Chapter 16
Sixteen
Nikos didn’t care about the food anymore. His gaze was glued to Kiki. He released a shuddering breath. He had felt like he was there with her—was her—as she relived it.
It took a moment for him to realize that she had somehow shared her memories with him. There was an intimacy to it that took his breath away. He wasn’t sure she even realized she’d done it.
The second Kiki stood and turned away, something in him shifted. The look in her eyes—raw, haunted, still flickering with the ghosts of her past—hit him like a punch to the gut.
He followed her into the living room, his footsteps silent on the hardwood floor. He reached out, his fingers brushing her arm.
“Kiki—”
She stopped.
Then, without a word, she turned and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Kissing him.
It wasn’t a tentative kiss.
It wasn’t careful.
It was full of the ache of memory, the burn of survival, and something more powerful than both—want.
His breath hitched as her lips met his—soft, searching, sure. He responded instantly, cupping her face. His fingers threaded through the damp ends of her hair. Her body pressed against his as if she belonged there, and for the first time in his life, Nikos believed in fate.
Even as fire licked through him, regret tugged at his conscience. He wouldn’t—couldn’t—take advantage of her vulnerability. Enough people had done that in her brief life, and he’d be damned if he would be another.
As if she heard his thoughts, Kiki drew back just enough to look up at him. Her smile was gentle. Knowing.
“I let the pain of what happened go a long time ago,” she murmured, reaching up and caressing his cheek. “As well as the fear. It’s not me I’m scared for now—it’s you… Markos… Brie. I’ll never let them control me again, but they can still hurt the ones I love.”
He swallowed hard, his hands held her close.
She leaned in, her lips grazing his. Her breath was warm. Her voice was like a combination of velvet and fire.
“I’m done running,” she declared. “From them—and from this.”
Nikos searched her eyes, his heart thundering in his chest.
“Are you sure?” he asked, his voice hoarse. “I don’t want you to regret anything you do with me.”
Kiki’s brow lifted in answer, her smirk curving slowly, wickedly.
Then she kissed him again, her tongue sweeping between his lips. This kiss stole the last thread of hesitation, fanning the fire between them into an inferno.
It was wild and deep and perfect. It unraveled him, making him forget every other woman before this moment. She unraveled him. She had since the moment they met.
A low groan slipped from his throat as he pulled back just far enough to curse under his breath. Without warning, he swept her into his arms, her delighted laughter spilling into the space between them as he strode toward the stairs.
“Is Markos going to be okay?” she asked through her smile, breathless against his neck.
“He can handle things until the others arrive. Angel has enough security to warn us if a damn squirrel twitches its nose,” Nikos muttered, nudging the bedroom door open with his shoulder.
He crossed the room, set her down gently on the bed, and gave her a look that made her pulse race.
“If you value those clothes,” he warned, pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it aside, “you might want to have them off before I get out of the shower.”
Kiki’s laugh was warm and mischievous as he disappeared into the bathroom, his clothes trailing behind him like breadcrumbs.
She reached for the hem of her hoodie, her eyes gleaming. Their eyes met for a split second before the door clicked shut behind him.
Damn, but I’m in trouble, he thought with a grin as he stepped into the shower, thankful Angel had hot water on demand otherwise he’d be taking a cold one.
The hot spray of water poured over his face and chest as he quickly soaped down. He should have been exhausted. Instead, he felt alive. More alive than he had felt in years.
Her kiss lingered on his lips—soft, wild, and fearless. Like her. A soft chuckled slipped from him when his cock bobbed in agreement.
“I know. I know,” he muttered in anticipation.
He turned off the shower and reached for a towel, raking his fingers through his hair as he stepped out and dried off quickly. When he opened the door, steam curled out around him like mist from a dragon’s breath.
And there she was.
Kiki stood in the doorway of the bathroom, leaning against the doorframe and watching him with that damn sexy smile on her lips that sent his body into overdrive again. Her body was silhouetted by the morning light streaming through the tall window behind her.
Every inch of her glorious figure was proudly on display for him to feast his eyes on. Her hair, still damp from her shower, curled around her shoulders in dark waves. Her skin looked as if it had been kissed by the sun, and in her eyes…
That look.
Not fear. Not doubt.
Trust.
She walked over as he stood there, staring like a teenager seeing his first pinup, and took the towel from his limp fingers.
“Let me,” she offered in a voice that sounded warm, sexy, and ready to melt every damn bone in his body.
And just like that, the space between them disappeared. His body jerked when she followed a trail of water down his chest with her tongue. His eyelids drooped with pleasure as she continued a combination of torture using her mouth and the towel.
His hips rocked forward when she wrapped her hand around his swollen shaft.
His fingers curled gently in her damp hair.
“God, you don’t know how much I want you. I’ve wanted to touch you from the moment you slammed the door in my face,” he confessed with a low groan.
She laughed, her warm breath so close it caressed his throbbing cock.
“You weren’t what I was expecting when Harvey and Jim made their proposal.”
“Damn, Kiki,” he moaned when she wrapped her mouth around him. “Every time I think I have you figured out, you do something that completely undoes me.”
Her laughter wrapped around him. If she didn’t stop, he’d come like a schoolboy in her mouth. That was not how he wanted their first time together to be. He pulled his hips back, pulling his shaft from her lips. She looked up at him with a pouting expression.
She had a mischievous gleam in her eyes as he pulled her up against the length of his body. He leaned down, capturing her lips in a slow, lingering kiss that warned her two could play this game. If she wanted to be tortured, he could think of a thousand and one ways to make her scream.
A breathless sigh left her as he deepened the kiss, his hands sliding up the outside of her thighs, over her hips, memorizing every inch before he pulled her against him.
He didn’t rush.
He caressed her slowly—each touch of his fingers and lips a sacred offering.
By the time he carried her back to the bed and laid her back against the pillows, she was writhing in abandonment. The sheets tangled around them like vines, her skin warm against his, her eyes never leaving his as he continued his attack on her senses.
Her fingertips traced the lines of the scar on his shoulder. He turned his head and kissed her palm, then the inside of her wrist, before moving to the curve of her neck, each touch of his lips a vow.
You’re safe. You’re wanted. You’re not alone.
His body moved over hers with the grace of a tiger.
The pressure was building to the point he was forced to close his eyes and breathe deeply to keep a meager measure of control.
When the tip of his cock brushed the junction where her soft curls were, a shaft of pleasure so intense it was more of a physical pain, caused his breath to hitch.
She parted her legs, sliding her silky thighs upward against his, she pressed down on his cock.
“Now, Nikos, please,” she begged.
He pressed his hips forward, slowly sinking into her. She was so damn tight that a light film of sweat broke out over his body. He didn’t want to hurt her.
She slid her hands down along his side, scraping her short nails along his buttocks. Their eyes locked as he pushed forward. Her smooth heat wrapped around the bulbous tip of his cock as he impaled her. His arms tightened around her when he felt a slight resistance.
“Kiki?” he hissed in shock, his eyes widening with disbelief when he felt the barrier.
“Now, Nikos. Set me free,” she murmured, pulling his head down to her.
He swallowed her gasp as he buried himself fully. He held still, releasing her lips and pressing his forehead against hers.
“You okay?” he murmured, his voice rough with restraint.
Kiki nodded, her fingers trailing down his back, pulling him closer.
“Don’t you dare stop, this feels amazing,” she moaned.
“It only gets better,” he promised with a low chuckle.
“Hot damn!”
Those two words broke the dam of his restraint. Their bodies moved together in a rhythm as ancient as time itself. Nikos was on sensory overload. It felt like every nerve ending in his body was attuned to one person—Kiki.
It wasn’t just their physical connection that was short-circuiting him. It was also an emotional one. He knew he was falling in love with her, but this was on an entirely new level. She was his—and he would do everything within his power to make sure he kept her safe.
Kiki’s whimpers increased as her body began to shake.
She came apart in his arms, crying out his name, and clutching him.
He felt her orgasm to the center of his soul.
It wasn’t only her arms that clung to him.
Her body clenched around him, drawing him deeper, stroking his cock until he swore there was no him or her, only them.
The tingling exploded through his body, ricocheting to the tips of his nerve endings. His balls drew up tight before he came in a flood of powerful jets, washing her womb with his hot seed.