I pull back slightly, giving him a shy smile as he reaches behind him, the sound of metal skidding across the surface before he snakes his arms around my waist. He lifts me up, spinning me around and placing me onto the counter in front of him with ease. He pushes between my legs, gazing into my eyes before he caresses the side of my neck. I’m suddenly breathless as he sweeps me up in a kiss that feels like I’ve been waiting too many years to experience.
I don’t hold back the moan this time as he trails his tongue along my bottom lip, his other hand whispering along my side and down to my hip, clutching me tighter and pulling me so I’m flush against him. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I lock my legs around his waist before opening my mouth and running my tongue along the side of his.
His chest vibrates on a groan and I shuffle closer, feeling the warmth flow through my body along with the slight wetness on the back of my jeans. Wait. Wetness?
Pulling back, I try to break the kiss but he follows me, shaking his head.
“Uh-uh…” He kisses me again. “Not finished.”
“Wa—” He cuts me off, his hand coming down so both are on my hips, pulling me closer and making the wetness spread. What the hell?
“Nate.” I lean back again, planting my hands on either side of his face, the coarse hairs of his stubble scratching against my palms.
He pulls back, a worried expression on his face. “Did I go too far?”
I smile softly, my hand flowing up over his sharp cheekbones and to his forehead before weaving my fingers through his hair. “No.” I shuffle on the counter. “I think I…” I chuckle. “I think I may be sitting in something.”
His eyes widen. “The offending avocado.”
“Damn!” I brace my hands against his chest, pushing him away fully before jumping down and turning my head to see the damage.
“Look on the bright side, it looks better on you than it would’ve done on the sandwich,” he states, checking out my ass with a smirk.
I whip my head up, heat rising in my cheeks. “I—what—you.” I groan in frustration, not knowing how to react or what to say as his eyes stay fixated on my ass.
I just kissed Nathan Cole. Holy. Shit. I kissed Nate and now I don’t even have the perfect sandwich to eat when he surely realizes he made a mistake and leaves because the final ingredient is smushed all over my ass.
What was I thinking? Why did I do that? I shouldn’t have—
When his gaze connects with mine again, all the rampant thoughts running through my head disappear and that’s when it occurs to me: I may have kissed him first, but he kissed me second.
He reaches his hand out and I hesitate to take it so he steps forward, lifting my hand from by my side. “I don’t know what’s going on between us.” I stare into his eyes, his breath skating over my skin as he brings my hand up to his lips. “But I’d like to find out.” He kisses my knuckles. “I want to take you out.”
I expel a stuttering breath, his eyes willing me to answer him the longer I’m silent. Should I do this? With everything that’s been going on, would it be a bad decision to pull him into it all?
“He doesn’t have to find out,” a voice tells me in the back of my mind.
I’m already keeping secrets, will one more really hurt? But what about Tris and the kids?
If I do this then I need to protect them all and the only way I can do that is—
“We can’t tell anyone,” I blurt out, widening my eyes when I realize how that sounded. “What I mean is: I don’t want Tris to be worrying about anything happening between us. He has a lot on his plate at the moment and…” I don’t want them to find out. “I think we should see where it goes first.”
He nods slowly, moving closer to me. “Okay. I kinda like being your dirty little secret anyway.”
“Okay,” I whisper, meeting him halfway before he presses his lips to mine again. This time is different as he takes his time: soaking it all in the same way I do. I don’t think I could ever get tired of this feeling.
The smile on my face hasn’t budged since this afternoon with Amelia. I don’t know why I’ve never seen it before. When I think back now I can see the way I always took notice every time she walked into a room or chose to sit beside her around a table of empty chairs.
Since the beach I’ve been thinking of ways I can get her alone, so when Tris offered the opportunity to find out what was wrong with her, I jumped at the chance. I know I would've found another way, but this worked just fine.
What I wasn't expecting was for her to make the first move, though I'm glad she did. Kissing her was nothing like the other women I've been with. I've never been a serious relationship type of guy. Being tied down isn’t my style, or at least it wasn’t in the past.
In college I dated for a while, but nothing concrete ever formed and I guess I know why now. It never felt like this with any of them.
She says she doesn’t want Tris knowing we’re spending time together, and that works fine for me—for now. I want to get to know her outside of Tris and the kids. I want to be a part of her life that doesn't paint me as the boss’s best friend, and I want her to be able to tell me anything because I know for a fact she was lying when she told me she has a shopping addiction. Her face screamed “help” before she slammed down her walls and covered it up with humor. If she's in trouble or needs my help, I want her to trust me enough to come to me.
I pull up the gravel driveway to my parents’ house, smiling as memories of growing up in the large, white colonial come flooding back to me. A large oak stands tall to the left: it was the tree I fell out of and broke my arm when I was seven.