I close the remaining distance between us. My hands find her waist over the towel, and I pull her against me until there's no space left.
"There is nothing casual here," I tell her. "Not one fucking thing."
Her breath catches. "Nico?—"
"If you're going to leave me, say it now." I cup her face, force her to look at me. "Tell me right now that you don't want this. That you want to walk away. Because if you don't say it—if you stay—you need to understand what that means."
"What does it mean?"
"Forever." The word tastes like surrender. Like salvation. "You stay, and you're mine. Not for two months. Not until the debt is paid or the custody shit is settled. Forever, Kristen. You and Lily. Mine."
Her eyes go wide.
"I don't know how to do this," she whispers. "I don't know how to be with someone who... who actually wants me to have things. Who doesn't make me feel small."
"Then let me teach you."
A tear spills down her cheek. I catch it with my thumb.
"I'm terrified," she admits.
"So am I."
She laughs—wet, broken, beautiful. "You? Scared of me?"
"Fucking petrified." I press my forehead to hers. "You could destroy me, Kristen. You already have."
Her hands come up to grip my shirt. Not pushing away. Holding on.
"Forever is a long time."
"Not long enough."
She's quiet for a moment. I can feel her pulse racing under my palms, can see the war playing out across her face.
Then she rises on her toes and presses her lips to mine.
Soft. Sweet. An answer.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Kristen
The edge of Nico's desk bites into my thighs, but I don't care. Can't care. Not when his hands grip my hips.
"Nico." His name comes out broken, desperate.
He doesn't respond with words. Just drives deeper, harder, and my back arches off the scattered papers beneath me. Something crashes to the floor—a pen holder, maybe—but neither of us stops to check.
This wasn't supposed to happen. I came to his office to bring him coffee. Coffee. Like a normal person who definitely wasn't thinking about what happened last night, or the night before, or the way he said "forever" like it was a threat and a promise wrapped in one word.
But then he looked at me. That dark, consuming stare that sees everything I try to hide.
And now I'm spread across his desk like I belong here.
"Look at me." His voice is rough gravel. A command, not a request.
My eyes fly open. I didn't realize I'd closed them.
