Nick didn’t flinch. He just stood there, grounded and solid, like the eye in the middle of the chaos swirling inside me.
“No one ever does.” His voice was low but calm, and he slowly let go of my wrist—like he was giving me space without letting go completely. His gaze held mine with such unwavering focus it was hard to breathe. “But it’s ours now—yours and mine.”
That hit somewhere deep. Somewhere I’d locked down long before Nick ever stepped into my world.
The way he looked at me… it wasn’t pity. It wasn’t obligation. It was fierce. Steady. Like he was planting his flag right there in the middle of my wreckage, refusing to let the storm push him out.
“You’re right about one thing,” he said, quieter now but still with that razor-sharp conviction. “It’s messy. It’s ugly. And yeah—sometimes it’s terrifying.” He stepped closer again, and this time, I didn’t move away. “But we’ll face it together.”
It wasn’t a plea. It was a promise.
I stared at him—really stared—and felt the weight in my chest shift. Lighten. The fear didn’t vanish, but it wasn’t so all-consuming anymore. Because he saw the worst of me and still stood his ground. He didn’t flinch at the jagged edges. He reached for them.
I exhaled shakily, chest rising and falling like I’d just surfaced from drowning. Then I nodded—just once. “Okay,” I whispered.
It was all I had.
But it was enough.
In that second, the world outside the walls faded. The headlines. The whispers. Gary. All of it blurred out. And what was left… was us.
Just us, standing in the middle of a war neither of us started but both of us were damn sure ready to fight.
He kissed me—hard. Not asking. Just taking. And for the first time, I didn’t fight it. I melted into him, grabbed fistfuls of his hoodie, and let everything I’d been holding in pour out through the way my mouth crashed against his. It was raw, angry, and hungry.
He lifted me like I weighed nothing, my feet leaving the ground as the world blurred around us. All that mattered was the fire crackling between us. He carried me to the bedroom like it was a mission—like he’d already decided exactly where this was going.
Clothes came off in rushed, desperate motions. Fingers fumbled. Breathing turned ragged. My heart pounded as skin met skin, every touch sending shockwaves through me. I tried to speak—“Nick, wait—” but he pressed his hand over my mouth, his breath hot against my cheek.
“No more running,” he whispered, voice fierce and low. “No more lying. You’re mine.”
The words struck something deep inside me—a declaration, a demand, a promise. My pulse roared in my ears. There was no backing down now.
“Say it,” he murmured, his eyes locking onto mine, full of fire and something far more dangerous than lust.
“I’m yours,” I breathed, the truth trembling on my tongue and igniting in my chest the second it left my lips.
He kissed me again—rougher this time. Wilder. Like something inside him had finally snapped free. Like he was done pretending he didn’t already own every piece of me.
Nick pushed me back onto the bed, never breaking the kiss, and followed me down. The cool sheets met my overheated skin as he hovered above me, drinking me in like he needed to memorize everything—my flushed cheeks, my parted lips, the rise and fall of my chest as I tried to keep up with the intensity radiating from him.
Then he was on me again, kissing me like it was the only way he knew how to speak. My hands slid into his hair, tugging him closer, grounding myself in the weight of him—his body, his heat, the emotion simmering just beneath the surface.
His hands roamed over me—strong, certain—mapping every inch of skin like I was something holy and dangerous all at once. When they reached my face, he cupped it with aching tenderness, then deepened the kiss until I forgot how to breathe.
When his mouth trailed down my neck, I gasped, electricity zipping through me. Every touch left me more exposed, more undone. He kissed with purpose—possessive, reverent, like he had something to prove.
“God,” he murmured against my skin before nipping at my earlobe, voice thick with need. “You have no idea what you do to me.”
A rush of heat rolled through me at his words, curling low in my belly. I barely managed a breathless laugh as my fingers scraped down his back. “Neither do you.”
And then there was nothing but heat and skin and Nick—every touch, every sound, every kiss unraveling the last of the walls between us.
His gaze darkened at the challenge. He leaned back just enough for our eyes to lock again, tension crackling between us like a live wire. In that silence, something passed between us—something undeniable. Neither of us was backing down tonight.
“Then let’s see just how much we can burn together,” he said, his voice low and rough, a promise and a dare wrapped in one.
The words wrapped around me, thick as smoke, setting fire to whatever doubt still lingered. And then he was on me again—kissing me with a hunger that didn’t ask for permission, that promised nothing would be left untouched by the time dawn crept in.
