At least she knew she’d be seeing him at the meeting. She considered going early, so they could have some time alone, but she found herself dawdling as she got ready, nerves fluttering in the pit of her stomach. And every time she met his eyes across the table, blood rushed to her face,EVERYONE KNOWS! EVERYONE KNOWS!blaring like a siren through her skull.
Once the meeting was over, she’d planned to linger casually until everyone had left, but instead she got caught up in a conversation with Daniela on her way out. They ended up chatting in front of Daniela’s car for several minutes, Merritt declining her offer of a ride home in a way she hoped seemed casual.
When Daniela finally drove away, though, she was left conflicted about what to do next. She stood there motionless in his front yard for way too long, like an ungainly lawn ornament, one foot facing toward his door, one away, as she argued with herself.
You didn’t text him, either. Just walk up and knock on the door. He wants to see you.
Still, she couldn’t get her feet to move.
Her phone buzzed inside her bag, and her stomach did a queasy flip when she saw Niko was calling.
She cleared her throat. “Hello?”
“Is that you out there? What are you doing?”
She whirled toward the house to see Niko’s broad frame silhouetted in the kitchen window. He waved at her, and she felt her cheeks go hot.
For a split second, she considered making something up, butthe truth came out instead: “Being weird,” she answered sheepishly.
A low chuckle came from the other end of the line. “I can see that. Do you want to come in?”
She was already walking toward the open door, where Niko was standing, holding his phone, dish towel slung over his shoulder.
“I thought you’d never ask.” She reached the stoop, her phone still pressed to her ear, and he stepped to the side, giving her room to pass. “Like, I literally thought you might never ask.”
The door clicked shut behind her as they put their phones away, and they stood in the entryway facing each other, the slight awkwardness between them especially stark compared to the easy intimacy of the days before.
“I wanted to give you some space,” he said. “Well, I didn’t want to. But I thought you might need it. The past couple of days have been…pretty intense.”
She searched his face for signs of impending rejection. “Good intense?”
The skin around his collar went gratifyingly pink. “Very good.”
That was all she needed to twine her arms around his neck, pulling him into a deep kiss that drew a helpless groan from the back of his throat. “You can be less of a gentleman, you know,” she murmured into his mouth. “You might make a girl feel a little self-conscious.”
Niko tangled one hand in her hair, gently pulling her head back. “About what?” His words were buried in her throat as he scraped his teeth up the side, his other hand coming down to squeeze her ass, the dish towel dropping to the floor.
“About whether you still want me,” she said, the hint of a teasing laugh in her voice not enough to hide the insecurity.
At that, he brought both hands underneath her butt, hoisting her up, her legs wrapping around him, pulling her tight against the bulge in his jeans.
“I thought we’d already been over this,” he said softly against her lips. “I’ve been walking around half-hard all day, thinking about everything I want to do to you. All the ways I want to touch you.”
“I think I need to see more evidence,” she murmured, grinding against him, another groan escaping him as he adjusted his grip on her thighs.
“How long can you stay?”
“Not long. Dev and Olivia know I’m at the meeting. Fifteen minutes, maybe twenty. Your roommates aren’t home, are they?”
He shook his head but was already headed toward the stairs, still carrying her, taking them two at a time, kicking the cracked door to his room all the way open. When they reached his bed, he turned and sat on the edge so she was straddling him, his hands gripping her hair again, their kisses frantic and deep and messy. Her need for him was like a living thing, rattling the bars of her rib cage, desperate for release.
“How many clothes are we taking off tonight?” His breath was ragged, and she shivered at the reminder that they still hadn’t seen each other fully naked—at least, not in person.
“Maybe a few more,” she said with a laugh, pulling both her linen dress and the T-shirt layered under it over her head in a single motion. His eyes swept over her in hungry appreciation, followed by his hands—one stroking the art nouveau goddess curving around her hip and down her outer thigh, the other on the tiny stick-and-poke ship in a bottle on her rib cage—but when she reached behind her to unhook her bra, they were on her breasts before it even hit the ground.
“God,” he murmured admiringly, dragging his mouth over her, taking a nipple into his mouth and sucking, sending a bolt of pleasure down her spine. “You have the most incredible tits.” At this point in her life, all the interesting parts of her body were one standard deviation away from Just Okay, but he sounded so genuinely rapturous that she wasn’t about to argue.
She was tempted to let him do that for hours, but they didn’t have that luxury right now. Her hands were already under his shirt, reluctantly breaking contact to tear it over his head, then pushing him down flat on the bed. She raked her fingernails over his chest as he looked up at her, wild-eyed, before dipping down to kiss him, bare skin on skin for a brief moment.
