Page 23 of Nines's Time

I feel that if I were even to attempt that, Nines would find me and bring me back.

Thinking of Nines, I can’t help but remember last night and the amazing time I had with him. Other than touching my hand and brushing his fingers along my cheek, he didn’t touch me as I thought he would. A part of me felt regret at the fact he didn’t kiss me. Another part feels a bit of reprieve after what I’d shared with him.

One thing I know for sure is that I want him to kiss me again. Maybe more. My body feels warm, and between my legs aches for a touch I need only from him. This feeling though scares me. More than it should, but I can’t help but think about his hands on me. His lips touching mine, and his hands holding me to him. God knows I want nothing more than to feel him against me and that really does make me nervous.

Leaving my phone on the counter, I head back to where I’m finishing up the dress I’d been working on. Since moving here, I’ve had women coming in here and putting in orders for custom dresses, and I love creating new designs set just for one person.

I close my eyes, suck in a breath, and pick up the band I use to hold my needles and wrap it around my wrist. I grab the thread and get back to work on finishing with the beads and sequins. Each part of the dress is hand stitched by me. I take pride in my hard work and sometimes pour blood over each article of clothing I create.

I lose track of time and barely hear the sound of the bell over the door chime. I lift my head and glance at the man coming my way. My heart skips a beat at the sight of him. I find it mysterious how excited I am to see this man after such a short amount of time.

“Hey, Buttercup.”He grins and moves in my direction, holding a bag up. “Brought us lunch.”

I barely get to my feet before Nines wraps an arm around my waist, pulling me flush against his chest.

I part my lips to say something, but he doesn’t give me the chance. This is because his mouth is on mine, and his tongue slips inside and devours me with every bit of the passion I felt the first time he kissed me. If not more.

By the time he lifts his lips from mine, I can barely breathe from panting for more.

“Fuckin’ love the taste of your mouth, baby,” he says, his voice raspy and all sexy-like.

I don’t think anyone could sound as good as he does when he talks. For that matter, he’s the hottest guy I’ve ever met in my life.

“Ugh. . .” I clear my throat and press my hands against his chest, though I don’t actually push away from him. “You said lunch?”

Nines grins and reaches up to stroke the backs of his fingers over my cheek. “Yeah, lunch,” he says, his lips coming back to mine. “After, I figure I might hang with you the rest of the day.”

“You want to hang out in a woman’s boutique?”

“When it comes with you being here, then yeah. Otherwise, you wouldn’t catch me anywhere near a place like this. Not my style.”

I can’t help but giggle at the way he wags his brows at the last part of his statement. “I can see that,” I say and take in what he’s wearing. Much like the other times I’ve seen him, he’s in his usual jeans and tee with his cut over it. And that hat he’s got on.

Nines steps away and moves to the counter, sets the food bag on it, and lifts my phone that was lighting up with a phone call. “Unknown number callin’ you, want me to answer?”

“No,” I say a little too quickly and move to snatch the phone from his hands, but he holds it out of my reach.

“You wanna tell me who this caller is?” he asks, eyes on me.

“It’s no one, but I don’t want you answering it either,” I snap in response and press myself into him, stretching to get my phone.

I don’t even realize I’m all but rubbing up on Nines in the process. That is, I don’t recognize this until Nines takes the opportunity to drop my phone back down and wrap both arms around my waist to hold me against his lower half.

“Fuck, baby,” he growls and grinds himself against me. “We’ll get to the phone call in a second, but I’ve gotta get rid of this first so I can focus on something other than getting my dick inside you.”

“You want to . . .” I can’t even say the words, but I feel my cheeks heating as I lick my lips nervously. I wouldn’t mind at all. When it comes to him, I feel safe and know he wouldn’t hurt me. He’s proven that in the short amount of time I’ve known him.

“Meadow, don’t ask me something like that when I know you ain’t ready to take it there.”

I narrow my eyes and glare at him as I push away. Now, that little comment pisses me off. How does he know I’m not ready? “Are you a mind reader now? Can you tell what’s on my mind? Because I’ll tell you, that’s definitely not it. You want to say I’m not ready, that I don’t want you inside me. But you can’t know that. If you actually knew what was on my mind, you’d know that I want nothing more than for you to take me. Show me what it can be like and not have it hurt. I want that and more. But like you said, ‘You know’. Well, let me tell you, you don’t know what I’m thinking.”

Breathing heavily from my rant, I miss the change in Nines and the fact he’s looking at me with eyes filled with lust.

“Our lunch plans just changed, Buttercup.” The harsh tone of his voice sends a shiver down my spine as he lets me go and moves to the door. He switches the sign over to ‘closed’ and locks the door. My eyes stay glued to his every movement as he stalks back toward me, his gaze holding mine. Taking my hand, he leads me backward into the dressing area where I also have a couch and ottoman. Granted, the only times either piece of furniture have been sat on is when I’m meeting with a client to go over details of what they ordered.

Nines takes a seat in the middle of the couch and moves me to stand in front of him. He doesn’t say a word as he runs his hands over my hips and lower stomach as he lifts his gaze to mine. “Not gonna fuck you here, but I’m going to ease some of what you’re feeling right now.”

Oh my. Lowering his hands down farther until he’s able to grip the bottom of my corduroy skirt, he jerks it up over my hips. His eyes drop down to take in my panties, black lace barely covering my mound.

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