Mara sat at the table of the small diner with her attention looking out the window.
Her fingers were wrapped lightly around the white stout mug of hot chocolate in front of her. It had cooled enough to not burn her fingertips, yet could still feel its warmth.
It felt nice to be out of the car. She'd been in the car for two days straight, with the only breaks being when she had to use the restroom or the car needed a new tank fill.
Aside, however, from the long two day drive so far, Mara enjoyed the company with her.
The tall, handsome man she felt completely giddy around twenty-four seven was always there with her. He made sure to keep his eyes and ears open for anything suspicious, but Mara would blush deeply when those green eyes of his would spare time to just want to stare at her alone.
Mara bit her lip, smiling to herself thinking about the times they would pull to the side of the road just so that Nathan could give in to his desire to kiss her, which always lead to more.
What would start out as sweet kisses, turned hungry and aggressively pleasurable. They'd peel their clothing away and entangle their bodies in the backseat until one would remind the other about their time schedule.
Yes, Mara enjoyed every single moment, every single kiss, and every single touch of his fingertips on her. And she never knew this side to romance before Nathan.
For her, romance was always kept so simple and in story books because she was isolated all her life. Only Rory would kiss her cheek and forehead every now and then, but it was all innocent.
With Nathan, it was lust, desire... love.
Well... love for Mara, anyway.
She wasn't sure if Nathan loved her. She never heard him say it. She'd said it plenty of times when they were kissing, making love, or at any time for that matter. But it didn't really bother her that much.
After all, Mara truly felt that he did with how he was with her. He'd be so gentle and protective of her, Mara could think nothing other than that being his way of loving her.
"Just a few more hours and we should be with the others."
Mara broke away from her thoughts and looked up at Nathan as he was sliding into the booth across from her. He tucked his phone into his jacket pocket, glancing up. Mara smiled lovingly at him, her head leaning a little to the side.
Nathan lowered a brow and grinned. He narrowed his eyes and turned his head away from her slightly; eyeing her.
"What?"
Mara looked down, shaking her head and pulled the mug closer to her. She smiled, biting her lip and looked up at him through her lashes. He was still looking at her and raised a brow, waiting.
Mara sat up straight and leaned over her mug towards him, "It's just---"
She stopped, staring at him. Nathan blinked; his face expressionless.
Mara continued, "I was just thinking... if there was a chance... a chance that you might feel about me... the way I feel about you?"
Nathan blinked again a few times, glancing off to the side.
Mara could see the confusion all over his face and she opened her mouth to explain, but their waitress, Anna, clearly had bad timing.
"Alright, so I have a triple banana cake stack with two links, two strips, hash browns, and eggs sunny-side up---," she looked up from the plate in her left hand at the couple and Nathan raised a hand carelessly, "That'd be me."
Anna looked at Nathan with a wide, pretty smile and placed the plate in front of him.
The brunette across the way raised a brow when Anna kept looking at Nathan and asking, "Can I get you anything else, Sugar Baby?"
Nathan chuckled, raising his brows, looking at his food.
"I'm good thanks."
Anna smiled, tilting her head to catch his attention, "You sure?"
"Yes! He's sure!" Mara narrowed her eyes, raising a brow when Anna looked at her oddly as if she realized that Mara was there. The brunette impatiently tapped her fingernails on the table top, "I'd like my food now... please."
Anna eyed Mara and was looking at her oddly again, who raised a brow and glanced at Nathan, who was already stuffing his face. Mara returned her eyes to the waitress sneering, shoving the plate in front of Mara.
Anna then straightened after Mara curtly replied, "Thanks!" and turned to Nathan with a brow raised, "Your sister's cute." faulting Mara's mouth to drop open as the cheeky waitress returned to the kitchen.
Nathan turned his head back from blinking after Anna, to Mara.
Scoffing, Mara grabbed her fork from where it laid on her napkin and tightened her grip on it, "Sister?! I am not his sister!"
With his mouth full of food, the agent lowered his brows and shook his head, "Don't worry about it, Mara. It's not a big deal."
Mara tilted her head, "Not a big deal?!"
Nathan closed his eyes, his hand pausing in attempt to bring the forkful of food to his awaiting mouth.
She narrowed her eyes, shaking her coffee curls, "That's easy for you to say, Sugar Baby!"
Mara stabbed her stack of pancakes and Nathan flicked down at this. The corner of his mouth turned to the side, frowning.
He sighed, "Mara..."
But Mara ignored him.
She was boiling over the fact that he really confused her!
At times, he's criminal, vile, perverse, and arrogantly annoying. Then other times he's charming, caring, protective, gentle, and just beautiful.
Mara didn't understand him.
How was she supposed to know that he loved her if she couldn't get him to admit that there was certainly "a big deal" about Anna mistaking her for his sister.
Nathan could see that she was upset and was grateful to not being that stack of pancakes that she was butchering with her fork. She'd stab the middle and then pull downward, ripping pieces away from its center and then start again. He just stared at her and blinked wide eyed.
"Mara."
Mara was grumbling something and kept up her aggressive motions.
"Mara."
But she wasn't listening, just grumbling under her breath and shredding what was left of what had been a pancake.
So, Nathan reached over, taking hold of her hand in his. She immediately froze and lifted her blue eyes up at him.
Nathan smiled at her and shook his head, "Stop being so jealous."
Mara's jaw dropped and lowered her brows. She wrinkled her nose, reeling her head back and scoffed , obviously offended. Nathan grinned, obviously enjoying getting a rise out of her whenever he could.
"I'm not jealous! Why would I be jealous of her?!" She spat the last part of her response with her eyes in the direction of Anna taking someone else's order.
Nathan grinned, lowering a brow. He shook his head, leaning his torso more successfully over the table, "I didn't say anything about her."
Mara blinked, her rage gone for a moment, before the handsome man had to add, "But I guess if you want to talk about her..." He jumped back against the booth seat just in time when she swung her free arm at him. Nathan chuckled, relaxing against the cushioned seat.
The blue eyed young woman used her lethal fork to point its end at him, narrowing her eyes, "Creep!"
"Brat." He retorted simply.
Mara eyed him and knew he was trying to get her to smile, but she didn't want to give him that satisfaction. Her eyes slit more and leaned back against her booth seat just as he was.
Nathan raised a brow, accepting her challenge of getting her to smile, and grinned widely. Mara dropped her fork to cross her arms under her chest. Nathan glanced down a moment with her bosom being pushed upward, then quickly looked back up at her.
Mara smiled inside.
She could make him squirm, too, if she wanted. All she needed was to do little things with her body and he'd be all hers. She bit her lip seductively, raising a brow and tightened her arms, making her bosom push together again, enough to protrude the top more.
Nathan swallowed hard, his eyes set on that particular part of his brown haired imp. His attention lifted and immediately groaned when she started chewing on her lip. The toe of her shoe started to graze up the side of his pants, startling him, as it teased its way inward along his thigh.
At the sight of Nathan's entire body tense, Mara pulled her foot away and kept her brow raised, grinning, "Gotchya."
He scowled at her.
Mara giggled, returning to pick up her fork and started eating. She seemed pretty content with her small victory over the six foot two heartthrob.
But Nathan shook his head, smiling. She was definitely something else. And he wouldn't have her be any other way.
His gaze travelled down to the V-neck opening of her blouse and his jaw tightened at the mental images of him kissing and nibbling that blessed bosom of hers.
Nathan couldn't describe the way he wanted her all the time, other than how he just had to have her all the time. He looked over his shoulder, relieved that they were the only ones seated in this part of the diner; completely isolated from everyone.
Turning back around, he could see Mara had her smug expression still as she chewed her food.
'Not for long,' he thought, grinning.
Nathan slumped down in a relaxed posture, and leaned his chest against the table to make it easier to reach across from under the table.
Mara didn't notice what he was doing until she could feel something crawling up her leg and under her skirt. She slowed her chewing, trying to figure out if she should freak out or not, and realized too late what was happening when she looked up at Nathan who was smirking at her.
Her eyes widened and before she could speak, Nathan's fingers had already glided up her bare leg and caressed her skin in circles. Mara's breathing hitched.at the pulsating contact.
She swallowed, dropping her fork and pressed her palms flat onto the table. She tried to gain control and pull away, but Nathan's magic fingers were keeping her from thinking straight as they were moving up her leg more, but slower... closer to a particular part.
Mara closed her eyes, biting her lip hard and was trying to keep from giving in. But the teasing her leg was being tortured with, until Mara whimpered when he pulled away.
He sat back against his seat just in time, smiling charmingly, as Anna came over and raised her brows, and looked at Nathan's empty plate, "Are we satisfied?"
Nathan kept smiling at her and nodded, "Ohhhhhh, yes. I am very---"he looked at Mara, "--satisfied. Thanks, miss."
Anna nodded, smiling and took their plates away.
Mara narrowed her eyes, breathing hard, her fingertips gripping against the table top still. She hated when he did stuff like that. He always knew how to cheat.
And made it known as she shook her head and growled, "Cheater!"
Nathan only laughed , not noticing that Mara was standing up after gaining enough composure. She stood by him, pursing her mouth in a pout as he looked up at her, still amused. His arms were stretched out on top of the booth behind him, raising a brow with his head tilted.
That cheeky expression only added to the fire burning inside Mara.
She leaned down, speaking softly when she was nose to nose with him.
Mara grinned, raising a brow to reciprocate the cocky look Nathan had down to a tee.
"Two can play that game," was all she boasted.
Nathan raised his brows, blinking. His smirk vanished instantaneously at her words and sultry gaze. His eyes were still wide when Mara latched her fingers onto the front of his t-shirt and yanked him out of the booth and into the ladies' room.