Into the Light (Untwisted series Book 3) (17 page)

Abruptly pulling himself away from me I staggered slightly from the dizzying sensations of Nathan’s touch and he grinned down at me. ‘Who’s laughing now?’ he smirked darkly, before grabbing my hand and dragging me and my wobbly legs towards the pedestrian exit. ‘Come on then, woman, introduce me to the delights of the London public transport system.’

He wasn’t joking either, from the baffled way that Nathan stared at the ticket machines in the station a few minutes later it was clear that he very rarely used trains, if ever. He literally lived a two-minute walk from the station! How the other half live, eh? I suspected that if we had had to wait for a train I would have endured several smug comments from Nathan about the usefulness of a car, but thankfully even though it was a Sunday with reduced service we walked straight onto a carriage and were on the move just eight minutes after leaving Nathan’s apartment.

The train was smooth and quick and gave me some time to try and work out what on earth had happened to Nathan this morning to cause this radical change in his personality. After five minutes I was still totally clueless. He literally seemed to have evolved overnight, not that I was complaining; with the flowers, smiles, consideration, and hand-holding I was feeling rather giddy with happiness at the moment and decided to just let the day play out.

Once we drew into Cutty Sark station there was just a short walk before we entered Greenwich Park, each with a large cone stuffed with delicious Cornish ice-cream. It was perhaps a little early for ice-cream, but seeing as Nathan was so intent on fulfilling his need I didn’t mention the time and happily joined in.

As we meandered along a path in silence it came to my notice that there was something rather erotic about the way Nathan licked his ice-cream, not that he seemed aware of this, but every time I watched his tongue lash up the soft, creamy cone I couldn’t help but imagine him doing that to my neck, my breast, or perhaps somewhere even lower down on my body.

I was practically fixated on the movement and I think perhaps I may have moaned out loud, because suddenly Nathan stopped eating his ice cream and turned to stare at me intently.

A smile curved his top lip. ‘Oh, Stella. That’s a very naughty thought.’ Nathan murmured softly, a flash of desire darkening his eyes and causing me to flush instantly. How the hell did he know what I was thinking?

‘You can be so transparent when you want something.’ he added, stepping closer so his head was dipped right next to mine and I could smell the sweet strawberry ice cream on his cool breath. Transparent? Right now with desire thumping between my thighs like a steam train I felt pretty flimsy on my legs too.

‘If we weren’t in public I’d like nothing more than to drip this ice-cream on your hot little clit and take my time licking it off very,
very
thoroughly. Would you like that?’

Oh-my-God-yes.
And right now I didn’t really care who was watching, his few simple dirty words had made me so needy that I had to grip his shoulder to steady myself and squeeze my thighs together to try and find some relief. Seeing the shift of my legs Nathan chuckled, apparently rather pleased with himself, dropped a quick ice-creamy kiss on my lips and then started walking again whilst humming a little happy tune. Bastard! I was ready to combust and he was strolling casually away!

Thankfully after a second or two of deep breathing my sanity returned and I decided that a police warning for public indecency would possibly spoil the day, so I got my libido under control and caught up with him feeling slightly calmer. I couldn’t believe he was humming to himself either, it was just such an un-Nathan-like gesture. Cutting across the grass we walked in a happy silence as we ate our ice-cream and then once the cones were gone and our fingers were clean – thanks to the clean wipes in my handbag – Nathan took hold of my hand and started to pull me up a path to the left.

‘I want to show you something,’ he said as way of explanation, but to be honest I didn’t care where we were going; I was out in London, it was a beautiful day and to top it all off I was with Nathan, and he was in a ridiculously good mood and holding my hand.

Jeez, this was all so weird that I felt a bit like I was having a seizure or a massive brain malfunction; first the flowers, now a walk in the park with hand-holding?
Hand-holding?
I had to concentrate all my effort into acting normally, when all I wanted to do was gawk at Nathan and check his forehead for a fever that might explain his sudden behaviour shift.

‘This is the Old Royal Naval College,’ Nathan said, pointing to the huge building we were approaching, although to call it a ‘building’ didn’t really cut it, it was a sprawling mass of white columns, domes, and beautiful windows that looked more like a palace than a college. This was one of my favourite parks in London and so I’d walked this particular path many times before, but although I’d admired the building I’d never known what it was. ‘It was designed by Sir Christopher Wren over three hundred years ago,’ he added, but when I looked over to Nathan I saw he was lost in a world of his own, his eyes meandering over the building almost lovingly. ‘I got my inspiration to go into architecture from his work.’

Crikey, I had learnt more about Nathan in the last two days than I had in the rest of our time together and I greedily soaked up all the information he was giving me. ‘Why?’ I enquired.

‘He’s one of the most highly acclaimed architects in British history, I want to be like him.’ A simple answer, but it was typical of Nathan to aim to be the very best, in fact I couldn’t imagine him any other way, somehow his confidence, which bordered on arrogance a lot of the time, really suited him. No doubt he planned on being even better and more famous than Christopher Wren one day too.

‘Well, I guess you’ve pretty much achieved that, I mean you own one of the most successful architectural companies in London,’ I said, suddenly realising just how true it was, and just how insanely successful Nathan was.

He gave a vague grunt that I took to be agreement, then gazed at the building one more time, letting out a happy sigh before he finally turned back to me. My eyes had been on him as he turned and he seemed particularly embarrassed when he caught me looking at him, so he turned away, clearing his expression as he began walking along the path that I knew led to a small boating lake and children’s play area.

Walking beside him I glanced down at our hands which were still joined and couldn’t help but smile to myself. I still had no idea what had gotten into Nathan today, but as the warmth of his skin soaked into my palm I had to say I liked it. Probably a bit too much, actually, if he went back to his usual stroppy self tomorrow I knew I would miss this more relaxed version of him terribly.

Pausing alongside the small lake we stood in silence for a while and watched a group of ducks greedily fighting over some bread that a young family were throwing to them. ‘Shall we sit?’ Nathan asked, indicating the grass behind us and I nodded – a little spot of sunbathing would go down a treat. The only disappointing thing was that we had to break our hand hold to sit down, and Nathan didn’t reconnect it afterwards. It had only been a hand hold, but I realised that I missed his warmth now that it was gone.

‘So do you play rugby then?’ I asked, indicating to the polo shirt that he was wearing. It had the number 22 on the area over his heart above the letters HRFC, which I assumed stood for something Rugby Football Club, and the same two digits emblazoned on the back in much larger font. I couldn’t imagine a more formidable or terrifying opponent than Nathan on the rugby pitch; he was so tall and well-muscled that tackling him would probably be like running into a brick wall.

‘I used to,’ he replied, shifting himself back so he was reclining and leaning on his elbows.

‘Why did you quit? Too busy with work?’ I mused, pulling at a blade of long grass in front of me and absently running it between my fingers.

‘No,’ he answered, giving no more information than that, but it was the tone of Nathan’s one word that caught my attention, it was suddenly cooler and when I glanced across I saw a dark look on his face. Shit. Obviously I had somehow put my foot in it – again. I shifted awkwardly on the ground, unsure how to get back the easier air that had been between us earlier.

‘Sorry,’ I murmured, not quite sure what I was apologising for, but feeling the need to do it anyway.

Several moments passed and I started to chew on my lip nervously, how had such an innocent question ruined the entire day? Puffing out a breath I stared at the lake wishing I could get in one of the little hire boats and float away.

‘No, I’m sorry, Stella. You weren’t to know that it was a sore point for me,’ Nathan said suddenly. Turning to look at him I saw an anxious expression on his face, his lip chewing much more vigorously than mine had been. ‘I started playing rugby in high school, my father wouldn’t let Nicholas or I go out after school with our friends but we were allowed to participate in after-school clubs.’ Nathan sat himself back up and looped his arms around his bent legs hugging them to his chest. ‘I joined as many clubs as I could, just to get some extra time away from the house.’ He was opening up again, I just couldn’t believe it, but I shelved all the questions forming in my mind and let him get it off his chest, ‘I was pretty good at rugby and when I joined college I got straight onto the team. I’d only been playing for them for a few months when …’ Nathan paused, swallowed loudly and ran a hand through his hair, his agitation obvious, ‘… when the stuff with Nicholas happened.’ He finished in a low tone. ‘After Nicholas’s suicide attempt my parents were arrested and charged with child abuse so we were on our own. I was eighteen, Nicholas was sixteen, so technically we were legally old enough to be independent, but the trauma specialist who treated Nicholas deemed him to be ‘vulnerable’ and wanted him in foster care until he was eighteen so he could stabilise emotionally.’

Shaking his head Nathan looked well and truly lost in his memories. ‘I couldn’t let us be split up, not after everything he’d been through, so I said I’d look after him. It took a bit of convincing, but eventually I was allowed to be his official guardian until he turned eighteen. I knew we’d need more money than council benefits would provide so I quit college that very day and managed to blag my way onto a paid apprenticeship scheme at a local builder’s.’ Nathan glanced at me briefly, a sad reflective look in his eye, then looked away again, ‘So, no more college meant no more rugby, but to be honest the job kept me so busy I didn’t have time to miss it.’

Wow, another huge piece of the puzzle had just been filled. Nathan really had sacrificed everything for his brother and I couldn’t help but feel immensely proud of him. ‘You’re incredible, you know that?’ I whispered, well aware that I was probably about to get all mushy on him which he would hate.

‘I’m not,’ he said dismissively as I had expected. ‘I did what anyone would do for a sibling in trouble.’ He said it liked he believed it, but I couldn’t agree, Nathan might hide himself under some controlling, dominant façade, but beneath it all I was starting to get glimpses of the man he really was; caring, considerate, and loyal, even if he didn’t seem to realise it himself. Unfortunately it was just making me fall for him even bloody harder.

Deciding not to push him anymore about his brother I changed the subject slightly. ‘So the job with the builders, I guess that led you towards the architecture career then?’ I asked, hoping at least this was a safe topic.

‘In a way, yes, I’d known since I was young that I wanted to design things, it had started with building stuff from Lego and then developed into drawing, and by the time I went to college I was doing all the right courses to get me onto an architecture degree at university. Obviously the stuff with Nicholas stopped that, but when I realised I needed to get a job I still wanted to try and pursue my dream.’

Taking me completely by surprise Nathan looped an arm around my shoulders and pulled us both backwards so we were laid on the grass, him on his back staring up at the clear summer sky, and me tucked in at his side with my head resting on his shoulder.

Snuggling a little closer I smiled to myself. If this was one of his tactics to avoid eye contact then it was just fine by me. Although now I knew the reasoning behind his averted eyes – his father’s rules – perhaps I could start to coax a few more glances from him in future. I’d barely had time to register the new positioning, or what the heck all this strangely affectionate behaviour meant, before he was speaking again.

‘The apprenticeship with the builders was just a stepping stone for me, soon I was wangling my way into all sorts of meetings and giving opinions to some of the leading people in the industry.’ I smiled, I could so imagine Nathan doing that, he was normally pretty quiet around me, but the times I’d heard him on business calls he was cool, precise, and incredibly persuasive. ‘Pretty much as soon as I qualified from my apprenticeship I had a job offer from an architecture company that I’d worked with.’

Wow. Relaxing against Nathan I decided to go all out and put my arm on his chest where it wanted to be. I kept myself tense for a second or two, but after a minute had passed and he hadn’t freaked out or flipped me off of him I assumed that he didn’t mind my fingers there and relaxed, splaying my hand across his warm shirt just above his heart. ‘And the rest is history, as they say,’ I murmured.

‘Pretty much.’ Nathan agreed softly beside me. ‘The architecture company trained me up, I had a great time there, but four years ago I decided to branch out on my own. I’ve been incredibly lucky with the speed of my success.’ He finished quietly. His uncharacteristic flood of conversation seemed to dry up for the time being, but seeing as he’d shared so much with me in the last two days I was content to enjoy the silence and just lie with him.

We lay like that for some time. I was taking the time to absorb all that had happened between us and I assumed Nathan might be as well, until I realised that my hand had been working without the knowledge of my brain and was now circling patterns on to Nathan’s chest. As my finger brushed across his flat nipple I felt it tighten below my fingertips and a small growl rumbled from his chest.