With Me in Seattle Bundle One (51 page)

“Nate, I have four older brothers and a father.  Not only did they all teach me how to protect myself, they made me sit and watch that crap or play it on the Xbox all the damn time.  It’s much to their dismay that I wear makeup and love pink.”

“So, you’re a badass, Miss Montgomery?” 

“I am, Mr. McKenna.”

“Wanna prove it?”  He’s smiling again, delighted with me, and I’m smiling back at him.  Who knew sitting and talking with Nate could be so easy?

And who knew we’d have so much in common?

“Right now?”

“No, tomorrow.  Come to the gym with me.”

“I don’t know.” I shake my head.  “I might really hurt that pretty face of yours.”

“You think my face is pretty?” He kisses my knuckles, one by one, then leans over and kisses my cheek.

“You know your face is pretty.”

“I know
your
face is pretty.” 

“It’s just a face,” I respond and shrug.  I have always received a lot of attention because of my face, and my body.  It’s just genetics. 

Nate narrows his eyes at me, his mouth forming a hard line.  “Julianne, your beautiful face is only out-matched by what’s inside you.”

What the fuck?  No one,
no man anyway
, has ever said anything about what’s inside me.  Unless he was referring to his dick.

I gasp and feel my eyes go wide.  This is why I’m drawn to him.  He completely throws me off-kilter.

“Well, aren’t you the charmer?” I ask, trying desperately to lighten the mood.

Nate smiles again.  “So, are you coming with me or not?”

“If you think you can take me, sure, I’ll come with you.”

“Did you bring workout clothes?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

“So…” I look around his beautiful apartment.  “Did you decorate this yourself?”

Nate laughs, and I feel the pull in my belly.  I love his laugh.  “No.”

“It suits you.”

“You think?” He raises an eyebrow and looks around at his beautiful home.

“Yeah, it’s masculine but inviting, and comfortable.  And the kitchen is sexy as hell.”

“Sexy suits me, does it?” he asks and kisses my knuckles again, sending shivers down my back.

I shrug and raise an eyebrow.  “You have your moments.”

“Well, speaking of my sexy kitchen.” Nate rises gracefully from the couch and pulls me with him.  “How would you like some dessert?” 

“Dessert?” I echo lamely.  Watching him walk is making me crazy.  He’s so graceful. He clearly takes care of that body.  I can’t wait to see what he can do at the gym tomorrow. 

“I have chocolate cheesecake.”  He smiles back at me, and I gasp.

“That’s my favorite.”

“I know.”

“How do you know?”

“Because at every business dinner, you always order it for dessert.”  He motions for me to sit on a stool at the breakfast bar and pulls the cheesecake out of the fridge.

He pays attention to what I order at dinner?

“So I was a bit of a foregone conclusion tonight then?”  I cock my head and smile sassily at him and can’t help but enjoy watching him squirm.

“No, nothing you do is expected, Julianne, but I was hopeful, and prepared, just in case.”  He cuts the cake and pulls two white dessert plates out of a beautiful dark mahogany cabinet.  He joins me, and we dig in.

“Oh sweet Jesus, that’s good.”  I lick my fork and close my eyes.  Diving back in for a second bite, I notice that Nate isn’t moving. “What’s wrong?”

“You are so sexy.”  His eyes are burning with lust, and my body starts to hum under his hot gaze.

“I love chocolate,” I murmur and take another bite. “It’s my vice.  I don’t drink much, I’m not big on junk food, but chocolate is not safe from me.  If you don’t hide that cake, I’ll have it polished off by morning.”

“I don’t mind as long as I get to watch you eat it.” 

I laugh at him as I take another bite, and he digs into his own piece.  He nods appreciatively and licks his lips.

Oh my, those lips.
 
He’s so good with those lips.

“Am I seriously sitting in your kitchen eating chocolate cheesecake?” I ask.  I can’t believe I’m here.  “If someone had told me this morning that this is where I’d be tonight, I’d have told them to seek medical attention.”

“Is it that much of a hardship?” he asks, and I can hear the hurt in his voice.

Oh no!  I don’t want to hurt his feelings!

“Not at all. Just a surprise.  This is just the last thing I expected.”

“I’m glad you’re here,” he murmurs, looking down at his plate, then he turns that hot gray gaze back to mine. 

“Me, too,” I reply and take the last bite of cake. “Feed me cheesecake like this, and I’ll never leave.”  I laugh and gather my empty plate and take it to the sink, rinse it and place it in the dishwasher. Nate joins me, taking care of his dish, and then leans back against the counter, watching me.

“My fridge will now forever be full of chocolate cheesecake.”  He smiles warmly, and heat slowly spreads through me at his flirty statement.

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” I quip and hop up onto his counter, dangling my feet and watching him.  God, he’s a sight to behold.  I love seeing his hair hanging loose, and I definitely want to see more of that tattoo.

I wonder if he has more of them.

I lick my lips at the thought of exploring that hot body in the light.  Yes, I know exactly where I’ll be sleeping tonight, and it’s not in the spare bedroom.

“That’s a promise I can keep, honey.  I didn’t want you to leave last time.”  He frowns and crosses his arms over his chest.  “Speaking of, why did you?”

Oh.  We’re going to have this conversation now.

“I couldn’t deal with the morning-after regrets.”

“What morning-after regrets?”

“You said you wanted to talk in the morning, and I naturally assumed that meant we’d have the ‘this was a one-time deal’ talk, and to be honest, I was saving us both from that uncomfortable conversation.”  I bite my lip and close my eyes, feeling the humiliation all over again.

“That’s not what I was going to talk with you about, Julianne.”

My eyes find his, and I grip the edge of the smooth countertop.  “It’s not?”

“No.”  He shakes his head and closes his eyes and swears under his breath. “When I woke up and you were gone, it pissed me off.  Then you wouldn’t speak to me for days.  You finally asked me to go out with you and your friends, and I thought we had a good time, but then you went back to being professional and cool again.  I know you’re giving me all the signs that you’re not interested, but I can’t seem to stay away from you.”

“I like my job, Nate.  I worked hard to get it.  And I enjoy working for you.  You’re so good at what you do, and I’m learning from you.  I can’t jeopardize my career because my boss is hot and I’m attracted to him.”

Nate smirks and then runs his hands through his hair in frustration. “It’s none of anyone’s business if we see each other outside of the office.”

“But someone will find out, and then it could be over for both of us.”

“I have very good lawyers, Jules.” 

Jules? He just called me Jules!!

I shake my head and look down at my swinging feet.  I want him, and by some miracle he wants me, too.  Can we pursue this, whatever it is, and keep it away from work?

“Hey,” he murmurs and pushes away from the counter to stand between my thighs.  He wraps his arms around my behind and hugs me to his chest.  He’s so tall that I’m only a few inches taller than he is sitting up here. “Don’t worry so much about this, honey. It’ll work out.”

I gaze into his earnest eyes, my blue to his gray, and run my fingers through his soft, long black hair.  For the first time in eight months, my world feels right.  I want to see where this goes. 

I want him.

I lean down and brush my lips across his gently and nibble the corner of his mouth.  I lean farther and bury my nose in his neck and inhale the musky, clean scent of him, and against my better career-woman judgment, I cave.

“I’m sleeping with you tonight,” I whisper.

“Thank Christ,” he whispers back.

Chapter Four

Nate pulls me against him, cups my ass in his hands and lifts me in his arms.  I wrap my legs around his waist, my arms around his neck and hold on tight.

“I want you.  Now.”  It’s not a request.  His lips are on mine, searching, hot, and I weave my fingers in that thick hair as he carries me through his apartment and to his bedroom.

“Lights on,” I murmur against his mouth, and he grins.

“Fuck, yes.”  He flips a switch on the wall as we pass through the doorway, and both the lamps on his end tables come to life.  I can see his room now, in the light, and it’s simply amazing.  Gray walls, white linens, large white furniture.  It’s masculine and clean and classy.

It’s so Nate.

He crawls onto the bed with me still in his arms. I love how strong he is.  I rest my hands on his arms, reveling at how the muscles move and flex as he lays me on the cool linens.  He’s braced above me, his hands planted on either side of my shoulders, his hips cradled in mine, and he leans down and moves that amazingly talented mouth over my lips.

Fuck, he can kiss!

I run my hands down his back and pull his T-shirt up to his chest.  I want him naked.

Now.

He sits back on his heels and pulls the shirt over his head, and I gasp as I sit up, bracing myself on my elbows.  The sleeve tattoo on his right arm not only goes up to his shoulder, but over across his right chest area, too.  With trembling fingers, I trace the swirly tribal design, over his chest, around his nipple, and up over the top of his shoulder and down his arm.

“It’s beautiful,” I murmur and look up into molten gray eyes. 

His gaze is searching mine, a slight smile on his lips, patiently letting me explore with my fingers.

I’ll explore it with my mouth before the night is over.

I glance down to his left side, and I abandon his right side and trace another tribal design that curls down his rib cage, disappearing into his pants.

“Take your pants off,” I murmur and look back up into his eyes.

“I’d rather get you naked, baby.” He tucks my hair behind my ear.

“Oh, trust me, you will, but right now I’m on a treasure hunt. This is much more fun with the lights on.”  I continue to follow the beautiful design with my fingertip.  He kisses me quickly, chastely, then stands and shucks his pants and boxer-briefs, and then the finest specimen of man I’ve ever seen stands before me.

I feel my jaw drop as I skim my eyes up and down his perfect body.  Holy hell.  He’s all tanned skin and toned muscle, and he’s breathing rapidly. That tattoo on his left side falls down over his hip and onto his upper thigh.  It’s sexy as I don’t know what, and I am itching to get my fingers on it.

And then my eyes zero in on his impressive erection—
holy Moses, what that thing does to me
—and I gasp at the silver metal in the tip.  The jewelry felt bigger than it is, and I don’t even want to think about the process it took to get it there.

Suddenly feeling overdressed, I sit up and pull my shirt over my head, throwing it on the floor.  Nate just stands there at the edge of the bed, his hot gaze locked on mine, and I lie back and shimmy out of my jeans and kick them to the floor with the rest of our clothes.  I’m lying on the bed in just my pink bra and matching panties, and I smile up at Nate and do the
come here
motion with my index finger.

“Jesus, Julianne, you are so beautiful.”  His voice is rough with emotion.  I’ve heard those words hundreds of times, from other men, photographers, my friends, but they’ve never meant what they do to me right now.  With this man.

“So are you.  Are you going to join me, or what?”

“You’re quite demanding, aren’t you?  I’ll have to do something about that.”  He smiles mischievously and crawls onto the bed, climbing on his hands and knees until he’s hovering over me the way he was before, and starts kissing me in the slowest, most tender way.  He’s not just kissing me, he’s making love to me with his mouth. And, oh my God, it’s sending electricity through me.

I hitch my left leg up around his hip, and he grabs my ass and grinds his cock against my panty-covered center, sending sparks all the way up my spine.

“Oh God, Nate,” I whisper, running my fingernails down his back.  My hips are moving in a delicious rhythm against him, our breathing loud and ragged.

“Baby, I can feel how wet you are through your panties.”  He’s kissing my jaw now, over to my neck, and then he sucks gently on my earlobe.

“I want you,” I murmur.

“God, I want you, too.”  He pulls my bra straps down and pushes the material down my torso, unleashing my breasts.  His delicious mouth closes over one, gently suckling, and his fingers gently pull the other, and with his cock rubbing back and forth over my clit through my panties, I’m about to come undone.

“Fuck, Nate, you’ll make me come.” 

“That’s the point.  Come for me, beautiful.”  He rocks those hips again, and his lips close over my other nipple, and I just fall apart beneath him, crying out as my body shudders.

As my breathing calms, and I’m able to open my eyes again, I see Nate braced above me, his elbows on the bed beside my head.  He’s brushing my hair back off my face, and his eyes are warm and happy.

“Are you on birth control?” he asks.

This could be a mood killer.

“Yes,” I whisper.

“I don’t want to use condoms with you, baby.  I know it sounds irresponsible, but I promise you there hasn’t been anyone for me since before you and I were together the first time.”

I shake my head.  I want to feel him.  Just him.  And I trust him completely, which is so new, but we’ve known each other for a long time, and I respect him.  “Me either.”

“Really?” His eyes widen in surprise.

“No, no one.  Did you think there was?”

“I just assumed…you’re so amazing… Thank God.”

I push him onto his back and straddle him.  He reaches down and rips—literally rips—–my panties in two and throws them on the floor.

“Didn’t like those?” I ask with a smile.