The early morning sun cascades sheets of gold into Nate's bedroom. I lay awake, staring at him in the glory of it all. He looks so peaceful in his sleep.

Achingly careful, I bring my hand up to move his hair off his forehead and even in my best efforts, he stirs.

His arm, which is still wrapped around my waist, tightens, and I am once again flush against him.

I lean forward and pucker my lips against the bare skin of his throat, earning a groan from Nate. His hips press firmer against my own as he brings me as close to him as I possibly can. My sleeping mind instantly wakes.

Nate's eyes barely open, his long lashes batting against sleep as he looks somewhere between my nose and forehead. His eyes are as gold as the light that is streaming through the window.

I hold my breath as his fingers come up and skim over my cheek.

"Beautiful," he whispers more to himself.

The tips of his fingers move up to my temple and I close my eyes as they roam my entire face; my eyes, my nose, my lips, until they start to move down my neck.

My breathing is coming out in worked up puffs but I can't seem to move or speak. And, of course, I don't want him to stop. It is like he is mesmerizing every curve and dip of my features as if he is seeing me for the first time.

His breathing is surprisingly steady as his hand brushes against my chest, stopping momentarily to give my right breast a body launching squeeze. I bite my lip to not make a sound.

"Beautiful," he murmurs again, his eyes becoming hooded. His hand continues to move south and my breathing increases to high speed.

"I have wanted to touch you for so long." Nate continues to speak in a voice that reminds me of someone who is hypnotized. "Never had the guts to do so. Too afraid you would disappear." He pushes up my shirt and trances my navel with his index finger. "Like bubbles."

"Bubbles?" I giggle and suck in a breath when his finger drags across the top of my denim skirt. He has to still be sleeping.

Nate hums again, a sound that I now know drives my body crazy and I lace my hands into his hair to pull his head closer to mine.

"Pop," Nate says, lips smacking on the P, as he pulls back the elastic of my waist band and it snaps my skin. I jolt against him.

The feeling of his fingers ticking the inside of my inner thigh is enough to make me squirm but I'm too mesmerized to move.

I watch him with curious eyes as he traces the lace band of my underwear and his touch goes even lower. His eyes have fallen shut as his touch runs over the rough fabric.

I see stars. His movement are slow, all feeling, as his fingers over my skin but he doesn't dwell there long much to my body's dismay.

His eyes, those eyes that make the sunrise look dull, are hooded as our breathing mingles. The feeling of him so close, touching me yet not touching me at all, and looking the way he does as he is still half asleep, pushes me over the edge and I about lose it.

That is until he brushes against a rather sensitive dip on my waist.

"Nate," I gasp.

Nate's hand stops and his eyes focus as my giggles dance along the morning sun.

I cover my mouth to stop the sound because I don't want him to stop exploring. It feels amazing, like the first peak of summer and the sun is hot and warms your whole body. The chill is magically gone.

He blinks a few times before a lazy smile graces his lips at the sound and goes back to moving his fingers over my skin but nowhere near as daring as before. His eyes are no longer lowered but are now wide and wild. His breathing matches mine as I close my eyes and enjoy the way Nate is touching me as if he is free from whatever hold he contains himself with.

Nate's hand circles my right knee before sliding again up my waist and to my neck. His feather like touch then travels dantingly slow over my arm, bringing goosebumps to the surface, all the way down until he expands his large hand over my hip. His mouth is gaped open and his cheeks are bright red. I breathe out a laugh.

"Good morning to you, too," I say while trying to calm myself down. To wake up next to Nate is my new favorite thing. I snuggle closer to him and hug him to me.

"Good morning," Nate quietly responses, his morning voice raspy from sleep.

I can tell he is still half dazed by the lazy way his fingers are grazing up and down my thigh. The touch sends delicious tingles throughout my body.

My own hand rubs his chest, making a map from his beating heart to the top of the waistband of his jeans. I scrunch my nose at the fact he slept in his jeans last night. It's funny how the confining fabric didn't seem to bother either of us throughout the night.

Nate hums again, a sound that never fails to stir something in the pit of my belly. "That feels good."

"So did that."

Nate's face turns redder. "I thought I was dreaming. I didn't think you were really here let alone real."

Something tells me he would have been too shy to do that if he thought he wasn't.

"Do you dream of me often?" I look up to his face to see his eyes are still closed and a pleasant smile graces his lips.

"Embarrassingly so."

Feeling bold, I move my hand lower. I must still be in a dreamlike state too because my brain has almost shut down at the feeling of Nate's body.

"What about?" My hand grazes the band of his briefs and I snap the elastic band like he did mine. Nate gasps and his hips involuntarily jerk up towards my hand.

I place a single kiss on Nate's jaw before moving them down his neck. My tongue sponges it's way down and I throw a leg over his lower waist to gain leverage.

He moans deep in his chest and the flushness of our bodies, the sound ringing in the room like an alarm clock, makes the air almost electric. I tighten my thighs around him.

I continue to kiss down Nate's neck, noticing the way his body as tightened with the sensation from it. His hands grip at my thighs that now straddle his sides. To my pure delight, Nate makes the bold move of pressing his large hands against my back to make me drop my chest down on his.

I can feel his heart beating against mine as he strains his neck forward as I kiss his adams apple. He shivers under me. I press my bottom down on the straining fabric of his jeans out of pure animalistic torture and instantly, Nate grabs my hips and pulls me upward.

I begin to panic, afraid I pushed him too far, only to see that when I reopened my eyes, Nate's are squeezed closed as if in pain.

Nate's nostrils flare and he breathes out an incredulous laugh. He brings a hand through his hair making it stand up straight in the front. "I'm still trying to decide if I'm dreaming."

I smile and reach up to pinch both of us.

"Ow!"

"Nope, not dreaming." I lay back down beside him and settle my head back on his shoulder and sigh contently. "But it sure feels like it."

I can feel Nate's breath fluttering against my hair as he sighs contently. "What time is it?"

My eyes have fallen closed but I reopen them and crane my neck to see his alarm clock on his night stand. "A little after five in the morning."

Nate pulls away from me, his eyes the size of saucers as he looks over my head. "You stayed the night?"

I hide my face in his chest, embarrassed for reasons I can count on both hands. Instead of making a big deal about it which would add to Nate's anxiety, I kiss the fabric of his shirt where his heart is hammering under. "We both fell asleep."

"We have to get ready for school." Nate reaches down only to freeze and angel his body away from me. "I have to shower."

I bite my lip because Nate can hide nothing from me in this heavenly golden light.

"We can't stay in bed a little longer?" I don't want to leave Nate's embrace yet. He is so warm.

"My parents will be up soon." He shifts underneath me and swings his legs over the bed. "God, if they're not up already. If they heard..."

I sit up and push my bed head out of my face. My body now felt more loose than ever before and I wanted to snuggle back in Nate's sheets that smell like him and sleep some more.

"Nate, calm down, please."

"I am calm."

"No, you're not." I follow suit and get out of bed. I always forget how tall Nate is and now, standing in front of him as he lifts his shirt over his head and throws it on the floor, I am reminded that he dwarfs me.

I walk over to where his shirt has landed and pick it up. "You're freaking out now and to be honest, it's hurting my feelings." I toss the shirt into his hamper by his closet. Rejection was something I should be getting used to but not touching Nate the way I wish to do so only made me want to do so more. I am like a horny teen boy and the whole ordeal makes me feel sick with myself.

Nate freezes his fidgeting and looks down at his bed. "I'm sorry." With a shake of his head he reaches out for me. I walk to him and allow his arms to envelope me.

My eyes are level with his neck and when they pop open when his alarm clock goes off, I come face to face with red patches I made myself.

"Nate," I say muffled against his shirt.

He hums and his arms tighten around my back.

I bark out a laugh before realizing that Nate is right, his family could possibly hear us, and cover my mouth with my hand.

Nate pulls back and quizzedly looks down at me.

"You like having your neck kissed, huh?" I know he will be livid when I tell him but I can't help but feel prideful.

Nate bashfully smiles, his face turning bright red. "Only if you do it." He wraps his arms around me and pulls me close.

My hands roam up his arms, kneading and massaging his muscles in hope of relaxing him. "I'll give you a hickey anytime."

"A hickey?" Nate practically shouts before going back to a whisper. "You did not..."

I shrug before remembering that he can't see me do so. "I don't know. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."

"This is not funny, Kelly. Did you freaking give me a hickey?"

"No," I answer honestly because I don't think his face could get any redder and if it does, I am afraid he will collapse to the floor. "I gave you, like, three."

"Kelly!" Nate's scolds, reaching up and prodding the skin of his neck. He hisses when his touch makes contact with the still sensitive marks.

"Sorry," I tell him but I'm not sorry in the slightest. I grin at the fading red marks that dot from his ear to the base of his collarbone. They won't stay there for long but they sure are a pretty sight. "But I wouldn't mind showing off that you are mine, you know."

Nate makes a sound that reminds me of a starving man. The reaction from him is as grand as a nobel prize.

I bring his lips down on mine but the bathroom door shutting makes us spring apart.

"I need to get home and shower too," I whisper but don't remove myself from his arms.

I need a nice, cold, shower, that's for sure.

"I don't know how I'm going to explain this to my parents." Nate brings another hand through his hair and I have decided that I like his hair like this. I twirl a curl around my fingers.

"I'll sneak out the window." His house was a two story home like mine. This wouldn't be a first.

"You can do that?"

"Cheerleader, remember?" I step out and away from him and move towards the window to look down. "I noticed a drain pipe outside you window. I'll just climb down that."

"Something tells me this isn't your first time sneaking out of rooms without getting caught." His cheeks blush and he turns away from me to grab a pair of clean clothes.

I walk back to him and wrap my hands around his midsection. His bare skin against my cheek remains warm from sleep. "I've escaped years of grounding by sneaking out my window. Don't think too much into it, babe."

I place a kiss between his shoulder blades but before I can head back to the window to make my clean escape, Nate twists around.

"I didn't mean it like that." Both of his hands cups my cheeks.

"I know," I say and shrug. "Just don't ever think what we have is not special. Because it's the most special thing I've ever had."

His thumbs rubbing my cheekbones are distracting but it takes his mother knocking on the door to make sure he is up to snap us out of it.

I rush to the window and whisper that I will pick him up in an hour so we can grab breakfast at Linc's before heading to school.

He nods and slips out his door while I make my way down the drain pipe.