Bad Boy's Bridesmaid (12 page)

“Rough night?” he
asked.

I couldn’t look
at him, but I could enjoy how warm he felt next to me. “Can you take us to the
cabin, please?”

“I’ll do you one
better.” He kicked a bag of tools at his feet. “I’ll fix your car.”

“Think you can?”

“Only one way to
find out.” That confidence amazed me. “I’m not going to leave you stranded out
here all night…not without someone to cuddle at least.”

“If you fix the
car, you’ll get a lot more than cuddles.”

“Is that a
promise?”

“Better get
under that hood.”

I didn’t regret
my words. After twenty minutes, the SUV’s engine purred like a kitten. Nate
tossed me the keys. The bridesmaids and Lindsey thanked him and begged me to
drive. I walked him to his car.

“You girls
should be more careful.” He crossed his arms, and I could only imagine what
fantasy twisted his lips into a smile. “Never know what kind of creep might
want to take advantage of a stranded, beautiful woman.”

“I’m
well-aware.” I bit my lip. “You’re not going home, are you?”

“Where else
would I go?”

“To the cabin?”

Nate narrowed
his eyes. “You sure?”

No, but I had a
bad enough night. “Someone should be there to protect me from any creeps
following us in the woods.”

“No one would
bother you if I were around.”

I stared at his
lips. “Then you better follow close.”

“Mandy—”

“I’ll meet you
there.”

I knew he
watched me walk to the car. And I knew where he stared, what he wanted, just
where his thoughts wandered because mine was already there.

Nate once
thrilled me with a night of simple pleasures and dark fantasies.

And tonight,
we’d do it again.

A mistake was
something that happened once.

What was it
called when it happened twice? Idiocy? Insanity?

Luck?

It didn’t
matter. The last time I was overwhelmed by the wedding and my family, I turned
to the wrong man to make it right. And he had—at least, in that moment. Now I
wanted more of the same, knowing the consequences.

I invited him to
the cabin and tossed the bridesmaids and my sister into the guest bedrooms.

I told him to wait
while I quickly showered the night off and grabbed a warm, fuzzy blanket.

And we planned
to repeat that wonderful mistake.

It wasn’t
logical. It wasn’t safe.

It wasn’t fair to
him.

But I couldn’t share
the secret about the baby yet, not even with him. My family already danced
around total annihilation. The drama would ruin the wedding, drive a wedge
deeper between my parents, and destroy any relationship I had with my sister.

That sort of
news wouldn’t be seen as blessed or joyous. It’d be scandal and shame, and no
baby deserved that.

Once the wedding
was over, I’d tell them.

And him.

I shut the cabin
door behind me. I expected the night to be completely silent this far away from
the city, but the chirping frogs and buzzing locusts muffled the click of the
door’s latch. The cabin overlooked a field of wildflowers in the front. In the
back, it stood watch over a lake, mirror-flat and still, reflecting a sky
littered with thousands of stars.

Nate leaned
against the porch railing. Was it possible for him to look better now, waiting
in the dark stillness? The shadows struck the hard angles of his jaw, and his
eyes absorbed the mystery of the night. Green gave way to midnight tones of blue
and silver. I stared, imagining everything we had done and had yet to do.

“Everyone asleep?”
His voice rumbled, low and cautious.

“They will be,”
I said.

“You okay?”

“I will be.”

Nate crossed his
arms. The tattoos creeping along his biceps and under the t-shirt edged black
in the low light, too dark to hide anything but their intent. He wasn’t a man
who saved damsels in distress, but he was the type to accept their gratitude
however they wished to award it.

I cradled the
blanket to my chest. Nate didn’t ask any more foolish questions. He offered his
hand.

I took a breath.

My palm fit
within his, and the heat coursed over me, through me, inside me.

He guided me
along the dirt path leading from the cabin to the lakeside dock. I hadn’t been
to the lake since I was little. Back then, the water seemed huge and
impossible. Now the stillness was safe and serene. The lake lapped the dock,
and the sky above stretched in brilliant shades of blue and the darkest purple.
I almost giggled. The sky looked indigo.

We didn’t need
to speak. I wasn’t sure what we would say. Nate had pushed, and I’d denied him
so many times. But we ended here together, staring into each other’s eyes like
it was the first and last time we would touch each other.

Nate laid the blanket
over the wooden planks of the dock. My breathing shuddered, and I had no idea
how to stand or protect myself or what to do.

But he showed
me, just like he did before. I was so inexperienced then, and I was still
inexperienced now. Despite the twisting in my stomach as the baby swatted at
all the butterflies, I’d never felt safer.

Nate reached for
me, his hand caressing my cheek. He pulled me in for a kiss and let his fingers
tangle in my hair.

“It’s shorter,”
he whispered. “You cut your hair.”

“You weren’t the
only one who noticed.”

“It’s beautiful.
You’re beautiful.”

His lips met
mine. Why did I ever fight his kiss? He nibbled the words I couldn’t speak,
soothed the fears I breathed, and hummed absolute
comfort
in every draw
of his lips.

“Simple pleasure?”
My whisper broke the silence, too softly for anyone but him to hear.

“If that’s all
you want…” His voice caressed me like another hand. “That’s what I’ll give.”

“…What else could
you give?”

“Anything you wanted.”

He seized me
again. His touch became ferocious, conquering, but still so very gentle.

Since when was
Nate Kensington
gentle
?

That wasn’t his
reputation or his real desire. But he did it for me.

Because of me?

He tucked me
against his body. The delicate press of his fingertips into my hips wasn’t the
fierce grip my instincts expected. He touched slow, steady. I abandoned my
hesitations and fell into heaven. My arms fit over his neck, and I drew myself
to my tippy-toes to kiss him deeper.

It shouldn’t have
felt so good. I had no idea if the connection between us was real or a trick of
my heart. Nate was the only man who could soothe everything jumbled inside
me—because he was the one who tangled it.

At first I dove
against him and eagerly swept my lips, mouth, tongue on his, like the last time
we tossed in a bed and the passion overwhelmed us in hours of frantic excitement.
But this touch deftly tickled over me. Soft. Leisurely.

Nate was patient,
and I knew why.

“I’m not a
virgin anymore,” I whispered.

I broke the
kiss. He chastised me with a tightened grip on my hair. A thrill of excitement
trapped me in his arms, and he tipped my head back. He nipped my neck and claimed
that soft hollow he knew I loved so much.

“You deserve to
be spoiled with pleasure. To learn from someone who takes the time to show you
how great sex can really be,” he said.

“I already had a
thorough lesson.”

“No.” His voice
could command and comfort in the same breath. “That night was selfish and
quick. I thought you wanted to blow off steam.”

“I did.”

“That’s not how
we’re doing it this time.”

“It’s…not?”

His smile might
have stopped my heart. “No. I’m going to show you
everything
tonight. How
you should feel. What you can take. This night is all about your pleasure.”

My voice
weakened in amazement. “
Mine
?”

“I’ve been
chasing you for a reason, baby. Once wasn’t enough to sate either of us.”

His fingers
teased over my blouse, and his adept hands worked the buttons without struggle.

“I was satisfied,”
I said.

“I can do
better. I
will
do better.” He promised me with a kiss. “That first time,
I thought I wanted a night with you so I could get off and silence my own
desire. I was wrong. I realized my only desire is to give you pleasure.”

“Why?”

“How else would
I express my gratitude?”

“Gratitude for
what?”

“Letting me near
you? Letting me touch you?” His words stilled as my blouse fell away. “Giving me
the best night of my life?”

Nate’s kiss
teased a mew from me. A wave of goose bumps washed over my body as he studied everything
I offered.

“Don’t be
embarrassed,” he said. “You are, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman I’ve
ever seen.”

“I think you’re just
saying that because I’m standing here in a bra and jeans.”

“Let’s test it.”

His fingers
danced over my back. He unhooked my bra and tugged it off. The cool air wrapped
over my breasts, and I bit my lip.

They were bigger
than they had been. Fuller.

Nate stared,
enraptured. I held my breath as his knuckle brushed my nipple. It immediately
tightened, hardened and budded for his inspection.

I wanted more
than just fingers. How quickly could I get him to lick and taste and suck?

“You’re
beautiful with or without clothes.” His hardness pressed against my leg.
“Though I prefer without.”

So did I.

Nate took off
his shirt, but he only unbuckled his belt before dropping to his knees. His
shoulders rippled with muscle. In the low light, the tattoos blended into his
flesh, almost natural. I couldn’t imagine him without the barbs and coils of
ink.

I loved the
sound of his growl. He strained against his own need. I had no idea he
possessed such willpower. He grunted, but he didn’t dive over me. I wondered
what I’d have to do to get tossed onto the blanket, to let him have his way
with my desperate and wanting slit.

I swallowed, tensing
to stone as he studied my every curve. His touch shivered dizzying circles over
my arms and waist. I loved and feared the inspection. He unhooked the button to
my jeans.

Could he tell?

Was the baby
still hidden?

Did he remember
how I had looked before? I recognized the change, but it was slight yet. My
nipples had grown a little larger, and my breasts softened and plumped. My
tummy was yet flat, but the secret made me feel heavy and weighted, as if
anyone who saw me would know.

Nate said
nothing. His lips tenderly kissed my skin as he tugged at my zipper.

He centered a
kiss directly over my womb. I gasped.

His eyes
glinted, mischievous. “Feel good?”

I didn’t know
what to say.

Yes
.

It felt amazing.

For one brief,
insane second, I imagined he had kissed there because he
knew
. That he’d
kissed because he was happy, and that this secret was ours to keep. In that
world, this wasn’t a second mistake but the beginning of a lifetime of amazing
opportunities and happiness.

I stayed quiet.

Nate held me
tight as I kicked the jeans away. All the remained were my panties. Of course,
they were a ridiculously pink and cute pair that had no place in my fantasy under
the stars. He left them on.

Like he thought
I was going to change my mind?

I wasn’t. I
couldn’t. Every touch against my skin set a fire of confusion and delight. Had
he peeled the panties away, I would’ve been ready for him then. Slick. Hot. I’d
run for too long. What was I afraid of now? Nothing more earth-shattering could
happen in his arms.

Except the
amazement
when he kissed me.

That was new.
That was wonderful.

And it was so
very frightening and
real
.

He guided me
onto the dock, cradling me in the softness of the blanket. His touch wove so
gently my heart only beat when his fingers graced my skin.

I reached for him,
opening my legs so he could rest over me. His tongue responded to my delicate,
tentative probe, and the rest of me shivered with warmth as his whisper
promised everything I shouldn’t have accepted.

“You’re going to
love this.” Even at his most gentle, Nate still grinned a wicked smile. “Every
touch, every kiss. We aren’t leaving until you are nothing but a puddle of
pleasure.”

“Promise?”

“You know how
much I love a challenge. And I know how much you like when I do this…”

He flattened his
tongue over my nipple and dragged the heat over my breast. I arched.

Oh God.

I was more
sensitive than ever. My breasts weren’t just fuller, they tingled and tightened
and if he did it again—

“You look better
than I remembered.” His words rasped over his own desire. “Unbelievably sexy.”

His tongue
returned, spiraling over the tight bud. Every stroke rippled through me with
aching jolts. I couldn’t breathe. He liked that. Nate did the same to my other
breast, slowly tickling my nipple with his tongue. It was as if he wished to
torture me with pleasure until I revealed my secrets.

I bit my lip. He
thought it was a dare to make me cry out. Nate centered himself over me,
popping a nipple into his mouth so suddenly I arched in case he planned to
suckle it off my breast. The bite came without warning. Not painful, but
surprising. It earned the whimper he wanted, and, as a reward, he suckled the
shock away.

This wasn’t how
we fucked before.

Not at
all
.

I had no idea
what Nate could do to my body, and he read my astonishment with a cocky wink.
The nipple slipped from his mouth with a sloppy
pop
.

“Just wait, baby.
You’ll regret that we didn’t do this sooner.”

I already did. I
regretted every second of every day that I hadn’t returned to his bed.

I gained a bit
of courage and threaded my fingers through the pale blonde of his hair. The
pinkness of his lips against my skin wasn’t vulgar, but it delighted a secret
part of me that longed to see more of him pressed against my darkness. I wished
I had kept my eyes open the first time. I would have loved to watch his
muscles, his arms, and his cock claim every inch of me.