Nate’s gaze was drifting over me when I looked back at him, lingering on every little part. “It’s the best. Come here.”
He tugged me back to him but not into his lap. Instead, I stood in front of him with my legs spread on either side of his, and he banded an arm around my hips, holding me up when his free hand slid over to cup my pussy.
“God, Kate. You’re so wet.” He tipped his head back to look up at me. “I love how responsive you are.”
“And you’re not?”
He scoffed down a laugh. “With you? I’m always three seconds away from losing it.”
He slid a finger into me, and my head dropped back. My insides clenched around him. I swiped my tongue over my lips and tried to breathe, desperately needing a distraction, but after what he’d just said, I probably wasn’t much more than three seconds away myself.
“Is that true?” I asked breathlessly, my hips rolling into his hand as he brought a thumb to my clit. I bit back a moan, heat spreading through me at lightning speed.
Nate hummed, and when I looked back down at him, his gaze was fixed on his hand, watching closely what he was doingto me. “Katherine Mackenzie Vanderhaul, are you seriously questioning that?”
I managed a small shrug, a loud exhale sliding out of me as sparks of pleasure started igniting deep within. “I’m just saying, I never would’ve guessed, is all. It’s a compliment.”
Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to my stomach and my breath caught, but then suddenly, his fingers disappeared. In one swift motion, he stood up and swept me into his arms, carrying me inside while those sparks were still buzzing right under my skin.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Not far,” he gritted out through clenched teeth, then laid me down on a soft rug in the living room and immediately got on his knees, positioning himself between my legs. “Come for me, Kate. Fast. Otherwise, you might just find out exactly how serious I am.”
Without any further ado, he lowered his mouth to my clit and slid two fingers into me, catapulting me right back to where I had been outside. An orgasm drifted right out of reach, but when my fingers closed around his shoulders and I realized he was still dressed, I propped myself up on my elbows.
“No,” I said quietly. “With you, or not at all.”
That would probably kill me at this point, but I held his gaze steadily when he looked up. Something deep and silent passed between us for just a moment. Then we both began moving like a starting pistol had been fired.
Seconds later, he was naked and sinking into me, his cock sliding against my insides. It felt so good, I stopped breathing for a moment, just focusing on what it felt like having him inside me. Nate let out a long, low groan, then kissed me as he withdrew and thrust in again.
I closed my eyes and kissed him back, meeting every one of his thrusts and planting my feet on the floor to move with him. Ialways seemed to lose myself in him like this, not aware of time passing or really anything at all outside of us.
My orgasm was a slower build than I would have thought after all that, but when it finally erupted, it crashed into me in waves that felt like they were rolling out from the depths of my soul. It was more intense than anything I’d ever experienced, and it only got better when I felt Nate empty himself inside me while I was still in the throes of it.
He moaned my name as he came, his hips jerking and his kisses growing sloppy until he finally collapsed beside me. As if on instinct, he brought me with him, rolling onto his back and pulling me onto his chest, just holding me as we caught our breath.
“I love you, Kate,” he murmured against my hair, still breathing hard and his heart hammering under my ear. “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”
I burrowed into him with tears pressing at the backs of my eyes all over again. I’d never really understood why people cried after sex, but right here, with him, I was finding it really hard not to. “You’re all I’ve ever wanted, Nate Westwood. I love you too.”
And for better or for worse, that part was absolutely, completely true.
CHAPTER 43
NATE
Iwoke slowly and lazily, something that didn’t happen often in my life. For a few seconds, I didn’t move, not even opening my eyes. I just existed in that hazy place between sleep and consciousness where nothing was urgent and everything was soft and happy.
Sunlight shone through my eyelids, bright even through the glass, and somewhere outside, a bird was making an obnoxiously cheerful noise. I smiled, leaning into the warmth beside me.
Kate.
Finally opening my eyes just so I could look at her, my smile widened as I took her in, half sprawled across me with one leg thrown over mine, her hair a wild, red mess across the pillow. Sometime in the night, one or both of us had kicked off the sheet, leaving us tangled together in the middle of the bed, bare skin against bare skin, warm in the morning light.
Kate stirred slightly, making a soft noise before blinking awake. She squinted toward the windows, then groaned and buried her face in my chest. “Why is the sun so… sunny?”
I let out a quiet, sleepy laugh. “That’s generally how it works.”
