Christmas With Nathan Read online

  ‘Stella …’ His voice suddenly held a note of warning and my eyes flashed to his to see a commanding expression covering his previously unsure look. ‘I hope you’re not nodding your reply to me, because you know how much I dislike that gesture, don’t you?’

  Pursing my lips, I felt the desperate urge to nod my response again, but thankfully I held back and instead cleared my throat. ‘Sorry, yes.’ I suspected that he’d used his harder tone to ground me and pull me back from the brink of my meltdown. It had worked a treat; my tears had abated and now he had my full, non-blubbering attention. He really did know me so well.

  Cocking his head as if wanting a bit more, Nathan remained silent.

  ‘I meant yes, I know you hate nodding, and yes I’d very much like to wear your ring,’ I clarified, my sentence a bit jumbled in my emotional state. I’d been tempted to add ‘Sir’ in there as well, but somehow it didn’t seem quite right in the bright light of day.

  Taking my left hand into his palm, Nathan paused, and looked up at me curiously. ‘Can I put it on here?’ he asked softly, one of his fingers tracing along my ring finger gently as he awaited my permission.

  My throat was thick with emotion, but thankfully instead of my customary nod I managed a croaky, ‘Yes.’ That caused Nathan to smile shyly as he slid the ring onto my finger, adjusting it so the diamonds and other stones faced upwards and glinted in the late morning sunshine. It was utterly stunning.

  ‘Thank fuck it fits,’ he muttered, making me choke out a laugh as I admired it sitting on my finger, my heart feeling full to the brim with love for this man.

  ‘Nathan, I love it. Thank you.’

  We both stood there gazing down at the ring for several silent moments, until I felt the need to break the silence. ‘So, basically, you got me this to stop guys flirting with me?’ I guessed lightly, adding a touch of humour to the moment to try and ease my urge to cry. To be honest, I didn’t care what the reason was, because I absolutely adored the ring and its engraving.

  ‘Can’t a man just buy his woman a nice gift every now and then?’ he responded, but I saw his eyes narrow as an amused look twinkled in the blue depths and I knew I had hit the nail on the head.

  ‘It doesn’t lock on like the collar, so I could just take it off when I go out. That way men can still flirt with me if they want,’ I teased, knowing that I was walking a fine line by playing with Nathan’s jealousy, but rather enjoying the small flash of panic that crossed his handsome features. ‘I was only joking, Nathan. I love it, I’ll never take it off.’

  Nodding his relief, Nathan lowered his head and kissed me, his mouth chaste, his soft lips merely pressing against mine as if sealing the deal. As he pulled back looking particularly happy, and more than a little smug, something suddenly occurred to me. ‘Are you going to wear one too?’

  A frown crossed his brows as he tilted his head to observe me, before lifting his left hand and looking at his ringless fingers. ‘I hadn’t thought about it.’

  ‘It works both ways, Nathan. Women will assume you’re single when you’re not.’ And now that he’d brought up this topic I realised just how much I hated that idea. The thought that women would consider him fair game was enough to cause hot, jealous sparks to churn in my belly.

  ‘But I would never do anything,’ he replied, looking confused.

  ‘Neither would I,’ I countered, ‘but you still wanted me to wear this.’ I gave a wiggle of my left hand to show off my ring before looking back to him with firm eyes. If I was wearing a ring, he should too.

  ‘Are you jealous, Stella?’ Nathan suddenly asked, his eyes twinkling with amusement as his lips curved into a small smile. Bloody hypocrite! I was wearing a ring that probably cost more than my last five pay cheques because of his jealousy, and yet he had the audacity to laugh at me for it!

  Instead of denying his claims, I simply shrugged and admitted the truth. ‘Yes. I want people to know you are mine too.’

  I think my blunt honesty shocked Nathan, because my words wiped the smirk right off his face as he simply stared at me with his mouth hanging slightly open. Then, so quickly that I barely even registered it, one hand snaked around my waist and dragged me closer as he pressed his lips to mine again. ‘I bloody love that you get jealous over me, Stella. I’ll wear any ring you pick out,’ he murmured against my mouth, making me grin with victory. His hands tightened around my waist and tugged my hips forwards so they met his, where I could immediately feel his length hardening against my stomach. Apparently he really loved it when I got jealous.

  I hummed happily against him as he parted his lips, his tongue gently running along the seam of my lips until I opened for him and allowed him a deeper exploration. Our tongues rubbed across each other, silently agreeing that we were OK and that our slightly tense moment earlier was now a thing of the past.

  Sliding a hand into my hair so it rested on the nape of my neck, Nathan gently tugged me closer and lowered his forehead to rest on mine. ‘I must drive you mad with all my obsessions and odd habits. I know I’m fucked up, Stella, and I don’t know why you put up with me, but I’m so bloody thankful that you do. I truly don’t know how I got so lucky. I love you.’

  OK, that did it. My emotional barrier had been topped up to overflowing with those final words and I felt tears of happiness beginning to leak from my eyes. ‘I love you too, Nathan.’ And I really did. Even with his obsessions and funny habits, he really was the love of my life. My fucked-up, gorgeous, intense, loving, sexy-as-hell, love of my life, and I wouldn’t have him any other way.

  Alice Raine

  The Untwisted Series

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  Published by Accent Press Ltd 2015

  ISBN 9781786151759

  Copyright © Alice Raine 2015

  The right of Alice Raine to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  The story contained within this book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publishers: Accent Press Ltd, Ty Cynon House, Navigation Park, Abercynon, CF45 4SN