Page 40 of Falling Too Soon
I put my hands over my face, “What am I doing, Lexi? Marcus is clearly not over me, and I need to make sure he understands we are done before I get into a new relationship. Plus, I still don’t really know Nathan. He could be just as bad. Marcus wasn’t all bad in the beginning either, remember?”
Lexi pulled my hands away from my face. “You stop that shit right now. You’re scared, and I get that, but Nathan isn’t Marcus. Will things be all sunshine and roses with him? Who knows? Maybe things will fizzle out or he’ll turn out to be a total psycho like Marcus, but you’ll never know if you don’t give him a shot. You can’t spend the rest of your life hiding from love just because you’re afraid it will fail.” She let out a deep breath. “But think about it. Do you truly believe Nathan is like Marcus?”
“No. You’re right. I’m talking myself out of him because I’m terrified of the feelings I already have for him, and I don’t want him to break my heart. The potential is there, Lexi. He could ruin me.” A fat tear slid down my cheek.
Lexi scoffed, “No man is going to ruin you. You listen to me; you’re stronger than that. You will not be ruined by a man. Sure, your heart may get broken, but you will put the pieces back together, and you will keep going, and eventually, you’ll find the piece that’s missing. Maybe Nathan is that missing piece and maybe he’s one of the pieces you’ll need on your path to the right one, but your person is out there. If you don’t give Nathan a shot, you’ll never know whether or not it’s him.”
I looked at my friend with new eyes. Who was this wise woman standing before me? This couldn’t be my “fuck and run” bestie, who almost never even slept with the same guy more than once. “Who are you and what did you do with Lexi?”
“Har, har, har. Laugh it up, but you know I’m right. Love may not be in the cards for me, but you fucking live for this shit, and I know in my soul that you will end up as the main character of your own happily ever after. And you deserve it, so get out of your own damn way and go get your man.”
37
NATHAN
Icouldn’t bring myself to go all the way to the car. I knew Marcus was in jail, at least for the night, but I still couldn’t bear the thought of her being out of my sight. When she rounded the corner and saw me standing by the stairs, she initially looked startled, as if she wasn’t expecting to see someone standing there. But her expression almost immediately softened when she realized it was me. “Hey,” she said meekly.
As she reached me, I slipped my hand in hers. “Hey, yourself.” She smiled up at me, and we continued down the stairs and out to my car.
After we were inside, I turned to face her. “Are you okay for real? I know tonight was a lot, and I’m not going to pressure you to come home with me if you aren’t ready.”
“Nathan, I am okay, truly. Like I said, I was a little shaken up, but he didn’t hurt me too bad. My wrist is sore,but it’s not serious.” I reached out to touch her wrist, and she quickly grabbed my hand. “Oh my God, Nathan, areyouokay? Your hand is swollen!”
I took her hands in mine gently and gritted my teeth, “I’m fine, Kitten, except I can’t get the memory of his fucking hands on you out of my head. If anything had happened to you, I don’t know what I would’ve done.”
“He didn’t do any real damage. I’m okay. I just want to forget about Marcus and move on.” Her eyes were glassy, but told me she was telling me the truth. Physically, she was okay. I only hoped that Marcus didn’t ruin any progress we had made.
I pulled her in close and kissed her forehead. “Now, let’s get you home.” I meant to say “back to my place,” buthomejust slipped out. I let it hang there in the air between us and didn’t correct myself because the truth was, I wished it was our home.
We drove the few minutes it took to get to my place in silence with our hands intertwined. I stroked my thumb over her knuckles, thinking about the night and how things hadn’t exactly gone to plan. Thankfully, the end result was the same, and I was going to do my best to keep Daphne from running off again.
After parking in the garage of my building, I led Daphne to the elevator. Once the doors were shut, I thought of grabbing her and pressing her against the wall to kiss her, but she spoke before I could make my move.
“I still don’t know if I’m ready for something serious,Nathan, but I’m willing to at least see where this goes. If you’re okay with taking it slow, I’d like us to date and see what happens.” She shrugged her shoulders and looked at my chest.
I don’t know if she was feeling shy or insecure, or was worried about what my reaction would be. I tipped her chin up so her golden eyes met mine. “Baby, I told you before, I can wait for you to be ready.”
The elevator doors opened, and I led her to my apartment. When she was in my place, she took a few moments to look around. “Wow, this is really nice.” She turned from where she was standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows to smile back at me. “You’ve got a great view.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty great from where I’m standing,” I laughed at my cheesiness.
Daphne laughed, “Whoa there, buddy, you want some wine with that cheese?” There she was—my quirky, funny, easygoing Daphne.
I crossed the room and hugged her tightly, placing a kiss on the top of her head while inhaling her scent. I felt so content with her in my arms, like all the obstacles standing in our way didn’t exist, at least in that moment.
“Baby, I was so scared. When I saw his hands on you, I was so afraid of losing you.” I let out a shaky breath. “All I wanted in that moment was for you to be okay and for us to have more time. And I know you probably still aren’t ready, but I will keep showing you how much I care about you and try to make you feel safe and loved. Because you are, youknow, loved.” I took a deep breath and tightened my hold on her. “I love you, Daphne, and I know it’s fast and probably not the best time for me to blurt it out, but I know how I feel, and I can’t imagine my life without you in it. And I’m sorry if that scares you, and I’m sorry if it’s too soon. But that’s how I feel… No, you know what, I’m not sorry. My dad knew from the moment he met my mom that she was the one, and when I met you, Daphne, I knew there was something here. I tried to play it off. I tried to ignore it, but I knew, and I won’t let you push me away. I will fight for this. I will fight for you because you’re worth it and I will spend the rest of my life wooing you if you’ll let me.” I was still holding her tight, so I couldn’t see her face.
She pushed her hands against my chest to separate us and looked up at me through thick, wet lashes. “Okay.”
I stared at her in disbelief. Did she just say okay? Was this goddess of a woman going to give us a chance? “Okay?”
“Yeah, fuck it,” she said as she grabbed the back of my neck and brought my face down to hers and looked right into my eyes. “What’s the worst that could happen?” Then she kissed me hard, licking at the seam of my mouth until I allowed her access. Our tongues initially fought for dominance, our hands tearing desperately at each other’s clothes. Then, something shifted. Our kisses became slower, more intentional, more sensual. This was the shift I’d been hoping for.
I lifted her shirt over her head and kissed down herbody, sucking one of her tight nipples gently into my mouth. Daphne let out a soft moan that had my dick straining painfully against my pants. “Damn, Baby, I’ve missed those sounds you make. Now I want to hear you scream my name while you come on my tongue.” I squatted in front of her, taking her pants and underwear with me to the ground. As she stepped out of them, I ran my hands up her legs and looked up at her. She was beautiful, smiling down at me with so much love in her eyes. She hadn’t said she loved me when I said it to her, and I didn’t expect her to. She had just told me it was still too soon to get serious, but I couldn’t help telling her how I felt. In that moment, I could feel that she loved me too, even if she wasn’t ready to admit it out loud.
I buried my face between her legs and swiped my tongue slowly through her wet folds. “Mmm, Baby, I missed this. You taste so good.” As I continued to lick and suck, she squirmed and moaned. She pulled at my hair until I released my mouth from her clit.
She tugged at my shirt. “You too, Nathan. I want to see you.” I stood to my full height and dragged my shirt over my head. Daphne dropped to her knees and unbuckled my belt. With her eyes locked on mine, she unfastened my pants and pulled out my now throbbing cock. She didn’t waste a second, and the next thing I knew, she was licking it slowly from base to tip, greedily tasting the bead of pre-cum that was waiting for her. I groaned. At this rate, I wasn’t going to last long and there was no way I was going to come before I was balls deep inside of her.
