Dark Warrior Mine (The Children Of The Gods Paranormal Romance Series Book 7)

by I. T. Lucas

  The same thought must’ve crossed his mind, and he pushed her back through the doorway and into the kitchen, still kissing her like he couldn’t get enough.

  God, the man was setting her on fire.

  Nathalie didn’t care that her father was in the next room, or that Jackson was probably eavesdropping and could hear each and every one of her throaty moans. All she cared about were Andrew’s hands on her, and where she needed them to be. Hell, he could’ve stripped her naked, right there and then, and had his way with her on the kitchen floor, and she wouldn’t have protested in the slightest.

  Andrew had awakened in her something that had lain dormant throughout her adult life, and she felt her body come to life with sexual hunger.

  The dam that she’d erected to stifle all of her yearnings and desires—never allowing herself to acknowledge they even existed because she’d had no outlet for them save for the touch of her own hand—had been breached. With last night’s earth-shattering kiss creating the first fissures, weakening the structure so today it could burst asunder.

  “Andrew,” she breathed when he let go of her mouth, trailing his soft lips down her neck.

  “Oh, God…” She couldn’t help the words escaping her throat when he nipped her lightly where her neck met her shoulder. For some reason, she imagined him biting her there, piercing the skin, and was shocked to realize that she craved it.

  What was wrong with her?

  Was it the result of all those vampire romances she’d been devouring lately?

  Must be, because no normal woman craved something so wicked.

  “My Nathalie,” he whispered before kissing her again.

  Her name on his lips sounded so good, so right, and she didn’t mind the ‘my’ either. She was all his, if only for these few stolen moments.

  “I want to take you upstairs and make love to you,” he mumbled against her lips, “for hours, and hours until we both can’t stand straight.”

  Shit, that was a splash of cold water on her raging libido. She probably wouldn’t be able to stand straight after the first time, let alone hours.

  She still had to either fess up to the embarrassing truth of her virginity or just let him discover it himself.

  Or perhaps, she could bluff her way through it and say that it had just been a long time for her. After all, she was pretty sure that her hymen had been breached long time ago by her first tampon.

  What a nightmare that had been.

  The tampon had gone in easily enough but refused to come out. She still remembered sitting on the toilet and trying to pull the damn thing out. It had taken her forever and hurt worse than pulling out a tooth. For years, she’d stayed away from tampons, using pads instead, until she’d figured out that they weren’t all made the same. Some expanded in width, some in length, and the one she’d been unlucky or stupid enough to choose as her first had been probably one of those that expanded in width.

  So yeah, chances were that she wasn’t technically a virgin anymore, but she couldn’t say so for sure.

  Regardless of the state of her hymen, though, this was no way to start a relationship. What chance would they have of building trust if it started with a lie?

  No, she would have to tell Andrew. She’d die of embarrassment, but at least she would go to heaven with a clear conscience.

  Andrew must’ve noticed her body stiffen in his arms. “What’s the matter? Did I go too far? I said I wanted to make love to you, but it doesn’t mean that we have to tonight. There is no rush.”

  Great, now he thought that she was some kind of a prude or a scaredy-cat.

  “No, it’s not that I don’t want to, I do. But we can’t.” She tilted her head toward the doorway.

  Andrew sighed, his arms around her slackening their hold. “Yeah, you’re right.”

  Damn, he sounded almost hopeless.

  Nathalie’s mind frantically searched for something to say, a plan, something that would give him enough of an incentive to keep coming back to her. She couldn’t afford to lose him.

  He smiled and touched his finger to her nose. “What are you thinking so hard about?”

  “Trying to find a way for us to be together,” she admitted.

  “Easy, I take you to my place.”

  “I can’t leave him alone.”

  “We’ll bring a babysitter.”

  “He doesn’t trust strangers. He will throw a tantrum.”

  “Okay, so we have half of a solution, that’s already a step in the right direction. Now we only need to find him someone he likes.”

  Yeah, as if this was an easy feat. And there was still the issue of her confession.

  Chapter 34: Andrew

  “Hi, sweetheart, how is your day going?” This was the fourth time Andrew had called Nathalie today.

  He just loved hearing her velvety, sexy voice. One of these days, he planned on asking her to sing something for him. Andrew had a feeling that she would be magnificent.

  They were acting like a couple of lovesick teenagers.

  Except, these three words were yet to be voiced by either of them.

  “I miss you. When are you coming over?”

  He chuckled. “Same time as every day.” Since he’d met her, he’d been going to Nathalie’s place every evening straight from the office. Her day started at four in the morning, so by nine she was falling asleep in his arms. The best he could hope for was to have a couple of hours with her.

  The only exception had been the one evening he’d stopped by Tiffany’s apartment.

  Tiff’s roommates had been very helpful, complaining about how she’d ditched them without notice and how they were now short on rent money. Apparently, her brother had shown up to collect her things, saying that she was going back home with him. Andrew’s impression of the girl that had actually interacted with the guy was that she hadn’t been suspicious. She’d said that he looked legit, knew things about Tiffany, and even had a southern accent.

  She hadn’t been lying.

  In other words, it was a dead end. Andrew still wasn’t convinced that things were as simple as they appeared, but at least it had eased Nathalie’s mind.

  “As soon as I can escape without getting in trouble, I’m heading to your place. I’m just going to stop by the supermarket and pick up a movie. Anything else you need from there?”

  “Nope, nothing. I just want you to get here as soon as you can. I hope you’re hungry. I made you something yummy for dinner.”

  “Starving.”

  “Excellent, see you at around seven?”

  “You bet, goodbye, Nathalie.”

  Andrew had lied about being hungry. After the lunch he’d had with his boss, it would be hours before he could eat anything. But it made Nathalie happy watching him eat the special treats she was preparing for him.

  Every evening, she’d have some new and exciting dish, and every time he’d put on a show for her, exaggerating wildly how much he was enjoying it and making her laugh.

  He loved it, feeling a stupid sense of pride every time his shenanigans managed to get her to tear up with laughter.

  Andrew sighed. Spending time with Nathalie was a pleasure, but he was suffering the worst case of blue balls since he’d reached puberty. Yesterday had been the fifth night in a row that he and Nathalie had been meeting at her place but doing nothing more than kissing. He could’ve taken it further, hell, Nathalie had been all but begging him to touch her, but Andrew knew that once he crossed that invisible line, he would not be able to stop.

  The kissing was bad enough.

  More than once, he’d been tempted to just take her on that lumpy couch in her den. But not only did he hate stealth guerrilla sex, there was something about Nathalie’s fumbling inexperience that was flashing all kinds of warning signs for him to go slow and treat her with care.

  So yeah, he was reliving his teenage years—of stolen kisses on the parents’ sofa and achy blue balls, but also of sweet excitement and anticipation of what was still t
o come.

  There was something to be said for delayed gratification.

  Andrew wondered if the same held true for delayed orgasms. In his mind, it was a form of torture reserved for masochists, but perhaps he should give it a try, maybe it enhanced the experience the same way that delaying the whole thing did.

  Although in his and Nathalie’s case, it wasn’t a choice or a sexual game, it was out of necessity and lack of options.

  They’d contacted several agencies, but so far Fernando hadn’t liked the two caregivers who’d they’d invited for an interview. In fact, he’d refused to even talk to them. Maybe the old man was afraid of being fobbed off on the caregiver and losing Nathalie’s constant company. To be honest, though, Andrew hadn’t liked either of them.

  If they were unable to locate someone both Nathalie and her father approved of, she would not be able to go out and have fun while worrying about him.

  In a way, it was similar to finding a good babysitter for a kid but much worse. There were plenty of good and capable people willing to babysit a child or a baby and actually enjoy doing so. But judging by the two examples he’d seen, the same couldn’t be said about caregivers for the elderly and infirm.

  Since the stern reprimand he’d gotten from his boss after submitting that lousy report, Andrew didn’t dare leave the office before six-fifteen. And after stopping by the supermarket and getting a movie and a bottle of wine, he’d arrived at Nathalie’s a little after seven. Which meant that the shop was still open.

  “Hello, my man, Andrew.” Jackson was the one manning the register as he came in, and they clasped hands over the counter. The place was still full of customers even though it was nearing closing time and, curiously, Nathalie was nowhere in sight. Fernando was sitting in his usual booth at the back, still busy with the coloring books. Soon, they would need to send Jackson out to buy more.

  “Where is she?”

  “Taking a bath.”

  Andrew arched a brow. A shop full of people and she’d left Jackson alone to deal with everything? This wasn’t like her.

  “That’s a first. How come?”

  Jackson shrugged. “She finally realized that I can handle everything just fine and that she can take a breather. I told her to go relax with a bubble bath before your date.” He winked suggestively.

  Andrew pointed a finger at him. “Watch yourself, kid. I will not tolerate any disrespect from you. Am I clear?”

  Jackson saluted. “Crystal.”

  Andrew relaxed his shoulders and smiled to put the boy at ease. Though by the smug look on his too-pretty face, Jackson hadn’t been impressed by his posturing.

  There were four new stools next to the counter and Andrew sat on one. “When did these get here?”

  “Today, Bhathian got them from that yogurt place that is closing down. You know, the one over at 3rd Street?”

  Andrew had no idea what yogurt place the kid was talking about, and he still didn’t understand why Nathalie needed the stools in the first place. They were cramping the already tight space next to the register. “Oh, yeah? What for?”

  Jackson’s grin spread wide, the smugness practically dripping from him. “You’re not here during the days, so you don’t know. But since I started working here, the place is filled to capacity every morning and at lunch time. Nathalie needed more seats. We even had to move Fernando to the kitchen during the busy hours so we could use his booth. Let me tell you, the dude wasn’t happy about it.” Jackson shook his head and made a face.

  Andrew could just imagine. Since he’d been spending time with Nathalie, he’d gotten acquainted with Fernando and his habits. The old guy clung to a precise schedule and everything had to be the same. The smallest of changes threw him off, and what was worse, once he got agitated over something, he stayed like that.

  “How did you get him to move without him throwing a tantrum?”

  Jackson winked. “I have my ways. The dude likes me. Calls me son. Probably because I’m here every day, all day long. He thinks of me as part of the family.”

  “That’s good to hear. Makes things easier on Nathalie.”

  “About that.” Jackson’s face got serious, and he leaned over the counter to get closer to Andrew. “You need to get her out of here. I don’t know how she does it, but I know it would’ve driven me crazy to be chained to this place like she is. I can stay and watch over Freddy, no problem. And I’ll even do it for free—for her. Nathalie deserves a break.”

  Andrew felt like kissing the kid.

  Problem was, convincing Nathalie that it was safe to leave Fernando with Jackson wasn’t going to be easy.

  “Thank you. I really appreciate the offer, but I don’t know if she’d go for it.”

  Jackson shrugged. “That’s your job, dude. You have to convince her.”

  By the time Nathalie was done with her bath and came downstairs, Jackson had escorted the last customer out and locked the door.

  A quick peck on the cheek was all the greeting Andrew got, and then she walked over to Jackson and kissed him too.

  It was good that Andrew wasn’t the jealous type—and that Jackson was still a kid—otherwise he wouldn’t have liked it. Not one bit.

  “Thank you, for closing up and everything. I had a wonderful time relaxing in a bubble bath.”

  The kid had the audacity to kiss her back. “You’re welcome, and don’t worry about the cleanup. I’m going to take care of it.”

  “I can’t ask you to do this after leaving you alone in here for so long to do everything by yourself. Go home, you’ve done enough.”

  “You’re not asking. I’m volunteering.” Before she had the chance to argue about it, he grabbed the rag from the counter and proceeded to the table the last customer had eaten at—the only one that still needed cleaning. All the other tables had been already cleared and wiped clean. It took him about thirty seconds to be done with it, and on the way to the kitchen with the dirty dishes, he winked at Andrew as he passed him by.

  Nathalie glanced around and smiled fondly at Jackson’s retreating back. “Look at him, this kid is unbelievable—on his feet since eight in the morning and still going at it full speed. I guess it’s his youth. His boundless energy makes me feel old.”

  “That’s because you haven’t done anything fun for ages. I’m taking you out on a proper date. Go upstairs and put on something nice.”

  Nathalie looked at Andrew with incredulous eyes. “And how do you suggest I do it?”

  He was about to tease her and say something like ‘you lift one foot and then the other and climb’ but decided to get to the point instead. They had no time to waste. Nathalie had been up since four in the morning, and she had no more than a couple of hours left in her. After that, she wouldn’t be able to keep her eyes open. He needed to get his Cinderella back to bed at nine-thirty at the latest.

  “Jackson is going to stay with your father.”

  “Jackson, you’re serious, he’s just a kid.”

  “Yeah, but you have to admit that he is very capable, and he gets along with your father. He says Fernando likes him, calls him son.”

  Nathalie’s expressive face showed her inner struggle, and she hadn’t dismissed the idea immediately. There was hope. But then she shook her head.

  “Jackson is wonderful. He works so hard. Aside from the baking he’s practically taken over my job. I can sit and read a book if I want to. He handles everything like a pro. But I just can’t ask him to do it, it’s not fair to him. He works eleven hours a day, and even though I tell him to get here at ten he is here already at eight to help me with the morning crowd. It’s too much for him.”

  “It was his idea.”

  “Really? What did he say?”

  “I told your boyfriend that he needs to get you out of here,” Jackson called from the kitchen. “Oh, and thank you for the compliments.”

  Nathalie closed her eyes, a blush creeping up her cheeks. “The guy has the ears of a rabbit, I don’t know how he does it, but
he hears everything.”

  Andrew knew exactly how, but it wasn’t something he could share with Nathalie.

  “So, how about it?”

  “I don’t know. And what about the lasagna I made for you?”

  Andrew rolled his eyes. “I’ll eat it tomorrow. Stop looking for excuses.”

  There was another moment of hesitation, but then she smiled. “Let’s do it. We can go somewhere that isn’t too far away, and if Jackson needs us we can be right back.”

  “That’s my girl. Now go. Just don’t take too long, the clock is ticking.”

  Chapter 35: Nathalie

  Upstairs in her bedroom, Nathalie felt giddy like a little girl.

  She was finally going on an actual date.

  But as she opened her closet and stared at her practical, everyday collection of denim and black, she realized she didn’t have anything nice to wear.

  Shit. She’d have to improvise.

  Black stretchy jeans were good for every occasion, and she pulled them on first. A fitted black T-shirt was next, but as she put it on and examined her reflection in the mirror, she didn’t like how the close fitting outfit accentuated the disparity between the size of her hips and the size of her bust.

  Damn, how she wished she had an hourglass figure instead of a pear shape. There was something she could do about it, though. She pulled the T-shirt off and unhooked her bra. Looking at her breasts, she had to admit that even though they were smallish, they were nicely shaped and perky. They just needed a little boost, which could be achieved with the monster bra, as she called it, from Victoria’s Secret. The thing promised to add two cup sizes which would bring her modest B cup to a voluptuous D.

  With a smirk, she put it on and reexamined her reflection. Was it too much? Now that she’d evened out her proportions, she looked sultry. Big hips, big breasts, and a tiny waist.

  Perhaps the T-shirt would tame the effect.

  It didn’t. It kind of made it worse.

  Stop fretting, you look gorgeous. You’ll have all the guys drooling.

  Damn, damn, damn. The new voice in her head chose a perfect timing to return. And what’s worse, it was a guy, and he’d seen her naked.