‘Babe, it wasn’t just the money that he was going to take, you know that!’ Nate argues. I do know that, if Kris hadn’t shown up when he did, things could have ended differently.
‘And all of his friends that he threatened would visit?’ I prompt.
‘Babe, they are more likely to take it out on Myers, than you,’ he kisses my jaw, ‘we could stay here in the city until things calmed down,’ he tempted.
‘In hiding,’ I announce, ‘I can’t live like that, Nate, and neither should you.’ I cup his cheek affectionately. ‘This. Me and you. It has been bloody great, Nate, andn another life, there is nothing I would have enjoyed more than to wake to you every morning, baby.’ His eyes soften at my endearment, ‘but you know how fucked up I am, without what has happened between me and my father, my brother,’ I exhale a deep breath, ‘and now all of this,’ I shake my head. ‘I need to go home to my steady life, take a breath and be grateful that I had you for a short while to sweeten the pain that I faced.’
I place my lips on his and kiss him with all I feel for him, all we are. It was slow, sensual and incredibly sweet.
‘Not yet,’ he whispered against my lips. ‘Please, baby, not yet,’ his tongue strokes seductively across my bottom lip.
‘A week,’ I declare, ‘then I’m gone,’ I promise.
‘A week,’ he deepens the kiss, leaving me giddy with emotion.
When he detaches his lips from mine, he continues. ‘But, a week being honest about how we feel about each other,’ he instructs. ‘None of this hiding behind your past, never exposing the true you. I want to know the real Sophie, her insecurities, what makes her tick, what floats her boat. So, when it’s time to finally say goodbye, I can sincerely say I knew Sophie Parker, inside and out.’
I gaze at him for what seems like a few minutes, in reality probably a few seconds. ‘I don’t know if that’s possible, Nate.’ I update him. ‘No one’s ever had that before,’ I confide.
‘Precisely why I want it, Sophie,’ he proclaims.
********
I wake, sprawled over Nate’s naked body, it's heat warming me to the core.
Last night he had helped me from the tub, dried me off and pulled one of his t-shirts over my naked body before leading us into the bedroom, where he slipped on a pair of low hanging jogging bottoms. I had sat at the breakfast bar while he had heated up a lasagne left by his housekeeper and we sat side by side in companionable silence.
I was dead on my feet, hardly able to lift the fork up to my mouth to taste the delicious pasta. Nate noticed and immediately cleaned up the plates and tucked me into his enormous bed informing me he had work to do and to call if I needed him. I was almost asleep before he left the room. He obviously slipped into bed at some point during the night, although I don’t recall feeling his warm body against mine as he did.
I slept like a baby.
But now, as I lay against his chest listening to his heart beating inside his ribcage, his warmth comforts me. I run my hand lightly down his abs and listen as he evidently wakes and his heartbeat quickens to my touch. I continue my exploration, stroking a path down to the instantly hardening length of steel resting against his abdomen. I am nervous, scared even, to discover whether our sexual attraction will still be as intense after the assault of a few days ago. My body is alert to his as I move my lips over his chest and downwards to his thickening cock.
My heart continues to thud in my chest, a mixture of desire and apprehension. Slipping down the bed, I lick a trail up his cock to the bulbous head and swirl at the bead of desire that sits awaiting me. I glance up into Nate’s heavy-lidded gaze, which is flaring with lust. He says nothing, waiting for me, assessing what I want out of this. I smile reassuringly up to him.
‘You okay?’ He whispers. I nod, ‘as much or as less as you need,’ he states.
My heart soars for his understanding of the situation. He has read my anxiety and is allowing me to set the boundaries. His hand moves slowly, and his fingers push my hair from my eyes, I lean into his hand, our gazes locked, a silent message hanging between us. He doesn’t want me to go, I don’t want to go, but I have no choice.
Taking him in my mouth, I grasp my fingers around the root and suck him in deep, all the while keeping my eyes on his. He inhales a sharp breath as I take him to the edge with my hand and mouth, sucking and pumping until he can take no more. His hips thrust involuntarily, and I know he is close.
‘Gonna come, babe,’ he purrs.
‘Come,’ I instruct, quickening my pace.
‘Fuck!’ He growls as he expels warm liquid down my throat. I suck him dry, swallowing every drop as he strokes himself into me. ‘Jesus, fuck!’ He pants.
I grin, as I climb up his body and lay down the length of his solid form.
‘Little Minx,’ his eyes are soft and relaxed as his hand catches my nape, and he brings me to his lips. ‘Tell me what I can do for you, baby,’ he whispers.
‘Use your mouth,’ I nibble his jaw, seductively.
‘Abso-fucking-lutely,’ he flips me until my back hits the mattress and kisses me softly on my neck, over my collarbone and down to one nipple, biting down hard like he knows I like. My sex is burning for him, almost dribbling with desire as he makes a slow descent, keeping me on the edge. The other nipple gets his attention next, the sensation sending an electric shock directly to my core.
‘Hmm,’ I purr, as he moves down and circles his tongue around my navel, taking his time until he finally reaches his intended destination. His tongue plays with my clit, flicking it with his tongue, driving me wild. ‘Not going to last a minute,’ I moan, lifting my hips for more. He blows across my wet folds, and my body begins its ascent. ‘Nate!’ I call, pleading as my body bucks and shudders, his tongue dives in and laps at my folds elongating the pleasure that is consuming me.
‘Fuck!’ He growls as he continues to suck and lick until I can take no more.
Kissing up my body Nate’s lips find mine and kiss me hard. I taste myself on his lips, and it’s hot. I feel his erection at my abdomen and want it so bad. ‘Nate,’ I call, against his lips.
‘Right here, babe,’ he murmurs, softly.
‘Need you inside,’ I encourage.
‘You sure?’ He questions softly, although his gaze heats at my demand.
‘Slow,’ I nibble his lip, wrapping my legs around his hips. I have a week with Nate, a week I do not want to be thinking about anything other than him and me.
He pushes gently inside me, and I almost hold my breath, ‘relax,’ he encourages, kissing me deep. His lips take over my attention, the way they are softly demanding, stroking, tenderly against mine. My hips move as he circles me, softly whispering endearments that have me forgetting everything that has happened over the past few weeks and moving against him, needing him, craving his touch as he makes love to me. Because there are no other words for what we are doing right now, we are making love, every stroke, every word is an expression of how we feel for each other.
Nate lifts his lips from mine to stare deep into my eyes, ‘the most beautiful woman I have ever set eyes on,’ he purrs.
My body instantly begins to respond, my breathing hitches, ‘I could fall big for you, Nathan Austin,’ I breathe, as my body prepares to tip off the edge of its current precipice.
‘I’m already gone,’ he whispers, as he senses my release and thrusts with slightly more vigour until he joins me in our finale, planting deep and holding before stroking slowly in and out of my contracting sex.
I wrap my arms around him as my body shudders with the aftershocks of my climax. He’s still inside me, his face fixed firmly in my neck as he calms his breathing down. We are both silent as we come down from our high, connected at every point in our bodies. I decide I will remember this day for the rest of my life.
‘You okay, babe?’ he checks.
‘With you Nate, I’m always good,’ I murmur, quietly.
We end up taking another bath together, and I realise I hav
e been missing out never having a real relationship in my life. The intimacy that Nate and I share just bathing together provides me a warm and fuzzy feeling. Why have I never allowed myself to experience these things?
I have had boyfriends who I went out to dinner with, or for drinks, then on to either of our bedrooms where we fucked, taking what we needed from each other. But, I never felt the urge to give them me entirely, even before Nate insisted on openness between us, he was already getting the real me. I felt safe in Nate’s company it was as if we were naturally destined to be together. Will I ever acquire that again?
‘Don’t be dressing like a nun now,’ Nate had warned when I had joined him in the kitchen area dressed in jeans and a plain white t-shirt. ‘How you dress has no bearing on what happened to you, you hear me?’ I had revealed to Nate, the creep’s words to me as he finger-fucked me, telling me I deserved what was happening to me because I dressed like a whore.
I shrug, ‘even you told me that night that my shorts showed my pussy,’ I reminded him.
‘That’s because you looked fucking hot and I don’t want anyone else getting that hotness, not because you look like a fucking whore,’ he muttered, distastefully. ‘I love how you dress, you just drive me wild,’ he admits.
I step up to him, ‘I drive you wild?’
‘Fuck yeah, you know that,’ he wraps his hands around my waist, pulling me against him.
‘Fancy giving me some of that wildness, baby?’ I flirt.
‘Like you wouldn’t believe,’ he whispers, his gaze turning feral. ‘If you knew half of the things I want to do to you, you would have already flown home.’
‘Tell me,’ I whisper, my body trembling with longing.
‘Not sure you’re ready for that, London,’ he teased, kissing my nose. ‘Come on, breakfast!’
Nate took me out to breakfast declaring he had discovered the finest Diner in Denver. I have to say it was pretty amazing and after a few days of barely eating, I felt heaps better just from filling my belly.
‘Don’t you have to work?’ I ask him, as we walk through Larimer Square. Apparently the place to shop in LoDo.
‘No, I’ve taken the week off, I may be called in for debriefing and updating on the case, but my attention is yours for our week,’ he wraps an arm around my neck, casually, urging me against him. I fall into him, a full beam smile set on my face at the prospect of spending an entire week with Nate and no distractions. ‘You like that idea?’ He grins back down to me, his dimple flashing huge.
‘Oh yeah,’ I murmur up to his handsomeness. ‘I can’t wait to find out all the things you want to do to me,’ my voice is breathy as I gaze up with adoration. ‘Or more importantly, show me,’ I palm the bristle of his stubble on his cheek.
The amusement in his eyes diminishes only for heat to replace it depths. ‘When do you think you will be up for that, babe?’ He murmurs, his eyes falling to my lips, ‘times a ticking here,’ he reminds me. He is attempting to be supportive, but the impatience is evident in his sapphire gaze. My sex clenches and I turn to face him, wrapping my arms around his waist and pushing myself against him.
‘With you, I am fine Nate,’ I repeat my statement of only this morning.
‘Not from behind, you’re not,’ he snakes a hand around my nape and pulls me close. ‘I want to pound you from behind, Sophie,’ he whispers, his eyes darkening with need.
‘Fuck!’ I whisper, as I tip up and take his lips in mine. ‘Jesus, now that’s all I will be thinking about,’ I touch my tongue to his soft lips.
He chuckles, ‘you think you are going to be up for that, London?’ He asks flippantly, but I sense the importance of my reply hidden behind his soft gaze.
‘I think I’m going to take every opportunity I can, this week, baby,’ I hook a hand around his nape and kiss him deep, our tongues tangling on the sidewalk of Larimer Square in full view of the people scurrying along the crowded streets.
‘Let’s go home,’ his voice is hoarse, filled with lust.
‘Okay,’ my insides curl, how am I ever going to walk away from this?
Wednesday night, Eli and Ellie drove up from Krystal. I hadn’t spoken to Ellie since the night of the assault, but Nate had announced that she wanted to say goodbye to me before I left, so he had evidently been in contact with her at some point. I felt a little nervous about seeing Ellie again, after ignoring all of her calls when I was in Boston, but Nate promised that she understood why I did what I did and was genuinely sad to see me leave Denver.
‘Wear a dress,’ Nate had bossed.
‘I won’t feel comfortable,’ I complained, ‘he,’ I gulp deep, ‘he said I was asking for it dressing like a whore.’
‘Why the fuck you listening to that crack head?’ he growls, ‘wear a dress, for me,’ he had repeated, his eyes cold at my confession. ‘Give me this, Sophie,’ he demanded. ‘Don’t let the bastard change you, you are a stunningly beautiful woman, you stop being you, he wins. He hasn’t earned that, he doesn’t get to take that from you.’ The flare of anger inside those stunning sapphire eyes reminds me of our agreement, a week of us no distractions.
I wore a dress.
I also applied my dramatic night time makeup after hearing about the delights of Denver nightlife, flicking my liquid liner up at the corners of my eyes making my huge hazel eyes appear even bigger. I applied heaps of mascara and painted my lips with liner and gloss. Lastly, I quaffed my hair and pushed my feet into my spiked heels with every intention of wearing them in bed tonight, nothing but them.
‘Jesus, fuck!’ Nate had exploded as I sashayed into the room, my makeup hiding the remnants of the knife mark on my cheek and neck. The grey dress was the one I bought in Krystal for such an occasion, held up with spaghetti straps, it hugged my body until flaring around my thighs in a suggestive flutter. I perceived as Nate’s eyes moved down my legs to my strappy shoe boot heels, before heating.
‘You like the shoes?’ I test.
‘Oh yeah,’ his lips tilt.
‘Good, because these are all I will be wearing tonight, when you fuck me hard,’ his eyebrow arches.
‘Groundhog Day,’ he mumbles.
‘Groundhog Day?’ I repeat.
‘I wish it were Groundhog Day,’ his eyes move back to mine and hold. ‘Fuck, you are so beautiful, I can hardly breathe.’
Emotion hits my chest, and I swallow down the lump in my throat. I step forward and touch my palm to Nate’s cheek, and he leans into it. The world stops spinning as our eyes hold, imprinting to memory this very moment.
Nate’s mobile phone begins to vibrate disrupting the connection. He turns and kisses my palm, ‘come on, time to go.’
********
Chapter Eleven
I needn’t have worried about Ellie, as soon as she spotted me from the rooftop restaurant bar, she shrieked and headed in my direction. Hitting me at one hundred miles an hour, she squeezed me so tight I could hardly breathe.
‘I was so worried about you,’ she whispered into my ear.
‘I’m sorry,’ I murmur, holding her tight to me.
‘Sorry! What the fuck have you got to be sorry about, girl?’ She pushes me away, her eyes taking in my appearance, ‘fuck, you look hot.’
‘Sorry, I’m taken,’ I grin at her words to me a few weeks ago. ‘But if anyone could turn me, you could.’
Ellie giggles, ‘likewise girl,’ she hugs her brother a little longer than normal, and I wonder whether she is concerned for him in all this drama surrounding me. He holds her to him, murmuring into her ear before releasing her and shaking hands with Eli.
I hadn’t given much consideration to how Nate’s family had surveyed me and my troublesome arrival. Despite what Nate does for a living, he has approached this investigation from a personal angle, thanks to me, which has put him slap bang in the middle of the firing line. I wouldn’t blame the family if they wished me a speedy return to England.
The evening goes spectacularly well, although my inner anxiety urg
es me to stick to Nate like glue. As if he senses it, he keeps me pinned to his side at all times, and when I expressed the need for the bathroom he insisted that Ellie accompanied me while both him and Eli stood in a position that enabled them to watch us enter and exit.
We eat good food and drink plenty of cocktails, Ellie suggesting we head to a club to round off the night, one that Nate highly recommended. Somewhere, he proclaimed, that the majority of the clientele is over the age of thirty and where it plays music that we would all recognize rather than the heavy beat of unidentifiable sounds.
‘When are you going home?’ Ellie probes, as we are fixing our lip gloss at the illuminated mirror over the wash basins of the restroom.
‘Next Monday,’ I eye her through the reflection, evaluating her reaction. ‘You get why I have to go, don’t you El?’
She shrugs, ‘not really,’ she admits, her warm blue gaze assessing me gently. ‘It’s going to hit him hard,’ she means Nate.
‘Nate always knew my staying here was temporary,’ I play with my hair in the mirror, distracting myself from Ellie’s concerned face. ‘Nate has women lining up, El,’ I murmur, quietly, although the thought of him fucking someone else is like a punch to my solar plexus.
‘He’s never been like this with anyone, not since Cary,’ she frowns, as if she has just realised this for herself. ‘Not even Cary, come to think of it.’
‘Cary, being his ex-wife?’ I check. I am curious for a moment about what she looks like. In my imagination she is blonde, skinny and beautiful. She could be nothing less with Nate as her husband.
Ellie nods, turns to face me and takes a deep breath. ‘Nate is Nate; he is his own man. He meets women, fucks them for a while and then moves on, he has declared on numerous occasions that he has no intention of ever settling down, not again.’ In my deliberation, I am silent as I digest this information, ignoring the hurt that stabs my chest. She continues, ‘Cary was fucking his partner, Nate found them together in his bed, beat his partner bad, walked out on Cary. Swore off women for life, other than to fulfil his urges,’ she confides. ‘It’s not my story to tell, doll, but Nate won’t tell it, and I think you should know. You should know that, regardless of his pledge, you are not just a fuck to Nate, this whole protector thing he has going on,’ she shakes her head, ‘not Nate.’
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