Nico on the stairs. His tousled hair still gleamed with the water he hadn’t quite toweled dry, and his hazel eyes watched me across the room.
“Can I take you out for breakfast?”
I nodded, surprised he wanted to leave when we had the option of just holing up for the weekend. I’d almost expected we’d just hide rather than being seen in public—almost as if Saint might reinstate his rule if he caught sight of us together.
“I mean, I’ll pay this time. My treat.” His eyes twinkled as he padded over barefoot and took me into his arms.
He’d found something clean to wear in the massive closet of guys’ clothing that seemed to grow bigger each year as my brothers rotated through the house on visits and overnight stays, so he smelled like a mixture of my family and himself, and I smiled at the chemistry. Possessiveness swept through me, and I took a moment to enjoy that.
He took my hand. “Where’s your favorite place?”
My stomach grumbled as if in response and I laughed. “Right now, anywhere with food.”
He grinned. “Absolutely. I need to get you reenergized or you’ll be useless to me later.” He lifted an eyebrow in promise, grabbed his car keys from the side and headed to the front door. “I’ll drive, and we can make a plan on the way.”
Breakfast passed quickly, and I about inhaled my food. Nico held my hand across the table, and later, as we walked past some of the tiny shops in the oldest section of town, he rested his hand on my lower back, and on my hip as we stopped to look in the windows.
It was like the knew how much being touched meant to me, how much I gained from having contact and affection from another human being, and I almost preened right there on the sidewalk in the sun.
“How about a movie?” Nico turned to face me, but all I could see was myself reflected back at me in his shades as he grinned.
“It’s been ages since I went to the movies.” I honestly couldn’t remember how long, but the thought of sitting warm and cozy next to Nico, and accidentally brushing against his hand as I reached into the bucket for popcorn, reawakened every one of my teenage fantasies.
“Then we should remedy that for sure. Back row?” He squeezed my hand as we walked toward the theater.
The theater was old and rundown, but we found plenty of space on the back row, and the armrest between us lifted out of the way. Nico threw his arm over my shoulders and pulled me closer as he fed me some popcorn before he helped himself to any. No one else in my life would have done that—maybe with the exception of my mom. But then, she had a habit of feeding everyone in the room.
Part of me found being fed popcorn a little ridiculous, almost like I hadn’t grown up. But most of me didn’t find it ridiculous at all. In fact, I was lucky I didn’t end up a puddle on the floor, melted by his careful attention to my needs. Being taken care of by Nico felt so special, and if I wasn’t careful, I was going to lose my heart to him.
The sun had started to sink in the sky as we emerged from the dark cocoon of the theater, and my stomach grumbled its presence for the second time of the day.
“Ah.” Nico sounded regretful. “Man cannot survive on popcorn and good company alone.”
I laughed and nudged against his upper arm with my shoulder. “Must just be time to reenergize again.”
We’d managed some pretty intense kissing, and I was hungry for a lot more than food, but it would do as an appetizer.
“Take-out?” I suggested. “We could grab pizza or Chinese and take it back to the house.” I felt embarrassed saying it, but I added, “Mom and Dad are still gone, so we have the place to ourselves.”
Nico threw his arm across my shoulders and pulled me in to his body. “Next weekend we can spend it at my place.”
Excitement ricocheted inside me at his words, but I focused on the streetlights stylized as old oil-burning lamps and the candy-striped awnings of the street as I laughed and forced my voice casual. “Getting a little ahead of yourself, aren’t you?”
I made the mistake of glancing up to meet his gaze, intending to twist my lips into a smirk of amusement and lift a single