Page 62 of Rescuing Nathaniel

“Umm, I should be safe enough here. If you want to take a break for a few hours I can call you when I’m ready to go home,” she offered as they walked out of the elevator and down the hall toward the room she shared with her team.

“No.” Nathaniel said it like there was not even the smallest possibility for discussion. “Where you go, I go. I'm not letting you out of my sight when a trafficking ring is after you.”

“O-kay,” she said slowly. Again with the hot and cold. He’d been angry with her when she’d made the lighthearted offer to buy him some more clothes. It would have been a stretch for her budget, but the only reason he hadn't gone back home was her.

Now he was back to being all fiercely protective and it was giving her whiplash.

“You are the most complicated guy I've ever met,” she muttered under her breath as he followed after her.

Or not so under her breath if his amused chuckle was anything to go by.

“Back at you, Aves. Most confusing girl I've ever met.”

That comradery between them was back, and she stopped and turned to face him, smiling up at him, and basking in the warmth that glowed so brightly in his chocolate brown eyes. Whatever was going on with him, she had the feeling it wasn't her so much as it was him.

But the thing with your inner demons was that no one could fight them but you.

Others could help, support you, encourage you, and be your soft place to fall, but in the end, if you wanted to conquer them you were on your own.

When her gaze dropped to his lips, she felt him drift closer. Her body did the same like some invisible string was tying them together. His forefinger hooked under her chin, and he nudged until she met his gaze again.

There was a question in them, one that was easy to read, and she quickly nodded. Greedily nodded. Needing what was going to come next more than she needed her next breath of air.

That first brush of his lips against hers had to be a taste of what heaven would be like one day. It was soft, but firm, warm in the most delicious way, and she loved the way his thumb drifted lower to caress the pulse point in the hollow of her neck.

“H-hmm.”

The sound of the voice clearing behind them had them both springing back, as though they were teens caught making out by their parents. When she stumbled slightly, Nathaniel was there, grabbing her forearms to steady her.

“I didn't mean to interrupt, only you guys are in the middle of the corridor,” Chelsea said, her voice tinted with amusement.

“Sorry,” Ava squeaked, embarrassed by her lack of control but not enough to regret the kiss.

“Yeah, sorry,” Nathaniel agreed, but he didn't sound sorry in the least.

“Ava, I need to talk to you in the break room,” Chelsea said, grabbing her elbow and maneuvering her down the hall.

“But I just got here, I can't go take a break,” Ava protested. The whole point of coming here was to work with her team to dismantle the organ trafficking ring. She more than anyone else wanted it burned to the ground, so she really shouldn’t be letting her personal life get in the way of that.

“Take the break,” Raven’s voice called out from their workroom, and Ava’s cheeks burned as she realized every single one of her colleagues knew she’d been kissing Nathaniel in the hall.

“See, the boss says it’s fine. Teresa,” Chelsea yelled.

“Go, talk to your friends, I’ll meet you in there,” Nathaniel said, and their gazes seemed to lock together. It was so hard to tear it away, and honestly, she didn't even want to. Not only did Ava want a repeat of the kiss but she wanted a whole lot more as well.

When the three of them were alone in the break room, which was more like a huge living room with a fully stocked kitchen at one end and a grouping of couches down the other, Ava found both her best friends staring at her expectantly.

“So … what did you two get up to while we were at work?” Teresa finally asked.

“Nothing,” Ava answered honestly. Not that she’d planned on having sex with Nathaniel while her friends were at work, but she wouldn't have been opposed to the idea.

“Nothing like no sex, or nothing like nothing nothing?” Chelsea clarified.

“Nothing nothing.”

“Drats, I was hoping for juicier gossip than that.”

Ava laughed at the disappointment on Chelsea’s face. “Sorry to let you down, but we didn't do anything. The kiss in the hall out there was it, and I’m … not sure that’s going to change.”

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