A Love For Always (11 page)

“Nate—”

“Do you know why, Sylvs?”

She couldn’t say anything past the lump in her throat.

“Because it already belonged to you.” Her eyes slid shut with his admission. How those words sang in her ears, but they also frightened her.

“I’m scared to fall for you,” Sylvie whispered, opening her eyes.

Nate dropped his hand and sat back, a bewildered look on his face. “Why?”

“At first, it was because of the life you led. ‘Life in the shadows’ you once called it. I never knew when you’d come back, if you’d ever come back. Do you know how hard that was? After we broke up and agreed to remain friends with no promise to see each other, you disappeared for almost six months, Nate.”

“I had a job to do, Sylvs.”

“I know that. I understand that. For all I know, you were saving the world, but you can’t blame me for holding a part of myself back. I’ve done it for years; it’s instinctive. I’m afraid to let go. I don’t know how to let go.”

Nate regarded her contemplatively, a muscle ticked his jaw. The hand moving idly up and down her thigh paused and clenched into a fist. “Why did you date Brad Talbot?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“Something just clicked in my head,” Nate said coldly. “Did you or did you not use Brad Talbot as some kind of shield against me because I had quit my job and you knew I’d be coming for you?”

“I can’t believe your ego!” Sylvie gasped, but he was so close to the truth. In fact, if she would just get out of denial, she’d admit that was exactly why she tried to make the relationship with Brad work.
 

“I loved Brad,” Sylvie said, but she didn’t sound convincing even to her own ears.
 

“I’m sure you did,” Nate said scathingly. His eyes grew heated and raked her body. Her nipples tightened at the savage hunger darkening his face. His fingers skated up her leg and went under the wide leg of her shorts, slipping under her ass. “Did you scream his name, Sylvie when you were coming?”

“I . . . Nate . . .” She gripped his wrist and tried to push it away, but he only moved his fingers and teased the edge of her panties. She gasped. “Oh . . .”

“Because you sure screamed mine.” Fingers nudged past her panties and skimmed her slick heat. “Fuck!” Nate groaned and dropped his forehead on hers. “You’re already wet.” He pulled his head slightly away, watching her intently as he stroked her folds before he sank his fingers inside her.

“Nate . . .” Sylvie whimpered, her hips squirming.

“Damn, babe, still so responsive.” His teeth nipped at her jawline, teasing down her neck and up under her chin.
 

When his mouth hovered close to hers, she whispered, “I’m dirty.”

“Oh, babe, you’re about to get dirtier.” And then he kissed her. His mouth brushed over hers, gently at first, and then his tongue came into play, seeking entrance into her mouth. Their tongues dueled as he pressed their bodies closer, her nipples puckering as they rubbed against his shirt. The scent of sweat and pure male intoxicated her senses as his fingers worked her over.

Needy sounds escaped her, wanting more from him. She needed him on top of her, dominating her, but Nate had other ideas. He broke the kiss and yanked her shirt off.

“Nate! Someone will see!”

“Twelve foot privacy fence,” Nate muttered.

“I’m sweaty,” Sylvie gasped as he deftly unclasped her bra.

“So am I.” A hot mouth sucked on a nipple; she moaned in response. Sylvie wasn’t an exhibitionist, but making out in the open heightened her arousal to unbearable levels. Hands stroked feverishly down her sides and between them, and before she knew it, he was tugging her shorts down along with her panties.

“Oh, God,” Sylvie whispered. “This is really happening.”

A
damn right
was mumbled somewhere against her skin.

Nate continued tasting every inch of her, moving lower in sensual exploration. When his tongue reached her belly button, he circled the area for a long time, in no hurry to reach the spot where she craved him the most. However, self-consciousness took her out of the moment.

“Nate, don’t.” She scored his hair with her fingers as she looked down at his dark head edging lower and lower. “I’m serious. I’m sweaty.”

His head came up, pinning her with a feral glare. “I don’t fucking care. Been dreaming of this moment, babe; a little sweat ain’t stopping me.” Hot breath fanned her throbbing center before his mouth closed over her clit. The drag of his tongue down her cleft sent her back arching off the lounge.

“Ahhh!”
 

An answering growl, her butt lifted higher as he consumed her like a man starved. His tongue was everywhere—flicking her clit, spreading her folds, and dipping into her pussy. The pulsing intensified as her thighs pressed in against his head.
 

“Nate, oh, God! There. There,” Sylvie mewled. “Suck it, please.” He flattened his tongue, stroking her slit heavily before sucking her tender flesh, sending her soaring to a blistering high. Sylvie screamed his name as a shattering orgasm swept tremors through her body. The exquisite throb of her core rendered her almost breathless; she thought she’d pass out.

Nate bolted up her body and kissed her fiercely, the smell of her sex permeated her nose. The rawness, the urgency, the frantic rubbing of his erection against pussy sent her spiraling into another climax. Her sob of pleasure was swallowed by Nate’s bruising kisses.

“I need to fuck you, Sylvie,” Nate muttered as he dragged his lips away from hers.

 
“Yes. Okay, Nate. ” God, she sounded needy.

She saw the frustration in his eyes. “The condom’s in the room.”

A shuddering breath shook his body before he lifted away and scooped her into his arms.

“Nate?”

He didn’t say anything as he carried her to the bedroom. His body was stiff as hers was boneless. Nate lowered her to the bed, and as she scooted back on the covers, he stripped. She admired the ripple of muscle flexing under his skin as he tugged off his shirt. When he lowered his boxer briefs, his hard, thick length sprang free, reminding her how he had always filled her. Always hard. He was hard all over and she was anticipating being wrecked, ruined, and stretched beyond limits. He grabbed a condom from the nightstand drawer, tore the wrapper, and quickly sheathed himself.

Guess foreplay was over.
 

“It’s been too fucking long, babe,” Nate said hoarsely, bending to grab her ankle.
 

He fell between her legs, lifted them high up with his forearms and drove inside her. Sylvie’s breathing hitched as she struggled to adjust to his size. He’d always been too big, and she’d always been too small.
 

“Shit! Did I hurt you, Sylvs?”
 

“Give me a moment.” She blinked a couple of times, unsure whether it was pleasure or pain.
 

Nate searched her face, tortured savagery etched all over his features. He was holding on by a very thin thread. She could feel the pulse of his erection even without the movement.
 

“Okay, I’m good,” she whispered.

Nate hissed as he withdrew from her and pushed back in. “You’re fucking tight.” He repeated the movement. “So fucking tight,
Jesus
.”

As her natural juices coated his shaft and as she stretched further to accept him, he pounded harder into her, capturing her lips in a brutal kiss. When he wasn’t kissing her, he was watching her, his eyes smoldering with the intensity of his possession. There was no turning back now. Nate owned her. He left her with no doubt. It was in the way his body slammed into her, the way his cock filled her. It was in the way he continued to take her, fast, hard, and powerful.
 

His fingers reached down between them, rolling her sensitive clit. As another orgasm rippled through her, her pussy clenched around him, drawing his cock into her body.

“Fuck. Fuck.” Nate’s head snapped back and she watched the pleasure rip through him. His muscles corded and bunched in beautiful symmetry as he powered in one more time and stilled. He shoved his face in the curve of her shoulder, muffling his grunt of release. Nate continued to gently rock into her as the tremors diminished from his body.
 

He was careful not to crush her, but he was relaxed enough into her, she could feel the wild beating of his heart.

“That,” Nate said, lifting his head to gaze into her eyes, “was fucking amazing.”
 

“It sure was.” Sylvie smiled shyly.

“Welcome back, babe.” He kissed her forehead.

“Nate—”

“Shh, hold that thought. Be right back.”

He slid out from her to take care of the condom. Sylvie stretched, basking in the soreness of her well-fucked limbs. Nate returned from the bathroom and got back into bed with her, pulling her into his arms.
 

“You know what this means, right?” Nate said. “You’re sleeping in my bed. No more damned separate rooms.”

“You rushed me.”
 

“I simply fast-tracked our relationship, Sylvs,” he murmured. “You were taking too damned long.”
 

“It hasn’t even been two weeks. You said you would give me two weeks.”

“I lied.”

“Hmm . . . not sure that’s a good basis for a relationship,” she teased.

His arms tightened around her. “I didn’t want to waste any more time. We have a solid foundation, Sylvs. Friends for eight years, known you for nine, and we picked up easily afterward.”

This was true. Still, she had a lot to process. “I’m going to be late for work.”

Nate sighed. “You’re not going to get all weird on me are you?”

“No. I’m not.” This was also true. Sylvie looked up at him and smiled.

He resumed kissing her and kissed her for a while.
 

Sylvie pulled away. “I’m really, really going to be late.”

“I’ll take you to the restaurant and pick you up.”

“Sounds good.”

“Let’s shower before I decide to keep you in bed all day.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

“Pass the rice, jackass.”

“Get it your damn self. I’m busy eating.”

“This is good stuff, chef.”

“Amazebal . . . urg . . . chef.”

“Kato, chew your food,” Sylvie admonished, chuckling at her kitchen assistant’s effort of speaking over chewing.

The staff meal was always a rowdy affair given the diversity of her crew. Three people manned the ramen bar—badass-looking Rick with his equally badass-looking tattoos, Taylor who was clean-cut and scholarly, and Koji, the only full Japanese on staff. Kato, who could be mistaken for her younger brother, and the other four waitstaff who were a mixed bunch as well, ranging from preppy to goth.
 

“Here you go, Rick.” She handed her sous chef the plate of rice.
 

“Great, next you’ll ask Sylvie to wipe your ass.”

“Taylor! Inappropriate!” Sylvie exclaimed, but a grin threatened to break through her stern face.

“Okay, mama bear,” Taylor shot her a devilish grin.

“Go fuck yourself, Taylor,” Rick told his partner.

“Gentlemen, the nabemono is the comfort food of my country,” Koji spoke in a sage tone. “But you are all disrupting its essence”—he took a sip of tea—“with your goddamned bickering.”

Raucous laughter erupted across the table.

“What’s this shit called anyway?” Rick asked, deadpan.

Sylvie rolled her eyes. “Hakata Chicken hot pot.”

“Huh,” Rick muttered. “Thought it had a fancy Japanese name.”

“It’s really called Tori Mizutaki,” Kato piped in.

Rick frowned at Sylvie. “Why didn’t you just tell me that?”

“Would you even remember what it’s called tomorrow?” Sylvie asked dryly.

“You have a point,” Rick replied.

More laughter from the table.

“Okay, guys,” her Goth-chic server called their attention. “The wolves are hungry.”

Everyone glanced at the line of customers en-massing at the glass-paneled door.

“How many groups have signed themselves up on the clipboard?” Sylvie asked.

“We’re at thirty, mostly two pax, one group of four.”

“Verified all groups are present before we open?”
 

“Yes, chef.”

“Fabulous,” Sylvie said. “Okay, team, looks like another busy night. We’ve got thirty minutes. I hope you’ve memorized the specials for tonight. No substitutions.”

“Hell yeah!”

She loved her team.

Six hours later, Sylvie flopped down on her office chair.
 

What an evening!

The ramen-hungry crowd was relentless. She was tired on her feet and her ramen-slingers were kept busy all night long. It wouldn’t make up for the money Hiroshi took from her last Tuesday, but it was comforting that the money would keep coming in. She was going to tough it out tonight and count the sales before dropping it off in the night depository.

“Hey, I’m heading out,” Koji said. “Specials were a hit, chef. Good job.”

“Thanks! You guys did a good job pushing it. Who’s left on the floor?”

“Just Rick and Taylor. All the waitstaff are gone.”

Kato was cleaning up in the kitchen. Their dishwasher and all-around prepper quit a few days ago, and she needed to hire someone ASAP. She wanted Kato to concentrate on cooking and less on prep and definitely not cleaning.

Sylvie said goodbye to Koji and turned her attention to three days’ worth of mail. Her eyes zeroed in on a manila envelope and a package. A Saturday delivery? Must be important.

It was almost midnight. Nate texted her an hour ago saying he’d be out of an emergency meeting soon and to let him know when he could pick her up.
 

Sylvie:
 
I need another hour to tally the sales. Can we stop by the bank and drop off the money before we head home? Okay with you? Rick, Taylor, and Kato are still here, BTW, so I’m not alone.
 

Nate: I’m almost done, and we can certainly stop by the bank. I’ll come hang with you while you finish up.

Sylvie: Love that.
 

Nate: Later, babe.