Chapter Six
The sun streaming in through the bedroom window woke Nathan up and he squinted as his eyes adjusted to the bright light. Slowly stretching his arms above his head, he moved himself up into a sitting position and realised that Haley was nowhere to be seen. Damn! Please don’t let her have left already, he silently prayed.
Getting out of the bed, he bent down to pick up his boxers and slipped them on. As he looked down at the floor he noticed her clothes still scattered around haphazardly, laying exactly where they had fallen when they had torn each other’s clothes off last night. While he was reassured by the fact that she was still in his apartment, he couldn’t help but be concerned that she could possibly regret what had happened between them.
“Hey, you’re awake,” Haley said smiling at him as she walked into his bedroom holding two mugs of steaming coffee.
“Um...yeah. We forgot to close the drapes last night so the sunshine kinda woke me up.
So, how long have you been up?” he asked as his eyes took in the fact that she was wearing his shirt and he couldn’t get over how good she looked in his clothes.
Handing Nathan his mug, she replied, “About ten minutes or so I guess. I was really comfortable where I was but I always need coffee first thing in the morning plus I also wanted to give Peyton a call to let her know where I was. It’s just I didn’t tell her I wouldn’t be coming home when I spoke to her last night and I didn’t want her to worry.”
Placing his mug on the bedside table and then taking hers and doing the same, he pulled her to him and kissed her slowly. Her arms automatically twined around his neck and her fingers idly played with his hair at the nape. Pulling away slightly he leaned his forehead against hers and took the opportunity of rubbing their noses together.
“Good morning.”
“Mmm, good morning to you too, baby. If you can guarantee all your morning kisses are like that, then you’re a definite keeper.” She giggled.
“Oh I am, am I?” he teased before picking her up and tossing her onto the bed before he practically jumped on top of her and started tickling her.
“NO! Don’t! Nathan, please! I’m really ticklish,” she begged while squirming away from his torturous fingers.
Nathan complied with her request but grabbed a hold of both her wrists in one hand and pinned them above her head. His other hand began to unbutton the shirt she was wearing and he lowered his head and began to kiss all across her throat, neck and shoulders.
Haley tried to free her hands from his grip but it was no good so she decided to just lay back and enjoy the sensation of Nathan’s lips on her already heated skin and the feel of his other hand kneading one of her breasts. “That feels really good... N-Nathan?”
“Uh huh?” he mumbled against her skin.
“Kiss me,” she demanded.
“You’re a bossy little thing, aren’t you?” Releasing her hands, he kissed his way up from where he had been resting against the top of one of her breasts and once he reached her lips, he kissed her long and hard. When she parted her lips, he gently pushed his tongue into her mouth, stroking it against hers and enjoying her familiar taste.
Placing her palms either side of his face, she moved him away from her slightly and she started sucking on the skin of his neck determined to mark him as hers. Pulling away to look at his neck and being satisfied with the mark she had left, she licked it which made Nathan shiver.
“Where do you want yours?” he asked her, giving her his trademark sexy smirk.
“Ooh, you mean I get a choice?” Haley teased.
“While I would love to show everyone you’re taken, I don’t particularly want your cousin to come after me for marking you.”
“Good thinking. Jake can be a little bit...well, overprotective at times. We’re the same age yet he treats me like I’m his little sister or something. I dread to think what he’ll be like when he eventually has kids.”
He grinned at her. “So c’mon, where do you want your hickey, sweetie?”
“Where do you think I should have it?”
He lowered his head and licked her lips before giving her a passionate kiss that made her toes curl in anticipation. “I think I’d better show you.”
“I totally agree,” she replied raking her nails across his scalp as he proceeded to move lower.
Reaching her lower stomach, Nathan began leaving sucking kisses there which made her giggle. “Nope, that doesn’t work for me.” He moved lower still and took the opportunity of flicking her clit with his tongue which made her jump in pleasure. He couldn’t help smiling at her response and he shifted over slightly so he was facing the inside of her left thigh. He trailed his fingers up and down and glanced up at her and saw that she was watching him through half-closed eyes. “I think here’s a good place, don’t you?”
“Uh huh,” she mumbled and her eyes automatically closed as she felt his lips first kiss and then suck the smooth skin of her thigh into his mouth. She felt his teeth graze the area too and it just added to the delicious sensations she was experiencing at his hands.
Haley could feel her heart racing in her chest as he worked her into a frenzy and almost delirious with lust, she couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out in a choked voice. “Oh god…bite it.”
Her demand was immediately met and she cried out in pleasure when he complied, although he had made sure the bite wasn’t hard enough to puncture her skin.
Nathan ran his tongue over the bite soothing it and then sucked it again so it would leave a definite mark, effectively branding her. While he was working her over, he still couldn’t get over the fact that he finally had the object of all his fantasies in his bed, somewhere he had been hoping to have her since the first day they’d met.
“Nathan, come back up here. I’m feeling a little cold and exposed what with you having undone my shirt.”
“Your shirt, huh? I think you mean my shirt which by the way looks incredible on you. I really think you should start wearing my stuff to the office.” he said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively as he moved back up so that he was covering her with his body, raising himself up on his arms so as not to crush her.
“Yeah, I can just imagine how much work we’ll get done if that happened. We still need to talk about what’s going to happen with us working together and dating.” Realising what she had just said, she tried to backtrack. “Oh! I mean...um...if we decide to date...um...’cos maybe dating isn’t actually what you want to do... Dammit! I mean...”
Nathan swooped down and cut off Haley’s rambling with a powerful kiss, once again exploring the contours of her mouth and reveling in the feel of her lips moving against his and kissing him back.
After a few minutes had passed, he broke the kiss and smiled at her. “You were starting to babble again, sweetie. Listen, we can deal with the work thing later but I don’t see it as being a problem. And just to let you know, I definitely want us to date. I meant what I said about this not being a one night stand for me either.”
“Really?” Haley asked him shyly.
“Yeah, really. I don’t know what it is about you, Haley, but I really enjoy being with you. I really like my work, well most of the time anyway, but you’ve made me look forward to going in every day. Knowing I was going to see you each morning just...well, it kinda set me up for the day. I know it sounds really corny but it’s true.”
Leaning up a little, she closed the gap between them and sucked on his lower lip before nibbling on it. “It doesn’t sound corny at all, Nathan. It’s actually really sweet and I feel the same. I also used to look forward to coming into work just so I’d get to see you. You wouldn’t believe some of the naughty dreams I have had about you and when I’d walk in and see you in the office I’d blush like anything.”
“You’re going to have to share those, you know, Ms James. I’ll share mine if you do.”
“You’ve got a deal, Mr Scott. I’d love to hear some of yours,” she said before giving him another kiss, this time slipping her tongue into his mouth to playfully tangle with his. “So what do you feel like doing today?” She couldn’t help smiling as he gasped for air after she had broken the kiss.
“Uh… If I remember correctly, I think I was going to help you look for an apartment. We could do that if you still want to.”
“Oh, I still want to. If we’re going to be dating, then I definitely want my own place. Otherwise, you and I will be competing with Peyton and Jake for using the apartment. As I may have already mentioned, they have a fetish for doing it everywhere in the apartment except their bedroom.”
He laughed. “Yeah, I remember you telling me.” A thought suddenly occurred to him but he wasn’t sure whether he should bring it up or not.
“Nathan, what’s wrong? You look pretty serious there all of a sudden,” Haley told him as she observed the look on his face.
“Nothing’s wrong. A thought just crossed my mind that’s all but it’s not important.”
“What was it? Come on, you know you can tell me.”
“Well...um...I just thought that instead of searching for an apartment you could...uh...you could move in and share mine. But then I realised that it’s probably way too soon for that to happen, right?” Nathan couldn’t look at Haley’s face as he waited for her reaction. He knew she was bound to be shocked by what he’d just said and he had a feeling she would definitely consider it too soon for them to even contemplate living together. The funny thing was, he could almost imagine it happening and not feeling weird.
He really didn’t know what was happening to him. Out of all the women he’d dated over the years, he had never wanted to share his home with any of them yet here he was after just one night with Haley, wanting her to move in with him. He should be freaking out but he wasn’t.
Not being able to take the silence any longer when she still hadn’t said anything several minutes later, he said, “I...I’m just going to go and get some more coffee seeing as we didn’t drink yours and it’s probably cold now.” Getting up from the bed, he picked up the two mugs of untouched coffee from the bedside table. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw her nod before he quickly left his bedroom.
Walking into the kitchen he emptied the tepid, dark liquid down the sink and proceeded to make fresh coffee. While he was waiting for it to percolate, he leaned against the counter and rested his head in his hands, thoughts and questions going round and round in his head. I’m such an idiot. Why did I have to tell her what I was thinking? I should have lied and said something else, anything else. Damn! I think I’ve just ruined it all.