Chapter 28
KATE
There was something about a man on the cusp of losing control that was unlike anything else in this world. When that man was Nate Westwood, it was a thrill beyond compare.
I stared into his eyes, the firm heat of him standing between my knees burning into me like I’d stumbled too close to a wildfire. Breathing a little harder than usual, he looked back into my eyes with a kind of hunger that stunned me.
It was there in the tension of his features, the knot at the back of his jaw, the way his gaze kept slipping to my mouth, and how his fingers tightened around my thighs. This was the moment one of us should’ve pulled away.
I knew that, but when he lifted a hand and wrapped it around the back of my head, I leaned in, my lips crashing into his instead. He met me halfway, plastering his chest to mine as his arm slid from my thighs around my hips to pull me closer.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, alarm bells were blaring, warning me that this could only end badly, but I didn’t listen. Simply put, I didn’t want to. This man, as enigmatic, frustrating, and emotionally unavailable as he was, was also going to be my husband.
It was as simple as that. We were getting married, and while there were a few painful steps I still had to take before we got there, this was who I would be spending the rest of my life with. Or at the very least the next few years.
Coming to terms with that was hard. He wasn’t who I’d had in mind when I’d pictured my future before, but my impossibly sweet, sexy boyfriend CB, the one who’d opened up to me in layers over the last five years until he’d exposed every last part of himself, wasn’t going to be my forever after all.
That still stung. Badly.
But there was something undeniable between Nate and me, a connection that felt deeper than it should and a chemistry that sparked like electricity. That was what I chose to focus on now.
We were both weathering this storm, facing the impossible demands, the deep uncertainty, and the future we hadn’t chosen, but we were doing it together. Right now, that was what mattered. It had to be.
Nate groaned into our kiss and wound his fingers around my hair, his grip hard enough to send pulses of pleasure through me.
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, caging him against me, and he lifted me so I was sitting on what appeared to be a cardboard box of paper towels. Luckily, it seemed surprisingly sturdy.
As his tongue delved into my mouth, hot and searching, exploring every nook and cranny, my nipples were suddenly aching, begging for attention. Heat pooled between my legs and it felt like my lungs had gotten too small to supply enough oxygen to my body.
I matched the urgency of his kisses, the heat and the utter abandon. It was driving me wild, having him surrender to wanting me like this. It definitely wouldn’t make things less complicated for either of us, but I needed this. With him.
Not only because I wanted him. I absolutely did, but it was deeper than just physical desires. I needed to keep feeding this connection between us. Something inside—my gut, maybe—was insisting I set aside what I’d thought my life would be and open myself up to the possibility of Nate.
It was so insane that I couldn’t even begin to explain it, but I just had a feeling that fate had intervened and brought us together because he was the person I was meant to be with. I just needed to trust that feeling.
When his hand moved to my hip and his fingers flexed around it, I moaned and arched my back to press my chest into his. Tiny sparks flickered through me at the friction on my nipples. Nate stiffened against me at the sound, then reached for the hem of my dress and shoved it up.
All rational thought disappeared when he ran a hand between us, his fingertips dancing from the inside of my knee up my thigh. When he reached my panties and felt how damp they were, he sucked in a sharp breath.
“Shit, Kate,” he muttered between kisses, the backs of his fingers brushing against the front panel of the fabric. “How are you this wet already?”
His fingers repeatedly brushed across my heated flesh, making me dizzy with pleasure. I was determined not to be embarrassed or outdone. Reaching between the press of our bodies, I wrapped my hand around his very firm shaft and gave it a not-too-gentle squeeze.
“How are you this hard already?” I countered, my breathing labored and my lips already feeling swollen from the force of our kisses.
His mouth curved into a smirk. “What makes you think it’s already and not all along?”
My eyes widened. “Like all night?”
He shrugged and gave me a playful pump of his eyebrows before he leaned in again.
As he kissed me, I stroked him through his slacks, a shiver running through me with every slight gasp and sound he made.
He was so damn hard, my palm rubbing against steel, as I rolled my hips into his hand.
It was intoxicating, my own need combined with his admission that he’d been turned on all night.
He hadn’t touched my bare skin yet, but for a while, we lost ourselves to the sea of sensation, the kisses, and the anticipation coiling deep inside. When I reached for his belt, he abruptly broke the kiss, and before he even said anything, I knew he was reining himself in.
“Not like this,” he said harshly, but I knew he wasn’t angry or rejecting me. “We’re not going to have our first time together in a supply closet like this is some secret affair we’re ashamed of.”
My heart leaped, but my body wasn’t on the same, joyful page. While it was touching that he wanted it to mean something when it happened, I was really close to hiking my dress all the way up and letting him do whatever he wanted.
Instead, I groaned, my eyes fluttering closed. “Yeah. Okay. You’re right.”
When I looked at him again, his lips had curved into a soft smile, a gentle but real one that he’d never aimed at me before. “Of course, I am.”
Swallowing like he was about to step away, he stared at me for another beat. Then he sighed and kissed me again. Although it was softer this time, it was filled with so much longing that I melted into him, my heart pounding and my body raging about how stupid it was to stop now.
I wrapped my arms around him again, deepening the kisses and relishing the feel of his hard body pressed so tight to mine. God, it feels good. So good. Too good, really.
Nate didn’t pull away again and neither did I.
Everything about this was gentler, slower, and deeper.
Every kiss set my nerve endings on fire, my whole body yearning to be joined with his.
He finally pushed my dress up again and I nearly rejoiced, but then he lifted his head away from mine, his gaze searing as he looked into my eyes.
Without a word, he lowered himself to his knees. Never looking away, he reached for the waistband of my panties. My eyes widened when I realized what he was silently asking permission for.
This was new territory for me. Before my self-imposed commitment to a long-distance, anonymous relationship, I’d had a few casual boyfriends, but they’d all been too fancy, too lazy, or too entitled to get on their knees for a woman.
The converse, however, obviously hadn’t been true. They’d expected me to get on mine. They simply weren’t inclined to return the favor.
Ironically, Nate was richer, more influential, and much higher bred than any of them, yet he was looking at me like he was quietly begging me to let him do this. My chin dropped in a shaky nod. I braced one hand on his head and the other gripped the edge of the box.
A moment later, he’d swept the fabric covering me away and I heard him let out a low groan. I felt more than saw him looking at the most private part of me. He spread my knees farther apart with his hands, and the next thing I knew, his tongue was on me, hot, firm, and eager.
Instantly, I was right on the edge. The surprise that he was doing this at all and the deliciousness of the sensations he was eliciting combined to send me hurtling toward an orgasm.
I cried out, smacking one hand over my mouth to keep any further sounds from escaping while the other hung onto his hair like he was a wild mustang I was breaking in.
This was so crazy, doing something like this here, in a supply closet at the very public event. We weren’t the guests of honor, but we were certainly the guests receiving the most attention from the press.
Even so, my hips started bucking into him, the wet warmth of his mouth doing things to me I’d never felt before.
When I finally gathered enough courage to look down, I saw his shoulder moving like he was either undoing his belt or already in there, stroking himself like he just couldn’t hold back anymore.
Ultimately, it was that sight that undid me.
Nate was always so controlled and precise, but from the moment he’d kissed me in this closet, he’d been wrestling to keep it together.
I loved that I’d undone him just as thoroughly as he was doing to me, and an orgasm crashed into me with the intensity of an exploding star.
My entire body tensed. A muffled cry escaped me as my eyes slammed shut. The vibrations of Nate’s groans against me catapulted me into a different plane of existence. When I finally came to my senses again, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and pushed up to his feet.
All it took was one glance through slightly unfocused eyes to see that his fly was open, but he was still hard as a rock. I reached for him with a trembling hand, breathless and boneless but still wanting.
When he stepped closer and kissed me again, I wound my hands into his hair, murmuring against his lips. “How about we do it right next time, and this time, we just give ourselves a free pass? Think of it as a quickie in a supply closet and not a secret affair.”
He let out a soft moan. His hips arched into me where he stood between my legs, but just when I thought we were actually going to do it, his phone rang, the sound shrill and piercing in the silence. Nate muttered a curse and reached into the pocket of his jacket I was still wearing.
He frowned. “It’s Alex. I should take it.”
I nodded, worry shoving past the haze of lust in my brain. We’d left Jane and Alex in their suite at the hotel, but they knew we were here and I doubted he’d be calling just to find out how it was going. He didn’t seem like the type to micromanage a night out when his wife was under the weather.
Nate flashed me an apologetic look as he swiped on the screen to take the call. “Alex, what’s going on?”
His face went completely blank, then pale, all the tight restraint and wanting hunger in his eyes vanishing in an instant. “Shit. We’re leaving right now. I’ll meet you there. Is she okay?”
I blinked hard, my heart suddenly hammering against my ribs for a whole different reason. Already climbing off the box, I smoothed out my dress and followed him out of the closet before he’d even finished the call.
Whatever was going on, Jane was in trouble.