Page 28 of Evil Queen

Nikita

Iwoke up to the sound of my phone notifying me that I’d received a voicemail during the night. The necklace that Nathan had given me shifted as I sat up as if to let me know he had called me.

“Hey, gorgeous,” his gruff voice called out. I laid back down on my pillow and closed my eyes with the sound of him in my ear. “I know we had kind of a rough week, but I’d love to see you today if you’re not up to anything else. I don’t have many plans except to kick around the house and respond to some work emails. I guess I probably should eat something, but I don’t really want to. Anyway, just let me know either way. I love you so much. Bye.”

My heart ached in the wake of the message. Just hearing Nathan’s voice sent chills running over my body, and despite the fact that I was trying to put space between us, my inclination was to get up and go over to him. My arms were already throwing back the covers, and my legs were dragging me out of bed without my brain telling them to do so. I sighed, knowing that as long as I had access to Nathan, getting to a point where I could stay away from him was fairly unlikely. All I could do was repeat to myself that Nathan probably wasn’t good for me, but I was still getting dressed, still loading into my car, and still headed to his house as if my body were acting all on its own.

I flipped through the keys on my keyring from memory, found the one that belonged in Nathan’s door, and let myself in. There was quiet, relaxing music coming from his living room, so I stepped over the mess of his shoes, jacket, and backpack in the front entryway and made my way down the hall. When I turned the corner, Nathan looked up, and a bright smile crossed his face. He closed his laptop and stood up in an instant, coming over to me, lacing his arms around my waist, and dragging me into a kiss.

There wasn’t a shred of me that was powerful enough to stop him.

With no hesitation, my arms slid around his bare chest and laced around his neck so I could lean even further into him. All the times I had to sit and endure watching Cherri being able to do what I’d wanted so desperately skated across my mind. No longer did I have to hold back when I had access to Nathan, but Cherri was still a large, looming ghost between us. She was gone, but she still stood in our way.

Not that it was her fault at all.

“Hi,” Nathan said when he finally pulled back. “I didn’t think you’d come.”

I chuckled. “I didn’t either.” His eyes were heavy with bags beneath them, and wrinkles that belied his age were pulling at the corners. “Didn’t get much sleep?”

“Is it that obvious?” he asked. “I’m still getting used to not having you here with me.”

“It hasn’t been that long since we started…” I didn’t know what to call our relationship. Dating? Hooking up? What were we? “You should be more used to it.”

He leaned forward and set his forehead against mine. “What do you want from me? Now that I have you, I don’t ever want you far from me.”

That was a feeling I understood from my core. “Well, you need some sleep, so now that I’m here, go get some rest.”

“It’s not the same if you’re not right next to me,” he replied. “Come to bed with me.”

I knew what that meant, and so did Nathan.

“Okay, how about this? You said you haven’t eaten, right?” I looked around. “And this place is a mess. If we’re going to go upstairs together, then you need to do some basic health stuff first.”

Nathan frowned. “How did you go from wanting me to get rest to wanting me to clean?”

“Once we’re up there, we’re not coming down, and you know that, so take your pick.”

Nathan bobbled his head back and forth with his nose scrunched up, so I grabbed my jacket and pulled it off. I tossed it over to the couch and then lifted an eyebrow. “I’m wearing a t-shirt, jeans, a bra, and underwear. I will take each one of them off for everything you do. Eating, cleaning, finishing your homework, and responding to work emails. When I’m naked, we go up.”

That struck Nathan’s attention much more. “Oh, I do like that plan.”

“Fine,” I said with a chuckle. “I’ll go make you something to eat while you pick up.”

With that, Nathan pulled me against him again, taking another kiss before saying, “I love you,” and then he released me and started gathering things from the front hallway.

While he was getting things cleaned up, I walked into the kitchen and was disappointed with the selection of ingredients I found in the fridge. Somehow, I was going to have to inspire him to do more regular grocery shopping, or at least pay someone to do it.

There was, however, a carton containing a few more eggs left from the last time I’d been there, some summer sausage that could be sliced and fried, and some bread for toast. I pulled out everything I needed and got to work. After about ten minutes, Nathan came wandering into the kitchen and grabbed the base of my shirt. Even though I was cooking breakfast for us, his hands snuck under the fabric, and he left hot trails on my skin where his fingers touched. He moved his hands further up until they were at the clasp of my bra. He undid it, and fortunately, it was strapless, so I didn’t have to be involved in removing it from my chest. He dropped the bra on the ground and squeezed each of my breasts with both hands.

“I’m cooking,” I complained.

“Yeah,” he said, pushing himself against me and feathering his lips against my neck briefly, “but I finished cleaning.”

He returned to the spot to abuse it a little more, and a moan slipped out before I could stop it. Nathan snickered, and I could feel him getting excited against me below, so I used my hand that wasn’t stirring eggs to whack him on the head.

“Ow! Why?”

“Because I’m handling a pan over an open fire,” I said. He frowned, looking like a child who’d just been denied candy. I craned my neck to the side so that I could kiss him, and then I waved him away. “Go do homework and answer emails. I’ll be done here in about ten minutes.”

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