Natalie stretched beside me. I looked down at her, memorizing every inch of her elfin face. She smiled softly. “Is Emmie already handing out commands?”

“It’s not from Emmie.” She lifted a brow, silently asking me who it was. “It’s one of those automated reminders for a doctor’s appointment with Dr. Rashid next month. That’s our Phoenix stop, right?”

Her brow lowered and she cuddled closer against me. “Yeah. Hit one for me. It’s for Lana and Dallas.”

My body relaxed. So it was an obstetrician appointment for the two pregnant chicks. I breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn’t some neurologist or something for Natalie because of her headaches, although it probably wouldn’t hurt to get her to see a doctor about them. I would have to bring it up later, and if she didn’t want to go then I would talk to Emmie about it and make her go.

I typed the reply and hit send before replacing the phone on the shelf above my head and then tucked her head under my chin and closed my eyes. I felt more than heard the sigh that left Natalie’s lips. “I regret getting you that damn Acqua Di Gio now. Why do you wear it to bed?”

I grinned. “Because I know you can’t resist it.” Without even realizing it, my hand started rubbing up and down her back, then settled on her hip and started rubbing little circles. It must have felt good because goose bumps rose on her arms. I was glad she liked it, because it was soothing to me to touch her like that.

If I’d thought I had it bad for this chick before, it was nothing to how bad I had it now. Sure, I’d known that I loved Natalie last spring. Once I’d let myself get involved with her it hadn’t taken long before I was feeling more than just consuming lust for her. Maybe it was because I’d spent so many months wanting her back, or maybe it was because this time I didn’t have that fucking bet hanging over my head, but I had fallen even deeper and harder for her.

There had been days, over the last two weeks, when I thought I was going to go insane with the need to simply see her when she was so busy. It was crazy, especially when I knew that I would get to crawl into bed with her at the end of the day, but that didn’t make it any easier. I felt like a teenager with his first taste of love, and that if I didn’t have her beside me every hour of every day then I was going to slowly implode. And when I was with her, I needed her beside me, needed to be touching her, even if it was just to brush my fingers over the back of her hand.

I was thankful that her brothers were distracted with other things at the moment. Natalie still didn’t want to tell them that we were together, and I understood her reasons. Drake and Shane were just as protective of Natalie and Jenna as they had been and still were over Emmie. My friends might not be my friends for long if they knew that I was making love to their little sister every night. Part of me did want to tell them, though. I didn’t want to hide our relationship like it was something that we should be ashamed of.

For the moment I was going to play it by Natalie’s rules if that would make her less stressed.

I brushed a kiss over the top of her head, and then trailed more kisses down the side of her face before continuing down her neck. Her breath hitched as I paused to lick at the pulse beating erratically at the base of her throat. All thoughts of letting her sleep vanished completely from my head when her soft hands skimmed over my back. Seconds later her nails sliced into my skin, making me groan in pained-filled delight. Fuck, I loved when she did that, and she probably didn’t even realize she was doing it. She was lost in the moment and couldn’t help herself.

“Dev.” She moaned my name, making my cock twitch in excitement.

With my knee, I spread her thighs wide and plunged into her without bothering to tease either of us. There was no need. She was already dripping wet, making my path slick with liquid heat. We both had to stifle our shouts of pleasure from that first thrust.

Natalie’s hands moved from my back to my neck, her fingers tangling in my long hair. A few strands fell forward, tickling across her tits as I pushed into her again. The sight of my dark hair contrasting with her alabaster skin only heightened my pleasure and I bent my head to lick the valley between her tits.

When she started making those damn little mewling sounds, I knew that she was close. Moments later I felt her walls tighten around my cock, trying to force my own release. I gritted my teeth and slowed my pace, not wanting it to be over yet. I rolled onto my back, pulling free of her. She made a protesting sound in the back of her throat until I entered her again from behind.

Her head fell back against my chest, one of her arms reaching behind her until her nails were biting into my ass. “Touch your clit, baby,” I murmured against her ear. “Touch yourself for me.”

I could tell my command turned her on even more. Her pussy contracted around my shaft even before her free hand moved between her legs. I dropped my head and bit into her shoulder as she shifted her hips, taking me deeper. Fuck, she felt so damn good.

“Dev,” she moaned again, her hand moving faster as I felt her tighten around my shaft again.

“Already, baby?” I thrust faster, harder, wanting to go with her this time. “Damn, you feel amazing.”

“Dev!” she cried out, her back arching to the point that I was only half inside her now.

“Nat,” I moaned. My balls tightened, the base of my spine tingling. I knew that I was seconds away from spilling into her. “Fuck.” I closed my eyes and held onto her waist tighter as I let my orgasm wash through me. I held my breath as the first contraction hit. I swallowed my own cry of sheer pleasure, making my throat ache just as badly as my cock did in that moment to release the scream that was building.

Long minutes later my breathing finally evened out and my heart was slowly calming down. Natalie scooted her ass back against me, drowsily cuddling closer. I pressed my lips against her ear and whispered the words that had been trying to break free during my release.

“I love you, Nat.”

She didn’t respond, which surprised me. I’d figured she would have said something even if it was to call bullshit. Lifting my head, I realized that she had fallen back to sleep again. With a muttered curse I shook my head at my timing.

It figured that the first time I actually got the nerve to confess my true feelings for this chick that she would fall asleep on me before she heard me.

Natalie

The bus was empty today, something I was thankful for as I put together a sandwich in the kitchenette on the OtherWorld bus. I was tired and still had a little headache going despite the Tylenol that I’d taken an hour before. The damn things just wouldn’t go away and I was getting tired of them.