31. Nathan
NATHAN
With each property they looked at, Octavia became more and more vocal about what she liked and disliked about each place, and Nathan quickly became aware that he valued her opinion over his own.
Until the last place. That’s when he stood silently, waiting for Octavia to give her opinion and worrying she’d feel differently about the cottage than he did.
When she said she thought it was perfect, he felt the same kind of relief he had when she’d agreed to give them a real chance.
He could so easily picture them there. Even without being able to see the dock, he could see them lounging on it or floating around the cove, just the two of them or with a handful of friends or family around.
It was so different from either of their homes—it felt cozy and lived in. Most of all, it felt right, and Nathan had wanted it from the minute they’d driven up the laneway.
“I think I’m going to do it,” Nathan said while they sat on the floor across the coffee table from one another putting together a puzzle, the fire crackling behind him.
She looked up from the puzzle, shadows dancing across her beautiful face. “I think that’s a good idea.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She snapped a piece into place and then sat back against the couch, suddenly looking conflicted. “I think I’m going to quit.”
Nathan looked down at the puzzle they’d nearly completed and then back at her. “I mean, we’re nearly done. Are you sure?”
“My job. The firm. I think I need to quit.”
Nathan set down the puzzle piece he was holding and slid around the table to sit next to her. “Why now?”
“Aside from you, it’s all I think about.
Stop it,” she warned when he made a noise of approval.
“I’m serious. I do this job where my main purpose is to protect rich assholes who only care about staying rich.
I’m happy outside of work. I don’t think I realized how much I didn’t like what I did until I was happy away from the office.
And then everything that is happening now makes me want to do something better with my degree.
I want to help to make meaningful change for real people dealing with real problems.”
Nathan wanted to write her a blank cheque immediately, but he knew she would never go for that, and he didn’t actually have any cheques.
“So, say you resign next Monday, what are your next steps?” he asked instead of throwing money at the conundrum.
Octavia tipped her head back against the couch and sighed.
“I don’t know. That’s the problem. I need to do a lot of work to prepare for a different practice.
I can’t just decide to become a personal lawyer—I have to study and ensure I’ve completed the relevant courses so I have the right competencies.
It’s not going to be easy. It’s not going to be an overnight change.
I would probably stay at my current job for a b—”
“Don’t,” Nathan interrupted quietly.
She turned to him. “I still need to make a living, Nathan. I have bills, and this isn’t going to be a free upgrade.”
Nathan took her hands in his and looked at them for a while before he spoke. The sound of their breathing and the sporadic crack of the fire, the only sounds.
When he looked up, his face was set in a determined grimace.
“I have been thinking about what I can do. I know I can’t go back in time and stand up to people, but I can use my money and name for something bigger than me.
If that means helping to fund the legal stuff involved, I want to do that.
I want to have counsel available to survivors who are passionate about seeing justice served.
I want to see survivors get everything they need and I want to see abusers get what they deserve.
I want the phrase ‘Boys will be boys’ to be outlawe—”
Octavia sucked in a breath. “It was you.” Her eyes narrowed. “The article…”
He confirmed with a quick nod before carrying on.
“I’m not doing this to make you happy, not entirely anyway.
Of course I want you to be happy, Octavia, but this is something I need to do.
It just so happens I have the perfect partner to do it with.
If there is anyone you want to bring in, bring them in.
Whatever you need from me, support in any way, including financial, I want to know and I want to help.
This is bigger than my ego or your passion.
This is about working to completely dismantle a system that breeds toxic culture.
I don’t want the next generation to have these issues. ”
Octavia looked down at their hands and took a deep breath. “I don’t want you to think that I want this relationship to get anything from you. Aside from orgasms, of course.” She looked up at him and grinned.
“I would never think that. Aside from the orgasms, you seem to really like those.”
“Was it the whole coming back night after night that gave me away?” She laughed.
He used the opportunity of her relaxing to pull her into his lap.
“Yeah, maybe. May I remind you, beautiful, that I had to do a lot of work to convince you to stick around? I practically had to beg to get you to stay over. It would be weird if I suddenly thought you were in this for some kind of financial or professional gain.”
“It’s just that I’ve been accused of it before.”
Nathan stared back in shock because he couldn’t imagine anyone doing such a thing. “I’m not sure I believe that.”
“Well, in law school I was dating a guy with his name already on a law firm. He got it into his head that I was only with him because he had connections. We’ve only been doing this for like a month, Nathan. I was with Anthony for two years, and the last six months with him were hell.”
Nathan shifted so she was straddling his lap and then took her face between his hands.
“I want you to listen to me. I’m not going to decide a year and a half into this that you’re only with me for my money.
If you want, I’ll make a video saying that.
I’ll write it down and sign it. I’ll do anything I can to prove to you that if this ends, it’s because you wanted out.
” Bile rose in his throat at the thought of that day ever coming.
A dip in his gut reminding him that it had almost come already.
His breath caught when her hands brushed across his abdomen. “I’d like to be on your team.” She offered a soft smile, and his body relaxed. That smile was like a shot of serotonin.
“Good.” He pressed kisses along her jaw, and Octavia tipped her head back, sighing as his lips moved down her neck.
Octavia rolled her hips, making Nathan hiss against her skin, his fingers sinking into the flesh of her thighs.
She ground down on him, adjusting enough so she could kiss him, sighing into his mouth when his hands slid around to cup her ass and pull her harder against his body.
“Fuck, baby.” He whimpered. “Stand up,” he ordered, tapping her thighs. She did as she was told without question, looking down at him as she rose.
Nathan tucked his fingers into the waist of her pants, tugged them down, and then tipped his head back against the couch.
She peered down at him and he licked his lips with anticipation. “Hop on, Autumn.”
At first he wasn’t sure she understood what he wanted, but after a couple seconds, her left knee settled on the couch, followed by the right, and then she lowered herself exactly the way he wanted.
It was in moments like this he couldn’t decide what he liked her riding more—his cock or his face. But if he was being honest, as long as it was him she was riding, he didn’t actually care. He’d happily take her any way he could. Forever, he thought. I want this for fucking ever.
Octavia gasped when he added a finger, curling it the way she liked as his tongue circled her clit. When she began to lift off his face, he tugged his hand free and hooked his hands around each thigh, holding her in place, pulling her down firmly against his mouth.
“Fuck.” She moaned, rolling her hips once more before she tensed and quaked above him.
Nathan held her there with his left hand while he reached down to take his aching cock from his pants, stroking himself while lapping up every drop of pleasure that dripped from her perfect cunt.
A couple of strokes was all it took before he came, spilling onto his hand and shirt and not giving a single fuck about the mess. It was hard to care about anything when he had his face buried in the woman of his dreams.
“Something smells amazing,” Octavia said as she wrapped her arms around him from behind.
Nathan laid the hand not stirring the pot over her hands, guiding them higher so they rested over his heart.
They stood like that, her arms around him, body pressed against his, breathing together while he slowly stirred the beef stew he’d made for dinner.
“Good shower?” he asked, leaning back and smiling when he felt her arms tighten further.
“Would have been way better if you’d been in there with me. It was efficient though.” She hummed.
Nathan switched the burner off and turned in her arms. “Maybe you can be inefficient after the hot tub.” He smiled as their lips connected in a sweet kiss.
She tipped her head back to look up at him. “You plan on making me dirty for dessert, honey?”
“Only so I can help get you clean,” he teased, deepening the kiss and backing her up until the island stopped the progression and he hauled her up to sit on the counter, fitting himself between her legs. His thumb traced her bottom lip before she opened her mouth, inviting him inside.
If someone had told him watching a woman suck on his thumb would make him instantly hard, he would have scoffed and called them a moron. But here he was tenting his sweats, practically rutting against the edge of the counter while Octavia’s tongue swirled around his thumb.
“Fucking hell,” he breathed when she moaned around him, her eyes glued to his.
She smirked and pushed him back, sliding off the countertop and lowering to her knees, taking his sweats down with her.
She looked up at him through thick lashes. “Nathan?”
“Yeah?” He swallowed, trying to compose himself. This wasn’t the first time they’d been in this position, and he got the same butterflies in his stomach every time she dropped to her knees.
“I believe you have earned the chance to fuck my face.”
He wanted to remind her that there was no tit for tat in this relationship. He got as much pleasure out of her riding his face as she did. But he wasn’t about to pass up this opportunity. Only an idiot would.
Nathan curled his fingers in her hair, grabbing his cock and tapping it against her pouty lips. “Open up, beautiful. I want to see you moan around my cock.”
She opened without hesitation and he sank all the way in, watching as her eyes began watering immediately. This was always how it was though, and he knew that if he tried to pull away, she’d grab his ass and pull him back in.
“I don’t know why, but it turns me on,” she said one night when he thought he’d pushed too hard and she had blushed and told him that she liked it.
So he tamped down his concern and gave her what she wanted, pushing in while she made porn-worthy sounds, sending shockwaves of pleasure through his cock.
“Are you ready, baby?” He panted when he felt the tingles at the base of his spine, his balls tightening as he got closer.
“Mmmm.” She hummed, hollowing her cheeks while her talented tongue swirled around his head.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” he chanted, grabbing her head and holding her still while he emptied down her throat. “Jesus, gorgeous,” he praised as he sank down to her level and kissed her, tasting his release when she licked into his mouth.
“You taste so fucking good,” she said, pulling back and licking her lips.