26. Skye
SKYE
I woke up groggy, my thoughts a jumbled mess.
I couldn’t remember the last time my head and eyelids felt this heavy. The world shifted and I waited for the blurriness to cease, only for shock to set in as my surroundings registered.
Nikola’s bedroom in The Den of Sin.
My skin prickled at the feeling of being watched, but there was nobody in the room. I shifted off the bed, slightly unsteady on my feet, when the door opened and the man I’d wanted since I was a teenager stood there.
I should have reeled back or been terrified at the possessiveness he held behind his gaze. Yet all I could feel was excitement. Comfort. Safety.
“ Wh-what… How did I get here ?” I asked, struggling to move my hands while trying desperately to orient myself. I remembered drinking with Marietta, roaming the French Quarter…
“I carried you here.” He appeared calm, but his eyes burned, doing things to me. “You and Marietta were hammered.”
“ Where is she ?”
“Back at the house.” He shut the door behind him, slowly strolling toward me. “You shouldn’t be getting drunk when I’m not around. It isn’t safe, and you know better than that.”
I flinched at the reprimand. “ I was looking for you. ”
He lifted his cell phone.
“Funny, not a single message came through.”
“ Well, since you never answered my messages before, it seemed pointless and didn’t cross my mind, ” I signed, flicking a glance at the wall and noting the time.
It was only three in the afternoon. I returned my eyes to his tall frame, doing my best to ignore the trembling in my knees. He looked so handsome in those low-hung jeans and tight T-shirt that hinted at his canvas of ink. I squeezed my hands into fists to keep from reaching for him and?—
Ow . What is…
I snapped my head down and narrowed my eyes. I blinked several times, then lifted my hand and brought it closer to my face, certain I was seeing things. But no, the black marks were still there.
“ What the fuck is this ?” I asked, holding up the finger that had Nikola carved into my reddened skin.
“It’s a tattoo.”
“ I can see that, but why is it on my wedding ring finger ?”
He shrugged. “We can get a ring later, but this is to ensure everyone knows you’re mine. If you hadn’t gotten so drunk, we’d already be married.”
I blinked, then blinked again. “ Married ?”
He smiled and my heart tripped over itself. “Yes, but we lost the priest and I had to improvise.”
My brows drew together, unable to follow his meaning. Or maybe my brain was catching up to my inevitable hangover.
“ I don’t like the idea of carrying your name inked on my skin when you ?—”
He raised his hand, drawing my attention to the matching ink on his ring finger.
“I’m not that much of a hypocrite, Skye. You and me, zayka .” I smiled, my chest glowing like a hundred-watt bulb. If that wasn’t a declaration of love, I didn’t know what was. “So what should we do now?”
“ I’m not going back home .” I wasn’t ready to deal with my papa and the marriage he’d arranged on my behalf—against my will.
He flashed me a devilish grin. “Good. I was hoping you’d say that.”
I tilted my head, waiting for him to elaborate, but he remained silent. So I stepped toward him, placing my left hand on his chest. “ Why is that ?”
He shrugged, a playful glint entering his eyes that I hadn’t seen since we were children. “We could play Roblox.”
I pursed my lips. He hated that game. “ I think we outgrew that game .”
A deep chuckle vibrated in his chest, pushing against the palm of my hand.
“I think you’re right, zayka .” He bent his head and pressed a kiss to my forehead before signing, “We could try something else.”
I decided to go for it. No more tiptoeing around each other. “ We could play a different kind of game. ”
His eyebrows shot up at my boldness. “Oh, yeah? Elaborate.”
“ We could play strip poker? Strip Jenga? ” Nikola stroked his chin as if he were seriously considering it. “ Or strip twister, ” I suggested, my cheeks flushing. “ Every time we fall, we remove an article of clothing until we’re completely naked and… ”
“And fucking,” he finished for me.
“ Making love, ” I corrected him, so full of love and infatuation for this man it wasn’t even funny. “ I’m a red-blooded woman with needs and desires, but I want more than just meaningless sex with you, Nikola. ”
“Tell me exactly what you want, zayka .”
My heart lurched, urging me to go all in. He’d been my obsession for so long, I was terrified of doing something wrong.
“ I want everything with you. I want to know what pleases you— ” I paused.
Over the years, I’d fallen in love with every piece of Nikola and I wasn’t afraid to show it, but he hadn’t echoed my sentiments.
He said he wanted me, but did he love me?
Suddenly, insecurity slithered through me.
I tilted my chin up, adopting an indifferent expression, but my hands shook when I signed my next words.
“ I want to know how to please men in general. ”
Yet, I knew the only person in my future was this pale-eyed devil. And there was no way in hell I would even attempt to please any other man, never mind Amadeo Marchetti.
“You won’t be pleasing any other men, so get that out of your head.” Nikola perched lazily on the doorframe and arched a light-blond eyebrow, but possessive heat burned brightly in his eyes. “Don’t you fucking dare even think those words, never mind say them, Skye.”
Relief settled in my chest at hearing the deepness and intensity in his voice while his gaze touched mine. The way he looked at me, the way he spoke to me, the way he wanted me… something about it all felt so undeniably right. It always did with Nikola.
My fingers didn’t shake when I signed my next words.
“ Then touch me. Fuck me. Make love to me . Because I can’t live without you and I know—or at least I hope— you’ve been thinking about what happened between us as much as I have .”
My cheeks burned, but I refused to feel ashamed or intimidated. Ever since I’d gotten a taste of Nikola, it had been all I could think about. I wanted him to see me as a woman. His woman.
His silence made me even more reckless.
“ Papa’s going to marry me off. ” My hands signed the words before my brain could even process them, letting my despair bleed into every sign. “ And I’m afraid this tattoo on my finger won’t be enough to stop anyone. ”
“Over my dead body will you marry anyone else. I’ll never let anyone else touch you. Fucking ever.” His expression was cold, somewhat dousing my bravado. But then he ran a thumb across my cheek and my body melted. “I knew about the marriage contract from day one.”
My heart dropped. “ What ?”
“I’m not going to let it happen, Skye. You’re mine.
I’ve tried talking to Uncle Sasha and your papa.
I tried to convince them to let you marry me.
” Hope flickered in my chest, but his next words extinguished them.
“Both of them rejected the idea, but that won’t stop me.
I’ve been trying to figure out a way to ensure that the marriage contract doesn’t happen. ”
“ So, you’ll help me, then ?” It was hard to hide my hopeful expression; Nikola’s wry smile and knowing gaze told me as much.
“You’ll do exactly what I say, zayka .” I nodded enthusiastically while his gaze coasted down my body. “I’ll be gentle with your heart but rough with your body.”
“ Exactly how I like it .”
And why I love you , I thought. But I couldn’t quite muster the courage to give him those words, because I knew myself. I would demand them in return. I wanted to give him my everything, but I also wanted his everything.
He pushed off the wall and crossed the room. “I have an idea on how to end this marriage contract.”
Oh, so did I, but I’d let him tell me his idea first. “ I’m all ears .”
“Simple.” He flicked a glance behind me and I followed it to the blinking red lights surrounding the room. “We make a sex tape. Marchetti sees it and breaks things off.” He shrugged. “There’s no time like the present to make it happen.”
I considered his words. They should have shocked me, but I was thrilled.
Buzzing with pent-up energy. Maybe it was the idea of taking matters into my own hands and refusing to let my papa decide who and when I should marry.
Or maybe it was simply the fact that Nikola would touch me—own my body—again.
“ I don’t know how I feel about anyone else seeing me naked, ” I stated, a slow grin stretching my lips. “ But I think I can make an exception for a worthy cause. ”
“I’ll edit it so you’re not distinguishable, but I’ll make sure he knows what’s what when I send it to him. I wouldn’t let anyone see you naked. That’s only for me.”
My cheeks burned, yet the throbbing between my thighs intensified with the images his words conjured in my mind.
“ Okay. ”
“So you’re up for it?” He was asking for my permission, and if there was still a part of my heart that didn’t belong to him, it certainly did now.
“ Yes .”
No hesitation. No dwelling. Just trust.
“Turn around,” he instructed and I obeyed, painfully aware he was checking out my ass. My thighs trembled and so did my heart as I glanced over my shoulder to find his expression unreadable.
“Lift your skirt for me,” he signed and mouthed at the same time. Again, I did as he asked, my heart racing so fast I feared it would leave my chest and run to him.
I caught him studying the bite tattoo on my ass.
“ Do you like it ?” I signed with one hand.
“Very much, although the idea that someone else touched your ass… not so much.” His gaze met mine as he said, “Did you forget to wear panties just to drive me crazy?”
I swallowed, tempted to lie, but my slow nod gave me away.
“Fuck, you’re going to ruin me.” I’d never seen such reverence in his eyes before. “Your papa is right. You’re a good girl.”