As Nico cursed, my hand flew to cover my heart. I went cold with fear. “Wouldn’t a break-in to the garage have triggered an alarm?”
Nico’s voice was dangerously hard. “There’s a ten-second delay after an outside door’s opened. The alarm only sounds if you don’t enter the code.”
Reynolds nodded. “We’ll review the video feeds from around the property. Should be able to get back to you shortly to let you know what we find. In the meantime, call your security company and reset the code. We’ll keep a unit posted at the gate.” He paused. “The gate code different than the house code?”
Nico replied that it was.
“Change that too. Whoever it was didn’t come through the gate, but you can’t be too careful. Might want to think about getting a dog, too.”
“Hundred-thousand-dollar security system and I have to get a fuckin’ dog,” muttered Nico. His hand around my hip tightened. His other arm wound around my waist.
“Your system’s one of the best, Mr. Nyx, but no system is foolproof. Especially if you know the disable code.”
A horrible possibility struck me. “Do you think it could be someone from the security company? How else would the intruder know what to enter?”
Officer Reynolds shook his head. “Can’t rule out any possibility, but I doubt it. More likely the company was hacked, or you were. Or it could be someone who knows you well enough to know what numbers you’d choose.”
His steady, penetrating gaze held mine while that sunk in.
Someone who knows you. My body erupted in chills.
Officer Reynolds promised to be in touch as soon as they looked at all the videotapes and assured us again there would be a unit at the end of the driveway just outside the gate. He shook hands with Nico, then left, along with the others.
Leaving Nico and me alone in the vast, house-with-a-million-perfect-hiding-spots house.
“There’s nobody here but the two of us,” Nico assured me gently. He hugged me close and kissed me. I snuggled against his chest.
“The two of us and your shotgun, you mean.”
“Well, technically, if you’re gonna count the guns . . . ” I glanced up to find him smiling grimly at me. “There’s quite a few of us here.”
Oddly, that made me feel better. Up until that moment, I’d never had a fondness for guns.
“I suppose it makes sense, you being from the sticks and all.”
“You callin’ me a hillbilly, darlin’?”
I didn’t have the energy to banter, so I just shook my head and hid my face in his chest.
Nico immediately became serious. He took my face in his hands. “No one is ever gonna hurt you, Kat. Not while I’m around. I’d die before I’d let anyone hurt you. Understood?”
I nodded, loving the possessive look in his eyes. We stared at one another for a moment, until Nico suddenly bent and swept me into his arms. He walked us through the foyer and began to ascend the stairs.
“Not the elevator? Brave man.” I kissed his neck and rested my head on his shoulder.
He pretended to have trouble breathing. “I need the workout.”
This time I bit his neck. A laugh rumbled through his chest. He carried me all the way to the bedroom without passing out, a feat I had to admit was impressive, then laid me down on the bed. He pressed a tender kiss to my lips. “You gonna be able to sleep?”
“As long as you’re right next to me.”
He smiled, pulling his T-shirt over his head. His jeans came off next, along with his boxers, and I was treated to the sight of a body that could have made the David weep with jealousy.
“I’ll always be right next to you, baby,” he promised, then proceeded to remove all my clothes. When I was naked, he pulled me against his side in bed, adjusting the covers over us. I snuggled against his warmth, drawing strength from his solidity, from the steady beating of his heart beneath my cheek. Even though all the lights were still on, and I never thought I’d be able to, I eventually began to drift back to sleep.
“Just out of curiosity,” I asked groggily a few minutes later, “what was the security code?”
Nico’s chest rose and fell on a long, thoughtful exhalation. “Amy’s birthday.”
I came instantly wide awake.
“When you say ‘Amy,’” I began carefully, but Nico provided clarification before I could go any further.
“I mean Amy. Not Avery. Her alter ego had a fake birthday, along with a fake name.”
Oh shit. That could only mean one thing.
Nico felt the tension in my body. “Yeah. When Officer Reynolds said ‘someone close to you,’ he was spot fuckin’ on.”
“Michael?” I whispered. Images of our one and only meeting came back to haunt me with startling clarity. The look of hatred in his eyes. The way he’d stood so close to me at the funeral. His inexplicable accusation, followed by his even more bizarre about-face.
That kiss.
Nico’s voice was harsh. “He’s the only one that makes any sense. Though why the fuck he’d be standin’ outside my bedroom door in the middle of the night starin’ at us while we sleep is anyone’s guess.” His arm drew tighter around me. “Be findin’ that out first thing tomorrow mornin’, though,” he growled softly, touching his lips to my hair.
“Okay, I’m going to say something, and I don’t want you to get mad.”
Nico’s entire body fell still. “Say what, exactly?”
If I didn’t know him as well as I did, that tone alone might have shut me up. But I did know him. And, knowing me, I barged ahead full force without thinking too clearly about what damage I might do by not controlling my mouth.
“That you think it’s Michael actually makes me feel a lot better.”
Before I could draw another breath, I was on my back, pinned under Nico’s substantial weight. He stared down at me in cold, controlled fury, his eyes blazing.
Deadly soft, he said, “For future reference, baby, that’s not the kind of thing a man likes to hear his woman say when she’s naked in his bed.”
“I just meant—”
Nico flipped me onto my belly, yanked the pillow out from under my head and tossed it aside, gathered my wrists in one of his hands, and set a knee between my legs and nudged them apart, all before I could react to what was happening with more than a squeal of surprise.
He leaned over me. His hair tickled my cheek. His voice came even softer, but no less scary for all its quiet control. “And it’s especially not something a man likes to hear his woman say about his brother, when she’s naked in his bed.”
“Nico—”
“The brother who had his mouth on you.”
Normally this display of irrational alpha-male jealousy would have made me incredibly mad. For some reason, possibly because I was relieved we weren’t dealing with a psycho fan, or a serial killer, or some other degenerate, it made me want to giggle.
We were just dealing with a degenerate relative. Pretty much everyone had one of those.
So the situation was bad, but it could have been way worse.
So giggle I did.
Bad idea.
Crack!
I sucked in a huge, shocked breath. My legs jerked. My back bowed. My head snapped around, and I stared at Nico over my shoulder. I shouted, “Do not tell me you just slapped my ass! Don’t you dare tell me that you just manhandled me to get me facedown on this mattress, and then spanked me like a misbehaving two-year-old! Tell me that didn’t just happen!”
I knew it had happened, though, because my ass stung like hell. It was beginning to throb. I was sure there would be a giant, Nico-sized handprint on it if I looked in the mirror.
The anger I’d managed to initially avoid over his display of jealousy had come on in full force. I was barking mad.
Nico said, “Want another, baby?”
It was clear from his tone that he would love for me to say “yes.”
It was also clear from his tone that he was laughing at me.
Oh, the nerve! I hissed, “Let me guess. You’ve been planning your revenge since the second you saw him kiss me.”
He smoothed his palm over my stinging backside, caressing it. He moved his hand to my other cheek, pinching my flesh softly. I shuddered involuntarily as his fingers drifted down the cleft of my ass to the crease between my thigh and sex. His voice still held the amusement, but now it was thick with desire. “No. Won’t hold grudges against you, baby, not ever. Once a fight’s over, it’s over. But I’d put money down that you’ll never again mention another man in my bed.”
His fingers stroked my entrance, feather light. My breath hitched at the sensation.
“Am I right?”
I closed my eyes and bit my lip to try to stifle my soft moan as his fingers delved gently inside me, then pulled out and stroked upward to my clit, spreading my wetness around as he swirled his fingers. This time I was unsuccessful at stifling my moan. I let it out on a long, low breath, arching into his hand. His soft, pleased chuckle followed.
“Yeah. I’m right.”
Still holding my wrists, he directed, “Up.” The pillow nudged my hip. I lifted my hips and he slid the pillow under my stomach so my ass was propped in the air.
He moved, and between my legs I felt his erection, stiff and ready. His hands tightened around my wrists. “You’re gonna take me hard, Kat. You’re gonna take whatever I wanna give you.”
God, his voice alone made me even wetter. Commanding. Demanding. Hot.
“You’re gonna do that to make up for sayin’ somethin’ without thinkin’ that twisted my heart and made me want to break every piece of furniture in this house. And tellin’ me not to get mad about it. And then laughin’, no less.”
I’d hurt him. With my stupid words, and my stupid giggle, I’d hurt him. Knowing that, my chest squeezed tight.
His voice darker, Nico said, “Say ‘yes’ now, Kat.”
I whispered, “Yes.”
He thrust inside me. I cried out. His free hand curved around my hip, steadying me. “Say you’re sorry, baby.” He thrust again, harder than the first time, the force of it slamming the headboard against the wall.
I felt every glorious inch of him, all the way in and out. “Nico, sweetie—”
Crack!
Shocked, furious, incredibly turned on, I groaned.
The other cheek now had a matching handprint to its twin.
He did it again and again as he fucked me from behind, varying the intensity and the location of the blows, so that I didn’t know what to expect, and couldn’t anticipate what was coming. I’d never liked it before, when other guys thought it would be cute to try and spank me. On the few occasions it had happened—most notably with lingerie man—it had been awkward, and not at all sexy. Somehow it had seemed distasteful, as if I was giving someone permission to hurt me, which felt weird, and wrong.
This didn’t feel weird. This didn’t feel wrong.
This felt empowering.
I was submitting to this of my own free will, to a man I knew loved and cherished me, and would never harm me. This was a way for him to communicate his displeasure with something I had done. A physical way, because he was a physical man. He showed his feelings with his body and his actions, with the intensity in his eyes.
It was also a way for me to make it up to him.
It was raw, definitely. But it was also honest.
Nico didn’t sulk, or punish me with silence or withholding his affection, or try to make me jealous by flirting with another woman. He wasn’t passive-aggressive. He was completely up-front with his emotions, with what he felt and wanted, from the very beginning.
He was all in. He had been from the start. It had always been me who was holding back, second-guessing, waiting for something bad to happen because I couldn’t believe my good luck.
That sunk in, hard. Chloe had been right. The entire time I’d been with Nico, I’d held my breath. Held on to the not-so-fantastic past. Held on to the certainty that I didn’t deserve to be this happy.
I’d been robbing us both.
I turned my face to the sheets, stifling a sob.
Nico immediately stilled. He leaned over me, planting a fist into the mattress near my head. He panted, “Baby?”
Pain made my voice thick. “I’m s-sorry, Nico. That was so s-stupid of me.”
That’s as far as I got. Nico pulled the pillow out from under me, withdrew long enough to flip me over and settle between my thighs, then pushed inside me again, his fingers tight against my head.
“Yeah, baby,” he said softly, staring into my eyes. “But it’s not the end of the world. It’s over now.”
He flexed his hips, sinking deeper inside me. I turned my head away and closed my eyes, trying not to let him see me cry.
“C’mon now, darlin’, you’ll give me a complex if you keep cryin’ while I’m tryin’ to fuck you,” he teased, coaxing my head back with gentle pressure against my temples. I wouldn’t meet his eyes. “No,” he said firmly. “When a fight’s over, it’s over. No hangin’ on to it. No rehashin.’ No dredgin’ it up in the future. Which means you’re gonna quit cryin’ and start enjoyin’ me fuckin’ you right about now.”
He flexed his hips again to drive his point home.
I opened my eyes and stared up at him. With tears still leaking from the corners of my eyes, I whispered, “Have I told you how amazing I think you are? Because I think you’re the most amazing man I’ve met in my entire life. And I love you so much it hurts.”
His face did a funny thing. His eyes got all crinkly at the corners, his lips twisted as if they weren’t sure whether to curve up or down, and a big furrow dug its way between his brows.
His voice came rough. “Right back at you, baby. Right back at you.”
Then he lowered his mouth to mine and gave me everything I’d never knew I needed, and then some.
I loved him. God, how I loved him. And he loved me, too.
Which was ultimately what ruined us.
For eight days, Nico tried to contact Michael. Phone calls, email, texts, even a series of faxes, of all things. He went so far as to have Barney drive up to San Francisco and pound on his door, but Michael wasn’t home. And didn’t come home for the entire twenty-four hours Barney waited on the doorstep for him.
Michael had disappeared.
I wondered if he was hiding somewhere in Nico’s house.
That chilling thought didn’t hold a candle to one other piece of news provided by the police, however. When they tried to review the footage from the security cameras installed all over Nico’s property, they found nothing. The digital file for that day had been erased. As had the backup. Whoever had done that had known exactly how to breach the security company’s firewall without being detected, which meant that not only was he an expert at breaking in to real houses, he was an expert at breaking in to virtual ones.
Which consequently meant that Nico’s tendency to be overprotective exploded into a state of full-blown paranoia.
“I have to go to work!” I insisted for the tenth time, trying to keep the aggravation from my tone. It was eight o’clock Monday morning, and Nico was blocking my exit from the bedroom with his body. Getting past him with physical force would prove impossible, so I was trying to talk my way past.
I wasn’t having much luck.
Glowering down at me, he shook his head. “No way, baby. You’re not leavin’ this house until we know what we’re dealin’ with. I’m not takin’ a chance with your safety.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. My foot tapped a staccato rhythm against the floor. “Nico. Sweetie. I love that you’re worried about me, but I can’t hole up like a scared rabbit because your brother found his way into the house.”
I’d avoided saying the name “Michael” since I’d been given a red ass for speaking it in Nico’s bed. I might be dumb, but I wasn’t stupid. “It’s already been over a week, and I’ve missed way too much work. Besides, it’s not like he’s going to do
anything to hurt me, he’s just a weird peeping—”
“We don’t know that, Kat. We don’t know what his motivation is for anything.” Nico paused. “Or what he might be planning.”
A tingle of fear swept down my spine. “Planning? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Seeing the fear on my face, Nico stepped toward me. He unfolded my arms and wrapped them around his shoulders, pulling me into a hug. “I told you before. Michael doesn’t do anything without a reason. And the fact that he’s not answerin’ my calls or emails means he’s avoidin’ me, which means he’s up to somethin’. I know him, Kat. This is more than just a one-time thing. I didn’t want to scare you by sayin’ anything earlier, but . . . that little midnight visit of his was probably just the beginning. He can hold a grudge like a motherfucker.”
My heart began to race. Michael had looked at me with such anger in the kitchen the day of Avery’s wake. Was I in danger?
Nico guessed my thoughts. He pressed me into the warm solidity of his chest and kissed my temple. “You’re safe as long as you’re with me, baby. So work is gonna have to wait for a few more days until I can find out where my brother is and deal with this shit.”
There was only one problem with that plan: what if Nico never found him?
I pulled away and gazed up into Nico’s face. He looked tense, and I hated seeing him that way. I caressed his cheek, rough with stubble, and stood on my toes to give him a soft kiss on the lips. “Okay. I get that you’re worried about me. And I get that you want to keep me safe. But we can’t live our lives around what someone else might do. So how about this.”
Nico’s brows pulled together. “Ask away, baby, but if it involves you leavin’ this house, the answer’s ‘no.’”
I chose to ignore that. “What if Barney drives me to work?”
A chuckle from Nico. It was a sound without humor. “No.”
Shit. Today I had a really important job, one I couldn’t miss. I had a client I’d worked with for years, an aging film and television actress who was up for a part as the love interest in George Clooney’s new movie. She was scheduled to do a screen test, and was freaked out about the face-lift scars around her ears; they were still healing and were red. One of my specialties was hiding plastic surgery scars. This skill alone had often kept me booked solid for months.
Sweet as Sin Page 24