Three weeks later...

Jess swept the make up brush over her eye layering on a darker colour to what she had been wearing during the day, she smoothed mascara up to the tips of her long lashes and then proceeded to dab a light sheen of lip gloss on to her lips. It was a routine she had down to a fine art but it still required that little bit of extra concentration when it was a special occasion. Her concentration was just intense enough for her to be convinced she had misheard what Cece had just said to her. As she paused with the lip gloss stick hovering over her mouth she watched her best friend in the mirror and listened more intently as she said it again. Jess spun round so fast her hair hit her in the face sticking inconveniently to her newly applied lip gloss. She spat a few times as her fingers scrambled against her lips.

"October 18th?!" Jess almost yelled.

"Yeah."

"Cece that's like three months away!"

"Yeah I know." Cece pressed her palms together and chewed on the fingernails of her index fingers as she continued to brace herself during Jess' inevitable reaction.

"I thought you said you guys were gonna wait another year? I mean we haven't planned anything, like nothing Cece."

"I know it's just my grandmother isn't in great health and she really wants to be there. She still hasn't recovered from the disaster of my last wedding. I need to give her a happy ending Jess. I can't have my grandmother's death on my hands."

Jess widened her eyes and blew out a breath with a slight shake of the head. Settling down on her bed next to Cece she allowed her shoulders to drop and decided to take stock of the situation. Jess was nothing if not organised, she could to this, they could do this. "Ok." She exhaled again. "So we have approximately twelve weeks to plan your entire wedding." She turned to Cece squinting her eyes. "And Schmidt is ok with this. I mean he has been dreaming about his wedding since he was a kid. I know he has lots of ideas, he showed me the scrapbook Cece, it's bigger than mine."

"I know but it was his idea actually. He said he doesn't care when or where it is, he just wants to marry me."

Jess pouted and sported her best puppy dogs eyes. "Oh Cece that's so cute."

"I know."

But their tender moment was shortlived as Jess clapped her hands together sharply and bounced off the bed to retrieve her laptop from her desk. She immediately flipped the top up and settled back next to Cece so close their thighs were pressed together snugly. Cece heard the whir of the computer as it started up and laughed as Jess clicked on a small folder marked 'Cece and Schmidt's Big Day.' Inside was a whole host of other folders with various labels ranging from flowers to wedding favours. Cece threw her arm around Jess' shoulder and squeezed. "Jess what are you doing?"

"We don't have any time to waste Cece we have to get started."

"That's very sweet but aren't you meeting Henry in like an hour."

"Well yeah but we got some time."

Cece smiled and rolled her eyes, pulling the laptop from Jess' knees and shutting it down. Bending forward she slid it under the bed and turned back to her friend who was now pouting and playing with her fingers nervously. "What's going Jess, I thought you liked this guy?"

Jess had met Henry at the Farmer's Market following a discussion over the finest local cheese. They had been on five dates so far which, after things with Tom failed to even get off the ground, was pretty impressive. Henry was a nice simple guy who liked a lot of the things she did and was pretty compromising about the ones he didn't. He owned a small book store and had a quaint little apartment which Jess had frequented once or twice but had yet to spend the night in. Traditionally, yes, she would have slept with a guy before the fifth date went by but she was in no hurry and so far Henry hadn't put her under any pressure. She was happy to take her time and leave sex out of the equation for a little while and it wasn't just Henry who was feeling the repercussions of that.

"I do like him." Jess wandered back to her dresser and touched up her make up a little more, not keen on offering up much more information than she had.

Cece could see a distinct lack of enthusiasm in Jess' face, not to mention the fact that she was more than familiar with Jess' behaviour when she was into a guy and this wasn't it, there wasn't even a trace of it, but Cece decided to let it drop. She didn't want to send Jess off on her date in a funky mood. "Well good, I'm glad. It's a big date night huh? I'm almost embarrassed that Schmidt and I are staying in to watch movies and eat Chinese food."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you, Winston, Nick, you guys have been busy."

"Nick has a date tonight...a-and Winston?"

"Yeah. It must be the summer of love in loft 4D."

Cece picked up Jess' laptop again and sat back on the bed crossing her legs comfortably, deciding she was now a little intrigued as to what ideas Jess had in store so far. Jess turned back to her mirror to play with her already perfectly preened hair. She knew that Cece was suspicious over her disinterest in her own love life, Cece knew her far too well. But it was a conversation Jess wasn't in the mood for so, just like Cece, she chose to ignore it. She also chose to ignore that she hadn't really picked the perfect pair of shoes for her outfit, she chose to ignore that she was about to go to a restaurant she had once given her violent food poisoning, she chose to ignore how uncomfortable the underwire of her bra was and she chose to ignore that Nick was going on his third date with Carrie.

Nick's smile reached from ear to ear and almost beyond as he patted Schmidt firmly but affectionately on the back for the umpteenth time. There was a spring in his step as they walked down the street back to the loft and it was the first time he'd felt that in a couple of weeks. He knew for a fact it was two weeks because he specifically remembered the last thing that had made him smile the way he was smiling right now.

Schmidt would often take him out for lunch or dinner right after he'd been paid, it was a ritual they'd had ever since Schmidt had started to make good money. Nick had even managed to return the favour a few times at slightly cheaper establishments of course. So as much as Nick always appreciated the gesture, it was exactly surprising. The champagne had been a little more of a head-scratcher but he knew Schmidt liked to be flashy so again he let it slide without question. So as Nick had chewed his expensive food and sipped his champagne merrily he hadn't necessarily expected what was coming next but it certainly wasn't an unwelcome surprise.

"Does this mean I get to plan the whole bachelor party?" Nick smiled gleefully almost skipping next to Schmidt

Schmidt screwed up his face with a doubtful expression. "Hmmm I guess so, I mean I will need to be an associate project manager of course but I suppose, technically as my best man, yes you get to plan the bachelor party. No cheap beer cans though and I want to wake up with both eyebrows fully in tact on the morning of my wedding Nick! I'm determined to look as good as Cece in the photos."

Nick offered Schmidt two enthusiastic finger guns "You got it! Well I guess we need to talk dates, I mean October really isn't that far away huh?"

"I guess not."

"Man by the time Halloween comes around you're gonna be somebody's husband Schmidty!"

"I know it's crazy, I always thought..." Schmidt lowered his head and busied his overly talkative mouth by chewing one of his fingernails.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"No what were you gonna say." Nick prodded.

"I don't know." Schmidt jammed his hands in his pockets and scuffed his shoes against the pavement as he walked. "I guess I always thought that you'd be first, you know, that maybe you and Jess would..."

That was another lightning bolt of words that Nick wasn't expecting and it kind of floored him. Any mention of him and Jess in any romantic capacity had all but stopped amongst their friends, sometimes it was almost as if they had all completely forgotten. He considered for a moment whether or not Schmidt knew anything and started to mentally prepare how he was going to rationalise it but as he witnessed the apologetic look on his face, Nick knew it was nothing more than a harmless comment born from an day of sentimentality. Judging by the strange ache in Nick's chest maybe harmless wasn't quite the right word.

Schmidt shook his head, berating himself. "I'm sorry man I don't why I said that."

"Forget it, it's fine."

"No it was stupid I know you guys are happy being friends."

Nick laughed nervously as they approached the elevator in their building and prayed that his face wasn't as red as it it felt, partly from almost being busted but partly from the extreme guilt of lying to his best friend about this huge thing that was happening in his life, or had happened, whatever the correct tense was for him and Jess. Nick willingly turned the conversation back to the role that had been bestowed upon him earlier that evening as Schmidt's best man which Schmidt was more than happy to bite at. As they made their way into the loft they found Jess and Cece curled up on the sofa, enjoying a glass of wine together. Nick felt the burn of embarrassment in his cheeks intensify, like somehow Jess had heard what Schmidt had said. It was the feeling of coming face to face with someone he had just had a sex dream about. He'd had plenty of those about Jess too.

He pressed the back of his hand against his face to assess how hot his cheeks were but that just served to draw more attention from Jess who raised her eyebrows at him with that strange smile he had been getting for the last couple of weeks that he couldn't place. Like she was waiting for him to get a clue about some joke or secret that only she was in on, it was full of anticipation mixed with a healthy dose of shyness and disappointment at the same time. As he and Schmidt settled down on the couch next to the girls, Cece immediately began to pour them both a glass of wine which Schmidt readily accepted with a gleeful smile but Nick held his hands up in polite decline.

"Uh I shouldn't, I gotta be somewhere soon."

"Oh the big date." Cece teased as she screwed the cap back on the bottle. "This is the third date Nick you must be into her."

Nick's eyes couldn't help but flicker to Jess who was eyeing him over the top of her wine glass waiting for him to answer. Nick rubbed his hands on his thighs a few times creating enough heat on his skin to realise how nervous he was acting. He shuffled forward in his chair and reached for the bottle of wine.

"I guess one glass couldn't hurt." Truth be told his head was still a little fuzzy from all the champagne but that was preferable to having to answer Cece's question. Cece shook her head with a giggle and turned to Schmidt who had snatched the wine bottle from Nick and was now reading the label intently. Nick blew out a breath of relief and sat back into safety until he realised Jess was still looking at him, still waiting. He watched Jess trail the tip of her finger around the circular glass disc at the bottom of her glass as her gaze alternated between him and her hypnotic hand movement.

"So are you into her?" Jess asked, trying her best to sound casual.

Nick held in a mouthful of wine giving himself time to think of something to say as Jess continued to glare at him, her question suddenly re-engaging the attention of Schmidt and Cece.

"Um I don't know...she's nice."

Jess nodded painfully slowly and pushed her tongue to the side of her mouth as she brought her wine glass up to her mouth, draining its remaining contents quickly. When the last mouthful was swallowed she lifted it up in front of her face inspecting its emptiness. "I'm gonna open another bottle of wine." Kicking her legs in front of her, Jess threw herself out of her chair and headed for the kitchen, Nick's eyes following her around helplessly.

Luckily Nick's lacklustre attempt to provide any juicy gossip wasn't nearly enough to keep Schmidt and Cece's attention and they soon resumed fawning over each other, Cece's legs draped over Schmidt's lap as he placed just enough kisses up her neck for it to become disgustingly uncomfortable for Nick. With a grimace Nick swiftly vacated his seat and wandered to the kitchen where Jess was cracking ice cubes into her wine glass for wine that wasn't yet chilled to her liking. Nick took a large gulp of his drink and edged closer to her.

"So it's pretty exciting about the wedding huh?" He offered.

Jess turned with a smile before continuing to tackle the ice cube tray. "Yeah I mean it was kind of a surprise that's it's so soon but yeah sure, I'm really excited."

"Schmidt asked me to be his best man." Nick beamed.

After pouring the pink liquid into her glass with a satisfying glugging sound she finally turned round to face him, leaning with her back against the counter and swirling the wine around in her glass coolly. "Nick that's really wonderful. I know that means a lot to you."

"Yeah it was uh...it was nice moment."

"I'm Maid of Honour too so...yay." She gave Nick a thumbs up and a smile.

"Like there was ever any doubt."

She lifted the wine bottle from the counter and wiggled it towards him. "You want some more, I guess we're both celebrating."

"Sure."

He stepped forward with his wine glass at the same time she lunged forward with the bottle of wine sending a good half of a glass down the front of his shirt.

"Oh god I'm so sorry Nick."

Depositing the glass and bottle back on the counter Jess' hands were immediately on Nick pulling the soaked material away from his skin. As Nick felt the unpleasant, cool wetness clinging to him his instinct was to take it off, he quickly undid the bottom buttons without thinking when suddenly Jess' fussing hands grazed just below his belly button. As the tickling sensation sent a shiver up his spine Nick grabbed her wrists gently and her fingers softened against his stomach until she yanked them away suddenly, almost aggressively, much to his disappointment. Nick sighed forcefully and buttoned up the bottom of his shirt again.

"Oh come on Jess why are you being like this?" He whispered loudly, checking behind him to be certain Schmidt and Cece were still engrossed in one another.

"I'm not being like anything."

"Since when is it so terrible to you to even touch me?"

Jess took a step toward him until their bodies were just centimeters apart. She stared at the damage she had caused to his shirt and fingered it delicately as she finally looked at him with big, wet eyes.

"Nick I...I'm sorry about your shirt."

Finishing the last of her wine she grabbed her purse and walked away.

Nick felt slight fingers curling around his forearm as he walked, more and more of her weight pushing into his side as they made their way down the street. Now that the heat wave had passed it was a little more bearable to walk around without the risk of melting and that's exactly what they had been doing for the last hour following their early dinner. It was his first daytime date with Carrie in addition to two evening ones, and he always figured those ones were a little more serious. There was no cloak of darkness or alcohol to hide behind and it was harder to know when the date was over so more often than not it would just keep on going into the evening. This date didn't seem to be any different. Now that dinner had run late into the evening he had no time to head back to the loft before his shift at the bar so he figured he would head straight there. As she clung to his arm tightly, he soon realised Carrie had the same idea. He turned to the pretty blonde with his brightest smile and the friendliest voice he could muster.

"Carrie you know I have to head to the bar now right?"

"I know." She shrugged lightly. "I thought I might come spend some time there, watch you work. That's ok right?" She jerked his arm gently pulling him against her with a wide smile.

Nick took a long breath in, mulling over in his mind all the reasons he would prefer she didn't. She was a nice girl, the sheer fact that it was their third date was testament to that, but he wasn't quite sure they were at the point where he was happy to have hanging out at the bar with him all the time. Not to mention the fact that the lovely, if tempestuous, Violet had made several appearances at the bar since their last date which was a tidal wave of drama he could so without. Then there was Jess. It was always a possibility that Jess would turn up at the bar and he would be lying if he said they weren't in something of a weird place. They were still friends, that hadn't changed but they hadn't slept together in three weeks and try as they might to be normal around each other, it was a chasm between them that they couldn't ignore.

There had been no explanations, no drama, it had just stopped and he'd had an unsettling feeling in his stomach ever since. She insisted there was nothing wrong, as did he, and they had both thrown themselves into the dating scene with gusto but something was just...off.

Nick stared off into space, lost in his own head, soon realising as Carrie stared at him quizzically that he hadn't actually answered her question. Nor did he want to. "Won't it be kind of boring for you?"

"No, not at all. If you don't want me to it's fine I'll just..."

"No it's fine." He smiled and squeezed her hand as they strolled off to Clyde's.

Jess couldn't help but focus on the muscles flexing in Henry's jaw as he chewed, he had a very muscular face if that was even possible. He had a few crumbs running from his bottom lip to his chin but she didn't have the heart to tell him and they weren't nearly intimate enough for her to reach across and sweep them from his face with her thumb. Their was a risk of touching his lip and that was too much, sure she had touched his lips with her lips a few times but somehow the thumb thing was a step too far. It was their fifth date in two weeks and she was pretty sure that she liked him, maybe not quite the way a girl should like a guy she had been on five dates with, but she was definitely getting there - she was certain of it. Her and Tom had given it one more embarrassing shot at a date but Jess had been unable to recover from the disaster of the first one and Tom had disappeared quickly into the sunset. Then Henry had come a long and he was everything Jess knew she should like so when he had asked her out she hadn't hesitated in saying yes.

Except that was a lie, she had hesitated, she had hesitated a lot.

She let her hand go limp against the table as he grabbed hold of it, threading his fingers through hers and rocking their hands back and forth playfully. She would be lying if she said she felt nothing, he was incredibly handsome and they never would have made it to five dates if there wasn't something she liked about him but she was still waiting for those butterflies to start fluttering or that lightening to strike her or just some sort of sign to tell her it was more that just a small crush and that hadn't happened yet.

Her and Nick had agreed to cool things a little. Except that was yet another lie she was telling herself. The little white lies made her love life just a little bit more palatable for about five minutes. They hadn't agreed at all, it had just happened and they hadn't cooled things a little, it was a lot. They hadn't slept together in three weeks, they hadn't even tried. Jess knew that it would all end one day, particularly with them both dating more and more but she hadn't expected it to end so abruptly. Everything just felt so...unfinished.

Jess squeezed Henry's hand and shook her head with a smile realising her mind had wandered yet again to the enigma that was her relationship with Nick Miller. It wasn't supposed to be like this, he wasn't supposed to take up so much head space, it was just a sex thing. She felt a wave of annoyance towards Nick pass through her before she decided to shake it off and dedicate all her attention to the lovely Henry who had finally seen fit to dab his mouth with a napkin.

"Oh my god that food was so good." He mumbled with his cheeks still full of food.

"Mmm yeah it was great." It hadn't been great it had been awful, Jess hated the place. "So what do you want to do now, do you wanna go get a drink or something."

"Sure that sounds good. Why don't we go to that bar you're always hanging out at?"

Jess sat back in her chair, her hand casually breaking free of his grasp. "Oh I don't know, there has gotta be some place nearer than that."

"Oh come on I'm intrigued. I always pass that place on the way to be work and, I don't know, to me it always looked like a bit of a dive but if you like it maybe I'm wrong."

Jess flinched at his words and tried hard to fight her mad face but she still found herself considering his proposal. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea for her to introduce him to Nick and the other guys. Maybe a good, hard dose of reality was exactly what her and Nick needed to keep their situation a little clearer and draw those boundary lines firmly back in the sand. The more she thought about it the more it started to make sense in her head and without giving herself anymore time to think about it, she found herself agreeing. Suddenly the cheque was paid and her coat was being placed neatly around her shoulders in a gentlemanly fashion. The move from the restaurant to the cab was almost seamless and within fifteen minutes Clyde's was in sight. She could see a few people had spilled out on to the pavement so she knew it would be busy, part of her hoped it would be so busy that Nick wouldn't get any time to talk to them, another part of her hoped the crowd would put Henry off altogether. But soon they were both part of that crowd, fighting their way through the door and towards the bar.

Carrie was an insane flirt. So far he had only really spent time alone with her, just the two of them, so he hadn't noticed how she behaved around other men. He thought he had been the sole beneficiary of that treatment over the last couple of weeks but now, as he watched Winston get a taste of it, he started to realise what he had let himself in for. He knew she was tactile, she would always find ways to touch his arm or stroke his hair behind his ear and he figured he just brought that out in her, it had made him feel pretty good about himself. But now, as he watched every one of Winston's weak jokes elicit the stroke of her hand up his thigh Nick knew it wasn't just him. Perhaps it was just anything with a penis that made her act that way.

Nick didn't want to seem like he was being jealous or foolish so he just laughed it off. It wasn't like him and Carrie were anything serious, it had only been three dates and she was free to behave however she wanted. He felt like he should care more, particularly judging by the raised eyebrows from Winston, but he just didn't. Every now and again she would lean up over the bar and offer him a peck on the lips and that seemed to be enough to placate him for the next half an hour. It also didn't hurt in conserving his pride as Jess' eyes burned into him from across the bar. He was baffled that even though Jess was sitting there with another guy's arm draped around her she still had the effrontery to give him that look, the one where she squinted her eyes and clenched her teeth just enough for her jaw to jut forward a little, letting him know he was doing something she was less than impressed with.

Nick made a face at her to try and get her to break but when she remained stoic he gave up. He was in no mood to play 'what's wrong with Jess?' knowing full well he would never get an answer. He had lost count how many times he had asked her that question over the last couple of weeks, it was almost a knee jerk reaction now. Also, he didn't want to give Carrie or Winston any reason to be suspicious of him and Jess, or Henry for that matter. Nick had only just met the guy but he immediately felt sorry him, being brought unknowingly into a situation that was far from simple.

Nick couldn't help but size himself up against Jess' new conquest. He wanted to get the full measure of the guy who seemed to have put an abrupt halt to the fun and games he and Jess had been enjoying. Nick had made an effort to talk to Henry, out of curiosity more than anything else, which was more than could be said of Jess who had barely mumbled a hello to his date. Just as well seeing as Carrie had taken far more of an interest in Henry since she had failed to get Winston to succumb to her charms. Nick wasn't even sure why Jess was there, she looked nothing but uncomfortable and the look of disdain on Henry's face for his surroundings suggested he would happily have been somewhere else too. Nick felt for Jess, really he did, he knew how strange and awkward their situation was but he just couldn't help the satisfaction he felt in seeing the flicker of jealousy in her eyes every time he touched Carrie or laughed at one of her jokes. He didn't want to make Jess feel bad but just to get a reaction out of her after three weeks of avoidance felt good even if it was a little unfair.

Jess had always felt at home at the bar, she was pretty sure one of the bar stools had her ass print firmly embedded into it, but tonight she couldn't wait to get out of there. It was not the way she had wanted her date to go. The evening was supposed to be about fun and flirting and her and Henry getting to know each other so they could continue to take things further but now he was too busy getting his thigh grabbed by Nick's floozy in reward for a joke that had not only been humourless but borderline offensive. The night had taken a complete nosedive and for some reason the only person she wanted to take it all out on was Nick, particularly when he threw her a teasing smile as he walked by her and disappeared behind the bar.

"You ok Jess?"

Jess' eyes were fixed to the back of Nick's head as he plodded down to the cellar after a word in his ear from Mike.

"Jess?"

"Huh?"

Winston laughed and leaned a little closer to her lowering his voice. "Is everything going ok with...?" Winston nodded his head forward a couple of times in Henry's direction.

"Oh...yeah sure it's fine why do you ask?"

"Well you guys have hardly spoken since you got here. Do you need help, I mean do you need me to help you get out of the date, I have a whole bunch of excuses I've come up with over the years, they're way better than Schmidt's."

Jess laughed and rested her hand on Winston's arm. "No it's fine I promise I guess I'm just tired or something."

"Ok...well he seems like a nice guy Jess. "

"Thanks, yeah he is."

"So you like him?"

Jess pondered his words for a few seconds and nodded her head.

"Good, you deserve a nice guy Jess, someone who you know...gives you the belly flutter and all that fuzzy stuff."

Jess' eyes fell to her lap as Winston's word reverberated around her head. Suddenly the heat and the noise of the bar was too much and Henry's arm on her shoulder sent a shiver of discomfort down her spine. She found herself hopping off her stool, standing at the bar and not really knowing what to do with herself. She could feel both Winston and Henry staring at her from either side but all she could do was grasp her glass of wine and throw back its remaining contents. She unhooked her bag from the back of the seat and started to edge away.

"I'm just gonna go to the bathroom, I'll be right back."

Nick exhaled heavily as he trudged downstairs to the basement, partly from tiredness and partly from something else. Swiping his shirt sleeve across his forehead he bent down, his knees giving out a satisfying crack. He pulled the clipboard from the top of the barrel and started to check off the stock he would be taking back up to the bar, signing his name with a messy scrawl that had come from years of carrying out the same daily task. Dropping the clipboard back on to the boxes of beer bottles with a loud clatter he hooked his rough fingers under the bottom of the box and lifted it with a soft grunt. The basement was dimly lit but Nick knew it like the back of his hand, knew exactly where to place himself without bumping into anything, which is why she took him by surprise as she appeared right in front of him, her back pressed against the wall at the foot of the stairs, the whites of her eyes brighter than ever as she stared at him. Knowing she hadn't stopped by just to say hello or indulge her curiosities about the secrets of the Clyde's basement, he set the box down to his feet and repeated the motion of wiping his forehead.

"You get lost Day?" He smiled as she continued to pout like a child.

"No, I just wanted to talk to you."

"Oh now you want to talk?" He laughed. "I thought you would be enjoying your date with the cheese man." Nick smiled a little amused by his own joke.

"Yeah well...I just wanted to talk to you for a second."

Nick sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Look Jess we don't need to have this conversation, I get why you've been acting so weird lately, why you won't come near me." With that he bent down to pick up the box again but he felt her hand curl around his forearm stopping him and pulling him upright.

"Wait, you don't even know what I was gonna say." She spoke quietly, her fingers still curled around the warm skin of his arm.

"Yeah I do, you're going to tell me you want to sleep with him. You want to end this." He gestured between them with a flicker of embarrassment before he looked away from her and down to his feet. "Whatever this is. If it's anything now."

Jess pulled at his arm enough to make him take a step toward her, stumbling a little over the box in front of him and getting closer to her than he initially planned, not that he had a problem with it.

"That's not what I was gonna say."

"Oh." He took another step toward her, pulling his arm through the circular grip of her hand until he was holding it, then he let it dangle by their sides. "Then what did you want to talk to me about?" His voice was low and quiet, almost suggestive, taunting her.

"I uh..."

He completely closed the gap between them until his torso was touching lightly against hers, enough to make her nipples harden underneath the material of her shirt in seconds. He pressed her back further against the wall as he leaned against her trying to figure out every millimeter of her face in the dim light. He felt her chest start to heave under his as her breaths quickened, the grip on his hand tightening out of tension more than anything else. Everything about her face screamed uncertainty but still she didn't move. She let his body cover her, let his hand grasp hers tightly, let his face linger right in front of hers begging for more.

"What is it Jess?" He whispered.

She opened her mouth to speak but all that escaped was a small gasp, her lips were left hanging open before his waiting to be touched. He let go of her hand suddenly and placed his palms flat against the wall on either side of her head. It was impossible to tell now which breath belonged to who, their gaze was narrowed to only each other's eyes as their surroundings started to fade away. Nick pressed his groin into her almost involuntarily just to create some sort of friction that had suddenly become vital to his wellbeing. Their chests started to rise and fall in unison as air became more and more of a necessity. Nick fingers flexed against the wall as the need to touch her became too great. "I wanna kiss you?"

The last of her breath left her lungs gusting over his face, she was certain it carried a small whimper with it. "We can't, they're right upstairs." She placed her hands against his chest, intending to push him away but instead they lingered, feeling the strong beat of his heart through his shirt.

His lips hovered millimeters away from hers, the moist flesh of his lips occasionally catching hers. "Fuck I really wanna kiss you Jess."

"Please Nick, don't, not now"

He buried his head into her hair and his breath echoed around the hollow of her neck which was begging for his lips against it. "Why did you stop coming to me Jess?" He whispered.

"I didn't stop. We just...we needed a break." She exhaled heavily blowing the soft hairs on the side of his head.

"I didn't" He breathed against her neck before placing several soft kisses there, leaving them to cool in his wake as he moved up towards her lips. He tried to kiss her but her hands suddenly seemed to find their function again and pressed against his chest, pushing him away just enough so they were face to face again.

"Nick we can't do this I think maybe..."

"Maybe what?"

"Maybe I do want to sleep with Henry. I mean we've been on five dates I think I should at least consider it. We both should."

"That's really what you want?"

Jess nodded unconvincingly.

Nick started to lower his head to her neck again. "Your mind is made up?" He kissed her skin.

"Yeah."

"And there's nothing I can do to change it?" He kissed her again.

Jess shook her head as her eyes drifted closed. "No."

"Nothing?" He dragged his lower lip along her jawline.

"No." Her whisper disappeared into his mouth as he pressed his open lips against hers, his tongue refusing to wait for any permission.

Their kiss was rough and desperate and lacking all finesse, they kept going and going until only their need for air could stop them. Jess could feel the graze of his stubble against the tender skin of her neck as he kissed his way down, palming her breasts desperately with his big hands as he moved. He trailed his mouth down in between her breasts as far as he could get access without ridding her of her shirt. Jess opened her eyes and looked down at the top of Nick's head as it moved lower and lower down her body until his knees hit the floor. She knew what was coming next and she knew that it was wrong in so many way but she couldn't move, his touch had rendered her muscles powerless, she was amazed her legs were even still holding her up. She felt a cool breeze on her stomach as he lifted the bottom of her shirt, kissing from one side to the other so softly it made her stomach flip over and over again. All she could hear was the sound of his lips and her breaths quickening until there was a sudden and very obvious hitch as his hands pushed under her skirt.

Bunching her skirt up around her waist Nick trailed his fingertip across her stomach just above her underwear, her skin felt impossibly soft underneath his rough hands and her smell was intoxicating. He watched her thighs brush against each other as she fidgeted underneath his touch, her feet deciding whether to stay or go. He smoothed his hands down the sides of her thighs and back up several times and slowly she stilled allowing him to return to his task. He gripped her hips firmly and brushed his lips over her navel eventually allowing his tongue to dip inside for just a second. The second his tongue touched her skin he felt her fingers bury into his hair, rubbing against his scalp which made him moan quietly against her stomach, the vibrations causing her hips to buck in his hands. Kissing down from her bellybutton her started to pull down the front of her underwear eliciting a whimper and a harsh grip of his hair but, taunting her, he let it snap back into place and moved back up her stomach.

He distracted her with his kisses until he suddenly pressed his thumb at her centre making her jerk. Rubbing his thumb against her he chanced a look up at her. Her eyes were closed and her mouth hung open a little letting loud breaths escape over and over again, her head lolled back against the wall and the top of her breasts heaved inside her top. He could feel himself getting hard, his jeans straining tighter and tighter against his groin but in that moment it was about her, changing her mind, getting her attention, or rather getting it back. He ran his fingers along the seam of her underwear where it met the top of her thigh, following it underneath, unable to contain his wicked smile as her legs moved further apart for him giving him better access. Bowing his head lower he kissed the soft skin of her inner thigh, moving back and forth from one leg to the other, each time getting closer and closer to where she wanted him without touching.

Her hips had started to pick up a small rhythm against him but he could tell she was trying hard to fight it and he wanted her to let go, he needed her to to let go. It one smooth motion the tips of his fingers hooked inside her underwear and pulled it to the side, exposing her to him. He smoothed his right palm down her left thigh and lifted her left leg over his shoulder, pressing his mouth against her instantly, moving his tongue in such a way that it was the only thing in the world that made her curse. Really curse.

Jess could feel a tingling heat burning inside her, spreading out to every part of her body and building with each stroke of his tongue over her sensitive flesh. As her hands clung tight to his hair she knew she must be hurting him but she needed somewhere to direct the energy that was coursing through her body like a freight train. Suddenly she smacked her palm hard against the wall, sending an intense stinging deep into her hand as his tongue circled on the same spot over and over until soon all she could see was a white light behind her eyes that left her body convulsing with pleasure. She dropped back heavily against the wall as the coolness between her legs disappeared when he felt her underwear snap back into place.

She felt a pressure on her hips as Nick pushed himself back up to his feet. He continued to hold on to her hips like they were the only thing that was keeping him standing as he pressed himself against her once again showing her the effect she had on him. He stared at her under hooded eyes for moments on end until she opened hers and returned his gaze. He leaned toward her like he might kiss her again but instead he simply nudged his nose with hers once or twice.

"How about now?" He whispered.

Jess simply smiled.