Once I’ve come down, he kisses his way up my stomach until he looks down at me with a small smile pulling on the corner of his mouth. “That was fun.”
“It was,” I agree. “But it’s not over yet, is it?”
“Greedy.” He laughs and touches his mouth to mine. “But I don’t bring condoms to work, so we might have to wait until later to finish this party.”
As good as Nate is with his mouth, he’s the anomaly who’s just as wonderful without it. And while I love a good appetizer as much as the next person, I want the main course. I could wait until later. I wouldn’t like it, but I don’t think it would kill me. I just really, really don’t want to wait.
With anyone else, I wouldn’t even consider taking this step so soon after sleeping together, but add it to the list of reasons why this thing between Nate and me is so weird. We might have changed the status of our relationship a couple of weeks ago, but time feels irrelevant with him. Besides Ruby, he probably knows more about me than anyone. I trust him to keep me safe, physically and emotionally.
“After I realized Peter wasn’t shit and couldn’t be trusted, I went and got tested,” I blurt out. There’s really no tactful way to have this conversation . . . especially with my pants off in a stranger’s house. “I got a clean bill of health and I have an IUD. If you’re comfortable without a condom, so am I.”
“I’m comfortable,” he says, fire lighting his hazel eyes. “I’ve always used condoms and my last screening was all clear.”
Wow.
Look at us being all spontaneous and responsible at the same time. Safe, fantastic sex at its finest.
“Then what are you waiting for, Adams?” I wrap my legs around him and pull him close. “I don’t know much about open houses, but I’m guessing it’s safe to assume we don’t have all day.”
Nate is a perfectionist in everything he does, and this extends into the bedroom. He takes his time and he does it right. Very, very right.
So when he looks down at me with a glint in his eyes and says, “Hold on,” I’m not sure what to expect.
I tighten my grip on the poor counters that we’ve defiled as he positions my legs around his back.
Then I see stars.
He slams into me, rough and fast but with the same control and finesse he has when we’re in his bedroom with all the time in the world. I moan as I struggle to hold on to the quartz growing slippery beneath my palms.
“Oh. My. God,” I breathe out between powerful thrusts as embers in my belly start to spark.
“Yes, Colls. That’s it,” he groans, moving his hand between my legs, his thumb rolling over me without slowing down or missing a beat. “Give it to me.”
My coiled muscles spring to life and explode, the sheer force of it knocking my breath out of me. I scream out, but no sound comes out as time ceases to exist and the world turns white. Somewhere in the distance, I hear Nate’s moan as he buries himself deep inside me and finds his release. He falls on top of me, his damp forehead resting on my shoulder. I wrap my arms around him, trying my hardest to cling to this moment as we both float back down to earth.
I lie there, appreciating the feel of his weight on top of me as my breathing begins to slow. The world around me drifts back into view and everything seems a little brighter, more sparkly. The man I thought I couldn’t stand is actually the man who brought me back to life. It might not be fate, but even I have to admit how truly serendipitous this is.
“That was . . .” He pauses and searches to find the right word. “That was indescribable. You are indescribable.”
“You’re not so bad yourself.” I keep my thoughts on serendipity to myself. Even though I could lie beneath him for the rest of the day, I remember that time is of the essence. “I should probably get dressed though. I can only imagine what your Yelp review would look like if the owners walked in on us like this.”
His deep chuckle causes my thighs to clench all over again, and I have to push him off me before I demand round two.
I run to the bathroom, and when I come back, he’s finishing up cleaning the counters.
“So I’m thinking,” he says as he tucks the cleaning supplies underneath the sink. “How do you feel about going on a date this weekend?”
Butterflies wreak havoc in my stomach and a smile I don’t even attempt to fight causes my cheeks to hurt. A real date with Nate Adams?
“Yes, please.” I don’t even attempt to play it cool. I mean, we just had sex in a stranger’s kitchen. Playing it cool at this point doesn’t exist.
“Good.” He walks around the counter and pulls me into him for a kiss just in time for us to hear the front door open.
My eyes go wide. We got lucky in more ways than one.
“Okay, so . . . yeah.” I stumble over my words as a young couple and their toddler walk into the kitchen. “Bye!”
Well, one thing’s clear: Nate may know more about real estate than I do, but I didn’t overestimate the action.
Not even a little bit.
Chapter 25
Nathanial Thomas Adams!” I slap his shoulder when I finally realize where he’s taking me. “Are you freaking kidding me?”
The Ohio State Fair spreads out in front of us and childlike giddiness bubbles inside me like a shaken pop. I start bouncing in the passenger seat of his—very nice—Buick as I’m inundated with memories of summer days spent wandering these fairgrounds.
“You’re excited?” He looks at me out of the corner of his eyes as he navigates the crowded parking lot.
“Again I ask, are you freaking kidding me?” I look at him with my best duh expression before I start slapping his shoulder all over again. “Fried food, a petting zoo, rides that may or may not be up to code? What’s not to be excited about? I fucking love the fair!”
I went to Disneyland a few times when I lived in LA, but it’s just not comparable. Don’t get me wrong, Disneyland is wonderful. There’s a castle and the parade is dope, but it’s too shiny for me. Everything is overpriced and the lines are a hundred hours long. I like my rides with a little bit of dust and rust, like stepping onto the ride is daredevil enough.
A lot of my tastes turned LA while I lived there—yes, I will fight you for a good coffee and I paid an exorbitant amount for avocado toast—but my love for sketchy-ass fairs will never fade. I can’t wait to tell Ruby—she’s going to be so jealous.
“Good.” He lets out a sigh of relief. “I remembered the summer I went to visit my mom, we were supposed to go to Kings Island when I got back. This was as close as I could get for the time being.”
I was already excited, but my heart melts into a tiny little love puddle when I hear him say that.
“You can’t take me to the fair and be sweet,” I say. “It’s too much. I can only handle a certain level of awesomeness before my head explodes.”
Which is probably why I stayed with Peter for as long as I did. He never even came close to approaching that line.
“Okay.” He laughs. “I’ll try my hardest, but I can’t make any promises. I have been told that I’m pretty awesome before.”