White Lies (Book 1)

The Incident

The Incident

I slid into bed quietly and without fuss, hoping not to wake up the sleeping, half-naked man taking up more space than he should. I couldn't help but smile. Even when I was bone-tired and half dead on my feet, Nathan still had the ability to lighten me up.

Today had been a tiring day for both of us – Mei's paperwork was beginning to mount, and between that and my mid-term case studies, I've barely had time to be with him. Studying as an undergrad is one of those things that sound great in theory, but never in practice. The majority of my classes were spent in lecture rooms, where we were forced to sit and stare at the back of the professor's head. Things would only become harder from now on, but my job as a lawyer's assistant secretary gave me a kind of first-hand experience that many of my classmates don't receive until their final years in Law School.

After all, I had about six years of legal studies and criminology to go.

I settled into the covers and wrapped an arm around Nathan's side, hugging his back to me. He breathed light and steadily, and I snuggled closer, letting the warm of his skin spill over into mine. It had been days since we had slept together at the same time, and I missed everything about him.

It was unacceptable how much time we were spending apart.

"Mmm," he murmured. My eyes, which had begun to drift closed, opened again. Slowly, he turned around to face my direction. His arms wrapped around me, and immediately I felt safe and protected.

My breath caught in my throat, but I hid it well. There was something so gorgeous about him when half-asleep, and I just couldn't find it within me to look way. I think it had something to do with his messy hair and flushed cheeks and sleepy blue eyes...

The list could go on forever.

"Did I wake you?" I whispered into his Adam's apple. It bobbed underneath my lips whenever he swallowed. It was little things like this that made me fall in love with him all over again. What with our new lives as adults, our relationship had developed into something more than a high-school fling. Though what Nate and I have had always been more than a fling.

It had been real right from the very start.

I couldn't imagine not melting a little whenever he absently rubbed my back in slow strokes, or left me a glass of orange juice at the table whenever he knew I was running late. I imagined that we would spend the rest of our lives being as madly in love as we were now. Nathan Ericson was perfect. And best of all, he was mine.

"Hmm? Nah," he sighed, on the verge of falling asleep again. I burrowed my head into his neck, finding the little spot that had gradually become my pillow. The smell of chocolate lulled me back to the state of drowsiness I had been in before. I was about to fall asleep before he yawned a quiet, "missed you, baby" into my ear.

"Missed you, too," I responded, smiling as I pressed drowsy kisses into his neck. The moment was so lovely and wonderful that I almost didn't want to go to sleep. Screw waking up early tomorrow - Mei Nguyen could survive without me for a couple of hours. Nathan had taught me to live in the present, and that is exactly what I wanted to do.

"Careful there," he teased. "You keep doing that, and we'll never get any sleep."

I giggled, pressing our bodies closer together. "I can't help that you're so mouth-watering."

"Damn straight." All breath was knocked out of me when Nathan flipped us over, trapping me between him and the mattress. I tried to laugh, but his mouth swallowed the sound. We stayed in that position and kissed deeply for a long time, our bodies becoming more entangled as the minutes passed. Nathan's mouth was so warm, so inviting, that I couldn't help the reaction it brought out of me.