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Summer was in full swing and not holding anything back resulting in it being hot, humid and unbelievably uncomfortable outside. People were taking advantage of pools, sprinklers, and the beach during the days but Nick still diligently made the trip to the park like he had been doing for weeks (where there was not a pool, sprinkler, or even water fountain to be found) for Olivia’s playtime, giving himself over to the sweltering heat.

“Hot enough for you?” Alaina asked with a laugh as she approached the familiar park picnic tables where Nick was sitting, staring up at the blazing sun, fanning his body with his t-shirt.

“It’s scorching,” he whined, not having wanted to come to the park in the first place. He had contemplated for a long time over coming, but it was routine for Olivia and she didn’t seem to be bothered by the weather in the least.

Alaina pulled up Benji’s stroller next to the table and released him from his seat, letting him run off to the sandbox in the shade where Olivia was already playing, “Well at least they seem happy.”

“I think children have some sort of internal temperature regulator. As long as they’re playing they don’t get hot or cold, they just stay the perfect body temperature,” Nick theorized, finally opening his eyes to look over at Alaina. He had to shield his hand from the so he could actually make her out but when he did he was not disappointed. She was dressed in a bright red halter top and a knee length jean skirt with matching red flip flops, something a little more feminine compared to her usually conservative linen pants and button up shirt, “You look nice.”

“Thank you,” she smiled and he could have sworn she intentionally flashed him her cleavage as she bent down to fold up the stroller and rest it against the picnic table.

When she came back up she was holding a camera in one hand and Nick looked at her curiously.

“I’m trying to make a scrapbook,” she explained, “And I’m going to do pages about Benji and his friends. So I thought I should have some pictures of you and Olivia since it seems he’s quite smitten with you.”

“You’re making a scrapbook?” Nick asked with a chuckle since she didn’t really seem the type.

“I hear all the stay-at-home moms are doing it! It’s all the rage!” Alaina said with a toothy grin, “Maybe you should start one?”

Nick raised an eyebrow and let out a hearty laugh at the thought of him becoming obsessed with paper punches and designer scissors, “I can’t really see myself being much of a scrapbook person. Plus from what I’ve seen on the home shopping channel it’s a pretty expensive hobby.”

Alaina agreed with a nod, “That it is. I went to a party last week you see, a scrapbooking party,” she clarified, “and there were all sorts of rubber stamps, stickers, and papers that you can get all themed to what you want to make… oh, and we made cards for the Fourth of July!”

This too had him laughing, “Who did you give a card to for the Fourth of July?”

She too seemed confounded by this, “No one. I’m not really sure who you would send it to...I suppose you could send it away to someone who you didn’t get to spend the fourth with.”

“And did you?” he wondered.

Alaina shook her head, “No, we had our friends over for a barbeque, so there was no one who missed it…you?”

“We went to the beach,” Nick answered, “The fireworks were good.”

“That’s good,” Alaina smiled and the conversation began to run dry.

“I suppose they would make that card because there’s not really any card worthy holidays coming up,” Nick suddenly reasoned as he brought up the old dialogue, still trying to understand the purpose of the card.

“I guess not. Anyway,” Alaina steered the topic back in the direction she had originally been taking it all the while taking a seat next to Nick on the picnic bench, “at the party we looked at the different types of scrapbooks you could do and at that point I was completely disinterested and had no intention of dropping hundreds of dollars on tacky little die-cuts of back to school slogans but there was one thing the hostess showed us that was really quite striking so I decided to go with it. The whole book is going to be in black and white with really earthy tones for the paper and that. It was quite tasteful, more like a photo album that is lovely to look at rather than a traditional scrapbook. I thought Benji might appreciate having something like that. I don’t have too many pictures of him.”

“We don’t really have many pictures of Olivia either. We’re not really camera people,” Nick admitted, watching Alaina as she snapped a picture of the two youngsters from afar.

“Well I’ll be sure to give you copies of any of the ones she is in,” Alaina told him then turned the camera on the blonde, “Say cheese!”

Nick forced a smile, not the type to be entirely photogenic on the best of days but especially not today when he felt grubby and overheated, “Cheese?”

“Do you ever wonder why people say that?” Alaina questioned as a pensive look crossed her face allowing frown lines to form, “What does say cheese mean anyway?”

“Photographers use it to get people to smile in one of two ways. Linguistically the word cheese forms your mouth into a half circle forcing a smile, the other way is fairly juvenile but cheese is a funny word and people smile when they say it.”

Alaina stopped dead from taking another picture and turned back to the man with a laugh, “I really wasn’t expecting such a text book answer to that question.”

“I really only remember useless facts,” he chuckled, squinting as he looked over at her since the sun had now moved into his view.

Lightning fast Alaina snapped a picture of his sun-forced smile then went about collecting photos of the kids playing on the playground equipment. She spent a little time taking photos but when she was snapping shots of the two children out in the sunshine on the teeter-totter something strange caught her eye.

“Olivia?” Alaina called out, immediately getting Nick’s attention too as the woman said his daughter’s name.

“What is it?” Nick asked, following her gaze to the girl who seemed to be slumping slightly in the metal seat.

The two adults dashed from the picnic tables over to the teeter-totter, Alaina making it just in time to catch Olivia before she slipped off her seat.

“She said she didn’t feel good,” Benji explained, getting out of his own seat to be at his mother’s side.

“She’s burning up,” Nick said in a concerned voice as he ran his hand over his daughter’s red face.

“We should get her out of the sun, maybe she’s got heat stroke or something,” Alaina instructed, looking around for some shade.

“Maybe I should take her home,” Nick reckoned as he picked up the little girl who moaned in response and laid her head on her father’s soft shoulder.

“You walked!” Alaina pointed out, “I live closer, come to my place. We’ll get her cooled off and get some water in her then if she’s not feeling any better we’ll call the doctor. If you pop her in the stroller and carry Benji we can be there in no time.”

Nick was reluctant to say the least. He wasn’t sure if it was the best idea to go to her house, after all they still had things to do at home but another moan from Olivia told him that he really didn’t have any choice. Alaina was completely right in saying she lived closer, and it would be much better to be able to get Olivia out of the sun and under the shade of the stroller so he agreed.

He put Olivia in the stroller then turned to her little friend, “Is it okay if I carry you?” he asked Benji, not really comfortable with just going around scooping up other people’s children. Benji didn’t even take time to think about it and just stuck his hands up in the air using the international symbol for ‘up, please!’ until Nick had him up on his shoulders and they were on their way home.

~*~

“Is she feeling any better?” Alaina asked as she watched Nick come out of the spare bedroom and close the door softly behind him.

“Yeah,” he nodded, “She’s fast asleep now but her fever is nearly gone. Thank god we got her out of the sun quickly.”

“Benji’s out like a light,” Alaina informed him as the two made their way back down to the main floor, “He’ll be out for two or three hours easily.”

“We’ll get out of your hair as soon as we can,” Nick said, feeling bad that they had imposed on Alaina and Benji’s time.

Alaina smiled warmly and shook her head, “Don’t worry about it. Make yourself at home, I’ll go grab us a glass of lemonade.”

“That sounds great, thanks,” Nick said, watching the woman walk away through the expansive foyer.

The house was nothing he could have expected. He knew that given their lucrative professions that between the two adults there had to be a fair amount of money but when they arrived at Alaina’s house he was blown away. It was absolutely stunning; a very large four storey, five bedroom colonial house with an even larger backyard, garden and swimming pool. The house was like something out of a magazine with its pristine walls and expensive furniture.

There was no way he could make himself at home in this house because it was so far away from his real life Alaina would not even believe it. He had lived humbly since he was a child, and now he and Holly were lucky to have snagged the house they were in because the rent was about par with the overpriced apartment they’d moved from. They struggled from month to month living on Holly’s pay check alone and he would bet that Alaina didn’t even know what to do with all of her money.

“The house is in Brian’s family,” Alaina announced, practically reading his mind as she came back with their refreshments, “For a hundred years or so I believe.”

“It’s a nice house,” Nick forced.

“Don’t patronize me. It’s a museum. I hate it. It’s way too big for my taste!” Alaina smiled then lead him out to the patio to sit.

“I’m not being patronizing,” Nick defended, “It really is a nice house.”

“For an eighty year old,” Alaina laughed and motioned to a seat for him to sit in. The patio overlooked their lagoon-shaped swimming pool and hot tub as well as at least half an acre of manicured lawn and gardens.

“It’s a little dated inside,” he finally admitted, “but the outside is perfect,” he added as he moved to put his glass on the granite bistro table that separated their chairs. Alaina’s hand brushed against his as she also set down her glass and they both pulled away, avoiding the skin to skin contact. He had now known Alaina for seven weeks but Nick still couldn’t shake the raw attraction he had to her. He had hoped initially that the excitement of a woman showing an interest in him would wear off but if anything it intensified. He couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was about her that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand, and a fire burn in the pit of his belly but it happened every time he was close enough to her to accidentally brush her skin, catch a whiff of her sweet shampoo on the breeze or even smell the combination of her grapefruit scented body misty mixed with the sweat and dirt of a day playing outside with the kids.

“The phone is ringing!” Alaina suddenly announced, breaking the uncomfortable silence, “excuse me for just a second!” she requested as she jumped out of her seat and headed into the house.

“Sure,” Nick’s voice drifted out softly and he watched her walk into the house before getting out of the chair and following his own route inside. He paused in the hall where her digital camera sat and he glanced from the piece of photography equipment up to where Alaina had disappeared. What was the harm in taking a peek at her photos? After all, there may have been some good shots of Olivia, and he definitely did want her to give him copies.

Nick picked up the camera and turned it on, watching the display spring to life with a flash of a brand name across the screen. It took him a moment to figure out how to display the photos she had taken but once he did a smile came to his face. There were a few very cute pictures of the kids playing; the pictures of him that he had remembered her taking as well as some of the park itself; following those though there were pictures that Nick had been oblivious of and they were all photos of him; pictures of him looking sweaty, staring up to the sky, fanning his body with his shirt, and looking generally overheated. There were a lot of pictures of him, secretive, stolen pictures. Nick was confused and he looked up to check and make sure that Alaina wasn’t headed back in his direction. Why would she take all these photos of him? He thought that she was scrapbooking the children not him.

He heard the floor creak and he immediately shut the camera off and placed it back on the small hall table in a flash. Alaina appeared around the corner and he smiled.

“Do you need anything?” Alaina asked, wondering why Nick was inside instead of outside on the patio furniture where she’d left him.

“Um…” Nick paused, trying to think of a reason why he was looming in the hall, “Where’s your bathroom?”

Alaina smiled sweetly and pointed to her left, “Just down there, first door on the right.”

“Thank you,” Nick smiled and followed her arm down the hall to the bathroom. He shut the door behind him and took a deep breath, wondering what on earth he was even doing in this house in the first place. He had thought that his attraction to Alaina was merely one-sided but now he was beginning to think that she might feel the same way too. It was a dangerous game, being attracted to someone who was not only married but held a connection to you through your children.

He ran the tap, splashed some cold water on his face and looked at himself in the mirror, “Nothing can happen,” he told his reflection in all seriousness. No matter how badly he craved it, he had to leave Alaina alone.

~*~


“Did you fall in?” Alaina asked with a bright smile as Nick appeared through the window of the patio door.

He returned her smile, albeit more tentatively than it was given to him, and walked back out into the summer sunshine, “No I managed to keep myself ashore,” he joked with a chuckle.

“Do you read much?” Alaina suddenly asked; changing the tempo of the conversation as Nick moved to sit back down in the chair he’d just recently occupied.

“Of course,” he nodded, “I love to read. I don’t find as much time to do it as I would like, but I used to be able to read a novel a day. I was a literature major in college so reading and deconstructing classics was practically second nature to me by senior year.”

She seemed pleased by his answer and popped up out of her chair, “Wait here, I want to share something with you.”

“Okay,” Nick looked at her curiously as she quickly walked into the house and came back only moments later with a worn down hardcover in her hands.

“Look,” Alaina said with a smile, taking a seat on the arm of Nick’s chair as she handed him the book.

“The Great Gatsby?” Nick wondered, surprised that she had handed him that particular title, “This… is this… a first edition?” he gasped as he took in the tattered binding and old style print and carefully opened the cover to check the page inside for the printing date.

Alaina smiled and leaned over to point out the publishing stamp, “1925,” she told him; glad he found the book as interesting as she had, “You won’t believe where I found it.”

“You’re probably right,” Nick laughed, looking up to her with a broad grin.

He hadn’t noticed until just then how close they’d gotten while looking at the book and his smile dropped a touch as nerves set in. It wasn’t her that made him nervous; it was his own temptations that made him nervous and he didn’t understand why. What was it about this woman that was sending his libido into overdrive? He took a quick second to look her over as she leaned over him, pointing out something on the first page of the book. He should have been listening, he wanted to hear what she had to say but he was distracted by just the smell of her. The light flowery perfume she was wearing was like pheromones to him, he wanted to get as close as he could; the red tank top she was still wearing from earlier was cut low enough that he had an ample view of her cleavage, catching just a hint of the lacy bra she was wearing underneath; her slender legs running down the arm of his chaise were catching the sunlight and he could have sworn her skin sparkled.

“Are you okay?” he suddenly heard her ask but it sounded as if she were far away, speaking to him through a crowd.

He looked up into her eyes, eyes that showed nothing but concern. The worry she had was for him and he couldn’t remember the last time someone cared about him enough to ask about his wellbeing. Well, someone over 4 years old anyway.

“Nick?” she asked, her brows furrowing as she skimmed across his glazed expression.

Nick felt her hand run across the top of his shoulders, rubbing quickly between the blades as if to get his attention but his attention was lost in her. His heart pumped faster at the feeling of her fingers sliding across his t-shirt covered back.

As if acting on some primal instinct Nick caught Alaina’s eyes, letting his hand slid up into her hair before crushing his lips against hers. In the back of his mind he was waiting for her to push him away, waiting for her to slap him or yell and tell him what he was doing was wrong but that moment never came. Instead Alaina kissed him back, opening her mouth to let their tongues dance together. In an instant what was a chaste kiss to the lips became a frenzy of lips, and tongues and hands groping and searching.

Though it was an exceptionally awkward make-out session they didn’t seem to mind. Nick pulled Alaina into his lap in the deck chair, his hands running through her hair as he sucked on her bottom lip sensually.

Her hands were under his shirt, scraping her nails down his chest as he moaned into her mouth.

“This is wrong,” Nick moaned into the kiss, feeling shame but not letting it stop his fingers from sliding underneath the red halter top.

“Let’s go inside,” Alaina breathed in reply, rubbing her hand roughly over the bulge of his erection apparent through his khaki shorts.

When Nick should have been thinking of his child asleep upstairs and his wife expecting them home for dinner he was instead thinking of himself, for the first time in a very long time. The only things going through his mind were how fast could he get in the door, how long was it going to take before he could be rid of their clothes and how long could he make this last since it had been so long since his last orgasm.

“Okay,” he agreed breathily without any further deliberation. He hoisted Alaina into his arms wrapped her legs around his waist and in the heat of another passionate kiss clumsily walked them into the house.

“In there,” Alaina instructed against his lips, letting go of his shoulders for one second to point him in the direction of her personal study.

The second the door was closed behind them Nick had her pressed up against the wood and hiked her skirt up around her waist, his hips unconsciously pushing up against her cotton covered centre. She moaned as he rubbed against her and while his tongue explored her mouth and hands held her up against his body she took the time to reach down and undo his shorts, pushing both garment and undergarment down over his rear, freeing his once captive erection.

“Wait,” Alaina moaned as Nick sucked on her neck.

His eyes popped up to hers with a questioning look, “What?” he asked; worried beyond all else that she was going to end things right there.

“Put me down,” she instructed and Nick’s worry increased. He did as she asked and watched as all she did was reach down to slip off her skirt and panties and his smile grew again. He took advantage of the moment to push his shorts off the rest of the way and pull his t-shirt over his head. The very moment that Alaina’s shirt was clear of her head and on its way to the floor he pounced, pulling her back up into his arms, securing her legs firmly around his waist. Her back hit the door again with a smack and without time for any further foreplay Nick thrust himself inside of her, both of them moaning loudly at the sensation they hadn’t felt in what seemed like forever.

They were still for a moment, clutching each other up against the door before Nick slowly began to move, rocking his hips against hers.

“Faster,” Alaina moaned, tipping her head back against the door.

He did as she commanded, picking up the pace. Nick leaned forward and nipped at her neck, his teeth lightly scraping the skin – not enough to leave a mark but just enough that he drove her wild. One of Alaina’s hands moved from his shoulder to the bookcase to her left, bracing herself so that she could mimic Nick’s movements increasing the friction against him.

She moaned loudly as he filled her, muttering his name each time she felt his skin touch hers, barely able to take one breath before she needed a second. She was close, he knew, to her impending orgasm and he tried to hold out as long as he could to ensure she was completely satisfied but his peak came much sooner and with a growl from his throat he came, his face pressed against her shoulder as he slowly came from his high.

“I’m sorry,” Nick whispered against her cheek, wishing he had been able to at least make sure she had hers before him.

“It’s okay… but you better make it up to me,” Alaina teased with a smile on her face, quickly using her free hand to wipe the sweat from her brow as Nick put her back down on the floor.

The second her feet were back on the lush carpet he kissed her lips quickly and began trailing small pecks down her body, stopping momentarily to spend some time to remove her bra which had managed to stay on up until that point. He continued his kisses down her stomach, having to brace himself against the wall and the bookcase in order to get down onto his knees. Hearing Alaina chuckle at his inabilities he glared up at her mischievously.

“I’ll stop if you’re gonna make fun of me,” he threatened playfully, drawing his hands from her hip to her ankle before pulling one of her legs over his shoulder.

“Don’t stop,” Alaina requested breathily before Nick’s lips and tongue took over the duties that he been previously working on. She ran her hands into his hair, tugging on the locks as he eyes rolled back into her head, “Don’t ever stop.”