Page 84 of How to Play the Player

I immediately do as he says, and in one smooth motion, he lifts me. I wrap my legs instantly around his waist, my arms around his shoulders, my hands in his hair as he carries me through his apartment toward the bedroom.

He lays me down with careful tenderness, the mattress dipping beneath our combined weight as his body follows mine. The feeling of his body on mine is as natural as breathing air. A respite from being surrounded by an unknown world. Familiar yet thrillingly new, as though returning to a beloved place and seeing it with fresh eyes. His hands cup my face as he looks down at me, something like wonder in his expression, as if he can’t quite believe we’re here.

My fingers find the buttons of his shirt, working them open with growing urgency. I need to feel his skin against mine, need to erase the distance that has kept us apart for too long. The heat between us builds as more clothes fall away, each layer a barrier removed, bringing us closer to what we both desperately want, what we need.

“Slow down, little one,” he murmurs against my neck, his lips trailing fire down the sensitive column of my throat. “We have all night. And I intend on savoring every moment. And every inch of you.”

The look in his eyes as he pulls back to meet my gaze steals my breath. Since I ran into Nathan a little over two weeks ago now, he always looked at me with a hard, almost angry expression. With that look, it was difficult to remember a time when his expressions were as soft as his voice was to me in bed. So trusting, vulnerable, and filled with devotion and desire. Now, I don’t know if my eyes are deceiving me or not, but I’m seeing that long-missed expression now. This time, however,there’s something deeper, something that assures me his words, touches, caresses, kisses, andI love yousmean forever.

He cups my face, his thumbs brushing my cheekbones with infinite tenderness.

“I’ve missed you so much baby, more than you know.” He speaks with a rough edge to his voice. “I want to be with you again, to taste you, hear the sounds you make when I’m inside you.”

This moment is so perfect, I’m almost afraid it’s only a dream.

His words send heat pooling low in my belly, and my heart clenches at his admission, at the fact there are no walls between us, almost like it was before.

I reach up to trace the lines of his face, relearning the features I once knew better than my own. There may be an extra forehead line at his temple, but he’s still my Nate.

“Me, too,” I whisper, allowing myself to be completely honest and vulnerable with him. “When you left, I tried so hard to forget you. To move on. I couldn’t.”

His kiss in response is fierce, possessive, as if he’s trying to erase all the lonely nights with a single touch. One hand threads through my hair, cradling the back of my head while the other slides down my side, tracing the curve of my waist, the flare of my hip. My body arches toward him instinctively, seeking more contact.

I feel his hands everywhere, tracing the curve of my waist, skimming along my ribs until his thumbs brush the undersides of my breasts. Each touch ignites a new flame, an insatiable one, until I’m burning from the inside out. He ignites nerves that have been dormant too long. I realize the only person who can tame this flame building inside me, consuming me slowly, is him.

Each newly revealed expanse of skin is met with appreciative touches, with hungry kisses. When he has me completely bare and under him, his hands touch me all over as though reacquainting himself with my body.

He loses his pants moments later, revealing his well-hung cock that I’d always been addicted to. And with the way this vision of him makes me blush, has me breathing heavy and my heart racing, probably still am.

When we’re skin to skin and there are no more barriers between us, I climb on top of him. I marvel at the sight before me. The moonlight filters through the curtains, casting him in silver and shadow which highlights the strong lines of his shoulders and the defined muscles of his chest and abdomen. He’s always been handsome—devastatingly so—but there’s something almost otherworldly about him now. Whether it’s his good genetics or the fact we’ve reconciled or that it’s both, I don’t know. All I do know is that this moment is just us, reconnecting in the most primal way.

“Fuck, you’re so beautiful,” he breathes, his gaze drinking me in with naked adoration. His hands slide up my thighs where I straddle him, fingers digging gently into my flesh. “More beautiful than I remembered.”

I feel my cheeks flush from his words, the intensity of his gaze. With him looking at me like this—as though I’m the only woman in his eyes, like I’m his most precious thing—I should feel vulnerable, exposed. Instead, I feel powerful, desired, and shockingly, at home.

“I want to take my time with you,” he says, voice husky with desire. “Learn you all over again.”

Before I can respond, he sits up beneath me, one hand cradling the back of my head as he brings our lips together. The kiss is different from the hungry ones we’ve shared since entering his apartment—slower, deeper, more deliberate. Histongue traces the seam of my lips before sliding inside, tasting me with such thorough attention that my toes curl. I can feel his restraint in the tension of his muscles beneath my hands, in the careful way he holds me.

When he pulls back, his eyes are dark with promise. “Lie back for me, baby.”

I slide off him, moving to lie in the center of his bed. The sheets are cool against my heated skin, a delicious contrast that makes me shiver. Nathan kneels beside me, his heated gaze traveling over my body as if he were physically touching me.

“Having you here feels unreal,” he confesses, his voice rough with emotion. “Having you here, spread out for me like this…I want to memorize every inch of you.”

He starts with my face, tracing the contours with gentle fingertips—the arch of my eyebrows, the slope of my nose, the curve of my cheekbones. When he reaches my lips, I can’t resist kissing his fingers, drawing a small smile from him.

“Your mouth,” he murmurs, thumb brushing my lower lip, “has haunted me. The way you smile, the way you laugh. The sounds you make when I touch you just right.”

He replaces his thumb with his lips, the kiss slow and sweet before he moves on, trailing his mouth down my neck. His tongue finds my pulse point, lingering there. My fingers thread through his hair, not guiding, just connecting as he charts his own course.

Nathan takes his time exploring the sensitive spot where my neck meets my shoulder, alternating between gentle nips and soothing kisses until I’m arching beneath him, already breathless with want. But he’s only just begun.

His hands slide down my arms, fingers interlacing with mine briefly before continuing their journey. When he reaches my breasts, he doesn’t immediately touch them, instead circling closer and closer, watching my face.

“You’re teasing me,” I accuse softly, squirming beneath his gaze, anything to get him to touch the sensitive areas.

“No,” he corrects, his smile both tender and wicked. “I’m savoring you.”

---