His brow furrowed deeper. “Are you really planning on going to the sleepover? What if there’s not a comfortable bed for you to sleep in? You’re already sore—”
Amber closed her eyes in frustration, as if this was a conversation they’d had several times. When she opened them, she smiled widely at Bailey and Nate as she grabbed her husband’s arm. “Excuse us. I have to go have a word with my husband.”
Nate nodded. He’d wanted to have a word with Bailey for two hours and had been unable to get her alone, which he did not think was an accident.
He and Bailey may not be in love with each other, but he knew her. All night, every time he managed to corner her, she would start a conversation with whoever passed by. Like this last conversation with Amber and Seth about the history of the castle. They’d just stepped by the fire, most likely to get warm, and Bailey had bombarded them with questions about its history.
Her curious act wasn’t fooling him. This was Bailey Rossum. She’d probably researched the venue the second Becca had told her that was going to be the wedding destination.
As soon as Amber had dragged Seth out of ear shot, Nate turned to Bailey and asked firmly, “Why?”
Bailey shrugged her shoulders and shook her head looking in the direction Amber and Seth had gone. “I’m guessing she needs to talk to him about him being too over-protectiv—”
“Not them.” He interrupted calmly. “Why did you ask Becca to put me with Eliza?”
“Who said I did that?” Her eyes widened with innocence.
Nate just continued staring directly at her. He remained silent. Since Bailey never played games, she wasn’t good at them and he knew she’d crack.
“Fine. It was me.” She broke within seconds, lifting her hands in mock surrender. “But, I didn’t ask Becca to put you with Eliza, I asked her to put me with Josh. News flash, the whole world doesn’t revolve around the great Nate Holmes. Sometimes people do things that have nothing to do with you.”
Bailey had never been defensive with him before. Or frustrated. Or flustered. This situation had obviously hit a nerve. Josh was a sensitive subject and Nate had no idea why.
She crossed her arms and turned her attention to the flames burning in the fireplace. The light danced across her face as she sighed with resignation. “You being paired with Eliza was just an ancillary benefit.”
“What’s going on between you and Josh?” Asking blunt, personal questions was usually territory that Nate stayed away from. Mainly, because he didn’t feel like people’s private lives were any of his business. And usually he didn’t care. But he was curious. Still, he knew if Bailey wanted to talk about it she would, and if she didn’t, she wouldn’t.
“Nothing is going on.” She stated, her voice and facial expression void of emotion. “Absolutely nothing.”
“You know I’m here. If you want to talk.”
“I wish there was something to talk about.”
Her cryptic answers weren’t sitting right with him and he was going to push further when his grandma startled him, appearing at his side seemingly from nowhere.
“I texted you nine-one-one.” Panic filled her voice. “You didn’t answer.”
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and saw that he’d missed several calls from her as he explained, “It’s still on silent from the rehearsal. What’s wrong?”
If this emergency had anything to do with not being able to find her glass of wine, he was going to have to sit her down for a very serious talk.
“It’s Eliza. She said she wasn’t feeling well and went to rest. You need to go check on her. She’s lying down in the sitting room. It’s the second door to the left off the foyer.”
His heart began racing with adrenaline. “Bailey.” He motioned for her to follow him.
“No!” Nana yelled, stopping both he and Bailey in their tracks. “Bailey doesn’t need to go.”
“Yes she does. She may need medical attention,” he rushed to explain as he caught a strange exchange passing between Bailey and his grandma.
“I think it is more of a,” Nana’s voice lowered as she leaned into them, “lady problem. I think she might be uncomfortable with Bailey checking on her since she doesn’t know her.”
“She wouldn’t feel more comfortable with a woman?” This didn’t make sense.
“Just go,” Bailey instructed with an authority that he’d only ever heard her use when she was in scrubs at the hospital or naked in his bed. “My phone’s on. If you need me, just call.”
Nate’s mind was telling him something was off. Something wasn’t right. But, that part of him was drowned out by the voices screaming at him to go find Eliza and make sure she was okay.
He didn’t waste any time doing just that. He made it across the dining hall with speed that even he didn’t know he possessed. When people tried to stop and talk to him, he ignored them. The blinders he had on would only let him see one thing: Eliza. He needed to get to her and make sure she was okay.
As he approached the large, wooden arched door, his entire body was on full alert. His chest was so tight it felt like it was in a vice being squeezed and his limbs were tingling with adrenaline. He kept trying to tell himself that Nana had a tendency to exaggerate situations, but his internal pep talk was falling on deaf ears. All he could hear was the pounding of his heart and the rushing of his blood.
Desperation to find her flooded through him. He needed to find her. See her. Touch her. Hear her tell him she was okay.
He tried to push the door open but it didn’t budge. Panic exploded through him as he tried again. Determined to put all of his strength behind his next push he turned the knob as he leaned back and to his shock the door opened out instead of in. He rushed inside. All he could make out was that it was small and dark. Before his eyes adjusted to the dimness, he heard Eliza’s panicked voice call out, “No, don’t shut the—”
The walls shook from impact as the door slammed shut just as he made out her small frame reaching out towards him.
“Door,” she finished quietly, slumping in defeat.
Chapter 14
The only illumination in the small space came from a string of lights that ran along the top garment rack against the wall, but since her eyes had adjusted to the dim lighting she was able to see the worried expression he wore as he reached out and grasped her arms.
Nate stepped towards her, closing the distance between them. “Are you okay?”
The feeling of his large, warm hands on her skin sent pleasure bouncing through her like a pinball, hitting erotic zones she’d never even known she’d had. Tingles trailed in its path, leaving awareness zigging and zagging through her. She was at eye level with his chest and she was scared to lift her gaze to his face. Scared to move. Scared that anything she did would cause him to stop touching her.
When she didn’t answer his tone grew more urgent. “Ellie! Are you okay?”
The fear in Nate’s voice caused her eyes to snap to his. What she saw there was no less affecting. Unable to speak under the weight of the intensity in his stare as his eyes ran up and down her body, she nodded.
“You’re okay? You’re feeling better?” A line formed between his eyebrows as his forehead creased with concern.
Somehow finding her voice, she managed to say, “I’m not…I wasn’t…I’m fine.”
“You weren’t feeling sick?” He dropped his hands and stepped back.
For a fleeting moment, she wished that she was sick, then maybe he’d still be touching her. “No. I’m fine.”
“What are you doing in here?” His eyes were still at an eight on the intensity scale.
She gestured towards the row of coats hanging on a rack against the side of the wall. “Your grandma said she needed her coat, so I came in here to get it and the door locked behind me. I banged on the door, but the wood is so thick no one heard me. I tried my cell, but I don’t have any service in here.”
Nate closed his eyes. Slowly, he lifted his arms and ran his
fingers through his hair. The action probably shouldn’t have caused her legs to go weak, but the way his shirt pulled tight against his triceps made them feel about as sturdy as wet noodles.
Maybe before she’d actually touched that muscle with her own hand, felt the hard strength beneath her fingertips, the sight wouldn’t have affected her. But she had touched his steely contours, and now seeing the outline of his chiseled arms triceps turned her limbs—and other parts of her body—to goo.
He let out a sigh and she could tell he was clearly upset.
Eliza shook her head and tried to focus on what was upsetting him instead of what she wanted to do to him. She cleared her throat so her voice wouldn’t betray her by sounding like a breathless Old Hollywood siren. “You thought I was sick?”
He dropped his arms to his side and stared at her. The intensity was gone and his expression wasn’t as guarded as it had been the last few times she’d seen him. “My grandma told me you weren’t feeling well and came in here to lie down. She said I needed to come and check on you.”
“Check on me?” She lifted her hand to her chest. “That’s so strange. I wonder why she thought I was sick.”
“She didn’t.” Nate’s tone was flat.
“She didn’t?” Eliza knew she was missing something, she just couldn’t put her finger on what it was. Part of the reason for that might be because all she could think about was how close Nate was. How good he looked. How nice he smelled. How much she wanted to touch him.
Growing up she’d never seen the appeal of the game Seven Minutes in Heaven, so she’d never played. Her theory had been, what could you possibly do in a closet for seven minutes? Well, now she knew. A lot. Her mind was clouded with all the things she wanted to do to Nate, and all the things she wanted him to do to her in this small, dimly lit, confined area.
Nate shook his head. “I should have known she was lying when I tried to bring Bailey with me and she stopped us and said that you were having lady problems and might be uncomfortable since you didn’t know her that well.”
“Wait. What?” Eliza shook her head and she tried to focus.
“Your grandma sent you here to check on me and said that I was having lady problems?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I think she wanted this to happen.” He turned and tried the door, forcibly, before shifting back towards her. “She wanted us to get stuck.”
“Why?” What motivation would Nana Holmes possibly have to trick them into getting stuck together? Was she playing a prank?
Nate didn’t answer her. Verbally, anyway. He just stared at her like, why do you think.
Realization of what he was saying, but not saying, dawned on her and she waved her hand between them. “Wait…she wanted us…to…be alone?”
His chin dipped as he nodded just once in confirmation.
Now it was Eliza who shook her head as her hands flew up in exasperation. “So she said I was on my period!?”
At her outburst, Nate’s lips started to curve at the corners. She could see that he was starting to find the situation funny but was doing his best to hold it together. Seeing him fighting not to give into the comedy of this whole thing caused her to see the humor in it and she burst out laughing.
Once she started, he joined her. Every time one of them would start gaining their composure, they would look at each other and lose it again. At one point she was laughing so hard that she hugged her arms around her waist and actually doubled over.
Finally, she managed to stop her hysterics and wiped the moisture that had gathered beneath her eyes and was now covering her cheeks. Nate was also able to compose himself and he took a deep breath, as he used his forefinger and thumb to do the same thing beneath his own eyes.
Eliza knew that she shouldn’t push her luck, since they seemed to be getting along, but she couldn’t help telling him what she felt. She was bursting with emotion, most of which wasn’t appropriate to tell him, but there was one thing that she could say. One small confession. “I love hearing you laugh. I’ve missed it. It’s always been one of my favorite sounds in the world.”
The second the words left her mouth, his expression changed. Hardened. She dropped her gaze to the ground so he couldn’t see how badly him shutting her out hurt her. She shouldn’t have pushed her luck. But since she had, and there was nowhere for him to run, she figured she might as well go for it and push again.
No whammy, no whammy, no whammy. Stop. She grinned as the catchphrase from Press Your Luck played in her head.
“What?” Nate asked.
She lifted her head. “I said I love hearing you laugh. I’ve missed it.”
The corners of his eyes squinted, almost as if her words hurt him. But he quickly recovered. “No. I mean what joke were you grinning at?”
“Joke?” Had she accidently said the phrase out loud?
“Every time your lips turn up in a little smirk at the same time your head wobbles slightly it means you’re thinking of a pun or a joke, or something equally as corny.”
Eliza was speechless.
For a second, anyway, then she asked, “How do you know that?”
“You used to do it all the time. One day I asked you what you were thinking right when I noticed it. You told me nothing, but I bugged you and you admitted that when Mr. Hawkins told a student he couldn’t ‘have it his way,’ you said you thought, ‘yeah, this is science class, not Burger King.’”
Eliza didn’t remember that exchange but it sounded like something that would’ve amused her. Her lips pulled up, it still did.
“Wow.” Nate grinned and shook his head. “You still think that’s funny.”
“I love corny humor, what can I say?” she smiled wider.
In that moment, everything clicked back into place. They fell back into their easy rhythm. They were them again. Talking. Laughing. Calling each other out about stuff. This was how it had been. But just as easily as it came, it passed. Nate stood up straighter and his eyes rose to look at the ceiling as if he were counting the seconds until they could get out.
Since this might be her only shot, she figured she’d try to clear the air. Her arms began moving as she spoke. “Look, I’m sorry about what I said when we…when you…when I saw you in front of Tempting. I didn’t mean it, well, that’s a lie. I did mean it. But I didn’t mean for it to make you uncomfortable. I’m sorry. I was just trying to be funny and well, I think we’ve established that I have a questionable sense of humor and am easily amused. I don’t want us to be like this. I just want us to be able to tal—”
“What are you talking about?” he cut in, looking genuinely perplexed.
“You know. The joke that I made, when you were…” She swallowed over the lump that had formed in her throat thinking about him holding the garments that she happened to be wearing right now. “When you picked up my things.”
“You made a joke?” He still appeared to have no idea what she was talking about.
Butterflies flitted in her stomach as she repeated what she’d said. “Yeah, when you were holding my…stuff…I said that I wanted you to see them, but on me not on the ground.”
The intensity returned back in his eyes, and the energy shifted yet again. This time, instead of feeling his stare internally, she felt it dance on the surface of her skin. Goosebumps rose on her arms as the sensation made its way over her bare flesh, which thanks to the fact that she’d dressed for him and not for Cold Castle—as she’d mentally renamed it—there was a lot of flesh to cover.
“And you meant it?”
“What?” she breathed, sounding completely vulnerable and not caring the slightest bit.
“You said, ‘I didn’t mean it, that’s a lie, I did mean it’,” he repeated back to her like he was a court stenographer.
A sexy, dominant, panty-melting court stenographer.
She felt her skin heat like a furnace and a flush rise up her neck. Her chest was rising and falling as her breaths turned into pan
ts that would rival Farmer on a hot day. Her heart was drumming fast and loud in her chest. If Nate actually kissed her, she was afraid it would explode.
As she began to realize that his lips on her might be an actual possibility, nerves bubbled up inside of her. But they were met with other, more intense emotions.
Not even attempting to harness or suppress the need and desire that she was sure was evident from her flush of arousal, the pants of her breathing and her heavy lidded eyes, she took a deep breath and confessed, “Yes. I meant it.”
His gaze darkened and she noticed his breathing grew shallower before he rasped, “You wanted me to see you in them?”
“Yes.” Her voice was stronger now. Determined. Focused.
She’d never backed down from something that she wanted, not if it was within her power to get it. The problem with Nate was, she’d never felt like being with him, touching him or loving him was attainable. But something had changed between them.
This might be her only window of opportunity and she didn’t just plan on going through it, she was going to dive through that sucker headfirst.
Chapter 15
“Show me,” he commanded.
The gravelly element in his voice caused need to explode in the epicenter of her core and her body trembled as it quaked through her. Heat swept over her from head to toe and she tried to quiet the voices in her head that were screaming, “This is really happening!” She didn’t want to be in her head, she wanted to be in this moment, the moment she felt like she’d been waiting for all her life.
Never breaking eye contact, she lifted the hem of her dress to her chest. She was wearing her black sheer corset bra with matching bikini panties. He wasn’t even touching her but liquid heat pooled in her core as her nipples hardened beneath the satiny material covering them. Wanting him to see more, to see all of her, she turned around. Slowly.
“Fuck,” he growled with male hunger and appreciation as she did.
When she completed her three-sixty, his eyes were roaming her body. His face looked…tortured. One quick glance down at his pants, and she saw that he wanted her. Physically at least. But in his eyes, she could see that he was fighting what he was feeling.
All He Desires – Nate & Eliza (Crossroads Book 12) Page 12