Chapter 316: Insane Nat

"Now, it won’t open," Nat growled rasply against her throat, his voice low, thick, and laced with absolute satisfaction.

April let out a soft, exasperated sigh, though her body remained firmly pressed against his rigid frame. "You just trapped us in a high-end restaurant’s elevator shaft. The security team is going to lose their minds."

"Let them," Nat scoffed against her skin. He slid his hand up the back of her neck, tilting her head back to expose the smooth curve of her throat. "I don’t give a damn about security, and I know neither do you."

Before she could offer a sharp rebuttal, his mouth captured hers again with a wild, relentless intensity. The sudden stop of the elevator seemed to have stripped away whatever tiny shred of restraint he had left. His hand slid down her back, pinning her waist flush against his hips, letting her feel the rigid, pulsing line of his penis straining against his trousers.

April gasped into the kiss as his tongue tangled with hers, her hands instinctively tightening around his broad shoulders. The dim emergency lighting inside the stalled cabin cast long, dark shadows around them, amplifying the heavy sound of their mingled breathing.

"See?" Nat whispered, pulling back just a fraction, his dark eyes burning into hers like hot coals in the dim cabin. "You like it when I’m bad."

"I like it when you’re logical," April corrected, her voice slightly raspy, her chest rising and falling in rapid heaves. "Stopping an elevator in the middle of a date rescue isn’t logical, Nat."

"This isn’t a rescue, sweetheart," he murmured, his thumb brushing over her lower lip, which was now swollen and flushed from his touch. "This is a takeover."

He lowered his head again, his teeth lightly grazing her collarbone right where he had unbuttoned her shirt. A sharp, thrilling shiver shot down April’s spine, her fingers digging deeper into his jacket as she felt the sheer, possessive heat radiating off him.

"You’re completely insane," she breathed softly into the quiet space.

"Only when it comes to you," Nat purred, his fingers tugging lightly at the fabric of her lapel, exposing more of her soft skin to the cool air of the elevator shaft—and the searing heat of his mouth.

"Then you’d better make this stop worth the maintenance fine," April murmured, her voice steady despite the rapid thrum of her pulse against his thumb.

Nat’s low, rumbling laugh vibrated directly through her chest, rich and dangerous. "Sweetheart, I’ll buy the damn elevator if it means keeping you locked in here for another ten minutes."

He didn’t waste another second. His lips swept back up her neck, trailing fire along the sharp line of her jaw before claiming her mouth once more. This time, there was no hesitation, no holding back. He kissed her with a fierce, ravenous hunger that made her head spin, his tongue sweeping deep, tasting her completely.

April met his intensity, her hands sliding up into the thick red strands of his hair, pulling him closer.

Nat let out a heavy, satisfied groan into her mouth, his grip on her hips tightening to the point of bruising as he lifted her slightly, pressing her back flush against the cool mirror of the elevator wall.

The contrast between the cold glass behind her and the scorching heat of his body in front of her sent a delicious shiver straight down her spine.

His hand slid beneath the hem of her jacket, his palm tracing the curve of her waist, mapping every inch of her skin over the silk of her top. He shifted his weight, crowding her so completely that she couldn’t move even if she wanted to—not that her body had any intention of retreating.

"Look at me," Nat growled rasply, breaking the kiss just enough to stare down into her dark, glazed eyes.

April looked up, her breathing shallow and unhurried, her unblinking gaze meeting his predatory ones.

"Tell me you didn’t think about me once while you were sitting across from Xavier," he demanded, his thumb rubbing possessively against her cheekbone, his sharp teeth flashing in the dim emergency light.

"I was eating steak, Nat," April replied smoothly, a tiny, teasing glint in her eyes despite the heavy arousal clouding her senses. "The food was actually very good."

Nat chuckled, a dangerous, dark sound that vibrated against her ribs. He leaned down and nipped sharply at the skin of her throat, making her gasp softly.

"Liar," he purred against her skin. "You knew I’d come for you."

"I might be a seer, but I am not all knowing," she said to him, "Though, I suspected with the way he left the table, he would retaliate. I didn’t know Oliver would call you," she said softly, her fingers tightening in his hair. "And the fact that you came running the moment you heard my name made you very predictable."

"Predictable?" Nat raised his head, his eyes burning with a wicked, villainous spark. "Is that what you call this?"

Before she could answer, the emergency intercom on the panel suddenly crackled to life with a static hiss, breaking the heavy tension in the cabin.

"Uh... excuse me, sir? Ma’am?" a panicked security guard’s voice echoed through the speaker. "We’ve detected an emergency stop on Elevator 3. Are you trapped? Please remain calm, engineering is on their way—"

Without even taking his eyes off April’s face, Nat reached out blindly and smashed his fist straight into the intercom panel, shattering the plastic cover and silencing the guard in a burst of static.

April blinked, looking from the ruined speaker back to his unbothered, devilish grin.

"Now," Nat whispered, his voice dropping into a dark, irresistible murmur as he leaned back down, his breath fanning hot against her lips, "where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?"

"Nat, do you want to be charged with kidnapping?" April asked him, her tone remarkably composed for a woman pinned against an elevator wall between floors.

Nat lifted an eyebrow before chuckling deeply, the sound vibrating against her chest.

"Ah, this brings me back," he drawled, his eyes flashing with nostalgic amusement.

They could very well be reliving their first meeting—the same tension, the same dangerous game of control—only this time, the distance between them was entirely gone and she did not need to prove her worth to him.

He drew her even closer, his thick arm locking around her waist until there wasn’t a single millimeter of space left between their bodies.

"I don’t care about a kidnapping charge, sweetheart," Nat purred, his voice dropping into a thick, gravelly rasp right against her mouth. "Because this time, I just want to eat you."

April let out a tiny, soft gasp as his lips locked onto hers once more, deep and completely unyielding. His hands roamed up her back, tracing the line of her spine through her clothes, anchoring her firmly against him as if the rest of the world beyond the elevator doors had ceased to exist.

The heat in the enclosed space flared, her fingers curling tight into his hair as she yielded to the sudden, overwhelming intensity of his touch.