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Chapter 62


AN: HUGE thanks to Bianca and Veronica for reading this chapter ahead of time, and especially to Veronica for offering suggestions and literally adding to it for me. You both rock!!

Warning: This chapter has sexual content.


…A moonless night
With only sound for a view
It’s funny what an ocean can do…*


Claire had expected to spend the night in Nick’s house for the first time in over a week that night, but instead she found herself wrapped in his arms beneath a thick blanket and an open sky. It was a beautiful night – there was no moon, but the inky black sky was clear and sprinkled with stars that glittered like diamonds against a background of lush velvet. Nick had been itching to go out in his boat, he’d told her, so they had decided to take it out for the night and sleep under the stars.

With no moon out, it had gotten very dark after the sun had set and they’d drifted away from the city lights on the shore. She could barely make out Nick’s features through the darkness, but she didn’t mind. She could hear his voice and feel the vibration in his chest as he spoke… the warmth of his arms around her… the gentle rush of his breath in her hair... and all of it made her feel safe and protected and loved. This was what she longed for every night she had to go to bed alone.

“So could you tell Laureen was really nervous around you tonight?” asked Claire, her voice cutting through the quietness of the night.

Nick’s laughter tumbled over to her. “Yeah, I kinda noticed that. Hopefully I didn’t scare her off with the cancer story.”

“Oh yeah, Debbie Downer!” Claire exclaimed, hitting his shoulder playfully. “The look on Tim’s face was worth it, but you sure upset Laureen, understandably.”

He laughed again. “Well, tell her I’m sorry next time you talk to her then. I only said it to make that guy stop tellin’ his nasty-ass stories. Did he talk about shit like that when he took you out on dates?”

Claire giggled. “Not quite that bad, but of course he told the mascot stories – you remember that.”

“Yeah, I heard some of them even back then,” Nick replied with a snort. “You have no taste in men, you know that?”

“Oh, says my fiancée. What does that say about you then, huh?” Claire kidded, poking his chest.

“Hey, I dunno what you’re doing with me. But I’m glad you are.”

Claire rolled her eyes. “Your self-pity turns me on,” she quipped sarcastically. “What do you think I’m doing with you, Nick?”

“I know what we could do,” came his suggestive reply, and though she could barely see his face, she imagined him waggling his eyebrows the way he always did.

She smiled and ran her hand across his chest, remembering how insecure and reluctant he’d been to make love to her even just six months ago. He’d come a long way in a short time, just as their relationship had progressed as rapidly as it had. Had they really only been together for ten months? It seemed so much longer than that, but it hadn’t even been a full year. And they were already engaged. Her own parents had dated for close to three years before getting married. It had crossed her mind before that maybe she and Nick were trying to move too quickly, that she’d accepted his marriage proposal with just as much haste as he’d made it with, but it felt so right. And even when she had her doubts, Nick’s embrace was enough to reassure her that he was the man she loved, the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

He turned his head and caught her lips with his, pulling her into a passionate kiss. She closed her eyes, savoring the taste of his kiss and the feel of his hands in her hair. “Mm,” she mumbled, her voice muffled by his mouth. “I miss you so much... I miss this…”

“You don’t have to miss me now,” he murmured in response, his voice low and thick with mounting desire. “I’m right here, babe… all yours… all night.”

She wanted more than just a night with him, but for now, this would have to do. Trying to simply enjoy the moment and not think of him leaving again the morning after next, she boosted herself up so that she was leaning on one elbow, her other arm free to touch him. She trailed her fingers down his torso again, pausing to unbutton each of the buttons on his shirtfront. She parted the lightweight material, exposing the thin, white wifebeater he had on beneath it. He sat up just far enough to shake the unbuttoned shirt off of him and let her slide the wifebeater up and over his head. “Much better,” she said as she eased him back down onto the blankets and leaned over him, bringing her lips down to kiss his bare chest. He sighed with pleasure as she left a trail of kisses down the center of his chest and across his stomach, giggling as her tongue dipped into his belly button.

“Ticklish?” she asked with a teasing smile, moving up to the spot she knew he definitely was ticklish in – his neck. She lightly kissed the side of it, breaking the kiss to laugh as he involuntarily shrugged his shoulder and tipped his head towards it, as if trying to get her pesky lips away from the sensitive spot. She moved up to his jawline, starting just below his earlobe and slowly working her way back to his lips, which she drew back into another lingering kiss.

As they kissed, she felt his hands run down her sides, stopping at her hips. Using them as handles, he guided her body up and over so that she was draped over him, her lips still locked with his. She pulled away to get a breath in, but a few seconds later, she was drowning in his kiss again, as his hands moved to the small of her back and found the hem of her shirt, pushing the material up and out of the way. The blankets had fallen away from their bodies, and she flinched as the cool night air met her exposed skin, causing the fine hairs on her back to prickle as goosebumps rose. His hands shifted to the area her shirt had covered, warming her again as they massaged her lower back, his fingers working her muscles and sending delightful shivers shooting up her spine.

Breaking the kiss again, she let her head fall to his shoulder as her body went limp against him. She lay still, enjoying the sensation of his hands on her back and the way her body moved up and down with the steady rise and fall of his broad chest. Closing her eyes again, she buried her face in his neck and concentrated on their breathing until her shallow breaths matched his perfectly. Inhale… exhale… As the air flowed in an out of her lungs, she could practically feel the blood rushing to every part of her body, which was stimulated and alive with an almost electric sort of tingling.

Meanwhile, Nick had made progress, sliding the shirt up to the center of the back. His fingers fumbled with the clasp of her bra, eventually undoing it and letting the elastic fall away from her skin. She sighed freely and sat up, allowing Nick to finish his job of taking her shirt off by helping him guide it over her head. She shimmied out of her loose bra and tossed it aside, leaving herself fully exposed. Her nipples rose and hardened as the cold air hit them, but again, his hands rose to cover them, sending shockwaves of warmth and pleasure through her. Holding onto his shoulders as he tenderly kneaded her breasts, she tossed back her head and let a moan escape her throat.

“That feels so good,” she murmured breathlessly, as he dragged his warm hands down her sides and over her stomach, his fingers sliding beneath the waistband of her pants. He eased them over her hips and down her thighs, pulling her panties with them. She took a shuddering breath and leaned over him, planting another kiss on his lips before she rolled off of him just long enough to tug her pants the rest of the way down and kick them off of her.

Now fully unclothed, she threw a knee over him and straddled his hips, her fingers moving to undo the button on the waistband of his jeans. She unzipped the fly and pulled the pants away from his waist, her fingers latching on to the elastic of his boxers as her heart began to race with desire.

God, she wanted him, wanted to touch him and feel him inside her. There was nothing more intimate than that sensation, that moment when their two bodies joined,
as if becoming one, physically matching the way they felt about each other emotionally. She a part of him, he a part of her. The dance they did then was special, meant for them only, bringing them closer like never before. She’d experienced it with others, and so had he, but together, it was something new and different for both of them.

Raising herself up onto her knees, she moved back and started sliding both garments down. He lifted his hips as she slipped them down his thighs. The left leg was freed quickly, allowing her to whisk the pants down the length of his right leg with ease. He kicked the last of his clothing off of his ankle as she repositioned herself over him.

She ran her hands over his stomach and hips, purposely avoiding his hardening length until the time was right. He moaned as she let her hands roam to his thighs, squeezing his flesh with her fingers. “You ready?” she asked him, her fingers creeping up the insides of his thighs.

"Whenever you are," he answered through shallow breaths. Taking hold of her hips again, he helped guide her to just the right spot, and she lowered herself onto him, gasping as he slid into her.

With the rush of physical sensation came a rush of emotions. God, how she’d missed this, missed the connection, the space only he could fill. It had never been like this with anyone else, never this right. The sensations, the feelings, only he could evoke. He knew all the right places to touch, to caress; he knew her body unlike any other.

They easily fell into rhythm with one another, Claire gripping Nick’s arms while he clenched the blankets beneath them in his fists, his eyes closed, face all scrunched up. Claire watched him… the look of ecstasy on his face - she knew it well, for she felt it too. The heightening of the moment, the rush of blood through her veins… there’d never be another feeling like it, and it was theirs.

She murmured his name through her erratic breathing, and he cried out hers when he came, filling her with searing, satisfying warmth.

Collapsing against him as he slid out of her, she buried her face in his neck once again and kissed him softly, tasting the beads of his sweat on her tongue. His chest heaved beneath her, and she rolled off of him, curling up at his side instead and snuggling against him. His arm came around her, bringing their flushed, moist bodies closer together, and he drew the blanket back up and over them. Claire sighed, never wanting to leave the warm, soft cocoon he’d created for her.

Gradually, their rampant breathing decrescendoed into a soft, steady harmony once again. Hooking a leg around his, Claire ran her fingers lightly over his chest as she gazed up at the starlit sky, enjoying the peaceful quietness of the night, broken only by the soothing lapping of the ocean waves against the hull of the yacht and the soft hiss of their breath. With the same gentleness, he caressed her back and arm as she lay in his embrace. The chill of the air that managed to seep under the blanket coupled with her heightened sense of touch made the warmth of his hand on her skin feel extra nice.

“I see Orion,” she said randomly, noticing the familiar pattern of stars twinkling down at her from a patch of ebony sky.

“Huh?” Nick croaked.

“The constellation. Right up there,” she said, pointing. “Can you see it?”

“Uh… which one is it?”

“You see those three little stars, all in a row?”

“Oh – yeah?”

“That’s Orion’s belt. Then there’s four stars around it in kind of a lopsided rectangle – two on top and two on bottom – and those are supposed to be his arms and legs.”

“Ohh… I see it! You’re good,” said Nick with a chuckle. “Only star I know is the Death Star.”

She laughed, patting his chest. God, she had missed him. And when he left town again on Sunday, she’d miss him again, probably even more. He was like an addiction - the longer she went without seeing him, the more she was able to settle into her own routine and keep herself from missing him, but as soon as she did see him, it was that much harder to let him go again. He was beer to an alcoholic, chocolate to a sweet tooth – comfortable and irresistible. It was hard enough not to think of him all the time when he was not around, but nearly impossible not to want more of him when she’d been given a taste. This weekend with him, just like last weekend, was going to make the coming week without him even harder.

Don’t think about it, she told herself firmly, trying to cast aside the issues that had been putting pressure on their relationship. She didn’t want to worry about any of that now. Just enjoy the moment. Enjoy tonight.

Tipping her head back to plant a soft kiss on his neck, she snuggled deeper into his arms and decided to do just that.

***

Nick awoke the next morning feeling perfectly content. Lying there, stretched out on the pile of blankets they’d spread across the deck of his boat, with Claire fast asleep in his arms, he decided that nothing could beat waking up like this. Everything he loved was right there with him.

There was a slight chill in the air that morning, probably because they were far out in the water. He pulled the blankets tighter around himself and Claire to ward it off, not quite ready to get up and hunt for the shirt he’d thrown off of himself last night. No, he’d be quite happy to stay just like this while he could.

It felt nice to be back in Florida for the weekend, away from the busy schedule he had in LA. He and the guys had been working hard, and he’d had to get up early every day that week, whether he was hungover from a night of clubbing with Howie and AJ or not – and often, he was. It was nice to be able to relax – no pressure from his management or the record company or even the other guys, no front he had to put up when he went out clubbing or encountered fans. There on the boat with Claire, he was far away from all of that. He could do what he wanted to and just be himself because that was the man she’d fallen in love with – the real Nick Carter, flaws and all.

He intended to drop by the Tampa police headquarters and call his home security company later that day to get some more details about what had happened on Halloween and find out what was being done to assure that it wouldn’t happen again. But that could wait. The sun had just barely risen past the waterline on the horizon, and he knew it was still early. He could stay here with Claire for a few more hours, resting… drifting… loving. He’d discovered the value in simplicities like this – a night on his boat, sleeping under the stars, holding his girl. Maybe it had taken a near-death experience to really make him appreciate the simple things in life, or perhaps it just came with age and growing maturity.

Either way, as he bent his head to place a gentle kiss on the sleeping Claire’s head, Nick felt he wouldn’t trade this moment for anything.


You’re my secret place, where I can be myself
You connect with me like nobody else
Even though our circumstances changed
Our love still remains

Keep me on the ground, still you help me fly
You taught me to be patient; I taught you to rely
So no matter what tomorrow brings
We got the simple things

‘Cause love is
Kisses in a beanbag chair
The two of us with no one there
Love is
The moment that I climb the stairs
To hold you in my arms after we make love
Love is
Waking up to see your face
Or kissing in the morning rain
Love is
The only thing that keeps me sane
At the end of the day is that I’ve got you

- “Love Is” by the Backstreet Boys


***

*Lyrics taken from “I’ll Hear Your Voice” by Rockapella