Chapter 17
Niko
Iclosed the door behind us and stepped in front of her, giving her the space to stand but not the space to run. She stood there fidgeting with her fingers, eyes everywhere else but on me. She’s nervous.
“Noelle,” I said, “look at me.”
When her eyes finally met mine, my chest tightened. I didn’t drag it out or sugarcoat shit, I just told her the truth the way I knew how.
“Let me break this shit down for you before we go any further. My real name is Nikolai Frost, Niko for short. I live in Dallas and I’m a celebrity chef. I own Fire and Frost Culinary Group—”
“Oh my, I’ve heard of you but never knew it was… you. This is insane. Wait, your father is—”
“Gregory Frost… the owner of Frost International. I gave you a fake name in Winter Haven because I wanted to be known for just being me and not being a rich successful celebrity chef and the heir to my parent’s company.
” I paused, gathering my thoughts before continuing.
“That woman you saw me with,” I said quietly, “she’s not my wife or my girlfriend.
She’s a face my family needed beside me for some shit.
It’s business… optics, nothing more. I don’t want her and she damn sure don’t want me.
We play a role in public, then go home to our separate lives. ”
Her shoulders eased just a little, but she still looked unsure, like she didn’t know if she could trust what she was hearing.
I stepped closer, lowering my voice. “I wasn’t up on that mountain last year looking for a woman to pretend with. I wasn’t pretending with you. Everything between us was real.”
She swallowed hard. “Then why didn’t you tell me that night? When I saw you—”
“Because I didn’t get the chance,” I said. “You ran like a thief in the night before I could even move. I searched that whole damn lodge looking for you, just to find out that you checked out shortly after.”
Her eyes dropped and she nodded once, slow, absorbing everything. “I panicked when I saw you with her.”
I rubbed my jaw, trying to steady the way my chest was starting to feel.
“I don’t want her, Noelle. I came back up that mountain hoping to clear my head and find you.
I stepped in closer until I could feel her breath and smell her sweet scent.
She didn’t back up, and that was all the invitation I needed.
“Noelle,” I said, voice low. “We need to talk about her.”
Her lips parted. “Her?”
“Our daughter.”
She froze, her chest rising in one sharp breath.
“You… know?” she whispered.
“I know,” I said. “I found your Facebook page, looked through your picture and put two and two together. Was that what you were coming to tell me?”
She nodded as tears rushed into her eyes. She swallowed hard. “Her name is Nikole.”
Nikole. I felt that name hit a place in me that had been untouchable for years. I stared at her because I couldn’t do anything else.
“You… named her Nikole?” My voice sounded rough even to my own ears.
She nodded fast. “My foster mother. I named her after her. I didn’t know your name at the time to—"
I shook my head slowly because she had no idea what she’d just done.
“My twin sister’s name was Nikole. She died when we were twelve on Christmas Eve from Leukemia.”
Her entire expression changed.
“Oh my God… Niko… I had no ide—” she whispered.
“I know you didn’t,” I said. “That’s why this shit hits different. You chose that name for your own reasons, never realizing how much it was connected to me.”
My chest tightened so hard it hurt. I’d held that name buried for damn near my whole adult life because saying it felt like ripping open a wound. Hearing it from her… with our baby attached to it… I felt something change in me. Like the ground under both of us moved.
She stepped up, rubbing her hands down my chest, “I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Don’t be,” I told her. “This… means more than you understand.”
I looked down at her tear-stained face I suddenly felt that same pull from last year slam into me all over again.
“The universe got a wild way of spinning the block,” I chuckled.
“It pushed us together once, but that wasn’t enough.
It made sure we crossed paths again. Now here it is you’ve carried my child, raised her, loved her, and you did it alone.
I wasn’t there because I didn’t know, and that shit is eating at me. ”
Her eyes softened. “There was no way for you to know. We both gave fake names and agreed to leave whatever it was there when we left.”
“You right,” I said. “And I’ve been regretting that every day since.” I pressed my forehead to hers.
“Niko…” she whispered.
The sound of her voice calling my government name did something to my soul. It was no more pretending or searching for her. I had her right here in arms reach and I wasn’t letting her go this time. I slid a hand to her waist, letting my thumb trace her hip.
“Say it again.” I murmured. You have no fucking idea what hearing you say my name does to me, Noelle.”
Her eyes fluttered closed and her body softened in my hands.
Her eyes dropped to my mouth, and I wasted no time kissing her with a year’s worth of want behind it.
She gasped into my mouth, grabbing my shirt with both hands and pulling me closer like she’d been starving for this.
I lifted her onto the edge of the velvet sofa, her thighs falling open as I settled between them.
Her breath shook, lips parted, eyes half-lidded but steady on me.
“Nikooo…”
My dick hardened instantly, slamming against my slacks like it was seconds away from breaking out just to get inside her.
I kissed her again, slower this time, deeper, dragging my mouth down her neck, tasting her skin as her fingers slid under my shirt.
She tugged at me like she couldn’t get close enough.
“You sure this is what you want?” I said against her mouth, voice low and rough. “Because if I fuck you again, I’m not playing that hit-and-run shit twice. You feel me?”
Her nails dug into the back of my neck. “I feel you… and I’m not running.”
I pushed her dress up, exposing soft skin and a pussy already glistening for me. My fingers slipped between her thighs, stroking her slowly, feeling how wet she already was.
“Damn, baby…” I muttered, brushing my thumb over her clit. “You this ready for me already?”
She sucked in a sharp breath as her hips jerked. I could tell she was trying to hold her composure but I was about to break that muthafucka down.
“Stop holding back,” I murmured, kissing the edge of her jaw. “Let me hear that pussy talk to me.”
I slid two fingers inside her and she tightened around me immediately, her back arching as a moan spilled out of her.
“There you go,” I groaned softly. “I remember tight this pussy was. Been thinking about it every damn day.”
Her thighs trembled. “Niko—fuck—”
I curled my fingers, hitting that spot that made her break last time, and her voice cracked beautifully. Her hips met every stroke like she’d been waiting for this moment since the day she left.
“Yeah… keep moving just like that,” I whispered. “I love how greedy this pussy is.”
Her pussy got wetter, her breath ragged, her thighs shaking. When I pulled my fingers out, she whimpered at the loss. I brought them to my mouth, licking her off my skin while her eyes widened with heat.
“Turn that ass around,” I told her, voice dropping into command. “You know how I want you.”
She moved without hesitation like her body remembered every instruction I’d ever given her, sinking to her knees and bracing herself; ass lifted perfectly for me.
Her dress bunched around her hips, showing me a full view of her slit.
I freed my dick from my slacks and dragged the head along her slit, coating myself in her wetness as she moaned.
“You want this dick?”
My voice was a low growl against her shoulder.
“Yes…” she breathed. “Please, Niko—fuck me.”
I pushed inside her slowly, stretching her inch by inch, her pussy gripping me so tight I had to close my eyes for a second just to get control. When I bottomed out, she cried out, her fingers clawing the cushion.
“Shit…” I growled. “This pussy fit me like a glove.”
I pulled back and thrust in again, long, deep strokes that made her whole body shake. Her pussy clung to me like it remembered exactly who was inside her.
“Don’t run from me,” I murmured into her neck as I picked up the pace. “You waited a whole year for this dick and now you got it.”
Her moans got louder, breathless and messy, every sound hitting me right in the center of my chest.
“Fuck—right there—” she gasped, pushing back into me, ass slamming against my hips.
“Yeah, keep fucking back,” I groaned. “Show me how much you missed me.”
I grabbed her hips tighter, slowed my thrust just enough to make her feel every inch.
“You let anybody else touch this pussy while you were gone?” My voice dropped into her ear, heavy with everything I’d been holding.
She shook her head fast, breath breaking. “No… Niko… no—”
I thrust into her deep and slow, her moan spilling out uncontrollably.
“Good,” I growled. “Because this pussy is mine now. Every bit of it. Say it.”
She whimpered, her pussy squeezing around me so tight I felt it in my spine. I reached under her and found her clit again. The second my fingers touched her, she jerked like she couldn’t hold still.
“Say it.” I said through gritted teeth.
Her body tightened around me, voice cracking as she whispered, “It’s yours… Niko… all yours…”
I kissed her shoulder, teeth dragging lightly as my pace picked up again.
“Yeah,” I growled, “that’s what I thought. Now, come on this dick,” I whispered, stroking her clit while pounding into her harder. “Let that pussy spit up on me.”
Her whole body tensed, then shattered, Her pussy pulsed around me as she came hard, her wetness dripping down her thighs as her moan tore through the room. I kept fucking her through it, each thrust pulling another sound out of her.
“A year later and this pussy still remembers me,” I groaned, grabbing her hips and pulling her back harder. “Look how you sucking me in.”
She was trembling, breath broken, voice barely holding on. “Niko—please—come with me—”
Her begging snapped the last restraint I had left. I slammed into her deeper, the pressure building fast and sharp, my breath rough against her shoulder.
“Damn, baby…” I breathed against her skin, my hips losing rhythm. “I’m right there—fuck—right there with you…”
I buried myself deep inside her, groaning into her neck as I spilled warm nut into her, her pussy milking every pulse out of me like it refused to let go.
We stayed there, tangled, trying to catch our breath.
I kissed her shoulder, letting my mouth rest there for a second, tasting the sweat and heat still clinging to her skin.
“Noelle…” My voice came out low, rough from everything we’d just done. “Take me to my baby.”
She froze at my words, but she didn’t pull away.
When I eased out of her, I tucked myself back into my boxers and slacks, trying to steady my breathing while she caught her own.
She braced a hand on the back of the sofa, then smoothed her dress down her thighs, fingers trembling just a little, lips swollen and flushed from what I’d just done to her.
She looked undone in the best way… and she still didn’t look away from me.
She swallowed, finding enough breath to speak.
“Let me grab my coat.”
She pushed off the sofa and crossed the room on wobble legs, grabbed her coat from the chair, and slipped into it with slow movements.
Before she could say anything else, I stepped to her, cupped her jaw, and kissed her deep.
I wanted her to feel exactly what I couldn’t put into words…
that nothing between us was confused anymore.
She melted into it, fingers hooking into my shirt, heat sparking between us all over again.
A part of me was ready to bend her ass ov3r the sofa again for round two but there would be time for that later. Right now, I needed to see my baby.
When I finally pulled back, our breaths stayed tangled in the space between us.
“You ready?” she whispered.
I nodded once. “Yeah.”
She turned toward the door and I followed, watching the slow sway of her hips and the way she pulled herself together like she already knew exactly what came next.
The cold hit us as soon as we stepped outside, but all I felt was the undeniable shift settling deep in my chest Yeah, I was falling for her…
but this had moved past that. This wasn’t just about her, or about us.
I was walking toward my daughter, and nothing in my life had ever felt more real.