Page 59 of Keeping My Girl

CHAPTER33

Nicholas

I’M IN THE kitchen with my father when I ask him, “Where’s Mom and Selina?” It’s been a few days since the hospital visit, and the two of them have been MIA together a lot. I miss the hell out of Selina, but I know what she’s doing is probably important and related to the women we rescued.

My dad shrugs. “Library I think,” he tells me.

Carrying a tray of food and drinks for them, I walk into the library on the first floor of the compound. I’m surprised to see my mother and Selina hunched over a desk, poring over paperwork. My mom is on the phone, speaking with someone in hushed tones, so I motion with my head for Selina to come over to me when she looks up and sees me walking in.

“What’s going on?” I ask as I set down the tray on a nearby table.

“I’m working with your mom on trying to reunite the girls in the hospital with their families.”

“Oh, that’s great, Lina,” I tell her. She really took my advice to heart and is doing what she feels is right. “I told you that you’d be perfect for the job.”

She smiles shyly and says, “You were right. I think this kind of work really suits me.”

“So, the women are still in the hospital?” I ask.

She nods. “Your parents are paying for the medical bills. They’re amazing like that.”

I’m practically beaming with pride. My parents are incredible. Not many people would help others financially, especially people they’ve never met. But my parents don’t bat an eye when they save these women from dire situations and then help them beyond what any ordinary person would do.

“Lauren is going to be moving back in with her grandmother as soon as she gets released by her doctor,” Lina informs me with the biggest grin I’ve ever seen on her face.

“You did it,” I tell her. She reunited the two of them, and now Lauren doesn’t have to worry about her grandmother not wanting to be part of her life. “I’m so fucking proud of you, Lina,” I tell her sincerely.

“Thank you,” she says, blushing furiously at my praise.

“I’ll let you girls get back to work but make sure you get something to eat. Okay?” I ask, motioning to the tray.

“Okay,” she says before grabbing a sandwich and taking a bite. She closes her eyes and hums in approval. “I was starving,” she says, her tongue snaking out to lick mayonnaise from her lip.

And, fuck, if that wasn’t the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

My cock instantly grows hard behind my zipper. Clearing my throat, I tell her, “Well, I better go.”

“Maybe we can do a movie night again later?” she asks, surprising the hell out of me since the last time didn’t exactly go so well.

“Uh, sure. That would be great,” I tell her with a smile.

“Okay, great. Well, I better get back to work,” she tells me.

“All right. See you later,” I promise.

Fuck, I can’t wait for movie night with Lina.

* * *

Selina

“Draw me like one of your French girls, Jack,” I tell Nico. We just finished watching Titanic, and it was amazing. I know it’s considered to be an old movie to a lot of people, but I was seeing it with fresh eyes. And even though Nico admitted to having already watched it a few times before because his sister used to be obsessed with Leonardo DiCaprio, he still humored me by sitting through the almost three-and-a-half-hour-long movie with me without complaining even once.

His lips tilt up from my butchered movie quote as he flips to a fresh piece of paper in his wire-bound pad and props it up on a vintage drawing table in the corner of his bedroom. His thick fingers pick up a piece of charcoal, and his piercing gray eyes meet mine, unnerving me. “Just relax,” he whispers.

I swallow hard and try to do just that on the leather armchair opposite of him. When I first proposed that he draw me like Jack did with Rose on Titanic, I thought it would be fun. But with the electricity circulating through the room that has my hair standing on edge and thick tension in the room that you could cut with a knife, now I’m not so sure this was a good idea.

This feels so much more…intimate. He’s staring at me like he’s truly seeing me, and I feel vulnerable. Even though I’m fully clothed, I feel completely naked under his intense gaze.

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