The Owner of His Heart

CHAPTER NINETEEN





FOUR times proved to be too much for Layla, and sleep began to overtake her, even as Nathan pulled out of her. But he gently shook her awake before she could drift off and whispered, “Let’s go” in her ear.

She pulled her clothes back on, feeling awkward and raw inside and out. She could barely look Nathan in the eye after what has just transpired between them and when she rose from the bed, her thighs and vagina protested, sore from not one but four sessions of the most intense sex she’d ever had.

She peeked sideways at Nathan in the car, but his face revealed nothing.

“I’ll send Kate for your car,” he said. Then he didn’t speak again until they were back at his loft and she’d come out of the bathroom after taking a shower.

“You’re in pain,” he said, noting her ginger steps as she walked over to the bed.

She winced. “Yeah, we might have overdone it.”

“I’ll take a shower, too, then we need to talk,” he said.

She was already curled up under the silky sheets, her head nuzzled into his glorious pillows. “Okay, I’ll be right here when you get out,” she said with a yawn.

After the terrible weekend of sneaking around and keeping things from Nathan, and the big confrontation in the Sinclair guest cottage, she must have truly been spent because she fell asleep at once, not waking up until several hours later.

This time when she opened her eyes, though, she was greeted with the surprise of a gray wall blocking her view of the rest of the loft. Nathan had shown her the retractable walls cleverly embedded into slots strategically situated in various spots around the place, so he could create rooms on the fly around the office space or the bedroom. But so far they’d never had occasion to use them. For someone who claimed to value his privacy, Nathan had yet to really insist on it.

But when she woke up, the wall had been pulled and she could hear Nathan talking to what sounded like two men on the other side of it. She climbed out of bed. Her nether regions still felt a little raw but her curiosity won out over any physical pain she was experiencing at the moment.

She slipped a sundress over her head and tied her hair back in a low puff before venturing out into the common area where Nathan sat in the living room with two silver-haired men dressed in suits. When they saw her, they both stood.

“Ms. Matthews,” one of them said. “It’s my pleasure to meet you. I’m Bernard Wright and this is my partner, Graham Hastings. We’re Mr. Sinclair’s lawyers.”

“Hi,” Layla said. “It’s nice to meet you both.” But she gave Nathan, who remained seated on the couch, a quizzical look. What were his lawyers doing at his apartment on a Monday night?

“We’re done here,” Nathan said to them. “You can go.”

The two men nodded. “If you have any questions about the paperwork, just give us a call at the office,” Graham said.

“Would you like to stay for dinner?” Layla asked. “It’s the least we could do. You came all the way over here.”

Nathan regarded her with amusement in his eyes. “They can’t stay, Layla. They were just about to leave.”

“Yes,” Bernard said. “It’s best we go, but congratulations Ms. Matthews. Again, call us if you have any questions about the paperwork.”

He indicated what looked like four copies of a rather thick contract sitting on the coffee table. Then, despite their invitation to come to them with questions, they headed out the door before Layla could ask them any.

“What was that all about?” she asked Nathan once they were gone.

“How are you feeling?” he asked. “Still sore?”

“Just a little bit,” she said. “But why did your lawyers just congratulate me?”

“Sit down, Layla.” He moved to the side, so she could take a seat beside him.

Layla sat but she stared at the contracts as she did so until it occurred to her: “Oh my gosh, are you letting me out of the other contract? Is that what this is all about?”

“Yes,” he said. “This contract makes the other one null and void.”

She gasped and threw her arms around his neck, kissing him all over his hard-edged face. “Thank you! I’m so happy you’re doing this.”

“Wait, Layla.” He stopped her kisses, cupping her shoulders to keep her in place. “This contract makes the other one null and void on the condition that you marry me.”

She leaned back from him. “What?”

“It’s a very generous pre-nup. If you sign it, not only will the other contract be null and void as long as you’re my wife, but in the event we end up divorcing, you’ll be very well taken care of.”

“Oh, wow, you’re seriously pitching this to me.” Layla moved away from him, realizing the full extent of his plan. “You think if you let me stay without some legal claim, I’ll leave you for Andrew.”

He didn’t answer, but the tic in his jaw was all the answer she needed. “And does the contract also have a clause that if we get divorced, then I still have to leave town?”

“I wouldn’t care to share a city with my ex-wife, especially if she—” he broke off, but Layla didn’t need him to finish to understand. If she left him for Andrew, then yes, she’d once again be forced to leave Pittsburgh.

She shook her head, “You really don’t trust me.”

“It’s not about trust, it’s about continuing this relationship under terms I can deal with.”

She stood up. “No, it’s about trust. I love you and you don’t trust me at all. Why would you want to be with someone you don’t trust?”

“I don’t want to be you,” he yelled, also standing up. “Don’t you get it? No, I don’t trust you after what you did, and because of that, I don’t want to be with you. But I’m obsessed with you. If I could figure out a way to not be, believe me I would have employed it six ways to Sunday already. Sign the pre-nup, Layla.”

And just like that, they were back in front of her apartment building, with him demanding she consign their relationship to a legal document. “No,” she said.

He pointed at her, his face turning vicious. “Don’t say no. You know how ruthless I can be. And you know I will get my way with this.”

“Not this time,” she said, pointing right back at him. “I understand what’s going on now, and I’m not going to let you do this to us.”

“This is the only way there can be an us.”


“No, it isn’t. Not if you decide to just trust me. I love you, now you have to trust me if you want us to be together.”

He shook his head. “If you really love me like you claim to—”

“I don’t claim,” she said. “I do. I love you so much. My heart belongs to you, not your brother, not any other man. To you.”

His face by this point had turned red with anger. “Then sign the pre-nup and marry me, goddammit.”

“No,” she yelled back. “Not like this.”

They stood there at an impasse, both breathing hard. She was angry at him for making this so difficult, but she could sense he was angry at her for the exact same reason. At her job Layla was known for her easy ways, for her ability to be flexible and work with just about anyone from the crankiest patients to the despondent ones who didn’t believe they’d ever get better. But Nathan had a way of finding all of her no-go zones. She couldn’t give in to him on this, but she knew he also wouldn’t cave.

Finally she said, “I’m sorry I hurt you ten years ago, but you can’t keep punishing me. You either have to trust me or let me go.”

He kept his eyes on the unsigned contracts, obviously too furious to speak.

Tears pooled in Layla’s eyes for the second time that day. “Then I guess we’ve got our answer.”

She began to walk back to the bedroom, prepared to get her things and wait out the rest of the contract period in her apartment. She suddenly couldn’t bear this, being in love with someone who couldn’t forgive her. “I’m going back to my apartment.”

But before she’d even taken two steps, he wrapped his arms around her from behind. “No,” he said. “We still have eleven days. You promised, and I’m assuming I can still trust you to keep your promises.”

She closed her eyes. “Nathan, you said it yourself. You don’t want me here. Don’t you think it would be better if we had a clean break? If I leave now, then we don’t have to keep torturing each other like this.”

He turned her around in his arms, rubbing the evidence of his desire against her, which immediately caused her to swell with need, even though she was still sore from that morning. “I’d rather you keep torturing me,” he said, running his lips along her neckline. “If you’re going to run out on me, then you’re going to have to break your promise, because I’m not letting you go before the move date.”

He ground his erection into the front of her. “You drive me crazy with this, Layla. How can I still want you this much after two months?” He made it sound more like a curse than a question, and his kisses became more urgent.

He untied the sundress’s straps and pulled the front down to reveal her dark brown breasts. His mouth covered one large aureole, laving it with his tongue.

But then he stopped, drew up straight, and headed toward the kitchen.

“What’s going on?” she asked, a small anger rising in her chest. She crossed her arms over her breasts. Why would he start something he didn’t plan to finish?

“Take of your clothes and lay down on the couch,” he said, now in the kitchen. “I’ll be right back.”

Layla peeled the rest of the way out of her dress and did as he said, beyond confused. He soon returned with a glass full of ice cut into half moons, which he set on a nearby coffee table. Still, she felt vulnerable and exposed lying there naked on the couch.

But her embarrassment faded, when he turned to her, his eyes filled with smoky lust as he took her in. She could feel how much he appreciated the sight of her, even before he ran his large hands down her body until he reached the hair-covered mound between her legs.

“You’re so warm,” he said, palming it gently. He ran his thumb over the bud of her *, and she responded with a sharp intake of breath. “And already wet, even though you’re still sore from this morning. Bad Layla.”

She bit her lip, arching into his hand. She didn’t care if her response made her bad…just that he continue sending delicious thrills through her like this.

He took her hand and placed it over his erection, which was straining against his pants. “Feel how hard it makes me to see you like this. Now we’re both in trouble, because I need to be inside of you, and you’re still sore from this morning.”

“It’s okay,” she said, lifting her hips in the hope of getting one of the fingers he was rubbing against her * and outer walls inside of her. “Please, Nathan. I need you.”

“You need me to what? I like hearing dirty words come out of your pretty mouth.”

She squirmed against his hand. “I need you to f*ck me. Please.”

He continued to rub her outside walls and thumb her *, but maddeningly refused to slip anything inside of her. She couldn’t take it anymore. She reached for him, determined to throw him to the ground and climb on top of him herself. But he forcefully pushed her back down on the couch.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Nathan, it’s fine, just f*ck me, please.”

Usually begging was enough to get him moving, but this time he ignored her. He even withdrew his hand from her and used it to fish a piece of ice out of the glass, which he popped into his mouth.

Now he was taking a break to suck on a piece of ice? She began to sit up, but before she could, his hands were on her shoulders again, pressing her back into the couch. He dipped down below her waistline, and the next thing she knew, something cold entered her sex and started lapping at it. After a moment, she realized it was Nathan’s tongue. With the piece of ice in his mouth, he ran the ice between her throbbing folds, heating her and numbing her sore vagina at the same time, before sucking her * in between his cold lips. She gasped with pleasure. She’d never felt anything like this before, and the deep cold kiss sent shivers of electricity through her entire body.

“Oh, yes, Nathan. That feels so good.” She grasped his hair and opened even wider for him. “Please don’t stop.”

But he did stop, lifting up to inform her with a smirk, “The ice has melted. You’re too hot down there. Maybe if I do this…”

He fished out another piece of ice, but instead of putting it in his mouth this time, he used his left hand to spread her labia’s lips, and slipped the ice past her walls, into her blazing hot passageway.

Layla’s heart nearly stopped, the sensation was so shocking. Then he started entering her as well, pushing the ice further and further into her, until both he and it were completely embedded inside of her.

It felt like her p-ssy was steaming. And her brain short-circuited with pleasure, unable to handle the opposite sensations of hot and cold. “Nathan! Nathan! Nathan!” she screamed.

He grunted and gritted his teeth, holding himself still above her. “You’re so tight. I’m trying to go easy on you, but you’re making it hard for me to stay in control here.”

“No, Nathan, please move. I need you to move.” She rocked her hips up against his, so there’d be no mistaking how much she wanted this.

Finally he started moving inside of her, and it wasn’t long before she found herself on the edge of a climax that built up inside of her like a freight train. The orgasm hit her so hard she screamed, biting into Nathan’s shoulder as he yelled and came himself.


He collapsed on top of her, and Layla’s heart suddenly flooded with relief. Thank heavens he’d made her stay. Eleven days meant maybe they still had time. Maybe he’d come to see how much she loved him and let her out of the contract, so she could stay with him. Maybe he’d even love her back, despite what had happened between them in the past.

But then he said, “Layla, I need you to sign that contract.”

And they were right back where they started.

“No,” she whispered. “I can’t.”

“You can.”

“Let’s not talk about it anymore,” she said. “Let’s just enjoy the time we have left, okay?”

He grew quiet, but she could already tell he was plotting another tactic to get what he wanted. She just hoped she would be strong enough to withstand it.