Nathan's POV
The first thing which I notice when I woke up is, she is still holding my hand. She is asleep keeping both of her hands under her cheek and my hand is sandwiched between her hands.
Although last night was the most uncomfortable night for me, as it is not easy to sleep while keeping your hand at an odd angle, but still I wouldn't want to change anything about it. I simply love the feeling of her hand in mine. Her touch brings a sense of calmness in me, she is the serenity which I crave for.
After a light knock, the door opens and Natalie peeks her head inside the room. She looks at me, then Abigail as her eyebrows pull together in confusion. I quickly raise my head and slightly shake my head signaling her to not make any noise. She looks at Abigail for a moment, with a thoughtful expression, then nods in understanding. She quietly closes the door and leaves.
Almost every day, I learn new things about Abigail. Last night, I found that she is a heavy sleeper when she is peacefully sleeping. She doesn't snore or twist and turn in bed. She keeps on kicking covers if her feet are under them, she prefers keeping her feet outside the cover.
I gently pull my hand, which makes her slightly frown in her sleep, then she pulls her pillow from under her head and snuggles into it. So, she is a cuddler too, but unfortunately, she doesn't cuddle with me.
Standing up I stretch my arms above my head, then I rake my fingers through my hair in the hope to tame my bed hair. I glance at the sleeping Abigail, then silently walks out of the room, closing the door behind me.
I see Miles sitting on the couch as his eyes are closed. I quietly go to him and hardly smack his head, making him jump.
"What was that for?" he turns and glares at me while rubbing the spot where I have hit.
"Just a reminder that your birthday is over," I shrug and go upstairs to my room.
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"You know your act of being goody-two-shoes is busted," Miles cousin's idiot friend smirks when he sees Abigail, "I saw Nathan walking out of your room this morning," he says not even realizing I am in the same room. In fact, both of them doesn't know this.
"So when did you, finally, decide to have fun?" he asks wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, "Before your almost kiss or after?"
"Actually, it was after I asked you to fuck off when you were hitting on me," Abigail says in an uninterested tone, looking completely unbothered by his rubbish talk and sits on the bar stool turning her back to him.
He looks embarrassed, then tries to cover it with a scowl. I walk to him, as he opens his mouth to say something, and place my hand on his shoulder.
"I suggest you should think twice before saying anything," I say in a calm tone and lowered my voice so only he can listen, "because the girl you are speaking with, is my wife."
"One wrong word, and the next time you will open your eyes, you will find yourself in a hospital bed," I say impassively.
"Abigail? She is your wife?" he points at her looking shocked.
"I think I have just told you that and I don't like to repeat myself," I tighten my grip on his shoulder, "And before I decide to hit you for hitting on my wife, it is better you should leave."
"Hey, just chill I am leaving, I just wanted to say goodbye," he says looking pale and starts to walk backward, then turns around and goes outside the house.
I turn to see Abigail, enjoying pancakes served by the housekeeper of the beach house.
I stroll towards her and slips into the stool beside her. She raises her head and gives me a small smile. Her smile seems more natural, unlike her previous smiles.
"What the hell!" Natalie comes fuming, "I am going to kill all these fucktards."
"Have you seen this?" she points towards her phone screen, "They are writing pure nonsense," she mutters curses under her breath.
I glance at Abigail to figure what is going on, but she is simply eating her pancakes looking unconcerned.
"I am going to knock off their heads," Natalie seethes as she narrows her eyes at her phone screen.
"You are not going to use your baseball bat on anyone," Abigail sighs, "You are only allowed to hit a ball with the bat."
Hearing this an evil expression passes Natalie's face as she smirks.
"Baseball's ball, Natalie," Without even looking at Natalie, Abigail shakes her head and rolls her eyes, "Baseball's ball. Occasionally, some other balls too, but only when I am with you. Not without me."
Natalie's face falls and she frowns.
"But-" she stops in mid-sentence, then glares at Abigail, "You already know about this? Right?"
"Yes," Abigail drinks orange juice, "The first thing in the morning. Zach, from our Public Relations department, called and informed me about this."
"How can you be so chill about this?" Natalie huffs and folds her arms, "You are eating pancakes like this is nothing."
"These pancakes are too delicious to waste over something, which has already happened and we can't do anything about it," Abigail takes the last bite of pancake and wipes her mouth with a napkin.
"See this," Miles comes wearing a similar furious expression like Natalie's and hands me his phone, "Somebody leaked the news about Abigail."
Surely, there are different news articles about her. News regarding her kidnapping, coma and her recovery. Basically, all the things we tried to kept hidden from the media, were published. I don't know from where they get hold of this information, but most of them are lies, baseless speculations. They are making all sorts of false news about her.
Anger surges through me after reading some of the articles.
"What are you planning to do about this?" Miles asks Abigail.
"Well, I am going to sell the copy of my hospital reports anonymously to them," Abigail says with a straight face.
"Are you serious?" Miles stares at her in disbelief.
"Yes, they are useless to me, so I will put them to some good use," Abigail shrugs, "I will make more money out of them, then I make in a month. At least they will publish some right facts about me."
Closing my eyes I exhale trying not to snap at her. I love her, but at this moment she is annoying the hell out of me.
"Apparently, you are pregnant and you tried to kill yourself because you are going through depression," Natalie states after reading some article, "And all this kidnapping was an act to cover your suicide attempt."
"What the hell!" Abigail glares looking angry.
"I would never ever hurt or let anything happen to my precious cargo," she says looking enraged, as she protectively wraps her arms around her stomach like she is actually pregnant.
If I was not feeling so furious, I would have definitely found this adorable.
Out of all the things, this made her angry.
"Abigail, do you have any idea how much serious this thing is?" I half yelled at her and throw my hands up in frustration.
"They are making all false news about you and you are acting like it is nothing," I glare at her.
"You know what? Just forget it," I say to her and walk outside the room when she doesn't respond anything.
I pace on the porch for a few minutes, then lean against the wooden railing keeping my arms on it and gaze at the ocean trying to cool my mind. I run my fingers through my hair a few times, then lower my head in my hands.
"How can you be so calm about all this?" I ask her and looks up as I sense her presence behind me.
"Because they don't matter to me," she stands beside me, "They are going to talk about this for a day or two, maybe a week or a month, then they will forget and find someone other to bother. You know how all these things work," she shrugs
"Nathan, it is not a big deal," she calmly says and places her hand on mine.
"What people think and say, never bothered me because they don't have any importance in my life. I don't give a damn what they talk about me," she clutches all her hair behind her neck with her one hand as the wind blows.
I turn my hand slightly, palm upside, and she slips her hand into mine. The way she holds my hand is like, it is the most natural thing in the world.
"My family matter to me... my friends matter to me...you matter to me," she shrugs, "People who know me matters. Rest of the world, well, they can kiss donkey's ass," she lightly laughs. Then she tries to removes some strands of hair away from her face by rubbing the side of her face against her shoulder, as both of her hands are occupied. One holding her hair and the other holding my hand.
My anger dissipates when I hear that I matter to her, even though she doesn't even seem notice she has said this.
Today, her smiles are more bright. Her laughs are sounding heartier, even the small ones.
"I really like you," I lace my fingers with her and smile as I tuck her hair behind her ear with my other hand. Even though I want to say love, but for now I settled on like.
"Congratulations, Mr.Nathan Knight," she tries to hold her smile, "Your taste has been tremendously improved. You have been upgraded from liking bitches to liking Queen," she purses her lips tightly together to hold back a laugh.
"Well, on a serious note," she says her tone sounding anything, but serious," I also really... like myself. So it means we like the same person."
I love it when she is being playful and jovial.
She walks around me and tries to leave, but I catch her hand and pulls her back against the railing. Caging her between my arms as I stand in front of her.
"I also like when you say, that I matter to you," I look down at her, as she frowns in confusion then her eyebrows raise in realization and she looks down as pink tinge graces her cheeks.
"Don't you try to say that I don't matter to you," I warn her and glare at her playfully.
"I can't say that, even if I want to," she whispers and glances at me. Her eyes hold so much warmth, maybe more than even she wants to show. This is something which I have never witnessed before in her eyes, there is something different about the way she looks at me.
I don't know who is holding whose gaze, but what I know is that I can't look away from her captivating brown orbs.
Wrapping my arms behind her back I drag her towards me whereas she comes to me effortlessly and keeps her hands on my arms. I lean down eliminating the distance between us and lightly brushes my lips against hers.
Instantly, her eyes slightly widen and her grip on my arms tightens. But not backing away this time, I lightly peck her lips and keep my lips on hers after a moment she relaxes in my arms and closes her eyes. My heart drumming furiously against my rib cage and sparks shoot up in my body, feeling her soft lips against mine.
Slowly, I start to kiss her savoring the feel of her lips. Everything seems to cease around me the moment she kisses me back. I kiss her with all the desire I feel for her. This kiss is full of longing, but gentle, as our lips moving slowly in sync.
Passion dances on our lips, as I caress her lips with mine.
I hold her face with my one hand and gently caress her cheek with my thumb. I pull back and keep my forehead against her allowing both of us to catch our breath. I run my knuckles on the side of her face, while her eyes are still closed as she breathes through her mouth. Her warm breath touches my lips making me want to kiss her senselessly.
After a moment she opens her eyes, as a beautiful pink shade is plastered on her cheeks, and a shy smile decorates her lips.
"Why did you kiss me?" I arch my eyebrow and tease her, asking the same question she asked me when the first time I kissed her.
She laughs throwing her head back, making my heart skip a beat and leaving me breathless. This is the first time I heard her laughing so carefree and heartily. I want to hear this laugh all my life.
"Because I wanted to," she lightly shrugs and smirks, she gives me the same answer which I gave her, then after a pause, she adds, "Because I wanted to get my kiss back which you stole from me."
"And let me tell you, I never let go what is mine," she says smugly, again using my own line on me, making both of us laugh.
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Author's note:
I am sorry, I was not able to post earlier. I was not feeling well for the past two to three days as I was suffering from high fever.
Hopefully, you have forgiven me for the delay and enjoyed reading this chapter, as finally, the much-awaited kiss has happened. 😜 Thank you for all your lovely comments on the last two chapters, I have read every one of them.