Sweet as Sin

21

Nico mistook my reaction for disappointment. “You don’t like it?”

“No, I . . . it’s beautiful, Nico. I love it.”

He put his fingers on my chin and gently turned my head back, so I was forced to look into his eyes.

“Then why d’you look like you’re gonna cry?”

The waterworks have been a lifelong problem for me. I get choked up over all sorts of random things, from hearing the national anthem to those cat videos on f*******:. The word “sentimental” was invented for saps like me.

One of the many reasons I have to try so hard to pretend I’m tough. I don’t have a thick skin, like Grace. I get hurt easily.

“How did you . . . this symbol . . . you know what it means, right?”

Nodding, Nico swept his thumb over my cheek. “Kenji told me you’re half Japanese, half Irish. It was either this or a Trinity knot, which I thought might be a little too much. For a second date, and all.”

A Trinity knot was a Celtic love knot, symbolizing eternal love. He was blowing me away with all this. “Nico . . . I don’t know what to say.”

He leaned down and gently kissed me. “Say you’ll wear it.”

Of course I would wear it. I was never going to take it off. I’d be wearing it when they lowered my coffin into the ground. I’d never received a gift as thoughtful, beautiful, or outrageously romantic in my entire life.

“Can I ask you a serious question?”

He nodded.

I had to gather my courage for a second before I could ask him what was on my mind.

“Why me?”

I promise I wasn’t fishing for a compliment this time. I was just confused. This man could have any woman he wanted. Literally—any one. I thought I was better than average looking, but I certainly wasn’t a stunner. Especially in a town like LA where beautiful women practically grew on trees. I could be funny on occasion, and I’d been told by past boyfriends I had a quirky, adorable charm.

But I wasn’t on Nico’s level. I was boxing out of my class. If he was Mike Tyson, I was the guy who emptied the spit bucket. I just needed to understand.

“Could be those freckles. First girl I ever loved had freckles. I was six.” Nico regarded me very seriously, but I sensed the humor behind his tone. “Or it could be those Cleopatra eyes. Or that killer body. You got a woman’s body, classic hourglass curves made for a man’s hands.”

I blushed again, looking down.

Nico’s voice grew quiet. “Or it could be that when you look at me, I feel like I could fuckin’ fly.”

I looked up at him. Now he was deadly serious, staring at me with something like wonder.

“I don’t have a lot of real in my life, Kat. You’re real. Knew it when you stood up to me when I got mad at Avery. Protectin’ a girl you didn’t even know, puttin’ yourself out there for someone else. And not backin’ down an inch. I liked that. Liked it too that you didn’t let me push you around or intimidate you. You’d be surprised how old that s**t gets, people bowin’ and scrapin’, thinkin’ they’re gonna get somethin’ outta you if they kiss your ass just right. And then you demanded I explain what the deal was with me and Avery before you’d even consider talkin’ to me about there bein’ anything between us. Which I loved, by the way. Shows you got class. And self-respect. To top it all off, you got two girlfriends who obviously love you and have your back, which means you’re a good friend. Which means you’re trustworthy. Which means fuckin’ everything to me.”

I let it all sink in, just breathing. I wasn’t sure if I trusted myself to speak.

“So that’s why I got you the necklace. That’s what we’re gonna have: trust. It’s important to me, and it’s important to you. All this other stuff . . . ” He squeezed me into a tight embrace, nuzzled his face into my neck, and inhaled deeply. “Is just a bonus.”

“Other stuff?” I sounded like Minnie Mouse I was so breathless.

He chuckled. “The way my d**k gets hard just lookin’ at you. The way you get wet when I touch you.”

Oh, God. We were back to the dirty talk. And we were in my house. Alone.

I tried not to hyperventilate.

“First date, remember? And we still haven’t established anything about me getting . . . you know. I never admitted to that.”

Nico had one hand on my ass, pulling me against him, and one hand fisted in my hair at the nape of my neck. My arms were wrapped around his shoulders, the necklace box in a death grip in one hand.

“So you’re saying you’re not wet right now?” He trailed soft kisses from my earlobe to my collarbone, lightly nipping me with his teeth, lapping his tongue against the pounding pulse in my throat.

“Uh . . . uh-uh.”

“So if I did this, it wouldn’t affect you at all?”

He slid his hand up from my ass, across my hip and up my ribcage, to the underside of my breast. He cupped it in his hand, then swept his thumb over my n****e.

My hard-as-rock n****e.

“Um. Nope. Not feeling anything.”

Had anyone, anywhere, ever told such a colossal lie?

His chuckle was dark. “Hmm. Funny how you’re shiverin’ then. Must be cold in here.”

His thumb stroked back and forth over my aching n****e, while his mouth—soft and wet, Jesus so incredible—sucked on a sensitive spot on my neck.