Tempting (The Tempting #1)

by Alex Lucian

  “Then take your issues somewhere else. I’m not going to offer up a place for you to lay it down.”

  There was second where he looked like he might relax. But then his eyes narrowed in on the driveway. I turned to look and cursed under my breath when I saw Adele walking up toward the house with a smile on her face.

  “I need you to leave.”

  He laughed. That fucker just laughed. “And why the hell should I?”

  “Because I don’t need her involved in this. Nobody but you is hanging on to this anger over Diana. And it’s not her fault,” I said, pointing back at where Adele was nearing the door. The locked door, thank God. “If she walks in while you’re still here, then we’re going to have a problem.”

  We stared at each other, neither of us moving while Adele tried the door. Then knocked.

  “Nathan? Can you let me in?”

  “Please, Elias,” I ground out. And the look at utter satisfaction that covered his face made me feel sick to my stomach.

  “How long? Just answer me that. Just tell me how it took before you moved on.”

  She knocked again, a little harder, a little more insistent. “Nathan?”

  No part of me wanted to answer his question. Not a single one. He’d use it against me somehow, even if it wasn’t today. “Four years. I waited over four years before I touched another woman. And she’s the only one that I have.”

  Elias nodded, and I couldn’t read the look in his eyes even if I wanted to. He could cloak every genuine feeling from his face, it was one of his best gifts. The only reason I knew he believed me is because no man would want to admit to being that pathetic. Being celibate for that long. “I’ll show myself out the back.”

  “You remember how to get out?”

  Then he smiled, without a trace of humor in it, showing all his stark white teeth against the dark hair of his beard. “I remember everything, Easton. Everything.”

  I let out a slow breath when he turned and walked through the kitchen, finally pulling it back in when the back door slammed shut so hard that the windows rattled.

  Dick.

  I still felt shaken when I opened the door for Adele, but she was smiling so big that she didn’t even notice. She just threw herself into my arms as soon as the door closed behind her, hoisting her legs up and around my waist.

  “Woah,” I said, feeling calmed by her tactile greeting and her wide smile. It was one I didn’t see on her often, such a broad, genuinely happy grin. “Someone’s having a good day.”

  Adele nodded, leaning in to give me a sweet, close-mouthed kiss. “I am.”

  I braced one arm under her ass, and smoothed the other hand up her back until it tangled in the edges of her hair. Her cold hands cupped my face and we stared at each other. After just looking at Elias, wondering how anyone could decipher his emotions, it was such a stark relief to see everything in Adele’s emerald eyes.

  They glowed. She glowed.

  “I’m very glad you’re here right now,” I said, though the words were such a simplistic statement of the overwhelming tidal wave of emotions raging through me. She smiled again, and peppered tiny kisses all over my face, lingering on my lips after she’d covered every other inch she could reach.

  “I am too, Professor Easton. Now, take me to bed.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Hooking a hand in the front of his jeans, I pulled him up the stairs, feeling high on my decision. Everything would be okay. How could it not be, when I had Nathan looking at me like I was something—someone—powerful? He made me feel invincible. His blue eyes were so warm, his smile cutting into his cheeks so deeply; it was a heady feeling, to know I’d made him happy merely with my presence.

  Something clicked in my heart, a kind of unlocking, and I knew with complete certainty that I’d made the right decision, for me … for us.

  “Mm,” he said, holding me closely at the threshold to his bedroom. “You smell fucking amazing. All the time.”

  I leaned into him, relishing his warmth as the cold made my teeth chatter. “Even when I reek of coffee beans?”

  “Especially when you reek of coffee beans.” He pulled back and placed a kiss to my lips. “You’re an aphrodisiac all by yourself.” He placed another kiss, softer this time. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  My heart was putty in his hands. The way he said the simplest things shouldn’t have affected me so deeply, but they did.

  I placed my hands on his neck and he let out a breath. “Your hands are freezing. Come, let’s shower.”

  While he turned the water to warm, I stripped out of my coat and leggings, shivering a little when my bare feet touched the cold tile. When he turned back around, I grasped his shirt and pulled it from his waistband, unbuttoning all the way up. As more of his chest came into view, I placed soft kisses along his skin until the shirt was completely undone and he grabbed my face, pressing his lips fully on mine. He let out a sigh and unsnapped my bra before pulling me with him into the shower.

  “Come here.” He grasped my hands in his and pulled me close, skin to skin, under the shower head. “Put your arms around me, warm up.” The water beat down on us and I let out a sigh at the welcome warmth of it. Wrapping my arms around him, he squeezed me tightly. I felt the warming down to my bones, wondered if I would turn to jelly just by him holding me so fiercely.

  The water poured from the showerhead over us and I became dimly aware of Nathan’s hand running down my hair soothingly. How had he known I’d needed this? After making such a big decision, I needed to be held like this, to feel myself just existing in the moment with Nathan. Despite our nakedness, there was nothing sexual about this moment. It was just us, holding one another, being what we both needed. The water slid in rivulets over my face, my closed eyes, falling into the little space that existed between our bodies. Neither of us moved, content to just be.

  That’s how I knew what I felt for Nathan wasn’t merely lust. Lust was blind to what we desired most: an emotional connection. And any misgivings I had about changing my major were eliminated with each drop of water down the drain. Whatever this was, it was worth exploring. I didn’t want Nathan to be my secret anymore. I pressed my lips into his shoulder and felt his at my forehead. Nothing could have dragged me from his embrace in that moment.

  I felt him murmur something in my hair, but the water was too loud that I couldn’t hear him. “Hm?” I asked, leaning my head to hum the word in his ear.

  His hands gripped tighter into my back, as if he was afraid I’d move away. “I like this,” he said, as if admitting it was some big secret.

  I laughed softly. “Judging by the bulge against my belly, I’d say you do.”

  “Shh,” he admonished, still holding me tightly. “I’d have to be dead not to get a hard on for you, Adele. But this—just holding you.” He paused, running a finger over my spine. “We don’t do this enough.”

  His words wound around my heart, squeezing. If I wasn’t careful, I knew he could bruise my heart very easily. I lazily kissed his neck and said, “I concur.” A contented sigh slipped past my lips and we continued to stay still under the water, just holding on to each other. The comforting rise and fall of his chest against me could have lulled me into a very peaceful sleep, but as soon as I yawned into his chest, he pulled back.

  “Do you want me to wash your hair?”

  Again, the noose around my heart squeezed. Unable to say anything, I just nodded. Our surroundings were fogged from the steam, so even if I wanted to look away from him, I wouldn’t be able to see anything but us.

  I watched him pour a handful of shampoo into his palm before he rubbed it between his hands and began massaging my scalp. It was heavenly, having his fingers pressing into my skin. The tension I hadn’t known I carried released and I nearly groaned in the sheer ecstasy of it.

  Pressing a finger beneath my chin, he tilted my head back under the spray, allowing the water to wash away the soap. His finger moved
down the center of my neck and came to my shoulders. His other hand came up and both cradled the back of my head under the spray, massaging against the roots as he rinsed my hair. I felt exposed to him like this, with my eyes closed and my head back, my chest stretched in front of him.

  Slowly, his fingers moved to my neck, rubbing circles into the skin. He continued over my shoulders, his fingers working magic into my muscles. His thumbs pressed into the spot where my neck met my shoulder and rubbed away every bit of tension I carried.

  “Ahhh,” I sighed, spellbound. “You have miracles in your hands.”

  He chuckled, cupping one hand at the base of my scalp and moving the other to my chest. I lifted my head, opening my eyes weakly. His eyes were the brightest specks of blue, even in the mist that surrounded us. And the way he looked at me, as if I’d just pleasured him instead of the other way around, was quietly, but somehow delightfully, unnerving.

  “I definitely owe you for that,” I said, reaching my hands into his hair.

  He placed his hands on my wrists and pulled my hands away. “No,” he said, pressing a kiss to my open palm. “I did that because I wanted to.”

  This serious Nathan was different from the other serious Nathan I knew. Maybe it was because he seemed to be serious about us, about me. I wasn’t just a student or even a woman he was fucking; I was something more. And it relieved me. I wasn’t alone.

  The profound impact of that realization nearly knocked me off my feet. I’d felt so alone most of my life between a mother who longed for her husband and a father who had treated me like an intrusion. Even with Leo, I’d felt a little out of place with my impulsivity. But, with Nathan I found a place I belonged.

  Nathan pulled me out of the shower and wrapped a towel around me before wrapping one around himself. As he towel dried my hair, I was overcome with gratefulness and leaned forward, kissing him deeply.

  Somehow we made it into the bedroom. Nathan threw back the sheets before hooking a finger in the knot at the center of my towel, opening it and letting it fall to the floor. He lifted me onto the bed gently, as if I was made of porcelain. With his palms, he spread my knees to allow him room to step between them and then he framed my face in his hands.

  The kiss was gentle at first, his lips just teasing mine, back and forth. But my lips were hungry, and I bit down before soothing it with a lick. Over and over I bit and licked until Nathan climbed over me on the bed.

  His lips paused above mine when I took control and wrapped my legs around his waist, placing my pussy right against his cock. A breath passed between us, from his lips into mine, before he rocked forward, sliding into me.

  When my orgasm built and crested, Nathan gripped a fistful of my hair in his hands, giving me the bite of pain I needed to fall over the edge with him.

  * * *

  “Adele?” his words were soft, whispered in the dark.

  “Hm?” I mumbled, rolling over. My hands met his chest and I sighed. My muscles felt deliciously relaxed from the shower massage and the sex.

  “We fell asleep. We should eat something.”

  “Let’s go out,” I said, remembering that we could now.

  I felt the shake his head. “No. I’ll order pizza.”

  “No,” I moaned, rubbing a hand over his chest. “Let’s go out to dinner. Out of town. Just you and me and two giant plates of spaghetti.” I pressed a kiss to his perfectly sculpted pectoral. “Say, ‘Yes, Adele. Not only are you pretty and charming, but you’re full of great ideas, Adele.’”

  His laugh bounced my head off his chest and he flipped me over, pinning me underneath him. “You are very pretty,” he murmured, kissing the corner of my lips. “And charming.” He kissed the other side of my lips. “And while I like most of your ideas, there’s that pesky little thing like me possibly losing my job and you losing your scholarship if people find out. But let me show you where you can get the greatest pizza in Boston and we’ll eat it naked,” he rubbed a hand down my chest, pulling the sheet down, “in bed.” He kissed me fully and then rolled over to his side.

  I needed to tell him about changing my major. “Do you have to pick it up?” After rolling over, I nuzzled into the pillow.

  He kissed the top of my head and ran a hand over my hair. “I’ll order delivery, but I left the menu downstairs. What do you like on your pizza?”

  “Anything is fine. Do you have wine?”

  “Wine and pizza?”

  I felt him leave the bed and heard the sounds of him grabbing our clothes from the bathroom and bringing them back to the bedroom.

  “Sure. I feel like celebrating.” A smile spread my lips, but he couldn’t see me in the darkness. I held a hand to my chest, hoping to hold on to the happy for a while.

  “Celebrating what?”

  As I was about to answer, I heard the sound of glass falling and Nathan muttering a curse. The lamp on his nightstand switched on, and I blinked as I adjusted.

  “What happened?”

  Nathan, towel wrapped around his waist, gestured to the puddle of water on the nightstand and the floor. “I was trying to turn on the light, but I knocked over the water.”

  “Just go,” I said, climbing out of bed and picking up my discarded towel. “Order pizza and I’ll wipe this up.”

  “Okay. I’ll be right back.” I heard his footsteps leave the room.

  I wrapped the sheet around me and grabbed the towel. I sopped up the mess on the floor and moved up the wood, sliding the towel under the handles of the drawers. As I wiped the water from the table top, I realized the top drawer was slightly ajar and I opened it to wipe out the water that had surely dripped inside.

  The papers on top were wet with angry, large splotches blurring the words in their center. Pulling them out, I saw a small, redwood box.

  Even as my hand reached in to pick up the box, a small voice in my head registered that I shouldn’t pick it up. But I was deaf to anything but the rush of blood in my ears as I snapped the lid open.

  Cushioned inside the box was a simple gold band, topped with a single small, but quality, diamond. Holding it to the light of the lamp, I was mesmerized by its sparkle and pulled it from its cushion, sliding it over my ring finger before I even knew what I was doing.

  Chapter Thirty

  When I walked back into the room carrying the delivery menu for Crazy Dough, I’m sure I still wore the same contented smile that I’d seen in the fogged up bathroom mirror. It wasn’t even that it got better every time we were together; it got sweeter and softer, got deeper into my pores, like I’d never be able to pull her out. And because that’s where my brain was at, it was also why I didn’t notice the strange look on her face when I cleared the door.

  She was just sitting on the edge of the bed, wrapped in my sheets, hair rumpled and cheeks still flushed. But it wasn’t the sated, almost tender look that I was used to seeing in her eyes. I was about to ask her what was wrong, when my mouth closed and I narrowed my eyes. It was guilt. She looked guilty as hell. And then her eyes flicked down to her left hand.

  The light from the lamp on the bedside table hit the ring, that modest speck of diamond Grandma Coulton had given to me before she’d died. My heart stuttered to a stop, a cold flush covering my skin, and for a second I actually wondered if I was going to pass out.

  “Where did you find that?” I croaked out. The icy flush of my skin fanned to heat, making me blink against the sudden swing in my temperature.

  Adele fisted her left hand underneath her right and pressed them against the bunched-up sheet covering her breasts. I’d never seen her look so … terrified. She looked terrified.

  “I’m so sorry, Nathan. I didn’t think … I didn’t—”

  I held up a hand for her to stop, pinching my eyes shut for a few seconds while I tried to collect my thoughts. My gut reaction was to rip it off her finger, clench it in my hand and feel the cold metal against my skin. But I’d never told her a single significant thing about Diana. Not how she died, not the guilt I’d
carried on my shoulders since the day she had. And I’d never told Adele that sometimes, even when I was wrapped around her, I was afraid that I’d never love anyone the way I loved Diana.

  She stayed quiet, only the sound of her uneven breaths filling my ears.

  “I’m not,” I wiped a hand over my mouth and let it stay there while I finally opened my eyes, “I’m not mad, Adele.”

  I half meant it. Her ghost-white face helped ease my racing heart a little. She nodded and I walked over toward her, making sure my towel was tightly knotted around my hips.

  “Why did you go looking through my stuff?”

  Her nostrils flared, and she blinked rapidly, like she was fighting tears. “I don’t know, honestly. I was just happy, Nathan. I was so happy, what happened in the shower and ordering naked pizza in bed and … and we’ve never done that. And you were so happy to see me when I got here,” she paused, looking up at me with giant pleading eyes, and I could see the pulse hammering in her throat. “Weren’t you?”

  “Happy?” I repeated, trying very hard not to sound snappish, since her nerves were obviously limiting her vocabulary.

  “Yes. You seemed like it, at least. And it felt real, like I was coming home to you. Like we were real. And with what I did today, it just… I don’t know, all bubbled over, and I was cleaning up water and—”

  My brain had caught mid-way through her rambling, tripping words. “What did you do today?”

  “Oh.” She swallowed, shifting on the bed and hiking the sheets a little higher on her chest. “I did something for us. So we didn’t have to hide as much.”

  Suddenly, I needed clothes for this conversation. I reached down to grab my fleece pants, hiking them up my legs, only dropping the towel when I was covered. “Adele, what are you talking about?”

  The smile she tried to push across her face was shaky at best, but her eyes were so genuine and beseeching, asking me for something when I didn’t even know what the question was yet. “I changed my major.”