For 100 Nights (100 2)

That he sees so much good in my art is enough to break me open. Especially tonight, knowing the paintings no longer belong to me, and why.

But it’s the affection I see in his eyes that lays me low and leaves me trembling under the weight of my feelings for him.

“Nick,” I whisper, my voice ragged. I get up from my chair and go to him, seating myself on his lap. I wrap my arms around him, holding him close, my face nestled into the warm strength of his shoulder. “Nick, I love you so much.”

He envelops me in his embrace, his hands moving slowly on my back, stroking me. Gentling me.

“Hey,” he says, his deep voice vibrating against me. “Baby, what is this? Are you . . . Jesus, are you crying?”

Drawing me away from him slightly, he searches my tear-streaked face and welled-up eyes.

“Talk to me, sweetheart. What’s wrong?” Concern etches his handsome face, furrowing his brows. “Have I done this? Have I . . . have I hurt you somehow, Avery?”

“No.”

“Then what—”

“I don’t want to talk,” I tell him abruptly, my tears already starting to subside. “Not tonight, okay? I just want you to hold me.”

He doesn’t look happy at my dodge, but he doesn’t argue. He understands me too well, knows me almost better than I know myself sometimes. And right now, he can see that the only thing I need is him.

Us.

Taking my chin on the edge of his fingertips, he leads my mouth to his. We kiss, slow and deep and tenderly. When our lips part a long while later, I reach down to lift the string of pearls.

“Tonight, I just want to be with you, Nick.” I loop the other end over his head, linking us together by the delicate rope of precious gems. “The only way we separate is if you pull away from me.”

“Baby,” he murmurs, reaching up to stroke his thumb over my lips. “I’m exactly where I want to be.”

He stands up, lifting me with him. Our long pearl shackle slides against my skin a

s he holds me aloft in his arms. Then he takes my mouth in another kiss, this one hot and commanding, filled with desire.

“Make love to me,” I beg him.

“All night if you want me to,” he promises.

Then he carries me away from the table and past the twisting flames in the fireplace, not pausing until he lays me down on his bed—our bed—and proceeds to make good on that vow.

Chapter 20

We shower together in the morning, taking our time because neither of us seems eager to let go of the perfect night we shared. Nick makes love to me again, a slow mating beneath the spray of warm water, our hands and bodies slick with soap and sliding together deliciously in pleasure.

I’d love to stay cocooned with him all day in the penthouse. In truth, I’d love to stay here with him forever, shutting out the world and the unpleasant business that I have to finish today with my stepbrother.

God, I hope it will all be finished once Rodney gets the money he’s demanded.

Nick startles me out of troubling thoughts and horrid memories with a kiss to the top of my head as I sit in front of the vanity mirror in the large bathroom robotically applying a little makeup while my mind is a thousand miles away.

“I put the passport application on the dresser for you to sign,” he tells me, his gaze holding mine in our shared reflection in the glass.

He is shirtless and barefoot, wearing just a pair of black suit pants. Half-dressed like this, he looks the part of both the corporate conqueror and the sensual master. I can’t help admiring what I see, no more than I can help the current of arousal that licks through my senses every time I look at my man.

“Lily’s already got a copy of your birth certificate on order,” he tells me, grinning with unabashed awareness of my desire for him. “We’ll need to send her a scan of your driver’s license before we leave to get your photo taken.”

“Okay. It’s in my purse in the bedroom.”

He nods. “I can get it for—”