Chapter 36
Nicolas bent down and hoisted Emily over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“What are you doing?” she squeaked.
“I’m following through on my end of the promise.” He kicked open his bedroom’s door.
He stepped into the space and tossed her off his shoulder with casual ease. Her gaze swept the room. This was the first time she’d seen his bedroom in its entirety. The last time, he’d been drunk and she cared more about that fact than getting a glimpse of it.
Slate blue walls stretched around her, adorned with art. A king-sized bed dominated the center of the space, black lamps and other furniture. Everything followed a dark scheme.
She felt him come closer. “Nico…”
“Em…”
Her eyes narrowed.
“I’m sorry.” He grinned. “You’re always the one drawing out my name. I figured I’d try it out for once.”
She shook her head, a flicker of nervousness returning as she stood in the heart of his personal space. Everything felt more intimate.
He stepped forward. She did the opposite, her legs hitting the lower edge of his bed. She would’ve fallen if he hadn’t caught her swiftly around the waist.
“Thank—”
He let go abruptly, making her cry out as her back met the soft surface of the mattress behind her.
She looked up at him in disbelief. “What was that for?”
Instead of answering, he knelt on the bed and crawled toward her. Nicolas crawled to her. Like a predator to his prey.
He straddled her with a smoldering gaze. She was shaking beneath him, already worked up. He lifted his shirt over his head.
There he was, impossibly sculpted, like an ancient god. The expanse of his taut muscles and his ridged abs made her legs instinctively draw together.
“Nicolas.”
“Go on, baby,” he urged, settling back on his haunches to get a better look at her.
Emily’s body screamed with how on fire she was. However, there were more pressing concerns. “I need to confirm something before we continue.”
His eyes were patient. “What is it? Don’t tell me you think I’d go back on my word. I’ve already told you, Emily. You’re not ready.”
She shook her head promptly at the discontentment on his face. “No, that’s not it.”
His shoulders relaxed. “Oh, then what is it?”
“I need to know if you’re serious about this.”
Nicolas became hyper focused, his eyes narrowing.
“I need to know that this isn’t just out of convenience because I’m here.
Because we’re in this contract together.
I don’t take what we’ve been doing lightly and if you do…
then I don’t think I can continue from here on out.
I want…something more. I deserve something more after everything I’ve been through these past couple of months.
And frankly, I don’t want to be the only one walking toward a future, only to see that it had been a dead end all along. ”
There Emily had finally said it.
She’d said what had been pulling her down, like weights tied around her ankles. There was a huge part of her that was scared saying this out loud would put a stop to whatever they were doing and that’s why she delayed it, but her heart couldn’t take it anymore. She needed to know.
“Emily…” he sighed, his eyes softening. “I thought you already knew how I felt.”
“How…how you felt?”
He laughed as if the joke was on him. “Of course I want more. I want more than more. I want all of you: mind, body, and soul.” She was stunned.
“I admit that the prospect of getting married was under the influence of my business, but you’re not a liability.
You’re...Emily. My partner, remember?” His hand tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“I said the rest of my life and I meant it.”
I can’t believe I’m going to have all of you for the rest of my life.
Her lips quivered.
He considered her his partner too.
He wants her forever.
His fingers traced her trembling mouth. “I’m completely enthralled by you, Em,” he admitted. “Have been since you walked out of that closet and brought light to my world.”
“Nicolas—”
“I’ve never felt this strongly for a woman in my entire life.
It’s more than a crush. More than infatuation.
What I feel is real. Your smile makes a cold-hearted person like me melt like a fucking iceberg.
The sound of your voice makes my tongue tingle to have a conversation with you.
To bicker with you.” He chuckled helplessly.
“The way you’re always so unflappable to the outside world, but a spoiled little brat—as you should be—with me makes me weak.
Your hair is my obsession. So is the way you’re understanding of who I am.
I like you, Emily. A little too much it seems. As it’s always been. ”
The corners of her eyes prickled with tears as she looked at this gorgeous man. She grasped the side of his face. “Oh, Nicolas.”
“That too.” He bit down onto his lip. “I love it when you say my name like that. It makes my heart race like a damn fool.”
By the time the last syllable slipped past his mouth, Emily was blinded by a confidence that drove her to kiss him.
Nicolas pulled her in and deepened it. A moan left her. Once he heard it, he snapped. He gripped her so hard she let out a sound that startled her.
“You have no idea,” he grunted, “how long I’ve wanted to do this.”
The pressure of his hardening length pressed against her thigh. He grew desperate. His mouth nipped at her jawline, neck, collarbones.
Emily’s legs wrapped around his waist, frantically moving against him to feel more. He pushed off her, his eyes admiring the length of her neck, the slope of her collarbones as they led to the soft peaks of her breasts, which heaved and fell.
“May I?” he asked, fingers hooking around the waistband of her panties after he removed her skirt.
“Yes.”
It was gone immediately.
His gaze flickered to her core. It was glistening with her arousal. He licked his lips, then swallowed.
As if to quell his thirst, Nicolas leaned in and kissed her again, so passionately it made her lightheaded. He reached down to rub two fingers against her bundle of nerves.
She mewled, and her hand grasped his to slow down because she didn’t doubt coming way too fast, but he forced it by her side, dipping a finger inside her with his other hand.
Emily jolted. “Oh God…”
With every stroke, she felt both free and bound. A life-changing juxtaposition.
Her face flushed, and her brown hair floated around her head like a halo. He looked pleased with how responsive she was, her body moving at its own liberty, chasing release.
Her eyes met his own pleadingly. “Nicolas, please…”
His abdominal muscles clenched as he bent over to where his hand was and blew a gust of air right there.
“Oh!”
He smirked. “You’re awfully sensitive.”
She screwed her eyes shut as he added another finger. Oh. My. God.
When she glanced back at him, his eyes had darkened. “I like that about you too.”
“Y-You can’t be saying stuff like that.”
“Like what? How I fucking love how your body heats up when my hands so much as brush against your skin? How your pussy clenching around my fingers right now is the best thing to ever happen to me?”
As if to prove his point, her muscles clenched again.
“Fuck.” His pupils were blown. He was high off what was happening. “Em, I think you enjoy me talking like this. Tell me. Do you like it when I talk dirty to you?”
Emily shook her head rapidly…then she nodded slowly. That made him chuckle. Her eyes widened when his speed doubled. It sent a tingling sensation all throughout her body.
With a final flick of his wrist, he deeply commanded, “Now be a good little wife and come on your husband’s fingers.”
She detonated.
When she released it was while crying out his name, and so intensely that stars flew behind her eyes.
Her brows furrowed in confusion as the shudders persisted. They weren’t letting up, but continuing to build.
Oh no.
The fire inside her burst, spreading through her veins, mercilessly.
Oh no, no, no—
“Ugh, Nico. Stop, stop, stop. Please stop.”
Nicolas removed his hand.
His lips parted as she came again, her chest rising and falling. Looking like he’d never seen a more precious sight.
“Oh my God.” The words were barely audible as she calmed down.
“Are you crying?” he asked. “I thought that was a one-time thing.”
She wiped her eyes then examined her moist fingers. “No way.” Her hands covered her face.
He gently removed them. “Open your eyes.”
She didn’t.
“Emily,” he demanded.
She sighed before doing what she was told. “Happy?”
His palm reached down and wiped the corners of her eyes. “Ecstatic.”
She studied him, her jaw slowly dropping at what she noticed. He was enjoying this. “Are you seriously smiling right now? I literally just convulsed in your arms.”
“Wouldn’t recommend a better place to do it.”
“Now you’re just being an ass. A conceited ass at that.”
He clutched his chest. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you need a release with all that pent-up anger.”
She slapped his arm. Nicolas didn’t flinch; instead, he smiled adoringly at her before pecking her lips one last time. “Lucky thing I do know better,” he whispered against her mouth.
He stood up.
She flushed at his shirtless form.
“You’re adorable,” he mumbled with a disbelieving shake of his head.
“So you can say it but I can’t?”
Her words were barely audible, but he’d caught them returning a playful, “Exactly.”
His smile caused crinkles at the corner of his eyes. Then he flashed her that darn carefree look Emily was beginning to believe she couldn’t go without seeing at least once a day.
“Teach me.”
She froze. The words came from her lips.
“What?”
Don’t be a coward. Ask him.
“Teach me how to make you feel good too.” She watched as his face settled with realization. “Guide me.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “Darling, you’ve got to be more specific than that. There are many ways you can make me feel good, I assure you.”
She blushed, but pointed a finger to her lips.