No Strings Attached

Chapter Nineteen

They both completely missed the look of utter astonishment that Tori was throwing at Jayden, who simply twitched one corner of his lips up in a knowing smirk.

“And I want to make you coffee,” Nate was whispering sensuously into Shannon’s ear, “But I just need to kiss you first, woman, I woke up lonely this morning ...”

 Angling her face to his, he kissed her softly and tenderly – quite sweetly, at least by his usual standards, and she lifted her hand to run over the faint rasp of stubble at his jaw. “You’re wearing too many clothes,” he whispered quietly against her lips, so that neither member of their dumbfounded audience could hear, but Shannon’s answering giggle seemed to throw Tori into action.

“Ahem,” she fake-coughed raising one of her hands in the air as if for attention, while the other rested on her hip.

One of Nate’s eyelids opened, but he never moved his lips away from Shannon’s. Tori’s stance was that of some sort of “what-ev-er” American cliché – all wild blonde hair, and confrontational ‘I will have some answers’ stance, and Jayden was watching her with an indulgent smile. Nate groaned, touching his forehead to Shannon’s.

“Have I stepped into the Twilight Zone?” Tori asked, in astonishment, “What the hell is going on?”

“She’s your best friend,” Nate murmured, “Women love to talk about this stuff!”

“She’s your sister,” Shannon sighed out as his lips touched her jaw, “And I have no plans except coffee ...”

“She is the cat’s mother,” Tori spluttered out, with an outraged chuckle in her voice, “And I’m still waiting for some answers!”

“Or the cat’s sister,” Shannon’s eyes lit up with her small victory, standing on the tips of her toes and kissing the tip of Nate’s nose as he groaned again, in defeat, and she pulled away to get her hands on that temptress of a kettle, “Boom! Thanks Jay! I’ll make the coffee!”

Jayden chortled quietly in the corner, spluttering a little on his coffee as Tori dragged Nate over to the table – this tiny little blonde haired pixie that had her giant of a brother by a bicep the size of her leg, and he was following, head bowed and mammoth chest vibrating with the chuckles.

“So...?”

“So nothing,” Nate shrugged smiling tolerantly, something that looked suspiciously like a blush rising over his sharp cheekbones. Tori had never known him to have a girlfriend, and it was quite new to him to have anyone involved in his personal life at all – even Jay to some extent, “We went to Milan. Shannon, tell your friend about Milan! The shoes and stuff, she loves that shit ...” He took the mug of tea offered to him, placing it on the table, before pulling Shannon into his lap and running his hands up underneath the hem of her camisole t shirt and across her bare midriff.

“Milan?” Tori gasped, “You went off to Milan and never told me? I thought you were in London! Anything could have happened to you! But ... my God! Milan! You’ve always wanted to go to Milan...!”