Nathan knocked on the bathroom door, asking in a puzzled tone, “What are you doing in there?”

“What do you think?” But Alyx was just hedging. Whatever guess he came up with, it was unlikely to be correct, and that was that---

SHE WAS FREAKING OUT!

But in a good way, of course.

Her gaze flew to the mirror. This is the look of an engaged woman. But even as she repeated the words to herself, the truth just had a hard time sinking in. So many things had happened ever since they had gotten back together, and although a year had already passed, there were times – like now – Alyx just wanted to be alone with herself and try to wrap her head around things.

She had moved in with Nathan, and living with him had been outrageously fantastic in the sex department. He was insatiable, and since she was, too, there was not a room, a table, a chair, or any surface in his penthouse that they hadn’t made love in – on – at.

And that was just in a month.

On the other hand, he also made the most unbelievably annoying housemate. He was so damn teeth-grindingly perfect, and Alyx hated it. He never got mad, no matter how bitchy or petty she was. Like that one time in the kitchen, Nathan had teased her about her burnt pie and because she had been so stressed over work, Alyx had just flipped and threw the pie smack at his face.

Right away, she had known it was the wrong thing to do of course, and she had steeled herself for Nathan’s anger or, worse, his disappointment.

But instead he had gotten even in the most cringingly sweet way possible. “I know, sweetheart,” he had murmured softly after getting rid of the burnt pie and returning it to the tray. And to her utter confusion, he had pulled her into his arms. “It’s stress, isn’t it?”

She had nodded stiffly against his chest, and he continued in the same soothing voice, “You didn’t really mean to do that, did you?”

Slowly, Alyx had shaken her head.

“So now…” He had tipped her chin up. “You want to make it up to me, don’t you?”

She…did? Alyx had remembered being even more bemused, but the way Nathan’s gray eyes were gleaming down at her was making Alyx feel lightheaded, and she had heard herself say, “Yes.”

“Good girl,” he had crooned. And then he had hoisted her up on the counter, torn her panties away, and moments later he was sliding inside of her, and she had gasped at having herself suddenly filled with his rigid hotness.

“Now,” he had panted. “Make it up to me.”

“H-how?” she had panted back, his thrusts so wondrously forceful she would have slid off the granite counter if she hadn’t clung to him.

“What you’ve always wanted to do,” he had purred into her ear.

Aaaaah.

With his breath caressing her sensitive lobe, and with him using that devastatingly sexy-soft accented voice of his, Alyx had known she would be willing to do whatever he wanted---

“You’re going to talk really dirty, sweetheart.”

Huh?

“And it will be all about me…” He had emphasized the last word with a rather deep thrust of his cock, making Alyx throw her head back with a whimper.

And after, she had done what he wanted, what he knew she would want as well.

Your cock’s so fucking big!

Fuck me harder!

Fill me with your cum!

Oh, the things she had said then. There was even something that had to do with making her his cum tank---

Remembering made Alyx turn red with an involuntary squeak of embarrassment.

Had she really said such things, for real?

Hearing her squeak, Nathan said abruptly from outside the bathroom, “I’m coming in.”

Alyx turned towards the door, startled at his words. “Huh? It’s locked---”

The door opened.

Or not.

“These locks are fairly easy to pick, sweetheart,” Nathan said mildly.

Her mouth opened and closed. So his already massive repertoire of skills and talents also included picking locks? Was the damn man really perfect?

“What have you been doing?” Nathan was asking as he took her hand and led her out.

“What do you think?” Alyx retorted.

He dealt her a thoughtful look.

Oh no. She yanked her hand out of his hold and hurried away from him, not wanting to give the ex-model too much time to look at her. She knew people would think she was being silly, but after living with Nathan Callis for almost a year, Alyx was mostly convinced that the man could read minds.

Especially when he gave a person that look.

Nathan caught up with her in moments, and she shot him a dour look. It was so unfair that he was so tall and moved so swiftly, too.

“What’s the hurry, my beautiful love?” he asked with an innocent smile.

And of course he had to ask that just as they were boarding the private shuttle bus that would take them and their friends to Jigokudani Yaen-Koen, a park made famous by its natural hot springs and the snow monkeys that had taken to bathing in them during winter.

Everyone in the shuttle bus heard it, too, causing the men to smirk and the women do their polite best to hide their laughter.

Alyx glowered. “It’s not funny.” She tried to brazen it out, saying, “I am beautiful, and I’m his---”

“Love,” Nathan supplied courteously. “But you’re also my heart, my soul---”

Aaaargh!

She took the last remaining seat on the shuttle and did her best to cover her ears as everyone laughed. Yes, she had asked for words from Nathan, but wasn’t this a little too much?

Nathan slid into the seat next to her, a grin on his handsome face.

“I hate you.”

“I know,” he acknowledged. “You’ll always hate people who tend to be better than you.” He gave her a consoling pat on the hand. “You’re terribly competitive, sweetheart, but it’s okay. I love that about you, too.”

Aaaaargh.

There really was no winning over him.

It was a rather long ride to the park, followed by a thirty-minute trek in freezing temperatures before they could make it to the hot springs.

“Why are we doing this again?” she heard Daria groan as they huffed and puffed in the snow.

“It’s part of the engagement party, sweetheart,” her husband replied.

“Oh.” Daria grunted. “Remind me not to ever attend any of her other parties again, okay?”

Alyx’s shoulders shook at the conversation, but when she glanced at Nathan to share her amusement, she was surprised to find a rather grim look on his gorgeous face.

She automatically reached for his hand. “Nathan?”

His expression cleared, and he smiled down at her.

“Is something wrong?” she persisted.

He shook his head. “Nothing can be wrong.” He pocketed her hand in his, saying, “I love you.”

Ah. How easy it was for this man to say the words now.

“I feel the same,” she mumbled.

He laughed.

Alyx’s cheeks burned. “Maybe when we’re married, I’ll get better.”

The ex-model tightened his hold of her fingers inside his pocket, saying cheerfully, “I doubt it.”

Her shoulders slumped. “Yeah.” She kinda doubted it, too.

“I don’t mind. It’s also what I love about you.”

She sent him an exasperated look. “Seriously? It’s like you love every bad thing about me.”

“I do, indeed,” he agreed without hesitation. “I’m perfect, you see, so all your imperfect traits are unusual and fascinating to me.”

Aaaargh!

Yanking her hand out of his, she bent down, scooped snow into a ball, and threw it at him, just because she had to hit him or she’d go crazy. But Nathan being perfect, he only laughed and retaliated by brushing his lips over hers.

Oh. Her toes curled inside her snow boots.

I love you, his kiss said.

She curled her arms around his neck. I love you, too. But when she tried to pull away, he held on to her more tightly.

Alyx protested against his lips, “Nath---”

His tongue slipped in.

The kiss became torrid in an instant, and all thoughts about the travel review she had to write about the snow monkeys for the Nagano Tourism Board completely faded.

She vaguely heard Reid Chalkias say with a sigh, “Let the lovebirds freeze their asses if they want. Let’s just get going.”

“Hell, yes,” she heard Nick Christakos agree, with his twin echoing his sentiments. The Christakos twins were children of the sun, making winter their least favorite season.

As the sounds of their footsteps faded, Nathan lifted his head. “It took them long enough to get the hint.”

Before Alyx could reply, he whirled her around, making her face the path leading up to the hot springs. She could still make out the figures of their friends, who had gone on trudging forward.

“Do you have the foil blanket with you?”

“In my knapsack,” she answered, confused. A company had sent it for her to review, and she had planned to test the blanket during their winter vacation.

“Good.” She heard the ex-model rummage for the blanket inside the knapsack. A moment later, he had whipped it out and placed it around them, making Alyx twist her head around as she asked him, “What are you doing?” She was even more bewildered now.

“Curing my jealousy.”

She gaped.

“Now face forward my love…”

Alyx obediently turned forward, occupied at trying to dissect his words. Jealous? Nathan was jealous over what?

“Could you hold the edges and keep it around us?” She did as asked and heard Nathan shift behind her. Was he that cold?

He then pushed her towards the railings erected for trail safety, still walking behind her.

“There’s nothing much to see here,” she warned. “The snow monkeys are way up there.”

“I know.” Nathan made her bend slightly over the railing.

Figuring that he had spotted something interesting, she obediently looked down while keeping the foil blanket secure around them.

Behind her, she heard Nathan shift again, and Alyx frowned. Seriously, he was acting so weird---

And then she felt it.

Alyx jerked. “Nathan.”

But he kept pulling her thermal pants down.

“NATHAN!”

And then he was thrusting his cock into her, slowly and deeply, and Alyx shuddered and swallowed back a moan.

So this was what the foil blanket was for.

Nathan bit her ear from behind, and she shuddered anew. “I told you. I’m jealous.”

“O-over what?” Her voice was a breathless stammer, and Alyx couldn’t stop herself from bending over the railing just a little more, allowing his cock to push deeper into her.

Oh God.

“I just realized that Nik Alexandropoulos also calls his wife ‘sweetheart.’”

“O-oh?” She had no idea what that meant, and frankly, she didn’t really care. The way he was pounding into her oh so beautifully was taking over her mind fast.

“Could it be you like me calling you sweetheart at the start because you were imagining I was Alexandropoulos when I said it?”

And his movements stilled.

The haze in her mind slowly cleared.

And when she finally understood what he was saying, she gasped, “No!” She looked at him over her shoulder, searching his face for signs of amusement, but Nathan’s beautiful features remained stoic.

“Oh, my love.”

The ex-model blinked, startled.

The words had come out of nowhere, but the moment they were spoken, Alyx knew it was true, and a rare, shy smile fleeted over Alyx’s lips. “That’s the weird thing, you know? Even when a part of me was in love with him, you were just you – and you were so…unbelievably right for me, I didn’t have to imagine you were him or anyone else. Because you were better, even from the start.”

Nathan’s chest tightened.

“Because you were meant for me.”

Ah.

His arms tightened around her under the blanket. “I love you, Alyx.”

And he started pounding into her.

“I love you. Always. Forever.”

He had no problem saying the words for both of them, knowing that she felt the same, and her answer was in the way she moved her hips back, the way her eyes clouded and dilated---

“Alyx Marshall?”

Alyx and Nathan stilled.

A moment later, a wide-eyed woman approached them. She looked American enough, with her blonde hair and blue eyes, but her English also had a very strong Japanese accent.

“I’m Emma,” the woman said excitedly. “I’ve been following your blog from the start, and I’m just so amazed to see you here. You are my idol!” And then she blushed. “Oh, but where are my manners?” She bowed deeply.

And Nathan and Alyx were left with no choice but to return the gesture, bowing just as deeply, which then allowed Nathan’s cock to thrust deeper into her once more.

Alyx jerked.

Nathan’s jaw hardened.

“May I please ask for your autograph?” the woman asked as they straightened.

“Umm…” The smart thing would be to say no, but Emma’s shining eyes were too hard to resist, and so she said helplessly, “Okay.” She held on to the edges of the foil blanket tightly with her right hand while she reached for the pen.

But as she started to scribble her signature, Nathan used that exact moment to withdraw his cock a few inches before shoving it back in.

The pen in her fingers shook, and she bit her lip hard to keep herself from crying out.

Damn the Greek jerk!

“Are you okay?” Emma asked in concern.

She quickly finished signing, saying weakly, “Yup.”

Emma took the pen from her, and she went back to gripping the foil blanket with both hands.

Now please go away, Alyx silently pleaded, before I start coming.

But Emma seemed to be in the mood to chat with her. “I’ve lived in Tokyo all my life, but it’s my dream to one day visit New York, where my parents used to live.”

“O-oh?” She could barely make herself coherent as she felt Nathan guide her to face the railing again and gently make her bend over it.

Emma did the same, clasping her hands over the railing as she looked over it. “Are you here to review the park?”

“Y-yes.” Nathan was pounding into her again, and it was all she could do not to moan.

“That’s great,” Emma enthused. “I’m always excited to read your blog, it makes me feel like I’m there, wherever you are, you know?”

“That’s really, really great.” The last word came as a gasp.

Emma gave her an odd glance.

“Sorry, I’m just feeling a bit…under the weather.” Alyx managed to fake a cough.

Emma’s face fell. “I’m sorry to hear that. I hope you feel better soon. And yeah, I better get going, too. I’m supposed to meet someone…” She flashed them a smile. “Thanks again for being so nice. It was such a pleasure meeting you.”

Emma bowed.

Nathan and Alyx bowed.

“Thank you again!” Emma said as she straightened.

“Thank you, too!” But Alyx made the mistake of bowing again, forgetting the fact that Emma would then be courtesy-bound to return the gesture.

Emma bowed, Alyx bowed, and so it went on, each moment driving Alyx crazy because all the while Nathan hadn’t even let up, taking advantage of each bow by thrusting into her.

“Oh my God!”

Nathan coughed to cover his amusement as the words accidentally slipped out of his fiancée’s mouth in a moan.

A panicked expression crossed Emma’s face. “Are you okay?”

Alyx couldn’t answer.

She was doing her best not to come---

But then Nathan used that moment to pinch her clit as he thrust into her one last time under the blanket---

Alyx came with a scream.

Emma’s jaw dropped.

“It’s! An! American! Greeting!” Alyx had enough presence of mind to explain in gasps just as she screamed again, with Nathan stroking her clit faster, goading her to come harder.

Emma’s face cleared in understanding, and so when Alyx screamed once more, Emma screamed, too.

People started running towards them, and Nathan’s broad shoulders shook even as he held on to Alyx, his thrusts relentless to prolong her release.

Alyx’s eyes drifted close.

Oh my God, this damn Greek jerk.