Head Down

Chapter 26

A/N: AND NOW the moment you've all been waiting for....

KATIE'S POV

At the time, making it on my own had seemed so important. Vital. Even though there was only one true reason for me to flutter off to some god forsaken town in North Dakota, I felt as if my own self respect -currently my only conceivable possession- would crumble to dust if I didn't.

But then Nate had seemed to fall into The Ultimate Black Hole of Emotional Pain and I realized there were some worse things than piggy backing off the Ashton's for a few months. I don't know. Maybe. There was just this deep, irrefutable feeling that Nate was somehow in more danger than me -and that just wasn't going to fly.

So I really meant it about Disney World. It's supposed to be the happiest place on earth, right? Not that advertising is the end all be all, but it's worth a shot. Now, kissing Nate, everything from digging for unicorn skeletons to eating brussels sprouts seems like it's worth a shot. It is without a doubt the most amazing feeling in the world, and in the back of my mind I'm glad the others had left while I talked to Nate.

Or, you know, not talked.

Whatever works right?

This is doing more than working, for me at least. It's like everything about him is absolutely perfect -I tell myself 'maybe it's just because I have no experience in this department' but know there has to be more to it- from his savory taste with no real name to the way his bottom lip is chapped in the right corner. My eyes are closed but I know his green ones are glowing in the enticing way they do, calling me ever closer to his muscled body.

When he lightly scrapes my upper lip with his teeth -somehow I know he doesn't have the heart to nip at me- I open gladly for him.......and there he goes again. Being too damn good for his own well being. Example for right now, at some point he's going to have to drink water or eat or breathe and I'm simply not letting his moody butt out of my hold.

I decide to break my promise to myself right then, as Nate and I make magic, about leaving and turn it into this instead: I WILL be happy -wherever I go I'm not hanging onto the baggage anymore. That decision feels so good, but not nearly as amazing has Nate right now.

I'll probably have to leave the house, but not Murphy altogether. Not this boy. I don't think about what that would mean or where it would lead or how that might effect the future I never thought I'd survive to, because I'm preoccupied with a whole new battle -Nate's dominance over my mouth.

Bring it on.

Just when I start to MAYBE consider not leaving the Ashton residence -truly it's not THAT necessary- Nate pulls away. Not far, thank god, but just enough so that our swollen lips are no longer intertwined. His nose rests against mine and I can smell all the spices that surround him and...

"Hey," he says quietly, kissing me back for a millisecond but hanging back again to get his words in.

"Hay is for horses," I reply, breathing harder than ever before and not caring that he hears.

He chuckles and continues in a register so low I can barely recognize his words, "You okay?" He's standing up but dipping his head to keep it in it's position, and I'm crushed to him by both sets of our arms around each other. His chest heaves up and down along with mine, and I'm pretty sure we were made to fit together like this, as lock and key, chest and chest, boy and girl.

I sound like an immature child, stupid even, but if the shoe fits...

"Fantastic," I reply, and it's not at all a lie.

"Good," he says, brushing my lips softly. I push for more, but he denies me again and smiles a tiny, rueful smile.

"That's not fair," he says, back to breathing hard. I smirk, very proud of me.