“I wasn’t sure if you’d heard me.”
“I heard it.”
“You just wanted me to put it all out there before you responded.”
“I’ve waited a long time to hear it. I didn’t want to rush the moment.” I giggle and tweak his nose like I used to when we were little, and he was beating me at Scrabble. It was my only defense back then. Feels like some things never change…
His phone buzzes again and he lets out a loud groan before rolling over to grab it. I want to ask who’s been blowing it up for the past hour, but I know better than to pry. Some questions are better left unanswered.
“I’ve got to get back to the club.” He pulls himself to a sitting position and leans back against the headboard. “There’s an event tonight, and I should be there, at least for part of it.” His head drops to the side and his half-hooded gaze sends tingles dancing across my bare skin. “Will you be here when I get back?”
“Yes.” As if I’d leave before he sends me shooting into the heavens again. “I’ll stay.”
He leans over me, his full lips curled into a sexy smirk. “Am I gonna find you like this?”
“You’ll have to wait and see. But that’ll be your incentive to get back here fast.”
His fingertips brush against my bare breast, the warmth of his hand cupping it before he brings his mouth to the nipple and nips at it with his teeth. I squeal and giggle, squirming out of his grasp. “Stop teasing me and go! The faster you go, the faster you can get back on top of me and back inside me, Nico.”
“You’re making me want to stay.”
I stroke the back of his head, running my fingers through his glossy dark hair. “You know you can’t. Besides, if Max is harassing you, he won’t stop. And we don’t want him showing up here to drag your ass out of here. I don’t think I need to remind you what he’ll do if he catches me in your bed.”
“Okay, okay.” He pulls me close once more, his lips grazing mine. I can still taste the faint watermelon flavor of a Jolly Rancher that still lingers. His tongue works its way into my hungry mouth, taunting me as it coils around mine, electrifying my insides. This can go sideways very quickly unless he pulls away now.
After a few more deliciously torturous seconds, he pulls away. “I didn’t want to stop.”
“I know,” I murmur, still breathless from that kiss. Sweet Jesus, the man knows how to use that mouth...and every other tool he’s been graced with.
“I promise I won’t stop later.” He cups the sides of my face “I don’t know how I’m gonna get anything done at the club knowing you’re here, naked in my bed.”
“I don’t want to be responsible for you not being productive, but I can think of a way to get you back here faster.”
“Oh yeah? Let’s hear it.”
“Well,” I drag my fingertip over the comforter and flash a seductive smile up at him. “I may get lonely by myself. So lonely that I might need to do something to keep my mind off you not being here.”
He drops to his knees next to the bed. “Keep going.”
I stretch my arms overhead. “I’m just saying that I may need to come up with ways to occupy myself. You know, little games I can play while thinking about you.”
His mouth drops open, his fingers gripping my ankles. “In about ten seconds, I’m gonna call Max and tell him I’m sick.”
I snicker and press my lips to his. “Just do what you have to do at the club. Then get back here and do me.”
“You’re fucking killing me, Shaye.” He groans and rolls off the bed. I bite my lower lip as I watch the muscles in his back ripple in the soft moonlight streaming through the curtains. It illuminates him as if he’s a statue on display — a perfectly chiseled specimen of a man with an extremely sizeable member that I would very much like to become acquainted with again in the very near future. We’ve only just met, but I can tell we’re going to be almost inseparable over the next couple of weeks. Shit…
And just like that, my heart sinks to my stomach. I’ve finally allowed my mind to acknowledge the fact that I’m leaving soon, and the sharp pangs in my chest confirm that my heart is damn-near its breaking point.
I fist the soft sheet and swallow hard past the growing lump in my throat. Tears spring to my eyes. I dread the thought of boarding that plane to Miami, which only days earlier had been my safe haven from Nico. How ironic that the person who drove me away is the one whom I now want to cling to.
I take a few deep breaths since I don’t want him to see me having a nervous breakdown about leaving. Hello, stage five clinger! Love or not, he doesn’t need to see this. Not yet, anyway.
Nico comes out of the bathroom, his dark wash jeans just skimming his hips. He reaches into his closet for a button-down shirt but doesn’t put it on right away. It’s almost as if he’s toying with me, slowly turning to give me a full-frontal view before covering up all of that sinfulness. The cut of that V stilts my breath, and the black cloud of sadness that had settled over me is now eclipsed by lust. I curl my toes under the sheet. We have time to figure this all out, time to get our story straight, time to figure out how this will work while I’m away, time to plan how we’re going to spring the news of this forbidden secret on our families…
I keep repeating these words to myself as Nico leans over me, his hands on either side of my body, now wrapped like a mummy under the sheet. The musky scent of his cologne makes my knees knock and my pulse throb. I grip the sheet, afraid of what I might do with my hands if I let go of it. Later…later…later…forever…
“Miss me, okay?” He smiles at me, caressing my forehead with his lips. “And drink that hot chocolate. I have about ten boxes of it in the pantry, so go to town.”
“It’s better when you make it for me.” My voice is small and timid, and as much as I want to be flirty, I’m afraid I may crumble and mess it all up.
“Then I’ll make it my first priority when I get home later.”
“How about you make it your second priority?” I force my lips upward and manage a watery smile.
“Point taken.” He winks and slides into his black Louboutin loafers. God, I think they’re so incredibly sexy on him, although I much prefer them on the floor, along with everything else he’s wearing.
With a quick kiss, he’s out the door, and I finally release the sobs that have been building in my chest. The tears flow and don’t stop. I feel like my heart is unraveling like an old throw rug with a loose thread that constantly gets pulled until nothing is left but a pile of tattered yarn.
He loves me. I love him. Why can’t everything else be that simple?