Page 87 of Heart of the Hunted
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Natalia
Natalia didn't regret seducing Taredd. Not for one second. How could she when he brought such pleasure to her body? She couldn't, and she didn't want to either.
If it was up to her, she would quite happily stay in this bed with him for the rest of her life, but that wasn't possible. She needed to get back to Amberly, Donovan, and the rest of the group.
So instead, she settled for whatever small amount of time with him she could get. Not knowing when they would have time alone together again, if she ever got the chance again, then she couldn't let this opportunity go without at least giving it a try.
Natalia had never felt as safe and secure in her life as what she felt laying nestled in Taredd's arms. She had never cuddled with any of her past lovers after she'd had sex with them. She didn't know if it was because it was Taredd or if she would have felt this way with anyone else, but she had a feeling it was because of Taredd though.
"We need to get going," Taredd told her, breaking the comfortable silence. "Dain's waiting for us downstairs."
"I know, I heard you talking to Dain when I was in the bathroom,” she admitted.
Taredd laughed. "So, you thought it'd be a good idea to make him wait longer?"
"No... it's just..."
"Just what?" he asked, brushing her hair from her face so he could see her better.
"I just wanted to spend a little bit more time with you before we left," Natalia didn't want to lie to him, or keep anything secret, so she told him the truth. "This might be the last time we're alone together."
"This isn't the last time we'll be alone together, I promise you,” he said, lifting her face so she had to look up at him. Lightly kissing her on the tip of the nose, he added "I plan on spending a lot of time alone with you, just the two of us. But first, we have to find Arun and your friends and get back to my home... our home."
Natalia got a warm tingly feeling inside when he said it was their home. As much as the bunkers had served their purpose, none of them had even been a home.
"I hope it doesn't take too long to find them,” she said.
"Me too,” he said. "But it's going to take us even longer if we don't get going soon."
"Yeah, I know,” she said. "Just five more minutes?"
"Okay,” he told her, kissing her nose again. "But only five."
Snuggling into Taredd, Natalia enjoyed their last couple of minutes peace together, but all too soon it was time to get up and ready to leave. Natalia quickly jumped in the bath to quickly wash herself before pulling on the new clothing Dain brought for her. Natalia was glad she hadn't emptied it after her bath earlier, because she didn't have the time to run a fresh one.
It was the first time in her life that she'd ever had new clothing to wear. Normally, she had to make do with whatever she could find that would fit her while they were out scavenging.
"Ready,” she said, walking back out of the bathroom fully dressed this time.
Looking her up and down, Taredd asked: "Is the size okay?"
"Yes, thank you,” she said, looking down at herself. "Dain did a good job at guessing my size."
"That would be because I told him what size to get you,” he told her.
"Oh,” she said, blushing. "Well... thank you for getting it right."
"You are more than welcome. Shall we get going then?" he asked.
"Yes," Natalia replied as she followed him over to the door.
"Have you got everything you want?"
Looking back at the remains of her tattered clothing, she nodded.
"Yeah, I have everything I need in my satchel,” she said, patting it at the same time.
