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‘I
think I was transported to heaven for a moment,’ I even out my breathing, as he
provides tiny kisses over my face.

He
smiles at this admission, ‘you want to carry on?’

In
answer I wrap my legs around his waist and pull him into me, urging his thick
cock inside my swollen lips, all the while our gazes sealed.

‘I
love you, Nate,’ I whisper.

He
closes his eyes, ‘baby, that’s all I will ever ask of you,’ he begins to pull slowly
out before thrusting deep inside, I whimper at the delectableness of the
response this causes to flood through me. Our eyes are glued to each other, our
breathing in perfect sync as he continues to continue the lazy pace. 

‘More!’
I breathe, my body craving a more hurried pace.

‘I
think we should get married,’ this time he strokes slowly inside me, halts for
a few seconds, before pulling lazily out, leaving me wanting more. 

‘What?’
the pace of his loving is consuming my every thought, ‘Nate, please can you
move a bit faster?’ I beg, my voice barely a whisper.

‘No,
we have all the time in the world,’ he responds.

‘Oh
god,’ I gasp as he continues the teasing.  ‘Jesus, Fuck, Nate.’

He
chuckles, ‘and as soon as possible, like as soon as we can arrange it,’ he
continues.

‘Can
we discuss this later?’ I feel my body tingling, preparing, ‘God, please Nate,’
I plead.

‘Say
yes,’ he ignores me, although his tone is almost as desperate as mine.

‘Yes,
now bloody well move will you,’ I groan.

‘Anything
you say,’ pushing up on his knees, his hands grasp my hips and lift them as he
surges forward filling me to the hilt, grinding me incessantly around his
heavenly cock.  I feel him thickening inside me as he quickens his pace. 
‘I need you to come, baby,’ he growls. 

I
watch his face fighting to hold on and chase my orgasm.  As it ripples
through my body, Nate groans pumping himself deep into me leaving us both sated
and exhausted.

Falling
to the side, he pulls me on top of him, as the after effects of my orgasm
continue to spasm through my body.  ‘Jesus, stop that!’ he complains light
heartedly as my body squeezes his flagging erection.

We
lay talking softly for a little longer before I move to clean myself up. 
I stand and make my way to the bathroom naked, the moonlight creating shadows
throughout the room.

‘Sophie!’
There’s a chill in Nate’s tone that has me on alert.  I swing around, my
eyes wide with fear. He realises his mistake, ‘it’s okay.  Stay there,
babe,’ he moves off of the bed and walks towards me.  Running a finger
down my cheek, he tips my jaw and kisses me softly.  ‘Turn,’ he
instructs.  Confused, I turn, my head looking over my shoulder in
question.

‘What
is it?’ I ask.

‘What
the fuck happened to your back?’ He tries to conceal his anger, but I sense it
and immediately step away.

‘Nate,’
I forgot about my scars.

‘He
do that to you?’ He questions, his lips tight, his jaw hardened.

I
nod, my eyes taking in every emotion that is apparent on his face.  Nate
runs a frustrated hand through his hair, ‘come here, babe.  I didn’t mean
to scare you,’ I walk into his embrace and he holds me close.  ‘Fuck,
every time I think I’ve let it go, something reminds me and I want to kill him
all over again.  Only this time, I want it to be long and lingering.’

‘Nate,’
I take his face in my hands. ‘He’s gone and we are here,’ I remind him. 

He
holds me tight until I pull away declaring I need the bathroom.  When I
return, Nate is back in the bed and appears to have put himself back together
again. 

Curling
around him, I lay my head on his chest and begin to talk.  I explain how
the pain made me feel better, the punishment recompense for me allowing another
man to touch me when I belonged to someone else.  He listened patiently,
but didn’t comment, just stroked soft fingers down my scarred posterior. 
I knew he was suffering, probably almost as much as me.  He had lived the
abuse in his head, which I guess was sometimes worse than the event
itself.  The mind is a powerful tool, something I had learned since losing
mine through all of the trauma.

‘If
we are moving forward, Nate.  We have to communicate and let things go,
it’s the only way.’ I notify him, gently, worried about his silent fuming.

‘I
know, please just give me time to deal with it,’ he pleads, ‘doing the job I
do, it’s hard to comprehend that this could happen to my woman.’

‘Okay,’
I agree, softly. 

When
I wake up in the morning, the bed beside me is empty. I refuse to allow myself
to question why Nate wasn’t still wrapped around me, as I had only hoped. I
knew Nate loved me and I also recognised he needed time to absorb the graphic
details I had provided him regarding my time in captivity.

I
move to the shower and step inside allowing the water to cascade around me. I
shampoo my hair, as I contemplate Nate’s shock at the scars from the buckle
that was once my best friend. 

Accepting
Nate back in my life was undoubtedly having a healing effect on me, especially
since his opinion on what happened had caused me a heap of anxieties.  Sharing
the actual details with Nate, was painful.  But, both of us accepting that
we could do nothing to change what happened, was aiding me in the process of
forgiving myself.

I
had an appointment booked for Monday with one of Dr. Philips colleagues, Dr.
Jenkins. Nate was right, it was important for me to continue with my therapy in
order for me to restart my life.

The
shower door sliding back startles me, interrupting my deliberations, my head
spins to perceive a rather naked Nate step inside the cubicle.

‘Thought
I’d join you,’ his hands cup my backside and bring me flush to his muscled body. 

‘Why
how thoughtful,’ I smile up.  ‘I thought maybe you’d left.’

‘I’m
not going anywhere beautiful,’ he growls.  ‘Not without you.  We have
a wedding to organise.’

‘Nate,’
I begin, ‘about that.  Don’t you think...’

‘Don’t
Nate me, you agreed.  You can’t go back on a promise,’ his lips find that
spot under my ear that has me forgetting my name.  I whimper as his hands
move around my body, his erection digging in my abdomen. 

‘I
want to wake to you every morning,’ he whispers, grasping my hips and urging me
upwards until my legs wrap around his waist.  Tipping me against the cold
tiles, his teeth latch onto my nipple and bite down.  I gasp, the
sensations dripping through my veins like heroine.  ‘Marry me, Sophie
Parker,’ he glances up into my eyes, as he pushes his probing erection up
inside me in one swift thrust.  I cry out, but my eyes remain connected to
his. 

‘Marry
me,’ he repeats, ‘I love you, I want no one else.’  The vulnerability in
his eyes sends my stomach tipping. Can I do really do this? Can I seriously
live a normal life, get married, have babies after the nightmare I have endured? 
Excitement builds inside me, anticipation at the idea of conquering the
challenges I currently face.

‘It’s
not going to be easy,’ I update him, urging him to move, but he holds my hips
static.

‘Baby,
you have never been easy,’ he teases.

I
narrow my eyes playfully, ‘is that right?’

‘Damn
straight,’ I catch a glimpse of the dimple and my insides melt.

‘If
you think you are up for the challenge,’ I push down against his hardness and
he hums.

‘I
will take you any way I can get you baby,’ his eyes take on a serious stance.

‘Then,
yes,’ I palm his jaw, running my tongue along the seam of his lips. ‘Yes, I
will marry you.’

Nate
closes his eyes, and leans his forehead against my shoulder.

‘I
will dedicate my life to you,’ he promises, ‘I will do everything in my power
to make you forget, we will create happy memories to counteract all the bad
ones, build a life together, a family,’ holding my hips, his gaze locks with
mine as he slowly makes love to me.

********

The
next forty-eight hours are crazy.  It seemed no sooner I agreed to marry
Nate, he went full steam ahead to ensure I wouldn’t change my mind.  While
I was at work, he met up with Kyle and updated him on our news before checking
out of the hotel and moving his clothes to my flat.  I had provided him a
key and invited him to make himself at home, but had also insisted that we
needed to discuss things properly regarding the future. 

I
wasn’t entirely convinced that Nate wasn’t just knee-jerking by agreeing to
move his life to London.  Nate was very American, not to mention how close
his family were.  A part of me felt as if I was being disloyal to Marnie
by putting conditions on Nate and I being together.  We lived here or we
separated, that was really what I was demanding.  Yes, I needed to take
control of my life, but not at the expense of the one person who meant anything
to me. 

It
was Saturday, and I now had three days off after ten days of continual working
and I was looking forward to spending it with Nate.  When I departed the
salon, I spotted him leaning sexily against his car waiting patiently for my
arrival and my heart leaped.  Fuck, I love him so much, I thought,
allowing a face splitting grin to spread across my face.  I felt like a
lovesick teenager, my heart thumping inside the confines of my ribs as I
stepped closer.

‘Hey,
babe,’ that deep American accent rumbled through my bones as Nate stepped
forward and grasped my chin, planting a long, hard, wet kiss on my lips. 
When he lastly pulled away, I had one hand fisted in his hair, the other up and
under his t-shirt at his waist.

‘Hi,’
I purred, breathlessly.

His
grin exposes the dimple at the side of his mouth and my body almost melts. 
He guides me to the passenger door and helps me inside, leaving me with a short
sharp kiss on the lips.

‘Okay,’
he pulls out of the parking bay towards my flat, ‘London, our lives start
today,’ he announced, as we crawl along the congested streets.

When
we arrive back at my flat, I hum as the delicious aroma of dinner emanates from
the oven.  I watch in delight as Nate pulls out a homemade lasagne from
the oven, the bubbly melted cheese dribbling over the sides of the ovenware
dish, as he plants it directly onto a trivet.  I suddenly feel hunger
pains gnawing at my stomach, which is novel for me, I haven’t felt genuinely
hungry for months.  I eat what little I need to see me through the day,
most of what I ingest tasting much the same.

‘Nate!’
I move towards him and wrap my arms around his waist, pushing my face into his
back.  ‘You cooked for me,’ I murmur, dramatically.

‘It’s
pasta, London,’ he chuckles. 

‘You
cooked for me,’ I repeat, feeling blessed that he is standing here right now
after everything that has happened since we met.

‘You
need feeding up, Sophie,’ he announces, cautiously.  ‘I adore your
curves.  If the only way I get to see them again is to cook for you every
day, then so be it.’ I squeeze him tight affirming his words, he was right, I
had lost a huge amount of weight over the past months.  ‘Besides,’ he
continues, ‘currently, you are the only one bringing in a pay check. 
Until I can work over here, I am here to serve you,’ he teases, squeezing my
overlapped arms at his abdomen.

‘Sounds
like a plan,’ I smile, placing a kiss on his toned back.  I wander over to
the small bistro table I have by the window.  Nate had set it with
seduction in mind.  He had located the scented candles from under the sink
and placed them in the centre of the small round space.  Kitchen roll had
been folded into triangles, to serve as serviettes, and a bottle of sparkling
water had been placed in between ice in a silver wine cooling bucket.  I
smiled, suddenly realising that despite all the horror I had experienced over
the past year, as I stood here observing the scene before me, I felt as if I
was the luckiest woman alive. 

‘What
have you been up to today?’ I call over to the kitchen area where Nate was
serving up our food onto plates.

‘I
have been to a lawyer, or solicitor as it’s called here, to enquire as to how
we go about me moving here, us getting married and how long before I can find
relevant employment,’ Nate responds.  ‘Sit!’ He commands, lightly, placing
a steaming plate of lasagne down in front of me. 

‘Wow,
you have been busy,’ I smell the delightful herbs and spices omitting from the
steaming plate.

‘Hmmm,’
he mutters, ‘there’s salad,’ he returns with a bowl of fresh salad.

‘If
you weren’t already taken, I’d marry you Nathan Austin,’ I sigh, playfully.

‘Sorry
milady, I am very much taken,’ he announces in his terrible English accent his
eyes burning into mine.  My stomach tips and I can hardly breathe at the
intensity of his gaze.  ‘If it wasn’t so important to me that you eat, I
would say fuck dinner!’ He growls low in his throat.

‘Yeah?’
I whisper.

‘Fuck,
yeah!’ he leans in and captures my lips in his for a hard kiss.  ‘But it
is, so eat!’

********

 Our
limbs are entwined, we are both naked and sated by our recent lovemaking. 
My body is almost purring with contentment as I gaze at the Tiffany, heart
shaped rock on my finger.  Nate had waited until I had eaten almost half
of the huge portion of lasagne he had served me, before dropping to one knee and
proposing in the traditional way.

I
had cried, whilst nodding my acceptance and he had grinned, placed the ring on
my finger and announced we were going to Vegas to get married.  When I had
questioned why Vegas, he had explained that it was easier for us both to marry
in the US, as we were both American citizens, plus he had to be out of the
country to obtain entry clearance to remain in the UK.  It seems our lives
merging wasn’t going to be as easy as we first thought.

Nate
assured me that either way we were never going to live apart again, whether it
be temporary or otherwise.  This somewhat comforted me, as I recollected
the previous occasion we separated so that I could return to London to tie up the
ends of my life. 

‘You
like it?’ Nate’s voice is low and sexy from beside me.

‘I
love it,’ I lean up and kiss his lips, ‘and I love you.’ I hum. ‘You taste of
me,’ I breathe against his lips.

‘Best
taste in the world,’ his hand strokes a path up my spine until his fingers
curve around my nape. ‘I wouldn’t be offended if you wanted to choose something
for yourself,’ he whispers against my lips.

‘Are
you kidding, it’s stunning,’ I run my teeth along his jaw.

‘As
are you,’ his mouth covers mine and he kisses me deep.

‘You
know, we don’t have to get married,’ I notify him, reluctantly dragging my
mouth from his.  ‘I know you have done it before, and to be honest, I
never saw myself as the marrying kind.’

I
feel his whole body tense, ‘you backing out, London?’

‘No!’
I screech, ‘that isn’t what I am saying. We can be together and not get
married.’

‘You
love me?’ He asks, bluntly.

‘More
than life itself,’ I inform him, passionately.

‘Do
I love you?’ He queries.

‘Yes,’
I know this, ‘yes, you love me.’

‘Then
we’re getting married.’ He states, dominantly. ‘My first marriage was a mistake
from day one, me and you couldn’t be further from that.  The universe can
throw whatever the fuck it likes towards us; we will still be us.’

‘God,
you’re so romantic,’ I curl my leg over his waist and push my core against him
as I whisper into his ear.  ‘You know, when I am wrapped around you, I
feel as if I am protected from the world.’

‘I
will always take care of you, Sophie,’ Nates hands grasp my backside pulling me
over until I am completely on top of him.

‘I’ve
never doubted that,’ I admit, tearfully.

********