The Mute Mistress

The Mute Mistress: Chapter 24

*This chapter contains mature content*

Chapter 24

"Happy Birthday, Nathaniel," Belle smiled. He brightened, accepting the hug and kiss on his cheek. When his eye wandered, she touched his face.

"When will you two stop avoiding each other?"

"I'm not avoiding her," he murmured, fixing his jacket and holding his defiant gaze away. He started quickly for the garage until he was brought to an abrupt halt from Belle's farewell advice. "Give her time."

His throat bounced up and down. "I'll see you in the evening."

"You mean this afternoon, with your cupcake?" Her voice sounded wishful.

"No."

"Miksi?(Why?)"

He didn't care if it was his birthday, he didn't want to force any smiles when his distant gray-eyed heart was afraid of him. The year before, he remembered hiding his emptiness from Belle when she visited his office to share his treat. He hoped the following year would not be the same, but alas the void felt deeper.

"It's okay, Belle. Please, don't go out of your way for an old tradition."

Driving, he appreciated the traffic standing between him and the Michelin Tower.

He remembered Mary's glassy stare before Nellie to quick action and disappeared into the house with her sister.

He was tempted to follow, but fear kept him still until a switch went off in his head. He had returned to his guests with a smile on his face. He was on autopilot through a small catered lunch and while playing with Buddy who enjoyed speeding up the gallery and back into Nathan's hands to be lifted in the air. She didn't hear him, he told himself over and over whenever he saw her. The smiles she returned were forced. The distance in her eyes he caught expertly. Naturally, he wondered if his wound was as apparent. He said his mantra at least a hundred times between answering Freya and Nellie's questions about his family and his legacy. What he deni

The energy dropped when he mentioned his father's death. He made sure to bore into Belle's poker face while recounting James D. Vanderbilt. He didn't have the same fervor in his voice as Nellie did remembering her father. He had less to say too.

When it was time for the sweet Georgias to leave their last girl behind, the protective sister pulled him to the side. His pilot light disappeared, watching her pause for a long breath before asking if what he said was true.

His mind roiled, wondering if Nellie believed him. She was hard to read, but after all that he learned, he couldn't fault her for the emotionless shield. The selfish side of him wanted to text Mary. It was his birthday, he wanted to see her. The air of hitting a new milestone in age eventually bled hope into his imaginations of the future. The middling hours between his eventual return home were filled with promising ways he could break the ice over what she heard.

He typed quickly through an email when his landline rang. He checked the time. It was a few minutes past noon.

"Yes, Chester," Nathan scowled but hid his aggravation in his tone. "Send her over."

Nathan grabbed his chin before rolling his fingers over his desk. He had to keep his temper down internally chanting he wouldn't fight with Belle. The door opened and his smile disappeared. Mary walked through with a cupcake-sized Tupperware and apprehension clouding her features. He sprang to his feet.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

She approached and placed the container on his desk.

He frowned. "Is Belle okay?"

She looked at him briefly and signed for 'medicine'. He pressed his lips together and lowered his eyes. "I see. Thank you."

Mary pulled her chin up and signed 'Happy Birthday' before turning on her heels. He sprang from behind his desk and blocked her path. "Just tell me... did you want to see me?"

Averting her shocked eyes, she formed fists. She couldn't finish shaking her head when Nathan contested her unfinished answer, "Really?"

Her breathing was audible, but she faced him to repeat her answer. "Don't lie to me, Mary. Belle wouldn't pressure you to come here because it's just a goddamned cupcake!"

Shakily, she pulled her phone from her pocket and typed. I don't know why you can't let what happened go.

Slowly, he raised his eyes from the screen. "You know why? You heard me say it."

Taking a moment to look into his fiery eyes, two streams trickled down her face. The ache in her heart won and she tearfully signed, "Say what?"

"I love you."

She pulled her hands to her chest and hunched forward.

"Do you want me to say it again?" His voice swam into her ears, as she raised her glassy grays blazed with a passionate plea. "Mary, I love you."

She studied his walk to the door before he locked it. He pushed away to pull her against him. She didn't fight folding her lips with his. What was the use of fighting her feelings? His mouth was bliss. She missed catching the intermittent scent of his cologne slipping in between catching her breaths when they changed the angles of their kiss.

He pulled back but not too far. His thumb ran over the scar above her lip before he felt around her back and down her hips. Mary rested her palms on his lips observing him survey her body.

Nathan considered her frame under a fitted cotton shirt and dark skinny jeans. He hooked his fingers to the front of her pants and caused her breath to hitch in her throat. He returned to her eyes as a precautionary measure. When her fingers curled up his jaw and up to his hair, he jerked to undo her button. Pink splotched along both of her cheeks.

The taste of her took him from hard to rock solid. She looked down and appraised his bulging swell trapped behind a zipper. The ravenous craving was mutual. She needed him again and didn't care how he took her. There were a variety of ways at their disposal in his professional playground. Again, he stole her mouth and his tongue swept inside of her as he moved them to his couch. Her fingers curled into his shirt that clung to his firm chest. His blue eyes were heavily lidded, sliding his hands into the loose waist of her undone pants. Eagerly he felt the soft warmth of her bare ass.

"There are so many things I want to do to you right now."

Quickly he yanked her pants down under the curve of her bottom and examined her with a glint. Nathan pushed her shoulders around and bent his head to cover her neck with his lips. He held her breasts triggering her eyes to flutter with lust, lifting and squeezing them. He dragged his nose across her skin back to the nape of her neck randomly licking and absorbing her flavor. Intoxicated by the taste of her skin, His right hand skimmed down her soft belly and cupped between her thighs. She was hot and wet.

He applied gentle pressure with the pad of his middle finger, and slowly it moved back and forth across the saturated fabric. Her knees trembled as Nathan teased her tenderness. He pulled her underwear down, his eyes wild with passion while he witnessed her. He put his face to her glistening folds and inhaled her ripe scent.

Nathan's thumb circled around and stroked her swelling. As Mary quaked, he indulged in her pulsing flesh easing his thumb in and out. He removed and spat on her bare hole before driving his two middle fingers into Mary's fleshy depth. She bucked, exhaled, and moaned at the stretching force. Her eyes rolled back. She curled in her bottom lip and bit down. Nathan sent his palm against her left cheek. Her mouth opened and her fingers stretched before digging into the couch again.

"You like that, don't you?" he asked, slightly curling his fingers squeezed by her flesh that tightened around him.

Mary smeared the side of her face against the couch's fabric, nodding, exclaiming with an exhausted groan. His fingers sank deeper into her, knowing how much pressure she needed to tremble.