Chapter 32
Hayleigh
Six weeks later…
“Who’s a beautiful baby girl? You are, yes you are, yes you–” I stop what I’m doing because the look on baby Penny’s face tells me she’s either about to fill her nappy or fill my top with puke.
Lacey giggles next to me. “Here, let me put this on your top.” She places a square piece of cloth over my t-shirt right before Penny spits up her milk. How does she still look so cute?
Lacey gave birth to Penny four weeks ago, and since then, seeing her become a mum has been absolutely amazing to watch. She’s a natural, and Cole is a natural girl, Dad.
Speaking of, he walks over and holds his arms out. “Here, I’ll take her to get cleaned up.” I gently hand her over and fold up the cloth square, thanking god that there’s no sick on my clothes.
I turn to Lacey. “How are you feeling?”
Her smile is dreamy. “I feel great, still a little sore, but nothing compares to seeing her beautiful face.”
We both look over to where Cole gently cleans her up. He lifts her, and she scrunches in on herself as he places a kiss on her cheek.
I shake my head. “Holy shit, that’s enough to make even my ovaries explode.”
Lacey laughs and sighs. “He’s so amazing. I don’t know why I didn’t tell him I loved him sooner. Speaking of love, how’s Nate?”
I roll my eyes. “Subtle, Lacey.” But despite myself, I laugh. “He’s amazing, too. I finally feel alive again.”
She pats my leg. “Well, I for one am glad you feel alive again. I don’t ever want to see you like you’ve been this past year. Everything you’ve been through has been for a reason, some of it shitty, but in the end, you won. Remember that.”
I did.
I’ve almost completed my list, but now what?
As I watch Lacey and Cole together with Penny, I know one thing for sure.
I love Nate Peterson, and I’m going to tell him.
**********
I sit in my car outside of Nate and Archie’s home, contemplating how I want to tell him when my phone pings with a message.
I laugh when the name pops up on my screen.
Knight-in-shining-armour
It’s creepy to stare at someone’s house, you know
Me
Archie, did you go on my phone again??? Your names changed!
Knight-in-shining-armour
I know not of what you speak of, fair maiden
Knight-in-shining-armour
But yes, I did. Nate’s in his workshop btw *heart eyes emoji*
Me
Thanks *kissy face emoji* book club later on?
Knight-in-shining-armour
You know it! *emoji wearing glasses* *book emoji* *wine emoji*
I get out of my car and walk over to Nate’s workshop. When I get there, his door is closed, but I can hear him inside rattling about the place. It makes me smile. This is his happy place, the place where he can relax, unwind, and work on the things he loves.
Stepping up to the door, I knock, knowing that things are about to change for good. This thing between us will hopefully become real, not one-sided, like it was before with Nate giving everything. But I know it was only one-sided because I was scared.
Nate opens the door, a beautiful smile blooming on his face, and suddenly it’s all too much. Everything over the past year comes flooding out of me because now I’m safe.
I’m happy, and I’m safe.
“Fuck, Hayleigh. C’mere.” He places the pencil he’s holding behind his ear and wraps me up in his arms, pulling me inside and closing the door.
I stand there for a few moments, letting everything out as he holds me. Eventually, I pull back and swipe the tears from under my eyes as I look up at him. I laugh.
A bewildered look crosses his face, but I stretch up and place my hands on either side of his cheeks. “Nate, I’m okay, and that’s mostly because of you. You’ve shown me what it is to start over and find myself again, to have hope that everything will work out, and I’m so thankful for that.”
His arms tighten behind me. His mouth lifts on one side. “It was all you, I was lucky to be a part of it, and I’d do it again for you in a heartbeat.”
I search his eyes and find nothing but the raw, honest truth.
I stand on my tiptoes as he leans down to meet me with a kiss, but before I can get too lost, I pull back and rest my forehead on his.
“I love you, Nate. I think I’ve loved you this whole time, even before I knew it myself. It has always been you.”
He bends his knees and picks me up, his strong arms lifting me from beneath. My back hits the door, his voice is low and gravelly in my ear. “Say it again.”
A sigh leaves my lips. “I love you, Nate Peterson.”
“I love you so much, Hayleigh. Always have and always will.” His lips crash into mine, searing and hot, and suddenly I can’t get closer to him, can’t get enough of him.
His lips rip away from mine as he places open kisses across my cheek and down my neck, biting at the junction where it meets my shoulder, causing me to cry out as that all too amazing feeling shoots through to my core.
He grinds out. “Need you, now.” Then he’s spinning us around, striding across the room with his hulking frame, carrying me.
He places me on the surface of a huge slab of wood, stepping back from me before peeling off his Henley shirt, then undoing his jeans so they hang off his hips as he pulls his hard cock free while slowly pumping it, a look of pure pleasure in his eyes.
He stalks forward, and a thrill runs through me. His hands reach for the bottom of my t-shirt, and in one swift motion, it's up and off, then my bra as I bare my top half to him. His eyes zero in on my nipples when they pebble with the cool air hitting them.
He dips his head, capturing one in his mouth while his fingers move like magic across the other one. My hand flies to the back of his hair, my fingers tangling with his strands as he sucks and bites down hard enough to make me cry out. The pleasure and pain mix deliciously.
His hands move to my shoulders, gently pushing to guide me to lie flat. I look up at him as he takes off my boots and socks, then slowly he unbuttons my jeans before sliding them and my underwear off my legs, agonisingly slow.
I’m now fully bare to him, and the look in his eyes tells me he wants to devour me.
He lifts my right leg by the ankle, places a soft kiss on the inside, rests it on his shoulder, and with his other hand pushes my left leg open.
He cocks his head to one side as he lazily drags a finger up and down my entrance.
“Look at you, so fucking wet and all mine. Look how you glisten, look how fucking beautiful you are, spread out like this.” He growls the words out slowly, and then I watch as he takes his finger and places it in his mouth, humming with approval.
I’ve never been more turned on in my life.
I whimper. “Nate, please, I-I need you.” My voice is barely above a whisper.
He doesn’t hesitate, grabbing hold of his cock he leans forward and drags it up and down against my core, coating himself before notching it at my entrance and slowly pushing in.
I stop breathing, watching his face as he pushes in deeper, then stills.
His other hand moves over my mound, and he slowly circles his thumb against my clit, all the while not moving inside of me. The pleasure builds, and I need more. I need him to move, but no matter how much I squirm, his other hand is on my hip, stopping me.
He smirks at me. “I want to watch you come on my cock first, Shortcake.” He increases the speed of his thumb on my clit as pleasure builds and shoots through me. That familiar feeling of being wound up, snakes around inside of me, and I know any minute now I’m going to come.
“That’s it, Hayleigh, come all over me.” Nate pinches my clit, the pressure releases as my orgasm hits me full force, and as I’m still coming, Nate pulls out of me and slams his cock deep inside of me as far as he can go.
He sets up a punishing pace, prolonging my orgasm and chasing his own as both hands grip my hips, holding me in place as he fucks me with everything he has as I scream out his name.
Then, in one swift motion, his hands grab mine, and he hauls me up and into his arms as I sink further onto his cock.
He walks us to the wall, where he pushes me up against it and fucks me as hard as he can while I hold onto him.
It’s rough and dirty, and the sounds we’re making aren’t pretty, but it’s utterly perfect. He’s perfect, especially when he stills and empties himself into me, telling me how much he loves me.
After we clean up, we lie down on the couch, facing each other. Nate has me wrapped in his arms as he draws lazy circles on my back. A spare blanket covers our bottom half. He looks at me and smiles, and I smile back, feeling utterly giddy and uncertain at the same time.
I whisper. “Is this real?”
He kisses my forehead. “It’s real.”
“So what do we do now?” Butterflies circle around inside of me as I wait for his answer.
He smiles. “We do what we always have, take each day as it comes. We can make plans for what we want to do, or we can wing it, so long as we do it together, it doesn’t matter. I want you to be happy.”
“I still have one thing left on my list, you know, I still haven’t done a safari.”
He kisses both of my cheeks. “My dad knows a place that does a safari right here in England; we could do that, or we could save up and go to a real safari.”
“Thank you for pushing me to do the list, Nate, and for completing it. I don’t think I realised how much I actually needed it till I started ticking things off. I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
“I love you, Hayleigh, with no strings attached. I love you. Even if you decided this wasn’t for you, I’d still love you. You don’t owe me or anyone anything.”
The last thing I remember is him holding me close, his fingers tracing circles on my back while I fell into a deep, restful sleep.
**********
A banging on Nate’s workshop door has us both jolting awake. I look over at it and breathe a sigh of relief because he remembered to bolt it from the inside. We scramble up to get dressed as Nate hollers out that we’ll just be a minute.
By the time he opens the door to an extremely impatient Archie, my face is flushed, and we definitely look like we’ve been caught with our pants down.
Archie looks between us before raising his hands. “I don’t wanna know, we’re going to be late for book club if you don’t hurry up. I’ll be waiting in your car, Hayls.” He stomps off towards my car, unlocking it and climbing in.
My mouth drops open as Nate laughs. “For some reason, he has spare car keys for everyone's car. Don’t ask.” He places a kiss on my cheek and grabs my bag. “Are you sure you have to go?”
I raise my brow. “To book club? Hell yes, I have to go. That’s like our sacred place, but I’ll see you after it.” As I’m walking out the door and just because I can, I turn and blow him a kiss before saying. “I love you.”
He catches my kiss and places it on his cheek before replying. “I love you more.”
By the time I’m sitting in my car, I’m practically floating and giddy, but Archie is grumpy and quiet. I ruffle his hair.
“Why the long face, Arch?”
He crosses his arms in response and looks out the window as we drive into town to the coffee shop where our book club will be meeting for the first time.
He huffs out a breath before throwing his hands up in the air, his huge frame taking up all the space in my small car.
“Fine, I’ll tell you.” He picks at the fabric on his knee before continuing.
“I love, love, and another one bites the dust, but it isn’t me.
When is it going to be my turn?” He sounds so sad that my heart aches for him.
“I have a feeling, Arch, that when your love comes around, it is going to knock you off your feet and be worth the wait.” I take a quick look at him and see the corner of his mouth lift ever so slightly.
He shrugs. “Maybe.”
I shake my head. “There’s no maybe about it. I have faith it will all work out, and any girl will be lucky to have you.”
His cheeks pinken ever so slightly as he smiles. “Thanks, Hayls, for being a best friend, and thank you for loving Nate; he needs it.”
We pull up to the coffee shop and see that it’s closed. “Archie, I thought you said the book club was here tonight?”
He points down the street. “Drive down there a minute and park up.”
I do as he says and park up down the street before getting out. Archie unfolds himself out of my car and rests his arms on the roof, smiling. “This building is empty.”
I nod my head. “I can see that. What are we doing here, and why aren’t we at book club?”
He waves his hand. “Book club is cancelled tonight. I wanted to bring you here because I have a proposition for you.”
I narrow my eyes. “Go on.”
“I want to open a bookstore, but I don’t want to do it by myself, and I was hoping that maybe you’d like to go into business with me?
I know Thea is good with numbers, so maybe she can help as well.
I’m thinking that with the coffee shop down the road, it’s perfect; we could sell baked goods and host as many book clubs as we want. What do you say?”
I look up at the building and see it; the vision he has, and a thrill of excitement flows through me because this would be something crazy and new. I put my hands on my hips. “What would we call it?”
He claps his hands together, smiling. “We can throw names about, so is that a yes?”
I nod my head. “It’s a yes, partner.”
“Good, because I kind of already put an offer in on the building, and they’ve accepted it. They even gave me the keys, wanna see inside?” He’s practically bouncing and already opening the door.
When I walk through, I imagine what it could look like: all the different types of books we could have, comfy seating, and decorations. It’s everything I never knew I needed, much like the whole Peterson family.
“So? Are you both bookstore owners now?” Nate’s voice sounds from the doorway, causing me to whirl around. He holds up two bags of takeout. “I brought food.”
A burst of laughter leaves my lips. “You knew about this?”
He nods. “He hasn’t shut up about it for weeks. Plus, who do you think is going to make your bookcases?”
I saunter my way over to him. “You mean to say that I can watch you get all hot and sweaty making bookcases all day?” My voice drops, and Nate gulps, but before he can reply, Archie shouts from across the room.
“Nope, no way. There shall be none of that, thank you very much. Keep this place strictly professional.” He gives us both a pointed look before rolling his eyes and grabbing one of the takeout boxes from Nate.
I wrap my arms around Nate’s neck and smile up at him. “I love you.”
He smiles down at me before kissing the tip of my nose. “I love you more.”
The Beginning…