From The Shadows (From The Shadows #1)
From the Shadows
By Line F. Nielsen
From the Shadows:
You pull me from the shadows
And now I see at last
How my future
Got swallowed up by my past
You pull me into the light
Finally I can breath
You save me
Make me dare to reach
You pull me from my fear
Now finally I can see
What you do
Is what sets me free
Chapter 1
Half an hour had passed since my five year long relationship had ended, and though I felt sad about it, I had no tears to shed and if I had to be honest, I felt relief more than I felt regret.
The only regret I really felt was that I had no real friends of my own whom I could seek refuge with. My friends were also my boyfrie… I mean, my ex-boyfriend’s friends, and girlfriends were never something I had. I had just found guys were more reliable.
Worse was that the one person I could count on was Mike’s best buddy Nathan.
I had known Nathan as long as I had known Mike, and he had always had my back and looked out for me when Mike had either been unfair to me, been drunk out of his mind, or if I just needed a friend to talk to. There had just, from the very first moment we met, been this connection of trust and understanding between us; a connection that Mike had been greatly jealous of.
Now, however.. standing here alone packing some of my stuff together and trying to figure out where I could go, I was not sure if I was allowed to seek help from him.
Through the last 20 minutes I had picked up my phone five times but put it back down just as many times. Now I was once more standing with it in my hand and tired out of my mind as I finally dialed and let the call go through…
It rang three times before a deep manly voice answered.
“Hey beautiful, what’s up?”
That was a really normal way for him to answer my calls.
“Nathan.. I., I need to ask you for a favor… but I am not quite sure if I’m allowed to anymore..?”
He was silent for a few seconds before answering me and it made me wonder if he knew what had went down and if he did, how much he knew..? Had Mike told him not to help me out..??
“Sure Nikki. What do you need?”
I silently let go of the breath I had held and answered a bit more relaxed. “Mike and I split, and I need a place I can crash at for the night.“ I held a small breath to see if he would break in and reveal what he knew, but when he didn’t I kept on. “I promise to be out of your hair by tomorrow evening!”
With a warm smile in his voice he said “Sure, sure. Don’t sweat it, I will pick you up in five minutes!”
I thanked him and we ended the call.
While I waited for him to arrive I went around the apartment picking up the last things I needed. I had put on a bit of music, and because I felt more relaxed now I began singing along with Madilyn Bailey on David Guetta’s song Titanium when all of the sudden I felt someone behind me and I turned around and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw Nathan leaning up against the door frame to the living room.
He began laughing his heart warming deep laugh and I felt my cheeks redden as I turned my eyes to the ground.
“Jumpy much..?? It is just little ol’ me..!” He wasn’t little, not at all. He was tall with broad shoulders and for the first time I allowed myself to notice that he also was one sexy piece of man. He had longish dark brown hair that nearly went to his shoulder, sparkling green eyes, a gorgeous tan, a well sculpted mouth and a sizzling lean but muscular body that always made the ladies turn around after him.
Those thoughts only made my cheeks turn a deeper shade of red and I silently scolded myself for even thinking about him like that! Not even an hour had passed since my relationship with Mike had ended, for GOD’s sake!! However I managed to look up and roll my eyes at him before I too began laughing.
“Sorry about that, but you sneaked up on me. You know you could make some noise so a girl knows she is no longer alone. Or allowed to sing out her lungs in the most dreadful way..” I added while frowning.
Nathan had stopped laughing but his smile was still there. “First of all; your singing is not dreadful and second I did knock…” Our eyes caught for a moment and the teasing glint in his eyes turned to something else entirely, and made us both look away suddenly.
“So, are you ready to go??” he asked in a more serious tone.
“Yeah I am, just let me grab my bag in the bedroom”.
I grabbed my bag and we drove to his place in nearly silence.
At his place I went to put my bag in his extra bedroom when he called for me,
“Hey Nik.. What do you say we order in and watch some movies? It has been a while since we just hung out.”
I peeked through the door and nodded. “Sure thing, by the way, you know you can ask me right?”
“Ask you what?” he answered puzzled.
“About what happened with Mike and… and if you feel uncomfortable about me staying here I’ll keep my word that I will figure something out for tomorrow..”
Nathan looked me in the eyes and walked to me “Nikki, you know you are always welcome here whether Mike likes it or not!”
From the sincerity in his eyes to the gentle tone in his voice, there could be no doubt to the fact that he meant every word, and when he was right in front of me he took hold of my upper arm and pulled me in for a hug. A hug I had not known I needed, but could not have denied that I did, when suddenly tears ran down my cheeks and wetted his t-shirt right over his heart. Nathan gave good warm hugs and as his strong arms held me I allowed myself to think through what had happened today and how bad the last year had been.
Mike had been drinking more and therefor yelling at me more. He would never hit me in rage but the words had hurt me over and over again and they had reminded me of my childhood. A childhood I was still trying to push down as I tried to do with everything else that was bad. “Put a happy sticker on it and move on” had been my motto for a long time and though I knew it could not cancel out the bad, I had done it any way. Just so no one would ever see me weak again.
As my tears began to lessen Nathan pulled my chin up so he could look into my eyes. He dried my tears away with his thumps and with concern in his eyes asked me if I wanted to talk about it. I nodded and we ended up talking all through the night. We talked about the past, and Mike, and in the end we also had a laugh watching a show with Jeff Dunham before I was so tired I almost fell asleep with my head on Nathan’s broad muscular chest. He then carried me into bed and tucked me in. He even leant in and kissed me on my forehead and before I knew it I was lost to a deep sleep.
That night I had the most erotic dreams. Dreams I would have been embarrassed of, had I still been with Mike.
Chapter 2
When I woke up the next morning the apartment was silent so I decided to take a long warm shower, to wash the remains of yesterday off my mind. And once I had finished I would cook us some breakfast.
Out of habit I forgot to lock the door before I went into the shower and I didn’t think of it before I heard footsteps on the bathroom floor. But by then it was too late. Nathan had apparently in his not quite woken state of mind forgotten that I was staying over and had walked right into the shower as I stood there with closed eyes rinsing the shampoo from my hair. My shriek finally woke Nathan up and he put his hand over his eyes and began apologizing.
“Damn Nikki, I am so sorry! I will leave now… damn!… how could I be so stupid…?!” He scolded himself while trying to back away slowly without falling on his ass.
He peeked through his fingers at me with an innocent smile which soon turned into a sexy smirk that immediately stopped my giggles. Without much thought I grabbed him around the neck and pulled him to me, crashing my lips to his. Our kiss turned hungry before I could even think about pulling myself away again. When I finally managed though, we were both breathless.
Embarrassed I turned my gaze to the floor. I had no clue of what had just taken over my self-control.
“I am sorry Nathan.. I really did not plan to do that. I mean you´re Mike’s friend and..”
At first he didn’t answer he just pulled my chin back up so he could gaze into my eyes. Stepping closer to me, he backed me up against the wall and bend down to give me a tender kiss. “I don’t regret what we just did one bit” he said and then he whispered “In fact, I have wanted to kiss you like that for a long time” against my lips, making my pulse spike and making my heart try to beat its way out through my chest.
He then stepped even closer and put his right hand on my hip pulling me in so close to his body that I could feel EVERYTHING, his perfectly sculpted body, his heart racing just as fast as mine, AND his beautiful long and hard cock pushing up against my lower abdomen.
I tried my best to talk myself out of the situation so I wouldn’t do something I would regret later, but my voice of reason was easily drowned out by my hunger for this perfect specimen of a man. So I gave in!
“Then kiss me” I whispered back with a smile. And that was just what he did.
Our kissing became hungrier fast, and Nathan pushed his tongue into my mouth, tasting and seducing. We became all tongues and hands and as my knees became more and more weak he lifted me up so I could wrap my legs around his hips. He kept one hand under my upper thigh as he held me up against the wall, and with the other hand he found my aching center. With his thumb pressed softly against my little bundle of nerves, he began drawing small circles that made the fire within me burn hotter and hotter as I felt myself building.
I began gasping and had to lean my head back against the tiled wall to catch my breath.
Nathan began biting my earlobe and asked me if I was sure I wanted to go on. I nodded and in a raspy, sexy voice he said “Good because I’m not sure if I could stop myself from taking you.”
He then returned to biting, licking and sucking down my neck and when I thought I couldn’t hold on much longer he sank two fingers into my center and began massaging my most sensitive spot.
“Come for me baby!” he then commanded and I fell apart, spiraling around and around till I almost lost time and space.
When my orgasm finally began to lessen and I regained my conscience he removed his fingers from my entrance and lifted me a bit higher so he could sink into me. I had expected him to slam into me taking what he wanted fast and hard because that was what I had been used to with Mike, but instead Nathan took his sweet time.
As he pushed the tip of his stone hard cock into my heat he looked into my eyes as if asking yet again if I was sure. I nodded and he slowly slid into me inch by aching inch making me whimper and try to make him move faster but he just mouthed the word NO at me and I let him take charge.
I had never in my life felt so full and when Nathan finally was buried deep within me he stopped to let us both get use to the tight fit. It felt so amazing and I began crashing my lips with his and running my fingers into his hair as he slowly began moving within me, making me build once more. This time a much slower but even more intense fire that soon had me crying out his name, begging him to speed up his pace. And so he did.
“Baby you are so tight” he murmured breathlessly into my neck as he urged us both on. “I don’t think I can control myself much longer…”
“Then don’t” I murmured back and with that he sped up even faster making me gasp and build and build until we both exploded together in an all consuming orgasm that took over and made the whole world go black for what seemed much longer than it probably was.
Nathan kept a hold of me while we both tried catching our breath; he was still buried balls deep within me and still semi hard.
He kissed the tip of my nose as he pulled out of me and it made me whimper.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked with a bit of concern in his voice.
“No Nate, you just gave me the best orgasm of my life” I admitted while blushing. “But I guess I am a bit sore”
He smiled a cocky smile at me as he put me down on my feet again. “Well sore is how I like you to feel; then you won’t easily forget how good I made you feel”
I tried to smack his arm but he caught it and pulled me into an embrace and instead of being annoyed by his coy commend I relaxed into arms as I let out a content sigh.
“I think we should get dry, then I would like to bring you back to my bed and just have you snuggle up with me under the covers” He said with his head bent down against the top of mine.
“Can we bring food?” I wondered aloud not really having returned my wit yet.
“Sure!”
We dried each other off and when we finished Nathan lifted me into his arms and carried me into his big soft bed. He then went to the kitchen and a few minutes later he came back with a big tray filled with food, coffee and orange juice. We then ended up spending the next couple hours cuddling and talking, and at some point we both drifted off.
Chapter 3
I woke up around 2 pm, and at first I struggled to figure out where I was. But then I noticed Nathan by my side and I, little by little, remembered what had happened, and the guilt began taking me over. I had to get out of his arms and out of this room. I had only regained my single status yesterday and I was already in the arms of another man. Not just any man but the best friend of my now ex-boyfriend. Furthermore what we had done might mean Nathan had become my rebound guy, and it could potentially be the thing that ruined my only true friendship. Could I really afford that??
Slowly I tried unwrapping myself from his arms and though he came with some mumbled sounds he didn’t wake up.
I then tiptoed my way to the door and put my hand on the handle. As I began easing it open that stupid door had to squeak, and as it did Nathan woke up and looked right at me.
“Hey Nik” He said with a sleepy but sexy smile. “Where are you going? Come back to bed”
I really tried to manage my feelings, I did, but before I could find my control and put on a poker face, my emotions ran over my brow. Did he notice it or could I get away with acting cool?
“Nowhere…I just needed to get up and I didn’t want to wake you”
Sadly he had seen what happened on my face and wanted to get it out of me.
“Nikki, you are an open book to me“ he began “So don’t try to hide from me, just tell me what’s wrong?” He was concerned about me, and I could see some other emotion in his eyes which I couldn’t recognize at that moment.
“I’m fine, it’s nothing” I said as I turned to leave the room.
I had barely stepped into the living room before a strong but still gentle hand grabbed my wristed to turn me around. He then backed me up against the wall and caged me in between his hand, which he had placed on the wall beside my head and his body. With the hand he had grabbed me he cradled my cheek and made me look into his eyes. He then leaned in. My heart began racing within my chest by his proximity alone, but as I had expected he did not kiss me. Instead he just kept looking into my eyes trying to read my emotions from off my face.
“I know what happened between us earlier was not exactly planned, and it might have been better waiting before anything would happen. BUT I DO NOT regret it one bit, I told you that, Nikki I WANT you…” I could see that he was desperately trying to figure out how to say the right words to calm me down but also to make me reali
ze that we hadn’t done anything wrong.
“…and I won’t let what happened ruin the fact that I promised to always be here for you, so PLEASE don’t pull away from me now”
He had once more hit what I was worried about spot-on as he always did. Somehow I was never able to hide anything from him, though God knows I had tried. So I decided to trust him.
“Okay… I trust you… BUT if Mike finds out what is happening here between us, there WILL be hell to pay!”
“Yes I know” He sighed. “And with all the crap he has been pulling through the years I do NOT give a shit anymore!”
Anger flashed in his eyes before he regained his composure and turned his attention back to me. I know he had hated how Mike had been treating me a lot of the time, and he had also often tried to talk him into treating me better. I also expected that there were more to the story but I hadn’t wanted to pry or make it worse. I mean, they had grown up together and had almost been like brothers when I met them, so I could have easily come between family.
I gave Nathan a small smile to let him know that his outburst had not pushed me away and I tilted my chin up in an invite for him to kiss me. I wanted to take away his dark thoughts. Also, I felt much better about all of it now, and having him this close, and naked might I add, made my hunger for him return.
He took my invite without hesitation and pulled me into his arms as he took my breath away with the most consuming kiss I had ever had. His lips were so soft yet firm and with them he took all he could get in that one kiss, and as I broke free we were both out of breath.
I knew if I did not remove myself from his embrace now, we would end up in bed again.
“Nate I need to take this slow if we are going to see what we are to each other now.”
For a few seconds he looked a bit disappointed but then it turned into understanding and acceptance.
“Okay we will take it slow.”
He leaned in and whispered in my ear “but I will have you again and I am not letting go of you.”
His words were so deliciously commanding that it gave me butterflies in my stomach and I began regretting my request that we’d take it slow.