Nate nearly killed them on the way home.
It was sheer, erotic torture having her sweet body pressed against him after that kiss.
Once there, thankfully safely, Lily alighted from the bike first but he didn’t wait for her to take off her helmet. He grabbed her hand and dragged her behind him, using his free one to tear his helmet off as he strode into the building, completely ignoring the doorman who called out a greeting.
She struggled to keep up and struggled with her helmet but managed to pull it free at the elevator. Just like she did before, she tossed her head and her shining, gold-red hair flew free about her face and tumbled down her back as she tugged it off and she immediately tilted her head up to him.
She looked scared and excited and he found he liked that look on her face.
Very much.
The elevator came, its doors opened and he shoved her roughly inside. He followed her, tagged the button for his floor and as they ascended, he pushed her against the wall and pressed against her.
The minute his lips met hers, she moaned and at the sexy little sound, he fought to control the impulse to tear her clothes from her body in the elevator.
She opened her mouth and he took immediate advantage. She still tasted like wine and the rich chocolate dessert she’d ordered and eaten with abandoned relish, this being a first for him, most women flatly refused dessert or even acknowledged that they desired it.
Her arms wrapped around his waist under the jacket he was too impatient to force her to wear on the way home and he wondered how she could bear to touch him. He felt like a fever had overcome him and he was certain a single touch would sear her skin.
The elevator doors opened and he wasted no time, he dragged his mouth from hers, grasped her hand and advanced down the hall. She had to run to keep up with him and when he halted abruptly at his door, she couldn’t stop herself and ran into him.
This caused her to giggle as she righted herself and his head swung to look at her as he dropped her hand to put the key in the lock.
She smiled her quirky, effective smile and said, “We’re rather in a hurry, aren’t we?”
He shoved open the door. “Damned right.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her in.
He threw his helmet in the vague direction of the couch, ripped hers from her hand, not noticing she was glancing about inquisitively, and sent it flying in the same direction. Then his hand locked on hers again and he headed for the bedroom.
“Nate,” she said behind him.
He didn’t answer and his step didn’t falter.
“Nate,” she called, louder this time with her hand tugging at his.
He heard her but he still didn’t respond nor did he release her hand. He walked into his bedroom, straight to the side of the bed.
Then he stopped.
“Nate.”
His hands went right to her cardigan as his eyes locked on hers.
“You know, Lily,” his voice was deeper than normal, and harsh, as he pulled the jumper from her body, “you get in that bed with me and it’s anything like what I felt the first time I laid eyes on you, anything like when you first touched me, anything like that kiss in the park, I’m never letting you go. Do you understand me?”
His words were irrational, even insane.
But he never dreamed he’d have a woman like Lily.
Never in his wildest imaginings of which there weren’t many, Nate was not a man prone to wild imaginings; his most fervent desires; even if he’d had a wish, even a single wish from a genie out of a bottle, he would never have expected to have a woman like Lily.
Not while growing up and sleeping in sheets that were never cleaned. Stealing food so he could eat. Watching his mother insert needles in her veins.
Never had he expected someone as regal, as magnificent, as Lily.
Lily, a woman who liked to walk in the park while holding hands; a woman who loved, with unsurpassed glee, to ride on the back of a motorcycle; a woman who would chase courageously after a purse thief and throw herself on his back; a woman who could win over Laura, which wasn’t hard, Laura had a soft heart, and Victor who most certainly did not have a soft heart, in a matter of hours.
Nate never expected a woman like that, like Lily, to so much as look at him. At least, not the way she looked at him.
As if he was conqueror of nations, creator of worlds.
As she was looking at him now, her face wreathed in awe.
“Do you understand me?” His voice went beyond harsh; it was as rough as sandpaper.
“I… think… so.”
That was enough for him.
“Good.” His hands went to the hem of her camisole and he whipped it over her head, forcing her arms up with it.
She gasped. She wasn’t wearing a bra and her own hands went to cover her breasts.
“No.” He grabbed her wrists and forced her hands behind her back, his mouth coming down on hers in a wild, bruising, wet kiss.
When he felt the struggle leave her wrists as she relaxed into the kiss, he released them and her and stepped back just enough to rip off his jacket and jumper.
This time she stared at his chest in awe.
“Christ, Lily,” he swore when he caught her look and his hands found the zipper at the back of her skirt, looking down with near the same reverence at her amazing full breasts. He yanked the zipper down and his hands slid up her back, pushing brutally against it, forcing it to arch, forcing her to bear herself more fully to his gaze. Then, completely unable to stop himself and not wishing to anyway, he bent his head and closed his mouth around her nipple.
Her breath caught, he heard it, then it released and then it came out in frantic pants as his tongue swirled around her hardening nipple.
“What are you doing to me?” she breathed in wonder, her hands sliding into his hair.
He didn’t answer. He did the same thing to her other nipple until he felt her legs buckle and he had to support her weight as he felt tremors flow freely through her.
Then he lifted his head and left her standing there as he sat on the bed, tugged off his boots and then followed his jeans.
She looked at him, her eyes wide and fearful as if she’d never seen a male form before in her life.
This didn’t register on him. He pushed her back on the bed so that she was lying across it and before she even settled he leaned over her and yanked her loosened skirt down her legs.
“Nate,” she whispered, her hands cradling her belly protectively but he didn’t note this gesture’s meaning. He simply did the same with her panties.
“Nate!”
“What?” he growled, his hands at her bottom, lifting her up and depositing her deeper in the bed.
“I need to tell you something.” She was still breathing heavily, the midnight blue had moved deeper into her irises but the pure blue was still there.
He spread her legs and settled between them.
“Talk fast,” he said against her mouth and then didn’t allow her to say a word. He kissed her.
And it was everything the kiss in the park had been.
She was beyond magnificent, she was beyond description.
His hand went between their bodies. She had to be ready for him, if she wasn’t this entire scene was going to become very uncomfortable.
She was ready, wet and slippery and when his finger slid inside her, unbelievably tight.
She gasped against his mouth, sucking his tongue deeper inside as his thumb found her. He started circling his thumb at the same time he moved his finger in and out.
When he did, she rode his hand hard, now kissing him.
Her hands were everywhere, trailing hotly against his skin, begging him through touch to give her the release he was building.