eyebrow in a way that told him I wasn’t planning ahead, but the haunted look I saw in his eyes stole my next breath.
His hand tightened on my shoulder before he drew me to a stop, and the last of the day’s shoppers had to step around us to continue on their way. Without a word, he gently took hold my chin and began to lower his head. I held my breath, frozen in this perfect moment in time, before my eyes fluttered closed and I parted my lips, waiting.
His soft mouth met mine and it was like an electric jolt straight to my heart, jump-starting my whole body and giving me life. I wrapped my arms around him as he kissed me passionately on the sidewalk, in full view of anyone nosy enough not to avert their gaze, and I breathed him in until only he existed in my world.
Time both stretched and shortened. Minutes passed as I touched his tongue with mine and tasted him, yet it was the shortest kiss of my life.
He pulled away, and I reluctantly opened my eyes.
His smiling gaze looked back at me. “I just have to stand exactly like this for a moment while things…settle.”
I laughed. “Yeah, I don’t want you turning around and taking anyone’s eye out with that thing.”
He chuckled in response, but his eyes turned serious. “Jamie?”
“Yeah?” My throat dried and a trickle of anxiety leaked into my bubble of happiness.
“I just want you to know, I think you’re stuck with me now. I wasn’t getting ahead of myself about next weekend. You’ve got me. All of me.”
I nodded, caught between playing it cool and exploding with joy in a mess of blood and confetti on the street. In the end, I allowed myself a smile. I liked the idea of Nico being mine.
“I’ve eaten way too much.” I sprawled out on the couch and rested my head in Nico’s lap.
“Feel free to take your pants off and get more comfortable,” Nico suggested as he threaded his fingers through my hair, and I laughed.
“I’m just waiting for my energy boost.”
“Hmm…” His fingers slowed. “What shall we talk about while we wait?”
“Whatever you like.” I closed my eyes, enjoying his care.
He shifted like he was getting comfortable. “Okaaaaaaay…” He drew out the syllable. “What do I most want to know about Jamie Caldwell?”
Nerves bubbled laughter from my throat. “That sounds a little ominous.”
“We can do truth or dare, if you prefer?” Nico reached for his beer bottle, and I heard him swallow. I loved the casual ease with which he sat on my couch.
But truth or dare never worked in my favor. “So much nope. I’d be lying here naked and telling you all my secrets in no time at all.”
“I could get on board with that.” Satisfaction rang in his tone.
“Yeah. How about we just go with your first suggestion? What does interest you most about me?” Either way, he seemed to be winning, but just flat answering questions for him was the lesser of the two evils.
“Huh. Let me think.”
I pictured him with his head back as he spoke, exposing the column of his neck.
“I know. Saint mentioned something about you having a crush on me—”
“Once upon a time,” I interrupted as heat flooded my cheeks. “And it was so teeny tiny. A literal speck. You’d have needed a microscope to see it.”
“Tell me about it.”
Oh, so persuasive. He grazed his thumb down my cheek, and I shivered under his light touch. But two could play at that game. I wriggled around so I faced him, and I brought my hand to his thigh, stroking lightly across the denim of his jeans.
“Once upon a time,” I said again.
“Yeah, yeah. Different galaxy, far away. I get it.” He waved his hand. “You’ve set all my expectations. When did you first begin to suffer from this total infatuation with me?”
“Teeny tiny crush,” I corrected as I slid my hand farther up his thigh, grazing the bulge of his cock. “And it was the first time you came here for a pool party.”
Nico lifted his hips a little and his breath caught. “That was a while ago. I was what…seventeen?”
“Sixteen.” And he’d been gorgeous, even then.
“So you were?”
“I was ten,” I admitted. “But old enough that I liked what I saw when you took your shirt off.” I caressed him again, reveling in Nico the man, and rolled my head to look up at him.