Page 36 of Twisted Desire

Out of nowhere, my blood runs cold despite the warmth of the water still showering us. I’m suddenly terrified of losing the man in front of me,insideof me.

Nik lifts his head, probably having felt me stiffen against him. “What just happened?” he murmurs, his eyes searching mine as if he’ll find the answer there.

“Nikolai,” I choke out.

His eyes widen, and he quickly pulls out of me, making me shiver with the aftershocks of pleasure, and sets me down. “Fuck, did I hurt you?”

Shaking my head, I say, “Of course not.” I lean my head back against the wall as Nik wraps his arms around me and turns off the water.

“Talk to me,” he urges.

I laugh at the insanity of what I’m about to say. My heart is pounding in my chest, and my hands are shaking, pressed against the hardness of his chest. Swallowing, I force myself to meet his gaze as I say, “I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you.”

His eyes snap to mine, widening further, and his lips curl into a grin. “Wait. Pretty sure?”

The weight in my chest eases when I laugh at his response but offer nothing else.

“Interesting,” he ponders. “I’m completely in love with you, Skylar. Just so you know.”

I stare at him. Knowing it in my heart and hearing it out loud are two very different things. His words make it real, unable to ignore or file under the guise of simple, sexual attraction.

He shrugs. “I said what I said.” Nikolai cups my face in his warm hands. “I look forward to turning your ‘pretty sure’ into ‘irrevocably and obsessively.’”

I pin him with a glare, at which he only smirks.

His hands slide down to my shoulders, and he leans in to kiss my cheek. “Come on.”

I don’t move. “I still need to shower, dumbass.”

He opens his mouth, then closes it and presses his lips together as if he’s fighting a smile. “Right.” His cheeks flush, and I can’t help but smirk a little.

Allison, Monica, and Oliver left for Fairlane earlier this morning.

Nikolai checks out while I’m getting dressed, and we meet in the parking lot. He’s leaning against the passenger side door of our swanky black rental car. The sight of it is straight out of one of those shitty action-but-really-romance movies he’s obsessed with. Ugh, he looks downright fuckable. We were getting hot and heavy in the bathroom less than an hour ago, and I’m ready for more. I clue in to the fact that I’ll always be ready for more with Nikolai because I do love him.Dammit.I can play it off as casual all I want, but I’m notpretty sureabout anything when it comes to Nikolai. I’m certain I want to spend the rest of forever with him, and it scares me shitless.

His eyes narrow, squinting at the sun as I slowly make my way closer, my feet crunching on the gravel under them. “You’re staring,” he calls me out.

I shrug, figuring there’s no point in denying it. Iamstaring at him. He looks fucking good. “You stare at me all the time.”

“True, but that’s because I’m in love with you.” He sounds so comfortable saying it, as if he’s known it for a long time.He has, a voice, annoyingly similar to my own says in my head.

“Irrevocably?” I wet my lips. “Obsessively?”

“No doubt about it.” He grabs my waist and hauls me against him. He kisses me hard, not giving me a chance to kiss him back before his lips are off mine. “Now let’s go kick some ass.”

Once we’re in the car, driving along the highway toward Adelaide, he hands me a stack of papers.

“Blueprints of the building,” he explains. “It’s a simple layout with only a few rooms, which is both good and bad. It’ll be hard to sneak up on anyone, but it’s small enough we should be able to get through it quickly.”

I unfold the paper and scan the interior drawing. There are two doors—one in the front and one in the back. Nik has circled the back door, so I assume he plans for us to go in that way. From the back door is a long hallway leading to the rest of the rooms closer to the front of the building. If we go in the back, we’ll have more of a chance to go undetected for longer.

“Where did you get these?” I ask as I thumb through the other pages that break down what each room looks like.

“Jackson has a contact on the inside,” he says with a shrug. “He wouldn’t tell me who, but it doesn’t really matter. He gave me the info we need.”

“And you trust him? Doesn’t this seem a little too convenient?”

Nikolai laughs. “If Jax was going to sabotage me, he wouldn’t make it this obvious. The guy’s a dick, but he’s also scary smart. He knows that if he double-crosses us, he’s not getting what he wants out of our arrangement.”

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