Читать книгу Playing With Fire - Kayla Perrin - Страница 12

7

Zienna was asleep in bed when she heard the door buzzer going off several times in rapid succession. She had barely drifted off before she’d been jarred awake by the loud, annoying noise.

Her eyelids heavy, she lifted her head to glance at the clock: 2:21 a.m.

Good Lord, she thought, plopping her head back down. It was Nicholas. It had to be.

He’d called her several times since she’d abandoned him at the restaurant, and had left her at least six text messages. But she hadn’t responded, and had ultimately turned the phone off.

She wasn’t ready to talk to him about her relationship with Wendell. Not after his reaction at the restaurant.

The buzzer sounded again. Zienna didn’t get up.

If she were honest with herself, she knew that a big part of why she wasn’t ready to talk to Nicholas was because it would require telling the absolute truth. And the last thing she wanted to do was confess to him that her feelings for Wendell had been stronger than she’d let on.

It wasn’t that it mattered anymore, because it didn’t. It was how Nicholas would deal with the knowledge.

She certainly couldn’t deny that seeing Wendell again had left her reeling. No matter what she said, Nicholas would be smart enough to figure out the truth. And Zienna could only imagine that he would conclude Wendell was a threat on some level.

Nicholas was tall, dark, handsome and successful—but an ex-past girlfriend had devastated him when she’d had an affair. It was the reason he had put Zienna through the ringer in the beginning. Not in a way she hadn’t been able to handle, because she knew what it was like to have your guard up. But she’d had to work extra hard to put his mind at ease and assure him she was the faithful sort.

They’d gotten to a happy place...and now Wendell had threatened everything.

The buzzer sounded again. Clearly, Nicholas wasn’t going away.

Zienna rolled over, wondering if she should continue to ignore him. If only she knew his frame of mind... If he regretted what had transpired over dinner was one thing. If he still felt she had betrayed him, that was another thing altogether.

It was too late and she was too tired to rehash the argument. The last thing she wanted was to fight about Wendell—not when he had so easily pointed out that she hadn’t mattered to him in the least.

She’d been an easy lay. That was all.

Zienna glanced at the clock: 2:27 a.m. The buzzer hadn’t gone off for a few minutes, and she wondered if Nicholas had finally decided to leave. Snuggling against her pillow, she figured it was just as well.

Not more than ten seconds later, the knocking started.

Finally, Zienna threw off the covers. She slipped into a robe and made her way to the door. There was no doubt that Nicholas wouldn’t go away until she answered.

She looked through the peephole, and there he stood, his expression dour. She grinned a little, suddenly glad he was here. Of course he wouldn’t be here if he was mad at her. Obviously he was here because he, like she, hadn’t been able to sleep with how things had ended between them.

But Zienna didn’t open the door immediately, letting him suffer a little bit longer. He’d hurt her, and she wasn’t going to let him off that easily.

“How’d you get in?” she called through the door.

“I followed someone in through the front door.”

“What do you want?”

“Are you going to let me in?”

“Why should I?”

“I’m sorry. I was just shocked. But I talked to Wendell, and everything’s cool.”

“Everything might be cool for the two of you.”

“Let me in, Zee,” Nicholas pleaded. “Come on.”

Inhaling a deep breath, Zienna unlocked the door and took a step backward. Saying nothing, she pulled it wide, allowing him to enter.

He looked wary, his expression uncertain. “I’m sorry,” he said without preamble.

Zienna walked the short distance to her living room and took a seat on the armchair, where Nicholas couldn’t sit beside her.

He dropped to his haunches in front of her, the look in his eyes making it clear that he truly regretted having freaked out. He delicately rubbed her right knee. “How’s your knee?”

“I’ll live.”

Several seconds passed in silence. Nicholas was looking at her, she knew, but she wasn’t meeting his gaze.

“You’ve got nothing to say?” he finally asked.

“Seems to me you and Wendell have it all figured out.”

“I didn’t dream Wendell would tell me he used to sleep with you. That was the last thing I was expecting tonight.”

You and me both. “It was a long time ago.”

“I reacted badly. I admit it.”

“You didn’t even want to have a decent discussion about it. You just acted like I’d screwed around on you.”

“No,” Nicholas said firmly. “I didn’t. But I acknowledge that I didn’t handle the news in the most mature fashion. I was caught off guard, and yes, I get that you were, too. But now that Wendell’s investing in my business, I don’t blame him for wanting to get this whole deal into the open.”

“Why should you blame him when you can blame me?”

“Zee...”

They stared at each other for a long beat, neither saying anything. Zienna was the one to speak first. “So...now what?”

“I told you I was sorry, didn’t I? I talked to Wendell and he assured me that your relationship wasn’t serious. Nothing like what you and I have together.”

“So Wendell drops his bombshell, and yet he’s the one to reassure you when I can’t? How do you think that makes me feel?”

“What do you mean?”

“When I told you the relationship meant nothing, you got mad at me. You weren’t hearing it.”

“We never got to have a real discussion.” He quickly held up a hand. “Not after my knee-jerk reaction. That’s why I called you all night. That’s why I’m here.”

“You remember what you said to me, right? You had no problem believing that I meant nothing to Wendell, but you didn’t seem to believe that he meant nothing to me.”

“I came to apologize,” Nicholas said, sounding a little exasperated. He stood and turned toward the window that faced the river. “But it seems to me you want to keep fighting. I can’t help wondering why.”

Well, that hadn’t gone the way Zienna had hoped. She stood and wrapped her arms around her torso. “I’d like to go back to bed.”

Nicholas spun around and stalked toward her, and she actually reeled backward as he reached her. Then he placed both his hands on her shoulders.

“I got upset, yes. But it’s not so simple.” He paused. “When I heard...” He expelled a sharp breath. “The truth is, Wendell’s my best friend, but we’ve always competed. This isn’t the first time we ended up dating the same girl.”

Zienna narrowed her eyes in question, but said nothing.

“Some of the best of friends have the biggest rivalries, even if they love each other. You and Wendell...it brought me back to our college days. In a way, my reaction wasn’t even about you.”

“Really?” she asked disbelievingly.

“Yes. The point is, it’s over now.”

Suddenly, Zienna was hit with a disturbing thought. “How do I know that you didn’t already know about me and Wendell? You two were always competing, maybe you got involved with me because you knew he was coming back to town. What better way to one-up your friend than to be dating the girl he used to sleep with?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Isn’t it? You question my loyalty, but maybe I’m the one with reason to question yours.”

“Enough,” Nicholas said. Both his hands went to her face. “Enough.” He brought his lips down on hers, ever so softly. “Enough.”

He eased back and pinned her with a gaze that was now filled with lust. Taking her hand in his, he forced it to his groin. “I am really tired of fighting.”

He was rock hard.

“This is our first real fight, isn’t it?” He trailed the fingers that were on her face down her neck, to the opening of her robe, dipping them between her breasts. “I’m ready to make up.”

Zienna said nothing, but her breathing became shallower.

Nicholas’s hand slipped lower, parting her robe a little more, but not fully. “This is what I was looking forward to. From the moment I picked you up and saw you looking so incredible.”

Zienna’s lips parted. But all that escaped was a wisp of air.

“Are you going to tell me you don’t want this?” Nicholas asked, his voice low and sultry.

She could, but she would be lying. She’d been turned on the moment she started getting dressed for dinner hours ago, anticipating what was to come. Wendell’s appearance and bombshell had thrown her plans for one hell of a hot night down the toilet.

“I’m still mad at you,” she told him. But she was also aroused. Her chest was heaving from a mixture of anger and lust. And all she could think was that makeup sex was just about the best sex there was.

“You won’t be mad for long.”

His words were a promise.

And with that, he loosened the knot on her silk robe and let the folds fall apart. As his eyes traveled downward, taking in the sight of her, he groaned with pleasure.

She was still wearing the lacy bra and thong she’d bought earlier. Just seeing the look of desire in Nicholas’s eyes had her forgetting all the unpleasantness of the evening.

He reached for her, pressing his warm palm against her belly. His fingertips stroked her skin before venturing a little lower, toward her thong. “Did you expect me to show up?” he asked, his warm breath fanning her face. “Is that why you’re wearing this?”

This was the way Zienna had hoped to end the night. She pressed her body against his hand, and Nicholas slipped his fingers into her panties. When he stroked her, a carnal sound of pleasure pushed past her lips.

Nicholas put his free arm around her waist and pulled her against him with force. Then his mouth came down on hers and he began to kiss her ferociously.

Heat consumed her. They shared a hungry, urgent kiss, the kind they hadn’t had in a while. Their relationship had become comfortable, and their kisses these days were more sweet and emotional than wild. The passion between them was generated by knowing that what they were doing was more than simply having sex.

But now, as he kissed her, he slipped his hands into her hair and tugged, creating a little pain.

Zienna made a purring sound. She liked it.

Nicholas drew her bottom lip into his mouth and sucked on it before grazing it with his teeth. Then he plunged his tongue into her mouth again, tangling it with hers.

His hands found her bra, and he none too gently shoved the lace covering her breasts downward, over the large mounds. The Nicholas of yesterday would have taken his time removing the delicate fabric.

“Are you still mad now?” His lips trailed her jawline, and teased her skin there while his fingers squeezed her nipples.

In response, Zienna gasped.

Nicholas’s mouth made its way to one of her nipples. He flicked his tongue around the tip before pulling it into his mouth.

“What about now?” he asked. “Still mad at me?”

“No,” Zienna rasped. “No, baby.”

He grinned, then took her other nipple into his mouth and suckled it until she was moaning.

Although lust had taken over her body, somewhere her senses kicked in. “The windows,” she said. “The blinds aren’t closed.”

Her breast was still in his mouth as he turned toward the window. “You’re right,” he said around her hardened peak. And then, obviously not caring if someone from the next building might be looking in on them right now, he laved the erect tip with his tongue.

Not with the tender, soft flicks of his normal style, but with fervor, as though he was trying to brand her as his.

He moved his mouth to her other breast and teased her with the same intense determination.

Zienna didn’t have the strength to stop him. The sensations were too electrifying. He sank his teeth into her nipple, again creating a mix of pleasure and pain. Then he moved his mouth to her other breast and drew it so deeply into his mouth, it was as though he wanted to swallow it.

“I want to do you right here, and I don’t care who sees.” He flicked his finger over the nipple he was currently torturing. “Almost,” he added, grinning up at her.

Zienna hadn’t encountered this Nicholas before, but she liked him. Liked him enough that she could make love to him right here, any onlookers be damned.

“Nicholas, baby, what’s gotten into you?”

“You.” He lowered himself to his knees and kissed her stomach.

He pulled at the sides of her thong, so hard it snapped. Zienna gasped as the elastic waistband stung her skin. But the next moment she moaned, when Nicholas’s fingers found her sweet spot.

“You’re wet.”

“Nicholas...” He wasn’t really going to do her right here, was he?

“Yes,” he said with resolve, seeming to have heard her silent question. He stroked her nub. “I can’t wait.”

But he was smart enough to angle her body so that her back was to the window. And then he swept his tongue over her most sensitive spot.

“Oh, God...” she moaned.

His fingers and tongue moved faster, heightening her pleasure. Her eyelids fluttering shut, she gripped his shoulders. She was caught up in rapture, mesmerized by this carnal side of Nicholas she had never seen.

He tantalized her as though his only goal was to please her. He used his tongue, his teeth and his fingers, until she was coming, coming hard. Then he scooped her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom.

Weak from her orgasm, she let Nicholas take off the rest of her clothes. Then he positioned her on her knees and entered her from behind with a blinding thrust.

Zienna cried out, arching her back.

He gave it to her hard, his thrusts relentless. “Oh, my God, Nicholas. Ohhh...”

“Tell me you love me,” he said.

“I love you,” she managed to reply, with a breathless sigh.

“Tell me I’m all you need.”

“You’re all I need, baby. You’re all I need.”

“No one can give it to you better than I can. Ain’t that right, babe?”

Even in the midst of her pleasure, the comment gave Zienna pause. What was he going on about, needing to hear that he could rock her world sexually? This wasn’t like him.

He slipped his arms around her waist and drew her upward so that her back was against his front, while he was still inside her. He pressed his lips to her ear. “Tell me no one can give it to you like I can. Tell me.”

“No one...only you, baby.”

He kissed her, sucking on her lips and her tongue, his lust for her on overdrive.

And as he continued to make love to her, Zienna couldn’t help thinking that he was doing her harder than ever before to erase any feelings that she might still have for Wendell.