“Joni.” He sucked on my lower lip hard enough that I winced. “I need…I want to go…ahh.”
“Downstairs,” I agreed. Then I took his chin and forced him to look at me. “Take me home.”
Something locked between us with that word. I couldn’t have said what. Those chocolatey eyes contained depths I couldn’t hope to explore completely, yet I knew, at that moment, that I never wanted to stop trying.
For the last month, I had missed my old home so much it hurt.
I missed the sagging brown house, the front porch with the squeaky step, the room I’d shared with my sister, the friendly noises of the neighborhood, the chatter of my siblings, and my grandmother cooking dinner each night.
But right now, the only home I saw was in those big brown eyes. All the homesickness I felt for Belmont faded away because I was here. With him. Where I belonged.
Nathan kissed me again, then proceeded to carry me, our mouths still fused, out of the room and to the bank of elevators. He was incredibly strong—his muscles didn’t even shake as he held me securely in his arms.
“My phone.” I gasped just as the elevator doors opened. “My speaker.”
“Later.” He kissed me again as he carried me inside, then managed to press the button for our floor. “I’ll get them later.”
“But they…could be…stolen…” His mouth was so insistent, so hypnotizing, that I could barely think straight.
“Joni.”
His voice pulled my attention back to him. Back to those big brown eyes. Back to home base.
“Hmm?”
“I’ll buy you a new phone and speaker,” he said in a voice graveled with want as he shoved me into the wall. “But right now, I am not exaggerating when I say I really might die if I’m not inside you immediately.” His forehead touched mine. “That means right fucking now.”
I quivered in his arms, and when my legs squeezed his waist involuntarily, Nathan’s entire body shuddered.
“You’re right,” I said just before my mouth found his again. “Fuck the phone. Get me naked yesterday.”
I barely heard the elevator doors open. Barely registered the walk to our apartment, a neighbor’s door opening, followed by an “Oh my!” Didn’t even notice that we were inside the apartment until Nathan tore himself away long enough to look down the hall as my feet dropped to the floor.
“Carrick, if you’re here,don’t be!” he shouted right after the door slammed shut behind us.
We both waited for an answer.
There was nothing.
We turned back to each other and lunged.
And then we were everywhere. Against the front door as Nathan kicked off his shoes. On the foyer table, sending the vase of gardenias crashing to the ground when his mouth latched to my breast. Scrambling down the hallway as he chased me like a man on the hunt, the first sign I’d seen that he lived up to his predatory name. I was more than willing to be his prey.
His hospital shirt landed somewhere near the living room. His scrubs bottoms halfway down the hall. Lord, he was beautiful, as big and brawny as a bear, rippled with lean muscle and the perfect smattering of hair across that broad chest.
He caught me just inside the bedroom and tossed me onto the bed like I was no heavier than a sack of groceries.
“Take it off,” he ordered as soon as the bedroom door closed. “Take everything off.”
I grinned and yanked off my leotard, then shimmied out of my tights and underwear. No sexy striptease needed here. No putting on a show.
He could have it if he wanted. Another day, another time. As a performer, I was a chameleon—I could be a thousand different women if that was what he wanted, and I looked forward to taking on that challenge one day.
But here in this room, as Nathan looked at me in nothing but my skin, I just wanted to be myself.
Just Joni.
“Perfect,” he murmured as I lay back on the bed, displaying myself for him while I took in his own beautiful form.
