Page 60 of Want You

“Hey,” Octavia said, pulling back and taking his face in her hands. “You’re not Connors or any of the others. I trust you. Don’t let someone else’s actions take this from us.” She laughed, remembering how she’d nearly done that by ending things with Nathan on the spot.

Concern and confusion warred across his face. “What’s so funny?”

Octavia dropped her hands to his waist and gently pushed him so he stepped back until his legs connected with the bed. When he sat, she straddled his thighs and ran a hand through his soft unruly hair.

“It’s not really funny. It’s more sad actually,” she admitted. “Doubting you, even for a minute, makes me sad. Knowing that you’re now doubting yourself…” A tear slipped down her cheek as she took in this beautiful man who had spent every second of their relationship pulverizing her assumptions.

Nathan reached up, wiping the tear away, and waited for her to finish.

“I meant it when I said I believed you, Nathan. I love what we have. I love the way you touch me and kiss me and hold me. I am addicted to the way you take charge and push me out of my comfort zone. I am obsessed with how you become submissive the moment I become the aggressor. I’m overwhelmed in the best way by how you have treated me since the day we met. I wavered. Everything slammed into me and I let all my past feelings rise up.”

She took his face between her hands again, relishing in the way his face relaxed with her touch. She had the same effect on him as he did on her it would seem.

The words sat there, right at the tip of her tongue. But she didn’t want to say them as some form of reassurance. She didn’t want to cheapen those three words because she felt them with her entire being and it didn’t feel right to say them right now.

So instead of using her lips to utter the truth, she kissed him, hoping he’d feel them instead.

He pulled back after the kisses turned lazy, falling away from her onto the bed.

“So,” he asked, his head tilting to the side. “We’re okay?”

Octavia followed him down, her hair flopped forward, framing her face and brushing against his jaw. “I think as long as we are open and honest with one another, we’ll be more than okay,” she said. “I don’t want to be surprised by headlines if you know something is coming.” He opened his mouth and she covered it with her hand. “I mean something like this where you’ve been summoned to a meeting because something big is going to break. I know there could be hit pieces published that don’t have a shred of truth, but for things like this assault case, I need honesty. I need communication. I need us to be a united front. The very last thing I want is to be suspicious of you or your motives. I need you to be braver than the sport allows you to be off the ice.”

“I want that,” Nathan whispered. “I want to be the guy who stands up when everyone else stays seated. I want to be the guy who calls out bad behaviour instead of the guy who ignores it just because that’s what I’ve been trained to do.”

Octavia’s lips ghosted across his. “Old dog.” She took his bottom lip between her teeth and dragged it between them, enjoying the hiss he released as it slipped free. “New tricks.”

Nathan slid his hands up her thighs to grip her waist. “I’m a very enthusiastic learner.” He growled before putting her on her back on the bed in one quick move.

It was sexy as hell but Octavia quickly lost herself in a fit of giggles as Nathan hovered over her.

“Oh, you find that funny, Autumn girl?” he asked, dipping to nip at her neck.

“Mmhmm.” She hummed as he licked across her skin, easing the sting from his teeth.

“Good,” he said, kissing her quickly and then disappearing from view. “Your laugh is one of my favourite sounds.” She smiled as he went to work undoing her jeans. “Do you want to know my other favourite sound?” he asked as he tugged her jeans so they slipped down her legs.

“I would love to know.” She panted, anticipation dripping from her words.

Nathan didn’t say anything else as she heard his knees settle on the hardwood, his grip tightening on her thighs as he spread her legs.

Every time he did this she was transported back to the hotel. Back to that first time that changed everything. They were never supposed to see each other again and now here they were, weeks later on a little getaway, about to look for a cottage. Well, Nathan was looking but he wanted her help. Wanted her to be part of this big decision with plans that stretched well beyond a single season.

She keened as he flattened his tongue against her, applying the perfect amount of pressure to her clit. Moaning his name, the end of it lost in a whimper.

He hummed his approval, slipping a single finger into her, tapping that sensitive spot inside her that made her entire body vibrate.

“That sound, goddamn,” he rasped. “When I’m alone on the road, I swear I hear it in my dreams. I crave that fucking sound, baby.” He curled his finger again and her back rose from the bed, arching against his mouth as he went back to work.

“Nathan.” Octavia whimpered as the orgasm crashed into her, making her wrap her legs around him, holding him against her as she rode the wave of pleasure, unwilling to let him move until she was completely spent.

When her legs went slack, Nathan rose from the floor, pushing her sweater up her body as he pressed kisses over her skin, pausing a little when he laid one on the swell of her breast.

“Thank you for coming”—he paused, grinning down at her—“with me.” He didn’t give her a chance to reply as his lips met hers and she figured it was just as well because she wasn’t sure she could form words at the moment anyway.

Something smelled amazing and Octavia opened her eyes slowly, forgetting momentarily that she wasn’t at her place or Nathan’s.

She laid there for a while, listening to the distant sounds of something being mixed vigorously, occasionally drowned out by the sound of Gord Downie singing about seeing constellations revealing themselves.