“You make me so mad.”
“What else do I make you?”
Andrew huffs, throwing his arms in the air. “What, it’s not enough that the entire world has a crush on you, you need to know that I do, too? Fine, I’ve got a crush on you. Are you happy?”
The fear that wrapped itself tightly around Nicholas’s chest unfurls. He wasn’t sure if he even had a chance, and now he knows he does, and it’s the single most victorious moment of his fucking life.
“Very happy,” Nicholas confirms, curling his hand around the back of Andrew’s neck and giving it a firm squeeze.
“Cocky fucking asshole,” Andrew gripes.
“Yourcocky fucking asshole.”
“Goddamnit, Nicki. What did I just tell you? Don’t?—”
“Play games,” Nicholas finishes, so close he could kiss Andrew if he moved just a few inches. He won’t though, not without permission. “I’m not playing. I want you, Andrew King.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Yes, I fucking do.”
“No,” Andrew repeats sharply. “I label things. I make spreadsheets. I have a shower schedule, Nicki.”
“I’m aware, princess.”
“I can’t satisfy you,” Andrew says, an edge of panic in his tone. “I know everything the gossip sites say isn’t true, but you like sex, Nicki, and I don’t. Not like you do. Sometimes, maybe, it might happen. I’m not sex-repulsed, but I don’t care about it. I don’t crave it, I don’t need it. I could go the rest of my life never having sex again, and I’d be happy, but you wouldn’t.”
“Says fucking who?”
“Says me,” Andrew all but yells. “I can’t satisfy a man like you.”
And there it is, the thing bothering Andrew.
“I do like sex,” Nicki confirms, because he won’t lie to Andrew.
“Yeah, yeah,” Andrew mutters, wrapping his arms around himself. “Everyone likes sex.”
“You know what I like more?”
“Money?” Andrew says in a tone that is clearly meant to be a joke. Neither of them laugh. Nicholas moves his hand to Andrew’s jaw, gripping firmly but gently so he can tip Andrew’s face up to meet Nicholas’s gaze. “I’ve had all the sex and money I wanted for as long as I can remember. As much as I wanted whenever I wanted.”
“Is there a point there?” Andrew asks in that slightly haughty tone of his that gets Nicholas’s heart going as hard as his dick.
“Yeah, princess. The point is it was never enough. I treated people like I treated money—something to be used and thrown away, as something disposable. I’ve had everything and everyone I wanted, and I was never fucking satisfied because it turned out, I didn’t want that.”
“And what is it you want?” Andrew whispers.
“You.”
“No, you?—”
“Don’t you fucking dare tell me what I want,” Nicholas challenges, slipping his hand up from his jaw to cup the side of Andrew’s face. “I might not have known before, but I do now. I want you, Andrew King.”
“But the deal?”
“Fuck the deal. Give me a chance. I’m going to fuck up, and I sure as shit don’t deserve you, but let me try. Let me learn to be the kind of man who deserves you.”
“You say that like I’m out of your league,” Andrew scoffs.
