Текст книги "Before Jamaica Lane"

Автор книги: Samantha Young

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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 19 страниц)

13

After we spent the rest of the evening joking around like old times, I felt much lighter when Nate left for home. Even though we made no plans to meet up again the next evening, I didn’t find myself worried sick over it. Nate seemed fine. I knew I was fine. It was all fine.

Any niggling concerns were shoved forcefully back into my pit of denial.

At work the next day my colleagues commented on my good mood, and not just because I’d been in an uncharacteristically bad mood the day before, but because I was in a gooood mood.

‘If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she got laid,’ Ronan joked as he stood beside me at the help desk.

Thankfully, the wide-eyed look I got on my face was attributed to the fact that he’d made his crack in front of a student, who was now laughing his ass off.

‘Funny,’ I hissed at Ronan when the student walked away.

‘It was, actually.’ Angus chuckled behind us.

‘You’ – I pointed at him – ‘are a mean boss.’

He laughed harder. ‘Oh, come on, Liv. You’re walking around as though everyone is farting roses and pissing champagne. What’s up?’

I blinked rapidly at his observation, making what I’m sure was a ‘what the fuck?’ face. ‘Farting what and pissing what?’ I looked over at my colleague Jill. ‘Are you listening to this?’

She shrugged, smiling. ‘He has a point. You’ve been telling every student to have a “freakin” awesome day!’ all morning.’

‘So? I’m being polite.’

‘I’m just saying …’ Ronan eyed me carefully. ‘Yesterday you were in a terrible mood and today you’re on some kind of natural high.’

Blowing them off, I turned away and rested my chin on my palm. ‘I had a bit of a falling-out with a friend Monday night,’ I lied, but attempted to keep my story as close to the truth as possible. ‘We sorted out our misunderstanding. Now I’m in a good mood.’

‘Well, what a bloody boring explanation that was,’ Angus said teasingly. ‘You’re a librarian, Liv. You’re surrounded by books and material for a good yarn. And you stick to the truth.’ He tutted. ‘Have I taught you nothing?’

I smiled sweetly. ‘I’m quickly learning how to become a drama queen.’

‘Well, that’s something, I suppose. I’ll be in my office, then, where in five minutes a dashing stranger who looks an awful lot like Ryan Gosling will shackle me to my desk and do completely inappropriate and naughty things to me for the next two hours.’ Angus arched an eyebrow at me. ‘Now didn’t that sound better than “I’ll be writing this month’s rota.” ’

I laughed. ‘Point taken.’ I heaved a contrite sigh. ‘Well, if you must know, Monday night I had wild, amazing sex with this hot guy but shit got weird and I was in a really bad mood about it but he surprised me by appearing in my apartment last night where we had more hot wild monkey sex before we snuggled up and watched a movie. Hence my good mood today.’

All three of them looked at me incredulously and then Angus made a face. ‘My Ryan Gosling story was far better.’

I grinned and turned to serve the student approaching my desk, Nate and my secret still … well, a delicious secret.

Later that day I was still in a fantastic mood and more than happy to see my dad standing outside my building with a shopping bag in hand. As soon as I reached him, he bent his massive frame so he could press a kiss to my cheek.

‘Hi, baby girl. Hope you don’t mind’ – he lifted the bag – ‘I brought some food over. Thought I could cook you dinner.’

I unlocked the building door and let us in. ‘Of course I don’t mind. It’s great to see you.’

Once we were inside, Dad immediately set about cooking and soon my apartment smelled like home. Like old times, we chopped vegetables together and I stirred the sauce while Dad boiled the pasta. You wouldn’t think there was an art to boiling pasta, but there was. Apparently. Just ask my dad.

Our conversation as we cooked was light. Dad told me about this new contract he’d just signed to work with Braden’s company again, while I told him about the sock I’d found in a returned book last week only to come upon the matching sock in the reserve section on Monday. They were dirty socks. I was all for weird. But there was weird, and then there was just weird. Angus had this theory that we had a crackpot Harry Potter fan in our midst and this person had somehow confused library assistants with enslaved house elves and by giving us socks thought he was doing a humanitarian act.

I thought it was a pretty good theory.

Better than my theory that some immature freshman was stashing his dirty socks everywhere, laughing his ass off while he filmed me finding them and then put the video up on YouTube.

We ate sitting on stools at my counter, and I was having a great time just chilling with my dad when our conversation took a more serious turn.

‘So you’ve been quiet lately?’ He eyed me, his eyes sharp, searching.

I shrugged, feeling guilty as hell about keeping my shenanigans with Nate from Dad. ‘I’ve just been busy.’

‘Did you know Joss and Braden are back from their honeymoon?’

Another pang of guilt. Wonderful. ‘No, I didn’t know that.’ I swirled a piece of pasta around my fork. I didn’t know that because I was too lost in my selfish sexual world with Nate Sawyer to give a shit what was going on outside of it. That would have to stop. ‘I should call Joss.’

‘This … absence … Is it because of Dee?’ Dad looked deep into my eyes for answers. ‘Because I think we should talk about that. About me and Dee, I mean.’

My breath caught at his expression, at his words, and I felt my pulse speed up. Sweat coated my palms as I shakily exhaled. ‘Are you … are you going to ask her to marry you?’

Dad frowned and gave a slight shake of his head. ‘No, baby girl. No. Though I’m going to take all the color draining from your face at the mere thought of it as a bad sign.’

‘No.’ I hurried to assure him. ‘Dad, I like Dee. I don’t know her as well as you do, but I like what I do know.’

He studied me, not convinced. ‘Then why do you look ill at the thought of me marrying her?’

Pushing my food around my plate, I shrugged. ‘It’s silly. Immature. I just … still think of you as Mom’s.’

Dad’s fork clattered against the plate and his huge hand covered mine, drawing my gaze back to him. His eyes were bright with emotion as he told me in a low, thick voice, ‘A huge part of me will always be your mother’s. I was from the moment I met her. What I have with Dee won’t ever change that.’

‘Is that fair to Dee?’ I asked, trying desperately not to cry.

He squeezed my hand. ‘I’m a different man now, Olivia. Life changes us, second by second. Who I was before Yvonne passed was a man who was right for her. Who I am now is someone I hope is right for Dee. But the most important person in my life is, and always will be, you. I need to know that you’re okay with me moving on with Dee. And I’d especially like it if you got to know her better.’

I smiled teasingly through the shimmer of tears in my eyes. ‘Dad, I’m a grown woman. You don’t need to be worrying about what I think.’

‘See’ – he shook his head with a grin – ‘to the world you’re a grown woman, but to me you’re still my kid. You’ll understand that when you’ve got your own.’

‘Then if it makes you feel better, I want you to know that I’m glad for you. Dee makes you laugh. She makes you happy. That’s all I care about.’

‘Will you meet with her? Spend some time just you two? I know she’d like that.’

Honestly, it’s something I should have thought of doing without having to be asked, and I realized that I really had been locked up in my own insecurities and problems for so long now that I hadn’t been a very good daughter lately. ‘Of course, Dad.’

Satisfied, Dad changed the subject again, talking about Cole and how Dad and Jo were thinking of getting him a dog if he passed his exams at the end of the school year. Cole had made a comment about how he’d always wanted a puppy and Jo had felt bad that she hadn’t known that, and now she and Cam were discussing it with the landlord.

It was funny, but Jo’s behavior with Cole reminded me of how Dad was with me. Smiling lovingly at my father, I was feeling all mushy and happy for Cole that he’d been blessed to have Johanna Walker as a makeshift mom.

And it was in that moment of perfect contentment that Nate used his key and walked into my apartment.

The sexy grin on his face froze when my dad slowly turned his head and raised an unimpressed eyebrow at Nate’s appearance. They stared at each other for a moment, and then my dad slowly turned his head back to me. He was not happy. ‘He has a key?’

When I closed the door behind my dad I finally let go of all the oxygen I’d been holding inside me and turned to Nate, my eyes bugging out half in horror, half in amusement. He was sitting on my couch, drinking a cold beer and laughing.

‘That wasn’t funny.’

Okay, so maybe it kind of was. But it also kind of wasn’t. We’d just spent the most uncomfortable half hour with my dad as he not very subtly cross-examined us about our friendship. The funny part was watching him try to make Nate squirm. The not-so-funny part was the part where I lied my ass off to my dad about the nature of my relationship with Nate.

Nate put his beer down on the table and stood up, kicking off his shoes. ‘Your dad is bloody scary,’ he commented, still amused. I watched, questioning him with my eyes as he began to undress. ‘Are you sure he’s not the reason you haven’t had a man in seven years?’

I laughed, my eyebrows rising as he stood before me in nothing but his boxer briefs and a raging erection. ‘Why? You’re clearly not scared of him.’

‘I’m made of sterner stuff than most men.’ He strode toward me and grabbed my hand, pulling me toward the bathroom.

‘Tonight’s lesson?’ I asked, since he’d just gone into it without so much as a word.

Nate shut the bathroom door behind us and took the hem of my shirt in his hands to tug it up and off. ‘Spontaneity. Nothing hotter than a woman who wants to fuck you all the time, no matter where you are or what you’re doing.’

I unclipped my bra as Nate worked on my jeans. ‘I’m beginning to think these lessons are personalized lessons on how to please Nate Sawyer.’

‘You don’t realize that all men think that way?’ he teased, removing my jeans and panties.

‘I don’t know.’ My heart was racing now as he reached into my shower and switched it on.

‘Well, most men I know think that way. So … tonight? Shower sex. I didn’t manage to have one after my class, so I thought we’d share one together.’ He grinned and dropped his boxers.

I licked my lips and eagerly followed him into the shower. ‘You know I have a feeling that women like men who want to have sex with them all the time no matter where, too.’

Nate’s smile was heated as he pushed me under the spray of water and up against the tiles. ‘It’s good to know the shower does so much for you, babe. In the grand scheme of things, shower sex is pretty vanilla. I can’t wait to see how you react to me fucking you in the university library.’

My eyes widened. ‘You can’t do that,’ I breathed, growing hot and wet just at the thought of it. ‘I throw kids out for that.’

‘But you like the idea …’ He grazed his lips over mine and lifted my leg. ‘Admit it.’

Before I could answer he thrust into me hard and I would have smacked my head against the wall if he hadn’t curled his hand around it to cushion it in expectation of me arching back in pleasure.

‘Never mind,’ he purred in my ear. ‘I’ll take how wet you are as admission.’

‘Are you sure you don’t mind me crashing here?’ Nate asked, skimming a finger down my naked spine as I lay on my stomach beside him on the bed.

After the delicious shower sex I’d dried my hair while Nate reheated some of the pasta for himself. By the time I wandered out of the bedroom, he had finished eating and was ready for our lessons to continue. I knew this because I walked out of the bedroom only to have him maneuver me back inside immediately. Three orgasms later, I was thoroughly sated, it was late, and there was really no point in Nate heading home when I had a comfy bed big enough for the both of us.

With my head resting on my arms, I’d been staring at my headboard, my body so relaxed that I was almost purring like a kitten. I turned my head to answer him, my hair rustling across the pillow. ‘At this point you can have anything you want.’

I watched his dimples appear and decided that one day I was really going to have to kiss those sexy little indentations. ‘Do you really want to make my ego bigger than it already is?’

‘Hmm, good point.’

We smiled at each other before my eyes drifted closed.

I was dozing when I felt the touch of his lips against my bare shoulder. ‘Liv?’

There was something in his tone, something solemn that made me instantly alert. Opening my eyes, I searched his face and found his expression equally grave. My stomach flipped with uncertainty as the blood rushed in my ears with the sudden pounding of my heart. ‘Yeah?’

Nate rolled onto his back, his hands clasped behind his head as he studied my ceiling. ‘You really are one of my best friends, you know.’

My pulse slowed a little as warmth rushed through my chest. Touched, I reached out to skim my fingertips affectionately down his stomach. ‘Back at you, babe.’

‘So promise me something.’

I stilled. ‘Okay?’

‘Promise me, no matter what, this … what we’re doing … it’s not going to ruin that.’

I didn’t understand the sharp, serrated pain that cut across the warmth that had flooded my chest, but I did understand why he was asking what he was asking. Flattening my palm across his stomach, I moved it until it rested over the ‘A’ tattooed on his skin. ‘I promise.’

His whole body relaxed under my hand and when he turned his head to look at me I saw tenderness and gratitude in his eyes. We smiled at each other again, and I ignored the jagged pain.

After a moment he moved his head back and returned to staring at my ceiling.

I couldn’t look away from his face, my eyes committing the sharp cut of his jaw, the perfect profile, straight nose, sooty lashes, beautiful lips, to memory. I was no longer surprised by the way my body prickled to life at the mere sight of his handsome face. For now I put that feeling aside, sensing that his mind was somewhere else, somewhere a little darker than usual.

My fingers circled the ‘A’ on his chest.

‘Nate?’

‘Mmm?’

‘When you’re having a hard time about it, you know you can talk to me, right?’

He gave a slight shake of his head. ‘I’m okay, Liv.’

‘Really? Because when Cole mentioned your tat, you seemed a little off for a few days afterwards.’

Nate slanted a look at me and gave a long, shaky sigh. ‘I don’t know if I can admit it out loud.’

‘Hey, as if I’m going to judge you about anything,’ I teased, trying to relax him again and remind him he was safe with me.

I wanted to follow the little sad smirk curving his lips with the tips of my fingers, but I refrained.

And I waited.

Until he said, ‘I got the tattoo so I’d remember Alana every single day.’

‘Yeah, you told me,’ I reminded him softly.

‘I sometimes wish I hadn’t gotten it.’ Shame entered his gaze as he looked at me, and I hated that he felt it. ‘Sometimes I think it would be easier to forget her most days.’

‘That’s understandable, honey.’

Nate shook his head in denial. ‘I promised her.’

‘Promised her what?’

His voice was hoarse now as he confessed, ‘I promised I’d never leave her.’ He cleared his throat, trying to bury the emotion, but he couldn’t. My friend was still carrying around so much history and I knew that for a fact as he continued. ‘When we were kids I protected her from everything. Crappy stepdad, kids who’d tease her because she didn’t have a lot of money, nightmares, even sad stories. But I couldn’t protect her from the cancer. I couldn’t protect her, so the least I could do was never leave her.’

A new ache wrapped its bruising hands around my ribs, and I leaned over to press a comforting kiss to his chest. ‘Nate, moving on with your life doesn’t mean forgetting her, or leaving her.’

Eyes narrowed, he wasn’t impressed with my comment. ‘How can you say that? You of all people know it doesn’t work like that. I should want to see that tattoo in the mirror every day, Olivia. I shouldn’t resent it.’

The hands around my ribs squeezed as the voice inside me told me to speak up, confess my own deep buried secret, the real reason behind all of this. I should. For my friend, I should. I pressed my cheek to his chest and struggled to find control of my breathing, tears pricking my eyes as I forced myself to be brave for him.

‘Do you want to know the real reason I asked for your help?’ I choked on the last words, the tears falling from my eyes. Nate tensed when he felt the splash of salt water on his skin.

He moved beneath me, but only to release his arm from behind his head so he could wrap it around me. ‘Liv?’

Looking up at him now through my tears, I whispered my own confession. ‘I was scared of resenting my mom. I was scared that somewhere deep inside of me I blamed her for the fact that I’d never had what everyone else had – first love and sex, and time to explore it when every one else was. I thought’ – I brushed away my tears – ‘I thought if I could just do something about it, it would take the chance of that resentment building away. Because resenting her for that would just make me the worst person ever, and I don’t know if I could have handled that dark part of myself that blamed a woman who was kind and gracious until the very end.’ I wiped at my tears and braced myself over him, running my fingers tenderly through his thick hair. ‘You’re not alone, Nate.’

I pressed a comforting, tearstained kiss to his lips.

And promptly found myself flat on my back, my hands pinned above my head as he braced himself over me, his eyes burning. ‘Nate?’ I gasped at the sudden movement.

His answer was to kiss me deeply, roughly, almost desperately as he nudged my legs apart. He let go of one of my wrists only to grab a condom off the bedside cabinet, and once he was ready, he held me down again.

I tried to move my arms, but they wouldn’t budge, and I was wickedly surprised to feel swift arousal move through me at the feeling of being completely under his control.

His to do with as he pleased.

With a growl of need he slammed into me and all I could do was take it as he pounded me into the mattress, my cries growing louder and louder until an eyes-rolling-to-the-back-of-my-head orgasm shattered my insides and I screamed his name upon beautiful release.

After Nate came just as hard, out of breath, out of control, he pulled out of me, but this time he didn’t get up to go to the bathroom. Instead he took off the condom and threw it in the trash can by my bed and then wrapped his arms around me, resting his head in the crook of my neck, leaving our legs tangled together.

We lay like that for some time, not saying a word, until finally sleep began to lull me. Feeling the pull of sleep Nate turned us on our sides, my back to his chest, his arm around my waist, his legs entwined with mine, and together we fell into a temporary state of absolute peace.

14

There was a lot to be learned from what was happening between me and Nate, but unfortunately I was determined to learn the least important things. Waking up with him that next morning, feeling his arms around me, feeling this wonderful mixture of being thrillingly alive but so comfortingly safe, I didn’t allow myself to take the time to read the signs.

Instead, we woke up, Nate in a hurry upon realizing he’d slept in and had a photo shoot early that morning for one of the local high schools. I discovered that laid-back, charming Nate did not like to be late. He relied on the use of grunting to reply to me as he rushed around trying to get ready. It was kind of cute.

Before he left he told me he was working that night so he’d have to call me to arrange our next lesson, but there wasn’t any weirdness about him like on Tuesday morning, so I took it to mean he really was busy and we’d arrange something later.

I’d gotten a couple of texts from him since then, but they were just to crack jokes about work, not anything about our lessons. I was cool with that. There was no rush, no immediate need to see him or anything.

Nope.

Uh-uh.

Still, I was looking forward to the distraction of Friday dinner with my dad and company. Jo had chosen D’Alessandro’s because we had two extra guests that evening. Dee, and also Hannah. She was having a wee bit of bother getting Marco to talk to her, so we’d decided the only way to see what the hell was up was to create a situation where she could see him without looking like a total stalker.

We had no idea if he was working that night, but we’d decided it was worth a shot.

I sat at the table with Dad, Dee, Jo, Cam, Cole, and Hannah and did my very best to be there and be present, but every now and then a memory from the past week would cross my mind and I’d get lost in a little Nate-and-Olivia fantasy until one of my companions dragged me out of it.

Jo was talking to me about Joss and Braden’s photos from their honeymoon in Hawaii when I felt Hannah tense beside me. Both Jo and I looked at her and then followed her frozen-rabbit stare across the room to the young man who was bussing a table in the corner.

Our girl had good taste.

A little young for me, of course, but I could see the attraction.

‘Is that him?’ I asked under my breath.

She nodded quickly, licking her lips nervously. That surprised me, since I’d never known Hannah to be anything but forthcoming and confident. Apparently she’d been a shy little kid, but I could never quite picture her that way. It wasn’t that she was particularly outgoing or boisterous; in fact she was a pretty chill person, quiet, reserved. But she also spoke her mind and was hilarious when she did so.

‘Go talk to him.’

Hannah’s jaw hardened with determination and she immediately got up. She was wearing skinny jeans and a fitted T-shirt that showed off her curves. She was casual but she was gorgeous. This kid didn’t stand a chance.

Feeling a niggling in my bladder, I realized I was going to miss the show. ‘I’ll be right back,’ I muttered and made my way to the toilet, trying not to look obvious as I saw the boy’s eyes widen in surprise to see Hannah walking toward him.

I hurried into the restroom, and when I came out, I was right behind Hannah and Marco, hidden by a tall faux plant. I eyed my table, knowing I should go back and give them privacy. Then again, this was a girl I cared about, and if the little idiot was mean to her I wanted to be there so I could sort his punk ass out.

‘I told you I’ve been busy,’ he said with a shrug, his American accent throwing me for a moment until I remembered Hannah telling me he was from Chicago.

Hannah eyed him suspiciously, a stubborn little jut to her adorably pointed chin. ‘So you’re not avoiding me?’

Marco scratched his cheek, his lips curling at the corner. ‘No. Why would I be avoiding you?’ His eyes flickered over her shoulder and there was something proprietary in the way he said, ‘It looks like you’ve been keeping busy anyway. New guy already?’

She stared at him for a second, and I was mighty impressed by how cool she was. Way cooler than I would have been. Especially if I’d been confronted with a guy as hot as Marco at her age. He was a good couple of inches over six feet, athletically built, and his mix of African American and Italian heritage had lent itself beautifully to his light caramel skin tone, high cheekbones, cut jawline, and sensual mouth. His blue-green eyes were a striking contrast to his skin and dark lashes. All of this was only made more appealing by his quiet but intense presence. I had a feeling Hannah had found herself a broody boy to crush on.

‘That’s Cole,’ she finally answered, tilting her head to the side to give him a questioning yet cocky smile that told him she thought his words belied his jealousy. ‘He’s a family friend. Why? Would it bother you if he was my date?’

Marco frowned. ‘No, Hannah, it wouldn’t. You can do whatever you want.’

She was good at hiding her disappointment, I’ll give her that. ‘Well, what I want is to hang out with my good friend Marco, but he’s been hard to find lately.’

It was his turn to stare, and I recognized the moment when he crumbled under the gaze of her wide velvet brown eyes. He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe he was giving in to her. ‘I’m off Tuesday night. We could hang out then.’

‘Okay. Do –’

‘Eavesdropping is rude, you know,’ a familiar voice told me quietly.

Surprise, and I wasn’t sure if it was good surprise or bad surprise, spun me around and I gazed up, probably looking a little stupefied, into Benjamin’s face. ‘Benjamin,’ I wheezed, my heart taking its time to slide down my throat and back into the chest where it belonged.

His gorgeous eyes brightened as if he was pleased I knew his name. ‘Hi again,’ he said with a grin, jamming his hands in his pockets.

‘Uh, hi.’ I quickly glanced back at Hannah to see that she was walking to our table, looking over her shoulder with a frown line between her eyebrows. It appeared as though a tall, good-looking Italian man was quietly chastising Marco. ‘Uh’ – I turned back to Benjamin – ‘I know her.’ I gestured to Hannah. ‘Hannah. I was just making sure she was okay.’ I shrugged sheepishly. ‘And maybe eavesdropping a little.’

To my relief he laughed and it suddenly occurred to me that I’d spoken to him without fumbling up the words. It made me smile, and my smile made Benjamin’s eyes drop to my mouth.

After swallowing hard at the interested gleam I saw there, I said wryly, ‘I take it you like D’Alessandro’s.’

‘My favorite Italian restaurant in the city.’

‘Mine too,’ I agreed and then glanced past him, trying to see into the other dining room. ‘Are you with your family?’

Just like that, Benjamin appeared uncomfortable. ‘Um, no. A first date. I saw you and thought I’d come over and say hello.’

Admittedly, I’d felt a little disheartened at the words ‘first date,’ but knowing he’d left that date to come talk to me obliterated most of the disappointment. ‘The date must be going well.’

He leaned into me and whispered in mock horror, ‘She ordered salad.’

I gaped back in actual horror. ‘In D’Alessandro’s?’

‘A salad and water. It’s painful to watch.’

A rush of giggles bubbled out. ‘I’ll bet.’

Benjamin chuckled too now, his eyes roaming my face in a way that was nice but also that suggested he was taken aback by me. That wasn’t so surprising. It was the first time he’d gotten a conversation out of me. ‘Well,’ he said, seeming reluctant, ‘I better go back. I told her I was going to the loo.’

‘Okay.’ I smiled giddily. ‘I’ll probably see you at the library then.’

‘Definitely,’ he murmured sexily and I grinned wider watching him walk away.

As soon as he was out of sight, I made my way back to the table, feeling warm flutterings in my chest. That had gone well. Really well. My lessons with Nate were paying off!

Nate.

I frowned suddenly as the warm flutterings disappeared and I landed heavily in my chair.

‘Who was that?’ Jo asked.

They were all staring eagerly at me.

Even Dad.

‘A guy from the library.’

Dad tilted his head to the side, a curious look in his eye. ‘A colleague?’

‘No, a postgrad. He’s nice.’

‘Postgrad,’ Dad repeated, thinking this over. ‘Smart fella, then.’ He grinned cheekily at me. ‘He’s definitely interested in you, sweetheart. Do you like him?’

Something unpleasant squeezed my stomach as I considered my dad’s observations. Benjamin had indeed seemed interested. He’d left his date to come talk to me. Did that mean … if I saw him again … what would happen?

And … Jesus effing Christ …

… what did I want to happen?

Nate.

I shrugged again, struggling to breathe through the sudden tightness in my chest. ‘I don’t really know him.’

My legs felt heavy as I walked up the concrete stairs to my door. Luckily I’d gotten through dinner by pestering Hannah with questions and laughing while she held her own against Cole’s teasing.

However, as soon as I was on my own, walking toward my apartment, the headache that had been dying to make itself known sprang to life between my eyes. I rubbed my sinuses, wishing my brain wasn’t all mushy and messed up right now.

Lines were being blurred, and other lines were actually being crossed. There were a whole lot of lines and none of them were of a solid consistency.

Mothereffing lessons.

With a huge sigh I let myself into my apartment and came to an abrupt halt at the sight of Nate leaning against my couch, his arms crossed over his chest, his legs crossed at the ankles.

God, he was beautiful.

He didn’t even have to say a word and my heart was pounding.

I shut the door behind me, leaned against it, and turned the lock. Our eyes met across the room and clung. ‘New lesson?’ The words came out all husky and needful.

Nate straightened up to his full height. ‘Tonight’s lesson: Use your initiative.’

Without saying a word I shrugged out of my jacket and began to undress.

Nate’s eyes smoldered as he prowled toward me. ‘Good initiative.’