Soul Bound (3 page)

"Did you enjoy the show?"

The sound of his wonderful voice broke through my trance and my
gaze darted down to watch his lips forming around the words.  When I
looked up again, he was staring at my mouth the way I had his.  I smiled
and his eyelids closed a little more as he sucked in a harsh breath.

"Eventually.  Once I knew you weren't dead inside that
horrible contraption."

Nathan took a step closer, backing me into a corner and I had to
tilt my head to look into his face.  His breath caressed my forehead, cool
against my heated flesh.  His lips were so temptingly close that all I had
to do to take the taste I'd craved for fifteen years was raise up on tip-toe
and press my mouth to his.  But I didn't move, couldn't in fact.  The
rejected teenager residing in a tiny corner of my brain just wasn't brave
enough to make the first move without being certain that the boy, who hadn't
wanted her, was now a man who truly did. 

That didn't stop my thoughts going exactly where they pleased
though.  I saw myself trailing my hands up his arms and over his
shoulders, until they met his glorious dark hair, and I buried my fingers in
the shiny strands and dragged his head down to meet mine.

Nathan laughed - a dark, rich sound that I could almost
feel.  "I can't kiss you, Jess.  Not here.  Once I start, I
won't want to stop."

His words doused my lust a little, but not much.  Just
enough to shake me out of my stupor. Either he was reading my mind or I was
being way too obvious.  I took a breath to clear my head and gently pushed
him away as I let go of his hand.  Nathan being near had almost wiped the
questions from my mind and I'd forgotten that the first and most important
thing I had to do was find out what in the hell was going on.  I looked
into his eyes and it hurt a little to see how nervous he suddenly was.

Nathan spoke before I had the chance.  "You know, don't
you?"

"About Seattle?  I wasn't sure until tonight, but yes,
I know."

His expression grew troubled and his handsome brow creased as if
he'd just thought of something disturbing.  "I'm sorry if I frightened
you but I couldn't just let you die."

"Hey, don't apologize.  Thank God you did whatever it
was you did."  I laughed at how tongue-tied I'd become and Nathan
smiled indulgently although the worry didn't leave his eyes.  "At the
moment, I don't really need to know why as much as I need to know how."

"Isn't the 'why' part enough?"

"It's a start I guess."

The warmth crept back into Nathan's expression and I basked in it
again, surprised how much I'd missed it.  "Wouldn't you protect
someone you cared about if you had the means do to so?"

"Of course I would.  It's my job to protect people,
even the ones I don't know.  But Nathan, I have to actually, physically be
present in order to do it.  Not only were you thousands of miles away, but
you somehow defied the laws of physics to stack the deck in my favor.  I'm
gonna need some help understanding that."

A sad smile transformed Nathan into the young man I'd once known
and I felt a moment of guilt at not simply being grateful that I was still
alive thanks to him. 

"Therein lays the problem.  I can't tell you why."

"Can't or won't?"

"Can't because it's against the rules I live by and won't
because knowing would force you to make choices that you may not be ready
for."

I wanted to throttle him.  His grave expression told me he
believed every word he'd just said, but the woman and the cop in me would never
be satisfied until I got an answer that at least made sense.  I moved on
to another subject for the time being, one just as important in its own way.

"Half my life ago, I had the biggest crush on you, one you
didn't seem to share, and I haven't seen you since.  It's a bit of a shock
to accidentally meet up with you after all these years and hear you talk about
caring for me."  I smiled and ran my hand down his cheek, enjoying
the tingle it caused across my palm when it met the soft stubble on his
jaw.  "If you care for me so much, where have you been all this
time?"

Nathan trapped my fingers against his lips and pressed a kiss
against them.  "There's so much you don't understand.  So much I
can't tell you."

I swayed towards him as his mouth worked its magic on my skin and
one more time, my need for answers diminished.  Nathan dropped my hand and
slid his arm around my torso, pulling me closer to him that I'd ever been
before.  My body leapt for joy and began to show us both how thrilled it
was by the latest turn in events, but my pesky brain raised another objection.

"Why am I in Vegas, Nathan?" I whispered, almost afraid
to ask it out loud because the answer mattered so much.  "Am I here
by my own free will?"

"I had no direct influence over your decision to come
here."

"Then why
am
I here?  I can't believe that some
cosmic coincidence brought us together one month after you saved my life."

His gaze locked with mine again but I got an eerie feeling that
he was seeing more than just what was in front of him.  "I didn't say
I don't believe in fate."

"Fate?  Jesus, Nathan.  You're making my head
hurt."

"Then stop trying to analyze everything and just accept
it."

The arm around my waist got a little tighter and his thigh slipped
into the gap between mine as he slotted our bodies closer together and slid his
free hand up under my hair.  The hard ridge of his erection pressed into
my abdomen and for the first time I had tangible proof that he truly wanted
me.  My imagination couldn't have conjured up anything so impressive.

His face closed in and I held my breath but still his lips did
not meet mine.  They grazed my cheek as he turned his head and whispered
in my ear.  "Spend the night with me?"

It took us half an hour to navigate our way out of the party and
up to his suite above the casino.  Nathan held my hand the whole time and,
somehow, my level of arousal never wavered or diminished.  The hot pulse
beating in my groin seemed to radiate upwards through my body, and I felt the
effects in the warm glow of my cheeks and the near painful straining of my
nipples against the lace of my bra.  Each step I took caused a ripple of
pleasure to flash across my skin and I know I gasped a few times when the
intensity of my reaction caught me by surprise. 

If anyone else but Nathan had spoken to me, I wouldn’t have known
it.  All of my senses were tuned into him and, as stupid as it may sound,
I think he knew.  Each time my body sent me an urgent reminder of how much
it wanted him; he seemed to answer the call in some way.  His fingers
would tighten a little around mine or his thumb would brush across my knuckles
- and then he would smile as if he knew his actions had just made my pussy
tingle and tighten a little more.

Finally, we made it to the door and out into the hallway. 
Once more, the presence of others stopped me doing what I was dying to. 
The bellhop gave me a nervous smile and I hoped with the last bit of rational
thought I had left that I hadn't given him a dirty look when he stepped out of
the elevator and thwarted my plans to take advantage of the privacy it would
have afforded.  The young man seemed nervous enough as it was when we
stood on opposite sides of the small space, trapping him between us. 

Nathan leaned his weight against the glass paneled sides, his
fingers curling firmly around the brass rail behind him and I knew from the
want glinting in his midnight blue eyes that he wished his hands were on
me.  The sound of his slightly rapid breathing mesmerized me and I watched
the rise and fall of his chest and thrilled at the evidence of just how much he
was holding back because we weren't alone.  My gaze wandered lower, to the
bulge straining the front of his jeans and I bit my lip as a wave of raw need
nearly brought me to my knees.  Nathan sucked in a breath but I didn't
dare look at him again for fear I would come without him even so much as
kissing me.

The elevator arrived at the Penthouse Suite just as I asked Nathan
how many damned floors the hotel actually had.  "This many," he
said with a smile and gestured for me to step out ahead of him. 
"It's open, go on in."  Nathan slipped the guy a twenty and
turned to follow me into the suite.

I backed into the dark room, aware of the cavernous space behind
me and a huge picture window spanning the whole length of the suite.  The
lights from the Strip cast colorful patterns across the ceiling, like an indoor
borealis, and I started when Nathan's fingers stroked the curve of my neck as I
tilted my head back to look up at them.

He kicked the door shut with a flick of his heel and curled his
hand around the back of my head, dragging me closer.  I let my bag slip
from my shoulder and placed my palms on Nathan's chest, unable to resist the
urge to touch him.  Suddenly nervous, I closed my eyes and let out a shaky
breath.  Fifteen years of mental foreplay were about to pay off, if only I
could remember how to move.

Nathan leaned down to whisper in my ear, his voice tinged with a
dark promise that sent another thrill racing through me. "I thought you
said you weren't a wuss?"

Chapter Two

"I don't know what to do," I confessed, deciding the
moment was too important for bravado or glib responses.

“Oh, yes, you do.” He took a step closer and placed his strong
hands on my shoulders, turning me so my back was against the wall. 
"You know what you want, Jess.  Can't you just reach out and take
it?"

I nodded, entranced by his eyes and a little stunned that I could
see them so clearly in the shadowy room.  Nathan smiled at my response, or
maybe it was my inaction that amused him, but for some reason I will be
eternally grateful for, he got tired of waiting for me to make a move. 

"Jesus, you're killing me," he whispered, and slotted
his body against mine.  His lips nudged at my mouth, gently at first, then
becoming more insistent.  I gasped when his teeth nipped at my lip and he
took the opportunity to slip his tongue inside.  One of us groaned, maybe
both, but all I knew is I couldn’t get close enough now that the barrier
keeping him from me for all those years had finally been kicked aside.

When he pulled away and rested his forehead against mine as his
breath blew over me in hard gusts, I realized my hands were tangled in his
hair. 

"Sorry," I said, grimacing as I let it slide out of my
fingers, hoping I hadn't pulled any of it out.

"You won't hurt me.  Not unless I want you
to."  I didn't know what he meant by that but I liked the sound of
it, as if he was giving me free reign to do whatever I wanted.  Not that I
knew what I wanted.  Everything, all at once, pretty much summed it up.

I settled on sliding the belt from his jeans, my hands fumbling
with the ornate and intricate buckle.  Nathan waited until I threw it to
the floor then took my arms and raised them above my head to pin them to the
wall, holding both of my wrists in one of his large palms, just tight enough
that I couldn't move.

He grinned then shrugged.  "I don't have your self
control.  I need to see you naked, Jess…now."

His lips found mine again as his finger hooked inside my blouse
and he grazed his knuckles across my collarbone.  He tugged on the elastic
holding it up and slid the cotton down over my chest, exposing my bra-covered
breasts.  When he pulled away to watch what his other hand was doing to
me, my gaze followed his and my knees almost gave way as I saw the fabric of my
strapless bra stretch over my nipples when he hooked a finger between my
cleavage and tugged on the garment.  Nathan groaned quietly when my
breasts broke free of their restraints and the bra joined the rest of the
clothing bunched around my waist.

"God, you're beautiful," he whispered.  His lips
touched mine for a fleeting second before he trailed his hot mouth across my
cheek, down my neck and over my chest.  His hand curled around my ribcage,
moving up as if to meet at my breast, and arriving just in time to hold it
steady so his warm mouth could close over my aching bud.

My head jerked backwards, banging against the wall, but I wasn't
capable of feeling any pain.  If not for Nathan's strong grip holding me
up, I would have fallen to my knees when he licked the warm place between my
breasts as he moved across to lavish the same, torturous attention on the other
one.  I turned my head and found my face pressed against his strong bicep
where his arm lay against the wall beside me.  I flicked my tongue over
his skin, desperate to touch anything I could reach.  My teeth nipped the
taut flesh and Nathan gasped but didn't move away.

"People who bite are liable to get bitten back," he
warned with a dark chuckle, his voice muffled against my chest.

I bit him again, harder this time, unbelievably turned on by the
thought of his teeth on me.  He stood up again to capture my mouth and I
groaned when I felt his knuckles grazing against my abdomen as he flicked the
button on my jeans.  I squirmed at the sound of my zipper giving way,
anticipation of what was to come making me hotter and wetter than I already
was.

His fingers drove me crazy, sliding across my skin and dipping in
and out of my panties without moving down to where I needed them.  I tore
my mouth from his.  "Nathan," I moaned, thrusting my hips
forward, not caring that he would know how desperately I wanted him to touch
me.  He didn't make me wait a second longer and pressed his palm against
my stomach to slide his hand down inside my jeans.

When his fingers found my clit, I didn't make a sound.  Not
because I didn't want to, I just couldn't.  Sparks exploded inside my head
and the breath stilled in my lungs.  Nathan's mouth latched on to my neck
and he sucked my skin between his teeth.  A hard spasm made my insides
clench and the need to have something inside me made me almost light headed.