It’s a miracle my mouth doesn’t betray my heart.
For the rest of our brunch, I feel like I’ve reverted back to high school, stuffing my mouth with food and casting moony looks at this boy, the new center of my universe.
We’ve fallen hard and fast and imperfectly.
No denying it.
But doesn’t that mean this is real? Doesn’t that mean nothing could ever steal this away?
* * *
Later, with Millie down for the night, Nick and I are alone in his room.
Instead of going to what’s become “my side” of the bed, I pull the covers down on Nick’s side and lie down. He spoons me to his hard body, linking his arms around me with a sultry kiss to the back of my neck.
“When are you talking to Ward?” I ask quietly.
“This week. Got a specific day you prefer?”
I shrug. “It doesn’t matter, but—” I bite my lip, contemplating how to finish that sentence. I don’t want him to think I’m second-guessing anything, but if Ward finds out we’re together, what else will he know? “If he knows we’re a thing, does he need to know anything else? Like everything about Abby? I know you’ve kept it kinda vague and general and I appreciate that.”
Nick turns me so I’m facing him.
“I’ll always protect your privacy. I haven’t told anyone more than they needed to know this whole time. If you’re worried, we can slow down—”
“No.”
His eyes flash with humor.
“That’s not what I meant. I don’t care if everyone knows. I just want to be with you. I only asked so I’d know what to expect,” I whisper.
Nick’s lips find mine. His tongue traces my lips, then inside my mouth, two longing sighs colliding.
I wrap my arms around his neck.
He pulls away with a delicious scrape of scruff against my skin.
I let out a breath, trembling from the effect he has on me.
He always does this to me.
“I love that, Nick,” I say with a shudder.
It’s not exactly, I love you, but it’s so close I feel delirious.
“You’re the sexiest woman alive,” he growls, so much force in his voice I actually believe it.
“Why?”
“You know me—the real me—and you still want to be with me. You make me want to be better, Reese,” he rumbles.
I smile. “I’m sure most women feel that way about you. You’re a hard man not to want to be with.”
“Most of the girls I’ve dated just wanted to be seen with me. They never thought beyond fame, beyond money, beyond sex. It’s not the same. Not like the future I see with you,” he whispers, his breath hot against my skin.
“That sucks, but I’m only a little sorry it didn’t go well in the past. If it worked out with them, I wouldn’t have you now, and—”
“Fuck yes, you have me. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, woman,” he growls.
God, he’s unlocked a new talent. Now he can turn my body boneless using only words.
I don’t have much time to consider it though, because in one swift move, I’m flat on my back. Nick’s lips attack mine with an animal fury that has me instantly spellbound.
His tongue invades my mouth. His eyes invade my soul.
My arms wind around his neck again, hanging on against a force of nature.
I moan before his hot mouth even lands on my neck, circling to my shoulders, unraveling me one vicious kiss at a time. With eyes like napalm pools, he flips the nightgown over my head and nips his way to my breast, marking me.
I try to regain my senses.
No easy task, even moving my hand to stroke up and down his bare chest, and feeling thankful he sleeps in only boxers.
His mouth covers one nipple, overwhelming me with just his tongue and a single square inch of captured skin until his fingers wander over my other breast.
“You know what you are?” he demands, baring his teeth.
“Already yours,” I whimper, swallowing thickly as his fingers march down my belly, skimming my thigh, bending in to brush the crease between my legs.
The answer must satisfy him—for exactly two seconds.
Because I arch up, fusing our bodies together in just the right place.
His raging length flicks against my folds, teasing me into submission, even through his boxers and my panties.
I gasp.
He sucks my other breast in a searing ring of teeth, only releasing it when I give him a shrill sigh.
“You...you weren’t supposed to stop,” I whine.
He chuckles, shifting up to kiss me just long enough to taste my mouth.
“You didn’t have to stop that either,” I whisper.
“I didn’t, but I do love your frustration. It’s part of the fun, darling,” he growls, those green eyes turning wolfish, smug, hellbent on blowing me apart.
“No fai—”
He doesn’t let me finish. His mouth seizes my other breast.
“Ohh.”
He strokes his tongue across my areola.
“Ohhhh.”
He kisses below my breast, down my stomach, diving lower. He licks a steaming line across my waist, sinking between my legs with a speed that makes me tremble in raw anticipation.