Chapter 35
Aubergine.
“Nicky.” My voice came out watery. “You said it.”
“Well, of course I did.”
A strong urge came over me, but I couldn't tell if the impulse wanted to throttle him or kiss him.
After reaching over to switch on the lamp, I pushed myself upright with one palm braced against the mattress.
“No, you can’t say ‘of course.’ It was not ‘of course'! I thought you had a fucking allergy to the word!”
He glared at me. “I always felt it.”
“Uh-huh. Well, I didn’t get the memo until now."
“Abby, the thing with Richie Gallo…” His gaze drifted back to the ceiling. “I realize it wasn’t jealousy. It was knowing you belonged to me. That... feeling has been there all along.”
“Aww.” I pressed a hand dramatically to my chest. “And you only had to fuck a few hundred women before you found your way back to me. My God, that’s beautiful.”
His eyes narrowed and I burst into laughter.
“Okay, okay…” I scooted closer again, my smile softening. “I’m sorry. Joking aside…” I reached for his hand.
“I love you. I always have, and I always will. And I’ll always be in your corner, Nicola.”
The annoyance on his face melted away. I crawled over him and settled astride his hips. His hands spread instinctively across my thighs as he looked up at me.
“I don’t want to lose you, Abs,” he said quietly. “And I want to make sure you’re always taken care of.”
My teasing smile was gone. For a moment, I simply looked at him.
Nicola Moretti wasn’t afraid of much. But he was afraid of losing me.
My chest tightened. I cupped his face between my hands and brushed my thumb across his cheek.
“I’m not going anywhere.” The words hung between us for a beat before I added with a grin, “I’ll visit you every day in prison.”
His arm snaked around and smacked my ass. “Cut it out.”
“I’ll sneak in cigarettes. You’ll live like a king in there.”
He snorted. I kissed his cheek before trailing another kiss along his jaw. “You really want kids, Nicky?”
“With you?” His answer came without hesitation. “Yeah.”
He made it sound like I was asking if he wanted a sandwich or not. I closed my eyes for a second and huffed through my nostrils. “I’m not getting any younger. We’d have to start soon.”
He tilted his head, studying me. “Why didn’t you ever have kids with Pierce?”
“I don’t know. Maybe, somewhere deep down, I knew it wasn’t going to work. I kept finding reasons to wait.”
His lips pursed thoughtfully.
“Well.” He gave a small shrug of his own. “Bring them on.”
I laughed. “I mean… I’d like to enjoy being married for a little while. Maybe you could take some time off and we can go on a big honeymoon.”
“What is there to do somewhere else that you can’t already do in New York?” he asked mildly.
“Nicky.”
He held his hand up. “Okay, okay. Figure out where you want to go. And we’ll go.”
I bit my lip to hide my grin. “And the wedding?”
He waved a lazy hand. “Whatever you want, Abs.”
“You’re giving me free rein? Really?”
“I mean… yeah.” His expression turned suspicious. “I hope I don’t regret saying that.”
A laugh escaped me.
“You gonna wear white?”
“No. I’m gonna wear black, you asshole.” I flicked his shoulder. “Yes, I'm wearing white.”
He yawned. “Alright. It's settled, then.”
“Aw, I’m sorry, darling.” I smiled sweetly. “Is planning our future boring you?”
Nicola suddenly flipped me onto my back, earning a startled yelp.
“No, you little brat.” His mouth twitched. “It’s three in the morning. I should’ve been asleep hours ago, but my future wife decided she had to have pizza.”
Future wife. God. That sounded so much better than partner.
“I want a big ring.”
“Whatever you want.”
“I want it to give me back pain.”
A grin tugged at his mouth as he wriggled my pajama shorts down my legs. “I’ll make sure it comes with free physical therapy sessions.”
Stupidly happy, I laughed before the air caught in my throat as he drew my legs apart and buried himself deep inside.
The stretch burned so perfectly my vision blurred. I hooked my arms around his shoulders, pulling him down until his face pressed into the curve of my neck, his stubble scraping my jaw.
Each thrust with the roll of his hips was slow, deliberate, powerful.
“Say it again,” I whispered to the ceiling, dizzy. “Please.”
“I love you, Aubergine.”
My mouth curved, but the smile was short-lived. My voice broke into a high-pitched moan as he shifted, grinding against exactly the right spot. My eyes squeezed shut. My walls tightened around him, chasing the friction.
To anchor myself, my nails dug into his back. “Keep going, Nicky. Just like that.”
He loved me. I could hear it, could feel it in the way his hands slid under my hips to angle me closer, like he couldn’t stand the space between us. That realization culminated with the pressure building low in my belly.
The orgasm wasn't explosive. Rather, it rolled like a building ocean wave, slow and relentless, pulling me under until my thighs shook and my back arched off the mattress.
Nicola followed seconds later with one last punctuated thrust.
His groan vibrated against my shoulder as he emptied himself inside me.
My heart felt too full for my chest.
In the quiet aftermath, his shoulders rose and fell against me while one hand remained tangled in my hair. I held him tightly as we both caught our breath.
I wondered if my twenty-year-old self would’ve ever imagined this moment.
All the heartbreak. Every year we’d spent apart. Every impossible obstacle.
It had all somehow led us here.
“I love you,” I whispered.
Nicola rubbed his nose gently against my ear.
“I know you do.” His voice was husky, exhausted. “And you’re stuck with me now.”
I smiled. “I wouldn’t sneak cigarettes into prison for just anybody. They’d have to be really special to me.”
He chuckled. “How could a man not fall for a woman with that kind of loyalty?”
Even though he was still holding me, I had a feeling Nicola was only seconds away from falling asleep.
When I stepped back into the bedroom a few minutes later, he was out cold.
I smiled to myself, switched off the lamp, and slipped beneath the sheets. Curling against him, I wrapped one arm around his waist and threw a leg over his. I gave him an affectionate squeeze.
“Say it one more time.” I rested my head against his chest. “Please?”
“I love you." He grunted tiredly. “Now you can let go of me.”
Laughing quietly, I kissed the corner of his mouth before obediently rolling away and onto my own pillow.
I had barely settled when the mattress shifted. Nicola slid in behind me.
“I didn’t mean you were supposed to leave,” he muttered into my hair as his arm settled firmly around my waist. “Just don’t cling.”
He tucked himself against my back, nuzzled into my hair, and went still.
When his breathing turned even, I smiled into the darkness.
THE END.