Chapter 32
Aubergine.
I awoke to the sound of the shower turning on.
With a soft groan, I rolled onto my back and reached over.
No Nicola, but his place in bed was warm. I opened my eyes and caught the bathroom light that glowed beneath the door.
My phone showed that it was five in the morning.
I stretched and kicked off the sheets. I meant to sit up, but his bed was ridiculously comfortable. Way nicer than mine. And the sheets were silk!
I snorted at myself. I only had been here for a week and Nicola had already ruined me with his French soap and silk sheets.
A few minutes later, Nicola emerged wearing nothing but a pair of briefs.
Before he could reach the closet, our eyes met.
Taking a detour, Nicola climbed onto the bed on all fours until he was hovering above me.
"Hi." My fingers slipped through his damp hair as I smiled up at him.
“Hi. I didn’t mean to wake you.” He bent down to kiss me, slow and unhurried.
“No, that's okay. Nicky... can I ask you something?”
He sighed heavily through his nostrils.
“Is it going to start another fight?” he asked mildly. “I haven’t had coffee yet.”
I laughed. “No. I don’t think so. When we were, um, fooling around in the shower the other day, you said something.”
Now I had his full attention. Nicola's black eyebrows waggled. “Oh. What’d I say?”
“′Let them hear.’ Who were you talking about?”
“My brothers, obviously.”
I couldn't stop my face from scrunching up. “I seriously doubt—”
“Michael carried you out of the docks like fucking Prince Charming.” His jaw flexed. “And...”
He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck, glancing away. “I know he saved you. But I still wanted to fucking kill him that night.”
My lips parted. “But that was my fault. I was in shock—”
“It’s nobody’s fault,” he interjected. “I just...”
His mouth twisted. The poor man was struggling. “I don’t know what to do with those impulses. The thought of anyone touching you, Aubergine… It fills me with fucking rage.”
“Since when?” I asked weakly.
“Since always.”
The answer was so quiet I almost missed it.
Well, that explained Richie Gallo.
“But you know Michael would never hurt me.”
“It’s not just about hurting you. It’s...” He pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled. “Fuck. I need coffee.”
I smiled despite myself. “Okay. I’m going to throw a word out there. You can deny it or laugh me off if you want.”
He looked wary, but waited.
“Were you jealous?”
Nicola gave an incredulous scoff, like the suggestion itself was ridiculous. A moment later, his expression fell and his lips pursed.
“Maybe," he conceded.
“Even Tommy?”
“Especially Tommy,” he muttered. “He'd fuck you if you gave him the chance. At least Michael would have a conscience about it.”
"First of all, gross. Second of all, if it comforts you, I was jealous of just about every woman in Manhattan.”
Nicola smiled at me, then it weakened. “For how long, Abs?”
Heat rushed to my cheeks, but I didn’t dare look away. He'd been honest with me, he deserved the same treatment.
“When we first met, it was a crush. You were so cool and way out of my league.” As I spoke, my hands spread over his bare chest and the tattoos that I planned on mapping out with my fingers one night soon.
“But, I really didn’t fall until after I graduated high school. Those summers here at the house with you?” I looked around the room. “It was the happiest time of my life. Until now.”
There was a softness in Nicola's gaze that made me feel stripped raw and yet completely seen at the same time.
“So… we’re both fucked up, then,” he concluded.
“Seems that way.” My thumb stroked his freshly shaven cheek, and delighted in the scent of that imported soap he bragged about. “Do you need to leave soon?”
He glanced toward the bedroom door like he was mentally checking the time before looking back at me.
“In a little while, yeah.” A sly grin curved his mouth. “There’s something more important I need to do first.”
“More important than running a city?”
"Oh, yeah."
I watched, fascinated as both of Nicola's hands carefully slipped under my top. With agonizing slowness, they slid up my abdomen, and then cupped my breasts.
“These are like the perfect size for my hands,” he mused in a deep register as he gently kneaded. “Not too big, not too small.”
“I…” I had to pause and swallow to coat my throat. “I figured you were more of an ass man, considering how many times you’ve spanked me.”
“I like to spread my attention equally.” He bent down and licked my nipple through the thin, flimsy cotton of my tank top. As if conditioned to his touch, my body lit up and my back arched so I could press into him greedily.
“Nicola,” I panted.
"Mm?"
My upper thighs were already feeling slippery as I pressed them together. "I want you."
With his knees planted on either side of me, he slowly straightened up. “Thank fuck for that. I was going to make a move last night, but then you became all cuddly and sweet. I can’t exactly seduce Paddington Bear, you know?”
I burst into laughter as he tugged my camisole over my head. Now bared from the waist up, Nicola took me in.
If this had been even a week ago, I would have covered myself up. But the way he looked at me made me feel... beautiful. Desired.
He bent down and traced a lazy circle over my breast. Between his lips, he sucked over my nipple sharply, then darted his tongue over the peak of the other. A jolt of pleasure shot straight between my thighs as I watched him.
“Nicky.” My voice was almost a whine, I squirmed.
“We’re not going to rush this, Aubergine. Let’s just say, if I got Yelp reviews, I’d have five stars."
His fingers grasped the hem of my shorts and he tugged them down with my panties, tossed them aside.
“If you build it up like that, you run the risk of me being disappointed.”
He grasped my knees and parted my legs out wide.
“I’ve met both of your exes.” Nicola took his time getting comfortable. “Trust me, I’m not worried.”
I bit hard on the inside of my cheek, wondering if I was going to moan or laugh. “Richie was pretty bad, yeah. But… Pierce wasn’t terrible.”
His eyes flicked up to me, annoyed. “We’re going to talk about him right as I’m doing this?”
“You’re the one who brought up a fucking Yelp analogy!”
His grin would be fully approved by the devil as he bent down.
When his tongue finally reached me, it was just a ghost of a sensation. Only the flat part of his tongue pressed once, then twice over my clit. And then it was gone.
I made a deep, needy sound in my chest. He laughed and I could feel the vibration.
"Nicky."
With infuriating confidence, Nicola spread me wide and licked over my clit in slow, firm strokes. My brain and vision fractured, my pussy walls immediately clenched down on nothing as if begging to be filled.
My head dropped back against the pillow and my eyes squeezed shut. Every nerve ending, every single thought I could conjure focused on that one point where his wet, warm tongue worked me over and over.
As if he sensed my frustration, two of his fingers sank inside me. The stretch made me whimper when they curled and teased over that perfect spot.
My upper body practically melted to the mattress, even as my hips moved in rhythm with his fingers.
Nicola watched me like a predator hiding in the bushes, licking, and then sucking. His fingers drove into me and pumped, wet sounds filled the room.
“I’m so close,” I gasped. “Nicola–”
The climax hit me like a tidal wave, starting at my core and then coursed through my entire body. My vision went blank, the pleasure so intense it permeated through to my fucking bones.
It was a brief, glorious moment of delirium, then my senses slowly rolled back in. My body relaxed onto the mattress.
As I panted for air, Nicola cleaned his fingers one by one with dark intensity. He smiled at me and didn't look at all winded.
Instead, he reached over to his nightstand and pulled open a drawer. I knew he was hunting for condoms.
I rested a hand on his knee. "Wait."
He paused.
“I've had the shot,” I said.
“The shot?”
“Yeah. I can’t get pregnant. And I was tested for everything the last time I got an injection.”
He hesitated for a moment. “Well, I’m clean, Abs.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “Wow. They should do studies on you.”
For a split second, he gave me a dirty look. His briefs came off, tossed aside. “My man-slut era is over. Joke while you still can.”
That was reassuring, actually.
A tingle of excitement and warmth came over me as he settled between my legs again. Nicola bent down to kiss me. The teasing smile he had been wearing softened when he pulled back just enough to look at me.
“You’re sure?” he whispered while his hand gently grazed up my leg.
“Please fuck me, Nicola.”
Nicola took a moment and shut his eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“Just committing that to memory, is all.” He let out a long breath as his fingers spread over my thigh, parting it wider.
He kept his back straight as he angled the wide head of his cock against my entrance. Only the tip pressed in and I was already wriggling to accommodate him.
I knew I was wet, so lubrication wasn’t a problem.
“You’re tight, Abs,” Nicola hissed. “You keep clenching.”
“I can’t help it,” I whispered. “You’re big.”
“Aw.” Nicola’s eyes fluttered at the ceiling like a shy, blushing school girl. “Stop.”
I laughed and he grinned at me as his cock slid in deep.
“There you go.”
I relaxed, but fuck, it was full. I looked down at where we were connected, Nicola did the same. He slid out once, then back in with a satisfying smack of flesh.
I cried out, suddenly clenching my fists into the bedding.
"Perfect volume. It’s definitely going to wake them up.” Nicola sounded only a little breathless as he grasped my leg and pulled it to his shoulder.
I was too far gone to be embarrassed.
He fucked me in fluid, slow motions, each thrust deliberate, grinding against every sensitive spot inside me.
“You are fucking beautiful." His eyes drew over my body as I unraveled beneath him. “I want to see you come again.”
Each time he drove into me, foreign, high-pitched mewls and moans echoed off the walls. It took me a moment to realize they were coming from me.
I bit down hard on my bottom lip to muffle my voice.
I had always been so quiet with Pierce.
With Nicola, I was on fire, I was undone– fully crossing a point of no return. But gladly.
Two of his fingers dipped inside my mouth and I immediately sucked. My tongue darted around them as I intently stared.
“Fuck.” He groaned, retracted his hand. With my own saliva coated over them, his fingers rubbed over my clit, giving me the pressure exactly where I needed it.
“You’re close aren’t you?” he panted over the sounds of our bodies colliding. “You’re getting tighter. I want you to come all over my cock, Abby. I want to hear your voice say my name while I fuck you.”
Between my gasps and tiny, high-pitched moans, I whimpered his name as he sent me over.
I came like a firework exploding in the air. The sensation was so primal and pure, more potent than anything I had experienced before. Because it was with him, the man I loved. Who watched me with adoring, intense eyes.
As I slowly came down from my high, Nicola bent down to kiss me and then pulled out.
Wait, had he come already?
His eyes were dark, a light sheen of sweat reflected off his forehead. “On your hands and knees, Aubergine.”
Oh. I gulped. Now he was serious.
Though shaky from my orgasm, I turned slowly. My hair spilled over one shoulder as I glanced back at Nicola. He was now kneeling behind me. My skin got goosebumps as I saw his eyes burn over my curves.
With zero warning, Nicola reared me up and plunged inside me. Deeper than before, with just the tiniest of stings that made me gasp.
My body quivered, my core muscles struggled to keep me stabilized.
I was a house of cards ready to collapse at any fucking second.
The only thing keeping me tethered was the sounds of our skin slapping together, the soft, pleasured moans that were coming from me somehow, the strangled deep, masculine groans from him.
I’d never made sounds like that before. I certainly had never heard Nicola make sounds like that.
He slapped my ass and I yelped, then groaned, the sting pulsed straight to my core.
“Did you like that?"
“Goddamnit, Nicky–”
“Tell me,” he breathed, his hips snapping forward, driving him so deep I couldn’t think straight anymore.
“Y-yes,” I managed. My head bowed down, I sent my hips back as he came forward, meeting his pace. “Do it again. Harder.”
“Touch yourself,” he demanded. My single arm struggled to keep me upright, my other hand reached down and I found myself swollen and sensitive.
He slapped my ass again, and the burn was so good I felt my entire pussy clamp down over him. I whimpered.
“Fuck, I know you’re close. Come on, Abs. Say my name again.”
I came and my hips bucked, everything went blank. Nicola groaned and pummeled into me, his rhythm losing its finesse, becoming raw and desperate until I could feel his cock pulse deep inside me as he came, filling me.
Our moans were replaced by heavy pants of air. The aftershocks of my orgasm were still working through my body and I was in a pleasured daze.
“Fuck,” Nicola breathed, resting his damp forehead against my shoulder, his weight dropped over me.
“I–I can’t hold you up." We both collapsed onto the mattress in a tangled heap.
My laughter was muffled by the pillow I face-planted onto.
After a moment, Nicola slowly rolled off and settled with his chest against my back.
“Sorry.” He patted my backside gently, affectionately, still trying to catch his breath. He squeezed my middle and pressed a kiss to my neck, to my shoulder.
After a moment, Nicola tucked some of my hair behind my ear so he could look at me. “You okay?”
Weakly, I held up five fingers. “Five stars.”