by Lia Lee
"This is more complicated than I thought," Nathan grumbled, but there was a glint of humor in his eyes. She watched as he handled the mixture as carefully as if it were dangerous chemicals, and nodded when he poured it into the scraped clean pan.
"All right now, just let it set for a bit, and then you can start pulling it up to get it totally cooked. I guess you've never had to cook much before?"
He glanced at her with amusement. "Not at all. I never had to think much about food when I was a kid, and of course I never learned to cook much beyond toast. What about you? I know you can order delivery like a professional and you are good at directing someone on how to make scrambled eggs."
She laughed a little at his words, and it struck her how different the man standing in front of her was from the one she had spoken to the night before. Perhaps it was best that they didn't sleep together if this was how confused she could get.
"Well, I know how to cook well enough, I suppose," Natalie said. "Getting anything from a restaurant was always a treat when I was younger, you know? Before my parents died, on payday, Dad or Mom would spring for a burger joint, and it was always so good..."
"Your parents are dead? I saw that in the research dossier..."
Her mouth twisted a little at how strange their methods of learning about each other was. "So I looked up the magazines, and you got a private investigator?"
Nathan grinned wryly. "Sounds like. I'm sorry about your parents."
"Me too," she said softly. "They were as good to me as they could be, they gave me a good start. I think...I think they're why I thought this was a good idea. They understood wanting a kid and loving them..."
The quiet after that was thoughtful but oddly comfortable. She showed him how to dish up the eggs as she toasted thick slices of the oat bread, and soon they were sitting down to a plentiful breakfast, including bacon that had been left warming on the stove.
"Would you think I was a fool if I were proud of myself?" Nathan wondered, and she laughed.
"Not at all. I remember the first time I made oatmeal for my mom when she had to stay home sick. It was just water and some milk and a microwave, and I was already nine, but I was so proud of myself."
If Nathan was embarrassed to be inadvertently compared to a nine year old, he only laughed.
The meal was astonishingly good, and Natalie relished it, realizing how hungry she had gotten. They ate companionably, but it wasn't until she checked the time that she remembered her thoughts from before.
"Oh, it's already ten-thirty," she said, looking at the clock. "Are you... I mean, do you have work today?"
Nathan smiled at her faintly, making her blush a little. What was it about this man that made her blush so often?
"I could certainly make myself scarce if you have something you would rather be doing, but one of the perks about owning Thomas Corp is that I can mostly work when I please. I'll do an eighteen-hour day sometimes, and sometimes, I can go a week or more without going into the office."
"That sounds nice," she said uncertainly. Was he staying home simply because he could, or was there something more there? It wasn't her business, and she did her best to squash the shy hope that maybe he was staying for her.
"It is. And of course, if you have plans, I'll stay out of your way. Do you? Have plans, I mean."
"I was thinking about going to the Victoria and Albert Museum today. It ought not be too crowded since it’s the off-season, and I've always wanted to go see it."
For some reason, Nathan looked surprise and then oddly delighted. "So do you mind company? That sounds like fun to me."
She stared at him in confusion, and the smile fell from his face.
"What is it, Natalie?"
"I'm just...surprised, I guess? I mean, I've read the articles, and I'm not sure a national museum is how you have fun."
She wondered if he would laugh at her, but he frowned instead.
"Natalie...believe the things I say. Some of the magazine articles that you read are good enough, others are just crap, and... Sometimes I have the feeling that you're talking to who you think I am. It's...not a good thing, and I don't want to hear it. I would rather someone call me names than talk to who they think I am."
She felt a deep stab of shame at his words, because he was right. The Nathan she had met was perhaps a bit spoiled, certainly used to getting his own way, but she had never seen the reckless, careless playboy that so many papers presented him as.
In a moment, she was out of her chair and threw her arms around his neck. He froze for a moment, and then he half turned to take her in his arms.
"Now what's all this?" he asked softly, and she buried her face in his dark hair. His shampoo smelled of juniper and wood smoke, and she breathed deeply for a moment.
"I'm sorry," she said. "You're completely right, and I was being a jerk. If you want to come to the museum with me, I'd be happy to have you along."
Nathan laughed a little. "You're forgiven. And like I said, if you don't want me along..."
An hour ago, she would have said no, she wanted to be on her own, but that was before she’d spied the vulnerability in his eyes. It was the same loneliness she had felt so often in her own heart. The last place she had ever expected to see it replicated was in a man who personally controlled more wealth than some countries, but there it was.
"I do," she said, and instinctively, she gave him a small, chaste kiss on the brow.
The contact froze them both for a moment. Where was the line? They didn't sleep together, but where did kisses fall?
Apparently kisses were allowed, because Nathan smiled again, pulling her close and planting a soft kiss on the corner of her mouth.
To her surprise, the heat and electric connection were still there, but there was something else as well. It was warm and sweet, and in a way she didn't understand, her brain tried to tell her it was dangerous.
"Come on," he said, and she wondered if she was the only one who had felt that. "We can take my car."
***
Natalie was impressed by the grandeur of the museum, but two hours in, she had to admit that it was very easy to get overwhelmed.
"It's like, we just turn the corner, and there's another piece of priceless art," she said with a rueful laugh. "It's so overwhelming, I have no idea how I can even take it all in in one day."
"You don't have to do it in one day," Nathan said. "Let's call off, maybe hit a garden or a park and get some sun. We can come back another day."
She started to argue, and then she laughed, shaking her head. "I was going to say that we paid for tickets, and of course we need to see it all, but that doesn't matter to you, does it?"
He grinned at her. "Not at all. If you like, consider us buying another ticket and picking up from where we left off to be a contribution to the museum's upkeep, how about that?"
"That sounds like something I would never have even considered a few months ago, but sure, all right, you've convinced me."
Back in the warmth of the early autumn day, Natalie felt strangely relaxed and at ease. There was no pressing engagement she had to be worried about, she wasn't stressing about bills, there was nothing in the world that concerned her at all. She glanced at Nathan who was checking something on his phone. He was so handsome that he still took her breath away, but there was a growing familiarity to him as well that was astonishingly sweet.
"What are you thinking?" he asked, and she smiled at him.
"How nice this is," she said truthfully. "But there's a lot of day left. Why don't you pick where we go next? Something you'll enjoy, something that you like to do when you're in London."
Nathan blinked at her, and she remembered all over again his surprise when she’d had dinner waiting for him the two nights previous. Was it so very strange that people took him into account like that?
"Something I'll enjoy, hmm. Well, how are those shoes for walking?"
She blinked, glancing down. The dress was new, but the shoes, practical Mary J
anes, were a pair she had owned for a year, broken in comfortably and flat.
"Just fine? But we're in London right now..."
His grin widened. "Well, you did ask what I wanted to do. Let's make it a surprise."
***
Two hours later, Natalie laughed as Nathan watched her from up the steep rise.
"There's no dishonor in giving up," he taunted. "I'm more than happy to get back down there and take you home."
"Please, save your platitudes. I can get up this easily, I just don't want to dirty my dress."
The forest was almost an hour away from the London city center, but it was a cool and gorgeous wood, like something out of a fairytale. In the middle of the week, they had the trails to themselves, and Natalie had happily followed Nathan along one of the more remote ones.
The slope in front of her was steep enough, but Nathan had climbed it with ease. It was a little loose, but nothing she couldn't handle, she decided.
"All right, here I go..."
She knew that once she got going, she shouldn't stop. At the very least, she might need to scrabble at the slope and dirty her dress. At worst, she might slip back down the slope and land on her rear. Instead, Natalie threw herself at the slope, reaching down to grab a handhold here, jamming her foot in a ledge created by a thick tree root there.
"There," she said as she crested the top. "Not even sweating..."
She had spoken too soon because the ledge under her right foot, at first so sturdy, crumbled out from under her. Natalie uttered a short shriek, her arms pinwheeling in an attempt to gain balance, but she could feel herself tumbling back into empty space.
Before she could do much more than slip, however, Nathan's hand shot out, and there was an iron grip wrapped around her wrist. He pulled her forward hard, and then his free arm came up around her waist, gathering her to him. For a moment, she was afraid his grasp might tumble them both back down to the bottom of the slope, but with a grunt, Nathan threw himself backwards.
He landed hard on his back, and Natalie landed on top of him, cushioned entirely from the ground by his body. For a moment, they both breathed, waiting for the adrenaline to flow out of their systems, breathing hard. She could hear his heart beating like a drum underneath her ear, and she couldn't seem to relax her hands, which were clenched in the fabric of his shirt.
"Are you all right?" Nathan asked finally. "No scrapes, no sprains?"
"I'm fine," she sighed, relaxing against him bit by bit. "Thank you for the rescue, that really could have been ugly."
"And look, you didn't even dirty your dress," he said with a chuckle.
"You're a wonder at what you do, sir," she said with a giggle. When she tried to rise from him, concerned that she must be far too heavy, she was startled to feel his arm wrap around her more tightly.
"Nathan, what...?"
"Stay," he said. "Just for a little longer, will you stay?"
"I must be crushing you," she said with a sigh, but he shook his head.
"No, you're...you're perfect where you are. Please."
She settled against him, but she knew her reluctance was more about his comfort than her own lack of desire.
"Lying like this, it feels like a fairytale," Natalie heard herself say.
"A fairytale?"
She laughed softly. "I know how silly it sounds. I know that... I made a desperate ad on the computer, and you saw something you could use."
He made a sound of protest, but she shook her head.
"I know exactly what I am to you, and I need you to know that I don't object. Not at all. I wouldn't be here unless I wanted to be. It's foolish to think of romance between us, foolish in the extreme, and I know that. It's just that..."
"That this feels magical," Nathan said softly. "I know."
There was a weight to the space between them. It was a beautiful day in the forest, but it felt as if everything had stopped moving. Even the birds and the insects were silent. Tentatively, his hand came up to cup the back of her head. She knew the kiss was coming, and if she was smart, she would have turned away. Kissing was something that actual couples did, not what she did with a man like Nathan.
Even with those thoughts screaming in her head, she couldn't stop herself from leaning forward and letting him take her mouth with his. The kiss was a long and lingering one. There was no urgency about it as his tongue traced her lower lip and made her shiver with desire. Beneath her, she could feel his body shift as he became aroused.
"We...we probably shouldn't," she said, drawing away.
"There's no one for miles," he said, but he pulled back with a sigh. She rose from his body, and he followed her up. She was just looking at the trail in front of them when he pulled her into his arms. The speed and strength of his motion made her think of animals leaping on their prey, and his mouth on hers was ravenous. She almost didn't understand how he could go from that simple, languorous kiss before to this hunger. Almost, because she was the same way. Suddenly, she was desperate for him, her entire body aflame. His hunger fed her own, and she couldn't stop herself from leaning in.
There was no telling what they might have done if they hadn't heard a scatter of pebbles down the path behind them, loud voices raised in a shout. It sounded like children and adults, a family perhaps, and Natalie blushed a little. She pushed Nathan away, frantically smoothing down her dress and calming her hair, and Nathan laughed.
"Good thing they didn't catch us fifteen minutes later, eh?"
She laughed even as her cheeks heated up with a red blush. "I suppose..."
She was just getting ready to suggest to Nathan that they keep walking, but then he leaned in close, his mouth warm against the cup of her ear.
"Tonight. Believe me, pet, I'm going to make up for it tonight."
***
His promise echoed in the back of her mind, and not long after supper, it was as if he couldn't wait any longer. Later, Natalie couldn't even remember what they were talking about, but he stopped nearly mid-sentence, and he raised his eyes to her, full of need.
They didn’t make it up to their bedroom. Instead, Nathan bent her over the back of the entirely blameless couch, her feet barely touching the ground behind her. When he flipped up her dress, she squealed at the touch of cool air against her rear. Nathan pulled her panties down with a rough disregard, and then he took his place behind her, his hips pressing hard against her rear before he took his cock in hand.
"God, how in the world can anyone resist you?" he crooned, sliding the turgid head of his cock along her wet slit. "I swear, I might have taken you in that woods today, and be damned whoever was walking up the path..."
The sheer sensuality of being tipped over and taken like this made it hard to think. Natalie felt as if she ought to object to being thrown around like a rag doll, but something about Nathan's strength and his power made her love it instead. When he guided his cock into her warm depths, she moaned loudly, scrabbling against the smooth cushions. When he was fully seated inside her, he paused for a moment, his hand coming down to stroke over her spine.
"There, so perfect for me..."
He thrust into her with a savage restraint, refusing to take his own release until hers had consumed her utterly. It wasn't until Natalie was gasping and limp over the edge of the couch, her every muscle wrung out with pleasure, that he finally let himself topple over the ledge.
"God, what you do to me," she murmured at the end, and out of breath himself, Nathan laughed.
"I hope to do a great deal more."
He guided her up to her own room then, seeing her settled in her soft bed before he left again. It wasn't until the door closed behind him that a strange feeling of emptiness crept in.
Natalie turned over in her bed, forbidding herself from crying.
You knew what this deal was when you got into it, she told herself. There's nothing wrong here.
As the tears slipped past her tightly shut eyelids, however, she wondered how much that was just wishful thinkin
g.
Chapter Six
When she had signed the contract, Natalie had thought that things were going to be strange, to say the least. She supposed if she had imagined it at all, she would have thought of herself in an alien place, almost in a limbo.
Instead, her days with Nathan snapped into a kind of routine almost immediately.
On days when he was free from work, they explored London together, taking in the sights as he introduced her to his favorite restaurants, pubs, museums and parks. He was a good guide, full of excitement and genuine love for the city. He was attentive and kind, everything a woman might have hoped for, and more than once, Natalie caught women eyeing her with envy.
But you don't know the rest of it, she thought grimly.
After brilliant days in the city, they returned to the townhouse they shared, the place that Natalie was, whether she liked it or not, beginning to think of as home.
The way Nathan touched her, the way he made love to her, it was enough to leave her wide eyed and in a state of shock. No one had ever drawn this response from her body before. No one had ever made her feel as if the stars were exploding behind her eyes. When they made love, everything made sense, and she found a peace she had never known in his arms.
That never lasted, of course.
Finally, it would be over, and she would leave for her room or he would leave for his.
Despite the sensual exhaustion that saturated her limbs, she could never fall asleep right away. Sadness warred with her belief that this was entirely right, and sometimes, it would be almost dawn before she slept well.
On a Friday morning three weeks after she had arrived in London, Natalie woke to proof positive that she was not pregnant. Wincing a little, she found fresh underthings and dressed in a soft brown knit dress, its severe lines echoing her somber mood.
Nathan was at home that day, and he glanced at her over the edge of his cup of coffee, one eyebrow raised.
"Are you all right, pet?" he asked.
She nodded her head, absently wondering why she had always hated pet names, but endearments from Nathan made her feel warm inside instead.
