“Aren’t you cold, too?”
“Nope. I don’t need anything on.”
“Of course. I forget how much you love strutting around naked so that everyone can admire that arse of yours.”
He turns me towards him. “You’re the only one I ever want to admire me.”
I smile like an idiot.
“Are you hungry?” he whispers into my ear. “I could feed your appetite, if you like.”
“Do you want me to list all the ways you could do that?”
Nick laughs, a joyful laugh that bursts through my chest and into my ears, shaking the foundations of my whole world.
I turn my face towards him again, and he strokes my cheek.
“Please. Don’t ever stop.”
“Doing what?”
“Laughing, Nick.” His gaze darkens ever so slightly. “There’s nothing in the world that’s more real than your laugh.”
He leans down to me and plants a kiss on the end of my nose. “As long as you’re here, Casey, I don’t see how I could ever stop. Please, never leave me alone with myself. I don’t think I could bear it.”
“Oh, Nick. You’re amazing. I just wish you could see it, too.”
“Maybe if you give me a hand…”
“Of course. For as long as you want.”
“Please don’t say that. My mind is already thinking of everything you could mean by that.”
I burst out laughing, too. “Then feed my appetite, or I won’t be able to satisfy anyone.”
He lifts himself up a little to grab his phone from the table. “Pizza?”
“Perfect.”
“What toppings do you want?”
“All of them.”
He laughs, shaking his head.
“And don’t forget dessert. That’s the best bit.”
Nick looks at me, his stare intense, as if he were delving into every cell in my body. “Of course. We can’t forget dessert.”
And my body already knows exactly what he means.
* * *
“Why haveyou forced me to wear a T-shirt when you’re perfectly happy to just sit there, naked?” I ask, chewing at another slice of pizza.
“Because I wouldn’t be able to eat if you were sitting naked in front of me.”
“Like you can’t resist?”
