17. Rachel
17
RACHEL
“ W ell, even if he’s not interested in Yasmin anymore,” Brandon said, lingering just in front of the door, “I would like to see him not end up lonely forever.”
Me too. I swallowed hard, awkward with this predicament. Nate wasn’t lonely. He and I had been sharing some quality time together before my brother thought to drop off my phone.
“Of course not.” I bit my lip, fully aware that Nate was crouching behind the sofa and hearing all of this. I wanted him to know that I cared about him and didn’t want him to be lonely, but I was close to freaking out and cringing that he was overhearing all this about my having a crush on him.
“And he—” Brandon frowned, stalling, as he reached into his pocket for his phone.
Please, please just go already… I loved my brother, and I did miss him with him in the city when I was back in Rockton, but at this moment, with my skin still tingling from Nate’s mouth and fingers on me, I wanted to go back to where we’d been interrupted.
“Hey, good news!” Brandon grinned at me after reading a text. “The guy covering for me at the bar can stay the whole night. I don’t have to go to work now.”
No, no, no. I tensed up, straining not to show my frustration. “Oh, hey. That is good news.”
“Now we can really catch up.” He walked in, letting himself in. “We can finally watch that last Marvel movie that we’ve been waiting to watch together.”
It was our thing. We saved those comic-themed movies for watching them together so we could one-up each other’s commentaries.
But not tonight! He couldn’t stay, not with Nate hiding behind the couch.
“Wait. No. Now?” I shook my head, following him as he sat on the sofa and settled in. “I’m tired, Brandon.”
“Eh. Excuses, excuses. This is a rare thing, Rach. I have the night off this close to Christmas. Don’t push me away.”
I sighed, hating that he was right about being too busy at this time of the year. He seldom got off, and we used to be closer.
“Um…” I did my best not to glance at the area where Nate hid. Dammit! Disappointment rocked through me that I couldn’t have my time with him. He’d just given me my first orgasm, and I wasn’t done with him. But now… I couldn’t get rid of Brandon after he practically begged to stay.
“Well, uh…” I racked my brain to figure out a way to get Nate out of here. “Can you get the popcorn and candy from the kitchen, then?”
He smiled, putting the TV remote down and getting up. “Sure. You find the movie, okay?”
I nodded as he left the room. “Yep.”
The second he was out of sight, Nate shot to his feet and hurried to the door. “I love your brother,” he whispered, “but his timing is shitty.”
“I know, I know.” I urged him toward the door, peeking over my shoulder to make sure Brandon didn’t come back out.
Nate tugged me close, kissing me hard and fast, before smiling and slipping out of my apartment. I closed the door as quietly as possible, sighing at the wooden panel and wishing my night could end differently.
It didn’t. Brandon remained none the wiser, staying to watch the movie. I failed to pay attention, too stuck on missing Nate and wanting to finish what we’d started. He had. He’d set out to make me come, and I did, so quickly and strongly. But that kiss he’d given me with his hasty, secret exit felt like a promise of so much more.
And that was why the next day, at the office, I felt confused and worried when he didn’t show.
It was Friday, the last one before the holiday, and it seemed like everyone was in a mad rush to get as much done as possible. Me, included. Julie had me hopping all over, and no one could follow any instructions.
I could blame any clumsiness and slowness on how Nate left me feeling. Wowed by his mouth and fingers on me. Stunned that it could be that good to come with a man. I was full of hope, hunger, and excitement, but he wasn’t there.
Is he turned off about what Brandon said?
It couldn’t be sexy to hear that a woman had a juvenile crush on someone. I wanted to look mature and desirable like a woman. Not a silly, infatuated kid.
Even though it didn’t line up logically, I couldn’t help but fuss that Nate’s not showing up at work would mean that he didn’t want to face me, specifically. Nerves set in as I considered the possibility that something from last night might have made him change his mind about spending time with me.
No. He’s interested in more. He has to be. He wouldn’t have said what he said at the door and kissed me goodbye the way he had if he was changing his mind about me.
Right?
I sighed, locking my computer at the end of the day. At this rate, I would have to settle for a guessing game. I didn’t know what he was thinking or how he was reacting to getting me off last night. All I was provided with was the fact that he didn’t want to come into the office. And it felt like a horrible avoidance.
Down and confused, I rode the elevator to the first floor and concentrated on how I could reach out to him. If I wanted answers and guidance, all I had to do was contact him. A call or a text. We’d shared many of those for the sake of work over the last few weeks, but this would be different.
I couldn’t be confrontational. Nor could I be demanding. Crap, would calling him make me clingy? I wasn’t sure about the day-after kind of rules.
Maybe I can just say hi and ? —
“Hi.”
I jumped at his greeting, almost like he'd read my mind. Stopping short in the lobby, I looked up at Nate standing there near the door.
Juan smiled next to him, decked out, of course, with another holiday tie that clashed with his bespoke doorman’s uniform of a suit.
I didn’t pay attention to him. I couldn’t. Nate was here, looking at me and starting a conversation.
Clearing my throat, flustered at how unexpectedly he’d shown up, I smiled. “Hi.”
Oh, my God. I could do better than hi . This wasn’t high school. This nervousness was ridiculous. “Needed a day off?”
He shrugged. “I wanted to take some time off to prepare a few things.”
I walked closer, pulled toward him and wishing I could jump into his arms. “Oh?”
He nodded. “I wanted to arrange a few things for a date.”
I stared at him, wondering if he was about to crush my hope or blow fuel into the fire of desire. “A date?”
He smiled easily, keeping his hands in his pockets, as casual as ever. Here I was, flustered and nervous, and he was just chill.
“I’d like to take you out to dinner, Rachel. I prepared a reservation for us at Gregario’s.”
My jaw dropped. The mention of one of the most romantic—and expensive—restaurants in the city shocked me.
“As well as a carriage ride through Central Park,” he added. “What do you say?”
“I… I…”
Juan chuckled. “You say yes , amiga.”
“I… I’m not ready for a night like that!”
Nate frowned, ever so slightly, and I worried that he'd interpreted my comment to mean mentally. That I wasn’t ready for him .
“I don’t have anything to wear,” I rushed to clarify.
His smile returned in full force, with a hint of mischief. “Then let’s go find you something.” He offered me his hand, and I took it, reveling in the comfort of his touch. After he led me outside, we got into his car. He gave his driver instructions to my place, and I tried to keep up with all that was happening.
Fancy dinner. Nate wasn’t avoiding me. We were going to my place? But what could I wear?
“We’ll stop at your place and you can get ready,” Nate said. “I can give you pointers about what to wear for a romantic night on the town.”
“Oh, you will, huh?” I eyed him up and down, appreciating how he filled out his suit.
He nodded. “That’s my goal,” he amended, staring right back at me with heat in his eyes.
Bullshit. The way he was looking at me suggested he wanted to get my clothes off, not advise me about what to put on. This needy energy I couldn’t tamp down for him hinted that I wouldn’t behave any better.
Five minutes of a car ride stretched too long, but we couldn’t do anything more than let the tension build between us.
The second we got into my apartment, though, I shed this need to hide or mask my feelings. I turned to him, feeling like this had to be a moment of déjà vu. Just last night, he’d come in here with me, kissing frantically and impatient to put his fingers inside me to make me shatter.
Now, he stalked toward me like a predator with hungry eyes and thinly veiled lust. He smiled, but it looked like a sinister promise of naughtiness. He sighed, but it sounded like a needy exhale to have me now .
“So, what… should I wear?” I asked as I dropped my coat onto the couch. Backpedaling toward the bedroom, I rode this high of desire.
He didn’t look away once. He couldn’t focus on anything but the slow movement of my hands as I unbuttoned my blouse.
This wasn’t my forte. I wasn’t a skilled seductress. I’d never stripped for anyone before. Glad that he could be my first audience, I tried to silence my doubts and fears and let the feelings of arousal and excitement make me bolder.
His throat strained with a tight swallow. “Honestly?” he asked, loosening the knot of his red- and green-striped tie. “You want my honest opinion?”
I nodded, working on the buttons of my blouse as I walked back. He followed me, step for step, his gaze hungry on me.
“Nothing. I want to see all of you, sweet girl,” he said, lust heavy with his gravelly admission.
I let out a shaky breath, taking his words as an encouragement to push my shirt open. “And I want to see you, Nate. I want to feel you.”
He hurried, tearing his clothes off. Like a switch had been flipped, we walked into my bedroom with a hurried frenzy of getting our clothes off. I managed to get down to my panties and bra in the time that he only had his boxers left. We both stumbled and wrestled to get naked as quickly as possible, but with this staredown, we didn’t touch. We didn’t speak.
“Are you kidding me?” I paused in unclasping my bra, staring at his boxers. Christmas trees were imprinted on the fabric.
“’Tis the season to be jolly,” he taunted, shoving the material down. His thick cock stood to attention, showing me just how happy he was.
My eyes opened wide with alarm. “I… I see that.” How the hell will that fit? I swallowed, hard, and faltered with removing my bra as he stepped out of his last garment. “And I see how those rumors about your being small are definitely not true.”
He grinned, walking up to me and setting his hands on my hips. After a slow, sexy kiss, he whispered, “I’ll show you that I know how to use it, too.”
I have no doubt. If his kisses could make me shiver like this, he already had serious skills. I nodded, though, kissing him deeply as I let my bra fall to the floor. His fingers slipped under the edge of my panties, and with a slow push, he urged the thin fabric to slide down to my feet.
I stepped out of them, but before I could get far, he hugged me close and lowered me to the bed with him.
And then the dam broke. My patience snapped. His did too. We were on each other, kissing and groping. We rolled on the bed, clambering to get closer as if this were a race to feel all of each other. I couldn’t get enough of the hot sensation of his hard, warm body rubbing up against mine and pressing me to the mattress. He seemed just as insatiable for kissing and licking every bit of my flesh he could find.
“Yes,” I moaned when he slipped his fingers into me, stretching me for what I wanted to come.
“You want me?” he asked, checking again and again, patient and considerate to give me what I needed. Still a giver, not a taker.
“Please. Please don’t stop.” I no longer cared if I sounded needy.
His lips left a burning trail of hot kisses and needy sucks over my breasts. My fingers wrapped around his dick as I stroked him. When he kissed me, angling me to roll beneath him, I parted my legs and gave him access to better slide his big cock over my wet entrance.
“Fuck me, Nate.” I arched up against him, needing the friction.
I couldn’t catch my breath. My nipples were tight and so sore. I was so aroused that I couldn’t stand the wait.
“You’re sure?”
He was too damn sweet, careful and going at my pace.
I kissed him hard as I locked my legs around his waist. That move, my answer, damn near pushed the tip of his cock into my entrance, and I gasped at the sensation.
“Let me get a condom.”
“Don’t tell me that’s imprinted with a holiday theme, too,” I teased.
He laughed, quieting me and himself when he sheathed the condom over his long dick.
This was the moment.
I’d lose my virginity to this man. My boss. My brother’s best friend.
There would be no going back from this, and the moment felt heavy.
“My sweet girl,” he crooned, lowering to kiss me before notching his tip at my pussy.
I moaned against his lips, relishing the endearment and the start of a burn as he pushed in. The stretch was a lot to manage, but true to his nature, he didn’t rush. He didn’t plow into me.
Ever so slowly, kissing me and inching in, he gave me time to acclimate to this fullness.
Only once he was all the way in did I feel like I could breathe again. He was in. I was doing this— we were doing this.
“Don’t stop,” I begged as he began with slow strokes in and out of me.
He shook his head. “No. I can’t.” Looking like a mighty beast, he reared up to watch himself sliding back and forth, disappearing into my entrance.
My orgasm crept closer and closer. Just watching him, so strong, all his muscles straining as he pounded into me, pushed me nearer to that explosion of bliss.
“Fuck, Rachel. Look at us.” He clenched his teeth, groaning as he went faster.
“I’m coming,” I replied, gasping out the words in this effort not to pass out.
I felt him everywhere. In me. Over me. Together in this race to come.
I’d lost hope that I’d lose my virginity when I was dating Kyle. Then since learning I never would, I wasn’t sure how I’d find someone I’d want to give my V card to.
“That’s it, sweet girl.” He growled as my orgasm took over. Waves of pleasure rocked through me, rendering me soaring, floating, and sinking with euphoria.
“You come for me,” he gritted out.
I cried out louder as he put his thumb on my clit, prolonging my ecstasy with another strike of overwhelming sensations.
“Nate!” It was too much. So much. Relief and pleasure swiftly filled me after the snap of tension that pushed me so close to screaming his name louder again.
He roared, jerking deep inside me as he came, making my holiday wish come true in the most intimate manner possible.
I’d found a man to make me feel good.
Now I only had to come to terms that it was with a man who said he’d sworn off women for good.