Aidan and Rain will be back in twenty minutes with his bags, and then he’s off to catch the seven o’clock train to Coventry.
I sit down beside him on the sofa and release a breath I feel like I’ve been holding all day.
“I really am going to miss you.” His expression shifts from relaxed wistfulness to a resigned sadness that just won’t do.
“Hey,” I say, pulling him close. “This isn’t goodbye, you know. It’s just…” I try to think of the perfect words to say, but before I can, he seems to know exactly what we both need to hear.
“It’s just bye for now.” I smile at him and nod, desperately ignoring the lump forming in my throat, his gorgeous green eyes capturing me in their thrall and holding me exactly where I wish I could stay.
I lean forward slowly, making it abundantly clear what I want, and hoping against hope that he doesn’t pull away in disgust.
He doesn’t.
His breath catches on an inhale, and then my lips press to his.
Twenty-three
Corey
Nash’s lips landing on mine takes me by surprise. Oh, I knew it was coming with his slow approach and imploring gaze, but it’s not the act of his lips on mine, rather the feel of them. His kiss is soft, gentle, searching. It’s affection, frustration, care.
It’s everything.
I lift my arms and wrap them around the back of his neck. His own arms close around my waist, pulling me into him until I turn and straddle his legs. He deepens the kiss, his tongue seeking mine. And he finds it softly, softly, sosoftly.
I hear a small whimper escape my throat, quickly followed by a growl from his, and I just about melt into a puddle when his large hands span my arse cheeks through my jeans, and he pulls me even closer like he doesn’t want even a breath of air to come between us.
His tongue strokes mine, hot and wet, as I cling to him, never wanting this moment to end. His big hands hold me tight to him, our bodies slotting perfectly together, and my fingers stroke the hair at the nape of his neck. I moan, and he growls again, low and deep and resonant.
He tilts my head to the side as he devours me, and I open for him, laying myself bare. He tastes incredible. Nothing discernible but a sweetness I know is simply his own flavour. I’m pliant under his ministrations, and I’m pretty sure I would take whatever he gave me.
His free hand cups my jaw, and it feels right to be held, owned, by him. I think he’s owned me since that moment in Aidan’s kitchen when he walked in, and I saw him for the first time. I knew then that I was intensely attracted to him, but I think that may have also been the moment my soul found something it needed in his.
Fuck, I hate this. I hate that I finally found a man this wonderful, this kind, this perfect… and I have to leave him. But if I stay, I’ll get swept up in him. I know myself, and I know I will put everything into a new relationship at the expense of my own recovery and development, and until I can deal with my history and the hurts of my past, I’ll never be the man I want to be in a relationship.
I slow our kiss down, accepting that this one moment will have to be enough to sustain me. Possibly forever. Nash is a dream, and by the time Dominic is dealt with by the police, and I feel in a stronger place for myself, he could very well have moved on. I’ve accepted that risk as a necessary evil, necessary being the operative word.
I end the kiss with one, two, three small kisses to his lips and then rest my forehead against his as we both try to catch our breath.
“I’m so—”
“Don’t you dare apologise for the best kiss of my life, Nash Foster. Don’t. You. Dare.” I punctuate those three words with chaste pecks to his kiss-swollen lips. “Right guy, wrong time, remember?”
“Right guy, wrong time,” he agrees.
We breathe each other in until the sound of crunching gravel brings reality back with a bump.
Aidan doesn’t beep the horn, and Rain doesn’t knock on the door. Rain knows Nash, and I need to say goodbye on our own.
“Look after that little angel,” I say, inclining my head towards the stairs as we pass them on our way to the front door. “She needs her daddy.”
He simply nods, then pulls me back into his arms for one of his patented out-of-this-world hugs. I hold him tight, taking in his spicy scent with every breath, wishing oxygen smelled like cedar so I could breathe him in no matter where I am.
I pull back, conscious of missing the last train.
“Bye for now,” I say, cupping his cheek with my palm. He covers my hand with his, then leans down for one last soft kiss.
“Bye for now.”
