Read Missing Online

Authors: Noelle Adams

Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Women's Fiction, #Contemporary Women, #Romance, #Contemporary, #Contemporary Fiction

Missing (4 page)

BOOK: Missing
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“I don’t want to go home either,” she concluded hoarsely,
twining one arm around his neck as she pulled him into another kiss. This one
was even deeper, and eventually Nathan had to stop the embrace before he was
incapable of controlling himself.

They got a room at the nearest hotel.

The sex was incredible.

Lynn knew what she was doing in bed, but it was more than
that. Nathan had fucked experienced women before, but the encounters had still
felt somehow artificial. Lynn’s softness, her eagerness, her responsiveness,
her generosity weren’t like anything he’d ever experienced. She felt
real
.

For the space of a few hours, he was able to pour all of his
unchannelled feeling, passion, and fear into physical, visceral form. She
accepted it, seemed to want it—as if she were seeking something in him too.

It wasn’t a fix for his life, but at least it was a
temporary respite.

When he finally lay naked, sweaty, and exhausted beside
her—utterly spent and tired enough to sleep—he could see a similar feeling in
her eyes as well.

“That was amazing,” she said, smiling at him from her
pillow. Her hair was slightly damp from perspiration and tangled messily around
her red face. “It’s a shame this was just a one-time thing because we’re too
good together not to do this again.”

The sense of understanding between them was affirmed by the
fact that she hadn’t tried to make this romantic when that was simply not what
it was.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I’d be all for more of it, but I’m not
looking for a serious relationship.”

He was stretched thin emotionally as it was, and he just
didn’t think he was capable of investing real feeling in someone other than his
daughters. His life didn’t lend itself to romance anyway, and he no longer
really wanted it in his life.

Besides, it could damage his reputation to be linked to a
semi-tabloid publication.

“Me either. I’ve been trying to raise the
Cooler
’s
respectability, and that would be affected if it became known that I was
fucking Nathan Livingston. It’s hard enough getting people to respect me as it
is. It would be hopeless if I hooked up with you.”

Nathan was both relieved and faintly disappointed that she
agreed with him. “You're probably right. It wouldn’t do
me
any favors
either.”

“So just the one time,” she said, her inflection somewhere
between a statement and a question. She reached over to stroke his bare chest,
sliding her palm down until it was resting on his belly. “It really is a
shame.”

Nathan thought about the situation, compelled by the slight
wistfulness in her tone and by the knowledge that he wasn't likely to have sex
even close to this good again.

After a minute, he suggested, “So we both agree we don’t
want a relationship. But, if we were to be very discreet, I suppose we could
have sex occasionally. It couldn’t be very often, since it would be too hard to
keep it a secret. Maybe once a month or something?”

It wasn’t a likely scenario. It would be absolutely perfect
for him, good sex with someone he liked without the time, responsibility, and
emotional investment of a real relationship. But he couldn't imagine why Lynn
would agree to it.

“I don’t know,” she began. Then she surprised him by
continuing, “Even once a month seems too regular. It would start to feel
relationship-like. If we’re going to do it, we’ll have to make sure there’s no
expectation of exclusivity and no chance to confuse it with romance.”

“You’d really be all right with something like that?” he
asked, unable to believe she was seriously considering it.

When she’d been his intern, Lynn had seemed entirely focused
on a future career, and he didn’t think she’d dated very much. But he assumed
she wanted the same things most other women did—love, maybe a family.

She gave a half-shrug, the move causing the sheet to slip
down and reveal one rosy nipple. “I’m not saying I don’t want to find someone
serious. Maybe it will happen. If it does, I obviously won’t want to hook up with
you for sex. But it might
not
happen. I have a good life, but really
good sex would be nice occasionally too.

He reflected, believing the sincerity in her eyes and the
wry humor on her lips. “Once every three months then?” he finally suggested.
“Plenty of time to meet and date other people in between. And we wouldn’t keep
in touch between times, to minimize any possibility of getting mixed signals.
If either of us decides against it, we just won't show up. We'll keep it simple
and straightforward. One night every three months.”

Lynn’s mouth was twitching with a smile that seemed partly
excitement and partly disbelief that she was actually considering this. “It
seems a little crazy, but it’s tempting.”

Nathan felt a flare of excitement himself—like his life
wasn’t stretching out before him in utterly bleak desperation.

His daughters would always be most important, but maybe he
could have a little something for himself. He didn't think it would hurt them
if he was able to keep it discreet, with no strings attached.

“What’s the harm?” he asked, pleased that he sounded bland
and matter-of-fact. “If you change your mind later on, just don’t show up.”

Lynn actually laughed. “All right. Let’s do it. This hotel again?
Three months from today—so the twenty-fourth?”

“It’s a plan.”

It was a plan they continued to keep for twenty-one months.

Five

 

Nathan was still wearing most of his
clothes, and that wasn’t a situation Lynn could allow to continue.

Having recovered enough from their first round of sex, she
raised herself up with a pleased smile and looked down at him. He was still
sprawled out sideways on the bed, looking flushed and sated.

 Since he’d just come, it would be a little while before he
would be ready for sex again. Based on her experience, Nathan had a pretty good
recovery time for a man his age, but he was no longer eighteen years old.

Lynn saw no reason to waste the time just lying around the
hotel room and waiting, however. They only had one night every three months.

So she pulled off his tie and started to unbutton his shirt.

Nathan smiled up at her. He’d been looking appreciatively at
her body—she was still wearing only her bra and panties, which he’d simply
pushed aside in order to fuck her earlier—but now his eyes rested on her face.
“Your hair is different.”

“I’m letting it grow out some.”

“I like it.”

“Thanks. I think I like it too.”  She finished the last
button on his shirt and tugged on the fabric until he lifted his back enough to
let her pull the shirt off over his shoulders.

She’d forgotten about his cufflinks, and she frowned as she
had to pause to fiddle with them in order to get his cuffs over his hands.

Nathan laughed softly. “I don’t care what current fashion
dictates. A well-dressed man wears cufflinks. That’s what my dad always said.”

Lynn rolled her eyes. “Except for you, no man I’ve ever met
still wears cufflinks.”

Matt didn't even bother to button his cuffs most of the
time, since he was always pushing his sleeves up over his elbows.

“Maybe you need to broaden your sphere of acquaintances,” Nathan
murmured, lifting his hand so she could reach his other cuff.

She just made a face at him and finally got his sleeves off.
She dropped his shirt—which had probably cost more than most of her complete
outfits—over the side of the bed.

When she turned back to him, she frowned more deeply and started
to pull off his white t-shirt. “It takes forever to undress you.”

Nathan’s chest vibrated with his husky laughter. “Going
without a t-shirt isn’t too smart if I ever want to take off my jacket.”

“Do a lot of sweating, do you? You should set the
temperature lower in your office.”

 “The administrative staff would revolt if I made it any
cooler than it is.” His voice was muffled by the t-shirt she was pulling over
his head.

“I guess manipulating the politic operations of this city is
pretty hot work.”

“You overestimate the extent of my manipulations. And it’s
not the hottest thing I can think of.” His expression heated up as she stroked
his bare chest.

Lynn smiled again, sliding her palms against his skin,
exulting in the firm flesh, lean muscle, and scattering of coarse hair.

She was familiar by now with Nathan’s body, but she still
enjoyed caressing the curve of his strong shoulders, the taper of his ribs, the
contours of his abdomen, the tightness of his flat stomach. She squeezed his
sides, finding just a little spare flesh there.

He narrowed his eyes in displeasure when her hands lingered on
that spot.

“I’m not implying anything,” she said, her eyes innocently
wide but her mouth wobbling with a hidden smile. She stroked back up to his
nipples and fondled them idly.

Her chest filled with pleasure, the warmth spreading down to
her growing arousal, but it wasn’t just lust. She felt a satisfied kind of
possessiveness—that she could see him, touch him like this when the world saw
him only in his sophisticated power.

While she wasn’t foolish enough to assume she was the
only
one who got to see Nathan like this, she knew he wasn’t dating anyone
seriously, and she just didn’t think any other woman had a stronger sexual
claim on him than she did—at least right now.

Not that it meant they were in any sort of relationship. But
still…it was nice.

She gradually lowered her hands to his trousers. They were
already undone, so she just pushed them with his underwear over his lean hips
and down his legs.

She frowned when she realized he was still wearing his shoes
and she couldn’t get his pants off over them.

Shaking her head, she untied his black dress shoes, made of
a supple leather so fine she thought they might have been handcrafted.

Nathan visibly suppressed a smile as he eyed her impatient
expression at having to untie his shoes. “You’re not going to whine about Oxfords
now, are you?”

Lynn tried to maintain her displeased expression, but she
couldn't help but snicker as she pulled off his shoes and socks. “Oxfords.
Cufflinks. Quite the snob, aren’t you?”

Nathan didn’t answer, but his blue-gray eyes were amused,
almost soft, as she readjusted herself on the bed beside him. He was completely
naked now—more naked than she was.

“You didn’t used to be so conservative.”

He exhaled deeply as she massaged both of his thighs. Then
he glanced away and added, almost diffidently, “I guess maybe I've gotten
rather boring lately.”

“Boring? Nathan Livingston? I’ll never believe it.”

His penis was starting to harden as her hands got closer to
his groin. “Good,” he said, his voice thicker than before.

Lynn was pleased and gratified that it had taken such a
short time for him to become aroused again. She wrapped her fingers around his
half-erect sex and caressed him.

He twitched and hardened even more in her hand.

She slanted a decidedly naughty look up at his face. “Pretty
impressive for a boring man in his forties.”

He tried to give her a cool, detached look but it was broken
by a hoarse sigh as she slipped her other hand between his legs to gently
massage his balls. “Early forties.”

Lynn couldn’t help but laugh, but she was growing aroused
again herself as she watched the effects of her touch on Nathan’s body.

She really wanted to go down on him but—if she did—she would
need to use a condom, and she hated giving a blow job over a condom.

But, because she loved the way his body was tensing in
response to her touch, when he was hard again and she reached for a condom, she
held it carefully between her lips and then rolled the condom on with her
mouth.

He’d been watching her with hot, languid eyes, but she must
have surprised him anyway. When her mouth started to slide over the length of
him, he made a choking sound and bucked his hips up involuntarily.

For just a moment, she was caught off guard when she felt him
at the back of her throat, but she managed to accommodate his little thrust and
trailed her tongue up his encased shaft as she raised her head.

She was breathless as she gazed down at his naked body,
prominent erection, and flushed face.

“Sorry,” he murmured. “You all right?”

“Yeah.” She smiled at him, feeling a rush of pleasure at that
sign of his obvious eagerness. “That old move must have been more effective
than I thought. How long has it been since you had a blow job?”

His features twisted wryly. “Too long, evidently.”

She unhooked her bra and slid down her panties. “Too bad
condoms taste so nasty. Although they have some that are supposed to taste
better. Maybe I’ll look into them.”

“I fully endorse that idea.”

She was laughing again as she swung one of her legs over his
hips and positioned herself above him. Then they lined him up at her entrance,
and she lowered herself over his length.

He was full and tight inside her, and they both sighed in
pleasure at the penetration. She moved over him rhythmically, creating
delicious friction as his hard flesh shifted against her inner walls. It wasn’t
quite enough for her to come, however, until Nathan moved his hand toward where
they were joined and massaged her clit as she rode him.

Because he’d already come once, he had more control. She
climaxed twice, gasping and shaking, before Nathan’s motion beneath her became
urgent.

He’d been mostly still as she rode him, his hips rocking
gently with her rhythm, but after her second orgasm, her channel clamped down
around him so tightly she could feel every slight movement intensely. He moved
both hands to her hips, gripping her hard and accelerating their motion.

BOOK: Missing
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