“With that bag of yours, it’s entirely possible,” he says laughing.
I playfully smack his arm. “It’s not that big!”
“But it is that messy,” he says, rocking me a little. “If you hadn’t found it, I probably would’ve eventually asked Gabby to arrange some kind of party or something so we could bump into each other.”
When I turn my head and look at him, I love the wry smile on his face. We’re both thinking the same thing.
“You wouldn’t have had to ask,” I tell him, laughing. Gabby would’ve been all over that without Nate ever bringing it up. She was probably planning said party when we were eating lunch yesterday. “I’m glad I found it. Doing something like that, it was so you. Even if I hadn’t found it, even if you hadn’t left me something like that, I would’ve come looking for you. I knew I would do that eventually, even when you left. I just wasn’t ready to accept it yet, if that makes any sense.”
“It makes sense.”
I bring his hand to my lips, and place a kiss on his knuckles. “You make me happy and hopeful in a way that I didn’t think I’d ever feel again,” I admit. He does so much more for me than that, but I have so much time to tell him those things.
Nate brushes his cheek against our clasped hands. “You make it easier for me to breathe. I just want you, Callie. Just you.”
I snuggle against his chest, turning my head toward his heart. “You have me.”
NATE AND I walk along a dirt path that leads back to his house. My clothes are mostly dry, but I only slipped on my pants, not feeling quite comfortable enough to walk through his neighborhood just wearing his shirt and my shoes. My own shirt and the towel we’d been sharing are draped over Nate’s right arm. His left arm is wrapped around my shoulder, pulling me close to his side.
The walk is pleasant; the air is fresh and cool and the crickets are chirping. It’s a beautiful night made even more beautiful because of the man beside me. When we finally make it to his house, Nate pushes open the back gate, locking it behind us. He puts his hand on the small of my back as he leads me up the stairs to the back porch. The rickety old slats creak as we walk across them.
“I’m going to replace this in the spring,” he says.
“The wood?”
“The whole thing. I’m going to build it out a bit, so there’s room for a grill and a table, a place to have a little get together.”
“I think that’ll be nice,” I say as he reaches for the screen door’s handle.
I step over the threshold and into the kitchen. Even though I knew that Nate has been fixing the place up, I’m surprised by how nice it is in here. I’m not sure why I half-expected him to have questionable taste, just because he’s a single guy. There are pristine cherry cabinets, stainless steel appliances, beautiful granite countertops. It’s nice but kind of sterile, and not very Nate. The place doesn’t have any personal touches; it doesn’t look lived in.
This house smells like him though, like his arms are wrapped around me and my face is buried in his neck. I close my eyes and take a deep, deep breath.
“You did all this?” I ask, turning to my right and splaying my hands out on top of the granite.
Nate walks up behind me, pressing his chest against my back. I gasp, not really expecting that from him, but I relax into him seconds later. He pushes my hair to the side—over my shoulder—giving him access to my neck, where he kisses and licks his way across my skin. I’ve missed this feeling so much. And he’s hard already, I can feel it. Unfortunately for him I’m in the mood to tease him tonight.
“Mmm-hmm,” he hums, the vibration tickling my ear, making me shiver.
He lifts his shirt off of me and throws it onto the floor; then he wraps his arms around my waist, slipping his hand beneath the waistband of my pants. I don’t have any underwear on; I’d taken them off to dry by the fire. I suck in a deep breath at the ticklish sensation his fingers leave in their wake, then he slides them down, down between my legs until I gasp.
“You need some-” my breath hitches, “accessories in here,” I manage to say, kind of panting. This is moving a little faster than I intended it to, which…I don’t know what I expected because we haven’t seen each other in three weeks. Nate reaches around and gently rolls my nipple between his fingers as he simultaneously pulls me back against him, my ass grinding into his erection. I give it a little shake for retribution.
“Fuck,” he sighs, his breath hot on my shoulder as he peppers kisses there.
“Don’t worry,” I say breathlessly, pretending he’s talking about kitchen decor. “I’ll help you pick out some things.”
I turn around and stand on my tiptoes, making me just tall enough to reach his lips when he dips his head. I pull him close, pressing my bare chest to his, enjoying the little noises he makes as we kiss. The teasing part of my plan is quickly disintegrating, so I pull away from him, eliciting a groan.
“Show me more,” I say, leading him into the next room. I walk backwards through the door, making sure Nate gets a good view of my chest while I stay just out of his reach.
We walk into the living room-slash-dining room, which is just as nice as the kitchen with its impeccable paint and glossy hardwood floors. But again, there’s nothing Nate about the place. “This is nice,” I say kindly. “But you need a throw on your sofa to break up all of that color. And you need some pictures. Lots of pictures.”
Nate could not give a shit about what I’m telling him right now, but he plays along anyway. “Pictures of us,” he says, firmly gripping my hips and picking me up. I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist, then kiss every inch of skin I can get my lips on. Screw the teasing, just…screw it.
I’m only aware that Nate’s walking because I feel a breeze on my back as we move, but soon enough I’m pressed against a wall, and the look in Nate’s eyes is straight-up predatory. He slides his hands up the insides of my arms, pinning my wrists above my head. Then his mouth and tongue are on my breasts, and my head clunks back against the wall.
“Do you…” Kiss. “Like…” Lick. “The paint?”
My head lolls to the side, because what color is this paint again? Oh yeah, blue. Placing my hands just above his ears, I tilt his head up and capture his mouth with mine. “Yes,” I tell him between kisses. “It reminds me of your eyes.”
He leans back, looking kind of surprised.
“It does,” I say, tracing the line of his jaw with my fingertip. “I love your eyes.”
He smiles softly, and I can’t help but kiss those lips. Those beautiful, soft, perfect lips. It’s deeper than I expected, needier, and when I pull away, Nate pulls my bottom lip through his teeth. I slide down his body a little, bucking my hips into his when I feel the hardness there, making him grunt. Once my feet are on the floor, I walk over to the staircase.
“Is the bedroom up here?” I ask.
He nods, somehow managing to make that simple gesture look sexy as hell.
I take the first few steps alone, sliding my hand along the bannister. “You need some light in here,” I tell him, stopping to look at the beautiful paisley pattern that decorates the throw rug on the landing of the stairs. He closes the distance between us quickly—he must take two or three steps at a time—and the next thing I know he’s gripping my waist and turning my body, bringing me down so that I’m sitting on the step just before the landing. He pulls off one shoe and then the other, tossing them away. They make loud ‘thunks’ as they bounce down the steps.
He slowly tugs on the cuffs of my pants until they slide off my thighs and down my calves, slipping off of my ankles. He throws those down the steps, too. Then he kneels before me a few steps down, spreading my legs. He buries his head between my thighs, licking me like he’s been waiting his whole life to do it, like he just can’t get enough. And I love it when he does this, I really do. It’s difficult to tell him no and I’m crazy to do it, but I need more than this right now. I need him, no more teasing.