Chapter 16 #2
“I do,” Nathan said, his voice low. Zoe glanced up at him and saw warmth in those soft blue eyes, like the sky at noon. Her heart skipped a beat, and her mouth suddenly felt dry. She was so distracted that she almost tripped, again, which would have been deeply embarrassing.
“Well, good,” she said to cover for her momentary awkwardness. “You’re going to like this.”
“We’ll see…” Nathan said teasingly. “Let me guess. You’re taking me to Times Square?”
“Now you’re just insulting me.”
They walked a few more blocks, Nathan tossing out increasingly unlikely guesses and Zoe laughingly shutting him down, before they arrived.
“We’re here!”
“We’re where?” Nathan asked, looking around pointedly. They were standing in front of an ordinary, tall brownstone apartment building on a side street.
“We’re at my apartment,” Zoe said. “Come on up. I’m going to show you the best view in the city — in my opinion, anyway.”
She led him inside and straight to the elevator, where they went up to the top floor.
There, they climbed one more flight of stairs before Zoe opened the door onto the roof.
She propped it with a brick that the residents kept there for that exact purpose, before leading Nathan to the low wall at the edge of the roof.
“Okay.” Nathan let out a low whistle. “You’re right. This is pretty cool.”
The building was taller than the surrounding ones, which meant that they looked out over a panoramic view of the New York skyline.
In the distance, Zoe could see the green of Central Park.
Nearer by were a mix of skyscrapers, smaller buildings, and bustling roads.
Far below, she could see cars and pedestrians on the street and hear a faint traffic sound, but it was nothing like being in the middle of it all.
“See?” she asked, nudging him with her shoulder. “From up here, you don’t smell anything weird, and you’re not overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle. It’s peaceful, kind of like your viewpoint back in Islingburn.”
“It is,” Nathan agreed. He leaned against the wall, his gaze trained on the horizon. “Sometimes, the most beautiful things are the most unexpected.”
“How deep,” Zoe said. She stood beside him, close enough to feel the warmth of his arm beside hers. Nathan shifted so that he was looking down at her instead of out at the city.
“Today was amazing,” he said. “And it’s all because of you.”
“No.” Zoe looked up at him. She was close enough to see a scattering of stubble across his strong jawline and flecks of gray and green in the blue of his eyes.
She was close enough to smell his pine scent and hear his quiet breath.
She almost felt like she could hear his heartbeat.
“It was amazing because of both of us. Because we found a way to work together.”
“Zoe,” Nathan said. “I…” He reached for his glasses, but Zoe was faster. She lifted her hand to his and held it so that he couldn’t take off his glasses.
“It’s okay,” she said. “You always do that when you’re nervous or upset, and you don’t have anything to be nervous or upset about right now.”
He smiled. “I’m that obvious, am I?”
“Just a little, Doc.” Zoe smiled at him.
Their fingers were still linked together.
All she could think about was Nathan — the show, the view in front of them, the rest of the world, it was all forgotten.
The only thing that mattered was that Nathan was here, and he was amazing, and she would regret it if she let another chance to be close to him slip by.
Nathan must have been thinking the same thing, because he leaned towards her and lifted one hand to brush a strand of Zoe’s hair behind her ear. “I don’t think your hair likes being tied back.” His fingers lingered on her cheekbone.
“Take it out, then,” Zoe said, half dare, half request. Nathan pulled the tie from her hair, and it spilled down around her shoulders. He took one strand between his fingers.
“You look beautiful like this,” he said. “You look beautiful all the time, but especially like this.”
Zoe didn’t know who closed the last of the distance between them.
She only knew that one moment they were looking at each other in the evening light, and the next, they were kissing.
Nathans lips were warm and soft against hers.
He tasted a little like champagne. He reached for her, his hands resting on the small of her back reverently.
Zoe was the one who deepened the kiss. She slid a hand into his hair and brought another to the nape of his neck to pull him closer. He gently pushed her back against the wall beside the door, his touch gentle but full of desire at the same time.
He wasn’t like the other men she’d kissed. She could feel how much he wanted her in the way he kissed her and held her, but there was no urgency to move past this part to what came next. He seemed to want to savor this just as much as she did.
Eventually, though, the kiss intensified. Nathan pressed kisses to Zoe’s cheeks and the curve of her neck as she tilted her head back, her knees weak. She couldn’t wait any more. She didn’t want to wait.
“I live right downstairs,” she said. Nathan straightened up, still holding her in his arms but not kissing her anymore.
“There’s nothing I want more than to go downstairs with you,” he said, his voice low and deep with desire. “But I don’t want to push you—”
Zoe pulled him to her for another slow, burning kiss before releasing him. “You’re not. Now, do you want me, or not?”
“Oh, I do.” And he kissed her again, so passionately that Zoe thought her knees would turn to Jell-O, before he took her hand. “Let’s go.”
Hand in hand, they went downstairs. Zoe didn’t even care that her apartment was small and a little messy.
She didn’t care that she was about to jump headlong into something she hadn’t expected and could barely believe was happening.
She didn’t care that this might affect her professional relationship with Nathan, her most important (and currently only) client.
There was no space in her mind for any of those worries.
All she could think about was Nathan’s hands on her hips, his lips on hers, the way he whispered her name as though it were a magic spell.
They kissed as they fell into each other, giving in to the attraction Zoe had been trying to ignore since she’d first laid eyes on Nathan.
For that one night, all was well in the world.