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I stepped off the treadmill, clutching my water bottle because the urge to touch him was almost overwhelming. I could feel the heat pumping out of his body. I could smell his clean sweat. If I looked hard enough, I could see the tiny peaks of his nipples through his shirt, hard in the cold, air-conditioned room.

I licked my lips, which made his eyes dip to my mouth. “Sounds nice.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Anita

I got a little nervous on the walk to Nuni’s from the gym, but I forced myself to relax. Corva lived all the way on the other side

of town, in the Cimmerian District. She’d have no reason to be in this area so early on a Saturday morning.

Nuni lived in a beautiful demiurgus-made building opposite a sprawling park that had the Black River running through it. Prime real estate, though I wouldn’t have expected anything less.

The concierge greeted him warmly when we made our way inside, and gave me a polite smile and nod. The big front hall was sombre, with dark-painted walls and black marble floors, but the stained-glass windows and chandelier lights with colourful glass made it feel sumptuous. We didn’t speak much as I followed Nuni down a wide corridor with only two doors facing each other at the end. He unlocked the one on the right and stepped to the side to hold it open for me.

I tried to take it all in as discreetly as possible. The panelled walls were painted a dark, almost-black blue, and while the windows were big, the richly coloured stained glass kept the open-plan space low-lit. There was a gleaming kitchen with a huge island to our left, and a sunken living area with an enormous charcoal grey couch and a sumptuous deep blue rug under a carved mango wood coffee table.

“Hungry?” Nuni dumped his gym bag on a bench in the small vestibule by the front door, then made his way into the kitchen.

I neatly set my own bag beside his. “I could eat something.”

I could also easily not eat and get straight to the shower sex, but I knew Nuni kept to a strict eating schedule and I didn’t want to stress him out by trying to make him skip it. I was a calm, sensible adult. I could wait ten more minutes.

Maybe five.

I took a seat at the huge island and told him a little about the NADC gala when he asked how it had gone. He made me a protein shake, then sat beside me to wolf down his pre-prepared meal while I sipped my drink.

This was kind of… nice. Sure, part of me—a big part—had been hoping we’d start tearing each other’s clothes off the moment we got to his place, but it was sweet that he’d offered to feed me first, knowing I’d be hungry after the gym.

Still, the moment he’d scraped his plate clean and eaten his last mouthful, I set down my half-full shake. “Thanks for that.”

“No problem.” He looked over at me with a sly grin, but his ears fluttered weakly. “So. Shower?”

“Yes.” I slid off my chair and looked at him expectantly.

He stood and, after a pause, went to reach for my hand, then seemed to think better of it as his ears fluttered again. “This way.”

My fingers flexed as I followed him back to the little vestibule area, then down a short, wide corridor with a few doors leading off it. I wouldn’t have minded holding his hand while he led me through his nesthouse. He’d had his tongue and fingers inside me. It wasn’t like handholding was more intimate than that.

But I said nothing as he opened a door to reveal a huge bathroom with an enormous glass shower enclosure against one wall. The floor-to-ceiling tiles were black, shot through with striations of milky white and amber. All the fixtures were gleaming brass, and the spotlights in the ceiling were tiny and numerous, looking almost like jewels embedded in the stone.

Nuni was already toeing off his sneakers before leaning into the enclosure to start the shower. My belly fizzed with nervous excitement as I bent down to unlace my sneakers. When I straightened, he’d taken off his shirt.

I stared at the expanse of his muscular chest. The thick biceps and ropy forearms. The tiny nipples, somehow a shade or two darker than his obsidian skin. He was just so… He was the most attractive person I’d ever seen in my life. And it wasn’t even like he was all dressed up in one of his fancy suits with his hair all perfect right now. His hair was up in a bun, but it was messy from the gym and the sweat that had dried in it as we walked here. His grey sweats hung low on his lean hips. My thighs clenched together when I followed the lines of muscle forming an arrow past the waistband. The faint veins visible beneath smooth skin.

While I was in my daze, he’d come closer. He shot me a grin that was somehow cocky and nervous at the same time as his big hands settled on my waist. Then he ducked down and kissed me, his long fingers slipping beneath the hem of my crop top, the ticklish sensation as they trailed higher making me shiver.

In an instant, the easy, relaxed atmosphere was gone. I was already pushing down his sweats and boxer briefs as our tongues tangled together, breaths quickening. He jerked with a grunt when I wrapped my hand around his hardening cock. The barbs nudged my fingers, pushing out as the length filled and grew stiff in a rush.

His tongue grew more feverish in my mouth as he tugged up my crop top and sports bra in hurried movements. We broke the kiss so I could whip them over my head, and he was already peeling my leggings and underwear down over my hips as I yanked out my ponytail. I took over, ripping them down my legs and tearing off my socks at the same time, which was how I noticed that Nuni’s own socks had… tiny green frogs all over them.

My lips twitched, but before I could tease him about it, he was shedding the socks with his boxer briefs and sweats before grabbing my hand and leading me into the shower. I got my first glimpse of his ass and nearly fell to my knees in thanks, but Nuni was already lifting me into his arms under the water and pressing my back against the cold tiles.

I wrapped my legs around his waist as his tongue plunged back into my mouth, breaths fast and shallow against my lips. His stiff cock brushed against my ass, the barbs raking gently over my skin and making me shiver. But it made him break the feverish kiss as water rained down on his head, plastering the bun to his scalp.

“I don’t want my dick to hurt you.” He grunted with a wince. “God, that makes me sound like a total conceited asshole.”

I grinned, tugging the band free from his hair. “You are a conceited asshole.”