“If your chicken dish requires the oven, doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen,” he said, leaning an elbow against the back of the sofa, “at least not while the power’s off. But we can get the pilots on the burners lit with a match.”
Aiyanna wasn’t sure why she hadn’t noticed before, or maybe she had; she just hadn’t wanted to dwell too much on it. Nathan had the most perfect and breathtaking smile. His lips were perfectly plump and moist, and his teeth were perfectly imperfect. They were just white enough that they didn’t appear to be bleached, and while they were straight enough, they didn’t appear to have had cosmetic work done. They were as ruggedly real as everything else about him. The thought of his mouth on hers made her breathe in deeply.
His licking his lips distracted her, and she wanted to kick herself for nearly zoning out again. “You wanna share what you’re thinking?” he asked again with that damn wicked smirk of his.
“No,” she said too quickly as she sat up even closer to the edge of the sofa but turned to him. “I mean . . . I was just thinking about what else I could make for dinner tonight.
He stared at her for a moment, and she could see in his eyes he wasn’t buying it. Her heart sped up when the playful twinkle in his eyes went serious and his gaze dropped to her lips. “Is that really what you were thinking, Anna?”
“Yes,” she whispered with a nod as she swallowed hard.
One brow went up, and the corner of his lip lifted slowly as they stared at each other silently for what felt like the longest moment of her life. Finally, he spoke. “You made breakfast and lunch. Don’t worry about dinner. I got it.”
Nodding because the way he was still gazing at her and hearing him refer to her as Anna for some reason still had her a little dazed, she stood up. “I think I’ll go take that shower now.”
“Remember to dress for the occasion,” he said as she walked away without looking back.
Yeah, she remembered alright. Only after the moment they just had she didn’t think that was such a good idea anymore or maybe it was. Who knew? All she knew was her heart was already racing, and their New Year’s Eve celebrating hadn’t even started.
Chapter 7: Unreasonable Entitlement
Nathan
Temporary insanity was what Nathan was chalking this up to. No way could he be feeling for Aiyanna what he thought he might be. This whole being cooped up in this cabin with her was doing this to him. It had also been almost three weeks since he’d last gotten laid. He didn’t usually go that long, but having picked up the extra overtime to avoid spending the holidays around Isaiah and Kelli had cost him. He’d planned on making up for it on New Year’s Eve and now he was stuck here—with Aiyanna.
That’s all it was. It had to be. He’d known the girl for all of one day. Now that he’d determined she wasn’t the kind of girl he should get seriously involved with, his mind and other parts of his body were beginning to think doing more than just spooning with her might not be such a bad idea.
Her staring at him the way he’d caught her more than once today wasn’t helping to squelch the unyielding thoughts he’d begun to have. Of course, a couple of those times he’d purposely given her plenty to stare at. How beautiful she looked sleeping so peacefully, and how perfect it felt to have her on his lap. Caressing her hair had nothing to do with it either.
They’d be dining by candlelight and probably sipping on champagne by the fireplace for crying out loud. She was an attractive girl and he was only a man—a man who hadn’t had sex in way too long. Of course, he’d had to settle his throbbing cock more than once already. What he’d done in the shower today did nothing to alleviate what she’d begun to do to him, especially after her reaction to seeing him shirtless. It had been priceless. To top it all off, she was as sexy and smart as she was fucking adorable. Damn it.
Still, it was insane to think he could be feeling anything more than lust for her. They’d talked a lot, but he still didn’t know enough about her. So it was settled. It was lust, nothing more, and if it went there, so be it. He’d enjoy her for as long as he could then never look back—just like all the other women he’d done the same with.
Nathan frowned as he finished rinsing the potatoes and placed them in a saucepan of water on a burner. He’d never spent this many hours back to back with any girl. He’d spent plenty of evenings, in some cases entire nights, with girls before, but there was never any substance to it. It was all sex. He rarely took the time to get to know any of them, much less spend as much time as he had chatting and sharing such personal things with them as he had with Aiyanna. Could it be that, even though it’d only been one day that he’d known Aiyanna, it was still equivalent to the spread-out time he was sure it had to take to feel this way, and his heart was now just as intrigued?
He shook his head, annoyed with himself for over thinking this to death, something he’d never done for any girl. Then he turned around, and his breath actually hitched at the sight of Aiyanna.
“It’s what I’d packed to wear for tonight.”
Nathan gulped as he took in what she was wearing. It was a long-sleeved gold mini dress. The gold beading was strategically proportioned to cover the most vital areas of her body, but the beading thinned out in other areas like her abs, hips, and parts of her arms so there was a lot of skin exposed. The plunging neckline left nothing to the imagination except what he might do if he ever got his hands on those crotch-hardening perfect breasts. Then there were the three-inch matching gold heels. If those shoes could talk, he would’ve already answered, “Fuck yeah,” and they’d be up in the air with Aiyanna under him.
But it wasn’t just the sexy-as-shit outfit. She’d put her hair up just so and done her makeup a bit. She was absolutely stunning.
“Too much?” she asked, crinkling her nose. “This isn’t see through”—she touched her stomach area— “just so you know. The fabric underneath is skin tone, so it looks like you’re seeing a lot and I’m barely covered, but you’re not and I am covered.”
“You’re beautiful,” he finally managed to say, but he still felt staggered.
“Thank you,” she said, walking toward him, and though her smile was a timid one, the way she worked those dangerous-looking shoes so smoothly it was hard to believe there was anything timid about this girl now. “Halfway through getting dressed, I started having second thoughts, but I figured I could always change out of it if I decided this was too ridiculous for our little poker-playing New Year’s Eve party.”
“Nah, you’re good,” Nathan said, still eyeing her shamelessly. “Don’t change. I might have to tackle you if you try.”
She laughed genuinely, looking down at her shoes, and she moved her leg sideways, giving Nathan an even better look of her perfectly toned long legs and upper thigh. He wondered for a moment if she wasn’t trying to get back at him for the show he put on for her before and after his shower.
“I’ll be okay in these shoes for a couple of hours, longer if I’m sitting,” she said, touching her upper thigh as she continued to examine her shoes.
Then she glanced up at him with a smile he hadn’t seen before. It was playful, only not like when she’d teased him earlier about being one of those guys. It was almost as if dressing up reminded her how damn sexy she really was. The smile felt flirtatious, and Nathan was eating it up. His shifting cock was further proof that he was so ready to eat her up.
“Since there’s no power, dancing’s out of the question. I just may be able to stay in them until midnight.”
“Hey, we have our phones,” he said quickly, making no qualms about taking her in again from top to bottom. “Mine is fully charged. You can’t come out here looking like that and expect me to just accept that we won’t be doing any dancing tonight.”
As she got closer, he smelled the amazing fragrance she’d put on. God damn, she was evil. Right then and there he decided if she’d dressed up like this and wore that intoxicating perfume because maybe she was hoping for more than just spooning tonigh
t too, he was so fucking in.
“In that case, these shoes are definitely not making it to midnight.”
She walked past him to the counter, leaving him standing there for a second, inhaling her perfume, eyes closed. If he had his way, that dress wouldn’t be making it to midnight either. He could hardly believe her idiot ex had all this and he’d cheated on her. Was he fucking nuts?
“So what’s for dinner?” she asked, eyeing the potatoes he had heating in the saucepan.
“We take turns cooking down at the station,” he said, walking toward her and leaning on the counter. “So I’ve done my share of cooking. Since you’d mentioned chicken, I remembered a little dish I’ve whipped up from time to time at the station. Easy and fast to make. Ever been to Sizzlers?”
She turned to him curiously, and he got a closer look at her enhanced features now that she wore a little makeup. Not that he didn’t think her beyond pretty without it, but the makeup made her big eyes pop out even more.
“Yeah, I’ve been there lots of times.”
“They have this entree called Malibu Chicken,” he explained. “It’s basically a copycat version of Cordon Bleu.”
“Yeah, yeah.” She nodded, her eyes brightening, making them even more stunning. “That’s basically the thing my sister and I do, only we usually use the oven.”
“You can make this in a pan. Just cover it for a few minutes when it’s almost done to melt the cheese. I’ll have to improvise, but I can get it pretty close.” He pointed at the potatoes. “I usually just stick those in the microwave to make baked potatoes, but without power, we’ll have to settle for mashed potatoes. I have them on low, but when you get hungry, just let me know, and I’ll up the heat and get the chicken going.”
“Yeah, I’m not hungry yet, but it sounds delish.” She opened the fridge and bent over, tormenting his already aching dick, but of course, he couldn’t bring himself to look away.
She pulled out a bottle of water and turned back to him. “You want one?”
“No, I’m good,” he said, swallowing hard.
“You look good by the way,” she said as she opened her bottled water. “I got so caught up talking about the shoes I forgot to mention it. Nice shirt, and I love when guys wear jeans that fit them perfectly: not too tight, not too loose. Black and straight-legged like yours are my favorite.”
“Thank you,” he said, looking down at the jeans that cost him a small fortune, and now he felt like they’d been worth every penny. He glanced up at her, taking her in. “I take it you work out a lot. Underneath all those layers, it was hard to tell, but in that dress . . .” He shook his head. “Damn.”
“I haven’t in a while.” She frowned. “But I should because I’ll get out of shape fast.”
Nathan couldn’t help but take her in once again. “You don’t look like you would. Most people who work out don’t have bodies like yours. Yours seems natural—organic.”
“Not really,” she said, wrapping her lips around the bottle’s top and taking a sip.
Jesus. Nathan walked around the counter and stood on the other side. If she was going to be doing things like that, he needed to stay where she might not catch on to what was going on in his pants.
Nathan cleared his throat. “What do you mean not really?”
“I mean I haven’t always looked like this.” She sounded almost embarrassed. “If I showed you a photo of me from just a few years ago, you wouldn’t even recognize me.”
“You were heavy?”
“Very heavy. And awkward. And a mess!” She shook her head. “It’s why I never even had a boyfriend until Jace, the jerk that cheated on me.”
“Jace? The guy you just broke up with last week was your first boyfriend?”
Why that excited him he had no idea. His head hadn’t caught up with the excitement yet. All he knew was he was suddenly very curious about Jace.
“Yep.” She nodded. The flirty more self-assured demeanor seemed to wane also. “I’ll let you in on another secret. When I got down to my goal weight a couple of years ago, I spent months walking around my house in shoes like these. I’d always wanted a pair, but as heavy and awkward as I’d always been, I had zero confidence to wear them. So I may look like I can rock these shoes now. Two years ago when I tried on my first pair, I could barely stand in them. Those first few weeks I looked like a baby giraffe learning to walk in them. My sister even took a video of it.”
Nathan laughed. “Oh, I’d love to see that.”
“No way.” She giggled. “I told her I’d kill her if she ever showed anyone.”
“Does your sister look like you?”
She shook her head with a playfully disgusted expression. “Polar opposites. It’s so unfair. She has this dark straight beautiful mane of hair while I have these annoying locks that can’t decide if they want to be curly or straight, light brown or blond.”
“I like your hair,” he said, almost annoyed at her for putting it down. “It wasn’t just the scent that kept me up half the night; it was the feel of it against my face. It’s why I couldn’t help myself today when you were asleep on the couch. I had to touch it again. It’s so soft. I love that parts of it, like those strands hanging by your ear, can be so curly in comparison to the rest. And the golden highlights were a pleasant surprise when I saw them in the sunlight today. They’re natural, right?”
She stared at him silently, almost as stunned as she appeared to be when she’d seen him shirtless today, before clearing her throat. “Thank you,” she said as that timid smile made an appearance once again, but she attempted to go on as if the compliments—something she’d already admitted to being terrible at reacting to—hadn’t rattled her. “Yeah, believe it or not, I get the blondish highlights from my dad’s Greek side. My grandma and aunts on his side were all full blond. I got stuck somewhere in between. But I’ve never dyed or highlighted my hair. My sister’s never dyed hers either. But it is unfair. My sister’s never had to watch her weight, and she eats like a horse. She’s very charismatic to my awkward, and her eyes are this awesome jet black while mine are—”
“Beautiful,” he said before she dared go on being so self-deprecating, “one of your most attractive qualities. That and your personality, so you may think you’re awkward, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt so comfortable and had so much fun just talking to anyone as I have with you, especially someone I’ve known for such a short time. You probably weren’t even that heavy. How much weight did you lose?”
“Over fifty pounds,” she said with conviction.
“That ain’t shit for a girl. You girls carry a lot of weight on your breasts and asses. It probably looked good on you.”
“It did not,” she said, her eyes going so adorably wide it made him chuckle.
“You have a picture?”
She thought about it for a moment. “No, I don’t.”
“You don’t have before and after photos on your phone?” he asked, giving her a knowing smirk.
“I really don’t,” she said, lifting her chin. “It’s a new phone. I just got it a few months ago. I had to pull the memory card and download everything to my computer because I dropped my old phone in water, so it wouldn’t even turn on.”
“What about Jace?”
“What about him?”
“You have any pictures of him?”
“Why?” Her brows pinched together.
Nathan shrugged. “Curious. I’d like to see what kind of an idiot would cheat on a girl like you.”
At first, she didn’t say anything, just stared at him suspiciously like he might be trying to trick her. In a way, he was. He really was curious but not about what he’d said. He couldn’t give a shit what the guy looked like. What he wanted was to see if she’d saved photos of the guy she claimed she was over and never loved. When Kelli up and disappeared on his ass, changing her number and moving out of her apartment without even telling him, he deleted every single photo and text he had from her almost immediately. Not that
he had many, but they had taken a couple the night of his brother’s awards ceremony. He would’ve done it even faster if they’d been in an actual relationship and she’d been cheating on him.
“I deleted most of them,” she said, standing up and walking toward the room as Nathan enjoyed the view from behind, and once again he followed her into the bedroom like a lovesick puppy. “But I might’ve missed some old ones I didn’t scroll far enough back to find.”
She got to the nightstand where she’d left the phone and picked it up. Nathan walked up closely just behind, looking over her shoulder as her lock screen lit up with a picture of her and another girl smiling big for a selfie. “Is that your sister?”
“No, that’s Sam,” she said, turning and lifting the phone so he could get a better look. “She actually looks more like me than my sister does.”
“Yeah, she looks a lot like you,” he said, staring at the girl, surprised they weren’t related.
Aiyanna smiled, looking down at the photo. “Everyone says the same thing. They’re always surprised we’re not sisters.” She shrugged. “She’s also half Greek, so who knows? Maybe we are related.”
Nathan stared at the photo some more until she hit a few buttons to unlock the phone. The photo on the screen changed. It was another selfie. Only this time it was of her and a tall redheaded dude, and instantly Nathan’s insides heated.
“You still have your ex as your background screen?”
“No, that’s Scott,” she said as if that were any better.
“Why’s he on your screen?” he asked, knowing he sounded more demanding than he should.
“I change it all the time.” She laughed softly. “As many photos as I take, I almost always hate the way I come out in them, so whenever I take one I actually like, I upload it to my social media or use it as my background. We took this one a couple of weeks ago.”