Chapter Six
Evie
“Nick?”
“My friends call me Nicky.” He kissed my shoulder, and I closed my eyes for a moment, reveling in the feeling.
I pursed my lips, playfully, even though he couldn’t see me. “Are we friends though?”
“Well, considering I’ve tasted every inch of you, I’d say yes.”
I could hear the smirk in his voice, even though his face was against my neck, his breath tickling my back. I’d tasted him too. After we’d had sex, he showed me how to touch him. Then I’d asked him to teach me to give head. He didn’t speak or move for a solid thirty seconds, but then he wrapped his hand in my hair and told me he’d been trying not to cry.
Nick was more than I deserved; he was more than most girls deserved, I was sure. “I’m sorry about earlier.”
He sighed, trailing his fingertips down my arm. “You play dirty, dove.”
I rolled to my other side, scooting down the bed a bit to face him. “I’ve never done anything like that before.”
“Yeah. I know.” He sent me a sarcastic smirk.
I snorted. “No. Like, I’ve never been mean like that. I’ve never been demanding or cruel. I’ve never threatened anyone in my life.” I shrugged one bare shoulder. “I’m just, I’m sorry I was a brat about everything. And I’m sorry if—”
He put his palm gently against my mouth. “Stop.” His eyes searched mine, something he seemed to do pretty often. Could he see the tears I was barely holding back? “This wasn’t my first time, this wasn’t something I decided to do on a whim after a bad day.” He moved his hand away. “The only thing that matters right now is how you feel.”
How did I feel? I closed my eyes and took stock of my body, my brain. I was sore, I was tired, I was…happy. I felt content and calm. I promised Nick that I wouldn’t regret tonight, and it turned out that so far, I hadn’t been lying. “I feel good.”
“Really? Because a second ago you looked like you wanted to cry. And not a thankful cry like I was close to earlier when you asked to suck my dick.”
I giggled as I ran my fingers through his dark hair, our colors almost matching. “It wasn’t sad cry, or a scared cry. It was more like an emotional cry, I guess.”
“Well, dove, you have had a busy day.” He started ticking off points on his fingers. “New college, mean girls, first tattoo, first…everything else. And now this.”
I smiled. It was hard to look at him and not. “And what is this?”
“Your first naked sleepover.” He answered me like that should have been obvious.
“We have to sleep naked?”
“Yep.” He climbed out of bed, sans clothes. “As soon as we take care of that beautiful work of art on your thigh.” He held his hand out, helping me up and then leading me into his bathroom. “We’ll take a quick shower and then I’ll get you all fixed up.”
I didn’t deserve Nick’s kindness, not anymore. I’d backed him into a corner. I’d demanded something from him that wasn’t even close to fair. He’d taken care of me, he’d made sure that I was comfortable every step of the way. He’d made me feel good.
He’d made me feel things that I could have never dreamed of.
***
I was back in Nicky’s bed, naked as the day I was born. He was sitting in a chair, nude, his feet resting on the mattress and a sketchpad in his hands. After our shower he’d made me a sandwich and when I’d told him I was sore he brought me some ibuprofen, and then got under the covers and kissed it until it felt better.
“Sitting here in silence is making me sleepy.” I yawned, covering my mouth politely.
“No.” He looked at me over his sketchpad. “All the orgasms I keep giving you are making you sleepy.”
“You sure like to toot your own horn, don’t you?” Not that he was wrong, and not that there was anything about him not worth celebrating. He was kind, funny, caring, and generous. Hot as all get out. Artistic, a good sandwich maker, and exceptionally good with his mouth. Not that I had anything to compare it to, but I’d enjoyed myself.
I yawned again, making him chuckle. “Don’t go to sleep yet. I only get you for one night. Remember?” He was using his fingers, almost as if he was shading something on the paper.
I didn’t want to talk about me leaving. I didn’t want to bring the mood down. “You know what you need? A dog.” I nodded. “A house isn’t a home with a dog.”
“I’m a bachelor. I work a lot.”
“You work in a tattoo shop less than a mile from your huge loft-style apartment. You could handle a dog.” For some reason, I didn’t like the idea of Nicky being here alone. It made me sad. I wanted to know that there was someone for him to come home to.
“Maybe.” He was concentrating on his drawing, his teeth biting on his lower lip. Wow. Did he think it was that sexy when I did it? No wonder he was always watching my mouth. “Tell me about your family.”
My good mood started to dim. Was this the part where he wanted to know all about my rock and roll upbringing? Was he curious about the Devil’s Share, like so many other people I’d met? “Um, well, my dad joined the band after he—”
“No.” He shook his head, laughing again. “Not the band stuff. Tell me about your cousins and your childhood. The good stuff.”
The good stuff was about me, not my dad and uncles. That made me smile, and it made me want to tell him everything. “I have a younger sister; her name is Emmie. She’s a dancer, like me, only she’s much better and she’ll probably be invited to the Austin Ballet after high school.” I’d danced for as long as I could remember, and I’d loved it. But the older I got, the more I came to see that ballet wouldn’t be my future.
“I have nine cousins. Landry, Beau, Halen, Cash, Crue, Avory, Jett, and Marley. I fit in after Halen, and Emmie is the youngest. Landry is in medical school; she wants to be a surgeon. My mom is a P.A., and Landry has always loved to go to work with her and hear about her day. Beau is Landry’s younger brother and he’s a really talented photographer. He left home recently, after his breakup with Halen.”
“Halen? Your other cousin?”
I’d been staring off into space, chattering away about my family without remembering that everything about them, about us, was hard to understand for outsiders. “None of us are actually blood related or anything. We were raised on the same land, went to the same schools. We’re inseparable. Some of us in different ways I guess.” To me, Halen and Beau weren’t taboo. But I could see how it looked to everyone else.
“You miss them?” Nicky was back to sketching, his attention on the work in front of him.
“I’ve been gone only for two days, but yeah, I do.” I shrugged. “Honestly, when I saw your shop today, I was feeling so homesick it was like I was drowning.” I crawled down the bed, putting my finger on his sketchpad and pushing it down. I wanted him to look at me. I wanted him to see the truth in my eyes. “You made me feel like I could breathe again, Nicky.”
His eyes bore into mine. “You shouldn’t say stuff like that to me, dove.”
“Why not?”
He tossed his book on the floor beside his chair and wrapped his arm around my waist, pushing me to the mattress. “Because it makes me want to keep you.”
He kissed my lips, tangling his hands in my hair. I could feel his cock against my thigh; it was hard again. I put my hands on his firm ass, arching into him. I wanted Nicky back inside my body.
I wound one leg around his back, making his dick meet up with my center. He drew back, a question in his eyes. I knew he’d never hurt me, and I knew he’d stop me if he should. But he didn’t. He slid inside me bare and perfect and slow. His hand was on my jaw, his cheek against my cheek. His every breath was against my neck and I could feel the tight cords in his back as he thrust inside me. This wasn’t like before—there was no hesitation, no chase. It was sensual and leisurely. I couldn’t help the whimpers coming out of my mouth any more than he could help whispering my name over and over.
I was so close to the edge, and I had been from the moment he’d started to move. “Oh my god, please don’t stop.”
His teeth grazed my ear. “Now you’re taking one of my first, dove.” My brain was having a hard time processing at the moment. But luckily he clarified for me. “I’ve never been inside anyone like this, bare.” His forehead dropped to my chest. “You feel so goddamn perfect, baby.”
His words made me come, instantly. I dug my nails into his back, screaming his name as wave after wave crashed over my body. His hand tightened in my hair, and his thrusts became rougher, more deliberate. In an instant, he pulled out, fisting his dick and coming all over my stomach. He collapsed on the bed, his breathing heavy and panting. He threw his towel from earlier against my middle and then dragged me back against his body. He didn’t speak, and neither did I. This moment didn’t need words or explanations.
And we fell asleep, tangled in each other’s arms.