A Fractured Lover (Student/Teacher)

Chapter 35

Warning: This chapter contains steamy content towards the end. Read at own risk.

He loves me...

My heart was thudding anxiously inside my chest, pounding so hard; the feeling leaving my lungs desperate for air.

He loves me.

Nathan's lips left my forehead slowly. He ducked his head, hiding his face from my view as he took a few uneven steps away from me.

"Like I said, I know it's quick and we've only known each other for a few months but... that's how I feel," he mumbled, his eyes still cast down and studying his gradually dampening floor from our wet clothes.

The tone he spoke in split my heart in two painfully and I could feel my eyes beginning to sting. He sounded so shy, worried, and...unsure?

"You don't have to say it back now or... ever if you don't feel it. That's not why I said it." He ran his hand over the back of his neck, rubbing it back and forth and looking exceedingly more and more uncomfortable.

And that's when I realized; he thought I didn't share the same feelings for him.

He had to be blind.

"Say it again." I ordered, needy to hear him speak the words that I had been unsure of saying myself up until this moment.

Finally, he snapped his beautiful blue eyes up to mine, hesitation and slight rejection encased in his gaze. His eyes wandered over my face in uncertainty.

"Say it again... please."

His eyes settled on mine, an intense look replacing the uncertainty just as he spoke.

"I love you."

A rush of breath slipped through my lips and echoed through the thick air surrounding us. My chest began to heave up and down in desperate movements. The emotions cascading through my body were beginning to take over.

"Again."

He took a step forward, his stare still trained on mine intently. Passion and heat began to swarm behind his eyes as he gazed down at me, his eyebrows creased downward in truth.

"I love you, Alex. There's never been anyone before who has made me feel like you do, nothing even close."

I felt his hand cradle the side of my face gently, his thumb rubbing fiery circles on my cheek.

"I knew that first time you opened your mouth when we first met that you were special but I never imagined that you would be the first woman to claim my heart, to make me feel so... worthy, so special."

"You are," I whispered softy.

He smiled my favorite lopsided smile, his eyes sparkling with love. "I am so wildly, so deeply, and so lost in love with you, Ms. Merrick."

Before anymore could be said and my heart could explode, I lifted myself on my toes and propelled myself into his body, crushing our lips and bodies together.

Nathan caught me like he expected my sudden movement. He wrapped his arms entirely around my slim waist, both of his hands gripping at my wet dress, his biceps crushing my frame against his.

He leaned our bodies backwards as we deepened the kiss, my back arching with his movements, my arms fixed tightly around his neck.

Nathans lips pulled at mine eagerly, passionately as I tried to keep up with his fervent actions. I was beginning to feel heady as he continued to deepen our kiss with such intensity that I had never felt before. He was pouring every ounce of his love into this kiss that his emotions were practically tangible. And I was giving him everything back wholeheartedly.