“I hated being so far from you.”  His hips start to move just a tiny bit faster and I rake my nails down Nate’s back to his ass and hold on.  “God, you make me crazy.”

“Good.”  I feel my body tightening, another orgasm approaching, and I cling to him, wrapping myself around him.  My body shudders with my release, and Nate clenches his jaw, rests his forehead against mine and surrenders to his own climax, whispering my name.

Chapter Eighteen

“How did you get fresh chocolate cheesecake in your fridge while you were gone?”  We are seated at the breakfast bar, me in his gray t-shirt and panties, and Nate just in his black jeans, the top button undone.

He looks as delicious as this decadent cake.

“I had my housekeeper bring it in.”  He grins and offers me a bite from his own plate and I happily accept.

“I didn’t know you have a housekeeper.  I never see her.”

“She only comes in once a week while I’m at work.  I don’t need someone full time.”  I put my foot up in his lap and he starts to rub the arch.

“Okay, I’m in girl heaven.  Chocolate and a foot rub.  Men think we’re so hard to figure out, but it really just boils down to this.”  I close my eyes and enjoy his thumb rubbing up and down the sole of my foot.

“So noted.”  He chuckles and clears our plates.  “Come on.”

I take his offered hand and he leads me to the couch.  He sits in the middle and motions for me to sit at the end.  He pulls my bare legs up into his lap and I turn so my back is against the arm of the couch and he continues to massage my feet.

Oh, I love him.

“So, tell me about yesterday.”

I sigh in contentment and smile at my sexy man.  “The baby is amazing.  It was a rather quick labor, for a first baby, and Nat did great.  Luke almost passed out when Olivia’s head crowned, but I talked him down from the ledge.”

I laugh at the memory.

“Natalie was incredible.  She’s so strong.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  It was the best birth control I’ve ever seen.  I’m doubling up my pills from now on.  I don’t care if I become a mutant from the hormones.”

“Baby, you’re so strong, childbirth would be a snap for you.”

Why is he sitting here, calmly talking about me having babies?

“Hell to the no.”  I shake my head vigorously.  “No babies are coming out of this body.”

He eyes me speculatively.  “Are you saying you don’t want children?”

I pause.  He’s being serious.  “I don’t know.”  I frown and look down at his strong hand on my foot.  “I’ve never thought about it.”

“Think about it.” He suggests.

“Someday.” I shrug.

“I’d like to go see them tomorrow after work.”  He turns the conversation back to Natalie and starts to rub the other foot and I moan.

“They’d love that.”

“You’ll come with me.”  His gray eyes find mine and he smiles softly.

“Okay.”

He runs his hand up and down my bare leg, his eyes following his movement.  “You have great skin, baby.”

“Natalie has a tattoo on her vajay-jay.” I blurt out.

“What?” Nate gapes at me, his jaw dropped.

“I had no idea, but I saw it with my own eyes.  It’s actually right here,” I point down to my freshly waxed, panty-covered pubis.

“I don’t know if I need to know this.  If Luke knew something like that about you, I’d kick his ass.”

“I have to tell someone, and you’re the only one I can tell.” I laugh and link my fingers with his.

“What is it?” he asks.

“It’s script in a foreign language.  All of her tattoos are.  She won’t tell me what it means.” I shrug.

“All of her tattoos?  How many does she have?  I’ve never seen any.”

“I’m not sure how many she has.  I don’t know if I’ve seen them all. She puts them where you can’t see them when she has clothes on.  My point was,” I trace the tattoo on his forearm with my finger. “What is up with you guys letting some creep put needles in your genitalia?”

“I thought you liked it.” He gives me a wolfish grin and I laugh.

“I do, but why in the world would you do it in the first place?”

“I was a twenty-year-old kid who wanted to impress chicks.”  He shrugs and grins.

“Why did you keep it all this time?” I ask.

“Because I went through hell to get it.  It hurt like a sonofabitch.”

“Poor baby.”  I pat his cheek roughly and giggle when he grabs my wrist and bites my palm.

“Okay, so if we’re done talking about babies and needles in sensitive places, tell me exactly what Carly told you yesterday.”  His face is completely serious, and his eyes look a little pissed.

I didn’t mean to let that slip.

“It was nothing, really.  I know she’s full of shit.”  I pull my feet out of his lap, but he grips my calf and holds me in place.

“What did she say, Julianne?”

I sigh.  “She’s told me twice now that she’s dating you.  Once the day that your ex was in your office, and again yesterday.  I know it’s a lie, so I shrugged it off the first time, but yesterday it was like she was going out of her way to tell me about you two, and even asked me to work her accounts for her so she could leave early for a date she had with you.”

Nate scowls and clenches his jaw.  “Go on.”

“She seemed embarrassed when I told her you’d gone out of town, but then her phone chirped with a text, and when she looked at it, she said it was you with her itinerary to join you in New York.   I don’t get it.  She’s been a complete hag since the day she started this job, but I don’t understand what she’s doing with this elaborate story of hers.”  I watch the flames in the fireplace and pull at my bottom lip with my fingers.

“What do you mean, she’s been a hag?” Nate asks, his voice deceptively calm.

“Oh, she hates me.”

“She seems professional enough in meetings.”

I chuckle ruefully.  “Honey, of course she does.  It’s when we’re alone that her claws come out.”