Chapter 5
Laura held still, her gaze locked on Nash’s.
If she didn’t tell him no everything would change.
She knew one kiss with this man would never be enough. Then again, it didn’t seem as though he wanted just one. Over the years she’d never let herself think about what he wanted beyond the fact he made it clear he wanted her. If she had…
“Everything will change,” she spoke against his lips.
“Yes.”
“We can’t go back.”
“No.”
“I don’t think—”
“Don’t think. Just feel. Turn that brain off for two seconds and feel.”
She swallowed, her throat thick. “What if it doesn’t work?”
“What if it does?”
“How does that look?” Laura had no idea why she kept talking. Not when everything inside her was screaming for her to press her mouth to his. Hard.
“It looks like forever. Here. Us. Together.”
“Oh.”
“And when you’re ready, kids.”
“Nash,” his name slipped through her lips on a breath.
“Laura. Tell me no and walk away or shut the fuck up and let me have you.”
“I don’t want to walk away.”
“Be sure. Because once we do this I won’t go back. Can’t. Ever. I’m all in on this.”
Letting out a slow breath, she shifted closer, pressed her lips to Nash’s harder, and spoke against his mouth, “All in.”
For a second neither of them moved, his gaze hot on hers, their mouths fused together, breath shared. Then something snapped and they were lips and tongues and teeth.
And hands.
Pressing, licking, nipping, groping.
A rumble of approval vibrated in his chest when her fingers found their way under the many layers of clothes to drag over his bare skin.
God, he had washboard abs. Smooth ridges of muscle she wanted to put her mouth on, slide her tongue over.
He pulled his lips from hers, nipped his way along her jaw to the sensitive hollow beneath her ear. Nabbing her lobe with his teeth, he tugged, then breathed hot air across her ear, sending shivers in every direction.
“Nash.” His name was a plea. A demand for more.
“Laura.”
Fuck. The way he said her name, with a gravelly rasp that sounded raw shivered through her, leaving her knees weak and her breath short, her heart racing.
“I need…” His hands pulled at the borrowed hoodie.
“Yes. We should…” Stepping back, she grabbed the too big top and yanked it up and off, the thermal under it getting caught up and going with it leaving her naked from the waist up.
“Fuck. Laura.” Nash’s smoldering gaze roamed over her. “Jesus. Laura.”
No words could ever convey what that look did. She felt beautiful. Wanted. Powerful.
Nash reached out, his fingers extended, and lightly brushed the tip of his index finger over one beaded nipple. “So tight.”
Her nipples weren’t the only thing tight. Her lower belly twisted, coiling with heat, her sex clenching with need and dripping moisture, dampening her thighs. “Nash.”
“What do you need? Tell me.” He stepped closer, raised his other hand to tease her other nipple with a fingertip.
Her breath hitched, her chest holding tight to the word she felt extremely vulnerable saying. Searching his eyes, she found nothing but longing, truth, and his vulnerability gave her the strength to speak her own.
“Everything. I need everything.”
His gaze locked with hers, the fire raging in his eyes lighting her up more. “Everything. Anything. Always.”
The conviction behind his words left her trembling. She’d never had a man look at her with such heat, such want. And yet the look in Nash’s eyes is one she’d seen before. He’d been looking at her like that for years and she’d been too scared to do anything about it. To find out what it meant.
But now she knew.
There was no going back, no recovering if this thing between them flashed over and burnt out.
“Don’t doubt me. Don’t doubt us.” He whipped his shirt over his head and stepped into her, pressed his chest to hers. “It’s too deep. Too much to ever break.”
She wanted to believe him. Wanted to take him at his word. Except she’d never gone all in before. Never let herself give over control the way she knew she would with Nash.
“I’ll catch you.” His gaze remained on hers. His words reassuring as though he could read her mind. “When you fall, I’ll catch you because I’m already there.”
“I’ve never—”
“I know. Me either.” He lowered his head, his lips brushing hers. “It seems fitting the first time we fall is together.”
“Nash.” She couldn’t stop saying his name. A plea, a prayer, a demand, she didn’t know what she meant each time she uttered it but she loved the sound and taste of it on her tongue. Loved the way is eyes flared when she said it. “Please, Nash.”
His mouth pressed on hers, lips closed, and his arms slipped around behind her to hold her tight. “Tell me what you need.”
Fuck. She didn’t have a clue. She was so far out of her depth with this man. She’d known, all those years ago, she’d known he’d be the end of her. If she gave in to what she felt, what she saw in his eyes, she’d lose herself. Lose the woman she was and become someone else. His.
Nash would be a turning point. He’d be her end and her beginning.
Holding her close, he swept his hands up and down her back, their hearts beating against each other.
They were naked above the waist, their mouths pressed together, but the urgency to strip completely—to consume—had abated.
In its place was a need for comfort, for closeness, a warm embrace that served to soothe.
Laura still wanted him, wanted to lose herself in the heat and need, except she wanted the contentment that flowed through her now too. She didn’t understand how they could be so in sync. How they seemed to read each others needs without words.
Leaning her head back she caught his gaze with hers once more. “Should we…” She tipped her head toward the bedroom.
“Not yet.” He brought a hand to her face, his palm cradling her cheek, thumb stroking her bottom lip. “I just want to hold you like this a little longer. Then we’ll put our clothes back on and watch a movie.”
“A movie?”
“Yep. We’re going to pretend we’re able to leave the house and go on a date. We’ll watch a movie, then I’ll feed you dinner and at the end of our date I’ll kiss you goodnight.”
“Wait. We’re not having sex?”
“Oh, yeah, we’ll have sex. We’re just not doing it now.”
She frowned. “You don’t want to have sex?”
“Laura.” He ground his hips into hers, the unmistakable bulge of his cock pressing into her belly. “Does that feel like I don’t want to have sex? I want. I’ve wanted for years which is why a few more days won’t matter.”
“A few more days?”
Laughing, he slipped his hand into her hair. “We’ve got plenty of time. By my reckoning we’ll be trapped in here for at least a week.”
“I still don’t understand why we’re waiting.”
With his hand in her hair, he tipped her face up. “I see it like this. Once I get you under me I won’t be able to stop and as much as that’s appealing, extremely appealing, I really need to get that fireplace working in case the furnace goes out. The last thing I want is for you to get cold again.”
“If we had sex we’d be sharing body heat. Pretty sure there’s no chance either of us would be cold.”
“Maybe so. But I’ve had this plan to woo you for years and I don’t want to give it up even though I’m going to have to modify it.”
“Oh?” The idea that Nash had been thinking about her in a romantic sense for years drew a smile to her lips. “What exactly did you plan?”
“For a start. A movie and dinner date. It won’t be the same but I think I can make it memorable. I’m pretty sure I’ve got some of that bagged popcorn in the cupboard.”
“Who gets to pick the movie?”
“You can pick. I don’t care what we watch as long as I get to sit beside you and share a bowl of popcorn which will no doubt mean we bump hands from time to time. I’ll sneak glances at you and maybe try to hold your hand and steal a kiss or two.”
“Jesus. What are we, fifteen?”
“Did you do that when you were fifteen?”
Her smile slipped. “No. I didn’t date in high school.”
“Really? What the hell was wrong with the boys you went to school with?”
“They were all too busy trying to get a date with Carly.”
Nash scowled. “But you’re twins. Identical.”
“In looks maybe. The rest we couldn’t be more different.”
“If we’d gone to school together I’d have asked you out.”
She grinned. “I’m pretty sure if we’d gone to school together you’d have been one of my teachers.”
“Are you implying I’m old?”
“You’re definitely older than me by more than a few years.” She studied his face. “How old are you?”
“You don’t know? You didn’t run a check on me after you arrested me?”
“I didn’t arrest you,” she protested.
“Forgive me if this old memory fails me but did you or did you not put handcuffs on me while I was naked?”
“You were skinning dipping right in front of the gazebo!”
“It was pitch black dark and no one was around.”
“I was around!”
“Yes, and believe me I noticed how long it took you to get to me and slap those cuffs on.” He grinned. “I’m sure you were just making sure I didn’t have a weapon concealed anywhere.”
Heat flushed her face. Oh, she’d taken her time all right.
When she’d spotted him coming out of the lake in all his naked glory, water dripping down his chest, his thighs…
She’d lost the ability to breath or think.
It had taken a good couple of minutes to pull herself clear of the arousal that had rushed through her and remember she was supposed to be policing the park along the lake front.
Nash laughed. “You’re thinking about it again aren’t you? Remembering how you enjoyed cuffing me and preventing me from covering myself.”
“Ha, if you didn’t want anyone to see you you’d have worn pants.”
“What would you do if I said I planned it?”
“Planned what? Getting naked or arrested?”
“I didn’t think you arrested me.”
She growled. “You know what I mean.”
“I do.” He dropped his forehead to rest on hers. “I saw you patrolling and thought the easiest way to get your attention was to strip naked and jump in the lake.”
“Wow. You are a teenager.”
“Yeah. Not my best move that’s for sure. I got your attention but then you avoided me like the plague.”
“Because I didn’t know what to do with you.”
“No, you knew what you wanted to do with me, you were too scared to do it.”
He had her there. She had been afraid of him, of what he made her feel. Still was afraid if she were honest. And now they’d moved to the part naked, pressed together stage of their relationship she wasn’t sure if that fear would help or ruin this tentative connection. “I’m still scared.”
“I know.”
“We already said we were doing this but I need a couple of things. A couple of guarantees.”
“Name them.”
“Honesty.”
“Of course. That goes without saying. On both sides.”
“And you might need to push me passed my comfort zone.”
“Done.”
“You shouldn’t make a habit of giving in to my demands.”
Nash smiled. A smile that had her stomach quivering and her sex clenching. “Don’t worry, I’ll be making my own demands you’ll be giving in to.”
“What kind of demands?”
“No underwear.”
A burst of laughter tore up her throat. “What?” she chocked out.
He shrugged. “I like the idea of knowing you’ve got nothing on under your clothes.”
“Fucking hell. You really are a teenager.”
His grin turned downright naughty. “I feel like one around you.”
“Without the bumbling and fumbling I hope.”
“Oh, definitely no bumbling. Or fumbling.” He slid his hands down her back and gripped her ass. “I promise no fumbling hands. I know exactly what to do with them.”
“We’ll see.”
“Yes, we will. But first.” He gave her ass a squeeze then let go.
“Time to put our clothes back on. If you want to check out the movies in the cupboard under the TV then raid the pantry to look for that popcorn, I’ll finish checking the fireplace and see if I can’t get a fire going to keep us warm. ”
“You don’t want help?”
“I’d rather only one of us get covered in soot. And you’re helping get things ready for our date.”
Laura wanted to argue but Nash made quick work of getting them both clothed before going back to the fireplace as though they hadn’t just been pressed skin to skin.
She couldn’t decide if stopping was good or not. One thing it wasn’t was a relief. Her body still thrummed with arousal at a level she’d never felt before and she was honest enough to admit she didn’t like being left hanging. And that’s kind of what he’d done.
At least she knew he’d done it to both of them.
There was no missing the bulge in Nash’s jeans.
Grinning, she went to the cupboard the TV sat on to look through the movies he had.
She’d grant him his wish, sit through a movie and share some popcorn but the second he tried to steal a kiss she’d be on him.
Now that she’d agreed to enter a relationship with Nash she was prepared to dive right in. Her fear seemed insignificant now, especially with him admitting to his own.
Yeah, she’d let him steal some kisses. Then she’d steal a few of her own.