Page 15 of Canvas of Lies (Spruce Hill #3)

Chapter Ten

Kat

I sighed as my need spiraled higher, but then I nodded, taking the opportunity to let my gaze roam over Nico. Naked and dripping was an excellent look on him.

He was right about the bed, I would grant him that, so I kept my hands off him as I studied the way his sculpted shoulders topped that broad chest. His skin was dusted with dark hair that trailed down to the hard abdomen I’d stroked only hours ago.

And below that? The man was impressively equipped, no doubt of that. Desire flickered through my veins like electricity.

“If we don’t get out of this shower right now, I’m going to ignore everything you just said and jump you right here, Nicolas.”

There was no need to ask twice. Nico reached behind him to turn off the water, then caught the long strands of my wet hair in his fist and drew my mouth to his. I twined my arms around his neck, but after a moment he broke away, bundled me into a towel, and draped one carelessly around his hips.

“Now, this is a perfect look on you, Nico.” It was only made better by the fact that I knew exactly what was hidden behind the thin layer of fabric.

“Let’s go,” he growled, grabbing my hand to tow me into the bedroom.

I practically skipped along behind him, laughing. He turned so abruptly that I crashed into him, but his arms locked around my waist as he captured my mouth once more. When my body sighed against his, he guided me down onto the bed, stretching out alongside me.

I couldn’t remember anyone ever looking at me the way he did just then—intent, hungry, and utterly enthralled. The gleam of appreciation in his dark eyes brightened as he hooked his index finger between the knot in the towel and my skin, stroking in a teasing line between my breasts.

“This is what you want?” he asked, his voice low.

“Yes. Fuck yes. If your hands aren’t on my naked body in ten seconds or less, I swear I’m going to turn violent.”

“Only my hands?” Nico murmured.

He laughed softly at my scowl and tugged the towel loose, spreading the halves wide to reveal my skin, flushed pink from the hot shower. For a moment, his gaze caressed me, then he dropped his head to nuzzle the underside of one breast .

My entire body bowed beneath him when his teeth grazed my nipple. He grinned against my skin at the sound I made, something between a whimper and a moan.

“Should I take that to mean my mouth on your naked body is also acceptable?”

“Yes!” I gasped.

If I hadn’t landed on top of him out there in the woods, I would never have guessed the man had taken a tumble so recently.

He moved over me with all the grace of a jungle cat, his muscles bunching and coiling under my hands as I clung, unable to do anything but soak in the pleasure he lavished on my breasts.

By the time he returned to my mouth, I was trembling, this time in the best possible way. All the discomfort from my little escapade in the forest fled under his touch, and I assumed he must have felt the same when he propped himself on his elbow and drew my knee over his hip.

Dimly, I realized he still wore his towel, but when his palm roamed up the back of my thigh and around to cup the dark blonde curls between my legs, I promptly forgot everything else.

“Oh, Kitten,” he groaned against my mouth. “So hot. So fucking wet. Do you have any idea how many times I’ve dreamed of this?”

I arched beneath him as his fingers parted my folds, stroked and circled until I was panting with need, then he slid one thick finger slowly into me.

Why we’d both been wasting time dreaming about this separately instead of experiencing it together, I had no clue, but he was clearly not waiting for a verbal answer, since his teeth were now busy nipping at my lower lip.

In no time at all, I was sure he’d learned every intimate inch of me. His fingers, long and capable, teased and toyed, stroked and filled me until I writhed impatiently under him. All I could manage was a frantic whimper and a desperate tug at the towel between us.

Nico laughed, drew back until he stood at the side of the bed gazing down at me, and flung the towel to the floor. Flushed and breathless, I watched his eyes travel over me from head to toe and back again even as mine did the same to him.

“You are so beautiful,” he said hoarsely, shaking his head slightly as though he couldn’t believe his luck.

Slowly, he crawled back up my body, running his hands over my calves, catching the back of my knees to spread my legs wider.

He paused halfway up, trailing his lips along the inner face of my thigh.

When his tongue made the same exploration as his fingers, I choked out a strangled sound and my hips bucked off the bed.

His hands anchored me, holding me steady, but he’d brought me so close to the edge already that it only took a few focused sweeps of his tongue over my clit before I shattered against his mouth.

“Oh,” I gasped, clutching one hand to my heart. “Oh, sweet lord. That mouth should be outlawed for the safety of humankind.”

He pressed a laughing kiss to my hip bone and cocked his head up at me, looking altogether too pleased with himself. “You liked that, did you?”

I lifted my head to glare at him, then collapsed back onto the bed. “When you said you were a man of many talents, I didn’t realize this was one of them or I would never have let you out of bed this morning. That would’ve saved us both a lot of trouble, you know.”

His expression was one of pure satisfaction, along with more than a hint of smugness. He’d just settled beside me when my hand wrapped firmly around the base of his cock.

“I want this , Nico,” I said pointedly.

He bit back a groan as my hand stroked firmly, just once, then I released him as my eyes shot to his face.

“Christ, what is it?” he asked hoarsely. “What’s wrong?”

“You do have condoms out here in the middle of nowhere, right?”

“I do, yes, but I don’t want you to think it’s because I planned for this to happen,” he said, rolling away again to grab them from one of the dresser drawers.

I turned onto my side, propping my head on one hand to watch him move across the room. Damn, but he looked good naked.

“You just happen to have them on hand for all the orgies you’ve been hosting out here in the boonies?” He shot me a sharp glance, as though trying to determine if I was serious, so I gave a slow smile. “Just teasing. I’ve been told it’s all part of the fun, you know.”

Nico tossed the unopened box of condoms onto the bedside table and leapt onto the bed, landing so I bounced right into him. He caught me, buried his face in my neck, and blew a raspberry against my skin.

“Okay, okay! I surrender,” I yelped, laughing. I locked my fingers in his hair and drew him to me. “But I’ve had enough teasing.”

The words came out sultry, breathless. He kissed me, deep and thorough, while his hand stroked down over my hip before reaching for a condom. I snatched it from his fingers, opened the package, and rolled it along his thick length, aware of every hitch in his breath along the way.

“Well, then,” he murmured. “Far be it from me to contradict you.”

He swirled his tongue over one nipple, then the other, humming at the soft sounds I couldn’t possibly hold back. When I shifted restlessly beneath him, he settled himself between my legs and watched my face as he entered me with one long, slow thrust.

My lips parted on a sigh, then I hooked my ankles around his waist and threaded my fingers through his hair. With his eyes, dark as midnight and veiled under long lashes, focused completely on me, I felt like a goddess welcoming a supplicant.

Nico seemed more than happy to worship my body. It took every reserve of my self-control to let him set the pace, to resist the urge to hurry him along. For an instant, he stayed buried deep, his gaze stroking over my face.

Slowly, he began to move, withdrawing almost completely before thrusting home again. Every gasp, every moan, every purr that fell from my lips or rumbled low in my throat only served to make him seem more determined to prolong this.

I was drowning, or floating, or quite possibly both. The sensations he inspired both anchored me and guided me upward to another plane. I let him sweep me along as I clutched at his arms, dug my fingers into his shoulders, panted and writhed and marveled at his unending stamina and patience.

For his part, Nico seemed to be holding on by a thread, determined to wait until I hit another peak. When I whimpered against his lips, he must have known I was close. He gave two more slow, deep thrusts, then raised himself up on one elbow.

“Let go, Kitten. Come for me again,” he whispered, adjusting the angle of his hips so he could reach a hand between us.

One stroke of his thumb was all it took after those dark, hoarse words. I arched, cried out, and clenched hard around him as the orgasm shook me. Nico groaned, burying his face in my neck. After a flurry of deep, hard thrusts, he shuddered through his own release and collapsed carefully onto me.

“Holy. Shit.” I panted the words, curling my arms around him.

His low rumble of laughter tickled my throat. “I’ll second that. ”

As soon as he caught his breath, he shifted off of me, took care of the condom, and drew me back into his arms. Limp with satisfaction, my entire body was infused with soft, relaxing warmth.

I draped myself across his chest, one leg tangled in his, utterly boneless and languid in my bliss as he trailed his fingers lazily up and down my spine.

After a moment, I mumbled, “Not that your ego needs the boost, but you are very, very good at that.”

“I’ve had a lot of years to think about it,” he replied, “but reality exceeded every single fantasy.”

For a long while, we stayed like that, cocooned in the quiet and the shared glow of satisfaction. A lifetime of childish daydreams and more mature fantasies still couldn’t prepare me for the soul-deep contentment that seeped from every pore, coating every inch of my body.

This? This was worth the wait. It was worth everything.

Every moment of neglect, however benign, every second of loneliness, every ounce of rejection—Nico’s careful attention swept it all away, like brushing cobwebs from the rafters.

Whether he’d planned to stay in my life after this was over or intended to slip away into the shadows again, I didn’t care. I wouldn’t let him walk away again, not now that everything had changed.

As the sunlight coming through the window shifted and changed, I had no idea what time it was, only that my empty stomach couldn’t win out against the comfort of Nico holding my naked body against his.

I’d stay here and starve, as long as he was with me.

Eventually, I wondered if he’d dozed off, but then he shifted slightly and I couldn’t bite back the words any longer.

“Why didn’t you tell me he took the painting?” My voice was low, my breath warm against our cooling skin. There was curiosity in the question, but I hoped no trace of accusation.

Nico’s eyes flew open. “I—I don’t know. When I think about it now, I tell myself that I didn’t think it was fair to involve you.”

“But that’s not true. I’ve always been involved and you know it.”

“I guess you’re right.” He frowned when I peeked up at his face. “It was a hard time. I was grieving and desperate and felt so, so alone. Everything from that period of my life seems cloudy and distorted, everything but the pain.”

I lifted my head, propping my chin on his chest to look at him. The words hurt before they even left my lips, but I had to say them.

“You weren’t sure you could trust me.”

One corner of his mouth curved upward, soothing that wound before it could fester.

“No, that’s not it. To be honest, I wasn’t sure you could trust me .

I was angry, angrier than I’ve ever been in my entire life.

It had been a long time since we’d seen each other, even longer since I’d been a halfway decent friend to you.

How someone like you came from someone like your father, I’ll never understand, but I was afraid, terrified that I would do anything I had to in order to get it back, including turning you into a pawn. ”

The irony had us both huffing a soft laugh, but I laid my head back down. “So here we are, only now I’m a willing pawn.”

Nico heaved a sigh. “I still don’t like putting you at risk. Not for my sake.”

“Good thing I’m not doing it for you then,” I replied.

“Oh, really? Then why would you choose to be involved in this mess?”

“I’m doing it for your father’s sake. He was the only adult in that house who made me feel like I wasn’t a complete and total failure.”

Startled, Nico lifted his head. “A failure? Why the hell would you feel like a failure? You’re the smartest person I know.”

I tried to disguise the stab of pain in my chest with a bright smile.

“Oh, the usual. Not born male, to start with. Never classy enough, girly enough, or obedient enough for the daughter of a man like Aidan Willoughby. Too cozy with the household staff, which I’m sure is how he viewed you, even though we both know that was a giant crock of shit. ”

“Kitten,” he murmured.

Do not cry. My father didn’t deserve my tears, but the tenderness of Nico’s expression threatened to draw them straight to the surface. I shoved them back down and let gratitude for having Nico and his father in my life fill in the crumbling gaps of my resolve.

“Oh, and my mother leaving me with him was definitely a point against me, though who knows how that became my fault. After she moved out, he told me she trapped him into marriage by getting pregnant with me. Since he was caught cheating on her with a dozen witnesses, she took him for every penny she could get. I don’t think he ever got over that. ”

“Christ, I’m sorry. That sounds so inadequate, but it’s true. I knew you weren’t exactly happy there, but I always thought your father’s disdain was directed at me, not you.”

I shrugged. “C'est la vie, I guess. I got the hell out of there as soon as I could, and I made a life for myself. I don’t need his approval or his permission, not anymore. Your dad, though . . . I always felt appreciated when I was around him, like he valued all the quirks my father hated.”

“He always felt you were part of the family. You’re right, I should’ve told you about the painting as soon as it happened. It was a family matter.”

“Yes, you should have.”

“And I definitely should’ve roped you into my nefarious plans earlier on.”

“Well, I probably could have saved us both some time and stress.”

I saw the flash of guilt in his expression, but he covered it by kissing my forehead. “I really am sorry about that. I’ll make it up to you.”

“Damn right you will, and I have a few ideas on how,” I replied, smirking at him. “But first, you’re going to feed me. I’ve worked up quite an appetite.”

“Far be it from me to deny you anything. Let’s eat.”