I bent my knees up under his legs so I could lean in farther and hook my arms under his shoulders. “Talk to me,” I asked softly, leaning in to flick one of his lip piercings with my tongue. “Something’s on your mind.”
“I never asked if you were seeing anyone,” he admitted with furrowed brows.
The comment was so mundane compared to what I’d thought was happening between us I couldn’t help but bark out a laugh, causing his eyes to widen further.
“What’s so funny? I don’t want to be some kind of home wrecker,” Nico explained defensively.
“I’m laughing because I wondered the same thing about you a few minutes ago. You’ve been to my house, Nico. You know I live alone. Believe me, you would have had many, many tongue-lashings in town by now if there was someone in my life. After the way I claimed you at the bonfire, are you kidding?”
His face relaxed, and I felt his fingers begin to move slowly up my spine. “Okay, well… I mean, it’s not like I’m looking for a boyfriend or anything. I just don’t want to fuck up someone else’s relationship if I can help it.”
“That’s very kind. And what about you? Is there a Mr. Salerno back home in the Bay Area? Someone covered in ink and matching scrotal hoops, perhaps?”
I was teasing, but the idea of it made my stomach sour nonetheless.
He seemed to hesitate, which only caused my stomach to knot even more and my heart to stutter. No. No. It didn’t matter. Why did it matter? It was just sex. If he was cheating, that was his problem, not mine.
“I’m married to—”
I was scrambling away from him before I knew what I was doing. I tripped over my ass and fell halfway onto the floor. His mouth froze open for a split second before he finished his sentence.
“To my job, Weston. Jesus. I’m married to my tattoo shop. What the fuck?”
Nico was on his knees peering down at me in shock.
“I…” What the hell was I supposed to say? “I, ah, sorry. I just thought…” I stopped spluttering and started laughing.
His face turned to surprise. “Wait, you seriously thought I was married?”
“Well, no. That’s not what I meant.” I moved back up to the bed and knelt in front of him. “I’m not surprised you’d have someone special, so when you said you were married, my stupid head grabbed on to it and I freaked.”
He rolled his eyes. “Bullshit.”
“Nico, it’s true. Fuck. I’m sorry. Please. I didn’t mean to say anything to upset you. It was just my nerves about it that caused that stupid reaction.”
His look was skeptical, and I tried to figure out how in the hell to fix the situation in which we found ourselves. I reached out to grab his hands in mine.
“Look, I know you aren’t looking for a relationship. And, honestly, neither am I. I’m married to my work too. In addition to my practice, I work those shifts at the hospital. So can we stop all this fucking talk and get back to the fucking fucking?”
I batted my eyelashes at him for good measure, and he let out a breath before cracking a smile.
“Fuck yes.”
I pounced on him with a full-body slam into the bed. He let out a grunt and grabbed my shoulders to keep from flailing. We kissed while laughing, and it was a combination of relief and joy that seemed to bubble up through me.
After that, I didn’t think about Nico with someone else. I didn’t think of him wanting more than I was prepared to give him. I just enjoyed the moment of loving on his body to the best of my ability.
Well, not love exactly. But attention, adoration, gratitude, and a healthy heap of lust. I doused him with as many kisses, licks, bites, and touches as I could possibly give the man.
By the time I was again poised to enter him, he was begging for my cock, breathing my name between shuddered gasps, and pulling at me with greedy fingers. My mouth was locked on his, and my tongue danced between us.
“Want you so badly,” I admitted into his mouth. “Need to be inside you.”
“Fuck. Fuck, yes. Same here. Please. Inside.”
I loved it when he babbled and begged—so different from his usual attitude.
After slipping on the condom and pressing into his body, I looked up to see if he needed me to slow down.
His eyes watched me, and his hands came out to hold my face. We made that crazy connection again through our eye contact—the one that had derailed us just a little while earlier. I knew I wasn’t imagining it, but whatever it was, it simply didn’t fit the casual scenario we’d agreed upon. I didn’t allow the moment to happen again. I couldn’t.