Gathering me to him, he takes us both down onto our sides on the mattress. His arms encircle me, strong and warm, a shelter I’d like to remain in all day if I could. Forever, if I’m being honest.
It takes some time before we’re both breathing normally again and relaxed. Nick reaches up to stroke the side of my sweat-sheened face. When he speaks, his deep voice is thick like velvet, a caress I feel as palpably as his touch. “Better now?”
“Perfect.”
It’s not a word I’m accustomed to using, especially when it comes to my life. But these past few months—the two weeks I’ve been living with Nick in particular—have come pretty damn close. I never thought it could be like this with someone. I never imagined that I would ever feel this connected to anyone, this whole.
I’ve never felt this terrified either.
Because as deeply as I’ve fallen, I know that the bottom could drop out of this bliss at any moment.
It nearly did two weeks ago.
Nick and I came through some of my worst secrets together, but there is more he doesn’t know. Things I don’t dare tell him. A truth I intend to take to my grave.
He kisses my nape, drawing me out of the past that continues to haunt me.
“Now that I’ve satisfied one of your appetites, how about breakfast?”
My mouth waters at the thought. “Mm, sounds great.” As gifted as he is in bed and at business, Nick’s culinary talents are nothing short of spectacular.
Giving my shoulder a light nip, he carefully withdraws from my sex. “Join me in the shower. I’ll get the water started.”
I moan as he rolls away from me, leaving cool air where his delicious heat had been. Pivoting around, I watch him move to the edge of the bed and dispose of the condom. The sight of his muscled back and broad shoulders makes my mouth water too. How did I end up with this amazing man? It’s a question I’ve asked myself numerous times since fate put me in his orbit.
Dominic Baine, a man who can have anything—and anyone—he desires, yet the only person he seems to want is me.
When he glances back to look at me, I am struck now, as always, by how handsome he is. An arresting mix of sharp angles and hard lines, his face is softened only by the lush line of his mouth. A mouth that knows every inch of my body and how to pleasure it. Under the ebony slashes of his brows and bed-tousled crown of dark hair, Nick’s cerulean gaze makes my pulse kick with banked, but still smoldering, arousal.
One of those inky brows arches wryly. “If I didn’t have a meeting I can’t miss this morning, that look might get you fucked
again right now, Ms. Ross. Whether you’re ready or not.”
I laugh, but my core throbs, knowing he means it.
He stands up, facing me with a hard-on I can’t help but admire. “Shower and breakfast,” he growls. “If I don’t decide to skip the cooking and spread you out on the table before I leave.”
“Promises, promises,” I tease, sliding to the edge of the bed where he waits. Taking his cock in my hands, I flick my tongue against the tip. Before he can grab hold of me, I hop to my feet and dance out of his reach. “Shower and breakfast, Mr. Baine. I’ll put the coffee on and join you.”
His acknowledgment is little more than a snarl. “Make it quick.”
I pad out of the spacious bedroom naked, feeling at home in the immense, luxurious penthouse that overlooks all of Manhattan from various angles. Passing the windows in the living room, which frame the iconic skyline of the city and the view I glimpsed the night Nick first kissed me here, I head for the kitchen with a smile lingering on my lips.
As I go to the coffee maker, I notice my cell phone peeking out of my small evening bag on the black granite counter where I left both last night after Nick and I returned from dinner and a play.
The text message light is blinking.
“Shit.” I had silenced the phone in the theater and forgot to turn it back on.
I swipe the lock screen and tap the message icon. All the blood drains from my face when I see the phone number on the unread text. I’ve seen this Pennsylvania number before. It’s been seared into my mind from the last time I saw it appear on my phone.
My finger trembles as I open the message and absorb the fresh threat I’ve just received.
U avoiding me?
Told u 2 wks ago we need 2 talk.
Im not going away Avery. Not this time.