Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
The softest touch pulls me from sleep, gentle hands brushing against the side of my head. A kiss follows, warm lips pressing lightly against my temple, and then a voice drifts into my consciousness.
“Wake up, precious,” Koen murmurs, his breath tickling my ear. “Sylus’s going to take you to bed.”
I cling to him instinctively, nuzzling closer to the warm cocoon of vanilla and spices that is him.
The day floods back to me, the hours we spent together eating, watching MasterChef, and curling up like we didn’t have a care in the world, like lovesick puppies tangled in a heap of soft kisses, strokes of his fingers along my arm, and the occasional press of his lips to my hair.
I don’t want to move. I don’t want to leave this. “No,” I mumble, my voice thick with sleep. “Not yet.”
“Come on, Little Thief,” Koen chuckles softly, his hand gliding down my arm in lazy strokes. “Sylus is waiting.”
“You heard him, Sparkle. Let’s go. I don’t have all night.”
I groan, burying my face in Koen’s shoulder, but he shifts, his hands sliding under mine as he pulls me upright. “You’ve got to go upstairs now.”
“Why do you want me to leave,” I protest like a toddler, making them both chuckle.
“Because you’re going to bed now.” Reluctantly, I let Sylus guide me up, his hand wrapping around mine as he helps me to my feet. I follow him up the stairs, still half asleep, expecting him to turn into his room. But he keeps walking as we pass his door and head farther down the hall toward mine.
Fine by me, I think groggily, though part of me wants to pout at the loss of his bed and his scent.
When we reach my door, Sylus turns me gently, his hands framing my face as his lips brush against mine. I melt into him, his touch anchoring me even as it steals the breath from my lungs. Then his lips glide to my neck, kissing and nibbling, making goose bumps rise in his wake.
“I fixed it for you, wifey. Enjoy your night, but don’t forget to miss me.”
“What?” I manage, my voice thick with confusion and the haze of his kiss, but before I can ask more, Sylus knocks lightly on my door.
I’m even more confused when he steps back, giving me one last smirk, then turns and heads down the hallway with his hands in his pants pockets.
What the fuck?
My door creaks open, and I turn to find Nicholas standing in the doorway, framed by soft light spilling out from behind him. I can’t move. Can’t speak. My heart pounds, and the warmth that Koen and Sylus left behind is replaced by a cold that freezes my blood and wakes me the fuck up.
Is he here to tell me how I hurt him again?
It would be deserved.
“Hey,” he greets, his tone softer than I’ve ever heard it. “Will you… come in?” He steps back, waiting for me to enter, then closes the door behind me. “We need to talk.”
Okaaay.
My heart tightens, its slow thrum picking up speed. “About what?”
“Everything.” His gaze doesn’t waver as he takes a step closer. “About us. About what I said. About what I want.”
The words hang in the air when my eyes flicker to the bouquet of fire lilies sitting on the dresser, and I notice how their scent fills the room.
“Are they for me?” I ask, and as soon as the words leave my mouth, I cringe. Dumbass.
“They are.” His lips tug into a faint smile.
“They’re beautiful,” I manage. “Thank you.”
“They reminded me of you.”
I don’t even know what to say to that, so I sit on the edge of my bed. The walls I’ve built around myself rise, brick by brick, but something in his eyes keeps me from shutting him out completely.
“Let me start with this.” He holds my gaze but stays a few steps away from me. “I was an asshole. I said things I shouldn’t have, and I made you feel bad. Like what we had didn’t matter. And I need you to know that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Fuck.
I still can’t seem to get my brain to work and stay silent, letting him continue.
“I get it now.” Tension is radiating off him as he takes a step closer to me.
“Why you did what you did. Why they did what they did, and I know it doesn’t excuse how I acted, but I want you to know I understand.
And I forgive you because I see it now, Novalee.
What’s real and worth fighting for. And it’s you. ”
His words sink into me, unraveling the knot of guilt and doubt I’ve been carrying for days. “Nico…”
He steps even closer, closing the distance between us until he’s standing right in front of me. “I’m all in,” he promises. “For you. For them. For this… I’m in.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.” He reaches out to cup my face. “You’re not perfect. Hell, neither am I. But you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And I’ll fight for you. For us. I want to get to know you. I want us to be real.”
I lean into his touch, and it feels like the first full breath I’ve taken in days. “Okay.”
Nicholas smiles a small, genuine smile that softens the edges of his face and gives him dimples.
Fucking dimples, as if he wasn’t handsome enough.
He presses a feather-light kiss to my forehead, lingering long enough that I can feel the warmth of his breath.
“I’m sick of competitions. I’m sick of doing what I’m supposed to do, living up to expectations that never gave me anything real.
None of it made me happy. But you? You’ve become the brightest point in my life.
Ever since you walked into that museum, everything shifted.
You make me happy. And I want to do the same for you.
I want you to have everything you deserve. ”
How do you respond to something that feels so unearned, so freely given?
I’m so fucking bad at this.
“Wait.” He steps back to the door and reaches for the light switch, and in an instant, the room is swallowed by darkness. I’m confused and a little disoriented until a greenish glow makes me look up at the ceiling.
Stars.
Tiny, glowing stars are scattered across it, filling the room with a soft light. They shimmer, almost pulsing in the silence, and the weight of everything, of life, of grief, of guilt, falls away.
He did this.
For me.
“Nico…” I breathe out as I stand, my gaze flickering between him and the stars.
“Sometimes…” He steps toward me again, closing the distance slowly until we’re standing so close that our toes are touching, “… things that didn’t work out for you actually worked out for you.”
“This makes no sense.”
Why would he want me? After everything I did?
After how I hurt him?
After how I betrayed his trust?
“Even if I were senseless,” he continues, his words so soft they almost get lost in the space between us. “You’d still make sense to me.”
Fuck. How can anyone be this sweet?
My arms wrap around his waist, pulling him to me in a hug. His arms come around me, his hand firm at the back of my head, and I almost lose myself in the quiet, dizzying comfort of it.
“Would you rather forgive the rich asshole who got his feelings hurt and lashed out at you… or tell him to fuck off and miss out on all the glow-in-the-dark magic?”
I snort, the sound muffled against his shirt. Leaning back, I blink up at him, arching a brow. “Option three. Forgive him but make him grovel for it.”
His grin widens to that perfect, boyish grin that used to drive me insane in all the wrong ways and now drives me insane in every right one. He leans closer, his breath brushing against my cheek. “What if he already is?”
I narrow my eyes at him, but my lips twitch upward at the same time. “Then I guess I’d have to let him off the hook… eventually.”
“Eventually?” His voice is practically a purr now, and my heart skips a beat.
“Yes, eventually,” I say, trying to hold onto my sass because God knows this man doesn’t need his ego inflated any further. “Because—”
I don’t get to finish. He tilts my head up, his fingers firm under my chin, and presses his lips to mine, cutting me off completely. The kiss is slow at first, as if he’s savoring the moment. My breath catches as his other hand slides to the small of my back, pulling me flush against him.
God, how does he do this?
How does he manage to kiss me like I’m the only thing keeping him tethered to this earth and somehow still knock the floor out from under me?
I try to remind myself that there is so much more to talk about, so much more to clear up, to apologize for.
I should apologize too. But all those thoughts evaporate the second his teeth catch my bottom lip, tugging and making my knees wobble.
I clutch his shirt for balance, or maybe it’s to keep him from pulling away.
When he finally does, it’s only to press his forehead against mine. “Does that count as groveling?”
I huff a laugh, my chest light and full at the same time. “It’s a good start.”
A good start?
Who am I kidding? It’s perfect.
He’s perfect. This is perfect.
No walls. No masks. Just us.
Nicholas’s hands stay firm on my waist, anchoring me as the stars on the ceiling glow faintly above us.
But it isn’t only us.
And he was so hurt when he found out about Sylus, Koen, and now Ace.
His hand slides up to cup my face, his thumb brushing across my cheekbone.
“I can’t and won’t choose you over Sylus, Koen, and Ace.” My heart races as I meet his gaze. “I want you all the same.”
“I know.” He presses a kiss to the side of my head.
“And you’re okay with that?” My breath hitches as his mouth trails down to my collarbone, leaving a line of goose bumps in his wake.
“Yes,” he murmurs against my skin, his tone leaving no room for doubt. “I passed Sylus’s test.”
I pull back to look at him. “What test?”
Nicholas’s cheeks faintly flush as he glances away.
What the hell, Sylus?
“He… sent me a picture.”
“What kind of picture?” I press, my brow arching as a sinking suspicion twists in my stomach. “Show me.”
He hesitates for a second but then pulls his phone from his pocket, swiping a few times before handing it to me. The screen is so bright in the dark room it hurts my eyes, so I reach over to turn on the nightlamp on my bedside table.
And there it is.