Chapter 40 – cat
CAT
We stumble into Nate’s apartment, still kissing, still touching each other. The ride here from the shelter wasn’t even ten minutes, but it was still too long.
I’m ripping his Christmas sweater off before we make it three steps from the elevator. Nate chuckles again, and the sound makes my chest swell.
“Impatient, aren’t you?”
“Can’t have my boyfriend spilling sugar all the way into the apartment.”
I toss his sweater and undershirt to the floor so I can run my hands over his chest. His muscles look more pronounced under his skin, and I wonder if his appetite has sucked this month, too. We’ll have to eat plenty of croissants and pain au chocolats to make up for it, and that’s fine by me.
While I grip at his back, Nate pulls my hair out of its braid and runs his fingers through the curls. “Fuck, I missed this.” He kisses my temple. “I missed you.”
He kisses my cheekbone. “Your smell.” Then my jaw. “Your warmth.”
He sucks in a breath and presses a kiss to the spot below my ear. “Kitten, you have no idea what it was like thinking I lost you for good.”
I gaze up at him, overwhelmed by his honesty. By the fact that if I want it, he’ll be mine to kiss, mine to cherish, mine to love.
“But I do. The last month was torture. Promise we’ll never do that again.”
He chuckles. “You’re the one who broke up with me.”
“Yeah, well, next time don’t let me.”
He reaches for me, bringing my face up to his for another kiss. When he pulls away, there’s another smudge of powdered sugar on his cheek.
“This stuff really got everywhere,” I say, rubbing it away with my thumb.
“Let’s fix that.” There’s a wicked edge to his voice.
Weaving his hands in mine, he pulls me back toward the bedroom.
He leads me through his bedroom, and into his adjoining bathroom. Somehow, I’ve never been in here before—I always used the one in the guest room. It’s beautifully luxurious, with sophisticated slate-colored tiles and warm lighting.
Nate opens the glass door to his gigantic shower. There’s a large rainwater head above, with multiple fancy side nozzles.
Nate turns on the knob and touches the water to check the heat. He fiddles with the knob until he finally decides it’s the right temperature before turning to me.
“Lift your arms for me, Kitten.”
I lift my arms, and he smiles before he takes his time rolling my sweater and shirt up my ribs and peeling it from my arms. He undoes the button and zipper on my jeans next, getting to his knees to shimmy them over my hips and down my legs.
When he hooks his fingers in my panties, he looks up at me for permission.
He doesn’t ask the question, but I answer it anyway. “Pink.”
He grins up at me. “You remembered.”
“Couldn’t forget if I tried.”
He drags my panties down my legs, placing his fingers in the bend behind my knee to lift my feet from the loops so he can toss them aside.
When he’s done he doesn’t get up right away, instead splaying his hands over my thighs, running them up the length of me and back down so slowly. Reverently as he reacquaints himself with my body. Then he leans his head against my hip and sighs, just breathing into me for a moment.
In his actions, I read the fine print.
I missed you
I love you.
Overwhelmed with affection, I run my fingers through his thick hair. Powdered sugar comes off on my hand, reminding me of why we need this shower in the first place.
“Come on,” I urge gently. “Let me get this sugar out of your hair.”
He lets me guide him back to standing with me and stays still while I undress him. It’s a struggle, since he’s at least a full head taller than me and we laugh when he has to bend all the way over for me to yank his shirt off.
After I’m finished and we step into the shower, I gasp when the warm water hits my body.
It feels so goddamn good on my already sensitized skin, and I close my eyes to savor it running over my hair and down my cheeks.
It’s like I’m stepping into a summer rain; everything feels hot and wet and perfect.
I smooth my hair back away from my eyes, turning my face up to the water. I run my hands down, over my neck and between my breasts, over my soft belly and down to my thighs. I hear a low groan, and something grazes my stomach.
When I open my eyes, Nate’s in front of me, fully naked, his cock already harder than granite. Just looking at it makes my pussy throb with anticipation.
The water moves beautifully down his body, dripping down between the lines of his muscles. I can’t resist leaning down to kiss his chest, tasting his warm skin and the remnants of scattered sugar before the water washes it fully away.
Nate cups my face under the gentle stream of water, tipping my face to his. His thumb brushes my jaw, gaze so deep and piercing I can feel it all the way to my bones as he leans down and presses his mouth to mine.
The kiss is so perfect it makes my toes curl and my knees buckle. Nate has to hold me up as I make a small sound that’s halfway between a whimper and a moan against his lips.
“I love you,” I mutter as he breaks the kiss before I realize what I’m saying. I gasp, my hand jumping up to cover my mouth. “Oh god, that’s not how I meant to say it—not the first time—”
He pulls my hand down from my face, his gray eyes more serious than I’ve ever seen them as they search mine. “Say it again.”
I grin up at him.
“Please”—he squeezes my hand—“say it again.”
“I love you, Nathaniel Walsh.”
He smiles then—the biggest, brightest smile I’ve ever seen on him. It transforms his face, making him look younger somehow, innocent and pure.
Prince Frowning’s full, real, unabashed smile is slightly crooked and entirely perfect.
“I love you, too, Caitlin Daniels.” He kisses me softly on the lips. “I love you.”
He kisses down my neck, spinning me so my back is against his chest. His hands move down my body, skimming over my sides and cradling my hips as he kisses down my neck.
“I love you. I love you. I love you,” he murmurs between kisses against my skin.
“Do you have any idea how easy it was to love you?”
His rumbling voice vibrates against my back.
I lean my head against him, relishing the feel of his wet skin against mine and when I shift, and my backside slides against his cock, he shivers against me, a small groan muffled in my wet skin.
“Kitten…”
The nickname is a plea on his lips.
I blink water from my eyes to meet his as I look up.
There’s a hunger there that’s so clear it makes me squirm in his arms. Makes my thighs press together against a sudden ache between them. I nod.
“Yes.”
He lets out a guttural, grateful sound, as if I’ve just released him from a lifelong sentence of imprisonment. He nuzzles my neck, hands moving down my stomach, to the juncture between my legs.
My heart skips a beat and I know he must be able to hear it for how loud it’s pounding in the enclosed space.
He moans my name as he traces my seam with a thick finger and gasps when he finds the puddle of arousal already waiting for him.
“Fuuuuckk,” he says in a husky moan as he begins to circle my clit. “Keep still for me Kitten, or I might lose control.”
When I obey, he wraps one arm around my waist and holds me tight. “I don’t want you slipping once I’ve got your legs shaking.”
My pulse quickens.
Warm water falls down our bodies, soothing me even as Nate’s fingers bring me higher and higher. All the sensation is almost too much, but Nate never touches me too hard or too fast. It’s like my body’s an instrument that he’s a prodigy in playing.
Soon, I’m gasping and panting, so close to coming that I can practically taste it.
“Do you need to come, Kitten?” he croons.
“Yes,” I sob.
Nate drags his teeth against my earlobe and I cry out as the crescendo starts. “There it is,” he croons, holding me tighter as shatter. “I’ve got you. Come for me, Kitten.”
The command is all I need. My orgasm crashes through me in world-shaking waves. Thank god his arm is tight around me, because my legs stop holding me up. I can’t believe how Nate can make me come with just his hands and his words.
“Fuck, you’re stunning. I could watch you come a thousand times, and it’d never be less enthralling.”
The praise warms me from the core. It’s not just a compliment, but a promise. That he’ll always feel this way about me.
I turn so I can kiss him, my hand going to his cock, stroking him from root to tip. I love how firm it feels in my hand.
“I can’t wait any longer, Kitten. Please, I need to be inside you.”
He takes my wrists and guides my hands to press against the tiled wall. He moves behind me and swipes his fingers through my arousal, using it to coat his cock with my slickness.
“Lean back.” His voice sounds strained, like he might break if I make him wait.
I lean against the wall and he guides my left leg so my foot is rested on the shower seat built into the wall, opening me up for him.
And then he’s there, his heat pressing all around me, the head of his cock hard against my entrance. I look down at where we’re joined, but a finger hooks beneath my jaw, pulling my attention upward.
“I want to watch you,” he whispers and I feel the insistent press of him as he bends his knees to angle himself into me. “I want to see every expression.” He drags a thumb over my lower lip. “Hear every sound.”
His stare never wavers as he slides into me, consuming my pleasure as I pant and whimper with every inch of him.
Nate only blinks once he’s seated in me fully and my face has gone slack from the perfection of his fullness.
“Mmm,” he grunts, tipping his head back. “You feel so tight.”
Instead of answering, I roll my hips against him, loving how his face pinches in exquisite pleasure. His hands shoot for my hips, gripping there with bruising fingers that tell me he’s already close just from pushing his cock into me.
And fuck if that doesn’t turn me on even more.
Nate grits his teeth and pulls out, slamming back into me with a grunt.
He repeats the movement, as if testing his limits, and I can see when he decides to abandon logic and take what he wants. Nate fucks me hard with short, ruthless strokes, gripping my hips to hold me in place while he roars his pleasure.
My feet start to slip and Nate grabs my hand, lifting it to a silver bar overhead. “Don’t let go,” he growls and then his hand moves so he can stroke my clit as he fucks me.
His fingers are clumsier than before, but I don’t need precision right now. The fire builds in my belly so fast, I barely have time to prepare. I gasp, my grip on the bar so hard I feel a muscle spasm in my arm as I come all over his cock.
My cry echoes in the shower and Nate is only a second behind me, his guttural groan of pleasure vibrating against me.
He buries his face in my neck as he comes into me.
Nate interweaves his fingers with mine against the tiles as he shudders through his orgasm.
Then his trembling hand is at my cheek again, the other pressing against my chest, feeling my heartbeat as it slows.
“Say it’s mine,” he says between pants, eyes searching again. Pleading.
“It’s yours.”
His forehead falls against mine. “I’m the luckiest man in the world.”