“I don’t know, man. She was concerned that you wouldn’t show.”
“Then why did she get all nervous when we walked to her car? Why didn’t she let me go with her all the way there? The kiss she gave me goodnight just made me want more. Is she just fucking with me?”
“I thought that’s what you wanted? Just to fuck and have a good time.”
“I don’t know. It just felt off, that’s all.”
A mischievous grin stretched across Nathan’s face. “Sounds like you’ve met your match. You up for the chase?”
Sam chuckled. “I guess we’ll find out tomorrow if there’s going to be a chase.”
Thirty minutes later they pulled into Vanessa’s driveway. When the truck came to a stop, Nathan gently touched her cheek. “Come on, beautiful, we’re at your house.” She squinted. “Give Sam your keys, and I’ll carry you inside.”
“No, I can walk.”
“Ness, I’d like to carry you. Please give Sam your keys.”
She groggily handed them over while Nathan got out of the truck. He waited for her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck as he carried her bridal style into the house.
Max was whining as soon as the door opened. “I’ll take him out,” Sam said while Nathan moved toward Vanessa’s bedroom.
He deposited her at the entrance to her bathroom. “I’ll walk out with Sam to give you a few minutes.”
“We’re still going to talk though, right?”
He ran the back of his fingers down her cheek. “Yes, if you’re awake enough and still want to.”
“I do.”
Nathan nodded and walked out to join Sam standing in the sand at the bottom of the steps staring out over the ocean. He stood beside Sam with his hands in his pockets, just like Sam. “I thought about what you said in the truck.”
Sam never looked at Nathan. “Which part?”
“About Carrie.”
“And?”
“She’s hiding something. How old is she?”
“By law, she has to be over the age of twenty-one to serve open liquor drinks. That’s all I need to know.”
“You’re what, thirty?”
“So, what are you saying?”
“Are you ready for all the shit that goes with someone that young?”
“I don’t know how old she is. She may be twenty-five for all I know and just looks young.”
“Okay. What kind of car did she drive? An old beat up clunker? A nice car?”
“It wasn’t brand new, but it was nice.”
“Was it taken care of?”
“It needed to be washed. What are you getting at?”
Nathan turned toward Sam with concern in his eyes. “Could she be living out of it?”
“Like homeless?”
Nathan shrugged. “Yeah.”
“Fuck, Nathan, I don’t know. I didn’t get that close.”
Nathan held his hands up. “Okay, okay. These were just the thoughts that had run through my head. I didn’t mean to piss you off. Look, man, I promised Vanessa we’d talk tonight, so I need to head back in. You staying out here with Max?”
“Yeah, for a few.”
Nathan patted him on the shoulder before he turned toward the house. By the time he got inside, Vanessa’s face was washed clean of makeup, and she had on comfortable shorts and a T-shirt. God, that was what he wanted to come home to every night—her just like that. His cock thickened as he walked over to her.
“Let me slip on some gym shorts, and I’ll be right back.” He kissed her forehead before walking toward her bedroom where he changed clothes and splashed cold water on his face. Maybe I should get an ice pack for my dick before we do this. One last look in the mirror and he slapped himself on his cheeks. Tell her the truth, everything before you get in any deeper. With a determined game plan, he went in search of Vanessa.
He should have known she’d be in the sunroom since it was her favorite room in the house. She was balled up in a wicker chair with floral cushions on it. He wanted to touch her, so he eyed the matching sofa.
“Can we sit over there, together?”
A loving smile spread across her face. “I love how you always want to touch me when we have serious conversations.”
“First, I just always want to touch you, but somehow touching you makes it easier to say what I need to. I just want that connection, especially since I can’t make love to you.”
“I hope you always do, even when you can, um, make love to me.” Her face was flushed by the time she finished the sentence.
He sat on the sofa and stretched his arm along the back as she moved in close beside him. “Can I hold you?”
“I want to look at you. How do we both get what we want?”
Nathan wiggled his eyebrows. “When we can be together, you can sit on my lap and look me in the eyes, and I won’t care that you’re feeling my dick get hard beneath your cute ass. Until then, I don’t know.”
“Nathan.” She swatted his chest, and he caught her hand against his chest so she could feel his heart racing.
“Do you feel that, Ness? That’s what you do to me. You excite me. One of these days I’ll cup your hand over my cock to show you everywhere you excite me.”
Her eyes instinctively dropped to his crotch. “What if I don’t want to wait anymore? What if I want to try…more?” Her gaze locked on his, and he held her stare.
She’s trying to kill me. He needed to change the direction of this conversation. “Ness, we need to talk first because what I have to say may change your mind.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think you can.”
“Well, let’s find out before we go any further. I don’t want to put Sam in a position to have to lie on a witness stand.”
She nodded but turned around on the sofa. She was facing him with her hip resting against his leg and her torso across his lap. “Would you hand me a small pillow?”
He grinned and placed a small pillow under her head on the arm of the sofa. “Comfortable?”
“Yes,” she smiled.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
“I told you I grew up in California. I went to the University of California. I met Diane at the training center.”
“Did you have girlfriends in high school?”
He shrugged. “I dated. I dated the girl I lost my virginity to for a year in high school. Her family moved away our senior year, so that was that.”
“Did you love her?”
“As best as a sixteen-year-old knows love, I guess. Maybe it was puppy love because it didn’t feel like this.” He pointed between them.
“Well, I have nothing to compare this to either. You know my history.”
He nodded. “Anyway, I told you about Diane already. Obviously, I ended things after she aborted my baby. I couldn’t bear to look at her.”
“Did you love her?”
“I would’ve stayed with her for the baby.” He shrugged. “The next week our agent in charge asked for guys who weren’t in committed relationships to stop by his office for a potential assignment. It was the perfect time for my first undercover assignment. That’s when I met Evan.” He chuckled thinking back to that day. “He was cocky and thought he was invincible. Part of me was scared to be his partner, but then he proved he could back up the swagger.” He rubbed his hand up and down her legs, part as a calming mechanism, part to buy some time. “God, Vanessa, how do I explain this to you?”
“Does this have to do with your piercing? It’s okay.”
He was shaking his head before she got the question out. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he opened them again. “Not yet. Just remember it was an undercover assignment.”
“Okay…”
“We trained in a Denver sex club for our assignment in Reno. A group of people was running guns through private sex clubs.”
“Oh,” she whispered.
“We participated in the activities of the club—fully.
” He looked at her pointedly in hopes she got the whole meaning of what he said. He really didn’t want to go into details if he didn’t need to.
“As in, you had sex with people in the club.”
He slowly nodded while his gaze stayed locked on hers. He wasn’t about to break eye contact now. This was too damn important. “I’m clean. I’ve been tested repeatedly. Not to mention, I haven’t been with anyone in a while. I want you to know I wouldn’t put you in any danger.” He felt her start shaking. “Vanessa?”
“I knew we weren’t sexually compatible, but there’s no way for me to catch up is there? You have way too much experience.”
“Ness, no plea…”
Sam cleared his throat. “Just walking through.”
Max jumped on the sofa. Keeping his gaze locked on Vanessa, he pointed toward the hall. “Bed, Max.” He jumped down and headed toward the hall. Nathan cupped her face and gently kissed her lips. “Please don’t think that. Baby, look at it this way—I have a good idea on how to please you but need you to fine tune what you like. We’ll go at your pace.”
“But you’re going to get bored at my pace.”
“Do you trust me? I mean really trust me?”
“God, yes. I can’t believe you’d ask me that.”
“Have I done anything to hurt you since you’ve known me?”
“No.”
“Then, why do you think I’d hurt you when you’re the most vulnerable?”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Baby, sex is fun and exciting, but it takes a lot of trust from a woman to welcome a man inside of her. You can always trust me. I will never hurt you. If there’s anything I learned during my time on that assignment, it’s that when a woman gives herself freely to me, she becomes my responsibility. It is my job to take care of you in all aspects of that most intimate act. Just know that I’m open to trying anything you want, not just one position, not just one simple act. Anything you want to try, I’ll do my best to make it happen.”
“Anything?”
“Well, almost anything. There’s one thing I won’t agree to.”
She cocked a brow. “Care to elaborate, Mr. Cox?”
“No one else will ever be invited into our bed.”
“What? Like an orgy?”
A small smile tilted his lips. “No, like a threesome.”
Vanessa’s eyes widened. “Oh. No, I don’t think I want that either. Have you done that?”
Nathan closed his eyes. “On that assignment with Evan.” Vanessa gasped, and Nathan’s eyes quickly opened. “But not since.” He lifted a shoulder. “It wasn’t my thing. Plus, I don’t want another man ever seeing this body like that. I’m selfish and want you all to myself.”
Her eyes became glassy. “What if I’m not—”
He placed a finger over her lips. “Don’t finish that sentence. Just like you’ll tell me what you like and don’t like, I’ll tell you the same thing. We’ll learn how to please just each other.”
“I’m so out of my depth here.”
“Then it’s a good thing I’m tall.”
She smiled. “So, the piercing?”
“Yeah, after Diane and that assignment, my mind was slightly skewed. I was still pissed off at Diane, but that club showed me a lifestyle that I’d only ever heard about. I mean, I enjoyed trying new things with people that knew what the hell they were doing. It made learning easy. I found out what I like and what isn’t my thing.”
“So, what do you like?”
“Remember that song I told you to listen to?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s me with you, but I can honestly say I don’t think I could be a bottom.”
“A what? What does that mean?”
“When I’m gone, look it up.” He flashed her a playful smile and tapped the end of her nose.
“Where does the piercing fit in?”
“It was my way of keeping myself under control when I took over for Evan in the case that brought me here. I got it done when we first started talking about bringing me in. It gave me an excuse not to participate in all the activities on that assignment. I needed to get over my shit and be in a good place before I could be with another woman. The piercing forced me to abstain from sex for six months while it healed.”
“What? You went without sex for six months?”
He chuckled. “I’ve gone without sex for about eight months. When I decided to get the piercing, I read about it to know what I was facing so I was mentally prepared for abstinence. Plus, I wasn’t with anyone, so that made it easier.”
“Just like with me.”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “Just like with you. I needed to know what I was facing so I could handle it mentally. Most days I do pretty well. Some days it drives me fucking crazy. It’s getting harder to mentally talk the physical down.”
“Because you want to be with me physically?”
“Physically and mentally, Ness. It’s not just a physical release I’m after. If that’s all I wanted, I’d just jack off more. I want the complete package with you. And you’ll be the first woman I’ve been with since I got the piercing.”
“Then how do you know what women feel with it?”
A smile stretched his lips, and humor danced in his eyes. “I did the research. I watched women in that sex club and spoke with them later. I asked the men who had them. If you haven’t noticed, I don’t go off half-cocked.”
Vanessa giggled. “No, you’re quite thorough.”
He winked. “In all things, beautiful.”
26
Vanessa moved to slip her hand under his shirt, but Nathan caught it and gave her a questioning look. “What are you doing?”
Her gaze stayed locked on the spot where he held her wrist. “Yes, your past is colorful. Definitely different from mine, but no worse, just different.” She looked in his eyes. “It didn’t change my mind, Nathan. You haven’t been with anyone in eight months. How can you keep yourself under control?”
“Every time I see you, I’m warring with myself. But, you are the one with so much to lose if I screw up your divorce. I won’t do that to you. Your needs come before my own.”
She looked at him from under her lashes. “But my need is you.” She felt his cock harden under her.
He placed his forehead on hers and closed his eyes as he took deep breaths. “Are you trying to be the death of me?”
“No,” she whispered as she squirmed closer to him.
“Be still, baby.” He squeezed his eyes closed tighter as he placed a hand on her hip. “What do you want from me?”
“I want you to touch me.”
He still hadn’t moved his head or opened his eyes. “Where?”
Her legs started moving in search of friction. “Everywhere. My nipples tingle, Nathan. My stomach is tight, and I feel my blood rushing to…to, you know, down.”
“Say it,” he said through a clenched jaw.
“Pussy,” she whispered.
A breath rushed out of him. “Fuck.”
Slow breathing seemed to help him garner some strength, he pulled back and opened his eyes. “I’ll get you off with my hand, then go take a really cold shower.”
“That’s not fair. I can just take a cold shower too then.”
“Ness, if you’re in need, I’m going to take care of you, but I’m not putting anyone in a position to lie. We haven’t had sex. Sam can get on the stand, which I’m sure the asshole will make him do, and testify honestly. I’m sure he’ll call me on the stand, and maybe even you. Baby, I won’t have you lie.”
She was so in love with this man. Why did she have to still be married? Why was she ever forced into a loveless marriage? Her whole body was on fire, and he was the only one she wanted to help her. She licked her lips. “How about you take care of me, and I watch you take care of yourself in the shower? We still won’t have sex, and no one has to lie.”
His stare bounced between her eyes. What was he hoping to find? She leaned forwar
d and kissed him. “Please.”
“Stand up. Let’s go to the living room where the sofa is bigger.”
“Not in the bed?”
Nathan shook his head. “If we go to the bed, I won’t stop until I’m balls deep inside of you. Since I’m giving you what you want, we’re doing it my way.” He leaned toward the hall and heard Sam snoring, so he knew they were safe, but put his back where she was shielded in case Sam woke up. He relaxed against the arm of the sofa, and she was between his legs. “Do you have on panties?”
“Yes.”
He nibbled on her ear while his arms wrapped around her middle and one hand slipped beneath her shorts heading south. “They’re soaked,” he whispered in her ear.
“That never happened with Charles,” she softly said.
He ran his finger through her folds. “Good, but don’t bring up his name again.”
“Okay.” Her stomach jerked, and she moaned.
“Shhh, baby. You’ve got to be quiet so we don’t wake up Sam. Are you a screamer?” He spoke directly into her ear as he nibbled it again.
“I don’t know.”
“When we’re alone, I don’t care, but you can’t tonight.” She nodded as his finger rubbed over her clit and her whole body tensed. She pushed closer to him, and he grunted through a breath. “Baby, I’m so fucking hard right now, you can’t do that. You’re going to make me come in my pants like a teenager. Just relax and enjoy.”
“It feels different when you do it.”
“Does it feel good? The way you like it?”
“Better.”
His other hand snaked up her body and worked its way into the cup of her bra to massage her breast. She arched her back pushing her breast into his hand while his finger moved down toward her core and then back up so it came in direct contact with her clit. Her whole body jerked, and a whimper slipped out of her mouth. “Is this what you needed, Ness? My hands on your body?”
“Yes,” she whispered as she reached behind him and ran her fingers up the back of his head. Her nails scratched their way back to the base of his neck. “I want to touch you.”
Unbridled Passion: A Riverton Crossing Novel Page 12
