinking of a fruit? It doesn’t make any sense to me.” It made perfect sense to me. It was our code word for getting busy.

  “It’s our secret code.”

  “Secret code for what?”

  “Sex.” It was actually embarrassing to have to tell her how juvenile we are.

  “We have a secret word for sex?” She didn’t seem flustered, only intrigued. “Why do we need a code word?”

  “It’s just a little thing we do. It’s no big deal.” I paused, trying to explain it in a way that didn’t make us sound like horny teenagers, but I had nothing. I decided to just tell her the truth since she was getting her memory back little by little, anyway. I didn’t need to tell her how often we put “kumquat” to use, that wouldn’t help her get her memory back. “Sometimes if we’re out and there are other people around it might go like, “Do you want a kumquat?” and no one else will know what we’re talking about. It’s not like we are constantly using that word in public. We actually use it more around the house. It’s one of our things. It’s only for us.”

  She just smiled. “I want a kumquat.” I raised my brows at her. This was not on my agenda for tonight. I was trying to recreate our first “date” and there was definitely no sex that first night, not that I hadn’t wanted it. I did get to second base, but that was mainly due to the wine we had with dinner.

  “What about dinner? I thought we were going to have some risotto, and you know how long that takes.” I weighed my options. I could stick with my original plans which were already underway. We had done the Monopoly part and she had remembered that she hated playing it with me. Next was supposed to be making dinner together and talking. We even had the sexual tension going on, just like that first night. If I gave in to sex, and truthfully, I was really leaning that way, my plans were going to be ruined. I looked down at her and the look she gave me nearly made up my mind, but when she pressed her pelvis against me I groaned and dropped my head onto her shoulder.

  “Justine, I had a plan for tonight. I wanted things to go in some kind of order. I know you probably don’t believe me since I’m lying here on top of you but it’s true.”

  “I believe you, Carter. I’m sure whatever you have planned will be lovely, but I want a kumquat. Now.” I was going to acquiesce anyway, but she put the final nail in to the coffin of what little resistance still lingered with her next words. “It might help me remember.”

  I pulled my head up to look at her. “Will you still make risotto?” I wasn’t giving up on the plan just for sex.

  “Sure. It does sound good.” Okay. I give u
p. It’s not like the plan won’t go into effect at all, just a little later this evening. And, I missed her. I know it had only been a few days since we had last been together, but it felt like weeks. The stress of the past two days combined with my fear that I had lost her made me even more anxious to bond with her physically.

  I leaned down to kiss the side of her mouth that was always first to go up when she smiled. I could feel her sigh as I licked her lips, requesting entry to her mouth and her tongue snaked out to meet mine. I grabbed her waist and hauled her close as I rolled off of her and onto my side before I slid my hand under her shirt and pulled her with me, working my knee in between her legs. She clenched her legs together immediately and my already stiff cock started aching.

  My head was buried in her hair, breathing in the flowery smell of her shampoo. I ran my tongue up her neck and felt her quiver under my mouth. I wanted to quiver too when she ran her hands up my side to my ribs. I almost stopped breathing.

  “Help me,” she whispered as she tried to tug my shirt off of me. I sat up slightly and ripped it over my head, tossing it to the floor. She pressed a kiss to my chest and licked my nipple and I could hardly keep the breath in my body. I looked at her face, flushed with desire, and wanted nothing less than everything. I wanted to marry this woman and make her mine in every way. I wanted to fuck her into remembering me.

  “Come on.” I sat up and pulled her up with me, leading her into the bedroom. I held on to her hand as we made our way to the bed where I turned her to face me and pressed her down onto the mattress.

  “Wait. Let me get this off.” She squirmed out of my tee shirt while I worked the snap of her jeans and slid them over her hips and down her legs. When I looked down at her I could tell she was uncomfortable with her near nakedness and she moved her arm up to cover her breasts.

  “No, don’t.” I leaned forward again to capture her face in my hands. “You’re beautiful.” I released her to stand up and strip off my own clothes. When she looked at me I had to remember that for all intents and purposes, she was seeing me for the first time. I felt both cocky and distressed. I didn’t want to think about her memory loss, I wanted to believe she knew me and loved me like she had just three days ago. On the other hand, she was staring at my package and I couldn’t help but feel pleased with that.

  I crawled back onto the bed and to the side of her, moving us away from the edge as I did so, while taking the opportunity to divest her of her panties. I was breathing heavily by the time I parted her thighs to once again put my knee between her legs. She surprised me by spreading her legs wide enough for me to fit both of my legs between them.

  I bent over her and leaned down to kiss her neck, slowly moving my way down and over her collarbone and chest. When I got lower I kissed the swell of her breast before I attached my mouth to her nipple, nipping and sucking it as it hardened on my tongue. She let out a long moan as I continued my descent, raining kisses along her stomach and belly button, never stopping until I reached my destination between her thighs. When I settled there I paused and looked up, meeting her eyes for an electrical moment before I bent my head, prepared to devour her pussy.

  I started slowly, just the tip of my tongue teasing her stiffened clit, but as I felt her start to buck against my mouth I grabbed on to her upper thighs, holding them in place as I moved lower, sliding my tongue and lips the entire length of her slit. I could feel her muscles tightening, her orgasm almost upon her, so I sped up and increased the pressure of my mouth.

  “Oh my god.” The words seemed ripped from her as she started coming so I quickly moved up and plunged into her as she was peaking. She screamed as I thrust into her over and over. Her orgasm went on, and her walls contracting around me brought on my own climax faster than I had anticipated. I couldn’t hold off anymore and I grunted as I felt my balls tighten just before I emptied myself into her.

  I looked down at her. She was panting, but she looked so content my heart slowed down. I loved this woman. She wasn’t perfect, but she was perfect for me. I could still feel twitching, but I wasn’t sure if it was me or her, nor did I care. I could have stayed there, exactly as we were, for the rest of the evening, and I made to do that by resting more of my weight on top of her, but before I could lower myself fully her words made me pause.

  “I love you, Carter.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  I couldn’t help the wave of joy that spread through me at her words. She remembered. All I had wanted for the last two days was to hear her say that, and it felt as good as I knew it would.

  “I love you, Justine.” I smiled down into her eyes and she gave me a weird half smile before she scooted from under me and covered her breasts with her arm. I didn’t know what she was up to but she sat up with her back to me. Seconds later she was pulling the tee shirt back on and covering herself from me. I guess sexy time was over.

  I reached out and put my hand on her bare hip. “I like it when you wear my clothes.” Darth seemed to be giving me a thumbs up, but she didn’t answer me and after a moment she got up and went to the dresser. I vaulted out of the bed when I saw her opening my underwear drawer. I couldn’t let her find the ring.

  “Here, this is your drawer.” I pulled open her panty drawer and grabbed a pair of boxers out of my own drawer before shoving it closed. Whew, crisis averted, but I needed to find a better hiding place..

  “Thanks.” She pulled out a pair of blue cotton panties and dragged them up her legs. “So, how about dinner?” She went to the closet and pulled out some pants so I pulled on my boxers and bent down to pull up my jeans. She obviously felt awkward around me and I figured the faster I covered myself the better.

  “So…dinner?” I realized that I hadn’t answered her. I suddenly wasn’t hungry, but I had a plan and even though we did things a little bit out of order I was determined to put things back on track.

  “Sure. I’ll be in to help you in just a minute.”

  “No rush. I’ll just go get things started.” I let her walk out and waited until I saw her turn from the hallway to the kitchen before I reopened my underwear drawer and grabbed the ring box. I lifted up a stack of my jeans in the closet and shoved the ring all the way to the back. I scanned the bedroom for my tee shirt before remembering I took it off in the living room. When I picked it up off of the floor, I could see into the kitchen and I stood there, watching Justine mix something in a bowl. She was totally absorbed in her task and looked comfortable and at ease, something she hadn’t been when she left the bedroom. I tugged my shirt over my head before I walked into the kitchen. My heart did a fast thump when I realized what she was whipping up. She had made chocolate mousse for our first date. I hadn’t mentioned the mousse, she had chosen that all by herself.

  “Do you not like mousse?” she questioned with a frown.

  “No, I love it. What made you make this?” Please let her say she remembered.

  “It just sounded good.”

  Hmph. “Do you want me to trim the asparagus?” I eyed the massive mound of vegetables warily.

  “We can do it together and make it go faster.” She smiled as she came to stand beside me and we worked silently as the pile grew smaller.

  “Shit. You didn’t use a condom,” she blurted a few minutes later.

  “It’s okay. You get the shot. I’m not an idiot.” I had forgotten that she didn’t remember the everyday things. Shit. I hadn’t had to give a thought to birth control in months. I took her hand and linked our fingers. “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you. Ever.”

  “Thanks Carter. I’m sorry; my head is all over the place.” I didn’t say anything to this. How could I? I certainly wasn’t angry that she freaked out a little bit. I would have done the same thing. We went back to snapping asparagus stems and we were finished in a few minutes.

  “Could you chop some garlic?” She was on her way to the pantry so I pulled a cutting board out of the cabinet.

  “Yep.”

  “Do you like cooking?” she
asked me curiously.

  “Love it. Plus, it’s nice to be able to spend time in the kitchen with you.” That was the major draw, obviously. I wanted to be where she was. I was lucky that I liked cooking and always had. Maybe because it was just another form of art or maybe I just loved to eat, but growing up with my mother and her lack of cooking skill had made me determined, when I lived on my own, to be able to feed myself well. I spent lots of time watching the cooking network in my first apartment and learning how to make real food. Cheryl and Justine fed me better when I would visit them than the food I got at home. I had to smile to myself. Justine had been cooking for me for more than ten years. Not consistently, but still.

  Justine’s phone rang before I had a chance to peel one clove of garlic.

  “Will you heat the olive oil, Carter?” I looked over to her and nodded. She picked up her phone. “Hi Mom. I’m doing a lot better. I started to remember some things. First thing this…” I could tell she was interrupted and I stood there shamelessly eavesdropping on her conversation with Gloria.

  “Uh Mom, she doesn’t get along with Lucy. She’s always chasing her and swatting her.” They could only be talking about Gloria’s cat.

  “I don’t know. I’m not really up to pet sitting right now. I still don’t have my memory back and I don’t know how Carter would feel about it.” I looked at her and raised my eyebrows. I tried to send her the message “say no” with my eyes but I guess she didn’t understand it.

  “Fine, you can bring her. What time will you be here?” Oh great. Here I was trying to have a romantic date night and Gloria was bringing her cat. Monique wasn’t an ordinary cat, either. Uh uh. She was the kind of cat that gave all normal cats a bad name.

  Justine was standing there holding the phone for a moment before she set it down and looked at me. “My mom is dropping off her cat in an hour. She’s going to Phoenix for a week.” Justine’s voice told me she wasn’t any happier than I was about this situation. Wait. A week? Sorry, but that wasn’t going to happen. I walked over to Justine and touched her face. Most of her makeup had worn off so her bruise looked dark and painful. It just reminded me that I had to take extra care of her right now.