From The Shadows (From The Shadows #1) (2 page)

“Sure!”

We dried each other off and when we finished Nathan lifted me into his arms and carried me into his big soft bed. He then went to the kitchen and a few minutes later he came back with a big tray filled with food, coffee and orange juice. We then ended up spending the next couple hours cuddling and talking, and at some point we both drifted off.

Chapter 3

I woke up around 2 pm, and at first I struggled to figure out where I was. But then I noticed Nathan by my side and I, little by little, remembered what had happened, and the guilt began taking me over. I had to get out of his arms and out of this room. I had only regained my single status yesterday and I was already in the arms of another man. Not just any man but the best friend of my now ex-boyfriend. Furthermore what we had done might mean Nathan had become my rebound guy, and it could potentially be the thing that ruined my only true friendship. Could I really afford that??

Slowly I tried unwrapping myself from his arms and though he came with some mumbled sounds he didn’t wake up.

I then tiptoed my way to the door and put my hand on the handle. As I began easing it open that stupid door had to squeak, and as it did Nathan woke up and looked right at me.

“Hey Nik” He said with a sleepy but sexy smile. “Where are you going? Come back to bed”

I really tried to manage my feelings, I did, but before I could find my control and put on a poker face, my emotions ran over my brow. Did he notice it or could I get away with acting cool?

“Nowhere…I just needed to get up and I didn’t want to wake you”

Sadly he had seen what happened on my face and wanted to get it out of me.

“Nikki, you are an open book to me“ he began “So don’t try to hide from me, just tell me what’s wrong?” He was concerned about me, and I could see some other emotion in his eyes which I couldn’t recognize at that moment.

“I’m fine, it’s nothing” I said as I turned to leave the room.

I had barely stepped into the living room before a strong but still gentle hand grabbed my wristed to turn me around. He then backed me up against the wall and caged me in between his hand, which he had placed on the wall beside my head and his body. With the hand he had grabbed me he cradled my cheek and made me look into his eyes. He then leaned in. My heart began racing within my chest by his proximity alone, but as I had expected he did not kiss me. Instead he just kept looking into my eyes trying to read my emotions from off my face.

“I know what happened between us earlier was not exactly planned, and it might have been better waiting before anything would happen. BUT I DO NOT regret it one bit, I told you that, Nikki I WANT you…” I could see that he was desperately trying to figure out how to say the right words to calm me down but also to make me realize that we hadn’t done anything wrong.

“…and I won’t let what happened ruin the fact that I promised to always be here for you, so PLEASE don’t pull away from me now”

He had once more hit what I was worried about spot-on as he always did. Somehow I was never able to hide anything from him, though God knows I had tried. So I decided to trust him.

“Okay... I trust you… BUT if Mike finds out what is happening here between us, there WILL be hell to pay!”

“Yes I know” He sighed. “And with all the crap he has been pulling through the years I do NOT give a shit anymore!”

Anger flashed in his eyes before he regained his composure and turned his attention back to me. I know he had hated how Mike had been treating me a lot of the time, and he had also often tried to talk him into treating me better. I also expected that there were more to the story but I hadn’t wanted to pry or make it worse. I mean, they had grown up together and had almost been like brothers when I met them, so I could have easily come between family.

I gave Nathan a small smile to let him know that his outburst had not pushed me away and I tilted my chin up in an invite for him to kiss me. I wanted to take away his dark thoughts. Also, I felt much better about all of it now, and having him this close, and naked might I add, made my hunger for him return.

He took my invite without hesitation and pulled me into his arms as he took my breath away with the most consuming kiss I had ever had. His lips were so soft yet firm and with them he took all he could get in that one kiss, and as I broke free we were both out of breath.

I knew if I did not remove myself from his embrace now, we would end up in bed again.

“Nate I need to take this slow if we are going to see what we are to each other now.”

For a few seconds he looked a bit disappointed but then it turned into understanding and acceptance.

“Okay we will take it slow.”

He leaned in and whispered in my ear “but I will have you again and I am not letting go of you.”

His words were so deliciously commanding that it gave me butterflies in my stomach and I began regretting my request that we’d take it slow. 

The rest of the day went by in a tat too awkward a fashion. I knew Nathan was trying his best to keep his promise of us taking it slow and therefor keeping his distance, but that was just not how we usually were. We would normally joke around a lot, and have a very physical friendship where Nathan would tickle me until I had no more breath or stopped fighting or he would pick me up, throw me over his shoulder or try to push me off the couch when we were watching movies just to keep me on my toes. But today we were just off and as the evening came around I couldn’t take it any longer.

My mind was racing to figure out how to get us back to normal. Should I just try to act normal and try to pull him with me or should I try to give us both some real space and leave for the evening? Go out and try to think about something else.

As I pondered what to do something came to mind; hadn’t Nate said something about him liking me for a while? Wasn’t his exact words “I have wanted to kiss you for a while…”?? Was this why he didn’t know how to give me space now without pulling himself all the way back?

The more I thought about this the more it made sense to me. He wanted to give us time and let things happen the way they were supposed to, but he didn’t know if he could hold himself back if he began touching me.

On that thought I decided to give us both some time to breath and to process. We could always talk when I got back later that evening.

I went to the guest bedroom and called the one girlfriend I had. If ´friend´ was what I could call her… Sasha was my colleague but she had tried to make me join her for several parties ever since we began working together half a year ago. I guess she wanted for us to be friends. I had as always held my distance because I didn’t much enjoy big groups of drunken people and I didn’t trust people either. To put it mildly I wasn’t exactly the social butterfly. Tonight however I needed something to take away my thoughts.

I had begun getting ready when Nathan tabbed on the door and stuck his head in.

“Are you going somewhere?” he asked. Confusion clear on his face.

“Yeah I just need to get out for a bit and clear my head, hope you don’t mind..?”

He came into the room and didn’t stop before he was standing right behind me. He put his arms around my waist and looked into my eyes through the mirror.

“Can I join you?... or are you trying to get away from me?”

I just stared back at him trying to figure out what to say to him. I could see some hurt in his eyes though he tried desperately to hide it. It became so clear to me that he just wanted to be near me and frankly I felt exactly the same about him, but I felt guilt too. I shouldn’t move on this fast, should I? Maybe I shouldn’t even want to, but that part was clearer to me. Of course I wanted to after being in such a poisonous relationship for so long. I needed good things to be in my life. I was just not sure if I even deserved them already, or if ever.

I had made the choice that I would try to act normal, so I answered “Sure you can join me. But are you sure you can handle being around a bunch of drunken girls?”

He lifted an eyebrow to say:
Are you sure YOU can…….?
And then he lowered his lips to my ear and told me in a soft voice that he didn’t care where we were or who else were around, and then he began nibbling at my earlobe with his teeth as he whispered “I just want to be around you Nikki!”

With his sweet words and even sweeter touch he had ignited a flame at my core. I felt heat spreading through my entire body and my heart began to drum out a samba. All of the sudden my guilt had vanished. I even started to wonder why I should deny myself happiness with the one man who had always wanted the best things for me?

I leaned my head back on his shoulder, closed my eyes and let myself give in to those sweet emotions now overruling my earlier, less than positive, thoughts. These emotions told me that I deserved a good man.

Breathing a sign of contentment I whispered to him “I want that too”

Nathan took hold of my hips and slowly turned me towards him. He looked at me with some uncertainty trying to make sure I wouldn’t back out on him. Then with a crooked smile fighting its way onto his lips he asked “So, no more feeling guilty? No more taking it slow?”

I smiled back at him and answered “Nope, let’s see what happens!”

A smile broke his gorgeous face in a big wicked grin and with a sexy glint in his eyes he pulled me closer into his body and crashed my lips with his. I responded by giving his tongue free access to my mouth and letting it dance a sexy dance with my own.

When we finally broke from each other our breathing was harsh and our pupils were dilated by lust.

Nathan began giving me open mouthed kisses down my neck and in between each kiss he breathed the words “Are. You. Sure. You. Want. To. Go. Out?”

At first I was too consumed by the fire he had turned on high within my body to answer him. All I could do was pant. So Nathan took advantage and grabbed my ass, pulling my core even closer to him, and as he did he rolled his hips, pressing his hard-on into me, showing me exactly how hot for me he was.

I let go of a soft moan and felt him smile into my neck thinking he had made his point. Against my body’s need though, I panted out “I… Promised that… that I would come”

Chuckling Nate answered. “Baby, I’ll make sure you come.. I’ll make sure you come real good”

I made a halfhearted attempt to slap his upper arm with my right palm, only making him look up at me with a smirk.

Even my attempt at looking stern was halfhearted and only gave the outcome of him moving his brows up and down in such a cheeky way that it made me laugh.

“Okay, okay beautiful, we will go, BUT don’t think I will let you off easy!”

He kissed me long and slow.

“Let me off easy?” I raised my brows questionably when he finally let me breathe again.

“Yea, I’m going to keep you turned on all night till you can’t take it anymore. You’re going to beg me to take you home and ravish you till you are screaming my name”.

Oh he was such a devilishly sexy beast and I wanted him too much already. I was however not going to give in that easily. This had turned into a game and being the stubborn woman I was; I was not going to let him win.

I put my hands around his neck pulling his lips down towards mine but instead of giving him the kiss he expected I whispered against his lips. “You will be the one begging”. Letting go of him I pushed against his chest. “Now go and let a woman get ready!”

He laughed and turned to go to his bedroom to get ready himself. As he went through the door I heard him say “Evil woman” And that just made me laugh even more.

Then and there I made a choice; I would change from my casual jeans and a tank top into something sexy that would make Nathan drool.

I duck into my bag to find and put on my gothic lace corset, my red skinny jeans with black laces going all the way up to mid-thigh, black high heeled boots and my bleeding heart necklace with red crystals falling down my cleavage. I got back in front of the mirror to inspect myself and added smoky eye make ‘up and a neutral gloss to my pouty lips.

I was now ready, and I felt sexy, so I stepped into the living room.

Nathan stood with his back to me, flipping through the latest number of ´Kerrang! Magazine´. That gave me the perfect opportunity to check him out, before he noticed my presence.

He wore dark ripped jeans which hung low on his hips but still showing off his perfect butt, a black T-shirt with ghost print of skeletons and down the back on the right side it said
Devil Child
in white script. The shirt was tight over his broad shoulders and strong upper arms but slightly looser around his lower back, it also showed off his
full sleeve tattoo which decorated his right arm. His dark hair was tied back. He was all sexy as hell, and I just couldn’t stop myself from smacking his tight ass as I sneaked up behind him, trying not to click my heels on the polished wooden floors.

“Hey you sneak, were you allowed to bruise my delicious butt?” He asked as he turned around towards me with a fake disgruntled look on his face which soon was replaced with a look of awe.

“Damn Nikki… You are looking hot”