“So you were helping your Mum deal with all this?”
“Yeah, Jamison and I tried to help. We spent nights trying to track Erika down, nights trying to keep her away from the parties, nights at the fuckin’ hospital while they dealt with the shit she’d put in her body. Mum was wrecked; physically and mentally.” He stopped, and pierced me with his gaze. “The whole thing was fucked up.”
“You wouldn’t know it now; your family was amazing when I met them.”
He gave me a tight smile. “It’s been a long fuckin’ road to get there.”
My heart was hurting for what he’d been through; for what he’d missed out on in life. “And Gabriella?”
His words cracked my heart a little bit more. “I fell hard for her; hard and fast. I’d fucked around with a lot of chicks before her, but she was different. She made me want more. I chased the shit out of her. She was all I wanted, and I felt like the luckiest bastard alive when she said she would marry me. Problem was, she didn’t have a fuckin’ clue what loyalty was.”
“How long were you married for?”
This question seemed to rattle him, but he kept talking. “I was with her for five years, three of those we were married.”
He stopped talking and I sensed a change in him. It was like he’d put the wall back up and wasn’t going to talk anymore. Suddenly, he stood, and began pacing the room.
I stood and moved towards him. “Nash, what - ”
He cut me off, his voice rough again. “Velvet, I can’t do this with you if we don’t have total honesty. I’m not saying you haven’t been honest with me; I’m just telling you what I need. And I’m not trying to control you when I tell you I don’t want you flirting with the boys. What I am telling you though, is that I can’t be in a relationship with someone who does that.”
The vulnerability in his words touched me. Nash had a way of doing that in the most unexpected moments. He laid his heart out for me, and I had no intention of trampling it. I would happily give him what he needed, and although I regretted the fight we’d had to have to get to this point, I was also grateful for it because it had forced him to open up.
I nodded. “I hear you, Nash. And I understand what you’re saying.”
The look he pinned me with revealed his need. “Can you give that to me?” He expelled a ragged breath, and I watched as his shoulders slumped a little.
I was close enough now to touch him, and I placed my hand on his cheek. Softly. Lovingly. I whispered, “Yes, I can give you that, baby.”
His chest heaved once again, and he curled an arm around my waist. Pulling me into his arms, he pressed a long kiss to my forehead before tightening his hold on me. I lost track of how long we stayed like that. It was time we needed to reconnect after everything that had been said.
When we finally pulled apart, he murmured, “I’m sorry, baby.”
I looked up into his eyes. The anger was gone, but there was still something there. I wasn’t completely sure, but I sensed he had more to tell. He’d shut down towards the end there, but I wasn’t going to push him anymore tonight. I whispered, “Me too.”
He bent his lips to mine, and kissed me. It was a gentle kiss, but I felt his desire tangled in with the softness. I felt his need too; it matched mine. Our lips and tongues slowly explored each other; there was no rushing, no wild frenzy. There was urgency though. Our bodies pressed together, and we clung to each other while we drew the kiss out. I didn’t want it to end; Nash was whispering sweet nothings through this kiss. And for a man who didn’t do hearts and flowers, I knew it meant something.
When his lips left mine to trail kisses along my jaw and down my neck, I tilted my head to the side to accept everything he wanted to give me. His hands moved to the bottom of my t-shirt and he slowly removed it, his eyes firmly focused on my chest. He dropped my shirt on the floor and bent his mouth to my nipple. When his tongue circled it and he began sucking, I moaned, and moved my hand to the back of his head to hold him there. He lavished attention on both my breasts, causing my whole body to light up with desire.
When he’d finished, he looked up at me, and murmured, “I’m a lucky man, sweet thing.”
“We’re both lucky, Nash,” I said.
“Fuck, I need to get you under me, baby,” he growled.