Nick nodded. “All right. He’s going to be pissed you’re monitoring it, but we won’t turn down helpful info.”
“No one’s going to know it’s me.” I allowed my eyes to rove over him once more, because damn, I was only human and my body was vibrating like a live wire. “Okay, well, I’m turning in. Night.”
“Night.”
I pulled the door closed and headed to bed. After settling in, I slid my hand down my body, in between my legs, feeling the wetness that gathered there.
“God, he’s so hot...” I rasped, gliding my fingers over my flesh. “Why is he so hot?”
I drew my fingers to my clit, gritting my teeth as I circled the engorged nub. “Nick...” I whispered, closing my eyes as I imagined him fucking me in long, smooth strokes...
I’d never even had sex. It just seemed too awkward to do with anyone I didn’t feel a connection with, and I just hadn’t had time to make that connection yet.
But with Nick...today we’d shared a moment and gotten personal. I felt like I was slowly coming toknowhim, even if we were vastly different people.
What if he were the one I lost my virginity to? I moaned as I envisioned it in my head, my fingers working on my core. I knew with every fiber of my being that he would take care of me and whisper words of desire in that deep, growly voice...
“Oh, Nick...yes!” I whispered, bringing myself to orgasm as I imagined him coming with me...picturing him losing control as he emptied himself deep inside me...
Afterward, I sighed and settled into the soft mattress, wondering when in the hell I’d gone from hating my bodyguard to wanting him to ravage me.
Smiling with sated pleasure, I fell into dreams of sleeping in his warm embrace as he whispered, “Princess...” in my ear...
Chapter 6
Nick
Ifell into a comfortable pattern with Alexis, thankful we’d moved from snapping at each other on a daily basis to existing with a sense of normalcy. In fact, I found her presence quite calming. I wasn’t a man of many words and preferred silence to talking. With Alexis, I found that we settled into comfortable silence as we scrolled the daily footage or as she cooked dinner, and there was something cozy about that I’d never felt before.
It was hard for me to imagine someone as confident and brash as her as an outcast in school, but I also understood that being yourself was hard as a teenager. Knowing that she’d faced some of the same ostracism I had made me feel connected to her in ways that I’d rarely connected with others.
In a world where we both had learned to exist on our own, we were now learning to exist together. And surprisingly, I didn’t hate it. I’d lived alone since I joined Michael’s organization at twenty-four, but living with Alexis just seemed to...fit. It was a bit perplexing to me, but I much preferred it to auguring with her, so I decided to roll with it.
And then, one day in November, a call came that changed everything.
“Hey, Michael,” I said, lifting my cell to my ear as I sat on the bench in the gym. “Everything okay?”
“I’m at the hospital. Bianca’s been in an accident.”
“Is she okay?”
Michael sighed. “She’s badly hurt and in surgery, but they say her surgeon is one of the best, so I’m hopeful.”
“Jesus, Michael,” I said, rubbing my forehead. “What happened?”
“She convinced Joaquin and Chris to take her to get me a birthday present. Stubborn fucking woman...” He fell silent and I could almost feel his pain through the phone. “I told her not to leave the house.”
“I’m so sorry, Michael,” I said, rubbing my chest over my heart. “If she’s anything like Alexis, she’s not very good at taking orders.”
Michael breathed a laugh. “She’s definitely not. I just wanted her to be safe...”
Realization swept over me. “You’re really in love with her.”
Silence stretched as Michael’s slow breaths echoed over the phone. “I’ve been in love with her since the first moment I met her. I can’t lose her, Nick.”
“Let the surgeon do his job, zio,” I said, my tone comforting. “I know she’s going to be fine.”
“There’s more,” Michael said as his tone grew angrier. “She was attacked by Simon and some of Victor’s men. She somehow wrangled a gun from someone and shot Simon. He’s dead.”
