“Like what?”
He shrugged.
“I’m good,” she assured him. “With all of it.”
His eyes heated, and she saw the moment he intended to kiss her. She tilted her head back, welcoming his mouth on hers.
She’d been attracted to this man for so long that it felt surreal for him to be kissing her. After all, the only kisses they’d shared before today had been the passionate kind that usually preceded them getting naked.
Something pressed on her foot, causing Stevie to pull back. She looked down to find Jäger staring up at them. He barked once, clearly expecting their attention to shift to him.
“Why don’t you respond to Stone, and I’ll get him a treat,” Nico suggested.
Although she was disappointed that their brief make-out session had come to an end, Stevie smiled and pulled out her phone. She shot back a message that they would be there, then followed it with a question as she was walking into the house.
Still looking at her phone, she didn’t realize Nico was standing there until she ran directly into him, her face bumping his incredibly impressive chest.
She looked up. “Sorry.”
The way he was looking at her gave her a moment of pause. Like usual, she couldn’t read his expression, couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
He solved the problem when he cupped her face, his fingers sliding under her hair, his thumb brushing along her cheekbone.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he said, peering into her eyes, the look so intense, she swore he could see into her soul.
“You sure?”
“For the first time in a damn long time.”
Stevie smiled, some of the anxiety dissipating. Her phone chimed, and a second later, Nico’s did, so she knew it was Stone. She glanced at it quickly.
“Seven o’clock,” she read aloud before looking up at Nico again.
“That gives us a little time.”
“For?”
Rather than answer, Nico took her phone, set it on the counter, then took her hand and led her through the kitchen, the living room, where Jäger was curled up in his crate—which she took to mean this was premeditated. When they reached the hallway, he took a left, heading toward his bedroom.
“Nico? What’s goin’ on?”
As soon as he stepped into the room, he pulled her into him. Stevie wasn’t expecting it, so she crashed into him, but he seemed ready for that because his arm came around her as he crushed his mouth to hers.
Instantly, her blood went from simmer to boil. She kissed him back, grabbing for him because it seemed the right thing to do.
“We have to clear the air,” he mumbled against her mouth.
That sounded ominous. “Meaning?”
She wasn’t even aware they were moving until Nico was lowering her onto the bed, moving over her. He never broke the kiss, never stopped touching her. Not even when he began tugging on her clothes.
Although she was eager for answers, she got with the program, helping to remove them until there was nothing between his hard body and her much softer one.
Nico lifted his head, holding himself over her as he met her gaze again. “I told an untruth earlier.”
Stevie frowned. “About?”
