21. Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-One
Nicole
The Bel Air house was silent when Nicole stepped inside.
Alexander closed the front door behind them.
For one second, they stood in the entry with their hands still joined, listening to the quiet.
No children, no staff, and no reason to whisper or wait.
Nicole’s patience with taking things slowly ended before either of them reached the stairs.
She turned, caught Alexander by the front of his jacket, and pulled his mouth down to hers. He kissed her back hard, then stopped so fast that his breath broke against her lips.
“Tell me,” he said.
Nicole stared up at him. “Tell you what?”
“That you’re sure.” His hands stayed at her waist without tightening. “I need to hear it.”
Her heart kicked against her ribs. This man had known her body for twelve years, but he wouldn’t claim an inch of it on memory alone.
“I’m sure.” She slid her hand into his hair. “I want you, Alexander.”
“Thank God.”
His mouth came back to hers. The kiss wasn’t careful now.
Nicole opened for him, and his tongue met hers with the exact pressure she’d missed.
He backed her against the door, one hand moving up her spine while the other gripped her hip.
She felt the hard length of his cock through his trousers and rubbed against it.
Alexander groaned into her mouth. “You said you wanted to go home. You didn’t mention attempted murder.”
“You’re still talking.”
“So are you.”
“Then fix it.”
He kissed her again, smiling against her lips. Nicole shoved his jacket from his shoulders. It fell near the door. He reached for the back of her dress, found the zipper without looking, and dragged it down.
“Still remember how clothes work?” she asked.
“Only yours.”
“Good answer.”
The dress loosened. Alexander pushed it from her shoulders and followed its fall with his hands, tracing her arms and waist as if he needed to learn that she was truly there. When the fabric dropped around her feet, his gaze moved over her black bra and underwear.
His face changed. Hunger, love, a little disbelief. Nicole knew every part of that look.
“Say it,” she told him.
“You’re beautiful.”
“You already said that at dinner.”
“I was working with limited information.”
She laughed, and Alexander caught the sound with his mouth.
They made it as far as the living room. Nicole pulled his shirt free of his trousers as they walked, fighting buttons while he kissed her neck. He knew the spot below her ear that made her knees weak. He used his teeth there, gentle enough to tease, and she nearly tore a button from his shirt.
“Careful,” he said.
“You own more.”
“I tried on four. I’m tired of them all.”
“Then take this one off.”
Alexander stripped it away. Nicole ran both hands over his bare chest. He was warm and solid under her palms, familiar in a way that hurt.
She’d spent three months refusing herself his body because desire wasn’t proof that their marriage was safe.
Now she had proof. She pressed her mouth to his chest and bit lightly over his heart.
“Nicole.”
“Too much?”
“Not nearly.”
His answer sent heat straight through her. He reached behind her and undid her bra. The straps slid down her arms, and then his hands covered her breasts. Nicole arched into him. Alexander brushed his thumbs over her nipples, watching her face as they tightened.
“I missed this,” he said.
“My breasts?”
“Your smart mouth.” He bent and drew one nipple between his lips. “These too.”
Nicole gasped and gripped his shoulders. His tongue circled her, then his mouth closed harder. He knew how much pressure she liked. He knew the exact sound she made when pleasure changed from sweet to sharp.
She knew him too. Nicole reached between them and cupped his cock through his trousers. His body went still.
“Take them off,” she said.
“Bossy.”
“Do you have a complaint?”
“Never.”
He pulled off his shoes and shoved his trousers and underwear down. His cock sprang free, thick and hard. Nicole wrapped her hand around him and stroked once from base to tip.
Alexander’s eyes closed. “Fuck.”
“You remember me?”
He opened his eyes. “I could forget my own name before I forgot your hand.”
She stroked him again, slower this time. His hips pushed forward. The control in his face cracked, and Nicole loved it. She’d missed being the one person who could strip the powerful Alexander Cohan down to nothing but need.
He caught her wrist gently. “If you keep doing that, this reunion is going to embarrass us both.”
“I don’t embarrass easily.”
“I know. I married you.”
Alexander lifted her and carried her the last few steps to the sofa. Nicole wrapped her legs around his waist, kissing him until he lowered her onto the cushions. He stood long enough to pull her underwear down her legs. Then he knelt between her thighs. The sight of him there stole her breath.
He kissed the inside of her knee. “May I?”
“Yes.”
“Say what you want.”
“Your mouth.” Nicole spread her thighs wider. “Right now.”
Alexander’s low laugh brushed her skin. “There’s my wife.”
His mouth covered her. Nicole cried out and reached for his hair. His tongue moved over her clit with slow, firm strokes, then circled it in the pattern that had always made her lose control. He pushed one finger inside her, then another, curling them as he sucked her clit.
Pleasure tightened through Nicole’s stomach. She lifted her hips, and he pressed his free hand across them, holding her where he wanted her.
“Don’t stop,” she said.
He didn’t. He knew when to go faster. He knew when she needed more pressure. He knew the quick tremble in her thighs that came before everything broke.
Nicole came with his name on her lips, her fingers locked in his hair, and her body shaking under him. Alexander stayed with her through every pulse, gentling his tongue only when she pulled at him. He rose over her. His mouth was wet, his blue eyes dark.
“Still sure?” he asked.
Nicole reached for his cock and guided the head to her opening. “Does this answer you?”
“Use words.”
She loved him for asking again.
“I want you inside me.” She held his gaze. “I want my husband.”
Alexander pushed forward. The first stretch burned just enough to make Nicole gasp. He stopped halfway, his arms shaking with restraint.
“Okay?”
“Yes.” She wrapped one leg around him. “More.”
He drove the rest of the way in. Nicole moaned. The fullness was almost too much after so long without him, but her body remembered how to take him. Alexander stayed deep, breathing hard against her cheek while she adjusted around him.
“Move,” she whispered.
He drew back and thrust into her. The sofa shifted under them.
Nicole hooked both legs around his hips and pulled him closer.
Alexander set a hard, steady rhythm, each stroke pressing deep before he dragged back.
She met him, lifting into every thrust. Their kisses became broken and messy, interrupted by gasps, laughs, and the words they hadn’t been able to say while they were apart.
“I missed you,” Alexander said against her mouth.
“Show me.”
He thrust harder. “Like that?”
“Again.”
He did it again. Nicole dug her nails into his back.
“God, yes.”
Alexander moved one hand between them and found her clit.
He rubbed tight circles while his cock filled her again and again.
Nicole’s second orgasm gathered fast, sharpened by his weight, his rough breathing, and the safety under the hunger.
He wasn’t using sex to make her forget. She was choosing it because she remembered everything and had still chosen him.
“Come with me,” she said.
“I’m close.”
“Then don’t hold back.”
His fingers pressed harder. Nicole came around him, crying out as her inner muscles clenched. Alexander gave one broken groan, thrust deep, and came inside her. His body locked over hers before his weight settled carefully against her.
For a while, neither of them spoke. Nicole listened to his heart slam beneath her palm. Alexander kissed her shoulder, then her neck, then the corner of her mouth.
“We didn’t make it upstairs,” he said.
“Your powers of observation remain unmatched.”
“I’m naked on a sofa. The evidence is strong.”
Nicole laughed. The movement made him slip partly from her, and both of them hissed.
“Careful,” she said.
“You were the one laughing.”
“You were the one who made a stupid joke.”
“I accept responsibility.”
“Look at you. Growth.”
He smiled against her skin. “You’re mean after sex.”
“You love me after sex.”
His smile faded into something tender. “I love you all the time.”
Nicole touched his face. “I love you too.”
The words came without fear. Alexander closed his eyes for one second, then kissed her palm.
They shifted off the sofa and onto the plush carpet, taking one of the cushions with them. Alexander lay on his back. Nicole curled against his side with her head on his chest, and he covered them with the throw from the sofa.
“You know,” she said, tracing a line down his stomach, “you’re far sexier when you act like a real husband and father.”
“I suspected the parenting bag was helping.”
“It was the leave-in cream.”
“Not the bath boats?”
“Captain Purple has a certain power.”
Alexander laughed and tightened his arm around her. “When did you first notice this sudden increase in my appeal?”
Nicole lifted her head. “At the playground.”
His brows rose. “When Prim fell?”
“You held her. You checked her stomach and her head, and you didn’t look at me to see whether I was impressed.”
“I was worried about her.”
“I know. That’s why I wanted to jump you.”
Alexander stared. “You did?”
“Badly.”
“You answered Brian’s message while wanting to jump me?”
“I contain multitudes.”
“You contain evil.”
Nicole smiled. “I wanted you the entire separation. That didn’t mean I was ready to trust you with the marriage again.”
His humor quieted. “Desire wasn’t repair.”
“No. And I wasn’t going to let missing your body make the decision for me.” She rested her chin on his chest. “Tonight wasn’t me giving in. It was me choosing you after I knew I could.”
Alexander ran his hand down her bare back. “I understand.”
“Do you?”
“I think so.” He looked at her without hiding behind a perfect answer. “You didn’t come back because I wanted you or because you still wanted me. You came back because I changed the life I’d be asking you to return to.”
“Yes.”
“And I have to keep changing it.”
“We both do.”
“We will.”
Nicole watched his face. “No speeches.”
“One promise,” he said.
“All right,” she conceded.
“I’ll keep being the husband you deserve and the father Prim and Rose deserve. Not because you came home tonight. Because that’s who I should’ve been, and it’s who I intend to remain.”
Alexander had already supported the promise with preschool pickups, correct drinking cups, bedtime songs, hard boundaries, and the phone he’d turned facedown. Nicole no longer had to imagine whether he could build the marriage he described. He’d already begun.
She took a breath. “I’m ready to come home.”
His hand stilled on her back. “Tonight?”
“With the girls.” Her voice shook, but she didn’t doubt the choice. “I’m ready to bring Prim and Rose home and give our marriage a second chance.”
Alexander’s eyes filled. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Nicole, I know what you’re trusting me with.” He drew her closer. “You, the girls, your work, your time. This whole life. I won’t waste it again.”
She kissed him softly.
“See that you don’t,” she said.
Alexander held her against his heart. “I won’t.”