“My warrior woman.”
A feeling of deep relief swept through me, and my cheeks flushed with pride. My hips seemed to take on a life of their own, as I swished what little fabric there was back and forth.
His eyes followed every move.
“That’s all you,” I replied. “You’re the one who picked it.”
I thought this was a perfectly acceptable thing to say, but when nothing but a ringing silence followed the remark, I looked up to see what was going on.
It was like Nick didn’t even hear me. For one of the first times I could remember, my silver-tongued client could think of nothing to say. He was simply standing there, spellbound. Looking very much like a twelve-year-old kid on the playground, caught staring at a girl.
I cleared my throat softly, and he jerked back to attention.
“I’m sorry, what was that?”
My cheeks flushed again, and I bit my lip to keep from smiling. “I said, that you were the one who picked it out. And...thank you. I love it Nick, I really do.”
His eyes literally seemed to glow as they beamed back into mine, holding me there with a kind of magnetism so strong, I didn’t think I could ever escape it.
“I’m glad,” he said softly. His mouth opened like he wanted to say something else, but he dropped his eyes at the last minute. It was then that he realized the obvious problem. “But it’s not the only thing I picked out. The necklace. You didn’t want to wear it?”
“Oh—I almost forgot.” I reached back into the pocket of my coat and pulled it out, holding it incredibly gently in my palm. “I didn’t want to wear it standing out on the curb in Brooklyn. I was worried someone might grab it before Bobby showed up.”
A faint shadow flickered across Nick’s face.
“Do things like that happen a lot around your apartment?”
My eyes squinted in focus, trying to find the clasp.
“Hmm?”
“It’s nothing.” He shook his head quickly, and took it from my hands. “Here, let me.”
Before I could stop him, he lifted it from my hands—circling around behind me as he draped the gem over my chest. A soft gasp escaped my lips as the cold diamond came to rest against my skin. But it wasn’t the diamond that was making me shiver.
“Hold still,” Nick murmured, leaning down so far that his warm breath tickled the back of my neck, “I’ve almost got it.”
I tried, but it wasn’t easy. Quite the contrary. It was like every nerve ending in my body had suddenly sprung to life. My eyes were dancing with it. My skin was jumping with it. My heart was pounding away with it inside my chest.
Based on the sound of shallow breathing behind me, I wasn’t the only one having trouble.
Nick took a step closer, then another step after that. He was pressed right up against me now—I could feel the heat from his body seeping through my tiny dress into my skin. The muscles in his chest contracted, and without thinking, I leaned back into him, bowing my head so that he could have a better angle of my neck.
“Abby...can I try something?” My body stiffened, and I felt him smile against the back of my hair. “It’s strictly work related—I swear.”
When I was finally able to speak, it was hardly more than a whisper.
“...okay.”
With no more preamble than that, he finished the necklace and started trailing his hands lightly down the sides of my arms. My breath caught in my chest as he moved with excruciating slowness—his fingers leaving little trails of goosebumps on my bare skin. Once his hands reached mine, they paused there for a moment—wrapping around them in a gesture so sweet and tender, I found myself closing my eyes.
But just touching had never been enough for Nick. The man knew no boundaries, and his need to experience everything to the fullest extent had gotten him in trouble more than once.
His hands were soon replaced with his lips.
I bowed my head with another gasp as his mouth grazed along the top of my shoulder, pausing at the base of my neck to give me the softest kiss. My entire body was flushed now, alive and hot and wanting. But still, Nick took his time. Exploring me in a way that was sweet, rather than anxious. In a way that some might even call chaste.
A little smile crept up the side of my face just thinking about it.