AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Exhaustion riddles his heavy eyelids, and his body has a slight tremor.
“We have to warm you up! The clothes will make it worse!” I yell, pulling his vest and shirt off. “Hand me your coat,” I yell behind me, not even checking who but knowing someone will listen, making quick work of his pants.
Dom mutters something unintelligible. Once Nico is only in his boxer briefs, he pulls me into his lap.
“You know, skin-on-skin contact will help warm me right up.” His teeth chatter as he breathes into my ear, and a heavy coat lands on us with a thud. He wraps us both in the jacket the best he can.
Groans ring out over the headset, and I let out a laugh.
“I don’t think I can provide much heat right now,” I tell him through my chattering teeth, unsure who’s shaking more between the two of us.
“I volunteer,” Dante yells into his mic, shimmying his coat off from his seat and tossing it on me, allowing us to layer. I don’t waste time pulling it close to get both of us out of the cold.
“Dante, I never thought I’d have to say this, but we are not cuddling,” Nico jokes.
“Nothing to be ashamed of. Just two manly dudes doing what they have to do to survive the elements,” Dante replies.
Moving to take my own seat, I get up, but Nico pulls me back on his lap.
“Where do you think you’re going? I just got you back, and I meant what I said about warming up.” Nico chuckles, putting the seat belt over both of us.
I press myself into his body and relish in how good he feels against me, knowing I was likely doing very little to keep him warm.
My husband. My savior.
“I don’t think this is what they meant, Nico. Is this even safe?”
“If I could strap you to me forever, I would,” he whispers into my ear before sticking his nose into my hair and inhales.
“All right, that’s enough,” Dom groans, looking like he ate something sour.
The moment is interrupted when Dante makes a show of eyeing me up and down.
“Damn, Anya.Anotherwedding dress? How many is that now,three?”
That earns a laugh from the gallery. Nico punches his arm, while I roll my eyes.
“Shut up, you tool,” I chuckle, too cold to acknowledge anyone else. I snuggle into Nico’s chest.
We can all talk once I’m not turning into a popsicle.
NICO
“What are you thinking about?” I whisper into Anya’s ear before kissing above it.
The whole day has been a flurry of chaos from her rescue to trying to keep my body temperature regulated. There were heating packs on the helicopter that held Anya and me over until we were able to get on the airfield to fly back to New York. Once we landed, Anya made sure Pria was sent to a private hospital, and we came straight home where the doc was already waiting for us.
She fussed around, cranking up the heat and turning on the fireplace while I was getting looked over. Anya couldn’t hide her irritation at my dismissal of the doc. I thought I was fine until the rush of the day wore off, and I was shaking like a leaf. My stubbornness and pride tampered down due to my will to survive. Luckily, since I didn’t spend too much time in the water,it only took a few hours to warm back up with, and with the help of—much to my pleasure—skin-on-skin contact.
Using a loofah to explore her body gently, chills spread across her arms and neck as I work over her chest. We must look defeated, both of us covered in bruises, but I’ve never felt stronger. She presses her backside closer to my front, and I bite back a groan, enjoying the feel of her body pressing against mine and the warm water encasing us, allowing our muscles to relax. It’s now late, but finally, it’s just us two. She releases a breath and lays her head onto my good shoulder.
“I was thinking about how naive I was against better judgment.”
That makes sense. Thinking back, we’ve been brash and overly confident. We could all use some reflecting after recent events. You know what they say about hindsight.
“He out maneuvered usall, Anya, not just you. But Bash, Dominic,Cesare. They are all pissed,” I reassure her, failing to hide the resentment I know she, too, feels. It was a shock to us, namely our pride, when Caishen stayed one step ahead of us.
I’ve yet to tell her about Caishen’s involvement and what they did to Grayson. She hasn’t asked, and right now, I don’t want to talk about her ex-betrothed or brother. Ignoring the sloshing water and bubbles falling out of the tub, she turns to face me, locking eyes.
