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‘Why are you pissed at me?’ I ask,
bewildered by his attitude.

‘Will you be there, Sophie?’ He ignores
me.

‘Yes!’ I snap, emotion filling my chest.

‘Gotta go,’ and he disconnects the call
leaving me stunned by his coldness.

********

I am in Ellie’s, enjoying my dinner when
he arrives. As cliché as it sounds, I sense his entrance, my body tingling in
recognition.  I am wearing a short, floral jumpsuit and my customary wedge
heels, my legs swinging against the stool under the counter as I chat to Ellie.

I watch her face light in greeting as his
warmth hits my back.

‘Hey Nate,’ Ellie greets her
brother. 

‘Hey sis, could do with some food,’ my
body tightens as he brushes past me to the stool beside me.

‘Sure, meatloaf?’ she tempts.

‘Great!’ He nods. I turn to face him, my
eyes guarded.

‘Hi,’ I mutter, my eyes connecting to his
gloriously blue pools of deliciousness.

I watch his eyes warm in front of me. ‘Hey,
still here then?’ He murmurs for my ears only.  I nod, is that what he’s pissed
about?  ‘Is that what you wear to work?’ He glances down to my bare thighs
before returning his gaze to my face.

‘Yep!’ I stiffen my spine.

‘No wonder the salon is full,’ he mumbles,
under his breath.

‘Exactly what is your problem?’ I snap
over to him.

He runs a hand through his hair,
‘nothing, forget it.’

‘Forget what, Nate?’ I hold my palms up
in a defensive gesture. ‘You think one night of fucking gives you the authority
to tell me what to wear to work, or how long I get to stay?’ I question, just
as Ellie approaches the counter with her brother’s meal. 

She freezes mid-pace, the plate raised in
the air, her eyes flickering from one to the other of us. 

‘Err, I’ll just leave that here,’ she
positions the plate in front of Nate and scurries off into the kitchen.

Nate turns his dark gaze to mine.

‘What?’ I almost growl.  ‘Bloody
hell, Nate, use your words,’ I scold him.

His lips twitch.

‘You are the most frustrating man on the
planet,’ I drop my fork and grab my purse, determined to end this exasperating
conversation.

‘London!’ He calls.

I slip off of the stool and turn towards
the door.  A pair of strong hands prevent me from taking another step as
they grasp my hips and I am propelled back against a hard chest. 

‘Easy tiger,’ he murmurs, softly, before
turning me in between his legs until I am face to face with him as he sits on
the stool, his arms tight around my middle.

‘Let go,’ I hiss, ‘people will see,’ I
remind him.

‘Yeah, I’ve rethought that plan, it
doesn’t work for me,’ he remarks, casually.

‘What plan?’ I try to distract from the
burning sensations of his body against mine.

‘To keep things low key, I’ve decided I
need to stake my claim,’ his arms pull me closer until his mouth is almost at
my neck.

I glance down, ‘stake your claim?’

‘Yep!’ His eyes are soft and playful.

‘I’m not a possession, Nate,’ I remind
him.

‘Yeah, see we disagree there, do you know
how many of the guys in the station want to fuck you?’ He asks, seriously.

I push against his shoulders for him to
release me, but he doesn’t budge.

‘I heard them talking about how they want
those long, lean legs of yours wrapped around their shoulders while they taste
you,’ he whispers, huskily.  My body immediately responds to his smooth,
seductive tone.  I glance down at his lips, aching for them to touch
mine.  ‘I want to pummel their faces for talking about my woman in that
manner, but with the former plan, that isn’t possible.  I am changing the plan;
everyone needs to know you belong to me, Sophie.’

‘Nate,’ I whisper.

‘Kiss me,’ he demands.

‘Not here,’ I breathe.

‘Here,’ he commands me, his palm moving
over my backside and down until it reaches bare skin.  His thumb strokes
gently on the outside of my thigh, my sex clenches and my breathing
hitches.  That’s all it takes, one stroke and I am putty in his hands.

‘Now, Sophie,’ he whispers.

I cup his jaw, my thumb brushing the
stubble on his chin, ‘I want this on my thighs,’ I mumble, as my lips touch
his.  I don’t know whether there is anyone that is the least bit
interested in Nate or me, but I do know right then I would have fucked him on
the counter top with them watching.  I dart my tongue out to trace a line
across his bottom lip before nibbling gently.  I feel a hiss of his breath
exhale from his lips as he opens up and accepts everything I have to offer. 
Our tongues tangle, my hand forks his hair and brings him deeper into me.

How long the kiss lasts, I haven’t a
clue?  All I do know is that is wasn’t me that slowed it down to a soft
butterfly kiss on my lips.

‘Jesus fuck,’ Nate growls against my lips.

‘You two gonna eat this, or each other?’
Ellie calls, from the other side of the counter. 

I glance up, disorientated by the depth
of desire in that one kiss, into the amused expression of Nate’s sister.

‘Err,’ I mumble.

‘Heat it up please, El,’ Nate responds. ‘Sit
down, Sophie,’ he instructs.

Ellie swoops both of our plates away to
reheat, while I self-consciously glance around at the watching patrons. 
‘Oh my god,’ I whisper as I take a seat and sip on my Diet Pepsi and hear Nate
chuckle.

When Ellie returns, she has a grin as big
as a Cheshire cat as she provides me a wink.  I roll my eyes in her direction
and pick up my cutlery.

‘Our first date,’ Nate mutters.

‘What?’ I keep my eyes diverted to my
plate.

‘This, our first date,’ I turn to his
statement, to watch him push a forkful of meatloaf into his mouth and chew, his
blue eyes rising to mine.

‘Apart from the twelve hours of fucking,
you mean?’ I whisper.

He grins, ‘still, this is our first
date.’

‘Okay,’ I lift a fork of pasta into my
mouth.  ‘You remembered I’m going home, right?’

‘Not anytime soon,’ he states as if it’s
his decision.

‘I have been contemplating flying home
this weekend,’ I update him, quietly.

I feel him tense, beside me, ‘you’re not
going home this weekend, London,’ he announces.

‘That isn’t your decision, Nate,’ I turn
to him, staring him down.

He chuckles, ‘babe, you know that don’t
work,’ he continues his meal.

Fury flows through me, ‘well, maybe you
will wake up, and I’ll already be gone,’ I notify him, sulkily. 

‘Not gonna happen, London,’ he takes a
gulp of water from the bottle Ellie had placed before him.  He turns, his
finger and a thumb holding my chin up to his face, ‘know how I know that isn’t gonna
happen?’ I say nothing.  ‘Because baby, when you wake, I’ll be lying right
next to you,’ he leans in and kisses me hard, as a warning.

********

The next morning, true to his word, I
wake up wrapped around Nate like ivy.

After finishing our meals at Ellie’s,
which Nate insisted on paying for, we had walked back to Ollie’s apartment and
talked.  Not about the specifics of the investigation, but about how I
feel about Ollie lying to me over the past four years.  Lying by omission,
was still a lie in my book.  Nate listened, commented where he felt
necessary and waited when I tried to explain how I felt about staying in
Krystal.

He had ended the conversation by
concluding that he couldn’t protect me in London and therefore insisted that I
hang around in Krystal to enable him to take care of my safety.  After reminding
him that he had informed me that I was under no great threat, he told me
talking time was over and lifted me off of my feet and threw me onto the
bed. 

Five seconds later, I couldn’t recall for
the life of me, the subject at hand.

Sex with Nate was out of this
world.  

********

‘You awake?’ Nate calls.

‘Hmmm,’ I answer, drowsily.

‘Gonna tell my boss about us,’ he makes a
move and in one swift motion I am underneath him, his hips pushing me down
against the bed.  I gaze up into his bright eyes and wrap my legs around
his calves. To me, Nate looks even more stunning first thing in the
morning.  His tousled hair and heavy eyes do nothing to alleviate the
growing infatuation I have recently realised I am having towards him.

‘Won’t it hinder the investigation?’ I ask,
pushing my groin invitingly against his morning erection.

‘We’ll see, it’s not as if you are a
suspect,’ he reasons.  ‘You are the sister of the victim.’

‘And if he forbids it?’ I lift my lips to
the crook of his neck and inhale his manly scent.  ‘You smell of sex,’ I
comment.

‘I should certainly hope so, the amount
of it I had last night,’ he murmurs, distractedly. ‘He won’t forbid it. I may
get a talking to, worst case scenario I’ll get taken off of the case.’

‘Is it worth it, I’ll be gone soon? 
I don’t want to cause problems for you and your future,’ I bite his shoulder,
before running my tongue over it.

‘Oh, it’s worth it,’ he slides down and
takes a nipple in between his teeth, biting down gently.  ‘It’s worth it.’

When he reaches the apex of my thighs, he
runs his nose down the soft folds.  ‘Now you also smell of sex, I like it
a lot,’ I arch my back as he covers his mouth over my wetness, swirling his
tongue against my core. 

‘Nate,’ I breathe as he brutally sucks
and licks me into submission.  Just before I come he stops, ‘What the
fuck, don’t stop, Nate,’ I pant. 

‘No more talking about leaving, you get
me?’ he purrs, blowing over my moist sex.

‘Don’t leave me hanging,’ I beg, my body
screaming for release.

‘You hear me?’ he repeats.

‘Yes,’ I push myself up to him, and he
sucks hard on my clitoris, immediately I am shuddering around his tongue as he
laps me dry.

********

The next three weeks we fall into a
natural routine.  Nate is back and forth between Denver and Krystal,
working Ollie’s investigation, but when he’s in Krystal, he’s in my bed. 
At first, people gawked, but after a few days, there were other things that
took their attention. Krystal liked to know what was going on with their
community, but once they knew, they left you to it.

The salon was becoming more and more
popular as word got out that the girl from London, had actual hairdressing
skills and a handful of beauty treatments up her sleeve, for a more than
reasonable price.  The girls dropped by for not only treatments, but just
to say Hi, and chat about their days.  Officer Frank, was almost a
permanent fixture, passing by to sit and drink his coffee and talk to not only me,
but my clients too.  It was as if,
Ollie’s
was becoming a social
gathering station.  In the end, I bought another coffee machine and set it
up at the front of the salon for my ‘friends’ to help themselves to on their
regular visits.

Nate was progressing in the investigation
but refused to confide any information obtained, reassuring me that they were
getting closer to an arrest, or several arrests.  I had no idea what to
make of this new evidence, other than the conflicting ones I experienced that
reminded me as soon as justice was served for my brother’s murder, I would have
no further excuse to remain in Krystal.

On the Wednesday after Nate arrived back
from Boston, he stopped by the salon for a coffee, as he had been doing for the
past week, just as I was cutting Steve, from the gyms, hair. 

‘Hi!’ I smiled as he sauntered in.

I observed as his eyes hit Steve’s in the
mirror and turned arctic.  I was at the front of Steve, cutting the front
of his hair when he stepped up to me and kissed my cheek.

‘Hey babe,’ he muttered, before lifting
his chin to Steve.

‘Hey man,’ Steve responded.

‘You still seeing Sherrie Burnett?’ Nate
questioned.

‘Err, yeah, casually, you know,’ Steve
replied, vaguely.

‘She know it’s casual?’ He probed, my
mouth dropped open, what the fuck was he doing?

‘Nate!’ I muttered, stopping mid cut.

‘Yeah, babe?’ He asked, innocently.

‘Leave my clients alone, please,’ I fixed
him with a glare that told him in no uncertain terms to back the hell off.

He flashed me his dimple, ‘just looking
out for a friend,’ he defended. 

‘How’s Chelle Marlon doing?’ Steve quips
to Nate.

Fuck! 

‘Last I heard, she’s doing well,’ Nate’s
eyes penetrate Steve’s through the mirror, ‘seeing Sean Deakin, and I’m happy
for her,’ Nate stated, his tone aggravated.  ‘I suggest you keep your eyes
off of my woman’s tits, man,’ and there we have it.

‘Nate!’ I scold him.

‘Nathan Austin is claiming a woman as his
own, that’s hilarious,’ Steve forces a laugh.

‘That’s right, I suggest you absorb that
knowledge pal, spread it around,’ Nate growls.

‘Out!’ I point to the front door of the
salon, ignoring the leaping in my chest at Nate’s claiming. 

Nate’s dimple makes an appearance as his
eyes hit mine, ‘baby, you chucking me out?’

‘Fucking right, out now! I’ll deal with
you later, this is my place of work,’ I remind him.

Steve chuckles, but Nate doesn’t care in
the least.  ‘See you tonight, London,’ and he exits the salon with a wink.

‘I’m so sorry about that,’ I apologize to
Steve.

‘Not a problem,’ he grins.  ‘To be fair,
I was staring at your tits. They are great tits.’

‘You want me to chuck you out too, half finished?’
I tease.

‘No Ma’am,’ he grins. 

Nate doesn’t appear again until later
that evening as I am cashing up the day’s takings.  He has the decency to eye
me cautiously as he enters the front of the salon.  He locks the door
behind him.

‘You should lock the door when you close,’
he instructs.

‘I don’t think I am on speaking terms
with you,’ I murmur, as he struts cockily across the room.

‘I told you I needed people to know you
are mine, now they know. Steve was staring at your tits,’ Nate defends. 
‘You need to dress appropriately for work, London.  Your tits were in his
face,’ he complains.  I had dressed in one of my short floaty skirts and a
black tank top, admittedly the skirt exposed my legs, but the top merely hinted
at a cleavage.  Tits or legs, never both, it’s an unspoken rule of fashion
in my neighbourhood.

‘I don’t remember you complaining when my
tits were in your face,’ I remind him.

‘I’m allowed to look,’ he moves around
behind my stool set behind the small desk area and wraps his arms around me, to
cup my breasts in his palms.  ‘And touch,’ he whispers in my ear, ‘and
suck,’ his fingers move down and push up my tank top to cup my naked breasts
beneath my bra.

I moan, softly, as my body immediately
heats. ‘God Nate, I can’t get enough of you,’ my head falls back against his
shoulder and his mouth nibbles my neck.  His fingers pinch my hardened
nipples and the tingling travels down to my sex. 

‘You wet for me, Sophie?’ The soft
rumbling of his voice vibrates through me.

‘Absolutely,’ I breathe, as one of his hand's
journeys downwards to my thigh before slipping upwards to slip beneath the
scrap of lace covering my incredibly moist folds.

He hums, deep in his throat, ‘always
ready for me,’ he hisses, as he strokes along the swollen lips.  I open up
my legs to provide him space to plunge deep inside with two fingers. 
‘Stand up!’ He commands.  I comply.  ‘Stay facing the front, lean on
the counter,’ I stretch over to hold on the edge of the ledge, opening my legs
wide. 

Desire surges through me; I can see the
activity of the sidewalk beyond the windows of the salon, people making their
way home after a day’s work or shopping.

He switches the lights off, providing us
the view but preventing anyone from outside from spying us as they continue
their journey.  If they stopped, however, and peered in the window, we
would be in full view. 

He lifts my skirt and pulls my underwear
down and off my legs, and I am almost climaxing at the mere thought of Nate
fucking me here and now.  My breathing is erratic as I feel his hands
slide over the cheeks of my backside as he groans lightly. ‘I want to fuck you
anywhere and everywhere,’ he hisses as he drops and licks up the length of my
core. 

‘Oh God,’ I moan, pushing back against
his probing tongue. 

‘You are drenched,’ he sucks and licks
sending my insides crazy with need.

‘Fuck me, Nate,’ I growl from between my
teeth.

‘Jesus, fuck!’ He whispers before I feel
the tip of his cock at my entrance.

‘Hard, I want it hard,’ I demand.

Grasping my hips, I bend over further,
elbows to the desk, as he plunges inside my aching sex over and over, drilling
into me as my body savours every stroke, I love this, I love him. 
Fuck!  ‘I’m going to come,’ I groan, my body exploding into a million
pieces as he continues the glorious assault. 

‘Hold on tight to the counter,’ he
instructs as he grasps my thighs and lifts my legs, like a wheelbarrow, to his
sides.

‘Oh my God,’ I am still pulsing around
his steel-like cock as he pushes deeper, through the enhanced position,
igniting another flame as he thrusts hard and fast, I feel his stride quicken,
his cock twitch, and I feel myself rebuilding for an almighty release. 
‘Jesus fucking Christ,’ he plants deep and growls at the same time I experience
the biggest orgasm of my life, my arms shaking with the tension of holding
myself up as I cry out his name, my body shuddering with an intensity I have
never before practiced.

Still,
inside me,
Nate holds my weight as I almost collapse onto the counter, my head against the
hard surface.  ‘I think I died,’ I groan, as his lips find the crook of my
neck and attempt a chuckle, which sounds more like a rasp of breath.

‘You are something spectacular, London,’
he pushes my skirt down and leans and collects my underwear, before turning me
to face him and enveloping me in his arms.  ‘Best fuck of my life,’ his
lips touch mine, and he seduces me unnecessarily with his kiss. 

********

‘You’re not wearing that,’ Nate mutters, his
eyes falling the length of my body.

‘Fuck you, I wear what I like,’ I scold
him, pushing my feet into my strappy sandals, providing him a look that exposes
my irritation, in no uncertain terms.

‘I can see your pussy,’ he complains, his
jaw tense.

‘It’s a good job you’ve already seen it
then,’ I grab one last look into the mirror and turn to exit the apartment,
ignoring the daggers from his critical gaze. 

It is Thursday night, and I promised
Ellie I would join her and the girls for a drink at the Karaoke bar.  Nate
was meeting Eli, who was due back from Boston after staying on to do some
further probing, to go over his findings before meeting me in the bar later.

I had dressed in cream lace shorts, which
were cut high on my thighs, and a mink camisole top, which hinted at my rounded
breasts, along with my strappy sandals.  I looked good; I felt fantastic,
copious amounts of sex will do that to you, adding a flush to my otherwise fair
complexion.

‘See you there,’ I called out before slamming
the door behind me, with a grin stretched across my face, I loved sparring with
Nate, for us it was foreplay. 

When I entered Jessie’s, the place was
heaving, as it had been weeks ago when I was dragged in by Ellie.  I glance
around for the girls and find a few of them seated in the same corner of the
bar as my last visit. Ellie hadn’t arrived yet, but Beth and a couple of the
girls were already hitting the Tequila hard.

I join them and chat for a while, mainly
about hair and manicures seeing as the girls were now regular visitors to the
salon.  They were a lovely group of girls, with a limited amount of bitchiness,
well as far as I could tell, so far.