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Abagail was drawn back to the moment by Nicola touching her cheek and drawing her in for another slow, deep kiss. Abagail settled against Nicola, erasing those thoughts from her mind and focusing only on the warm body in her arms. This she knew she liked. And this she knew she could do.

Nicola pushed up, moving swiftly to straddle Abagail. She shimmied down Abagail’s legs with a wicked look on her face before she bent down and took the entirety of the dildo into her mouth before slowly pulling it out. She swirled her tongue around the tip as she stared directly at Abagail.

Shuddering, Abagail’s nipples hardened with arousal, and she shook her head. “What are you doing?”

“Enjoying you as much as you enjoy me.” Nicola chuckled as she hooked her fingers into the straps and started to pull it off Abagail’s hips and down her legs. As soon as she was free from it, Nicola pressed her face between Abagail’s legs and pushed her knees farther apart. She nuzzled her nose into Abagail’s curls and breathed in deeply. “I’m definitely going to enjoy this.”

“Enjoy away then.” Abagail raised her hands above her head and grasped onto the edge of the pillow. She was going to live forthis moment as much as she could. And if she got a comforting nap out of it later, well, then she’d take that too.

Nothing could be better than this.

twenty-one

Nicola swirled the glass of wine as she stood in the kitchen and cut up pieces of cheese for the charcuterie board she was making them. Abagail had disappeared mid-morning to get some work done in the den, and Nicola had entertained herself puttering around in the kitchen.

Their relationship had shifted.

The heat and fire and passion that they approached every conversation and interaction with before had shattered into a calm comfort that Nicola was finding quite settling. And settled wasn’t something that she typically felt. She took a sip of her wine and froze.

Abagail’s voice reached her ears, but so did a man’s.

A family man’s voice.

Warren.

Nicola closed her eyes and leaned against the counter, her knuckles turning white against the counter as she gripped it. Her entire body pulsated hard with fear, with disdain, with the lovely little world that she and Abagail had built crashing down around her.

Because what the fuck was Warren doing there?

She was frozen on the spot, not sure whether to walk out there and pretend like everything was normal or to hide away in the kitchen and pretend like she didn’t exist. Surely Abagail wouldn’t be able to get rid of him for the night so they’d all be stuck there together, and she wouldn’t be able to hide.

Her stomach twisted from the turmoil of decisions. She hadn’t wanted the reality of this situation to come crashing down on her. She was fucking her ex-fiancé’s aunt. And it had all started because she’d wanted revenge on him for dumping her in the manner that he had, for cheating on her for the entirety of their relationship, for being the pitiful woman who had put up with it and turned a blind eye for years.

Nicola tapped her fingers against the countertop and stared out toward the living area where they all no doubt were. What was Abagail saying? Nicola couldn’t quite make it out, but surely she wasn’t admitting to the fact that Nicola was there, was she?

That’d put them both in the direct line of fire. Nicola had no idea what to do. If Abagail was here, she’d know what to do. She’d know the exact moves that would need to be taken. Nicola picked up the knife and then set it back down. Then she reached for the wine glass, but she couldn’t make her fingers clasp it.

Fuck, she needed to get out of this stupor.

Immediately.

“Nicola?”

She jerked with a start as Warren stepped into the kitchen, followed closely by Abagail and Chaya. Nicola’s heart sank at seeing the woman who had replaced her, the one who was going to take everything that she had dreamed of having, everything that she wanted and more. But it wasn’t her dreams. Not really.

Warren had been a means to an end, and she’d put up with him for so long because she’d needed him—well, needed what he could provide for her. And she hadn’t even been brave enough to be the one to end it.

No, she’d waited for Warren to?—

“What areyoudoing here?” Warren’s accusation flung through the kitchen was a bucket of ice water on Nicola’s head.

She looked up at him, wide eyed, back to being that emotional girl who he’d dumped and told she wasn’t worth his time and effort any longer, that she wouldn’t ever measure up to his Aunt Abagail, and that she’d never be the one to earn approval to be his wife. Perhaps she would have if she’d had someone to support her.

Someone like Abagail.

“Do you work for her now?” Warren pointed at his aunt with wide eyes. “Jesus, Nicola, you couldn’t even get a proper job in all this time, and now you’re cooking your poison food for my aunt? Are you trying to send her to an early grave?”

“Warren,” Abagail said, stepping between them. “Nicola doesn’t cook for me.”