“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.
