Page 127 of Between the Lines

“Nathan is very reserved. Ever since his parents’ accident, and then everything with Callahan afterward, he’s never given himself time to live his own life. He has carried so much unnecessary guilt…” He shakes his head, then eyes me candidly. “You’re the first person to remind him that he has a life to live.”

I jolt at that wordguilt. What does he have to feel guilty about?

“I believe that was the end of the song, doctor. May I have my lady back?”

God. Such a gentleman.

Dr. Marty sighs with a smile and pulls me in close, pressing his lips to my ear.

“Don’t let his closed doors turn you away. Keep knocking,” then pulls away and says to Nathan, “She’s all yours.”

Nathan slides his arm around me, tucking me back into his embrace. The pressure of my heart pressed to my ribcage as he says, “God, I hope she is,” and presses his temple to mine is overwhelming.

After that, I can’t take it.

The feel of him holding me tightly, squeezing my hand to the beat of the music while he peppers my temple with errant kisses. This is the man I see in secret, when the world melts away and it's just him and me. And he's holding me like this in public.Proudto have me in his arms. Proclaiming to others that hehopeshe gets to keep me.

I tilt back in his arms, lift my chin to him, and bat my lashes. He understands without a word spoken between us.

“I have a few people I need to say goodbye to first,” he says, gritty with sand.

My, “Okay. Hurry though,” comes out pinched.

This might be the one time I’mnotokay with his penchant for following the rules of the road. When we arrive, the air is so charged, I can feel it on my lips. We don’t speak a word. Just like at the gala, simply feeling these emotions is more than enough—more than either of us has allowed ourselves in the past.

Baby steps.

He takes his time. Undressing me first with his eyes, then with his strong, steady hands.

Why are they shaking tonight?

By the time his coat and mine are hung up in the hall closet, I’m desperately aching between lunging to wrap myself around him, and falling to my knees at how pretty our stuff looks hanging up together.

He lifts me effortlessly. My pussy presses up against the cool metal of his belt buckle and all bets are off. I moan into his kisses, tilt my head as he sucks and licks along the column of my throat. I’mtugging his dress shirt free from his pants while he unhooks my bra, and it takes me a second to register that when he sits down, we aren’t in his bed.

I’m astride his lap in the window seat of the study, his already mussed hair and unfocused eyes framed by the starry night outside his window.

“I was too impatient to take you to bed.”

I could come from those words alone. From the way his chin is tipped back in submission, the way desperation is written into the pinch of his brows and the shake of his hand as one grips my waist and the other strokes down the side of my head.

I nod, whining as he shifts beneath me to rub his hard length against me. Through hot, passionate kisses, his pants and boxer briefs make it around his ankles, but my thong only gets pushed to the side as he pinches my clit and the slips two fingers inside me.

“Oh, baby, you’resoaked.”

His fingers fuck me fast and hard, but the desperation on his tongue might taste sweeter than this impending orgasm.

Might.

“I’ve been like this all night,” I pant, grinding and bouncing on his fingers, using his shoulders as leverage. “You were so good, Nathan.Sogood.Oh fuck!”

I cry out as he adds a third finger and presses on my clit at the same time, a quick orgasm rushing over me. He barely lets me come down before he’s pressing his fingers to my lips. I lick myself off his fingers while he takes my nipple between his teeth, then laves it with his tongue.

“Me?” he gasps, licking a trail to my other breast. “I couldn’t take myeyesoff of you tonight, Claire. I don’t know what I did to deserve you being in the sameroomas me, let alone being thereforme.”

I pause his ministrations, cupping his cheeks in both hands to guide his drunk gaze back to me. He presses the bridge of his glasses up to see me better.

“You deserve theworld, Nathan. I’m just glad I get to be the one holding your hand while you open your eyes and realize it.”

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