Chapter 22

Arie’s POV

“Now,” Nico murmured, his eyes holding mine, “we can discuss what happens tonight.”

His thumb remained against my lower lip, slowly tracing the place where he had wiped away the drop of soup. The bowl beside us was empty, but Nico showed no intention of leaving.

Neither of us spoke.

The silence became heavy with everything we had refused to acknowledge. My anger was still there, sharp and alive, but beneath it existed something more dangerous—the awareness of how close he was and how easily my body remembered him.

Nico’s gaze travelled over my face as though he were searching for every change the months apart had left behind. His fingers moved from my mouth to my cheek, caressing my skin with a tenderness that didn’t belong to the ruthless man who controlled an empire.

“You’ve become thinner,” he said.

“I was happier before you arrived.”

His eyes darkened, but he didn’t respond to the insult. Instead, his hand slid behind my neck. His fingers moved slowly into my hair, and the warmth of his palm sent an unwanted shiver down my spine.

Nico noticed.

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. “Your mouth has learned how to lie better. Your body hasn’t.”

I hated his certainty.

More than that, I hated that he was right.

His other hand closed around my waist. One firm pull drew me across the mattress and against him. A gasp left me as my body collided with the solid warmth of his chest.

My hands rose instinctively and pressed against his shoulders.

Nico didn’t release me.

He held me as though the months apart had never existed, one arm locked around my waist while his fingers remained tangled in my hair. His face was close enough that every uneven breath leaving my lips touched his.

“Nico…”

His name emerged softer than I intended.

His gaze dropped to my mouth.

“That is the first honest thing you’ve said since I found you.”

“What?”

“My name.”

His fingers tightened slightly in my hair, tilting my face toward his. I felt his breath against my lips for one suspended second.

Then he kissed me.

The kiss was deep and possessive from the beginning. There was no hesitation in the way his mouth moved over mine or in the arm holding me tightly against him. He kissed me like a starving man finally reaching the one thing capable of satisfying him.

My palms remained against his shoulders.

I should have pushed.

Instead, my fingers slowly curled into his shirt.

Nico felt the change and pulled me closer. His mouth softened for a heartbeat, coaxing rather than demanding, before the hunger returned. Heat rushed through me, spreading from every place our bodies touched.

His hand moved from my waist to the centre of my back. The thin fabric of my nightgown did nothing to protect me from the warmth of his palm. Each slow movement awakened something I had spent months forcing into silence.

I broke the kiss to breathe.

Nico’s forehead rested against mine. His chest rose heavily beneath my hands while his eyes remained closed.

“I tried to forget this,” I whispered.

His eyes opened. “Did he help?”

The jealousy in his voice struck like a spark.

“This has nothing to do with Ethan.”

“It has everything to do with the man who believed he could touch you.”

“You don’t get to be jealous.”

“I am.”

Before I could answer, Nico captured my mouth again.

This kiss was rougher. His hand tightened around my waist, and the other moved down from my hair to cradle my jaw. Every touch carried the fury he had controlled since seeing those photographs.

I should have hated him for it.

Instead, my body softened in his arms.

My lips began moving with his. I stopped thinking about what surrendering to the moment meant and allowed myself to feel the mouth I had dreamed about despite every attempt to forget it.

A low sound left Nico when I kissed him back fully.

His control fractured.

He shifted me onto his lap, holding my body against his while his lips left mine and travelled across my jaw. My head turned instinctively, and his mouth found the sensitive place beneath my ear.

Warmth spread down my neck.

My fingers moved into his hair as his lips continued lower, slow enough to make each touch feel deliberate. When his teeth grazed my skin, a breathless sound escaped me.

Nico froze.

The arm around my waist tightened.

“Again,” he murmured against my neck.

Heat rushed into my face. “No.”

His mouth curved against my skin. “You still blush.”

“I do not.”

Nico kissed the same place again, lingering until another unsteady breath betrayed me.

“There she is.”

His satisfaction should have irritated me. Instead, a strange ache tightened inside my stomach.

I pulled his face back to mine and kissed him before he could tease me again.

For the first time that night, I was the one who surprised him.

Nico became still for barely a second before responding. His hand moved into my hair, and the kiss deepened until the room seemed to disappear around us.

Nico lifted his head and met my eyes. For several seconds, he simply watched me, his breathing uneven and his gaze so intense that I felt exposed before he had removed a single piece of clothing.

Then his eyes travelled slowly down my body, lingering over every curve as though he were a starving man standing before the only thing capable of satisfying him.

His fingers found the first button of my nightgown.

He opened it slowly.

My breath caught as he moved to the next one. I was painfully aware that I wore nothing beneath the thin fabric, and Nico seemed to understand it from the nervous way my body tightened beneath him. He continued unfastening each button without looking away from my face, as though he wanted to witness every reaction he caused.

When the final button opened, the fabric loosened across my body.

Nico’s gaze dropped.

The hunger in his expression stole the air from my lungs. He looked at me with a mixture of possession and wonder, as though the months apart had made him forget how deeply the sight of me affected him.

His hand moved over my exposed skin, warm and deliberate. The first gentle caress sent a jolt through my body, and I shivered beneath him.

“Nico…”

He lowered his head, his breath warming my skin before his lips followed. His kisses moved slowly, lingering over every sensitive place as his hands held me with a tenderness that contradicted the fierce hunger in his eyes.

Each touch sent another wave of heat through me. My fingers tightened in his hair while my body responded instinctively, lifting toward the warmth of his mouth.

Nico watched every reaction, learning me again as though no amount of memory had been enough. His touch became more confident, his kisses deeper, until thoughts of anger, distance, and tomorrow began slipping beyond my reach.

I had promised myself that I would never surrender to him again.

But with Nico above me, touching me as though he had spent months starving for this moment, I could no longer remember how to hold any part of myself back.

Nico’s hand moved slowly down my body, guiding me closer while his mouth remained against my breast. His kisses carried the hunger of every month we had spent apart, as though he were trying to consume the loneliness that had settled inside both of us.

When his finger slipped inside me, my entire body tightened.

A broken breath escaped me, and my fingers gripped his shoulders. Nico moved with devastating patience, watching every reaction he drew from me while his mouth continued tracing warmth across my skin.

Each deliberate caress  sent another wave of sensation through me. My back lifted from the mattress, and his name left my lips before I could contain it.

The sound seemed to unravel him.

His touch became more demanding, drawing me toward a feeling that left no room for anger or thought. All I could do was hold onto him as the months of emptiness disappeared beneath the heat he awakened inside me.