He had no right to feel this way—like he was breaking into a thousand pieces. Nikolett would never be his alone. The rules of their society insisted that even if they could find a way to deal with their respective positions, they’d need a third.
Unless he did what he’d done with?—
“It didn’t end well, so it doesn’t matter.”
Her words yanked him away from the half-finished thought.
“What happened? Nikki, did he hurt you?”
“No. He was very chivalrous.”
“You want chivalrous?”
Fuck. Throwing her over his shoulder and then tossing her onto the bed probably wasn’t chivalrous. That was barbarous.
“No. I should want it, but…no. And what happened…I messed up, not him.” She stuttered to a stop, her halting, unfinished sentences unlike her normal confident speech. “But I should have…I should have told you.”
The last words were barely audible, and Eric finally realized why she was hunched in on herself like that. She wasn’t breaking up with him or trying to gently tell him he was too late. This was abouther.
“Nikki, you have nothing to be ashamed of.”
She flinched.
“You and I weren’t together yesterday. You didn’t cheat on me.”
She let out a wet laugh. “Didn’t I? Because I’ll never love anyone the way I love you.”
Relief swamped him, but Eric didn’t have time to revel in it because she looked like she was breaking apart. Eric went to her, wrapping his arms around her.
“Nikki, it’s okay.” He hugged her tight, as if he could press his love for her into her skin.
“I should have said something, before we did anything. I should have told you. I was just focused on finally… On seeing if it could really happen.”
Her words were muffled against his chest, but he understood.
He kissed the top of her head. “I thought this was your way of telling me that maybe you didn’t love me anymore. Or at least not the way you used to. Or that you were already planning to marry someone else and I was going to be your mistress.”
“What?” She leaned back to frown up at him. “If I didn’t love you, why would I go to the trouble of kidnapping you?”
“I really need you to talk to Elijah at some point.” He kissed her forehead. “You have nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I feel too many things right now and they’re all a jumble in my head. The only emotion that feels clear, feels right is…loving you.”
Eric hugged her, rocking her gently side to side as she calmed.
When she stepped back, wiping her face with the heels of her hands, he let her go.
“I need you to know I wasn’t hiding it from you. At least not…not in the way it seems. It just didn’t feel important. I woke up this morning, realized I would never stop loving you, and that I wanted to make this, us, work.” She gestured between them, the same motion she’d used on the balcony that night.
Eric started to speak, but something occurred to him.
Nikolett’s gaze narrowed. “Why are you smiling?”
“Am I?”
“Yes, and it’s not your ‘I’m going to kill someone’ smile. It’s yoursmugsmile.”
“You kissed someone else last night and woke up with a realization that you loved me, would always love me, and needed my dick immediately.”
