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‘You
okay?’ He whispers. I nod, ‘as much or as less as you need,’ he states. 

My
heart soars for his understanding of the situation.  He has read my
anxiety and is allowing me to set the boundaries.  His hand moves slowly,
and his fingers push my hair from my eyes, I lean into his hand, our gazes
locked, a silent message hanging between us.  He doesn’t want me to go, I
don’t want to go, but I have no choice.

Taking
him in my mouth, I grasp my fingers around the root and suck him in deep, all
the while keeping my eyes on his.  He inhales a sharp breath as I take him
to the edge with my hand and mouth, sucking and pumping until he can take no
more.  His hips thrust involuntarily, and I know he is close.

‘Gonna
come, babe,’ he purrs.

‘Come,’
I instruct, quickening my pace.

‘Fuck!’
He growls as he expels warm liquid down my throat.  I suck him dry,
swallowing every drop as he strokes himself into me.  ‘Jesus, fuck!’ He
pants.

I
grin, as I climb up his body and lay down the length of his solid form.

‘Little
Minx,’ his eyes are soft and relaxed as his hand catches my nape, and he brings
me to his lips.  ‘Tell me what I can do for you, baby,’ he whispers.

‘Use
your mouth,’ I nibble his jaw, seductively.

‘Abso-fucking-lutely,’
he flips me until my back hits the mattress and kisses me softly on my neck,
over my collarbone and down to one nipple, biting down hard like he knows I
like.  My sex is burning for him, almost dribbling with desire as he makes
a slow descent, keeping me on the edge.  The other nipple gets his
attention next, the sensation sending an electric shock directly to my
core. 

‘Hmm,’
I purr, as he moves down and circles his tongue around my navel, taking his
time until he finally reaches his intended destination.  His tongue plays
with my clit, flicking it with his tongue, driving me wild.  ‘Not going to
last a minute,’ I moan, lifting my hips for more.  He blows across my wet folds,
and my body begins its ascent.  ‘Nate!’ I call, pleading as my body bucks
and shudders, his tongue dives in and laps at my folds elongating the pleasure
that is consuming me.

‘Fuck!’
He growls as he continues to suck and lick until I can take no more.

Kissing
up my body
Nate’s lips find mine and kiss me
hard.  I taste myself on his lips, and it’s hot.  I feel his erection
at my abdomen and want it so bad.  ‘Nate,’ I call, against his lips.

‘Right
here, babe,’ he murmurs, softly.

‘Need
you inside,’ I encourage.

‘You
sure?’ He questions softly, although his gaze heats at my demand.

‘Slow,’
I nibble his lip, wrapping my legs around his hips. I have a week with Nate, a
week I do not want to be thinking about anything other than him and me.

He
pushes gently inside me, and I almost hold my breath, ‘relax,’ he encourages,
kissing me deep. His lips take over my attention, the way they are softly
demanding, stroking, tenderly against mine.  My hips move as he circles
me, softly whispering endearments that have me forgetting everything that has
happened over the past few weeks and moving against him, needing him, craving
his touch as he makes love to me.  Because there are no other words for
what we are doing right now, we are making love, every stroke, every word is an
expression of how we feel for each other. 

Nate
lifts his lips from mine to stare deep into my eyes, ‘the most beautiful woman
I have ever set eyes on,’ he purrs. 

My
body instantly begins to respond, my breathing hitches, ‘I could fall big for
you, Nathan Austin,’ I breathe, as my body prepares to tip off the edge of its
current precipice.

‘I’m
already gone,’ he whispers, as he senses my release and thrusts with slightly
more vigour until he joins me in our finale, planting deep and holding before
stroking slowly in and out of my contracting sex.

I
wrap my arms around him as my body shudders with the aftershocks of my
climax.  He’s still inside me, his face fixed firmly in my neck as he
calms his breathing down.  We are both silent as we come down from our
high, connected at every point in our bodies.  I decide I will remember
this day for the rest of my life. 

‘You
okay, babe?’ he checks.

‘With
you Nate, I’m always good,’ I murmur, quietly. 

We
end up taking another bath together, and I realise I have been missing out
never having a real relationship in my life.  The intimacy that Nate and I
share just bathing together provides me a warm and fuzzy feeling.  Why
have I never allowed myself to experience these things? 

I
have had boyfriends who I went out to dinner with, or for drinks, then on to
either of our bedrooms where we fucked, taking what we needed from each
other.  But, I never felt the urge to give them me entirely, even before
Nate insisted on openness between us, he was already getting the real me. 
I felt safe in Nate’s company it was as if we were naturally destined to be
together.  Will I ever acquire that again?

 ‘Don’t
be dressing like a nun now,’ Nate had warned when I had joined him in the kitchen
area dressed in jeans and a plain white t-shirt.  ‘How you dress has no
bearing on what happened to you, you hear me?’  I had revealed to Nate,
the creep’s words to me as he finger-fucked me, telling me I deserved what was
happening to me because I dressed like a whore.

I
shrug, ‘even you told me that night that my shorts showed my pussy,’ I reminded
him.

‘That’s
because you looked fucking hot and I don’t want anyone else getting that
hotness, not because you look like a fucking whore,’ he muttered,
distastefully.  ‘I love how you dress, you just drive me wild,’ he admits.

I
step up to him, ‘I drive you wild?’

‘Fuck
yeah, you know that,’ he wraps his hands around my waist, pulling me against
him. 

‘Fancy
giving me some of that wildness, baby?’ I flirt.

‘Like
you wouldn’t believe,’ he whispers, his gaze turning feral.  ‘If you knew
half of the things I want to do to you, you would have already flown home.’

‘Tell
me,’ I whisper, my body trembling with longing.

‘Not
sure you’re ready for that, London,’ he teased, kissing my nose.  ‘Come
on, breakfast!’

 Nate
took me out to breakfast declaring he had discovered the finest Diner in
Denver.  I have to say it was pretty amazing and after a few days of
barely eating, I felt heaps better just from filling my belly. 

‘Don’t
you have to work?’ I ask him, as we walk through Larimer Square. Apparently the
place to shop in LoDo.

‘No,
I’ve taken the week off, I may be called in for debriefing and updating on the
case, but my attention is yours for
our week
,’ he wraps an arm around my
neck, casually, urging me against him.  I fall into him, a full beam smile
set on my face at the prospect of spending an entire week with Nate and no
distractions. ‘You like that idea?’ He grins back down to me, his dimple
flashing huge.

‘Oh
yeah,’ I murmur up to his handsomeness.  ‘I can’t wait to find out all the
things you want to do to me,’ my voice is breathy as I gaze up with
adoration.  ‘Or more importantly, show me,’ I palm the bristle of his
stubble on his cheek. 

The
amusement in his eyes diminishes only for heat to replace it depths. 
‘When do you think you will be up for that, babe?’ He murmurs, his eyes falling
to my lips, ‘times a ticking here,’ he reminds me.  He is attempting to be
supportive, but the impatience is evident in his sapphire gaze.  My sex
clenches and I turn to face him, wrapping my arms around his waist and pushing
myself against him.

‘With
you, I am fine Nate,’ I repeat my statement of only this morning. 

‘Not
from behind, you’re not,’ he snakes a hand around my nape and pulls me close.
‘I want to pound you from behind, Sophie,’ he whispers, his eyes darkening with
need.

‘Fuck!’
I whisper, as I tip up and take his lips in mine. ‘Jesus, now that’s all I will
be thinking about,’ I touch my tongue to his soft lips.

He
chuckles, ‘you think you are going to be up for that, London?’ He asks
flippantly, but I sense the importance of my reply hidden behind his soft gaze.

‘I
think I’m going to take every opportunity I can, this week, baby,’ I hook a
hand around his nape and kiss him deep, our tongues tangling on the sidewalk of
Larimer Square in full view of the people scurrying along the crowded streets.

‘Let’s
go home,’ his voice is hoarse, filled with lust.

‘Okay,’
my insides curl, how am I ever going to walk away from this?

Wednesday
night, Eli and Ellie drove up from Krystal.  I hadn’t spoken to Ellie
since the night of the assault, but Nate had announced that she wanted to say goodbye
to me before I left, so he had evidently been in contact with her at some point. 
I felt a little nervous about seeing Ellie again, after ignoring all of her
calls when I was in Boston, but Nate promised that she understood why I did
what I did and was genuinely sad to see me leave Denver.

‘Wear
a dress,’ Nate had bossed.

‘I
won’t feel comfortable,’ I complained, ‘he,’ I gulp deep, ‘he said I was asking
for it dressing like a whore.’

‘Why
the fuck you listening to that crack head?’ he growls, ‘wear a dress, for me,’
he had repeated, his eyes cold at my confession.  ‘Give me this, Sophie,’
he demanded.  ‘Don’t let the bastard change you, you are a stunningly
beautiful woman, you stop being you, he wins.  He hasn’t earned that, he doesn’t
get to take that from you.’  The flare of anger inside those stunning
sapphire eyes reminds me of our agreement, a week of us no distractions.

I
wore a dress.

I
also applied my dramatic night time makeup after hearing about the delights of
Denver nightlife, flicking my liquid liner up at the corners of my eyes making
my huge hazel eyes appear even bigger.  I applied heaps of mascara and
painted my lips with liner and gloss. Lastly, I quaffed my hair and pushed my
feet into my spiked heels with every intention of wearing them in bed tonight,
nothing but them.

‘Jesus,
fuck!’ Nate had exploded as I sashayed into the room, my makeup hiding the
remnants of the knife mark on my cheek and neck.  The grey dress was the
one I bought in Krystal for such an occasion, held up with spaghetti straps, it
hugged my body until flaring around my thighs in a suggestive flutter.  I
perceived as Nate’s eyes moved down my legs to my strappy shoe boot heels, before
heating. 

‘You
like the shoes?’ I test.

‘Oh
yeah,’ his lips tilt.

‘Good,
because these are all I will be wearing tonight, when you fuck me hard,’ his
eyebrow arches. 

‘Groundhog
Day,’ he mumbles.

‘Groundhog
Day?’ I repeat.

‘I
wish it were Groundhog Day,’ his eyes move back to mine and hold.  ‘Fuck,
you are so beautiful, I can hardly breathe.’

Emotion
hits my chest, and I swallow down the lump in my throat.  I step forward
and touch my palm to Nate’s cheek, and he leans into it.  The world stops
spinning as our eyes hold, imprinting to memory this very moment.   

Nate’s
mobile phone begins to vibrate disrupting the connection. He turns and kisses
my palm, ‘come on, time to go.’

********

 I
needn’t have worried about Ellie, as soon as she spotted me from the rooftop
restaurant bar, she shrieked and headed in my direction.  Hitting me at one
hundred miles an hour, she squeezed me so tight I could hardly breathe. 

‘I
was so worried about you,’ she whispered into my ear.
 

‘I’m
sorry,’ I murmur, holding her tight to me.

‘Sorry! 
What the fuck have you got to be sorry about, girl?’ She pushes me away, her
eyes taking in my appearance, ‘fuck, you look hot.’

‘Sorry,
I’m taken,’ I grin at her words to me a few weeks ago.  ‘But if anyone
could turn me, you could.’

Ellie
giggles, ‘likewise girl,’ she hugs her brother a little longer than normal, and
I wonder whether she is concerned for him in all this drama surrounding me. He
holds her to him, murmuring into her ear before releasing her and shaking hands
with Eli.

I
hadn’t given much consideration to how Nate’s family had surveyed me and my
troublesome arrival.  Despite what Nate does for a living, he has
approached this investigation from a personal angle, thanks to me, which has
put him slap bang in the middle of the firing line.  I wouldn’t blame the
family if they wished me a speedy return to England.

      The
evening goes spectacularly well, although my inner anxiety urges me to stick to
Nate like glue.  As if he senses it, he keeps me pinned to his side at all
times, and when I expressed the need for the bathroom he insisted that Ellie accompanied
me while both him and Eli stood in a position that enabled them to watch us
enter and exit.

We
eat good food and drink plenty of cocktails, Ellie suggesting we head to a club
to round off the night, one that Nate highly recommended.  Somewhere, he proclaimed,
that the majority of the clientele is over the age of thirty and where it plays
music that we would all recognize rather than the heavy beat of unidentifiable
sounds.

‘When
are you going home?’ Ellie probes, as we are fixing our lip gloss at the
illuminated mirror over the wash basins of the restroom.

‘Next
Monday,’ I eye her through the reflection, evaluating her reaction.  ‘You
get why I have to go, don’t you El?’

She
shrugs, ‘not really,’ she admits, her warm blue gaze assessing me gently. 
‘It’s going to hit him hard,’ she means Nate.

‘Nate
always knew my staying here was temporary,’ I play with my hair in the mirror, distracting
myself from Ellie’s concerned face. ‘Nate has women lining up, El,’ I murmur,
quietly, although the thought of him fucking someone else is like a punch to my
solar plexus.

‘He’s
never been like this with anyone, not since Cary,’ she frowns, as if she has just
realised this for herself.  ‘Not even Cary, come to think of it.’

‘Cary,
being his ex-wife?’ I check.  I am curious for a moment about what she looks
like. In my imagination she is blonde, skinny and beautiful.  She could be
nothing less with Nate as her husband.

Ellie
nods, turns to face me and takes a deep breath.  ‘Nate is Nate; he is his
own man.  He meets women, fucks them for a while and then moves on, he has
declared on numerous occasions that he has no intention of ever settling down,
not again.’   In my deliberation, I am silent as I digest this
information, ignoring the hurt that stabs my chest.  She continues, ‘Cary
was fucking his partner, Nate found them together in his bed, beat his partner
bad, walked out on Cary.  Swore off women for life, other than to fulfil
his urges,’ she confides.  ‘It’s not my story to tell, doll, but Nate
won’t tell it, and I think you should know. You should know that, regardless of
his pledge, you are not just a fuck to Nate, this whole protector thing he has
going on,’ she shakes her head, ‘not Nate.’

‘It’s
Nate’s job to protect, El,’ I prompt her.

‘Not
like this,’ she disagrees, ‘he almost put his job on the line for you, to be
able to continue a relationship with you.  He would kill me for sharing
this, honey, but I have to tell you, he hasn’t got a week off, he has been
suspended.’

‘Suspended!’
My stomach lurches at this information, because of me.  ‘I fucked
everything up for him.’

‘As
I say, Nate does what Nate wants.  Anyone tells him anything he doesn’t
want to hear; he immediately disregards it.  You obviously mean more to
him that his career.’ She sighs, as she fluffs up her hair in the reflection
before she continues. ‘Myers apparently registered a complaint against him for
assault.  Everyone present is obviously denying anything untoward
happened, but they have to be seen to be taking it seriously.  It seems
he’s got some hotshot lawyer on it; some drug lord is evidently paying his
legal costs.’

Regret
hits me deep in the gut. ‘I’m sorry Ellie, I shouldn’t have gotten you and your
family involved in all this,’ I feel sick with dread,
my work is the
greatest love of my life,
those were his words, and somehow I’ve managed to
fuck that up too. 

When
I leave, I will be leaving him with nothing, it would have all been for
nothing. Even now he is protecting me from the knowledge that I have caused him
more drama, possibly damaged his future career. 

Pain
sears through me, I love him so much it hurts my heart.

‘He
won’t thank me for telling you,’ Ellie looks slightly pissed, ‘but what else
can I do?  I love my brother I want him happy. I have seen the two of you
together, I like what I see between you.  Yeah, you’ve had issues that
have impacted him.  But, babe, I’ve seen the way he looks at you.  He
would walk through fire for you.’

Unshed
tears sting my eyes at the hopelessness of the situation, ‘I can’t stay here,
El.  They will find me again, I couldn’t stand them touching me,’ I
panic.  ‘If I go, everyone can go back to their lives and things will eventually
settle down.’ I attempt to justify my running for the hills.

‘How
do you know that?’ She asks, softly.

‘I
don’t, but the alternative is that I stay, and they begin to target the people
I love, Nate, you, Marnie!  All to encourage me to pay the price of my
brother’s bad decisions. They won’t stop,’ I laugh ironically, ‘how many of
them have to be stopped before it all ends?’ I question.  ‘No, if I
disappear, they will assume that Nate and I were nothing but a fling, and leave
you all alone and hopefully get bored of trying to track me down.  I can’t
see them flying to England to look, can you?’ I query, optimistically.

‘I
don’t know, Sophie,’ Ellie looks confused.

A
knock on the outside door startles both Ellie and me. 

‘Fuck!’
I physically jump.

‘London!’
Nate calls through the wooden door.

‘Just
be a sec,’ I call, eyeing Ellie with a roll of my eyes.  I pull her in for
a hug.  ‘Thank you, El,’ I squeeze her tight.  ‘I’m sorry, for
everything,’ I murmur quietly to her ear.  ‘I’ll make this right,’ I
promise.

She
doesn’t look convinced.

Nate’s
eyes evaluate me as I open the door to the restroom, ‘I’m fine,’ I assure him
with a smile.  I watch as he physically relaxes.  ‘I need another
drink,’ I wrap an arm around his middle and step up to land a swift kiss on his
lips, ‘then I’m taking you home and seducing you,’ I tease. He smiles down to
me and my heart flutters.

Guiding
me to the bar, he orders another round of drinks and pulls me close.

‘You
were gone a long time,’ he accuses, ‘I was getting worried.’

‘Just
girl chat,’ I lean into him. 

‘Everything
okay?’ He glances briefly over to his sister, who has wrapped herself around
Eli.

‘Everything
will be fine,’ I lean up to his ear.  ‘You like sex with me, right?’ I
murmur, running my nose down his stubbled jaw.

His
arms squeeze at my waist, ‘is that a serious question?’

‘Yep!’
I nibble a trail down his neck delighting in his male scent.

‘I
love sex with you,’ he purrs.

‘Then
you are going to adore drunk sex with me,’ I pledge, in a whisper.

‘What’s
the difference?’ I feel his hardness against my middle, his gravelly voice purring
against my ear.

‘You
get carte blanche,’ I hook a hand around his nape and run the tip of my tongue
along the seam of his lips.

‘Carte
blanche?’ he questions, the deep richness of his tone flutters through me.

‘Freedom
to do anything you want,’ my whole body is alight with desire, I can feel the
wetness between my thighs and ache for Nate to satisfy that need in me. 
He has given up so much for me, laid his life on the line in more ways than
one.  I want to worship him; I want him to know that I would do anything
for him.  What’s more, I want him to remember me with a smile, rather than
feel pity for the whimpering wreck I have recently become.

‘Anything?’
He confirms.

‘Anything,’
I whisper.

‘Jesus,
fuck! Drink up,’ he hums, ‘it’s gonna be long a night, babe.’

Ellie
hugged me hard, she and Eli were staying at a hotel not far from the club, so
we said our goodbyes outside the club. 

‘Am
I going ever to hear from you again?’ She murmured against my ear.

I
close my eyes; I would love to say yes, but to know about Nate’s onward life
would kill me.  ‘El’s,’ I breathe, hoping that she understands why I am
doing what I am doing.

‘Okay,
I understand,’ she whispers, but her voice wobbles betraying her perkiness.

‘Thank
you for taking me into your heart, Ellie Austin,’ I swallow the lump in my
throat. ‘I will never forget you.’ I squeak, attempting to contain my grief at
losing such a wonderful friend.

‘Me
either,’ she confirms, ‘you take care of you.’

‘You
too,’ I step back, providing a watery smile to Eli.

‘Come
on, babe,’ Eli pulls her away with a nod to Nate. 

I
spend the entire walk back to Nate’s in silence, willing the sadness to leave
my heart.  He also remains quiet, but holds my hand tight in his. 

‘This
calls for Tequila,’ he mutters, as we enter the loft.

I
exhale a deep breath, determined not to spend the rest of my stay miserable. 
I need to save the tears for the privacy of my surroundings.  ‘Sounds
good,’ I send Nate a smile that seems to reassure him slightly.  His
handsome face is blank, that isn’t what I want for our final week. 
‘Nothing is going to spoil our week,’ I remind him.

He
nods and pours two shots of Tequila from the wooden unit that holds his liquor,
holding it out for me to accept.  I tip it in his direction and find his
eyes.  ‘To us,’ I whisper.

‘To
us,’ he repeats, tilting it down his throat and instantly refilling.  I
follow suit, allowing the burn to soothe the sadness from my throat. 

‘Bedroom!’
he commands, taking the bottle with him.  I follow, adrenaline rushing
through my veins.  I move up the four steps that lead to his bedroom and
place my glass on the chest of drawers that holds pictures of his nearest and
dearest.  I lift the ends of my dress and pull it over my head. 
Standing in front of Nate, who at this point is standing with his shot glass
halfway to his mouth, I unclasp my bra and throw it on the floor alongside my
dress and slide out of my black lace thong.  I move towards him, picking up
the glass on the way, holding it out for him to fill. I drink the contents in
one gulp, the fire immediately hits my veins, and I move to unbutton Nate’s
shirt.

‘Too
many clothes, baby,’ I purr. 

He
watches, broodingly, as I undo one button at a time until his jeans prevent me
from opening any more.  That’s when I hit the belt, button, and zip. 
His erection is bulging against the tight denim, and I almost experience a
spontaneous orgasm on the spot. 

‘Another
drink, Nate,’ I demand. 

I
watch the humour in his gaze as he permits me to set the scene, refilling both
glasses while I push his jeans and underwear down in one swift motion, his
erection springing out in a majestic pose, waiting patiently for attention. 
He kicks off his boots to allow me to push the denim off of his feet.  On
the way up I stroke a path up the back of his legs with my fingers as my tongue
licks a trail up to his inner thighs, swirling around his balls and up to the
tip of his cock.  I hear his breath hitch and smile inwardly before
standing up and taking the glass. 

I
hold the alcohol in my mouth and drop back down to my knees and without
swallowing the Tequila, suck his cock into the back of my throat amongst the
liquor.  ‘What the fuck!’ he groans, the coldness of the liquid swirling
around his dick.  I suck him in and out, swallowing a drop at a time until
all I have in my mouth is his velvety length.  ‘Jesus, where you learn
that?’ He thrusts his hips back and forth fucking my mouth, his eyes black with
desire.

I
scratch down his buttocks, hard, and he quickens his rhythm. ‘Jesus, what are you
doing to me?’ He pulls my hair and fucks my mouth deep as I try to keep up with
his erratic pace.  ‘Stop!’ He growls, pulling me up to him and crushing
his lips to mine.  ‘Tonight, you are mine,’ he utters against my
lips.  ‘Carte blanche,’ he reminds me, as his fingers pinch my nipples
hard.  I cry out his name, and he drops me to the bed and leans in to suck
and bite down on my breast, sucking hard on the pebbled peak.