Suria had shown me to a bedroom earlier, and I laid on the bed, not entirely comfortable. I hadn’t slept well in several days, and it was all culminating in a massive headache. Granted, stress was probably playing into it too.

I’d hoped I could grab a quick nap, but my mind wouldn’t stop racing.

We had a plan, of sorts.

A big part of me didn’t think it would work.

I was going to have to reach out to my brother and ask him to place a lot of faith in me.

It was possible if things went bad I’d end up jobless.

If things didn’t work out, and I was wrong…

Shit.

What if we didn’t have things worked out as well as we planned?

What were we going to do?

I just didn’t have an answer for that and lying alone in the bedroom where Suria had led me to wasn’t helping my frame of mind.

I started when the door opened, sitting up and staring at the man who filled the doorway.

Nicco.

His eyes roamed over me as he propped a shoulder against the doorjamb.

I sat up slowly, staring at him.

“Are we doing this?” I finally asked, desperate to break the silence if nothing else.

A faint smile quirked his lips.

“I thought we’d already decided we were.”

“Did we?” I blinked, not entirely certain we were thinking along the same wavelength. I remembered us talking about what we might do, but not actually agreeing to it. Had we agreed?

The smile on his face widened. “That was what we discussed.”

I threw my legs over the side of the bed, staring at him. “We discussed…that means we decided.”

He lifted a shoulder in an elegant shrug. “More or less. Our choices are sort of…limited.”

I knew that.

I just…this all sounded entirely too final. I wasn’t sure I liked how final it sounded.

And it involved Nicco getting extremely involved.

He came closer, not stopping until he had one knee braced on the edge of the bed.

“Are you certain this will work?” I asked softly.

“He’s arrogant enough.”

“You’re sure?”

He shrugged again, incredibly lazy, elegance in every move. “I talked to somebody who knows him far better than I do.” Then he covered my mouth with his thumb. “I think we’ve talked about him enough today, don’t you?”

The spit in my mouth dried up.

Easing closer to the edge of the bed, I opened my mouth around his thumb and sucked it inside.

Yes, we’d talked about Gabriel Marks, and other things, enough.

I was tired of talking.

Drawing his thumb deeper into the cavern of my mouth, I lifted my eyes to his. At the same time, I reached for his hips, drawing him closer to me. Nicco made a low sound in his throat, pushing the fingers of his free hand through my hair.

I reached for the zipper of his pants, dragging it down.

There was something I wanted to do, something I’d wanted to do for some time, but I hadn’t had the chance. Now seemed like a good time.

Once I’d freed the zipper, I popped the button on his trousers and eased back, looking up at him as I tugged his pants down. I darted a look past him, but he’d closed the door when he came inside, locking us in solitude.

As I watched him, I pulled his boxer briefs down, my eyes never once leaving his face.

But my peripheral vision had always been good, and I could see his cock as I freed it.

“I want to taste you,” I said, leaning in. “Like you’ve tasted me.”

Then I dropped my eyes to his shaft and opened my mouth, taking him inside.

He groaned, the hand in my hair knotting, tightening, dragging me closer. “Ravenna,” he muttered, the words ragged and sharp.

I loved the sound of his voice just then.

I dragged my tongue over the head of him, tasting something salty against my tongue.

Rolling my eyes upward, I watched as his head fell back.

“Please,” he muttered.

He didn’t need to ask. I was already aching for more.

The heavy, hard feel of him in my mouth was indescribable, the way he pulsed and vibrated against my tongue, the vein on the underside pulsating…and he shuddered.

I’d never felt more powerful.

Both of his hands cradling my head, I reached for his hips, guiding him on.

He lurched against me, a litany of pleas and wordless, senseless noises falling from his lips as he rocked against me. I heard my name. I heard the word please. I heard him begging…

And he moved against me, his hips shuttling his cock back and forth between my lips.

My breasts swelled.

The flesh between my thighs felt slick and hot.

When I dug my nails into the flesh of his ass and sucked on him, he made a hoarse noise deep in his throat.

Sliding my tongue over the vein along the underside of his cock, I sucked, and he shuddered. “I’m going to come, Ravenna,” he warned me.

Good.

His hips jerked, and he thrust deeper, harder.

He bumped against the back of my throat, and I swallowed, fighting back the gag reflex out of sheer instinct.

He bucked against me again and caught my head between both hands, holding me still. “Just…let me…” he muttered. “Just like…fuck, Ravenna.”

He came. His cum hit the back of my throat, and I swallowed instinctively. He still moved, barely rocking his hips now, and I struggled to take more of him, swallowing and working him with my mouth.

Finally, he pulled away, smoothing a hand down my cheek before bending down to nuzzle my neck.

“You’re amazing,” he said against my skin. The stubble that had formed on his face rasped against me, making me shiver.

When he straightened, I watched, my mouth going dry as he reached for the buttons on his shirt.

“Do I get a strip-tease?” I asked, licking my lips.

“I’m not going to dance for you.” But he did slow down his movements, making a show of it as he flicked each button open. Bit by bit, more skin was revealed. His skin was golden all over, a rich olive tone that made my fingers itch to touch and trace.

When he finally finished with the shirt and shrugged out of it, he nodded at me. “Your turn.”

I stood up and reached for the hem of my shirt, dragging it slowly upward. Since I didn’t have the buttons, there was only so much I could do to give him a show. After the shirt cleared my head, I tossed it onto the floor, right where he’d tossed his, then traced my fingers along the waistband of my jeans as I stared at him. He’d hitched his pants up over his hips again but left them open. A thin line of hair started at his belly button and ran downward, disappearing under the band of his boxer briefs.

I caught my lower lip between my teeth, held it for a second before letting go. Meeting his eyes, I said, “Now you.”

He shoved the pants down, not quite so showy this time.

Not that I minded.

His eyes lingered on the hand resting at my waist, clearly waiting. I grinned and slid it down along my crotch. I imagined I could feel the heat and wetness right there through the sturdy material of my jeans.

Nicco closed his eyes and dragged in a deep breath. He looked back at me then, pointedly. “Your turn.”

I popped the button on my jeans, dragged down the zipper. The rasp of it sounded terribly loud in the quiet room, and it dawned on me that we were far from alone in this condo. “We’re going to have to be quiet,” I said.

“Want me to gag you?” His eyes gleamed.

“You seem to have a thing for bondage. First, you threaten to cuff me – with my own cuffs, no less. Now, gagging?” I arched a brow as I caught my jeans by the waistband and began to slowly inch them down, giving a wiggle of my hips.

His eyes glazed over.

I was going slow enough that it might have been silly if it wasn’t for the way he was reacting to the whole thing. By the time I had my jeans to my hips, his breathing had gotten ragged. “I just might be kinkier than I thought, because I’m tempted to spank you right now…get the damn jeans off, Ravenna.”

I laughed, finally kicking free of them. I’d barely straightened when he came for me, yanking my body to his and slamming his mouth down on mine.

I caught his shoulders, opening for him as he drove his tongue into my mouth. I sucked on him, giddy delight exploding through me when he shuddered.

Against my belly, I felt his cock, so hard and heavy.

I was already wet and ready for him. Jumping up, I wrapped my legs around his waist and undulated against him, the ache inside me growing.

It was insane, wanting somebody like this.

It was divine, needing somebody like this.

Nicco tore his mouth away and muttered, “Here…like this…” He caught my hips, lifted me higher and canted my hips inward. I gasped as he filled me, my weight driving me down on him until I was completely impaled. Eyes widening, I looked at him.

He turned around and sat, then lay on the bed, his hands on my hips. “Ride me, baby…let me watch you take me.” His blue-gray eyes bored into mine, all but searing me through.

I braced my hands on his chest and tentatively rolled my hips. Sensation blasted through me, ripping a moan from my throat.

Nicco reached up and pressed the tips of his fingers against my lips.

Opening my mouth, I sucked one inside.

His cock jerked inside me.

I watched him as I moved again. At the same time, I rubbed my tongue along his finger, using it the way I’d done when I had his cock in my mouth. Judging by the way his eyes flashed, I think he noticed.

He started to move beneath me, arching as I sank back down on him, meeting me thrust for thrust.

I swallowed back another hungry moan, sucking harder on his finger. The need to be quiet seemed to make it more intense, and soon, I was gasping, already teetering on the edge.

I shoved his hand away and bent over him, fusing our mouths together. His tongue licked into my mouth. I bit him, and he grasped my ass, squeezing tight. Close…so, so close…

I broke the kiss and buried my face against his neck, starving for air. I buried a broken moan against his neck as the orgasm started, shattering through me. I felt it ripple, first in my pussy, then spreading out through my belly and chest, out to my arms and legs, until all of me was vibrating.

Nicco moved faster, his breaths coming hard and heavy.

I was still shaking under the impact of the climax when he rolled us, flipping me onto my back as he settled between my thighs. “Again,” he muttered as he palmed my face and arched me up for a kiss. “Do it again, Ravenna. Let me feel it.”

I didn’t think I could. I was still floating on top from my current orgasm, slowly starting to drift down.

But he rolled his hips, gave a little twist, nudging me right there – I bucked under him, opening my mouth. Only at the last second did I remember to swallow the scream as a second, more intense orgasm hit.

My vision grayed out on me. My heart pounded so hard, it almost hurt.

Then it ended, and Nicco collapsed next to me.

“We’re going to kill each other,” I announced.

He laughed weakly. “What a hell of a way to go.”