From The Shadows (From The Shadows #1) (8 page)

Nathan began rising and as he did he pulled me up with him. When we were on our feet he began pulling me towards the car. As we walked, I almost stumbled a few times because I couldn’t get enough. I had my head turned up to the stars until we were at the car and Nathan had opened the door for me.

“In you go babe”

I must have been more drained than I first thought because on the way home I feel asleep, so when we got to Nathan’s he came around to my side and tried waking me up.

“Nikki baby, we’re home” He said while nuzzling my ear with his nose.

I yawned and tried fighting my heavy eyelids so they would open all the way.

“Am I going to have to carry you to bed?” he asked with a smile in his voice.

“No... I can walk...” I managed but before I could even think of getting myself removed from the truck, he put his arms around me lifted me from the seat and began walking towards the front door after kicking the car door closed.

Hmm.. this was nice so I just put my head to the side and let it rest on his shoulder as he walked.

All of the sudden Nathan stopped and under his breath he said “What the hell..?”

“What’s wrong?” I murmured sleepily.

“Nothing babe, I’ll tell you tomorrow” He said, taking a deep breath as he began heading towards the house again.

Chapter 10

The bed shook me slightly awake as Nathan joined me in his bed. I don’t know how long I had been asleep, but I was only wearing my panties now so Nathan must have undressed me without me noticing.

“Hey…”

“Oh sorry babe I didn’t mean to wake you”

“Sss okay, what time is it?”

“It’s around 1am so just go back to sleep” He said as he pulled me into his chest.

Hmm 1am. Why hadn’t he come back to bed until now? I was pretty sure I must have slept for hours by now. It couldn’t have been much more than 10:30pm when we came home could it? Well I was too tired to think more about it now, so I just decided to ask him about it in the morning and just relaxed into him.

When I had almost gone back to unconscious land I think I heard Nathan whisper “
Sleep tight Nik, I love you!”
but maybe it was just a figment of my dream.

When I woke up late next morning it was to a little too silent apartment, but I didn’t have to wonder long why that was because Nathan had left me a hand written note on his pillow:

Morning gorgeous <3

I am sorry you have to wake up to a note, but I didn’t want to wake you. I had an early meeting and will probably be home around 1pm.

Xx Nate

P.S. will you have dinner with me tonight?

Smiling I got out of bed to hunt down my phone so I could answer his question. Because of course I wanted to have dinner with him.

I got into to the living room and noticed that the curtain was moving, which was strange since I was pretty sure that particular window could not be opened. So I went to it and moved the curtain aside to find that the window had been smashed and in the window sill lay a pretty big rock.

Hmm this was very strange. My mind began spinning. I was pretty sure I remembered Nathan stopping up in front of the apartment yesterday night and swearing under his breath but then just blowing it off when I asked. Was this why? And who did this? Well the question about who it could be was not one I had to linger on for long because I couldn´t think of it being anyone else but Mike. Nathan had thrown him out of the restaurant yesterday afternoon and the mood he had been in could very fast have turned vengeful.

But there was no reason to keep pondering over the broken window any longer, because Nathan was in the middle of a meeting and wouldn´t get back for hours so I had no way of getting my questions answered, not yet anyway.

I returned to the search of my phone and found it in the charger. I had five messages waiting for me. One from my aunt asking how I was, one from Sasha telling me she was back to work again and three very dreaded messages from Mike, all of them pretty much saying the same thing. Mike demanded I came home, told me I was a low life bitch and that soon Nathan would see that too and that when he did he would stop protecting me. The three messages from Mike made a lump in my stomach, then the doubt returned and when the tears began running silently down my cheeks I was sure that whatever happiness I felt wouldn’t last.

I went to the guest room. I found my computer and began recharging it and then I started packing my stuff. I was not going back to Mike. Not now, not ever. But I knew I had to find a place of my own so that when Nathan realized that he was too good for me, I wouldn’t be kicked out because I would have my own refuge.

Maybe living by myself wouldn’t be that bad. It would be good for me to learn to stand on my own two feet. So I decided that the fact that I didn’t just run back to Mike out of fear for what he might do was still a step forward for me. Even if Nathan wouldn´t want to kick me out, I figured that trying to live on my own might be a good idea.

I had been sitting on the bed in the guest room for hours listening to music while looking for apartments close to my job and within my budged, when suddenly I looked up because I felt someone was looking at me.

Nathan was leaning on the door frame with a strange look on his face, so I pulled out my earplugs so I could have a talk with him about what was wrong. But I didn’t get to utter a word before he asked “Where are all your stuff and why are you hanging around in here?”

I looked down on my bended legs, not sure if I dared to look at him when I told him what I had been doing.

“I thought I would get it ready so I could leave as soon as I found an apartment”.

“YOU WHAT?!” He blurted out in a not so sensitive voice.

I looked up at him then, needing to know what was in his face, and as soon as I did he caught my eyes and walked towards me and I regretted ever looking up.

“Tell me WHY? Why are you leaving?”

The tears began streaming down my face and I had a hard time speaking. "Because.. I promised I’d.. be out of your hair in a few days”

“Nik, a lot has happened since you told me that, so tell me the real reason!” He demanded.

“Because you’re not going to want me, I’m not good enough for you...” And then even more tears began floating down my cheeks and my frame began shaking.

“BULLSHIT!” He exclaimed in an angry voice, but then it seemed like he thought better of it and he sat down next to me and pulled me into his arms, hugging me to him.

“Babe, I am never getting enough of you and I am never letting you go, I told you this!” He took a deep breath to steady himself, I think, and then he asked “Why do you even think that?”

I wanted to explain it to him, tell him about my constant fear of not being good enough, tell him I had never known better. I wanted to tell him about the texts from Mike, but all that came out was Mike’s name on a hiccup.

“FOR GODS SAKE” Nathan growled. “this is getting real old real fast!”

Trying to take deep breaths I finally got the tears to stop, and regained some of my normal breathing, before asking him if it had been Mike throwing the rock in through the window in the living room.

“I am damn sure it was, yes. I am so FUCKING tired of his behavior and his threats, I swear Nik, if he doesn’t let up soon I am going to the police”.

“You can’t” I stammered out.

“Oh you just watch me, no one treats my girl like this!” he exclaimed in a really final voice.

He then put his finger under my chin to pull my eyes up to his, and then he first kissed both my cheeks, then my forehead and my nose and then he put a soft kiss on my lips. “Nik, babe, I can’t stand seeing him causing you so much pain and self-doubt. I promised myself and you that I would protect you, and that is what I intent to do!”

He returned to hugging me to him and I made a content sigh as I tried to let go of the fright that had been eating at me for too long. I was not my parents, I was not with Mike and I could change my path, couldn’t I? I certainly hoped that I could, because I wanted things from life. I wanted to find my own path, and I wanted to make myself worthy of Nathan.

I don’t know how long we sat like this but when Nathan let go of me and stood up it was still too soon.

“Nate, where are you going?” I asked while pouting.

“I was hoping to go shower and then take my girl out for dinner, but she never answered if she would go out with me” he made a fake pout back towards me and that made me smile.

“Depends”

“Depends on what?”

“Is this a date or just you trying to feed me?” I said with a cheeky smile forming on my lips. 

His lips turned up in a big smile and then he said “This is definitely a date!”

He reached out for my hand to pull me up and then he dragged me to his bathroom where he managed to strip me of my jerseys, my tank top and my panties in no time where after he ordered me into the shower.

I stepped into his big shower and began turning the water on when two strong arms snaked themselves around my mid-section and Nathan pulled me back against his front. He then began kissing my shoulder and I let my head roll to the side, giving him better access.

“You feel so good babe” he mumbled over my neck, making me shiver because it tickled. His hands then softly began roaming over my body, giving me goose bumps and making me ache for him in places deep within.

“I couldn’t stand being without you for a minute after finding you like that; you nearly gave me a heart attack”.

I was unable to utter a word because I was already caught in the magic of what he did to me, so I just put my hands over his and leaned back on him.

I could feel him growing hard towards my lower back and that just made my need worse.

“Babe, show me what you want” He whispered in my ear, so I led his right hand down my body to the V between my thighs. He took the hint, running his fingertips over my clit in small circles, making me shiver and gasp from pleasure. With his other hand he began roaming my body a bit more possessively until he found my breast where he began playing with my nipple making my pleasure spike and my body shake.

I couldn’t believe how well he just knew all the spots that made me go over the roof. The kisses down my neck, the feather light touches down my sides, the small bites on my shoulder and the touching of my nipples in every way he could think of. The nipples were always a sure way to get me fired up.

I was getting close in no time and I wanted to feel him inside me, so I tried to turn around in his arms but he would not let me.

“Babe, just relax and let me take care of you”

“But.. I want you.. to..” I tried to speak in between the moans he drew from me.

“I know babe, but not now” He said in a soothing voice and I whimpered not understanding why I would have to wait. But when he brought me over the edge and kept his fingers busy on my little bundle of nerves, until I got oversensitive, I practically forgot what I had wanted and was left totally spent.

As I returned to planet earth Nathan laid his chin on my shoulder and hugged me to him before whispering into my ear. “Let´s hurry getting ready for dinner so I can have you back in my bed underneath me in a very near future”

Then he gave my neck a bite while softly growling into my ear, making me yet again crave his erotic touches and his cock buried deep within me.

I knew, however, that I would have no chance in convincing him to give into those cravings right now, so I just sighed and got out of the shower.

That knowledge didn’t stop me from wriggling my hips a bit more in front of him and brushing by him every time I had the chance just to drive him wild. And it wasn’t without effect either because more than once I heard a low growl coming from deep within his chest, and a few times he also smacked my butt when I got within his reach. It all just made me turn my head towards him with a wicked grin on my face so he in no way could doubt that I knew what I was doing to him. I enjoyed this little game of ours tremendously and the only downside to it was that I ended up making myself even hornier for him. If I was not careful this evening could feel really long.

We got to my favorite sushi restaurant and as I spotted the sign with their name a big smile rolled over my face and I was beaming. I loved sushi and Nathan knew this because he had been the one to introduce me to it a few years back. At first I had been against the idea about raw fish, and the thought of it being in my mouth had only conjured nausea, but eventually I had given in and never looked back.

“I take it you like my idea of dinner tonight?” Nathan said with an answering smile that told me he was very pleased with himself.

It made me giggle to see him this buoyant. “Do you even have to ask?” I asked him.

“No I guess I don’t” He said as he leaned in to give me a soft kiss on the lips before pulling away to take my hand and lead me to the restaurant.  

We were lead to our table which was set with candles in a secluded corner. Very romantic. It made me all warm inside and I felt my eyes getting big when I noticed a red, long stemmed rose lying over the table setting, right in front of the chair Nathan so gallantly had pulled out for me. I was speechless. I was touched. No one had ever gotten me flowers before. I felt my cheeks heating up from all the thoughtfulness he had put into this. This evening meant a lot to him and he was trying to make it mean as much to me too. And it did mean more to me than what I had words for. I even felt the corners of my eyes getting wet.