“DO THAT AGAIN.”
Smiling, I rolled over to face Nicky. He lay on his side, his head resting against his hand as he gazed down at me.
“Do what again?”
“That little ... moan. The sound you made just now.”
“Mmmm.” I nuzzled the crook of his neck, and he shivered. “If you do to me what you were doing just now, I bet I’ll make that same sound.”
“Ah.” Nicky nudged me onto my back and tugged down the covers. “You mean like this?” He lowered his head down to capture one of my rosy nipples between his lips, sucking softly and sending a thrill of need through me.
“That’s nearly it, I think.” I sounded as breathless as I felt. “But maybe not quite. Maybe it was more of a ... pinch.”
“That doesn’t sound very pleasant,” Nicky observed. “But I’ll give it a go.” He brushed one hand down from my neck to close around my breast, teasing the peak with his thumb before he tweaked it, hard. Before I could quite recover, he sucked the same throbbing tip into his mouth and pressed it with his tongue.
“Ohhhhhhh.” I arched my back and threaded my fingers into his hair. “Yes. Just like that.”
Nicky laughed softly. “That’s the sound I was looking for. Do you know what it does to me when you do that?”
“No,” I murmured, opening my eyes just enough to see his face. “Tell me.”
“I’d rather show you.” He caught my hand and drew it down under the covers, between his legs, where he was sporting a very promising erection. I closed my fingers around the stiff member and stroked him.
“All this from one little moan?” I marveled, teasing. “Hmmm. It makes me wonder what would happen if I said something like ...” I shoved him over until I straddled his hips, grinning down into his surprised face. “Nicky, you set me on fire when you touch me. Your mouth on my body drives me absolutely insane with wanting you. I’m going to ride you now until you can’t remember who you are or where you are, until all you know is the feel of being buried deep inside me.”
His eyes went dark, and his throat worked as he swallowed. “Do it,” he rasped. “Let me see you come apart around me. I want to feel you surround me.”
My heart began to thud a little faster as I raised myself up and lowered my body slowly onto his, until I was filled with him. For a moment, we were both still, savoring the sense of completion and wholeness. When I began to move at last, it was at a languid, undulous pace, letting my pleasure dictate every motion.
Nicky reached up to cup my breasts, circling my nipples with his fingers, making me cry out and writhe. I found the rhythm and the movement that brought me closer and closer to the edge that I wanted to find.
“Not yet.” Before I could grind myself to ecstasy against him, Nicky sat up, changing the way we fit together as he wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight. “I want to hold you. I want to kiss you—” He matched his actions to his words, pressing his open mouth to mine, his tongue exploring me, branding me as his. “I want to be as close to you as I possibly can.”
I curved my legs around his hips and slid my arms around his neck, clinging to him as we both sought the same sweet ending.
“I love you, Nicky.” I gasped the words, my face hidden in his neck. “Love you so much.”
“My Ky.” His voice was hoarse. “God, how I love you. Let me feel you lose yourself around me. I want to take you to the brink and fall into the abyss with you. Come for me, darling.”
It was as though I’d been waiting for his invitation. With a loud cry, my back bowed and everything within me shattered into tiny pieces of joy.
Nicky held onto me, his own groan muffled against my hair as he stiffened, pulsing deep inside my body.
I didn’t want to let him go, not even when my heartbeat had slowed to its regular rhythm. A lump rose in my throat, and that vague sense of anxiety that had been dogging me all week washed over me anew.
“Are you all right?” Nicky brushed my hair away from my face, laying his hand alongside my cheek. “Am I hurting your hips?”
“No.” I shook my head, slowly and reluctantly untangling our limbs. “I’m just ... Nicky. I want to talk to you about something, but I’m scared.”
His brows drew together. “Why on earth would you be scared? I promise you, love, nothing you could say or do could every change—this. Us. How I feel about you. That’s a forever deal, darling. I wouldn’t have given you this if it wasn’t.” He lifted my left hand and pressed a gentle kiss to the ring on my third finger.
“I know. At least, I know it here.” I touched my head. “But my heart still worries that I might do something wrong, and then you’ll be so angry, so disappointed, that you’ll walk away. And I’m not sure I could survive that, Nicky. I’m my own person. I know I’m enough, in and of myself. I don’t need anyone else to make me who I am. But I want you, and that want means that losing you would take away the heart of me. When I think of it, I can’t breathe.”
“Then don’t think about it, because it’s not going to happen.” He propped our pillows against the headboard and then patted the space next to him. “Come here and tell me whatever it is that’s upsetting you.”
I snuggled next to Nicky, loving the way his arm curled around me and drew me into him. This was where I belonged, now and forever.
But truth was essential, and I had to tell him this now.
