Nico shifts beside me, and I hold my breath. His hand slides up my ribcage, fingers trailing heat across my skin.
"You're not sleeping." His voice is rough with drowsiness.
"Neither are you."
He props himself up on one elbow. "What's wrong?"
Nothing's wrong. Everything's wrong. I want you again and that terrifies me.
"I'm fine."
He brushes hair from my face. "Tell me."
I bite my lip. The old Kristen would deflect. Make a joke. Change the subject. But the old Kristen never had a man look at her like she was worth knowing.
"I can't turn my brain off."
"About?"
About wanting to climb you like a tree. About the fact that I've never actually enjoyed sex before tonight and now I'm lying here like an addict craving another hit.
"Nothing specific."
Nico's jaw tightens. He doesn't believe me—his bullshit detector is annoyingly accurate. But instead of pushing, he leans down and presses his mouth to mine.
The kiss starts soft. Almost gentle.
I kiss him back. All that restless energy finds a direction. I push against his shoulder, and he lets me roll him onto his back so I can climb on top of him.
"There she is." His voice drops, dark and amused. "Knew you weren't tired."
"Shut up."
"Make me."
I grind down against him. He's already hard. Or maybe he never stopped being hard. His hands grip my hips, fingers digging in just shy of bruising.
"You want something, Kristen." Not a question. "Ask for it."
I lean down, pressing my mouth to his jaw, his throat, the hard plane of his chest. My tongue traces the edge of a scar near his collarbone.
"I want to taste you."
His grip on my hips tightens. "Yeah?"
I slide lower, kissing down his stomach. The muscles jump beneath my lips. When I reach the waistband of his boxers, I hesitate.
"If you're going to do that," Nico says, voice strained, "bring your ass up here."
I look up at him. "What?"
"You heard me." His eyes are nearly black in the low light. "Turn around. I want to taste you while you taste me."
Oh.
Oh.
Heat floods my face, my chest, lower. The image his words paint makes my thighs clench.
