Nico
NICO
A shriek tore through the air.
I launched up in bed. Rhett! What the fuck?
Everly hurled herself out of bed and ran to the door. She stopped and glanced down at her naked body.
“I need clothes!”
“Here,” I said, tossing her one of my shirts. “Is he okay?”
She didn’t answer. Instead, she sprinted down the hallway to Rhett’s bedroom while simultaneously shoving her arms into my shirt. I grabbed a pair of boxers and dragged a polo over my head, then followed her. By the time I reached Rhett’s room, Everly was perched on the end of his bed, rocking him from side to side and murmuring in his ear. Tears streaked his face. He had one hand fisted in the shirt I’d loaned Everly, and with the other, he sucked on his thumb. But it was his eyes that got to me the most. They held the kind of despair no child should ever have to experience.
I raked both hands through my hair and left them there, grabbing fistfuls and feeling utterly useless. I wanted to take that pain and swallow it, lock it up inside me so he didn’t have to suffer.
“Shh,” Everly crooned. “It’s okay. Mommy’s here.”
Something warm and subtle filled my chest, chasing away the hopeless anguish as I watched Everly comfort her son. My gaze rested on her face, and I drank in the love I saw there as she rhythmically stroked his head.
“Hey, buddy,” I said, dropping to a crouch beside the bed. “How about some warm milk?”
He lifted his eyes to mine and nodded.
I squeezed Everly’s shoulder in an act of solidarity and left them alone. When I got downstairs, I glanced outside. The moon had disappeared behind a thick blanket of clouds, and when I opened the French doors to let in some air, I shivered against the chill. Maybe a few days of cooler weather were on their way. I welcomed it. It’d been too hot for this late in the year.
Removing a carton of milk from the fridge, I half filled a pot and put it on the stove to heat. My gaze drifted to the counter where, just a few hours earlier, I’d fucked Everly and changed the course of my life. The emotions that had emerged, not only that first time but also later when I’d had her in my bed, scared the shit out of me.
Whether mind-blowing sex coupled with the last week, where I’d nursed her back to health, had played a part, I didn’t know, but I couldn’t hide from the fact that my heart beat faster just thinking about her. After she’d fallen asleep last night in my arms, I’d watched her for hours while silently praying that she’d never leave. In the past, if a screaming child had woken me from sleep, I’d have probably bitched about it, even silently. Not that I’d ever had a child in my home before, but I imagined that might have been my reaction. But from the first day I’d met Rhett, I’d developed this connection with him that I couldn’t explain. And Everly…
Shit.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and dropped my head. I didn’t love her. But, given time, I think I could. I’d never met a woman who made that thought cross my mind, even fleetingly. But considering Everly’s complicated situation, pursuing a longer-term relationship was out of the question. Until the mystery of Paul’s disappearance was solved, we both risked getting hurt.
I couldn’t allow that to happen.
Yet at the same time, I wanted to immerse myself in this moment, however brief it might be, and enjoy it for what it was.
Bubbles appeared on the surface of the milk. I turned off the heat and tested it with my finger. Not too hot. I poured it into a mug and added a spoonful of sugar, then returned to Rhett’s room. He’d calmed down by the time I got there, and he gave me an enormous grin as I entered.
“Here we are, buddy,” I said, handing the mug to Everly in case she wanted to check that it was cool enough for him. She knew better than I did.
She blew on it, sipped, nodded, and then handed it to Rhett. “Hold tight now. Careful.”
Her eyes slid to mine, and she smiled and mouthed, “Thank you.”
I sat with them both while Rhett finished his milk. Everly set the mug on the bedside table, then tucked him in and kissed his forehead.
“Back to sleep now, honey.”
Rhett’s bottom lip wobbled. “Can I still go racing tomorrow, Mommy?”
“Of course you can. Why would you think you couldn’t?”
He blinked up at her. “Because I’ve been bad. Daddy said so.”
My heart tripped and stuttered. Daddy? What the fuck is going on?
Everly’s stricken expression bore a deep hole in my stomach. She pulled Rhett into her arms and squeezed him so tightly he grunted. “You haven’t been bad, honey. It was a nightmare. That’s all. But it’s over now. Go to sleep, and in the morning, you’ll have forgotten all about it.”
Thank fuck. He’d had a bad dream that must have felt real. For a split second there, I’d feared the worst, that Everly and Rhett had somehow had contact with Paul and she hadn’t told me.
Relax, dickhead . That wouldn’t have made any sense. They’d been living with me for over a week. If Paul had reappeared, I’d know about it.
I walked into the hallway ahead of Everly. She followed, closing Rhett’s door softly behind her, then rubbed her hand over her face and blew out a slow breath.
“What time is it?” she asked.
“A little after four.”
She pinched the corners of her eyes. “Doubt I’ll get back to sleep now.”
I winked and slung an arm around her shoulder. “I can think of other things we can do to pass the time until morning.”
She smiled and nuzzled against me. “Thank you.”
I kissed her temple. “For what?”
“Everything.”
I laughed. “Well, I am pretty awesome.”
She rolled her eyes. “Jerk.”
We climbed back into bed, and I pulled Everly into my side, then flicked off the bedside lamp, casting us into darkness.
“What was his nightmare about?”
Her breath hitched. “He dreamed his dad came back and told him he’d left because Rhett was bad.” She heaved a sigh. “He used to have this dream a lot when Paul first left, but it’s been more than six months since it happened. I’d hoped he’d gotten over it.”
“The mind is a funny thing,” I said, squeezing her tightly. “None of us truly know what the brain is capable of, and especially in children. They’re blessed with an overactive imagination at the best of times.”
“Yeah.” She sounded so weary and beat down, and all I wanted was to fix everything for her, to put her and Rhett back together.
“Come here,” I said, rolling her on top of me. Her hair fell forward, and I tucked it behind her ears, then leaned up and kissed her.
“Do you have a permanent hard-on?” she asked, wriggling against me.
I raised my hips, seeking more friction. “These days, it seems so, especially when you rub up against me like that.”
My eyes had adjusted to the darkness enough to see her broad grin. “I love your accent. Talk dirty to me.”
A laugh burst out of me. “I’ve never had a woman ask me that before.” Probably because the liaisons didn’t last long enough for them to ask me such a thing.
“Really?” Her head cocked to the side. “I’ve never asked anyone to do it before either. Guess we’re both dirty-talk virgins.”
My laughter grew. “You’re a crazy girl. You know that?”
She burrowed her face in my neck, then her lips touched my ear. “I’m serious, . I want to hear dirty words come out of your sexy-as-sin mouth in that clipped English accent of yours. It’ll be so hot.”
I flipped her over, settling between her parted legs. I ground my hips into her. “Can you feel how hard I am right now?”
She nodded, her teeth grazing over her bottom lip.
“That’s you, Everly. The thought of how wet you are, the panting little breaths you make right before you come, the way your pussy clamps around my dick five seconds before you orgasm. All those things make me so fucking hard I swear I’m gonna burst.”
She circled her hips beneath me. “More,” she breathed.
“My whole life I’ve fought to maintain control, yet when I’m with you, I’m so close to losing it, and that should scare me more than it does.” I flicked a tongue over her nipple. “I want to taste every inch of your skin. Particularly here.” I reached between us and stroked her clit, then slipped two fingers inside her. “Right here, Everly. Would you like that?”
She nodded, her tongue skimming her lips.
“And tomorrow, when I’m at work and you’re up on the viewing platform watching Rhett, I’m going to sit in my office and recall what you tasted like. I’ll get hard. I’ll probably masturbate. And the only thing I’ll be thinking of when I do it is you.”
“Oh God.” She clenched around my fingers as I moved them slowly in and out of her. “God, , you make me want to throw everything aside, to act crazy, be reckless, take risks.”
I bent my head and kissed her. “Then do it. Your life is your own, Everly. Make it what you want it to be. Live in the now, not in the past.”
Fuck, the irony. I should listen to my own advice. I’d lived in the past ever since my suspension broke at Spa. I’d lost count of the number of times I’d wished I could turn back the clock and do something different, even if I had no idea what that would be. If I had my time again, I’d still chase Tate down as hard as I had, the taste of victory more addictive than any fear for my own safety.
Sliding down her body, I eased her thighs apart and hooked her legs over my shoulders. The second my tongue touched her pussy, she cried out. I clamped a hand over her mouth. Rhett hadn’t long had a nightmare, and he might not be in a deep sleep yet. The last thing either of us needed was him thinking his mother was having a bad dream, too, and for him to come and investigate.
Christ, the embarrassment of getting caught eating out his mother. He wouldn’t have a clue what was going on, but I didn’t fancy trying to come up with an age-appropriate explanation either.
Everly’s body vibrated, her calves contracting against my ears. She fisted the sheets and arched her back, greedily demanding more.
I gave it to her.