Sweet Kisses By KC Smith April 2002 This is the second in my series of Nick and Natalie Romance Rendezvous' stories. Each one is a progression towards the final stories (which will be adult!). Standard Disclaimers: The characters from Forever Knight do not belong to me, but to James Parriott and Sony/TriStar. No copyright infringement is intended in any way. All original characters belong to me. Permission is given to archive on Mel's www.fkfanfic.com site, the fkfanfic2 site, the FTP site and, for the adult stories, the JADFE archives. All others please ask before archiving or linking any stories to your website. Questions, comments and critiques can be sent to: tigrlady2u@juno.com Natalie hummed softly to herself, as she dusted her living room furniture. Tonight was her night off, and she had been cleaning since she'd awaken, somewhere around 3:00 p.m. She hadn't yet heard from Nick tonight, but she expected that she probably would. Since their moonlit drive over a week ago, Nick had been behaving very differently towards her. He called her for no reason, other than to talk; he was always touching her, be it soft caresses along her hair, wrapping his arm around her waist, or just holding her hand; and he stole kisses every time he got the chance, sometimes swift pecks, sometimes deep, lingering kisses that made her knees feel weak. She stopped dusting a figurine of a ballerina and thought back to the first real kiss they'd shared, last week. >flashback< Nick had driven them out of the city limits and into a rural area, where he found a nice place to stop and look at the lights of the city in the distance. They'd sat in the parked car, talking quietly for a couple of hours. When it was almost time for them to head back to the city, Nick got out of the car and went around to Natalie's side, to open her door for her. Natalie took his hand and followed him around to the front of the car, where he pulled her into his arms. "Do you trust me, Nat?" Nick asked her. Natalie smiled and nodded. "Of course I do." "Enough to..." He looked up towards the sky with his eyes. Natalie's eyes widened, as she looked skyward. Then she looked back at him and grinned. "Absolutely." Nick smiled at her and lifted them up into the air. Natalie gasped in surprise, and she wrapped her arms around Nick's neck. "Don't worry, Nat. I won't let you fall." Nick promised, kissing her on the cheek. Natalie looked into his eyes. "I know. I've just never done this." She looked around them and smiled brightly. "Nick! It's gorgeous!" She exclaimed, loosening her grip around his neck. They looked at the city lights twinkling on the horizon for several minutes, before Nick turned them slightly. As Natalie noticed the nearly-setting moon, she gasped in awe. It was enormous! She looked up at the stars and sighed happily. "This is beautiful, Nick. Thank you for sharing it with me." Nick had been mesmerized by the play of emotions on Natalie's face. He could watch her for hours, he realized. Smiling at her, he nuzzled her cheek. "You're very welcome, Nat. I hope it's something that we can share again." He said, softly. Natalie looked into his eyes and was jolted by the raw emotion she saw shining in them. She smiled shyly and nodded. Nick leaned his head forward and placed a tentative kiss on her lips. When Natalie didn't protest, he kissed her again, more firmly this time. Then he deepened the kiss, gently coaxing her lips apart with his tongue, barely tasting the inside of her mouth. He met no resistance. Instead, Natalie parted her lips and allowed his tongue entrance. Natalie sighed in pleasure as Nick's tongue gently caressed her lips, then carefully explored every inch of her warm, wet mouth. He tasted so wonderful, that she felt compelled to return the favor. Tentatively, she slipped her tongue into his mouth and quickly pulled it back out. Then she repeated the action, savoring the feel of his mouth gently sucking on her tongue, as she explored its depths. When Nick again took the initiative, she happily pulled her tongue back, teasing his as she went. When they parted, Natalie was slightly breathless. She couldn't shake the thought that it was like making love with just your mouths, as Nick carefully lowered them to the ground. He held her in his arms for a few minutes more, breathing in her rich scent and reveling in the closeness that they shared in this moment. Reluctantly, he pulled away and led her to the passenger side of the car, opening the door for her. Natalie lightly touched his face and planted a feather soft kiss on his lips, before slipping into her seat and allowing him to close the door for her. >end flashback< Natalie was broken from her reverie by the sound of her doorbell ringing. Sighing, she quickly checked her reflection in the mirror, before opening the door. A puzzled frown graced her features, as she opened the door and found no one there. Just as she was about to close the door, a sparkle on the floor caught her eye and she gasped in surprise. A perfect heart formed with Hershey's Kisses (tm) lay before her, a single red rose lying in the middle. Smiling, she knelt down and picked up the rose, and the note lying beneath it. Opening the letter, she immediately recognized Nick's elegant handwriting: Want more kisses? Not the kind that have calories! Follow the trail and try to find me. A heart at the bottom and the single initial 'N' made Natalie smile. She grabbed her purse and keys, and locked the door, before kneeling again to retrieve the Kisses. She followed the trail of foil wrapped chocolates down the hallway, into the stairwell and down the staircase. At the bottom of the stairs, she found that the trail led out of the building. Natalie's heart fluttered in anticipation, as she retrieved each Kiss from the ground and followed them to a nearby park. By now, all of her pockets and her purse were full of the sweet morsels. When she came to a large, old oak in the center of the park, she gave a quirky grin. Before her lay another large heart made of chocolate Kisses, but this one had at least two dozen red and white roses lying in the center. She knelt down to pick up the the Kisses and then the roses. As soon as she had the roses in her hands, a familiar figure stepped out from behind the tree. "Do you like them?" Nick asked her, leaning against the trunk of the ancient oak. Natalie inhaled the fragrance and then looked at him, beaming. "I love them. This was very romantic of you." "It's not over with, just yet." Nick told her, an enigmatic smile gracing his lips. He stepped forward and placed his palms on either side of her face, kissing her deeply for several moments. After he'd released her, Nick pulled a small gift bag from his pocket and unfolded it. "Here. To put your chocolates in." Natalie thanked him, asking him to hold the flowers while she unloaded all of the chocolates into the bag. Once that task was finished, she took the flowers from him and gave him a quick peck on the lips. Nick took her hand and walked with her back to her apartment. Once they had found a vase of water for the roses, and Natalie had placed her Kisses into the refrigerator, Nick took her hand and pulled her close to him. Wrapping his arms around her, Nick leaned forward and kissed her. He pulled away and looked into her eyes, his own shining. "I love you, Natalie." Natalie's eyes widened and then filled with tears. "I love you, too." She whispered. They shared another tender kiss, before Nick suggested that they go for a walk. Natalie happily agreed, and they left her building and headed out into the warm night air. "I wanted to tell you how I felt about you when you first started seeing Roger Jameson, but I thought that I was being selfish. I also thought, from your reaction, that you felt like I was intruding, so I backed off." Nick told her, as they strolled down the sidewalk. Natalie chuckled and smiled. "Oh! I really feel like an idiot now! I was angry because you weren't stopping me from seeing him. I wanted to hear you tell me that *you* were interested!" Nick chuckled as well, as he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. "We have *really* got to learn how to talk to each other about what we want and how we feel." Nat grinned and nodded. When they were again near the park, Nick pulled Natalie behind a tree a smiled at her. "How'd you like to go for a flight?" Natalie smiled and eagerly nodded. "I'd love it." Nick pulled her into his arms and lifted them into the air. Natalie watched in awe and excitement, as the city passed quickly beneath them. She was thrilled that Nick was willing to share this wonderful experience with her, and cherished every minute that they were in the air. She had no idea how long they'd been in the air, but after quite some time she could see that they were headed for Algonquin Park. Nick set them down in a secluded spot and ran his hand along her hair to smooth it down. "Are you okay?" Natalie smiled brightly. "Perfect. I love flying!" Nick returned her grin. "So do I. Come on." He took her hand and led her through the woods at a relaxed pace, and they talked for several hours. When it was time to head back to the city, Nick again pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply. "I'm so glad I got to share this with you." He told her. Natalie sighed in contentment. "So am I. We should do this more often." Nick gave her a grin that melted her insides. "Maybe we will." With that, he lifted them into the air and headed back to Toronto. Once they were safely back inside Natalie's apartment, she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a warm hug, before kissing him. "Thank you, so much. I had a wonderful time." Nick ran the back of his palm softly along her cheek. "I'm glad to hear that." He glanced out the window, at the rapidly brightening sky. "I have to go. I'll see you tonight?" Natalie nodded. "Yeah. Tonight." Nick kissed her again, before opening the door. "Nick?" Natalie called softly. Nick turned to face her. "Yes?" Natalie looked uncertain, as she looked at the floor and shuffled her feet. "Um, Richard and Sara are having a party in two weeks and they want me to come. I was wondering... would you like to go with me?" Nick hesitated for a moment, and Natalie was sure he was going to decline. "I'd like that." He finally said, smiling at the surprised look on her face. "We'll talk more about it tomorrow." Natalie nodded, and he moved forward and touched the side of her face with his palm. Slowly, their lips met and they wrapped their arms around each other. Their tongues danced, as they explored one another's mouths, until they had to part so that Natalie could breathe. With soft sighs and lingering caresses, they slowly separated from the other's embrace. Nick turned and stepped out into the hallway, turning to look at Natalie once more. He nodded in acknowledgement as she waved goodbye to him and waited until she'd closed and locked the door before leaving for his own home. Natalie got into her car and smiled quizzically when she found a map and a single pink rose lying on her dashboard. Picking up the flower, she inhaled the wonderful fragrance, before opening up the map. There were several places circled on the map, with addresses written beside each circle. Natalie recognized Nick's address and her own address. She also recognized the addresses of the morgue, the police station, her favorite Chinese restaurant, their favorite video store and the park near her apartment. She saw that the inset for Algonquin Park was also circled, but she didn't recognize the addresses for the other areas of the map that were circled. The one that particularly intrigued her, was one in the middle of downtown that was circled with red and had a large gold star in the middle of the circle. Curious, Natalie refolded the map and opened her glove box to put it away. Inside she found another pink rose and note: "The places on the map are either places we've been together, or places I plan on taking you in the future. ~ Love Nick" Natalie smiled happily. That he was willing to take the time to go over the map and circle the places he wanted to take her in the future, and even look up and write down the addresses, was a good sign. It meant that he took their budding relationship seriously and planned on sticking around for awhile. Starting her car, she drove through the streets of Toronto towards the Coroner's Building. * * * End KC Smith Nick/Natpacker with Dark tendencies. "I've never met a chocolate I didn't like."