Untamed (New York Unraveled #1)

Chapter Seven.

KAREN.

I skimmed my hands down the contour of his ripped abs, feeling each toned muscle carved into his body perfectly. It was certainly an advantage that he slept shirtless. He pulled me down by my hair and roughly kissed me, pushing his tongue deep inside my mouth like he wanted to taste every part of me all at once.
My hands soon found the bulge in his sweats, his erection straining to be freed from its fabric constraints. I obliged and pulled down his sweats and boxers, letting the whole length of him spring up. He groaned into my mouth as I stroked him gently. Having the control to his ecstasy in the palm of my hand made me feel so powerful.
I pressed lingering kisses down his torso, giving a lick to each of the buff pecs, until my tongue was tracing the narrow strip of waist where his body streamlined into the V-shape his expensive suits always flaunted.
He bunched my hair in his hands, guiding me lower. I didn't have to be told twice. I pecked teasing kisses along the shaft until he was growling at me like an animal, and finally dipped my head to take him in. Keeping my tongue at the base of the shaft, I bobbed my head up and down to take him in inch by inch until he was hitting the back of my throat.
I held onto his hips for support, the need to consume him overtaking every other need. Ignoring my gag reflex, I took him that deep once more. He tried to tug my hair to pull me away but I could feel him jerking and soon he came undone in my mouth.
I heard him whimper out a moan as I licked up every drop of him. I swirled my tongue around the shaft until I'd completely cleaned him up. He practically heaved me up like a rucksack and slid me beneath him. "You're one talented woman." He sounded so husky, so crazed, it almost drove me to the edge.
I wrapped my legs around his waist and lifted my head up a little to trace his angular jaw with my lips. He closed his eyes and slid inside me with a slight gasp. The shadow of a beard covering his jaw was rubbing erotically against my skin. His rough ways were a marked contrast to the soft pillows beneath me. I pulled him closer to me, my nails digging into his back. He sucked in a breath through his teeth at the sweet pain.
"Damn it," I groaned when I felt him inside me, pushing my limits like never before.
He thrust inside me with a primal force, driven by a corporeal craving that seemed insatiable, and I tried not to scream, muffling my loud responses by nibbling along his neck.
The lascivious rollercoaster of pain and pleasure fell off the track way too soon and we both crashed down together, holding tightly on to each other to get back alive. I was breathing very hard and each time oxygen went in, it ached because he was the only thing I wanted inside me.
"That. Was. Amazing," I managed to say between breaths.
He chastely kissed my forehead which was drenched with sweat.
We lay together for quite a while in companionable silence, interrupted only by the sound of his loud heartbeat. I was comfortably perched on top of him, with my head on his chest and his strong arms wrapped around me lovingly.
He took a deep breath in and let it out, his chest rising and falling with the action. "I've got to go," he said suddenly.
I rolled off him, kind of surprised at the sudden change of heart. I stared at him in worry as he changed his clothes. His eyebrows were downcast like he was thinking way too hard and a slight frown marred his handsome face.
"Something wrong?" I asked hesitantly, hoping I hadn't said or done something to upset him.
He shook his head and disappeared inside the washroom, only to emerge fifteen minutes later in a new pair of trousers and a crisp white shirt that he was buttoning up.
I wore the shirt he had discarded earlier and stared at him with growing dread. He wasn't even looking at me. "Nathan..."
As if something had just struck his mind, he turned on his heel and marched straight up to me with a determined face. "Can I ask you something?" he said, sitting down at the edge of the bed.
I crawled closer to him and closed the top three buttons of his shirt, smoothing down the collar. "Anything."
"Do you not trust me?" he asked.
My eyes snapped up. "I wouldn't exactly be in bed with you if I didn't, would I?"
He moved my fingers away from his collar, apparently unsatisfied with my answer, and started to get up but I pulled him back down to me.
"What's wrong, Nathan?" I asked again.
"Nothing," he muttered and tried to get away and yet again I had to reel him back.
"You expect me to tell you everything that worries me. I thought it would go both ways," I said pointedly.
He sighed. "It's just..." He sighed again. "I really like you, you know? But... You don't tell me anything unless I rip it out of you. I tried so hard to gain your trust but ultimately, it's like I'm forcing myself on you. I-" He shook his head. "You know what? Chuck it."
"Nathan Black. Slow down there a little. Man, you make my head spin," I chided him.
For the third time, he sat down again and I sidled closer to him and gently guided his head to my shoulder. He was stiff for a second but then he loosely encircled my waist with his arms.
"I like you too, you know? I told you that I have trouble asking people for help. Because I don't know how to. You're such an amazing man, Nathan. Why would you ever get such thoughts in your head? You've singularly helped me more than everybody combined on this planet. I do trust you. I trust you with myself, and I don't know what bigger form of trust there can be."
Once I was finished, I wanted to pat myself on the back. That was a damn good speech. I should probably go into something like counselling or motivational speaking.
"I'm not asking you to ask me for help. But you could at least pick up my calls? I was worried sick for two days straight, baby doll," he said. He turned his face sideways so that his lips were pressed against my neck.
I pulled back a little to look in his eyes. "You called me?"
He nodded. "You didn't know that?"
I searched around for my jeans and then for my mobile phone inside those jeans. It was switched off. "It was silent earlier, and then I guess the battery drained. I'm sorry. I didn't check."
"Oh. It's okay."
"See, I wasn't ignoring your calls. I just didn't know," I pointed out.
"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry." This time when he smiled, it reached his eyes.
I asked him to give me a charger, and since we both had an iPhone, he gave me his. I plugged it in a socket above the study table. No sooner had I switched it on, it started ringing.
"Hey, Ash-"
She started screaming her head off at me before I could get two whole words through. "Where the fuck are you? Do you know how scared I was? Where have you been the whole damn night? Is there no sense of responsibility in you or what?"
"Ashley. Ashley. Ashley!" I shouted back but to no avail. She was on a roll.
"After all that has happened, couldn't you at least tell me where you're going? All Rayne tells me is that some Nathan Black came and took you. That's all. That chick can't handle shit. I thought you were responsible! Why didn't you tell me you were going somewhere?"
I cut the call at that. I was fuming. I was positively over the top mad at her. She was my sister, yes, but there was no way I was listening to all of that shit from anyone in my life. And she wasn't even a part of my life.
She called again and this time when I picked up, I started screaming at her before she could say anything. "You're talking to me about responsibility, Ashley?" I said unbelievingly. "You? Because you were the first one to be on mom's beck and call both the times she had cancer, right? And you were the first one to rush to her help when I didn't have the fucking money for her treatment, isn't it? Oh yes, you came rushing from wherever you were right when you got to know about it. You didn't even attend her funeral, goddamn it. Don't talk to me about fucking responsibilities!"
Nathan had been knotting his tie in front of the mirror but he froze when he saw me shouting, looking at me in concern.
"I told you I was in a remote part of Africa, Karen. I couldn't get phone signals there half the time. If I had known about it-"
I cut her off again. "Please, bitch. Don't tell me that story. Where were you eight years ago? I didn't have money for her treatment then either. But you felt so comfortable to quit on both of us because apparently Venice was more important, right? You're just like dad. So stop giving me the shit," I said bitterly.
"I get why you're mad at me," she said quietly, "but you're not even willing to understand me. You don't want to see what my situation is or was like. I might be a quitter but you're so self-centered, you can't see past anyone but you."
I didn't even know that tears had again escaped my eyes until Nathan kneeled down in front of me and wiped them off with the pad of his thumb. "Okay. Fine," I said emotionlessly and cut the call.
"Who was it?" he asked me softly, stroking my hair.
"My sister." I sighed. He didn't have to ask me this time. I would tell him what was going on, on my own. "She's a lifestyle journalist and she left us alone a long time ago to pursue this career. And, well, you heard the rest of the conversation. I'm just really mad at her. She was pissed because I didn't tell her I'm spending the night with you. Like, who the fuck is she to talk to me about responsibility?" I laughed without humor.
Nathan had stilled somewhere between when I was speaking. He was looking at me but he wasn't exactly looking at me.
"Your sister?" he asked.
"Yes."
"You said her name was Ashley?"
"Yes."
"Lifestyle journalist?"
I lowered my eyebrows at his absurd questions. "Yes."
"Went to Venice eight years ago?"
"God, yes. Why do you ask?" I said, finally exasperated.
Without a word, he got up and disappeared inside his closet. I heard the sound of clothes being shuffled and a couple of drawers being open and shut. He emerged a couple of minutes later with a photo frame in his hand. It had a picture of him, probably from his early twenties, with his arms wrapped around a pretty girl, both of them smiling indulgently at the camera. Their eyes shined with hope and love, like their worlds hadn't been broken yet.
"Recognize her?" he asked.
I gasped at my sister's face staring back at me.

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Author's note: Hey guys! Thank you so much for reading this. Please vote and comment if you liked it. Any feedback is appreciated. :)