Tangled Web (21 page)

I felt him press a kiss to the top of my head and smiled
into his chest.
 
“I’m so in love with
you, Nathan,” I whispered.
 
For the first
time I wasn’t cringing waiting for a rejection.
 
For the first time I was safe in the knowledge that it was okay to say
that because the rejection I worried would never come.
 
Only acceptance and love.

“I love you too, angel.”

I frowned at the emotion in his voice.
 
He sounded like I did when I was trying not
to cry.
 
That couldn’t be right.
 
Why would Nathan be so emotional that he’d be
close to crying?
 
Just as I went to lift
my head to ask if everything was okay he floored me with his next words.
 
He leaned down so that his lips were near my
ear and whispered two words that would change everything.
 
Forever.

“Marry me.”

My head shot up to stare at him.
 
There is no way he just said what I think he
said.
 
He pulled back sliding his hands
up my arms so he could look at me.
 
I was
expecting him to look at me confused by my reaction.
 
But he wasn’t.
 
He didn’t look shocked.
 
Or surprised.
 
He looked… calm.
 
Like this was
the exact reaction he was expecting.

“Wh…what?” I stammered.
 
He pressed his lips together with a look of intense patience on his
face.
 
He placed his hands over my
shoulders and pulled back a step from me.
 
When he dropped to his knee I gasped, placing my hand over my mouth to
stop from making a noise.
 
I wanted to
shout at him.
 
And scream.
 
And yell.

I had never given any indication that marriage was ever
something I wanted.
 
To be honest it was
something I never expected to happen.
 
I
didn’t know where this had come from.
 
Before I could stop him he quickly took my left hand in his.

“Chloe,” he whispered, looking up at me.
 
I wanted to cry at the depth of emotion I saw
swimming there.
 
“I have been in love with
you from the moment I held you.
 
The
second they put your fragile little body into my arms when we were
children.”
 
My fingers tightened around
his.
 
“I didn’t even know that I loved
you.
 
When you came back to town I wanted
you.
 
Not because of our families or
anything else.
 
I simply wanted you for
myself.”
 
I wanted to cry at the pure
honesty on his face.
 
“These last few
weeks I have been so happy.
 
Being with
you… waking up next to you… the thought of you moving out…”
 
He shook his head.
 
“You fit so well into my life.
 
Into my arms.
 
In my heart,” he choked.
 
His eyes
were glistening with unshed tears now.

“Nathan.” I gasped, tears leaking from my eyes.
 
I tried so hard not to cry but his words… I
wanted what he was offering even when I shouldn’t.
 
Even when I knew it wasn’t right for us.
 
But I still wanted it.
 
He must have read my mind.

“Chloe, I love you.
 
I
have loved you for so long that it is the most natural thing.
 
I want to spend the rest of my life loving
and protecting you.
 
You are my best
friend and I adore you completely.
 
Say
you’ll marry me.”
 
He slowly pulled a
small ring box out of his trousers pocket and it shocked me all over
again.
 
He had put so much thought into
this that he had actually gotten a ring.
 
When he opened the box I sobbed.
 

I didn’t care what the ring looked like.
 
It could have been a jelly sweet ring for all
I cared.
 
The sight of Nathan on his
knees offering himself to me was making me so emotional that there was only one
thing I could say.

“Yes,” I whispered, through my tears.
 
His face dropped when I gave my answer.

“Say it again,” he urged, beaming.
 
He was so adorable I could kiss him.

“Yes, I’ll marry you.” I giggled while sobbing.

Nathan shot to his feet pressing his lips to mine
desperately.
 
His tongue quickly sought
entry with no resistance.
 

I would never resist him for as long as we lived.
 
I pulled back out of breath, giggling.
 
I grinned at the massive smile on his
face.
 
He looked so happy.
 
He quickly pulled the ring out of the box and
put the empty box back in his pocket.
 
I
held my shaking hand out.
 
I watched
Nathan when he put the ring on my finger.
 
As he looked at me a tear leaked down his cheek and I quickly wiped it
away with my thumb.

He leaned forward, pressing his forehead against mine
breathing a sigh of relief.
 
He took my
hand in his and brought it to his lips kissing my ring.
 
It was a beautiful ring with three stunning
diamond stones set in a gorgeous gold band.

“How long I will love you,” he whispered, pressing my hand
against his chest.
 
I frowned in
confusion.
 
“Today,” he whispered,
kissing my knuckles.
 
“Tomorrow,” he
continued, turning my hand over and pressed a kiss to the palm of my hand.
 
“Always,” he whispered, pressing a kiss
gently to my lips.
 
Those words unleashed
something within me.
 
After everything he
did for me tonight, I wanted to show how much I wanted him, how much I loved
him and how much I was looking forward to being his in every way.

As I pressed against him our mouths briefly
disconnected.
 
That wasn’t right.
 
I needed him far too much for that to
happen.
 
I quickly reattached my lips to
his, nibbling his lips as I did.

“I want you.” I gasped, my hands grabbing hold of the front
of his belt buckle.
 
He cocked an eyebrow
when I did this, his tongue licking out over his bottom lip.
 
No doubt soothing where my teeth had bitten.

“Do you remember our first meeting in my office?” he asked,
gliding the tips of his fingers up my arms.
 

I frowned, casting my mind back to that day.
 
I remembered being embarrassed and just
wanting to escape after he introduced my back to his office wall.
 

He chuckled at the blush creeping across my cheeks.
 
He leaned forward, placing his lips against
my cheek.
 
“Do you remember where I said
I wanted to fuck you?” he asked, taking my earlobe in between his teeth and
nibbling gently.

I gasped in response.
 
Yes.
 
I definitely remembered that
conversation.
 
We sat at his conference
table when Nathan started listing all of the places he wanted to fuck me.

“This conference
table.
 
My desk.
 
Up against the wall.
 
In my chair.
 
In the elevator.
 
In the car.
 
In my garden.
 
On the London Eye.”

Oh, shit.
 
I gasped
when he realised what he planned to do.
 
He spun me around and sat down on one of the faux leather seats with me
sat on top of him.
 
The Eye was still
turning with all of London lit up beneath us.

Nathan pulled my head to his and thrust his tongue into my
mouth, pulling his jacket off at the same time.

My hands immediately went to his belt buckle and began
undoing it.
 
It was quite difficult in
our position and the lack of light.
 
I
finally got his trousers undone and he lifted his hips – with me on top – and
pulled them and his underwear down a little.
 
Just enough for him to free himself.

He grasped himself with one hand and gently stroked.
 
My eyes widened when a spot of pre-cum leaked
from the head.

“Nathan.” I tilted my hips and unconsciously rubbed myself
against him.

“Fuck, baby.” He gasped.
 
“I can feel how wet you are.”
 

I looked down and realised I had left a wet spot on his
trousers from my very soaked thong.
 

“Now baby,” he whispered, grabbing me by my hips and lifting
me over him.
 
He roughly pulled my thong
to the side and pushed two fingers into me.
 

I tossed my head back moaning.
 

“I can’t wait for much longer.”
 
His eyes were already half-closed with
desire.
 
He quickly ripped a condom
wrapper open and sheathed himself over the tight wrapping.
 
“Come down on me baby,” he said, pushing me
down by the hips.

I wrapped my arms around him and began to push myself down
over his hardness.
 
Nathan was always so
gentle and calm in this position but I had never seen Nathan wound so
tight.
 
His hands travelled up my back
and grasped the tops of my shoulders from behind, sharply impaling me down all
the way.

“Fuck!” I yelled, digging my nails into his scalp.
 
He gasped when I did this.
 
I slowly rocked my hips over him and he sat
up, so we were facing each other chest to chest.
 
He palmed my ass cheeks and pulled me into
him harder.

“I can’t wait to marry you,” he whispered, watching me move
on him.
 

I pressed my lips to his, moaning out loud.

“To make you Mrs. Chloe Walker.”
 

Fuck, if he kept it up I wasn’t going to last long.
 

“On our wedding night,” he said, wrapping his arms around
me, “I can’t wait to come inside you.”
 

Fuck, yes.
 

“My bride,” he whispered, sucking my collar bones.
 

I could feel it coming.
 
I was going to come so hard.
 

“My wife,” he whispered, nibbling my earlobe.
 
“My Chloe.”
 

Fuck, that did it.

“Nathan,” I screamed as I came around him.
 
He roughly pulled me down hard while pushing
my head into his neck.
 
My teeth clamped
down on his neck which caused his orgasm to sky-rocket.
 
As he released into the condom my body sagged
into his, kissing the spot I just tortured with my teeth.

“Let me take you home.”

Home.
 
I liked the
sound of that.
 
He held my hands as I
stood up and quickly followed, tucking himself in.
 

He kneeled in front of me and slowly lifted my dress,
fingering the lace on my thigh-highs.
 
“I
fucking love these,” he whispered, biting his lip.

“What are you doing?” I giggled, with my dress up around my
waist.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” he smirked.
 
He pulled a handkerchief from his trousers
pocket and folded it.
 
“I’m just cleaning
you up, angel.”
 
His hand slipped in between
my legs and I could feel him gently wipe the evidence of our sex from my inner
thigh.
 
I smiled gazing down at him.
 
“What are you smiling about?” he asked.

“You,” I said, stroking his hair.
 
“Taking care of me.”
 

He settled my dress back into place and stood up, slipping
the hankie in his back pocket. “I plan to do it for a long time, angel.” He
pressed his lips softly to mine.

Chapter Fifteen

I was woken the following morning to wet, slobbery kisses on my
nose.
 
I squinted against the daylight pouring
in through the windows and rolled over onto my back.
 
Nathan chuckled from the side and I opened
one eye to look at him.

“That is why I never allowed her in this bed before you
started spoiling her.”

“She’s too cute not to spoil.” I looked down at Jessie’s
head on my stomach.
 
Her eyes were
already closing.
 
Nathan gently grasped
my left hand and brought it to his lips, paying special attention to his ring
on my finger.
 
I grinned in response.

“Any regrets yet?” he asked, looking down at me.
 

I tilted my head so I could look at him fully.
 
I expected a teasing smirk but he looked so
serious.
 
Like he was genuinely expecting
it.

“Never,” I whispered, pressing his hand over my heart.
 
He leaned down and pressed his lips to
mine.
 
I pulled away, frowning.
 
“When are we going to tell people?”
 

He frowned when I said this, thinking. “I’d like us to do it
together…” he whispered.
 
“Present a
united front?”
 

I nodded in response. “That makes sense,” I concurred.
 
“That way we won’t have to tell people a dozen
different times.”
 
His thumb stroked
across my cheek.
 
“How about,” I said,
placing my hand over his arm, “we tell everyone Friday night at the charity
gala.”
 

He pulled his head back to look at me, thinking. “I think
that’s a good idea,” he smiled, nodding.
 
I wrapped my arms around him and tried pulling him down to me.
 
“Don’t do this to me.” He chuckled into my
neck.
 

I grinned at the whining tone in his voice.
 
I pressed my lips to his neck, peeking my
tongue out to taste the saltiness of his skin.
 
He sighed into my neck before pulling back and getting out of the
bed.
 
I looked at him in shock at how
fast he moved.

“Come back to bed.” I opened my arms for him.
 

He laughed turning around and walking to the closet. “I have
a meeting, angel. If I come back over there I’m going to be hard for the rest
of the day.”
 

I laughed in response, pulling the blanket away and getting
out of bed.
 
Jessie was flat out on my
side of the bed.
 
I stripped out of
Nathan’s t-shirt and boxers and jumped in the shower.
 
Hopefully I could get a lift to the office and
meet Louise for our shopping day.
 
As I
opened the shower door Nathan stood there holding the fluffiest towel ever.

A girl could get used to this life.
 
As he wrapped the towel around me he briefly
pressed his lips to mine and directed me to the bed where my coffee was
waiting.
 

“Come on Jess,” he called on his way out of the room.
 
Jessie went bouncing out the door after her
master barking which was followed by Nathan’s laughter.
 
“Be ready to leave in thirty, angel.”

I quickly dried my hair and threw on my jeans and red and
black ribbon top.
 
It was an off the
shoulder top with a thick black ribbon stitched into the neckline that tied
into a bow on the shoulder.
 
After
straightening my hair, I pulled it up into a bun on the top of my head and
grabbed my purse.
 
I had enough cash
saved for a dress but things might get desperate if I didn’t get a job.
 
That reminded me.
 
I needed to talk to Nathan about sharing the
bills while I was here.
 
I didn’t want to
live free and I didn’t honestly know what the plan was.
 
I was supposed to be apartment hunting but
after last night…
 
I really wasn’t sure
what to do.

I was lost in my thoughts as I came down the stairs.
 
I didn’t even hear Nathan come up behind me.

“Everything okay?”

“I wanted to talk to you,” I said looking at him.
 
He nodded for me to continue.
 
“What happens now?”
 
A look of confusion crossed Nathan’s face.
 
“Do I still look for an apartment?” I asked,
looking down at our feet.

“No, baby,” he said, tilting my chin up.
 
“What happens now is we celebrate our
engagement, you unpack those boxes upstairs, and then we can get married and
make you Mrs. Nathan Walker.”
 
His eyes
darkened when he said this.
 
To the
casual observer it might have sounded like Nathan was demanding these things
from me but I knew…
 
I knew that he
wanted me with him.
 
“What will Jessie do
if you move out and leave her?” he teased, winking.

I giggled, wrapping my arms around him and pressing my lips
to his.
 
When we parted Nathan was grinning.

“Okay but I’d feel better if I could contribute towards some
of the bills?” He rolled his eyes as I said this.
 
“Nathan, I pay my way.
 
That’s how I am,” I said firmly.

“I don’t have a problem with that,” he whispered, pressing
his lips to my neck.

As we went down to the ground floor Nathan chuckled beside
me.
 

I looked up at him smiling.
 
“What are you laughing at?”

“You.” He smiled.
 
“You look happy.”
 

I cocked my head to the side thinking. “I am.” I leaned my
head against his arm.
 
“So happy.”
 
His arms squeezed me to him, rocking me from
side to side.

A short while later we waited outside the office for
Louise.
 
She rang to say she was going to
be late.
 
“Why are women always late?”
Nathan complained.
 
I rolled my eyes.
 
That had to be the tenth time he said that in
the last twenty minutes.
 
He was holding
my hand and kept fiddling with my ring finger.

“Nathan,” I whispered, looking down at our hands.

“I know,” he sighed sadly.
 
He brought my hand up to his and began to slowly slip the ring off my
finger.
 
“I hate that you want to take it
off,” he whispered, slipping the ring into his pocket.

“Hey,” I said, grabbing his face in between my hands.
 
“I don’t
want
to take it off.”
 

He looked into my eyes when I said this.
 
“I thought we agreed to tell everyone
together...”
 
He nodded after a moment of
silence, resigned.
 

“I’m still yours…” I whispered.
 
“Even without that ring.”

He placed his hand on the back of my neck, roughly pulling
my lips to his, gently nibbling my lips.

“You know how to fire me up, don’t you, angel.” He
chuckled.
 
“This is for you,” he said,
going into his pocket.
 
I went from
blissful to pissed in 0.5 seconds.

“I have my own money!” I snapped, stepping back from him.

“Keep your knickers on,” he said, rolling his eyes.
 
“You can buy your dress if it means that much
to you. I just wanted to help…”
 

I’d offended him but I didn’t like taking handouts.
 
Raised as the daughter of a rich man I had
this urgency to prove to people that I wasn’t born a spoiled princess.
 
Plus, also, I knew people were going to think
I was after Nathan’s money.
 
Even his own
family would when they found out I was going to become a permanent member of
their family soon enough.
 

“Take the card and buy something sexy as hell to put on
under that dress,” he whispered in my ear.
 
I grinned when he said this.
 
“I
can’t wait to unwrap you tomorrow night.”
 

I giggled pushing him away and putting the card in my jeans
pocket.

“Fine.” I grinned.
 
“If it’s for you.”
 

He chuckled looking down at me when his eye flickered over
my shoulder. “Hi Louise,” he smiled warmly.
 

I turned around and greeted her with a warm hug. “Hey,
thanks for joining me today,” I gushed.

“No problem.” She smiled.
 
“A girl can’t go shopping alone.”
 

I beamed looking back at Nathan.
 

He leaned down and kissed me on the cheek. “Put Louise’s
dress on my card,” he whispered.

“I love you.” I pressed my lips to him.
 

He grinned, walking backwards to the building. “You two have
fun,” he called.
 

I linked my arm with Louise.

“Let’s shop.” Louise giggled.

We must have spent the entire morning looking for the right
dress.
 
It had to be right.
 
Tomorrow night I had to enter that Gala not
as Chloe Johnson the naïve little sister of Chase.
 
I would be walking in as Chloe Johnson, soon
to be Walker.
 
My whole life I had never
been able to understand the rich and how it gives them the right to talk down
and belittle those they deem lower than themselves.

Sophie was one of those people.
 
She felt like she had the right to Nathan and
that he was hers.
 
Tomorrow she – along
with the rest of London – would get the shock of their lives.
 
I’d had a taste of Nathan and it just made me
hungry for more.
 
I wasn’t leaving him.
 
Not for her or anyone else.
 
Especially not when Chase tells me to.

I was in the middle of slipping on the 100
^th
dress today when Louise let out a gasp behind me.
 

“You have to get this one,” she said, zipping my dress
up.
 

I giggled when she said this. “Is this ‘the one’?” I
mocked.
 
I’d decided on a red silk
strapless dress that came to just below my knee.
 
It was gorgeous and I loved it.

“It is,” she squealed, coming round to stand in front of me.

“Wow, Louise,” I gasped.
 
She was in a formal black dress with lace trim and she looked absolutely
gorgeous in it.
 
“You look gorgeous.”

“I know.” She beamed.
 
“I’m going to be paying for it for the next six months,” she chuckled.

“I kind of forgot to tell you,” I said, embarrassed.
 
She frowned at me.
 
“Nathan wants to buy the dress for you.”
 
Her head was shaking straight away and she
looked completely mortified.
 
“You work
hard for him Louise and I think it’s his way to say thanks.”

“For what?” she asked confused.

“You’re the only friend I have here,” I said, blushing.
 
“It really means a lot to me.
 
To both of us.”
 
She beamed at me.

“Well, if Nathan wants to pay for mine you have to let him
pay for yours,” she teased.
 
I shook my
head but she quickly continued.
 
“Are you
kidding me?
 
Nathan’s been looking
forward to spoiling you and you’re not going to let him?”
 

I rolled my eyes. “Fine,” I relented.
 
“If you’re going to use the sympathy vote.…”
I said, winking.
 
She laughed.
 
After paying for our dresses we decided to go
for lunch.
 

“Thanks for today, Lou.” I smiled over our burger and
fries.
 
According to Louise this was
energy refill food.
 
I didn’t need to be
told twice.

“So…” Louise started, “…I’m sorry about what happened with
Chase.”
 
She couldn’t look at me when she
said this.
 
Was she serious?

“Sorry about what?” I asked.
 
“He threw me out.”

“I don’t think he wanted to…” she said.
 
I sniggered at this.

“I didn’t force him to throw me out.”
 
She went to open her mouth but I quickly
continued.
 
“He threw me out of my home
and then my father threw me out of the office.”
 
I cocked an eyebrow at her and she looked shocked.

“I’m sorry, Chloe,” she whispered.
 

I shook my head. “That’s okay.
 
I’ll get another job and…
 
I’m happy anyway.” I grinned.
 

She beamed in response. “I can tell, honey.”
 

After we finished our lunch I made her promise that we’d get
together again.
 
I wanted to tell her mine
and Nathan’s news but decided to save it for the following evening.
 
As soon as I got home I hid my purchases,
particularly the lingerie bought especially for Nathan.

I decided to cook a meal for Nathan.
 
He had a day of shareholder meetings and I
wanted to take the edge off.
 
At 6:30 the
phone rang and I quickly picked it up.
 
“Hello?”