28. Naya
TWENTY-EIGHT
NAYA
"When did you know I had a crush on you?" I asked.
"Since the night we were over for dinner for Nolan's birthday. You baked a cake, and you made that cauliflower dish. You kept looking at me, and I realized I knew you were looking at me because I was doing the same with you. But you were sixteen, and I felt like an asshole."
His back was resting against the headboard, and I was snuggled into him.
His arm was around me, stroking the scars on my lower back like he didn't care they were there.
A small part of me was starting to believe that he didn't care.
Scary thought! Because if I was wrong it would destroy me just as badly as the accident had.
"Why did you keep looking at me?"
"I thought you were pretty."
"I fell for you way before that when I heard you talk to Nolan about how he treated me."
He stilled and continued. "Remind me."
I kissed his chest. "I think it was the first time you came over."
"Fuck, how old were you?”
"Thirteen."
"God!"
I smiled and licked his nipple and was rewarded with a sharp intake of his breath. "I was cooking, and Daddy was helping set the table while Nolan was hanging out with you and Hayes, and there was a girl there and another guy."
"Jackson was the guy and…I can't remember the girl's name. She was Jackson's girlfriend."
"Anyway, Nolan went to his room, and you followed him. I was outside the door, and you told him that he needed to get his act together."
"She's a fucking child, and she's cooking? Come on, man, you live here," Amias said to Nolan as he grabbed something from his room.
"She's the one who started cooking after our mother died, okay."
"So?"
"So, what? Amias, I can't be here taking care of the house. You know how hard MIT is."
"I know, Nolan. But she's a kid."
"Naya is fine."
"I don't know, Nolan. It doesn't feel right."
"Fine, I'll help more."
"That day, you helped clean up and stack the dishwasher. Every time you came over, you helped."
My crush only got more intense because of that.
I knew Amias came from a wealthy family; Nolan had told us that he, Jackson, and Hayes were all trust-fund babies.
He hated that he had to have a job to pay for his living expenses because Daddy paid for school.
And, yet, Amias had no problem cleaning the table or throwing out the trash like Nolan did.
"And you fell for me?"
"Hard."
He nuzzled my hair and cupped my ass, stroking the crease in between, jumpstarting my arousal all over again.
"I saw less of you once Nolan moved into your place," I mused. "I missed seeing you, but you still came by with him once in a while. He loved living with you guys. He'd tell us about how great the house was; so much better than our place. It was expensive but he was so enamored."
"Nolan stayed for free in our house; we'd decided upon that because we knew his financial situation and?—"
I pushed up and sat, not caring my boobs were on display. "What?"
"What?"
"Nolan didn't have to pay rent?"
"No. We took care of it. I mean…we had the money and…what?"
"I'm so angry with him. He made Daddy feel guilty because he had to work to pay rent and living expenses when you all didn't have to."
Amias frowned.
"Yeah, Nolan told us he was paying rent. Daddy sent him money for that whenever he could. I didn't have a college fund because of Nolan, which is fine, but he didn't have to make our father feel bad. That was despicable."
"Your brother is a bigger asshole than I thought. Fucking hell, Naya. I can't believe I've stayed friends with him…but he was part of the group, and…." He pulled me back down to hold me. "I'm so sorry, baby."
"I asked him to pay for part of Daddy's medical bills, and he said he bought a house, so he had no money."
"He bought a house he can't afford," Amias muttered.
"I know that."
"Let me pay your father's—" I pinched him hard, and he yelped. "What was that for?"
"Didn't we just say no money between us?"
"I was trying to be nice," he grumbled.
I stroked the skin I'd pinched. "Sorry."
"It didn't hurt. You pinch like a girl and," I pinched him again and again, "ouch, ouch, ouch, stop."
He pushed me onto my back then. "I'm bigger than you."
"And what are you going to do with all that bigness?" I challenged him. It felt so good to have a man naked with me, a man who didn't care that half my body looked like a blistered tomato. A man who was fun and funny and looked at me like I was the most beautiful woman in the world.
He rolled on top of me and slid into me. My breath caught.
"There, that should shut you up."
"Amias, I?—"
"All I need to hear you say is, 'Oh, Amias, your cock is so big, will it fit?'"
I broke into a smile so wide my face hurt.
"Oh, Amias, your cock is so big, will it fit," I said in an exaggerated porn star voice.
"Let me show you, my little warrior," he said in a big bad wolf voice.