My chest strains from his harsh words and a part of me wants to run out and throw myself on my bed and burst into tears but I can’t leave him. The pull he has on me is too powerful and like this in the dim room, he looks like he’s lingering between the shadows and the light. He seems so strong and helpless at the same time and I let out a needy sound as I put my hand on his shoulder.
“Please Nate...,” I murmur, struggling against tears. “You’re my whole world.”
He doesn’t touch my hand like I wanted him to, doesn’t react with the kind of passion I wanted from him. “You have a way with sweet words, my dear Amabella,” he rasps and I grow cold. “But I’m not so foolish to believe your feminine trickeries when you find it so simple to turn from me.”
“It’s not a t...trick...,” I stutter and I want to shake him. Why is he doing this?
Drumming his fingers on his knee, Nate stretches his legs as if frustrated and impatient. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I have already packed my bags and I’ve decided I’m leaving tonight.”
His words ring in my ears but I can’t accept them. With flaring eyes, I notice the luggage by the bed and I see red. “No!” I gasp. “I won’t let you do it. I won’t!” Tearing the luggage open, I breathe so hard I’m hyperventilating and I start ripping his things out. His pants, his belts, beautiful expensive shirts and his garments fly across the room and I burst into sobs, clutching one of his soft sweaters to me and bury my face in it to inhale his scent. “You’re not leaving me!” I whimper and cry out when he snatches me, lifting me in the air and carries me to the chair by the fire and puts me in his lap.
“You little baby,” he groans with eyes closed and he rocks me back and forth while I sob and bury my face in his throat. “You’ll be the death of me, Amabella sweetheart.” I flood with relief when his lips find mine and he kisses me with the passion I yearned for. “Tell me what I want to hear. Tell me you love me and I’ll never leave you.”
“Oh Nate!” I whimper between sobs. “I love you, of course I love you.” Our mouths hungrily latch on and Nate’s whole body seems to be buzzing. He’s holding me so close, I can barely breathe and I don’t need to. Breathing is for people who don’t have the love we have but our love is all the nourishment we crave.
“That’s all I needed to know,” Nate moans with relief, sliding his tongue in and out of my mouth with expert precision. “Still, I’d like for you to prove it to me.”
“Come into my room tonight,” I gasp, “and I will show you.” Yanking at him, I plead, “Oh please Nate, let me show you.”
“All the chains in the world couldn’t keep me away. I could never say no to you, my love.”
“I can’t say not to you either,” I whine and something flashes in his eyes as if he likes the sound of that. Gasping, I squirm in his lap, waiting for that look to go away but it doesn’t. It’s still in his eyes and he watches me with yearning when I rise. “Later...,” I whisper and he nods.
Walking toward the door, I notice in the corner of my eye that his textbooks still are stacked in the bookshelf and I frown. What are they doing there if he was planning on leaving? Unless, he wasn’t...unless it was just a trick onhispart. Inhaling, I turn to look at him and he’s so incredibly seductive that I decide it doesn’t matter.
The only thing that matters is the love we have for each other.
****
It’s past midnight when he slides into my room and I rise from my bed, putting my hand on my chest to stop it from racing so fiercely. His eyes find me, roaming down my body and I’m wearing a shorter robe than usual. It’s the kind of garment that demands attention. The hem whisks around my thighs as I run, tackling him as always but I’m so flimsy compared to him that he barely budges.
“You look good enough to eat,” he rasps, grabbing me around the waist and he whirls me around in the room. “I could just swallow you in one big bite.” Gasping, he puts me down and his eyes play when his hand goes to the belt around my robe. “Let me see all of you, my lovely one.”
Eyes shining like he’s about to wrap open a present, he tugs and the robe drops and there I am. Standing before him in a black pair of shorts and a little top. I simply couldn’t be bare underneath.
“What’s this?” Nate slithers, sounding like he’s just swallowed poison. “I thought you’d be naked, thought you wanted to show me how much you love me.”
“I do love you,” I whisper, “and I’m going to prove it to you!” Snaking my arms around his shoulders, I yank his face down, press his lips against mine and slide my tongue inside. He groans at the taste, his hands going to my lower back and I deepen the kiss. I kiss him with all my devotion, all my heart and I know he can feel it because he almost sways from my intensity. When I pull back, his are hooded.
“Bold...,” he whispers and he sounds delirious, “you are bold, my Amabella.”
Giving him a sultry smile, I moan, “It’s what I wanted to show you. Now you understand how much I feel for you.”
He tenses. “That’s what you wanted to show me?” His brows draw over his eyes. “That’s it?”
I flood with feelings of immaturity and humiliation. “Wasn’t it good enough? I gave you everything I c...could,” I stutter and I really did pour myself into him. “Didn’t you feel my passion?”
“You call that passion,” he grits between his teeth before rolling his eyes, “fuck, you still have so much to learn it almost gives me a sense of integrity.”
What’s that supposed to mean?
“Nate, you’re nothing but integrity,” I say and he gives me a smile that lends a shiver down my spine. I reach for my robe again, putting it on and his eyes darken. The mood in the room seems to shift, making me weak in the knees and I turn on the light by my bedside table. A golden shimmer flares but just as quick as there’s light, Nate turns off the switch.
And now there’s just the candles in the window. And tonight they dance like they’re frenzied.
Rubbing the back of my neck in hesitation, I pant when Nate locks my bedroom door and I stare at him. He’s never done that before and I breathe, “Why’d you do that?”
“To ensure our privacy,” he whispers and I lick my lips. “It’s for your own comfort.”