Beautiful Catastrophe

Chapter Eleven:

It seemed to Nathan that Kim had been particularly lively and cheerful that day in the car. After they both talked for some time, he drove them to a restaurant. Kim was delighted that it wasn't a fast food one. She had smiled a lot that day, he even did a couple of times too. They talked and shared and talked again.

Nathan was still trying to figure her out. Even after a day of learning new things about her, he felt he shouldn't trust everything she was saying. People could lie quicker than one would like to think. There was a part of himself that wanted to find gaps in her stories, a part that wished he didn't want to believe her so quickly. But Nathan soon found he couldn't help it anymore.

They had found somewhere to stay and were settling in for the night. Nathan was getting ready for bed when he spotted Kim sitting on the countertop in the bathroom beside the sink. It was like a replay of earlier that morning when she shaved his face for him except they were in a different hotel. The memory made him reach up and touch his clean-shaven jaw.

"What are you doing?" he poked his head in through the doorway.

Kim was sitting with her legs swinging beneath her, wearing a familiar t-shirt. She seemed to be in deep thought but snapped out of her daze once she heard him speak.

"Nothing..." she replied quietly, knowing what his next question would be.

"Is that my shirt?" he quirked an eyebrow at her, a shadow of a smirk appearing on his lips. He was fully in the bathroom by then, almost standing in front of her.

"Maybe."

"Take it off." He said, not being completely serious.

"No. I have nothing else to wear."

"Did you just take that out of the duffle bag while I wasn't looking?" he chuckled, making her stomach flutter.

"Yes." She replied quickly, trying her best not to be embarrassed.

"That's my last clean one left Kim, take it off."

"No... We need to clean our stuff again. I'm running out of things to wear."

"So you've decided to steal my clothes until then?"

"Oh shut up." She grumbled. He had finally made his way to stand in front of her, his presence almost making her tremble. She reached up and played with the collar of his t-shirt, not looking him in the eye when she spoke again. "How's your shoulder?" her voice was gentle. He felt like she really did want to know the answer, like she genuinely cared.

"Not as sore as it was this morning."

"I reckon you were pretending just so I would shave for you- so you could get closer to me of course." She looked up then, staring into his blue eyes. He was closer than she had expected.

"I didn't ask you to do that, so maybe you offered because you're the one who wanted to get closer to me." He laughed a little but was then distracted by her lips.

"I don't think so." The pair's lips were almost touching then, they both looked up from the other's mouth so that their eyes met.

"Well I do." Was the last thing said by either before their lips met for a slow and sultry kiss. Although soft and relaxed, it was electrifying. There was some need behind it, some hunger coming through on Nathan's part.

Kim brought her hands up to tangle in his hair once he licked her bottom lip for entry. He bit her lip lightly before his roaming hands reached the bottom of her shirt, or his shirt to be more exact. They broke away for a split second in order for him to undress her, leaving her in just her underwear. His breathing was rapid, his blood coursing through his veins. There was no denying the fact that both had a strong attraction for the other.

Nathan's hands ran across her skin to undo her bra then. Her breath hitched in her throat once his mouth moved from her neck down to her chest. She pulled him away after a minute or two so she could kiss his lips again. As she did so her hands went to the waistband of his bottoms. Nathan had been thinking very little until then, her touch seemed to wake him up from his day dream, from his want to have her.

Nathan found it difficult to do, but pulled away from her lips slowly. He placed his hands on either side of her head to stop her from what she was doing. Nathan took a deep breath before he spoke.

"Kim." He said breathlessly, making her look into his eyes then.

"What?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. She didn't want to stop and so went in again to kiss him but it didn't last for long.

"We can't do this." He said, his eyes closed shut. He had one last ounce of restraint left inside himself to allow those words to leave his mouth. Nathan knew the sparks inside him were the same on her part and he wanted nothing more than to be with her in that moment but he couldn't.

"Why not? It's just s*x Nathan." She spoke bluntly, getting more than a little frustrated then.

"Because- Because I don't want to." He lied causing her to pull away completely from him.

"You know what? I'm getting sick of your f*****g games Nathan. You're saying no but every other part of you is saying yes. Don't act like this is one sided." She was pissed off, more than he expected. But this wasn't another game to him, he had just managed to snap back into reality at the right time. Or maybe the wrong time.

"I'm not playing around this time Kim, we just can't okay?"

"Whatever." She said shortly before grabbing his discarded t-shirt and covering herself. She stomped out of the bathroom to find the duffle bag.

"Kim..."

"What?" she called over her shoulder to him as she picked up her Care Bear pyjamas out of the bag.

"You said it yourself, I was sent to bring you back to D.C, not to f**k you. If we did do anything- it would complicate things." He watched as she dressed herself in her dirty pyjamas and threw his shirt back into the bag. She was even more irritated then, because she knew what he was saying was right. But Kim also knew what she wanted, and that was him.

"I get it." She seemed to be a little calmer when she spoke this time. She walked around to her side of the bed and got in.

"You can wear my shirt if you want, I'll wear a different one tomorrow."

"It's fine." Kim replied quickly. He had to laugh aloud at her behaviour although he knew she wouldn't approve.

"Kim. C'mon..." She didn't say anything else, only get settled into bed.

She knew she was being childish, but she couldn't help how she felt. Being humiliated again by him was something she promised wouldn't happen. She felt embarrassed by what had happened in the bathroom just minutes ago and what was troubling her most was that she still couldn't shake the strong attraction she had for Nathan.

Nathan understood she probably wasn't going to budge, she was stubborn and he understood that. He was the same sometimes too. He wanted to reassure her that whatever there was between them wasn't one sided. He was unsure as to why he even cared about her feelings then, but couldn't help it.

He got into bed beside her and turned off the lamp on the bedside table. Then, he took the handcuffs and felt around for her hand. He caressed the skin on her wrist gently before snapping the metal shut. He turned to face her but she had her eyes shut, faced towards the ceiling. Nathan took a moment to take in her facial features, she looked so relaxed. He was quite surprised when she finally opened her mouth to speak.

"I'm sorry, I just overreacted." Her eyes didn't open when she spoke.

"Kim-"

"It's fine, I get it. Say no more." Kim was definitely swallowing her pride in order to apologise, it was a big deal for her and he guessed that too.

"But-"

"God damn it you're irritating." She said calmly, letting out a deep breath. She let out a small laugh then at herself and turned to look at him in bed.

"Not as irritating as you." He retorted, laughing a little himself too.

"Whatever." She got comfortable on her side and then looked at him. He was already staring at her. Once their eyes met, he reached out to run his fingers through her hair and over her temple a couple of times, making her gulp. The action relaxed her and she sighed out loud, closing her eyes again.

"I just don't want to make things complicated- for everyone's sake." She had to deal with his words, although staying away was not something she particularly wanted to do. She knew he was right and so she nodded.

"Okay." Kim whispered as he played with her hair, putting her to sleep quicker than she had the past couple of nights. "Goodnight Nathan." She added gently before falling into a deep sleep.

"Goodnight Kim." He said softly, but she was already asleep.

*******

They had been driving all day and the sun was beginning to set over the cloudless sky. Neither had spoken about the night before or how strange it was for the two of them to be so nice to each other. The familiar bickering had continued throughout the day, but something was different.

Kim noticed Nathan had been a lot more on edge the next day, she found it quite hard to believe he was the same person that had played with her hair until she fell asleep the night before. He was on and off his phone a lot during the trip and when they stopped off for something to eat but he wouldn't tell her what the matter was. She thought it might have been that more men on her father's side were coming for them again but he reassured her that that wasn't the case.

"You are such a stick in the mud Nathan, honestly."

"Because I won't play eye spy with you? You're being ridiculous."

"Fuddy-duddy." She retorted to which he replied with a scoff.

"You're just proving my point."

"Grouch."

"Crybaby."

"I spy with my little eye something beginning with a."

"I told you already we aren't playing eye spy."

"No, that doesn't start with a..." Kim ignored his sentence. "Do you give up?"

"Yes." He rolled his eyes.

"Ass face." She pointed at him.

"Kim, you do know you're insane don't you?" she just chuckled and looked out the window. The empty dirt road was definitely in need of some improvements. It was bumpy and dusty. She quite liked how this one's surrounding landscape seemed to be more untouched than the others.

"When are we going to stop off for the night? I'm tired." She whined.

"Put your head down now then, we won't be stopping for a while."

Kim tutted loudly and rested her head on the window, looking out again at the blurs passing her by. She heard Nathan's cell phone ringing and then him talking in a hushed tone. Her eyes began to close, the tiredness kicking in when all of a sudden the car came to a halting stop. Before she knew what was going on she was tossed around her seat, whacking her head off of the window whilst Nathan made an abrupt and harsh turn.

She realised he had turned and was beginning to go the wrong way, driving back the way they had come on the other side of the road. Kim was confused and annoyed, she didn't want to have to run away from crazy Japanese men again and hoped there was another explanation for Nathan's crazy actions.

"What the f**k are you doing?"

"Change of plans sweetheart." He spoke but she knew he was distracted. He had already hung up the phone and was flying down the empty road quicker than ever before on this entire trip.

"Change of plans?" Kim furrowed her brows at him, not understanding.

He flashed her a wicked and wide smile before he spoke.

"We're going to Las Vegas Kimmy."