|06| - "Cut her some slack."

**Sexual content from the beginning.**

Nathan and I stumbled through the door, his hands frantically trying to unbutton my coat while I struggled to loosen his tie. He was quicker, my jumper and blouse being pulled off simultaneously over my head as soon as my coat had been cast aside. Pressing me against the door that we'd shut just seconds earlier, Nathan's mouth latched onto mine, his lips moving against my own in a perfect blend of desire and desperation as his hands gripped my waist. Every so often, I'd run my tongue over his bottom lip as we kissed, enjoying how he reacted each time I did so by pushing his hips closer and closer.

With difficulty to begin with, given our proximity, I forced my hand down between our bodies, attempting to reach his belt. Naturally, the second he gathered what I was trying to do, he was more than happy to give me the space I needed, shaking off his trousers and boxers as soon as the belt was unbuckled.

Wasting no time, I wound my fingers around him, lightly at first as he stared defiantly into my eyes. Once I increased the pressure and pace, though, it became too intense even for him. He squeezed his eyes shut, nestling his head in the crook of my neck, his lips leaving a moist trail over the sensitive area of skin.

"Oh, fuck," he groaned.

His own hands trembled as he tried to remove my jeans, now distinctly lacking the same precision as earlier. There was something undeniably sexy about Nathan in nothing but a ruffled shirt and loosened tie, naked from the waist down, as he battled furiously to undress me. He was so unaware, out of control, primal...

I'd been so busy absorbing the erotic image in front of me, that I didn't notice Nathan succeeding in pulling my jeans low enough that he was able to mercilessly slide in a finger without warning. I cried out at the sudden pleasurable invasion, my last remnants of self awareness joining Nathan's elsewhere, as we both transformed into the sex-hungry couple that we'd become. That same finger trailed languidly upwards, making circular motions in a leisurely fashion that drove me wild—not just because of how good it felt, but because it kept me teetering on the edge without the change of pace that would tip me over it.

"You're torturing me," I breathed against his ear, my hands clutching fistfuls of his shirt.

"Good."

When he began to further loosen his tie, I clasped my hand over his balled up fist, preventing him from continuing.

"Can you leave it on?" I asked.

He slowly raised an eyebrow at my request, his eyes boring into mine with that same characteristic twinkle, combined with unmistakeable lust.

"Are you gonna ask me to role-play, too?" His lips flickered in amusement as he pulled me flush against his body.

I smiled and shook my head. "No, I want you to be you. I just really like you in that shirt and tie combo."

"I know you do," he said, his voice low. "That's why I wore it."

There were many things I hated about living in a different country to Nathan: not being able to seek physical comfort from him when I needed it, only seeing him through a computer screen when we spoke, and having to wait several weeks between spending time with each other.

And, of course, the lack of physical intimacy.

However, when we did see one another, after so long apart, everything felt intensified. When you give up chocolate for Lent, you crave it every day, wishing you could have just the smallest nibble to tide you over. But when you bite into that Easter egg, tasting it again for the first time in over a month, the flavours are even better than you remember.

That was Nathan: an addictive, intoxicating substance that hit me harder every time.

And, judging by the things he whispered in my ear about what he wanted to do to me, it seemed he felt the same way.

☼ ☼

"I can't believe there are Christmas decorations up already," I said with a sigh as we strolled hand-in-hand down the festive streets of London.

"People like to milk it. Christmas comes but once a year, so we'll try to make it last as long as possible."

"It tricks me into thinking I'm home for Christmas, though," I said. "Feels weird that everywhere is festive, and yet I'll be flying back to Italy soon—not actually coming home for Christmas for over a month yet."

Nathan chuckled and squeezed my hand. "Just think: by Christmas, you'll be a third of the way through your Year Abroad."

There was no particular purpose for our trip into town; more than anything, it was a chance to get out of the flat—or, rather, Nathan's bedroom. Spending time in bed together, whether it was just for cuddling or more strenuous activities, was nice enough, but we were both conscious of me wasting my weekend by not venturing outside of the four walls.

When we sat down in a café to grab a bite to eat, Nathan began filling me in on the latest developments of his work Christmas party.

"So, they're thinking seven places," he said. "You know, lucky number seven and all that."

"Seven?" I repeated, tipping the orange juice from my Tropicana bottle into the glass that I'd been provided with. "That's a lot, isn't it?"

He shrugged. "I think it's pretty standard for a bar crawl. The whole point is that you visit a lot of places."

"Suppose so. Presumably you don't spend much time in each bar, then?"

"That's the idea," he said, before taking a bite out of his sandwich. After he'd swallowed, he elaborated. "It's supposed to be a challenge, I think. You have, say, half an hour in each place, and everyone has to have at least one drink."

"And finish it during that half hour?"

He nodded. "Exactly. Our last stop is a club, and we stay there for however long we want. So, if you want to sneak off early, you can get away with it. If you want to stay until lights on, then that's fine, too."

I chuckled. "Sounds like uni, drinking competitions and all that."

"Who says you have to be a student to get the uni experience?" he said, winking at me.

"Oh, please," I replied with a laugh. "You've been sponging off my university experience for two years now."

He laughed and wiped at his mouth with the edge of his serviette. Nathan, being the outgoing soul that he was, would probably enjoy his bar crawl, whereas it would be my idea of Hell.

"I'm sure it'll be fun," I said, knowing it would be for him and wanting to show my support.

"Hopefully, as long as it's run properly. There's nothing worse than a disorganised event where you're constantly having to round people up before moving on."

As we finished off our lunch, he started to tell me about the official Christmas party—the one that the company was organising, likely to be a lot more classy than Nathan's team event. It was to be held in an old Victorian building in Central London and included a three course meal, then a dance.

"Like, a proper dance?" I asked.

Nathan lips turned upwards. "Well, I think that's the idea. However, I'm sure that once people start having more to drink, it'll go from classy to trashy. I just can't wait to see who hooks up."

Smiling, I shook my head to myself, amused by his gossiping tendencies. There was always something going on at Nathan's company, always somebody powering the gossip mill. It made for entertaining stories whenever we spoke about it, even if some of them had made me consider what kind of environment my boyfriend was working in.

"Are partners invited?" I asked, not bothering to hide the hope in my voice.

"Not sure," Nathan said. "It'd be great if you could come, though, so I can introduce you to people."

"And I can put faces to names."

He nodded. "You'll be a nice change from Louisa accompanying me everywhere. She completely emasculates me. Not cool."

"Yeah, well, she's going through a tough time. Cut her some slack. You barely even see her these days."

Working as Nathan's assistant was never supposed to be a permanent role for Louisa; she'd had much higher career aspirations and even Nathan had only employed her out of desperation, with the intention of letting her move on once things had settled down for him. She'd done her job well, though—exceptionally well—and Nathan had ended up being reluctant to let her go. Despite that, he hadn't held her back.

When the perfect role for her came up in a different department, working as a Resource Coordinator, Louisa had applied. Companies tended to prefer internal applicants because they already knew the business, but apparently Louisa was the best interviewee anyway—and I'm sure the shining reference from Nathan didn't do her any harm, either.

"I still see her around," he said. "And she's often emailing me about work stuff. Whenever I ask her how she's holding up, though, she puts on a brave face and shrugs it off."

"Maybe she doesn't want to talk about it."

Nathan shrugged. "No, she probably doesn't. But bottling it up won't help. I think she feels a fool."

"I don't blame her for feeling a fool, but it's not her fault. She took a risk on him and he screwed her over. I'm actually really disappointed in him."

Nathan waved his hand in dismissal. "We don't know what really went on behind closed doors. They might have been having issues for months for all we know. People break up for all kinds of reasons and we don't know if there was an underlying problem that had been manifesting."

"Yeah, I guess."

I pushed my empty plate away from me and finished off the rest of my orange juice, taking small sips as I contemplated what had become widely known as The Incident. Sitting in silence now, Nathan flicked through his phone with a bored expression painted on his face. His hunger satiated, he was clearly eager to move on and do something else.

"Wanna head back to the flat?" I suggested.

His eyes lit up and, half an hour later, we were back at Nathan's place, curled up on the sofa together watching back-to-back episodes of The Big Bang Theory. Being like this—just sat together, enjoying each other's company—was all I needed to feel content, but there was that constant niggle in the back of my mind, knowing that I'd soon be returning to Italy.

For the time being, though, I simply enjoyed the moment, focusing on having Nathan beside me and savouring his company in person. After our fourth episode, when he tugged me back towards the bedroom, I started to wonder just how much being apart was affecting him, too.

☼☼

On the one hand, saying goodbye to Nathan at Gatwick Airport didn't result in me crying so much. On the other hand, it was taking intense control not to cry for fear of embarrassing myself in front of everyone.

I put on a brave face, for his sake as well as mine. Leaving me upset in Bologna wasn't quite so bad since I had Jasmine for comfort. Leaving me upset in an airport, knowing I had a few hours of travel ahead of me, would have been more worrying for him.

"It won't be long," he said, his hands stroking my hair as we hugged in front of the Departures entrance. "And next time you're in this airport, it'll be because you're coming home for three weeks at Christmas—not a measly three days for a weekend."

Christmas still felt miles off, though, despite the humongous trees that littered the airport, the giant presents that hung from the ceiling, and the sparkling tinsel that decorated the doorways to shops.

We kissed for a long time, memorising the taste of each other's mouths and the feeling of being so physically close. My mind became consumed with Nathan, forgetting where I was, as I let my fingers trail over the smooth fabric of his t-shirt, the faintest stubble around his mouth, and the soft trestles of his hair.

Airports were one of the few places you could get away with being publically affectionate and not worry that people thought you were acting inappropriately. Everyone understood. If they wanted to ogle, then let them—but most people averted their eyes out of respect and let couples have their final, or first, moments together in peace.

"I love you so much," Nathan whispered against my mouth when we finally pulled away. "I'll be counting down the days."

Maybe as time went on, we'd figure out the best way of saying bye to one another, whether long farewells like this were most effective, or whether it should be more like pulling off a plaster: quick with just a short burst of pain. Nevertheless, I forced a smile and promised him everything would be okay and, like he'd said, that Christmas would come around sooner than we thought.

As it happened, my brave face didn't fool the security officer who pulled me to one side when my case got flagged going through the scanner.

"I'm gonna have to look in your bag," he told me. "I'll make it quick 'cause I can see you're upset."

I nodded and gestured for him to go ahead, my mind trying to recall what I'd put in there that could be causing the issue.

"Leaving loved ones behind?" he asked me, unzipping the case and starting to rummage through it.

"Yeah," I said, wiping my eyes in an attempt to prevent the tears spilling over.

"We've all been there, love," he said, glancing up at me. "Doesn't get any easier, does it? No matter how many people tell you it will."

I smiled at him, grateful that he was being so kind while searching for dangerous items in my hand luggage.

"This'll be it," he said eventually, pulling out my phone. He handed it to me and I slipped it into my back pocket.

"Sorry, I put my normal one in the tray. That was my spare one with an Italian SIM card," I explained.

"No worries at all," he said, as he pushed the case across the table towards me. "Safe travels and keep smiling. It's only temporary." He gave my hand a brief pat before strolling back over towards the other security officers.

Despite still being sad at leaving Nathan behind, the actions of that one, kind security officer had lifted my mood and I no longer felt at risk of spontaneously bursting into floods of tears at any second as I pulled my case along into the Departures Lounge, ready to return to the land of pizza, pasta and prosecco.

☼ ☼ ☼

Thank you for reading :)xx

**Dedicated to Makayla (makayla_caldwell), for the regular messages she posts on my wall to check up on me, for creating my first ever fan club, and for being such an enthusiastic reader of this series.**

I tried to incorporate lots of Bella/Nathan into this chapter to make up for the times when they're not together. I hope you enjoyed it -- please let me know if you did by voting/commenting :)