Broken Hill Hearts (Broken Hill High 4)

He draws circles around my hip. “Did you want to go back down to the party?”

I look up at his handsome face. “No, I’m happier here.”

A brilliant smile takes over and I find myself climbing on top of him. I straddle his hips and look down at the masterpiece before me. My eyes roam all over his abs, chest, shoulders, and arms. How is it possible for me to have this?

His hands taking my hips distract me from staring and I look up at his piercing dark eyes. “I fucking love you,” he murmurs, staring right back at me.

I’m overwhelmed by emotion that I find myself unable to respond, but I don’t need to, he sees it clear as day in my eyes. He lifts his hand from my hip and runs it across my stomach. I look down to find him studying the welt he gave me from the paintball. “Shit, that’s the last time I prove to you I have the balls to beat you.”

“No,” I say, placing my hand over the top of his. “I like it even though it stung like a bitch. It proves to me that you’re not like all the other guys out there. You’re not afraid to challenge me.”

“I’m not,” he agrees. “But I probably could have found a better way to prove it.”

“True,” I laugh. “You wouldn’t be Nate if you didn’t though.”

He rolls his eyes but he can’t help smiling up at me. He pushes a strand of hair back off my face before looking over at his bedside table. He reaches into the drawer and I have to hold onto him to avoid rolling right off the bed.

“Here,” he says, pulling a box out of his bedside table and handing it to me. “I got you something.”

“What?” I gasp looking down at the box in my hand. My eyes flick back up to his as he shoves his hand behind his head and watches me as though he doesn’t have a care in the world. The curiosity starts to eat at me and I glance back down at the box.

I pull the ribbon and lift the lid to find the gold name necklace that I find myself looking at every time I go to the mall. I hadn’t even realized he knew that I wanted it, yet somehow he always manages to surprise me. I run my fingers over the golden letters of my name and the heart at the end.

My eyes grow watery as I look back up at him. “I can’t believe you got me this,” I tell him. “Thank you.”

He grins back at me, clearly very proud of himself. “Here,” he says, dipping his fingers into the box and pulling out the chain. I reach up and pull my hair aside as he clips the necklace behind my neck.

I look down at my chest and take in the gold letters against my skin. It’s everything I thought it would be and I absolutely love it.

I bring myself down on top of him as his arms wrap around me, holding me close to him. “I love you,” I tell him as I look down into his dark eyes.

He gazes back up at me and it’s almost as though I can see right through to his soul and I don’t know how, but in this very moment, we’re one. Just me and Nate, perfectly in synch with each other.

So many emotions run through me and I wouldn’t even know where to start to begin describing them to him, so instead, I show him exactly what I’m feeling.

My lips come down on his and as if reading my body like a map, he reaches down between us and slides himself straight back in.

Chapter 12

I stand in my closet, late on Friday night, dripping wet and wrapped tightly in a towel, searching through my clothes for that old shirt I stole from Nate before we had even gotten together. I toss things around everywhere. Where is that damn shirt? Things are finally starting to look up with Nate and now that I’m about to go to bed without his warm arms wrapped around me, I need something that’s his.

When my drawers are thoroughly emptied and my washing basket tipped over, I remember that I shoved it in the cushion on my couch to avoid Brooke throwing it out.

I grin at my fantabulous memory before cringing at the mess I’ve made.

Oh well, it was worth it.

I practically skip over to the couch and drop down onto it as I grab the cushion and start tearing it open to get to the goods hidden inside. My fingers wrap around the material and I rip it out from the cushion before holding it to my chest.

I stand up, drop my towel, and pull his shirt over my head. The fabric tickles my skin just right and it’s almost like I can pretend it’s him. The shirt falls down into place around the tops of my knees just as the door of my room is barged in.