Page 30 of Sweet as Sin (Bad Habit 1)
I promise I wasn’t fishing for a compliment this time. I was just confused. This man could have any woman he wanted. Literally—any one. I thought I was better than average looking, but I certainly wasn’t a stunner. Especially in a town like LA where beautiful women practically grew on trees. I could be funny on occasion, and I’d been told by past boyfriends I had a quirky, adorable charm.
But I wasn’t on Nico’s level. I was boxing out of my class. If he was Mike Tyson, I was the guy who emptied the spit bucket. I just needed to understand.
“Could be those freckles. First girl I ever loved had freckles. I was six.” Nico regarded me very seriously, but I sensed the humor behind his tone. “Or it could be those Cleopatra eyes. Or that killer body. You got a woman’s body, classic hourglass curves made for a man’s hands.”
I blushed again, looking down.
Nico’s voice grew quiet. “Or it could be that when you look at me, I feel like I could fuckin’ fly.”
I looked up at him. Now he was deadly serious, staring at me with something like wonder.
“I don’t have a lot of real in my life, Kat. You’re real. Knew it when you stood up to me when I got mad at Avery. Protectin’ a girl you didn’t even know, puttin’ yourself out there for someone else. And not backin’ down an inch. I liked that. Liked it too that you didn’t let me push you around or intimidate you. You’d be surprised how old that shit gets, people bowin’ and scrapin’, thinkin’ they’re gonna get somethin’ outta you if they kiss your ass just right. And then you demanded I explain what the deal was with me and Avery before you’d even consider talkin’ to me about there bein’ anything between us. Which I loved, by the way. Shows you got class. And self-respect. To top it all off, you got two girlfriends who obviously love you and have your back, which means you’re a good friend. Which means you’re trustworthy. Which means fuckin’ everything to me.”
I let it all sink in, just breathing. I wasn’t sure if I trusted myself to speak.
“So that’s why I got you the necklace. That’s what we’re gonna have: trust. It’s important to me, and it’s important to you. All this other stuff . . . ” He squeezed me into a tight embrace, nuzzled his face into my neck, and inhaled deeply. “Is just a bonus.”
“Other stuff?” I sounded like Minnie Mouse I was so breathless.
He chuckled. “The way my dick gets hard just lookin’ at you. The way you get wet when I touch you.”
Oh, God. We were back to the dirty talk. And we were in my house. Alone.
I tried not to hyperventilate.
“First date, remember? And we still haven’t established anything about me getting . . . you know. I never admitted to that.”
Nico had one hand on my ass, pulling me against him, and one hand fisted in my hair at the nape of my neck. My arms were wrapped around his shoulders, the necklace box in a death grip in one hand.
“So you’re saying you’re not wet right now?” He trailed soft kisses from my earlobe to my collarbone, lightly nipping me with his teeth, lapping his tongue against the pounding pulse in my throat.
“Uh . . . uh-uh.”
“So if I did this, it wouldn’t affect you at all?”
He slid his hand up from my ass, across my hip and up my ribcage, to the underside of my breast. He cupped it in his hand, then swept his thumb over my nipple.
My hard-as-rock nipple.
“Um. Nope. Not feeling anything.”
Had anyone, anywhere, ever told such a colossal lie?
His chuckle was dark. “Hmm. Funny how you’re shiverin’ then. Must be cold in here.”
His thumb stroked back and forth over my aching nipple, while his mouth—soft and wet, Jesus so incredible—sucked on a sensitive spot on my neck.
I may or may not have moaned. I couldn’t tell you with any sort of accuracy, because my mind was no longer running the show. I arched into him, utterly lost.
He pinched my nipple, and I jerked, gasping.
“Anything yet?”
Teasing bastard.
“I was just . . . thinking that I need to . . . put some laundry in the washing machine—”
He brought his lips to mine. The moment his tongue invaded my mouth, I knew I was toast. Damn, but the man could kiss.
