25
Nathan
Nate shifted while he was still deep under the waves, wanting to feel the chill against his skin. His eyes stung from the salt but he forced them open, staring into the blurry darkness as his body drifted up toward the surface.
He bobbed above the water and sucked down a mouthful of air, wiping a hand over his face to clear his eyes. He was facing away from the shore, and an endless blanket of grey water licked at the grey sky stretching above. Sometimes he was tempted to start swimming and never stop. It would be so easy for him to stay a shark forever. After a while he’d lose the ability to turn back, and he assumed eventually his mind would mold into that of a shark’s too.
Not today, though.
Nate turned away from the beckoning abyss and started swimming for the shore, not noticing the form of a person on the beach. When he did, the person was still too small to recognize. He didn’t know whether it would be worse if it was an innocent beach dweller, who would then have to watch him emerge naked from the surf, or if it was Gabriel. He’d half-expected his old friend to come and break down his door the moment he stepped inside his old home, but so far things had been quiet. If Gabriel knew he was here, which was unlikely, he was letting Nate be for now.
Nate put his head down as he continued his breaststroke, popping back up when he was a couple dozen feet away from the shallows to see if he could recognize the person yet. His heart skipped when he saw her long brown hair blowing in the light breeze. He made himself think that it was Darcy. Sophia was lost to him forever, and the sooner he got used to that idea the sooner he’d stop having these childish moments of hope.
By the time his feet hit the sandy bottom, there was no mistaking that the woman he loved was sitting on the same log he’d left his clothes and towel on. Even the frigid water couldn’t temper the heat that flamed in his belly when he realized it was her. His heart slammed insistently on the back of his ribs, urging him to move for her as quickly as possible, afraid that she might disappear.
She was staring silently at him as he stepped onto the beach. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, just the way he liked it, displaying her pretty features perfectly. Those inquisitive brown eyes slid from his face down his torso and back again, and he couldn’t hold back his laugh.
Sophia rose from the beach and padded across the sand toward him, holding his towel in her outstretched hand.
“Thanks,” he said, accepting the offering. He wrapped it around his waist, watching her carefully. Had she come to get some sort of revenge for what he’d done?
“I talked to my sister this morning. We had a real interesting chat. In the end, I realized something pretty important,” she said.
He watched her, waiting for her to continue.
She smiled in a bemused fashion and flicked her gaze past him, as if remembering something.
“Everyone is the villain in somebody’s story,” she continued, looking back at him. “You just so happen to be the villain in my sister’s. Not terribly convenient, but such is life. You’re not, however, the villain in my story.”
“Then what am I?” His voice came out thick. The wind was bitingly cold against his wet body, but he barely felt it.
“You’re not the hero,” she continued with a slight smile. “I never needed saving. I didn’t think I needed anything until you came along. You’re more like the mentor figure, except instead of teaching me how to fight dragons you taught me how to surf, and instead of preparing me for my final battle, you broke my heart.”
There was hurt in her eyes, and he desperately wanted to reach for her.
“I wish I could say I never meant to hurt you,” he mused. “I can say I never meant to hurt you like that.”
Sophia laughed at his joke unexpectedly. “I know. And I also know that when you left, it broke your heart too.”
He looked down, feeling more vulnerable than he ever had. Sophia brought that out in him, which should have made him hate her. Instead, it made him love her even more.
The crunching of sand underfoot brought his gaze back to hers. She was closing the gap between them, lifting a hand to rest on his chest. Her touch seared into his freezing skin.
“So here’s what I realized: I don’t care why you came to Berkeley,” she said softly, peering up at him through long black lashes. “I should. I’m an idiot for not caring. Anybody will tell you that. But you’re an idiot for not killing me, and we’re both idiots for falling in love. I’d rather be an idiot in love with you than a genius missing you.”
He covered her hand with his. Then, slowly, like she might still run from him, he bent his head to kiss her.
Sophia pressed her body hard against his chest and pulled his face down to meet hers with urgency. It was so good to touch her again, to taste her. He had thought he never would. The kiss had a dreamlike quality to it, like at any second he would wake up and be completely alone again.
He rested his hands on her waist, drawing her closer, feeling the smooth curve of her hips under his fingers. He’d been thinking about the feel of her body since long before their first kiss, but since that moment in the water he’d become desperate to touch her again.
Sophia sighed against his mouth. Her lips parted, and his tongue found its way inside to stroke against hers. Nate’s grip on her hips tightened and he bent down in one smooth motion to pull her up into his arms.
She giggled, peppering kisses along his jaw and neck as he carried her up toward the house. The towel around his hips was too loose for that kind of movement and he felt it slipping away, inch by inch. It slid to the ground and he just kept walking, too close to the house to care that his hard cock was on display for anybody to see.
He’d spent the past few days dusting and airing out the old place, and now it felt just as lived in as it had all those years he lived there in peace. Now he didn’t just feel detached from the clan—he was detached from the clan. And he carried Sophia Davies in his arms.
In other words, all his dreams had come true.
Sophia looked around when they came through the back screen door, obviously thinking he was about to put her down.
“Not a chance,” he murmured into the delicate skin beneath her ear. “I’m taking you right up to my bed.”
He felt a shiver go through the slight girl and smiled. She was his now. She knew everything and she still wanted him. Each second that she was still wearing clothes was torture.
Nate climbed the stairs with ease, taking the first door on the right into a lightly decorated bedroom overlooking the beach. He deposited Sophia gently on the plain white bedspread of his king size bed, covering her with his body and claiming her mouth once more.
She fit neatly beneath him, angled in some places and curvy in others. Nathan’s hands began a sensual exploration of the woman he loved, creeping under her sweater and running his fingers along the soft skin of her belly.
Sophia moaned softly against his lips. His blood turned to magma. Kissing a fully-clothed Sophia while he was completely naked was a sweet torment. His turgid cock begged for entry, but Nate was determined to take his time.
He pulled off her sweater and the t-shirt underneath followed with it. Nate bent to kiss the skin of her shoulder, lips feathering over the smooth skin. “I missed you.”
She arched up, eyes screwed shut. “I missed you too.”
Nate traveled down to the tops of her breasts, straining against her bra with every panting breath. He pulled her off the mattress enough to unclasp it, then tossed the garment to the floor. The firm globes were round and succulent, with hard, pink nipples begging for his attention. He slid down her body and took one into his mouth, eliciting a gasp from Sophia. Meanwhile, he moved a hand to the front of her jeans, rubbing her heat. She treated him with an agonized moan.
Nate unzipped her pants as he moved his mouth to the other breast. He slipped his fingers below the waistband of her panties and was greeted by slick heat. This time he bit her nipple as he circled his fingers over the delicate bundle of nerves. Sophia looked down at him, desperation clouding her eyes.
“That feels amazing,” she sighed.
He nipped along the underside of her breast, removing his hand so he could glide further down. He trailed his lips over her ribs, her stomach, finally kissing just above the open button of her jeans.
Nate wanted so badly to thrust inside Sophia right now, to join their bodies and claim her properly. She was wet and ready for him, practically begging him with her eyes to take her. But he’d been waiting a long time, and one of the things he had to do before anything else was taste her. He wanted to give her mind blowing pleasure first, so she always knew how well he was going to take care of her. How he would never be fully sated unless she was too.
Nate tugged down the jeans, pulling the panties along with them. Finally, Sophia was naked. He nudged apart her long, lean legs, pulling her down to the edge of the bed. Her eyes widened with comprehension. He could’ve sworn her face flushed another shade of pink.
“You’re so sweet, Sophia,” he teased. “It’s one of the things I love about you.” He lowered his face to her inner thigh, kissing the velvety smooth flesh, then doing the same to the other. Then, as she shook with anticipation, Nate took his first lick of her folds. He moaned. “So sweet...”
Sophia let out a strangled cry of pleasure as Nate dove in, licking and sucking with such dogged determination that she was unable to do anything but lie there and let him take her on a pleasure ride.
Nate loved seeing her tits heave above him, her delicate body quaking as the pleasure mounted. She gripped the sheets in both hands, whimpering and moaning as he feasted on her heat.
She was good, so good. He savoured her taste, so erotic and so uniquely hers. Nate pulled her thighs over his shoulders to get a better angle, and slid a finger inside while he continued pleasuring her with his mouth.
The higher she rose, the more desperate he was to sink inside of her. She was so fucking sexy when she became mindless with pleasure. Her whole body responded like she was made specifically for him, and that thought turned him on so much he had to drop a hand to stroke his cock or else go crazy.
“Oh god, Nate,” she groaned, twisting the sheets. “So good...”
He moaned against her, the vibrations causing her to release a strangled wail. He thrust a second finger inside of her, gently but firmly tapping them on her g-spot as he continued pleasuring her clit with his mouth. She started to shake as her pleasure reached its peak. Nate was so turned on he thought he might die.
Then, with a primal cry, Sophia climaxed. He rode out her climax with her, only removing his lips and fingers once she’d settled back on the bed in a near catatonic looking state. Her eyes were closed, lips parted, and she faced the ceiling with a dreamy smile.
All in a good day’s work.
He kissed his way back up her body, gathering her limp form in his arms and dragging her further up the bed. He settled her head on the pillows, smiling down at her. She smiled back.
“I really love you, you know that?”
He chuckled, pecking her on the lips. “I really love you too.”
“Good.” She pulled his face down and kissed him hard, surprising him. “Now get inside of me before I die.”
White heat surged through Nate’s limbs. He didn’t need telling twice.