| Nathan |

I hadn't really understood what it was like to 'miss' someone until I had to be away from Isabella for almost two weeks. And now that I was back in New York, in a car, driving to her apartment, I suddenly understood what it also meant to be excited to see someone. She had been texting me, expecting that she'd come meet me at my apartment, but I couldn't wait and I wanted to surprise her.

I parked in front of her building, entering and heading quickly to the elevator. I knocked on her door, and nearly two seconds later, it was yanked open. She was grinning, her eyes bright, looking as beautiful as ever.

"Nathan!" she says happily and launches herself into my arms. "I knew it, I knew you were coming to surprise me." I hug her tightly, inhaling her sweet rose perfume and holding her close.

"Hey baby." I sigh, burying my face in her neck and shoulder. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." She whispers. We stumble back into the apartment, still in each others arms as I kick the door shut. As soon as we're behind closed doors, her lips meet mine feverishly, kissing me. I press her back against the door, hiking her legs up around my waist, and kissing her back with just as much force. I break from her lips and kiss down her neck, pushing her hair back. I run my hands up her legs and to her hips.

"Uh, I've missed this." she groans, locking my hair in her fingers as I continue to kiss a trail to her shoulder.

"I want to talk and hear all about your week but I need you." I confess, pulling back and we both laugh. She grabs my jaw in her tiny hands, crashing our lips together again.

"I need you too." she gasps, I press myself against her and she sighs, kissing me again. Her hands push my suit jacket off my shoulders and to the ground, just as I pull her shirt over her head to join it.

Eventually we end up in her bedroom, both in our underwear, panting and kissing each other desperately. I run my hands down her soft body, squeezing her legs as they wrap themselves around my hips, she gasps as my lips meet her throat. Her head tilting back into her pillows, one hand on my arm and the other in my hair. I trail my fingers lower and lower on her body, loving the sounds she makes under my touch.

"Nathan." she whispers and I groan against her shoulder, needing more now. I push farther and farther, until there's no more space left between us.

"God." she mutters, curling up against my side as I wrap one arm around her and pull her closer.

"I know." I say, my voice still hoarse and ragged. "Fuck, that was good."

"Going nearly two weeks without . . . that was rough." she says, giggling and I laugh too. "You better not go away again for a very long time."

"Oh trust me, with you here, I won't." I say, rolling over onto my side to face her. She looks beautiful, even in the dim lighting in her room, I can see the flush in her cheeks, the way her hair tumbles down her back in long waves . . . everything about looking at her was perfect.

"So, what did you do without me?" I ask, now ready to talk with her, our needs from before satisfied . . . for now. She smiles lightly.

"Well, I worked and ate and watched TV." I smirk at her and she smiles slyly. "I know, very exciting. Anyways, then Rachael got engaged and I spent all my free time after that helping with wedding planning because she is an over-achiever and wanted to start now."

"I can see that." I say and she giggles.

"In this one week I looked at more wedding magazines than I ever have in my entire life." she admits. "And then today we went shopping and went to lunch . . ." she trails off then, something flashing in her eyes.

"What?" I ask and she shakes her head, what was there just a second ago, now gone.

"Nothing, just, we looked at even more magazines today." she adds, her voice faltering. I narrows my eyes, curious for a second, but then I shrug it off, deciding it was nothing. "So what about you?" she asks, reaching forward and running her fingers across my chest.

"Work." I say. "And nothing else."

She laughs and I grin.

"I didn't expect anything else." she says, leaning forward. "It's actually kind-of hot how seriously you take your work."

"Well, when you've built something like I have, you become very serious about it." I explain and she nods, leaning forward. "You think it's hot though? I thought it irritated you."

She shakes her head, laughing lightly as I roll on top of her and press her back into the mattress. "No, it's hot." she says, her voice fluttery as I lower my lips to hers. We kiss more, before we end up curled into one another again, her head on my chest and fingers running over my abdomen. I never anticipated finding so much comfort in her touch. I was slowly falling into this trust with her that I'd never had with any one else. I felt . . . safe with her.

I'd spent most of my life cutting myself off from people, afraid they'd betray me like my mother and father did. Afraid they'd leave me behind, but I trusted Isabella wasn't like that. In fact she made me see a lot of people weren't like that.

"What's this?" she asks suddenly, sitting up as her fingers found a scar I'd gotten when I was little. I flinch immediately, lifting her hand from me and she flicks her eyes up to meet my gaze.

"It's nothing." I say, my tone more harsh than I'd intended. Her eyes narrow, her expression gentle.

"You can tell me . . . look, I don't ask about before you were adopted because I know you'll tell me when you're ready. But I want you to know you can tell me anything, I won't even speak, I'll just listen." she says softly and looking into her eyes I believe her, but part of me still won't do it.

"I can't talk about it." I mutter, looking away up at the ceiling. I sigh, closing my eyes and I feel her shift to lay next to me again. I couldn't talk about it because I didn't like to remember it. My birth father was the cruelest person I've ever known and yet, I always trusted him when I was a boy. Listened to him because I didn't have anyone else. He was also emotionless- not a single part of him could really feel anything, least of all compassion.

"My dad used to beat me." I say, not even sure why I'm telling her this, but the words just . . . came out. "Not all the time, but every once and a while, he'd take a crack at me." She's silent and I think it's because she doesn't know what to say. I wouldn't know what to say if I were in her position. "I was seven when he . . . he got a belt and hit me with the buckle. Right there."

My hand reaches for the jagged scar, running parallel across my hip and to my back. A constant reminder that even if my birth father was gone . . . I could never forget what he did to me. "I can still feel how much it hurt- if I think about it."

I don't say anything else, afraid I'm scaring her and afraid that now she'll pity me. She's quiet for a while longer and the silence is killing me until she finally says something.

"I'm sorry." she whispers. "I didn't know . . . how bad it was."

"You don't need to know." I say and she sits up, looking at me.

"I want to know everything about you." she says earnestly. "If you'll let me."

I sigh, this was exactly what I didn't want. I didn't want to share any of my childhood with anyone, even her. My adopted parents knew the most of anyone and I wanted to keep it that way. My siblings are content with knowing both my birth parents are simply gone now. They never ask details, even now that we're older, there's a silence surrounding the time until I was nine. A silence I intend to keep. Some things aren't worth knowing.

"I don't like to talk about my childhood because it's not worth your time, it's not worth anyone's time." I say. "My birth parents are dead now. My mother died when I was nine and my father rotted away in prison before he was killed in a fight. It's over for them and for me." I pause and she simply watches, not saying anything. "I just . . . I moved on and I don't want to go back."

"Okay." she says after a moment and relief washed over me, I'm grateful she doesn't ask anymore questions because I couldn't handle much else. She kisses me then, and it's a good thing because I don't want to talk anymore.

Hello Everyone!

Another chapter, it's a little shorter but we are getting to see a little more into Nathan's past. Trust me, there will be more to come. There will be another update between tomorrow and Tuesday, we'll see when it goes up. Thanks for reading! Tell me what you thought in the comments!

XX,

- Keara Rose 🌹