by M. Clarke
Olie shuddered, finally met my gaze as tears streamed down her face. I had a feeling this was going to be really bad. After she wiped them, she said. “Okay. But you’re not going to like what I tell you. You might even hate me.”
All sorts of scenarios rushed through my mind as I waited for her to speak.
“I asked you to come over so I could speak to you,” she continued. “I wanted to tell you that I still had feelings for you. I thought if you felt the same, there would be hope for us again.”
Shock coursed through me. The beginning of her story sounded great, but I knew there was going to be a “but.” So guarding my heart, I prepared for the worst.
Chapter 13
Olivia
Love can heal and love can make you soar, but Nate’s expression said my love had broken him. The thought of Nate not knowing how much I wanted him back shattered me. As his eyes filled with utter confusion, he waited for me to continue.
“Then why didn’t you ask me?” Nate scowled. “What changed your mind? Or should I say, who changed your mind?” He didn’t wait for me to answer. Instead, he gripped his hair with his fists and stepped away.
“It isn’t what you think.” I searched to find the best words to explain.
I might have screwed up finding the right words. It was hard to concentrate with him shirtless, water dripping slowly down his chest from his wet hair. God, he looked sexy as hell. He had no idea what he was doing to me. I wanted to lick every single drop. In my mind, my hands traveled all over his toned chest, wiping away the water like I was his towel.
Nate glared at me, unbelieving, as if he expected me to lie. Then he rushed to me and punched the wall with an expression of rage I’d never seen. His body so close to mine caused my focus to slip away.
“Don’t fuck with me, Olie,” he gritted through his teeth. “It isn’t what I think? I wasn’t given the chance to think.” He pointed to himself. “There wasn’t much to think when I saw Troy practically on top of you.”
I had known that moment would cause me problems. Nate’s expression eased when I began to tremble. His anger and how he’d reacted seemed to surprise him, too. I found my composure again and continued before he had another episode that was so out of character. There was no going back.
“I couldn’t tell you because of Troy. Not because I wanted to be with him, but because I was scared of him.”
“What?” His eyebrows pinched at the center, and his pitch rose again. “What do you mean you were afraid of him? Did he threaten you? Did he hurt you?”
When I nodded through unrelenting tears, Nate guided me to the bed with his hand on my back. I wiped my cheeks and sat next to him. His proximity drove me insane, especially when my hand accidently touched his chest.
“Tell me everything,” he said softly, but it was more of a demand. His anger had turned toward Troy and away from me.
So I started from the beginning, about how I felt when I left him on the rooftop, how I might have stayed if he asked me one more time.
“That’s not fair of you to say that, Olie. What does this have to do with Troy?” He placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Nothing.” I found the courage to look up at him, and I couldn’t help the tears. All the hurt buried inside came crashing. “I just need to get it all out. I need to start from the end of us. You wouldn’t give us a chance,” I simply stated. “You wouldn’t even try the long-distance relationship. You just gave up on us. Do you know how much that hurt me?”
He dropped his hand from my back. I didn’t want him to. I’d liked it there, like some kind of comfort blanket. It was a silly thought, but I almost picked up his hand and placed it back.
“You know very well long-distance relationships don’t work,” he said matter-of-factly.
“It doesn’t matter anyway.” I looked away. “What I’m trying to say is that as much as I hurt you, you hurt me too. It wasn’t an easy decision. It pained me greatly that day, but I had to do it. You know it meant the world to me and my mom.”
Nate rubbed the back of his nape. “Yeah. I know. I will admit it was selfish of me to try to keep you here with me. I guess I was trying to save us the torment in the future. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe the only way I could ever let you go was if I lied to myself that we would never work.”
I sighed, intertwining my fingers together. “But we both moved on. That’s why I started seeing Troy. He was wonderful at the beginning, but I never loved him the way I loved you. One thing led to another and—” Oh, God, how could I explain? “I would have never done it. It sort of happened while...” I decided not to tell him we were fucking when Troy started taking pictures of me naked. I didn’t think Nate could handle that. And after I told him, I didn’t know what he would think of me, but I had no choice. We’d come this far. Please don’t hate me, Nate, I begged in my mind. “Troy took inappropriate pictures of me and threatened to blast it on all media sites if he found out I was with someone else.”
Nate went dead silent first. My heart hammered against my chest so rapidly I thought I was going to have a massive heart attack. He narrowed his eyes at the floor with a frown while his fingers wrung the blanket.
“You took...” He got up and started to pace the length of the bed. “Why?” He was silent again, processing everything I’d told him. It was a lot at once. But he kept on pacing, looking mad as hell. “I’m going to kill him,” he seethed under his breath. “I don’t care who he is.” Then he stopped and met my eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me?” His tone softened, sounding concerned for me.
I pushed back farther on the bed. “Because he told me he would go after you, too.”
Nate let out a short chuckle, but it wasn’t out of humor. “He doesn’t know me. He has nothing to threaten me with. Unless somehow he took pictures of me naked,” he sneered.
I stood up, wanting to get out of there. I told him what he wanted to know, but I didn’t need to stay around for his rejection. “No, he didn’t have anything against you. But if he finds out I still love you and I will never want him the way I want you, he will destroy your career because he can. He told me so. I hate that you’re with Kelly. It kills me that someone else is in your arms. I wish I could start all over and go back to the rooftop and tell you, yes, but it’s too late.”
Silence fell in the room because there was nothing left to be said. Grabbing my suitcase, I headed for the door with a shattered heart, as tears flowed relentlessly. I didn’t think a heart could be broken twice. I didn’t know where I would go. I planned to walk out the front door and call Isla to come pick me up somewhere away from the cabin. I couldn’t stay in the same cabin with Nate, let alone be in the same room. I fought the urge to collapse on the floor, and the pleasant temperature became too cold. Oh, God. I felt so sick. The queasiness in my stomach started to bubble up inside me. Just as I took a step out of the bedroom, I heard Nate’s voice.
“Wait. Where are you going?”
My body stiffened from the sound of his swift steps behind me.
“Olie.” The warmth of his body so close to mine stole my breath.
With my back still to him, I managed to answer in a hoarse whisper. “Yes?”
Silence. I could hear the air leaving my lungs.
“Stay.”
“Stay?” I repeated softly, unable to believe the word I wanted to hear. One word lifted my spirit and gave me hope, but I still couldn’t move. Weak at the knees, drained from motion sickness and then pouring out my heart and soul, I was utterly exhausted.
Nate placed his hand over mine, holding the suitcase, and when I didn’t budge, he removed it from my hand and leaned it against the wall. Then he placed his hands on my shoulders and turned me around, but I couldn’t look at him. Ashamed, broken, and tears welling in my eyes, I couldn’t...I just couldn’t until...
Nate’s thumb followed the streak of my tears, wiping them away. “You and me, forever, Olie.” I peered up to his loving eyes set on mine. His expression so soft and tender, tel
ling me everything I longed to hear. “It’s always been you. I never stopped thinking about you, and no matter how hard I tried to move on, I couldn’t. No matter how many times I told myself Kelly could be the one, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. You stayed with me from the second I woke up, until I closed my eyes to sleep. Everything went dark when you left, and when you came back into my life, you were the sunshine after the storm. But at the same time, you turned my world upside down. It only proved that you still have a hold on me, or else having you back wouldn’t have bothered me at all.”
His words filled my heart with joy, making me feel so feather light I could float off the ground. “Oh, Nate.” More tears streamed down my face. Overwhelmed with too many emotions hitting me at once, I bored my eyes into his so he could understand the sincerity of my words. “I love you, Nathan Cross. I never stopped.”
His face came crashing down to mine so fast I didn’t realize he’d kissed me until my lips moved with his. And then all my senses came to life. We were no longer standing in the middle of the doorway. My body pressed against the wall. Our lips and tongues danced and tangled, tasting, nipping, reuniting what was once lost. My sore lips wanted more of his kiss...more of him.
“Olie, Olie, Olie,” he murmured. His hands traveled from my hair, to my breasts, down to my ass, and everywhere his hands could touch, and his lips traveled all over my face and down to my neck as if he needed more of me and couldn’t get enough.
“Nate, Nate, Nate,” I echoed, as my hand felt every inch of his toned chest I missed so much, wiping away the drops that trickled down from his hair. Oh God! He felt so good under my hands. I wanted more of him, but I wasn’t sure where this was going. I bit my lip and controlled the urge to pull the towel off him as my sex drive grew even more.
When Nate pulled off my sweater, he gave me the green light. With a mischievous grin on my face, I yanked the towel off him, and holy cow, I had forgotten what a beautiful man he was. He was tan and ripped in all the right places, and with his long cock calling for me, I was more than ready. Take me now.
Nate rewarded me with a sexy grin and turned me into a puddle. Without hesitation, he stripped my clothes off like a wild animal. Our lost souls had finally found each other after a long, tenuous journey apart. Mad passion sparked between us. The air became thick and heavy from the hot breaths panting out of our mouths.
Somehow my back hit the bed, and Nate moved inside me. As all of me touched all of him, we tangled under the covers and made wild passionate love. He was in me as I was in him. Our hungry bodies that starved for each other for two years lustfully conquered each other.
“Oh, Nate,” I whimpered, completely surrendering to him wholly. His hands on my ass and his chest pressing against mine as he pumped faster pushed me over the edge again and again. Nate and I had made love before, but the feeling bursting inside me was something new. It was finding each other again after missing Nate so much I’d died and now had been re-born.
“Olie.” Moving his lips away from my cheek, he murmured breathlessly. “I can’t get enough of you.”
“Then don’t stop,” I said, running my hands everywhere I could touch.
He kissed me deeply once more and bored his eyes to mine. “I can’t believe you’re here. I can’t believe I’m kissing you, touching you, making love to you.”
“I can’t either.” Tears poured out of me. The wall of hurt collapsed, leaving nothing but pure bliss. “I love you, Nate.”
“I love you so much.” Nate caressed my face as his eyes glistened. Then he gave me all of his love. He stripped away my ache and surrendered to me.
Chapter 14
Olivia
Nate pulled away, wrapping his arms around me and setting his eyes on me ever so tenderly. “I’ve got you. I’m never letting you go.” His gorgeous eyes lit up, and those long eyelashes I envied fluttered as he broadened his smile.
My smile, on the other hand, burned brighter than the fire downstairs. “Don’t ever let me go, but I’m never leaving.” Then my smile faded. Consumed by Nate, I had forgotten about Troy and his threats. “What do I do about Troy?”
Nate’s smile never faded, placing the blanket over us. Now that our heated passion had died down, my body’s temperature dropped. “Like I said. I’ve got you. I’ll handle Troy.”
“What are you going to do? Please don’t hurt your career over this.”
“Don’t worry, Olie. Let’s not talk about Troy. Let’s talk about how we’re going to pay back Josh and Isla.”
Then it hit me. “Did you know they had planned this?”
Nate ran his fingers through my hair and then down my face, gazing at me as if I might disappear. “No, I didn’t. Did you?”
“Couple Trap,” I murmured. Now I understood what they were talking about. I nodded, smiling. “They planned this for a while, I think. What did you have in mind?”
“First, are you feeling okay? You had motion sickness from the drive up here, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “I’m feeling better, Nate. Throwing up actually helped, but I do feel a little weak, or maybe I’m light headed from being so happy.”
Nate snuggled his cheek to the palm of my hand when I caressed his face. “You need rest.”
I ran my finger across his lips. “I don’t want to rest. I just want to look at you. But we don’t have time. Isla and Josh will be either coming back soon or they planned to be out for a while. I don’t know if I want to hug them or kill them.” I laughed.
Nate let out a boisterous laugh, tilting his head back. “I know what you mean. But I think we would have found our way. I was so upset that you couldn’t tell me what was wrong, eventually, I would have gotten the truth from you.”
“Do you understand why I couldn’t tell you?” I pushed back a little to study his face.
“I do.” His forehead creased. “I appreciate that you wanted to protect me, but you shouldn’t have to. What he’s doing is wrong. He’s taking advantage of you. Not only is he crazy, he’s using a power trip on you. I’m not going to let him get away with this. This is so wrong on every level.”
I placed my head against his chest. “What are you going to do?”
Nate didn’t answer my question. “You’re my girl now, Olie. Nobody touches what’s mine. I don’t care who he is. He’s not passing through me to get to you. I don’t mean to give you demands, but please don’t answer his calls, and don’t open your door. First thing Monday morning, we’re going to file a restraining order. It might take some time, and I heard it isn’t easy to get one, but I’m going to do everything I can. Do you have any photo shoots scheduled with him?”
“No.” I shook my head, feeling a brick lift off my shoulders. “I’m pretty sure I’m done, unless they want a second round of the women’s underwear line, or if we need to re-shoot.”
Nate rubbed his jaw. “If Troy gets out of hand, I’m going to have to talk to Matthew about it.”
“Ugh!” I lightly slammed my head against his chest. “This is so embarrassing. I hope it doesn’t get that far.”
“Hey.” Nate hooked his finger under my chin and lifted my face. “You have nothing to be embarrassed about. This isn’t your fault. Sure, you are a poor judge of character...” He cocked his brow. “And you had to date a well-known photographer.” Nate rolled his eyes. “But what’s done is done. We’ll get through this.”
“Oh, Nate.” I collided my body against his. “You’re so good to me, even after what I’ve done.”
Nate stroked my hair. “No, Olie. Our broken relationship was not just your fault. When I think about our past and evaluate what had happened to us, I see my fault too. I should have stopped you, or I should have tried the long-distance relationship, but I let my pride and my stubbornness get in the way. We both caused each other’s heartache when we could have avoided it from the start. But I also think the time apart and dating others was a good thing, so we can appreciate what we have. There will never be the question of �
��what if.’”
I pressed my hand on his firm chest and lightly shoved him. “How many did you date?” I pressed my lips in a thin line.
Nate folded his arms behind his neck for support and gazed up to the ceiling. “Hmmm...there are too many I don’t think I can remember.”
“What? Really?” I squealed. Though I had no right to be mad at how many women he’d dated.
Nate caught my fist aiming for his bicep. “Just kidding. Kelly was the only one.”
“Did you sleep with her?” I placed out my hand to stop him from speaking. “You know what. Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
Nate furrowed his brows, looking agitated. “Good, ‘cause I don’t want to know about that bastard.”
“It wasn’t serious,” I threw in.
Nate grinned, his teeth pearly perfect. “I don’t want to know, and I don’t care. As far as I’m concerned, you never set eyes on him.”
I gave him a quick peck, silently thanking him for being such an amazing person. The phone buzzing on the nightstand startled me. Nate reached over and handed me my phone.
“It’s Isla. I’m not going to answer.” I started texting instead.
Me: What’s taking you so long?
Isla: Sorry. Are you by yourself?
Me: What kind of question is that? Of course I’m alone.
Nate chuckled. “Tell her to take her time.”
I nodded, smiling, giggling.
Isla: Did you go upstairs?
Me: Yes. I feel car sick. Take your time.
Isla: Okay, I’ll be there soon.
Me: Isla, hurry. I think there’s a stranger in the house. Help!
Isla: Is it Nathan?
Me: No. Why would he be here?
Isla: Ugh! This is going all wrong. I’ll be there.
Nate rolled to his side, laughing. It had been so long since I’d laughed so hard my stomach ached.
