Chapter 8
Niko
Iwas kicking my own ass for not leaving the second she slid off me in that tub.
I Should’ve grabbed my towel, my phone, my damn sanity, and walked out like I didn’t just let her ride my shit like it was a horse-riding competition.
I leaned back against the tub with her breathing against my neck, her legs still wrapped around me like she didn’t even realize she was holding on and that’s when I knew this shit was becoming a problem.
Not the sex… the sex was the easy part. She rode my dick like she had some shit to prove.
It was the quiet moments that fucked me up.
Her body relaxing against mine like she felt safe.
The way her fingers traced my chest without even thinking about it.
Yeah… that was the shit I should’ve walked away from.
Instead, I let her do it. I let her stay pressed against me until the water went warm and her breathing went soft and even, like she could fall asleep right there if I let her.
“No strings,” she whispered again, voice lazy, damn near dreaming.
“No strings,” I echoed.
Lie number one. For both of us.
She climbed off me eventually, wrapped herself in a towel, and walked toward the vanity to lotion her skin.
I stayed in the tub another minute, staring at the candles like they had answers for why the hell this woman had me acting out of character.
I didn’t ask her to stay in this room with me all week and shit, she didn’t ask me either.
Somehow we just ended up here, vibing, and the shit felt good.
She cooked breakfast one morning. I booked a couples’ massage for us even though we weren’t a damn couple.
She stole my hoodie on some puppy love shit and I didn’t even ask for it back.
Everything was effortlessly dangerous. The vibes you don’t get with people you’re supposed to forget.
I got out the tub, dried off, and stepped into the bedroom. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed in one of my T-shirts, hair still damp, scrolling on her phone, and my dumb ass couldn’t stop staring at her pretty ass. She didn’t even look up when she spoke.
“You hungry?” She asked like feeding me was something natural. I hated how natural that felt.
“Yeah,” I said, grabbing my sweats off the chair. “Order whatever.”
She hummed a soft “okay,” scrolling through the menu. I sat on the edge of the bed next to her, watching her face while she focused on the screen. She glanced up after a few seconds, like she felt me staring.
Her lips curled into that pretty ass smile that had me hooked.
“What?”
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
Everything. That’s what. I thought but I knew better than to kill the mood going down that road. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want her ass bad as fuck.
Room service came, we ate, vibed a little and then fucked again.
I had to be on some other shit because condoms had been nonexistent this whole damn week but she ain't say shit, neither did I.
We were basically making it on a wing and prayer.
After I ate her to sleep, we slept tangled up like two people who had no business caring this much.
The next afternoon, she was packing her bag while I watched her from the balcony, pretending that shit didn’t bother me.
Her flight was earlier than mine. Yeah, We agreed that is was no strings, no attachments, and no keeping in touch.
What happened at the resort stayed at the resort.
But watching her zip that bag up had a nigga chest tight as fuck.
This was a curve ball I wasn’t expecting on this trip, still here I was, wanting and feigning for a woman I couldn’t have.
She looked up at me, eyes soft for the first time since I met her.
“Well,” she said quietly. “Guess this is it.”
“Yeah.”
She walked toward me, hands sliding up my chest before she leaned in and kissed me, slow, full, final. When she pulled back, she rested her forehead on mine for a second.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “For… all of it.”
I swallowed hard, holding back all the shit I wanted to say.
“You’re welcome.”
Lie number two: I didn’t want to say goodbye. Lie number three: She didn’t either.
When she walked out that door, I felt conflicted and fucked up about it but I let her go anyway because that was the deal.
That was the rule. As soon as the door clicked shut, I exhaled a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
I stared at the door for what felt like forever and all I could think was: What the fuck did she just do to me?