“Don’t,” I breathed and splayed my hand over the center of her ribs. My thumb brushed over the ink, trying to calm her.
“Nico, let me go. I have to sneak back to theservant’squarters.” The bite in her voice stung my heart.
“Rae, don’t.” I rolled offer her but draped an arm around her belly. “Stay.”
She struggled.
“Please.” I pressed a kiss against her bare shoulder blade. Right over the snake hiding in the ivy drawn on her skin. “Please don’t leave like this.”
With a huff, she stilled.
But she didn’t lean back into my hold.
I drew the tip of my nose over her.
“I’m sorry, baby,” I murmured. “I don’t want to insult you. Ever. But you have to understand, money isn’t something you ever have to worry about.”
Rae moved to look down at me. “I won’t be a bought and paid for woman, Nico. I’m not your plaything to dress up.”
O dio mio, I fucked up. Not trusting myself to say the right thing, I merely nodded.
With a sigh, Rae settled against me. I tucked her head against my chest and looped a leg over hers. I wanted to know her past. There were things there that threatened to cloud our future. And if I didn’t know them, I was bound to make another mistake.
The only hope flickering inside me was that she’d trusted me to bind her hands. If she could do that, then maybe, with enough time and patience, she would trust me with the rest. I placed a final kiss on her head, inhaling deeply.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
Rae nodded and snuggled closer. We relaxed into one another, and once again, the peace I only felt around her filled my chest and calmed the racing typhoon that threatened to suffocate me.
Chapter 35 – Rae
Everything was warm. Soft.Safe.I drifted on a pillowy cloud, muscles liquified, soul content. The soft rush of…something lulled me.
My eyes snapped open.
That something was Nico breathing softly beside me. Or perhaps the better description was around me. One thick, tree trunk-esque thigh was slung over mine. My head was on his chest. The arm under me wrapped possessively around my body, while the other cradled my shoulder so that his hand splayed on the back of my head.
I was stuck.
And while the window was still dark around the blinds, I knew we’d slept for a while.
How the hell am I going to get out of here?
Carefully. Quickly!
But I moved like molasses in January. Sleeping Nico was an entirely different creature. Gone was the fierce countenance. His face was smooth, still devilishly handsome, but the softness was intoxicating.
What I wouldn’t give to stay right here, to study the ink on his body. It almost matched my own, like we were two marked creatures that finally found one another. The cross design on his ribs was damn near identical to the one worked into the sleeve on my arm. We both even had the famous SPQR, although his was tangled in an eagle’s talon, whereas mine was in a cartoony little green, white, and red heart.
Once free of his hold, I paused for a heartbeat to stare, drinking him in. A girl could get used to this. And when I stepped off the bed, and my muscles protested from their earlier use, I smiled. Yeah, spending the night with him was definitely something I wanted to get used to.
A shiver skated over my bare skin.
I plucked the dress from the ground but remembered it was torn. Sneaking around was going to be hard enough, and the last thing I wanted was to be caught wearing that. I padded across the carpet to the closet, grabbed the first shirt I felt in the dark, slid it over my head, and then took off like a shot. I didn’t risk looking back at the slumbering giant. If I did, my body and heart might rebel against my head.
And I had to leave.
It was a safer path to take the front stairs and avoid the staff quarters. As I crept through the foyer, the grandfather clock in the parlor chimed four times. Relief swept through me. No one would be in the kitchen for another hour! I was safe. Also, that meant Nico and I had slept for a solid three, maybe four hours together.
