all strings attached || n.h au

part two

"She could be," Kyra heard Niall say, pulling her back to reality. From the bedroom, his voice sounded like it was barely above a whisper. Maybe he didn't want her to hear it. Or maybe he wasn't too sure of his own words.

"I don't know. Maybe." Travis replied. "I'm just looking out for you. I don't want you to get your, uh, heart broken."

Shouldn't he be looking out for her? And shouldn't he worry about her heart too? Good to know where his loyalty lies, Kyra thought. She had never liked anyone as much as she liked Niall so the possibility of him breaking her heart was higher than the opposite so if there's anyone that needed protecting (not that anyone needed it, anyway), it would be her.

"Thanks, Trav. I appreciate that," Niall told his friend in his clipped tone. "But she's your sister and you should have more faith in her."

"You're right," Travis relented with a sigh. She heard movements and then, "Well I should get going then. I'll give her another call tomorrow morning. Night, mate."

Kyra listened to the footsteps retreating away from the living room and instead of leaving the bedroom once she's sure Travis wasn't around anymore, she stayed in there. She put away her laptop before she got under the sheets and rested her head on the pillow. When she heard Niall stepping into the bedroom, she screwed her eyes shut, pretending to be asleep. But who was she fooling? Niall would know that she's actually still awake. He always knew.

The mattress dipped when Niall sat on the edge of the bed near Kyra's feet. He placed his hand on her thigh, running it up and down, up and down, the warmth spreading across her skin even though there's a sheet between them. When she continues to pretend to be asleep, he lets out a sigh.

"I'm sure he didn't mean that," he whispers into the silence and darkness of the room. "He's just trying to protect you."

Initially Kyra planned to not say anything, to continue pretending like she's sleeping until she eventually fell asleep but Niall's words stirred something inside of her. So she pushed the sheet away from her body and pushed herself up until she's leaning against the headboard.

"Protect me?" She repeated, to which Niall responded with a shrug. He knew better than to say something and worsen the situation so he kept his mouth shut and let her continue talking. "What he just said to you is the opposite of protecting me. He's exposing me, attacking me."

Niall tilted his head to the side, brows furrowing, as he reached out for her hand. "Sweetheart–"

"Okay, I admit that at some point in my life I'm a commitment-phobe and I got out of the relationship before it could get serious and–"

"No–"

But Kyra refused to let him interrupt. She knew he was going to say something sweet, something about how she shouldn't blame herself for getting out of the relationship because that's who he was. He's the nicest person on earth and he always saw the best in her (God, maybe Travis was right, maybe she didn't deserve him).

"I got out because I got scared, Niall, the thoughts of spending my life with the guys I dated back then terrified me and if that doesn't sound like a commitment-phobe, I don't know what is," Kyra gave him a pointed look, to which he let out a breathy chuckle, before she continued, "But those relationships? They're... They're nothing like this. Like our relationship. I've never been with someone I lo–" Kyra caught herself before she could say the word that had been on the tip of her tongue in the past weeks. Or maybe months. Or maybe years. But now's not the time to mull over that. She looked over at Niall and found that he's looking at her with that soft expression of his, the one that warmed and melted her heart at the same time and whilst she had been waiting for the right moment to say those three words (it had to be perfect), she knew it didn't matter when she said it.

Throwing the sheet away from her body, Kyra scooted over to Niall and placed a hand on his. He immediately covered it with his. She looked at her hand, encased in his, and let out a soft sigh as a smile threatened to take over her lips. "What I was going to say–"

Kyra didn't get to finish her sentence as Niall's lips found hers and it wasn't long before he had her on her back, his tender kisses trailing from her lips down to her neck and across her collarbone. Kyra allowed her hands to slide down his neck and she gently massaged his shoulders. He groaned with pleasure and that put a smile on her lips. With his breath hot on her skin, Kyra forgot what she was going to say before she was interrupted. But as soon as that thought hit her, she pulled back to look into Niall's eyes.

She opened her mouth to say it, but Niall pressed another kiss on her mouth. "I know," he whispered against her lips.

"Let me say it."

Niall swallowed the lump in his throat. It's not that he didn't want to hear his girlfriend say those three words but as selfish as it might sound, he wanted to be the first one to say it. Niall's a planner. He had it all planned. When he's going to say it, where he's going to say it, how he's going to say it. But as he looked into Kyra's eyes, the stars in her eyes, he didn't care about that. He's about to hear the woman of his dream say those magic words and he'd be a stupid, stupid man if he stopped her from doing so.

"Okay."

Instead of saying those words straightaway, Kyra wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her before she trailed gentle kisses from his ear to the hollow of his neck. He shuddered as her lips returned to his ear and finally, she whispered, "I love you."

Kyra kissed him, pulling his body tight against hers. He trailed his tongue tantalisingly across her lower lip, tangling his hand in her hair before he deepened the kiss. He didn't have to say those words back because Kyra could feel it in his kiss. It's different. It's better.

When Niall disentangled his hand from her hair, he glided his fingers down her neck, across her collarbone and then over the curves of her breasts. He watched in amazement as his touch caused her to shiver. He dipped low again to kiss her and with her fingers trailing down his chest, he almost lost his coherent thoughts. He knew that if she continued lower and lower and lower, he should say goodbye to his ability to speak. So before that could get in the way, he whispered out her name. Her fingers stopped at his stomach and he sucked in a breath. He closed his eyes briefly and when they opened, he found himself looking straight into Kyra's eyes, the eyes he'd grown to love, belonged to the woman he loved so much. "I love you."

Kyra's smile could light up the entire universe, Niall thought, as she flashed it to him. "Then make love to me."

"Gladly."