CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Emma raced through closing and made it into town at a very respectable eleven-thirty. The streets were empty at this time of night, the lampposts shining their beams on empty sidewalks. The only businesses open now were Shorty’s and Fitness Freak.
She parked in front of Gia’s yoga studio and texted Niko.
I’m here. Where are you?
He responded with a picture of strings of lights woven around whitewashed wood beams. Come find me.
One Love Park was decked out for the Sunday farmers market and Knit Off. Empty stands that would be full of produce and products and teeming with neighbors, sat in shadow. She spotted the gazebo on the far end of the park. It was lit up with dozens of strings of lights.
Niko stood at the top of the steps, holding a pizza box, waiting for her. Emma’s pulse raced. Just looking at him had her body reacting in the most basic, instinctive ways. Something like this wasn’t sustainable. Not when just a smoldering look from his dark eyes sent her adrenaline spiking, her core tightening in anticipation. Drawn to him, she followed the sidewalk to the steps of the gazebo.
“Hi, beautiful.” His voice was low, a little rough.
“I see you’ve upped the ante on the midnight picnic,” Emma said, eyeing the ice bucket and thick quilt spread over the gazebo bench.
“I got the very last pie from Peace of Pizza and thought you’d like to share it with me,” he said, reaching for her hand.
She took his and let him draw her up the wooden steps. “How did you arrange this?”
Niko shrugged. “I just happened to have a conversation with Wilson Abramovich at Overly Caffeinated today—the cold brew is fantastic, by the way—and he mentioned that the gazebo is available for rental for private parties.”
“So you rented it?” Emma laughed, letting him pull her into him.
“I missed you.” He said it simply as if it explained everything.
“You saw me two nights ago. All of me, if memory serves,” she teased.
“And short of dragging you to a hotel in another city, I thought this would be an enjoyable way to spend some alone time together.” He put the pizza box down on the bench and shoved both hands into her hair, drawing her in for a slow, sweet kiss.
When they broke apart, a little breathless and a lot aroused, Emma patted a hand over her racing heart. “The things you do for me,” she said on a sigh.
“Almost as good as the things I plan to do to you.” His devil’s grin had her laughing.
She shook her head. “I can’t believe I could have missed out on this.”
“Good thing I’m irresistible,” Niko agreed. “Now, catch me up on what I missed while we dine on cold pizza.”
She filled him in on the Beautification Committee’s sudden interest in Eva and Donovan.
“Would you like having Eva live here?” Niko asked, topping off her plastic cup with a very nice chardonnay.
“Well, of course I would, but it seems a little underhanded to guilt her into moving here only so some ridiculous committee can try to marry her off.”
“How far do these people go to arrange marriages?”
“Well, let’s see, they convinced Joey that they were going to push Jax into the arms of Moon Beam Parker. They made Beckett think that they loved Gia’s ex-husband. With Phil and Fred, they set up a fake night of speed dating at Karma Kustard and only invited the two of them.” She ticked the infractions off on her fingers.
Fascinated, Niko laughed. “Wait, how often does this work?”
“How often do the poor suckers fall in love and get married?”
Niko nodded.
“Perfect track record.”
He shook his head in disbelief. “There’s no way.”
“The Monthly Moon posts write-ups on their triumphs. I believe they are 30 and 0, currently.”
“What is in the water here?” Niko wondered.
Emma shrugged. “My guess is hallucinogens.”
“So the entire town is in love?”
“They claim that happy, stable residents in happy, stable relationships make for a stronger community.”
“Can you imagine something like this flying in New York or L.A.?” Niko asked.
“No! People understand the importance of boundaries there. No one wants to dig into their neighbors’ lives.”
They sat in silence for a few moments, and Niko threaded his fingers through hers. “I guess there are worse things,” he ventured.
“I suppose. But I think being manipulated into a relationship is no better than falling head over heels for some stranger you don’t even know. Why can’t people just meet, assess their compatibility, and move forward based on that?”
“You’re such a romantic,” Niko teased. “Come on. Let’s take a walk.” He tugged her to her feet.
“I don’t have anything against romance, you know. I just don’t think it plays a role in building a partnership. It’s all artifice. Does it really matter if he sends you a dozen roses or takes you on long walks on the beach, or does it matter that you agree on retirement and school districts?”
Nikolai’s laugh warmed her even though it was at her own expense.
“You are one-of-a-kind, Emmaline.”
“Now you’re making fun of me.” She glared up at him in the darkness.
“Only a little. You fascinate me.”
“Then I’ll keep going,” Emma announced haughtily.
“Tell me everything.”
“Fine. You know what else I don’t like about ‘romance?’”
Niko slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her up against his side. “If you say puppies as part of marriage proposals you’re inhuman.”
Emma rolled her eyes. “Ugh, no. It’s the whole grand gesture to prove your love to someone. It’s so… over-the-top,” she decided. “Like being willing to spend the rest of your life with someone should be big enough. You shouldn’t have to dress it up by chasing someone down to throw yourself at their feet and beg for forgiveness or surprising them with a spontaneous week in Paris or a Mercedes with a big red bow on it.”
“You’d say no to a Mercedes?” Nikolai asked with mock suspicion.
“Well, not if there was a puppy in the front seat. But do you get what I’m saying? The crap these insecure men surprise their indecisive women with should be decisions that are made jointly after carefully weighing the options.”
“You’re an incurable romantic,” Nikolai said, plucking a black-eyed Susan bloom from the edge of a flowerbed and tucking it behind her ear.
“I’m a realist. If you want to fall in love, go for it. But if you want to choose someone to spend the rest of your life with, you should make sure you’re choosing wisely.”
Nikolai stopped in his tracks. “Wait a minute. Are you saying that instead of marrying for love, people should marry for—”
“Security,” she filled in for him. “Love is too volatile. You can fall out of it too easily. My parents certainly did. But if you pick someone who wants the same things as you, you can be a team.”
“So, no love?” he asked, his expression still shocked.
“I like to think of it more as mutual respect.”
“What does your sister have with Beckett?” he asked, as they began to walk again.
Emma smiled softly. “I think they’re the lucky few. I think they got both. I can’t see Beckett getting sick of their life and packing up and running off. They make a great team, a united front, and I think they genuinely love each other.”
“You have a very pragmatic view of the world, you know that?”
She grinned at him. “It works for me. It’s better than floating around like my sister Eva expecting love’s thunderbolt at any second.”
“Is it?”
She gave him a shove. “What about you, Niko. What do you believe in?”
He stopped again and grabbed her wrist. He pulled her in half a step until their toes met and Emma felt her body reacting to his nearness.
“I believe in the kind of feeling that stops you dead in your tracks and changes everything you ever believed. I believe in a love so swift and sure that it knocks the wind right out of you and leaves you lying on your back staring up at the sky wondering what just hit you.”
Her lips parted, but no words came out.
“I believe in an ever after that isn’t even a choice because you can’t imagine your life without the woman in front of you.”
Emma’s breath left her in a rush. His words brought to the surface a need she didn’t know existed.
“I think you’re pretty new at this dating thing. You could give girls ideas if you talk like that to them.” Emma said nervously. “For future reference.”
“Future reference?”
“When you go back to New York and you finally meet the woman you’ve been waiting for.”
She slipped from his grasp and took a few steps off the path. He was bringing up too many feelings in her. For just a second, she could imagine him saying those words to her. Loving her. Wanting her. Emma pressed a hand to her belly to calm the nerves that took flight there. She wasn’t one to fall for romantic, late night walks and soft words.
Feeling the weight of his gaze, Emma faced him. He was dark and dangerous, as always, but there was something else in his expression now. Something she didn’t recognize. Maybe she’d taken Julio’s advice too far. There was probably a difference between being herself and lecturing a sex partner on her world view.
Wanting to regain some of the playfulness they’d lost, she went to him. “Tell me. When you rented the gazebo, did you also get use of the park?” she asked, gripping his leather jacket with both hands.
“What did you have in mind?”
“I’ve been missing you, too,” she confessed, leaning up and brushing her lips against his.
He held back, just a bit, at first. But she teased him until he went from neutral to willing to desperate. And she was right there with him. Nikolai could have her body revving in seconds as if under a spell. That’s what it was, she thought distantly as his lips slanted over hers again and again in rising greed. Her body was enchanted by his existence. He merely had to look at her, and she wanted him, needed him, lusted for him.
Her white knuckled grip on his jacket wasn’t necessary. He wasn’t trying to get away. He was trying to get closer. He stroked under her cardigan, squeezing her waist and molding the curves of her hips with his palms.
She felt him, hard as granite against her belly, and purred into his mouth.
“You make me feel so crazed for you,” he murmured, devouring her with teeth and tongue.
“You make me feel craved,” she sighed back.
They were the last words exchanged. Their bodies communicated on an entirely different level. Emma didn’t have to tell him where to touch her because he was already plunging his hands into the top of her wrap dress, baring her to the night air.
On a growl, he dragged her further off the sidewalk into the shadows of a copse of trees. There was a bench, secluded away in greenery.
Emma shoved him down on the wood and straddled him. She loved the feel of him. The hard steel of his erection grinding against her, separated by too many layers of clothes. She could come just like this, but she wanted it all. She wanted to take him into her and claim him as hers.
He was yanking the V of material down her breasts and—after half a second of admiring the sexy balconette bra she wore beneath the dress—he was shoving the cups down. Niko breathed reverently over her exposed breasts. Admiring them, he cupped them in his palms and Emma delighted at the feel of his thumbs brushing over her nipples.
Dark, sinful eyes met hers as he leaned into one peak and licked gently. Emma’s eyes fluttered closed. The warmth of his mouth against her sensitive nipple was almost too much to take. And when his lips closed around it to suck, a whimper escaped her throat. He took long, deep pulls that she felt echoed in the empty clenching of her core.
She grinded against him and felt the length of his cock drag across her aching nub. Without breaking contact with her breast, Niko clutched her to him, leaning to the side and yanking his wallet free.
Understanding, Emma fumbled it open and found the condom inside.
She wanted to pause, to consider the consequences of making love here in the middle of town. But for once, her pragmatism was absent, and in its place was a desperate need to take. She rose up on her knees, her breast releasing from Niko’s mouth with a pop. The cool night air teased her wet, aching nipple.
Together, they freed his hard-on from the confines of his slacks. His head fell back against the bench when Emma rolled the condom down his thick shaft. She would have stroked him, toyed with him until he was desperate and wild. But there was no time for gentleness or play now, only reckless desire.
Niko gripped her hips hard enough to bruise as Emma positioned herself over his broad crown. She pulled her underwear to the side and took a shaky breath as she lined him up with the wet heat of her entrance. She was already slick and ready for him with a greediness that scared her. Easing down, she accepted the first inch and then another and another until she was impaled on his throbbing cock.
She watched in fascination as the cords on his neck stood out as if he was in great pain. She took a moment to give her muscles time to soften around him, and Niko used the seconds to fasten himself on her other breast.
Slowly, achingly, Emma began to ride. The pull at her breast echoed in her now full channel, promising pleasure too intense to prepare for. She took what she wanted, and still it wasn’t enough. She needed more, and it was terrifying, but she wasn’t stopping. Not now. Not tonight. She wanted this more than she wanted to be safe.
The heat built and built until Emma felt like the sun had come out to bake them both under its rays. He was carrying her to the sun, burning away everything but ecstasy.
Every stroke, every nuzzle, every pull of his mouth, sparked an awareness so intense, Emma thought she might not survive. Everything was so clear here, possessed by him, adored by him. This was exactly right.
She took them both higher and higher, riding harder, faster, until neither could catch their breath. Wild and free. She let her body do what it was made to do.
The light inside her was breaking apart, and she felt the build. It was happening, and there was nothing they could do to stop it. Emma felt herself close and tighten on him. The pained groan that rumbled in his chest told her he was with her. Harder and faster, they chased it together. Until under the moon and stars, they came apart around each other. Like lightning striking through her over and over, Emma shattered around Niko’s swollen cock as he released into her, desperate sighs and moans mixing with the night noises.
She quaked around him with a never-ending orgasm that shattered her to pieces. Gasping for breath against his chest, Emma tried to come back to earth.
“Not done. Need more,” Niko demanded. He lifted her off of him and groaned when his still hard cock slid free.
He put her hands on the bench’s back and closed his fingers over hers. “Hang on,” he ordered.
Emma bent forward and gasped when he drove into her from behind. How could she want him again so soon? She could still feel aftershocks, yet her greedy center was begging for more.
Niko gripped her hip and palmed one of her breasts as he worked himself in and out of her. “You feel so good, baby. I can’t get enough of you.”
He wasn’t gentle, and she didn’t want him to be. She liked this needy side of him, knowing that he wanted and craved her as much as she did him. Emma spread her feet wider, and he groaned his approval. Her senses were so full of him, his scent, the slick slide of his flesh against hers, the taste of him still on her lips. This was special, this was once-in-a-lifetime, and Emma was beyond grateful that he was hers for tonight.
Harder and harder he thrust into her to the hilt. Emma bit her lip hard to keep quiet though she wanted to let loose a stream of pleading cries. She wanted to come again, tightening on him as he flexed into her, losing himself in her depths. She wanted that joining, that closeness that nothing else would ever accomplish.
There was nothing in the world that she wanted as badly as that.
“You’re going to come with me,” Niko demanded, slipping the hand at her breast between her legs and stroking her wet slit. “There it is,” he growled. The pads of his fingers found her, working her until she saw nothing but light in the darkness.
“Now, Emmaline. Now,” he whispered harshly. The first pump of his orgasm ripped her over the edge with him. Her vision went black as she came violently on his cock and fingers. He rode out his own orgasm, using her body to milk himself dry.
He spun them around so he could cradle her in his lap. Emma was shivering, but it wasn’t from cold. It was from being hurtled into the heavens and not knowing if she could find her way home. Seeming to understand, Niko wrapped his arms around her and held her against his chest, anchoring her to him.
Emma closed her eyes and let the rest of her senses slowly come back to life. She could smell him, that spicy woodsy scent that drove her insane. The beat of his heart was steadying itself back to a normal rhythm under her ear.
“Niko?”
“Yeah, baby?” He stroked a hand through her hair, gently, reverently.
“I’m never going to look at this bench the same way again.”