Chapter 22
Nightingale
It had been three weeks since he had seen Seraphina. He had thought she had learned her lesson and would give up the club scene, yet here she was, dressed in the most sinful dress he had ever seen.
Tight, white, her breasts spilling out of the plunging neckline, and so short her back asset was almost on display. It would be displayed if she bent over. It was like she was trying to say a big fuck you to the universe, daring anyone to try to mess with her again. Nathan could only shake his head as he watched her walk into the club.
Aware of the eyes on her, Seraphina made her way up to Lance.
“Hey, baby girl. Where have you been?” Lance greeted her as she kissed his cheek. Then he pushed her back a step, giving an appreciative once-over and whistling his admiration. “Hot damn, girl. You are sizzling tonight. I might have to knock some man out, haul you over my shoulder caveman style, and carry you back to my cave.”
Seraphina laughed with him, holding his shoulders as he rested his hands on her hips. “I think someone else may reciprocate.” She winked at him.
“Yeah?” he asked, quickly removing his hands and crossing his arms over his barreled chest. “Is that where you’ve been? Finally got a guy worth sticking around for?”
Seraphina shrugged, tilting her head from side to side. “Possibly. Maybe. I don’t know yet.”
Lance shook his head at her. “Girl …” he drawled, “you better figure it out quick before he catches you in here, purring away at some other man. I don’t wanna have to deal with that.” He eyed her up and down again. “Conflict of interest.”
Seraphina winked again, and Lance shook his head.
“You are trouble.”
Seraphina didn’t say anything as the door was opened and a couple walked in. She simply gave him a little wave with her fingers then made a rotation around the nightclub before standing at the bar and ordering a drink—a bottled water. After being drugged weeks ago and the humiliating experience afterward, she knew it would be a long time before she ever drank anything alcoholic, or even opened, at a bar again.
“So, who are you tonight?” a familiar voice asked as someone slid onto the stool next to her.
Seraphina froze. Was this the moment she had been waiting for? Should she play along? Or, should she pretend she had no idea who he was? He had confronted her while she was dressed like this; did that mean he was ready to drop pretenses? Was he not who she thought he was—her dark lover?
“Are you stalking me?” she asked the man incredulously, keeping up with the charade as she turned and met his eyes.
The man chuckled. She loved seeing him look like that. Little lines crinkling around his hazel eyes, soft lips spread and turned upward, dark brown hair flapping as his body vibrated. When he smiled, she saw a hint of the boy she remembered from long ago, back when they were innocent and in love.
“You asked me that once before,” he told her.
“Yes, I did,” she agreed.
“And I didn’t essentially lie to you before. I hadn’t followed you … that time.”
Seraphina pursed her lips. “So, you admit to following me other times?”
“Yes.” He nodded, a grin appearing and disappearing, as if he didn’t know to be delighted with their conversation or serious.
“Well, I don’t know if I should feel flattered or worried.”
“Always flattered. Never worried.”
Seraphina looked away from the boy turned man for whom she carried so many regrets. She wished she could go back in time to the last night they had spent together and never leave that bed. She wished they had been able to spend that epic summer together, just like they had planned, before their junior year had started. More than anything, she wished they could still just be like they used to be together.
Finally, after several moments of silence, Seraphina murmured, “I don’t know if I’m supposed to believe that.”
“Why’s that?” he asked.
She took a sip of her water before answering, “Unless you have a hero complex, most people who stalk others have ill intentions.”
The man leveled her with a gaze. “I have many intentions.”
Seraphina arched a brow. “Such as …?”
The man turned on his stool, legs spread wide. Then he gripped Seraphina’s hips and encouraged her between his legs. Moving his hands down to the obscenely high bottom hem of her dress, he drew himself closer, nuzzling his face against hers as he made his way to her ear. “To protect you and keep you safe, making sure no harm comes to you—”
“Too late,” she whispered back, trying to blink away the tears that had been conjured at his words.
“—To simply watch you and just be in your presence,” he continued over her, not letting her stop him from saying the words he regretted not telling her years ago. “To learn your many facets. To understand why you do what you do, what drives you, what you’re trying to prove and to whom—them or yourself.” At this, he flexed his hands around her thighs.
“I want to worship you,” he continued, his tone softening as he brushed his lips over her cheek. “I want to give you everything and anything you could possibly want—my heart, the world, the moon and stars. I want to run away with you or settle down in one place and simply live freely, without constraints. I want to spend every free moment with you. I want to always be by your side, to hold your hand or just remain in the background. Either way will do, just as long as you don’t disappear.”
He kissed a tear streaking down her face before nuzzling his cheek against hers again. “I want to work toward a future with you and build a past full of beautiful memories to look back on fondly. I want to make you breakfast every morning and come home to share dinners with you. I want to make you laugh every day and see that beautiful smile aimed at me. I want to stare into those multi-faceted eyes of yours every night before I close my eyes and see them first thing when I open mine in the morning.”
He trailed kisses down her jaw and over to her lips, whispering against them, “I want you to be my best friend always, my solace after a bad day, my sympathy when I need it, my beauty in a world that is worn, and my lover every minute.”
Seraphina succumbed to the power of his words and the seduction of his touch, melting into his lips, into his searing kiss. She yearned for everything he had painted for her. For the promise of happiness and love, nothing ugly ever touching her again. For the promise of safety and trust.
He cupped her face and tilted it upward, deepening the kiss. The room melted away. All the people, the music, the smells. The only senses that remained were the feel of their bodies and the taste of their lips.
Both felt like they were in heaven, like they had finally come home. Two pieces connected once again. Not time nor distance had deteriorated their jagged edges, allowing them to slide seamlessly into place, becoming one once again.
When he pulled away, Seraphina kept her eyes closed, feeling a sense of euphoria, like her skin was electric. She could in fact feel static dancing along her body. She didn’t want to open her eyes and have that feeling float away. He didn’t either, so he leaned in again and continued to kiss her almost lazily, dreamlike, with the pulse of his blood flowing past his ears and his nerve endings tingling in bliss.
With a simultaneous, happy hum, the couple finally broke away.
Seraphina opened her heavy eyes, her body swaying toward him almost drunkenly. Her lips parted, but she didn’t know what she was going to say.
He swept his thumb over her bottom lip, watching his own movements. He wished they could stay in this perfect moment for all of eternity. He would … gladly.
Blinking repeatedly, Seraphina’s mind started to come online. She was ready.
Catching his eyes, she said, “Ask me again who I am tonight.”
He paused then hesitantly asked, “Who are you tonight?”
“Yours.” As his eyes grew wary, she quickly added, “Now ask me again.”
Eyebrows furrowed, he again asked, “Who are you tonight?”
“Who I’ve been every night since we met … and most days.”
His eyes widened.
Leaning in to whisper in his ear, she continued, “The bigger question is: who are you? Nathan or Peter?”