My First Half (Cate & Kian Book 1)

by Louise Hall

  Suddenly, he looked up at her, his lips were wet with her arousal and his eyes burned darkly. “Come for me.”

  Cate felt the tight ball of lust which had been lodged inside of her burst into millions of tiny pieces.

  But Kian greedily demanded more. With her body still in the throes of one climax, Kian pressed two fingers deep inside her. He found her g-spot effortlessly. “Aah,” Cate cried, not caring that she was in a hotel room with paper-thin walls. She pushed her heels down hard into the bare mattress and rubbed herself furiously against the heel of his hand. She dragged her nails up his back and sunk them into his shoulders.

  “Fuck,” Kian groaned. He was close, the tip of his cock was already glossy.

  He rolled them over so they were both on their side, her back against his front. Kian twisted his fingers inside her as his thumb feverishly worked her clit. She pushed back against Kian, grinding her bare bottom over his groin. He couldn’t hold out much longer. The feel of her bare bottom rubbing against his cock… As she slid back, the tip of his cock pressed between her buttocks.

  He was too close; he could already feel the warmth spreading out from the base of his spine. He needed Cate right there with him. Kian grabbed her breast, feeling her hard nipple dig deep into the palm of his hand. He lifted it up, crushing it against her ribcage. He crooked his fingers inside her and as she crashed into another shuddering climax, his cock jerked hard. As he buried his face in the curve of her neck, stifling his cries, Cate felt his hot semen splash across her bottom and lower back.

  Cate felt a slap of cold air as Kian got up out of the bed. Her body was still tingling all over.

  She felt the mattress dip as he returned and a soft, warmth pressed against her lower back. Cate watched over her shoulder as Kian gently washed her lower back with a flannel. It was impossibly sweet. Cate put her head down on the pillow and closed her eyes, surrendering to the soothing feel of the warm flannel moving across her skin. He caressed her bottom, removing every drop of his semen from her skin.

  “Your arse…” Kian said softly. He kissed the tender spot under her buttocks, where they met her thighs.

  “I think you like it,” Cate smiled.

  Kian smiled back at her. “I think I love it.”

  He stroked her hip and then got up from the bed. Cate lay back and pulled the sheets up over her breasts. As he wiped his groin, she allowed herself a moment to savour the sexiness of Kian’s naked body.

  His back was strong and ripped. Cate blushed as she saw the faint trail of her fingernails on his skin. His bottom was seriously sexy, it was round and hard and she loved feeling it tense under her fingers. He caught her looking through the mirror and turned around. “Enjoying the show?”

  Cate looked at his chest, which glistened with sweat, showing off all of those rippling muscles. Her eyes drifted lazily over his tight pectorals, down his washboard stomach and the faint happy trail of jet-black hair to that v-cut.

  If there was a sexier part of Kian’s body, Cate hadn’t found it yet. There really weren’t words.

  “I’m starting to feel objectified,” Kian laughed.

  “You shouldn’t be so sexy then,” Cate replied.

  Kian lay down on the bed next to her and gathered her up in his arms. “I’m sorry you ever doubted how much I love you,” he whispered, kissing her fingertips.

  Cate felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes. “You never told me.”

  “I tried,” Kian said softly. He looked hesitant, as if he wanted to say something else.

  He lifted up the silver locket Cate always wore around her neck and turned it over. “Do you know what this means?”

  Cate shook her head. “I don’t even know who gave it to me.”

  Kian ran his finger over the small initials engraved on the back. “My first half,” he murmured.

  Cate wasn’t sure if she’d heard him right. She looked down at the letters on the back of the locket.

  “It’s from you?”

  Kian nodded.

  “I don’t understand.” Cate struggled free of Kian’s grasp, sitting up. She felt as if the world had shifted on its axis and she didn’t know which way was up. She wrapped her hand tightly around the silver locket.

  “When we had our first kiss on Christmas, it wasn’t a coincidence that I found you that night. I didn’t come outside to fight with Nicole, although she followed me and that’s what happened. I came outside to find you; I saw what happened with Jake.”

  “Why?” Cate asked.

  “When I saw you walking down the stairs that night into the basement, it was like…”

  “That wasn’t me,” Cate interrupted. “That was Liv’s dress, your sister’s push-up bra and heels and a whole load of make-up.”

  “Stop it,” he said darkly. “Do you want to know what it was that made me want to kiss you so badly? It wasn’t your dress, bra, shoes or make-up. It was that moment when you stopped halfway up the stairs. Your hands were gripping the banister so tightly, your fingers were white. You chewed on that bottom lip…”

  She was doing it now. He reached up and tugged her bottom lip free of her teeth. “Fuck, it took everything I had not to just push you up against that wall and kiss you senseless.”

  “I don’t understand,” Cate said softly, touching the locket again. “Somebody… you gave me this locket for my birthday?”

  Kian pulled her back into his arms. “I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember but… Ben’s my best friend and you’re his little sister, you know? I just… this is going to sound really crap but whenever people talked about marriage and kids and all that shit, if I pictured it, it was always you by my side. It was you that I married, you that I had kids with.”

  “Fuck,” Kian said, raking a hand through his hair. “I didn’t even know if you felt the same way. I mean, I’d catch you looking at me sometimes and I’d think maybe? At first, I was going to wait until you’d finished university. Then I was going to wait until you’d at least left for university. I thought it might be less awkward if you weren’t living at home. It scared the shit out of me that you’d find somebody else before I got the balls to tell you how I feel.”

  “I finally decided to ask you out at your 18th birthday party. I bought the locket a couple of weeks before. Shit, I’ve never been as nervous as I was walking into the party that night.”

  “I wasn’t there,” Cate murmured, thinking back to that night. “I had flu but it was Sinead’s party as well so they went ahead with it anyway.”

  “I left early using the excuse that I had training the following day.”

  “I don’t remember much about that night.”

  “I had a key so I let myself in. I told myself I was being brotherly, checking that you were OK. I found you passed out on the bathroom floor, your temperature was sky-high and you were delirious.”

  “No,” Cate covered her face. “I hate that you saw me like that.”

  Kian smiled, prising her hands away from her face. “It gets worse, angel. You woke up just long enough to be sick all over me and then passed out again.”

  “No,” Cate cried. “That’s so embarrassing. I don’t want to hear any more.”

  “I’m glad I was there,” Kian laughed, kissing her shoulder. “You needed somebody to take care of you. I got you cleaned up and some fresh pyjamas but you weren’t exactly together enough to put them on yourself.”

  “You changed my pyjamas?” Cate asked, wide-eyed. “Please tell me I was wearing underwear.”

  “You were,” Kian raised an eyebrow. “A skimpy little black pair, if I remember.”

  “You’re horrible,” Cate blushed.

  “I stayed in the bathroom with you for a couple of hours. Eventually, after you’d been sick a couple more times, your fever seemed to break so I carried you upstairs to bed. I waited until you fell asleep and then I left.”

  “You left this on my bedside table.”

  Kian touched the silver locket. “I loved seeing it ar
ound your neck.”

  “I never take it off.”

  Kian wrapped her up in his arms. “I need you in my life, Cate. I love that whatever kind of day I’ve had, at the end of it; I get to come home to you. I love watching you dance when you don’t think anybody’s watching. I love making you laugh because it’s the best fucking sound in the whole world. I love that you talk a little in your sleep giving me an in to your dreams. I love the way your eyes change when I’m inside you, those little noises you make when you come.”

  Kian dropped his hand to her stomach, “I love that you’re carrying my baby inside you.”

  “I feel like this is a dream and somebody is going to wake me up in a minute,” Cate said softly.

  “I love you too,” Cate said, putting her hand over his. “I love how you’re my first in so many things. I love how you’re so protective of me. I love that you’ve always got hummus and carrot sticks in the glove box of your car. I love being your wife, I do. It’s just that… I had all these ideas about what my life was going to be like. I was going to university. There are so many places in the world I want to see. I wanted to dip my toes in the Pacific Ocean.”

  “You can still do all of that,” Kian said softly. “I don’t ever want to crush your dreams, Cate.”

  “I know you don’t,” Cate curled up to him. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I didn’t want to work at the Tavern because of Nick.”

  Kian’s hands bunched up into fists. Cate brought them up to her face and kissed his knuckles. “I told you that I don’t have any feelings for Nick and I truly don’t. It was never about him. It was about me. I want to be your wife, I want to be this baby’s Mum but I still want to be Cate. I don’t want to become just an appendage to you both. Working at the Tavern made me feel like the old Cate for a little bit.”

  Kian thought about the To-Do List she’d written. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a bastard to you. I’ve never been in a relationship before.”

  Cate smiled. “Neither have I. We can finally be firsts together.”

  They were interrupted by the phone on the bedside table ringing. “Hello?” Cate answered tentatively.

  “Who is it?” Kian mouthed.

  Cate covered the receiver with her hand. “It’s reception, we should have checked out half an hour ago. They’re asking if we want to keep the room another night?”

  “I want to take you home,” Kian said softly, trailing little kisses along her bare shoulder.

  “No, we won’t be needing it another night. We’ll be down to check out shortly.”

  As she put the phone down, Kian pushed her back on the bed, pinning her hands above her head. “The walls here are too thin,” he winked. “I like making my girl scream.”

  “You’re insatiable,” Cate blushed.

  Kian grinned against her lips, kissing them once before letting her go.

  “Get dressed” Kian said, when he came back from the bathroom. He was wearing just his black trousers.

  Cate stretched out, lifting her arms up above her head and flexing her toes. “Make me,” she giggled.

  Kian smirked, “you’re so on.”

  He yanked the sheet off the bed, exposing her naked body.

  “Fuck,” Kian groaned, watching as her nipples tightened with the cold blast of air.

  Cate locked eyes with him and then gently let one knee fall to the bed, exposing her bare pussy.

  “It’s a good job you’re pregnant,” Kian bit out, his fists clenched tight. His cock jerked hard inside his trousers.

  “Why’s that?” Cate teased, stroking her hand lightly over her breast.

  Kian snatched her underwear up from the floor. “Because,” he said with gritted teeth. He knelt above her on the bed and removed her hand from her breast. He took her fingers and sucked them into his mouth, closing his eyes as he savoured this chaste way of tasting her skin.

  Then he fitted her bra over her breasts and lifted her up off the bed so he could fasten it behind her back. With part of her clothed, Kian was able to breathe a little.

  He slid down her body so he was sat by her ankles. He lifted them up and kissed her instep and then slid her panties over them.

  “Because what?” Cate asked as Kian slid her panties over her knees and up her thighs.

  When her panties were in place, Kian sat back on his heels. “Because,” he smirked, “otherwise I’d throw you over my knee and spank the shit out of you.”

  Cate breathed in sharply.

  Kian frowned. “Have I freaked you out, angel?”

  Cate shook her head. “I’d quite like to try that.”

  When they got home, the snow was already inches thick on Cooper Lane. Ben and Erin were outside, loading up their car with suitcases.

  “Oh no,” Cate muttered under her breath when she saw them. “I can’t see them.”

  “Why not?” Kian asked.

  Cate whacked him on the chest. “I didn’t shower before we left the hotel. I still smell of sex.”

  Kian grinned. “I like it.”

  Cate stayed in the car, pretending she’d lost something in her handbag while Kian got out. “What’s up?” He asked Ben while Erin went back inside for Monty.

  “I don’t think it’s going to let up,” Ben said, gesturing at the pure white sky. “I don’t want to risk getting snowed in so we’re going to Mum’s.”

  Kian looked at the thickening snow on the ground. The previous owners had warned him when he bought the house about the risks of getting snowed in. It could take days for the plough to get to them.

  “I think we’ll do the same,” he said. “We’ll grab some things and meet you there.”

  “Make it quick,” Ben warned.

  “I need a shower,” Cate said, when Kian told her what was happening. “I’m not going to turn up at Mum’s smelling like sex.”

  “Perhaps I should join you,” Kian suggested, wiggling his eyebrows.

  Cate laughed. “No. Absolutely not. I know what you’re like.”

  When she got out of the shower, Kian had packed a small suitcase for her. “Hey,” she smiled. “How do you know what I want to take with me?”

  But when she looked in the suitcase, everything she wanted was there. “Happy?” He asked, snaking an arm around her waist.

  “Yeah,” Cate smiled.

  “You do realise,” Cate said, as they drove to Irene’s house, “that we can’t have sex while we’re staying at Mum’s house.”

  Kian raised his eyebrows. “It’s not like we have to stay in separate bedrooms. We’re married.”

  Cate looked shocked. “You can hear everything in that house. No.”

  Kian stroked a hand up her thigh, feeling her tense underneath his fingers. “You’ll just have to be really quiet.”

  Cate put her hand on top of his, stilling him. “We’ll see,” she said primly.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Kian laughed. “In the middle of the night, you’ll be wiggling that cute little ass against me, begging me to make love to you.”

  “Yeah, right,” Cate laughed. “More likely I’ll wake up with your early morning hard-on digging into my back, your lips on my neck and your hand cupping my breast.”

  Kian shifted in his seat. “Keep on like that and I’ll have to pull over into one of these lay-bys.”

  “Aw, have I got you all worked up?” Cate looked down at his crotch.

  “I’m not the only one,” Kian said, glancing over at her nipples which were straining against her shirt.

  “I’m just cold,” Cate said, folding her arms across her chest.

  “So your panties aren’t wet then?” Kian said nonchalantly, not taking his eyes off the road.

  “Don’t,” Cate warned. “We’re going to spending the next few days with my whole family in a house with very thin walls.”

  “There’s always the shower,” Kian replied. “I am feeling kind of dirty.”

  “You’re always feeling kind of dirty.”

  “With you angel, I am.”<
br />
  By the time they got to Irene’s house, Cate was feeling the need for an extra-long, extra-hot shower. Ben and Erin had already arrived and were upstairs in what used to be Ben’s room unpacking.

  As she started up the stairs, Cate could hear Liv talking on the phone in the kitchen. She felt really guilty about the horrible things she’d said. Cate tugged on Kian’s sleeve. “I need to make things right with Liv.”

  Kian nodded. “I’ll take these upstairs.”

  Cate waited anxiously in the hallway until Liv had finished on the phone and then carefully pushed open the kitchen door. The hinges needed oiling so it creaked open. Liv looked up from behind the fridge door.

  “Is it weird that I still want ice cream even though it’s snowing buckets outside?”

  “It depends which flavour?”

  “Aha,” Liv grinned, pulling a tub of Ben & Jerry’s Peanut Butter Cup from the back of the fridge. She sat down at the kitchen table and prised open the lid. “Mm,” Liv sighed, “sonnets.”

  “I’m so sorry for what I said,” Cate stumbled over her words. “I didn’t mean any of it, I promise.”

  Liv grinned, “Cate, don’t look so worried. I’m not going to bite, you know?”

  “You’re not mad at me?” Cate felt a rush of relief.

  “Of course not,” Liv laughed. “I know you didn’t mean it. I’m sorry too. I guess we were both just having really crappy days.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Cate asked, sitting down next to her at the kitchen table.

  “Nah,” Liv shook her head. “It’s just the usual.” She quickly changed the subject. “What about you? Do I need to go up there and kick Kian’s ass?”

  “No,” Cate laughed. “We’re working things out.”

  “What about Nick?” Liv winked. “I heard he kissed you. Want me to go kick his ass instead?”

  Cate winced, “don’t. Kian’s still sore about it.”

  “I also heard he kissed Alice Devereux.”

  Cate took a deep breath. “He says she kissed him. I’m choosing to believe him.”

  “You should,” Sinead said. “She was just using Kian to persuade Jack to leave his wife.”

  Cate jumped; she hadn’t heard Sinead come into the kitchen. “I didn’t know you were here.”