Chapter 11

Lookin' good, Nicole, I told myself as I turned first one direction and then the other in front of the full-length mirror hanging from my closet door. I wore my old standby, a black sheath that fit my curves perfectly. Well, maybe not. My hips had widened a touch. Hmm, not the product of fine dining, I reasoned. I was just getting womanlier. I'd debated about the height of my heels. Josh was taller than I, so I could wear any shoes I wished. In the end, I went with my highest heels. They gave my legs a better look.

Josh had liked my legs.

The doorbell rang, and my heart raced. I fluffed my hair, checked my front and back in the mirror one last time, closed the closet door, and walked ladylike to the front door.

When I saw Josh standing in front of me, I melted.

"Lookin' good, Nicole," he said and handed me a long, flower box. "Red roses."

"Oh, Josh! Thank you." I hugged him. The damned box got in the way. "Let me put these in water. May I fix you a drink?"

"I don't drink. Iced tea or a soda would be good. I'm partial to root beer."

"I recently acquired a taste for wine," I said as I dug a vase from the cabinet under the sink. I felt his eyes on me as I bent over. Out of habit, I reached for his surface thoughts and chuckled. I'd never considered my ass world-class, but I didn't mind if Josh did. Straightening up, I turned to him and smiled. "I thought you liked my legs."

He blushed and said, "Nicole, I can't think of anything I don't like about you."

I felt the same about him, but I wasn't ready to say it out loud. I plunked the long-stem roses into the vase, filled it with water, and then arranged them. "They're beautiful, Josh. I don't have any root beer. How about a coke?"

"Let's skip the drinks. I made reservations at Mary Elaine's at seven-thirty."

"All right." Mary Elaine's! My favorite restaurant. How did he know? And look at him! So handsome in that dark suit, white shirt and red tie - and eyes to die for.

"Nice car," I said as he opened the passenger door to a Mercedes.

"My sister's. She garages the Mercedes and a Cadillac Escalade in Scottsdale and doesn't mind if I use them, wants me to drive them once in a while to keep the batteries up, in fact. That's between you and me, by the way. It's another secret Sandy and I keep from my parents, like the investment company we formed."

He closed the door and walked around to the driver's side. When he was seated, I said, "Why the secrets? I'd think your parents would be proud of your investment company. By my calculations, when the deal you made today closes, you'll make over a million dollars profit. If I made a million dollars, my dad would be so tickled for me, he'd be jumping up and down with joy."

"It's a difficult situation to explain because I can't tell you everything, but I'll try. My parents are old-fashioned, very religious Mormons. Are you familiar with the LDS Church?"

"A little. I had a few Mormon friends in high school."

"Good, then I won't need to spent time explaining the religion. I'm the youngest of five children. Sandy's smack dab in the middle. The two older girls married returned missionaries in the Mesa Temple. Cal, my older brother, is on a mission now. My father is the Bishop of our ward, and Mom is a past president of the Relief Society.

"Sandy left the house before she finished high school because she couldn't take the pressure the parents were putting on her about her negative attitude regarding the church, and a similar situation developed between my parents and me not long ago. Because Sandy had paved the way, the pressure on me wasn't as intense, so I've remained at home. I plan to move into the townhouse I mentioned when school starts this fall, but I haven't told my folks about the move yet.

"The secrets stem from the money Sandy came into before she left home. The parents aren't aware of this money, and at this time, there's no reasonable explanation for the money. That will change soon. Anyway, about eighteen months ago, Sandy funded our investment company as a way for me to become independent should the parents react to my apostasy as they did hers. That didn't happen, but we've made so much money, neither of us wants to shut down the company." He grinned. "I seem to have a knack for making money in real estate."

"I'll say. Okay, I'm confused, but I assume the confusion is based on what you can't tell me."

"Yup. I've been mentioning what's secret so you don't slip and say something about one of them when you meet my parents."

"Oh, you plan to introduce me to your parents, huh?" I said with short laugh.

"Yup. Don't know when, but it'll happen, and I'll want to meet yours, too."

I proudly told him about my family, finishing about the time he pulled under the canopy at the Phoenician Resort where Mary Elaine's was located. He gave the keys to the Mercedes to a valet, and we strolled inside. Our table wasn't ready, so we waited in the bar. I ordered a white wine, and Josh a club soda.

He smiled at me and said, "You're wearing a full-body shield, aren't you?"

"Yup, and after I scanned you when you were leering at my world-class ass, you put up a shield, too. Thanks, by the way, but world-class is stretching it."

"Not for me. Why the shield?"

"It's our first date, Josh. Let's make it normal, as opposed to paranormal."

He laughed. "Fair enough. See that man at the bar wearing that god-awful plaid suit?"

"Yes."

"He's full of anger."

I scanned him. "Yup."

"Were you surprised at the amount of hate and anger around you when you first started reading minds?"

"Yes! I moved immediately out of over half the minds I entered."

"When did your ability surface?"

"During puberty. I thought I was goin' batty. It was intermittent, which made me feel even more certain I was losing my mind. It became constant when I was sixteen, and hasn't changed much since. How about you?"

"My experience reflects yours, except my abilities are still evolving. Did you tell anyone?"

"My mother, who told my father. She helped a lot, and after she died, Pop was a godsend."

"Anyone since?"

I grimaced. "Yeah, a boy I was involved with in high school, which was a huge mistake. I vowed never to tell anyone else."

"Until me."

"I didn't tell you. You knew. Who did you tell?"

"My sister when I was sixteen. No one else. Oh, I'd planned to tell my high-school sweetheart, but Sandy advised against it. As it turned out, telling the girl would've been a disaster akin to yours, I suspect. When Sandy's fear of what I do kept her away, I suddenly felt very alone. I talk with her almost every day, but... let me just say, meeting you, being able to tell you what I do, has taken a lot of the loneliness away."

"Oh, Josh, I know what you mean! That's why I visited that stupid telepath club. Meeting you... I don't know, it's like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders." Which was true. I was almost giddy with relief.

The waiter came by our table and took us into the dining room. We ordered the tasting menus, and I ordered another white wine. If Harry and I were entertaining, he would've ordered two bottles of wine, a red and a white, and they would've complimented the meals perfectly. Oh, well, a girl couldn't have everything.

I said, "From what you've said, you must be very close to your sister."

"Yes. She's my rock, the source of most of my happiness as well as a lot of pain. When she refused to put herself in range of my empathic intrusions, she hurt me deeply. I spoke with her this morning and told her about you and the shield she could construct. I don't think she believed me about the shield. She believed me about you. With your permission, she wants to call you."

"Of course she may call me, Josh. Where is she?"

"Right now she's in New York City. She found a publisher for her first historical novel, and she's working with her editor."

"How exciting! What's the genre? A romance?"

He laughed gaily. "Hardly. It's heavy in the history of its time, which takes place during the tail end of the 10th century and the beginning of the 11th. The main character is an Arab astronomer, and much of the book takes place in present-day Afghanistan and India. There's some romance in the book, but it's basically a thriller."

"Gracious! That must take a lot of research."

"During the last year, Sandy spent some time in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, among other locales."

"She must be a very interesting person. How old is she?"

"Twenty."

"My age, and she's already done so much with her life. Someday, I hope I can do as much."

He took my hand in his. "You will; we both will, Nicole. We're unique. That we will accomplish a lot during our lives is a given."

I squeezed his hand with affection and was happy I'd shielded my emotions and sensations from him. If he knew how strongly I felt about him, how much he excited me both intellectually and sexually, I might've scared him away. Then his words shattered my reservations.

"Fate put us together, Nicole. I've known you only two days, but I feel like I've known you for a lifetime. I hope I don't frighten you by telling you how strongly I feel about you, but I feel compelled to tell you. I don't love you, not yet, but I believe passionately that I will fall deeply in love with you very soon. Like me, you've been subjected to the perversities of our society, the absolute depths of degradation that exists in the minds of so many around us, but you haven't let the wickedness, the hatred, and the anger you've experienced in the minds of others turn you into an uncaring person. I..."

"Josh, I'm not perfect."

He grinned. "Good, neither am I."

"I mean, I've done some things I'm not proud of, some things I wish I hadn't done, and some things I'd do over again that others would condemn me for."

"Likewise. I can't cast the first stone, and fortunately, it appears you can't throw any rocks, either. That only makes me want you more."

"Fuck," I said quietly, a thought that escaped my lips inadvertently. In my defense, I wasn't in my right mind. I was so full of love and lust, I wasn't thinking straight.

"Nicole, may I scan your emotions? I have a desperate need to know how you're feeling right now."

I looked into his wonderful eyes, removed my shields, and said, "Yes."

I felt him in my mind, but only briefly, and then I raised my shield again, but only for my mind. I wanted him to know what I was feeling, but I still felt a need to protect my attitudes, which Josh said was his way of reading minds.

He smiled and said, "I feel the same way."

"May I scan you?"

"Yes."

I probed deeply. He let me linger. Some of what I found surprised me, but nothing dismayed me. Finally, I said, "Yes, the idea of marrying you crossed my mind. I even mentioned the possibility to my father when I called him last night. He pressed me and asked when. I told him next June." With a little laugh, I added, "He said, 'That long?'"

"June is good. You'll have your degree; I'll have mine."

"Yours? How?" I knew from my deep probe, but I wanted him to tell me.

"I tested out of high school, and I've been attending Phoenix College online for over a year. That's not a secret, by the way. I needed my parents' involvement to overcome the bureaucracies in the way of my goals. Online I can move at my own speed. I planned to finish during the summer next year. With the incentive you just offered, I'll try to finish by June."

"Josh, are you finished eating?"

"What about the dessert?"

"Uh-uh. Scan me again."

"My townhouse?"

"Now. If I don't feel your arms around me soon, I'll burst. You know what I want."

Josh stopped at a red light, turned to me and asked, "Do you believe it's possible to love more than one person at the same time?"

"Yes." Should I tell him? Ah, fuck, the question was moot. Keeping secrets from each other would be impossible. "Josh, I know about you and your sister. I probed your mind deeper than you realize. For what it's worth, I've a few things to tell you about my checkered past, but not tonight. We'll work out everything later, but from what I found in your wonderful mind, we aren't too far apart. Tonight is just for us. Okay?"

I watched him sag with relief, and then his smile lit up the night.

"Nicole Halliday, I just fell madly in love with you."

Love at first sight. Go figure, I thought, and I wasn't referring to Josh's thoughts. I was thinking about myself.

"Joshua Johnson, I fell in love with you when you smiled at me and told me to get out of your mind yesterday. Step on it, bub. As much as I love you, right now I lust for you more."

Two blocks down the street, I said, "We'll do it together."

"What?"

"Become a man and woman of the world."

"Yeah we will."

"Josh, you've been wondering, so I'll tell you. I enjoy sex with women almost as much as I like sex with men. That's part of my checkered past I need to tell you about later."

"Hoo boy!"

I didn't get a tour of his townhouse, not that night, but what I saw from the front door to his bedroom looked as if it'd had a decorator's touch. The place was full of antiques. Probably his sister's doing, I thought. I was happy to see the large bed wasn't the canopied bed I'd seen in his mind that was in Sandy's so-called apartment. It was king-sized, and thick and soft, and covered with white satin sheets.

Just inside the townhouse, he'd kissed me until my pussy turned to mush, and then he'd carried me - handily, I might add - to his bedroom, while I clung to him like I never wanted to let him go.

Inside the bedroom, he kissed me again, and as if by my magic, my clothes disappeared while he continued to kiss me, brushing his lips against newly exposed skin before exposing more. I helped him remove his clothes, and when I pushed his boxers down his strong legs, I gasped with pleasure at the beautiful cock bouncing in front of my eyes. I couldn't resist. I dropped to my knees and took it into my mouth. I adored everything about it, its length, its unusual thickness, its taste, and I made love with it, rolled it over my cheeks, my eyes, under my chin, and I told Josh how much I loved it, how much I loved him.

Not surprisingly, he soon climaxed in my mouth.

Then I was on the bed, and after he spent some wonderful minutes with my sensitive breasts, his face moved between my legs. My first climax happened moments after his mouth covered my cunt, but he persisted, and I came again a few minutes later. He slid up next to me and held me in his strong arms while I recovered. His lips wandered, giving me soft kisses everywhere.

"You make me feel so loved, Josh," I said. "And I'm so very much in love. Isn't loving and being loved incredible?"