Chapter Thirteen
Nyx waved to Jenna as she stepped out of her house.
“It was fun,” Nyx said with a wave. She managed to keep from slurring. The last thing she wanted was someone insisting they help her home.
With that, she started walking to her own house.
Despite the way the evening started, Nyx enjoyed spending time with the other women. They chatted for some time about the simple things, and it felt good knowing they were a part of the community they’d created together.
When Magnus and Rem returned from the evening’s mission, there was a part of her that hoped Nero would come as well. Not that he owed it to her. Hell, at this moment, she wasn’t even sure what they were. A couple? But still, there had been a part of her that had hoped.
Nyx kicked a rock and watched it skip away.
As she rounded the corner, her house came into view. She looked past it, over the hill. All the lights were out, and yet she knew Nero was there.
Anger pushed through her. How long was he planning to ignore her? It was one thing when he was preparing for the mission. She was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Maybe he needed to concentrate, but now the danger was passed, and a few minutes of efforts would have made things clear. If he thought beating on people and ignoring her was going to keep her interest, he had another thing coming.
Nyx stomped her way past her house, not even bothering with a second glance. Animals scattered in the woods, but she didn’t pay them any mind.
When she reached the door, she paused and took a deep breath. Nero had haunted her thoughts the entire day. Now that she was here, Nyx wasn’t so sure she could talk to him. She did her best not to burst out laughing. Who was the coward now?
She jumped when the door flung open. Nero stood in front of her, gun drawn and aimed at her face. Her heart thundered, and she leapt to the side, looking for some cover.
“Fuck,” he hissed and dropped the gun to his side. “I thought you were Marcus.”
Heart still pounding, she nodded slowly, taking and releasing a deep breath.
His hair looked like he’d just woken up. It stuck up in little ways that made her want to rake her hand through it just to know that she was the reason. Her eyes slid down his bare chest. With her blood already pumping, the hard lines excited her in a way she had never known before.
Nyx followed the path down his stomach. The fly on his pants hung open, and she could see a bit of hair peeking from the flap. He looked like he’d woken up naked and just slipped on the closest thing. Good to know he’d kill Marcus with his pants on.
She licked her lips and glanced back up to him.
His eyes glowed, and she knew she’d been caught staring.
“I… um,” she said. All this time she’d had so much that she wanted to say, and now that she had the chance, it was hard to find the words. She wanted to blame the alcohol, but the sight of Nero had cleared her mind. “You didn’t stay,” she finally blurted out.
Nero frowned down at her, clearly confused.
“It was my first time, and you didn’t stay.”
Inside her head she yelled that she should stop and not to spill everything. She sounded like an idiot explaining how it was her first time. If she told him too much, she’d lose any control of the situation.
Nero glanced around. She was talking loudly. His house may have been away from the others’ but keen hybrid hearing made things more complicated. With all the rumors and trouble already, she was only giving people more gossip fodder.
He stepped back, and she stepped past him. Her arm brushed his warm chest. Her breath caught in her throat.
She looked around the small living room and smiled. The housing units were very similar. Some had two and three bedrooms, but most were a standard one bedroom. With so many hot-blooded men around, the hybrids found it useful to have their own places where they could decompress.
A simple cream-colored couch sat in the middle of the room. Pictures of flowers hung on several of the walls. It was clear Nero had left things just as they were when he moved in.
Her smiled faded as she thought this over. Not changing anything would make sense if he had no intention of staying.
Nyx turned around and was surprised to find him standing so close. She stepped back. He stepped forward, his gaze fixed on her.
“I came…” she said. Her heart hammered in her chest. “I just…”
She trailed off as her back pressed firmly against the wall.
Nero moved in closer. The heat from his body made her shiver in anticipation. He stopped just shy of touching her.
Nyx let out a little sigh.
“I left,” he said quietly, “because I didn’t want to cause problems for you. But I still fucked things up.”
She opened her mouth to respond but stopped when he pressed into her, the words caught in her throat as she struggled to think, let alone breathe.
“I would have liked nothing more than to wake up next to you and spend the morning showing you just how much I enjoyed being together,” he said.
Nyx took in a deep breath and tried to stop her heart from leaping into her throat.
He leaned his arm up near her head. His woodsy scent enveloped her.
“For me,” he whispered near her ear. “It’s just you. You are the only woman I’ve ever wanted.”