Page 22 of Canvas of Lies (Spruce Hill #3)

Chapter Sixteen

Kat

M y alarm clock, one of those old-fashioned types with the clanging bell on top that I picked up from a yard sale a few years back, startled Nico into bolting upright the next morning, dislodging my sleepy self from where I’d been curled into his side.

I merely mumbled a few choice words as I grabbed the clock and made the obnoxiously loud ringing stop.

Nico panted like his heart might beat straight out of his chest. “How the hell can you stand that thing?” he asked, flopping back down beside me.

I shrugged one bare shoulder and buried my face against a pillow.

After a few minutes, he recovered enough to start drawing lazy swirls over my shoulder blade with his fingertip until I inched closer and tugged at the blanket he’d covered us with sometime during the night, exposing more of my back to his ministrations.

“You really are a kitten at heart, just begging to be petted. Every time I touch you, you start purring. It’s satisfying to know I have such an effect on you.”

“Just keep rubbing,” I muttered, but the soft rumble of pleasure in my throat brought a broad smile to his face as I peeked up at him.

When I shifted onto my side, his caresses grew increasingly intimate and his lips followed the twisting paths his fingers had sketched across my skin.

I hadn’t strayed from my morning routine in years, barring our weekend together, but I couldn’t summon a word of protest, either, as I arched into his touch.

After finally playing out Nico’s shower fantasy, which resulted in us running even later, we walked to the Keeper together. He grinned smugly when I ordered a heartier meal than usual at the coffee shop, choosing a breakfast burrito over a bagel.

When I magnanimously waved my hand for him to pay for both our orders, I lifted my chin. “Seems only fair. It’s your fault I worked up an appetite.”

“I’m more than willing to take responsibility for my actions, especially when I enjoyed every single second of it.” He smirked as he held open the door for me.

“Mmm. Me too.”

When we set off down the sidewalk, he slipped his arm through mine in a gesture of such casual affection that I almost stumbled before recovering. He responded to my misstep by kissing the top of my head.

It was sweet and affectionate, blissfully natural, as though the intervening years had evaporated between us.

For once, I found the walk to work was too short, though Nico’s obvious reluctance in removing his arm in order for me to open the door consoled me.

We ate breakfast at my desk, but he snorted when I left the office door open so that Erin would walk in on a respectable scene instead of a repeat of the morning before.

As I savored the last few sips of my coffee, I leaned back in my chair and studied him—he looked a little scruffy, a little sleepy, and appealing as fuck.

“Don’t you have to work? Like, ever?” I asked.

Nico grinned around his last bite of a breakfast sandwich. “I work from home and set my own hours. You know, you do own your own business, Kitten. You could choose to come in at ten instead of this ungodly hour. It would give you more time for various . . . extracurricular activities.”

“But then we wouldn’t have to save time by showering together.” I blinked at him, a picture of pure innocence, then my expression morphed into a sly grin and he laughed.

“Excellent point. It’s worth your heart attack-inducing alarm to experience your sweet, wet body wrapped around me in the shower. Do you even know how fucking beautiful you are? ”

He laced his fingers behind his head while his heated gaze stroked over my limbs. Though we weren’t touching, I felt the words as surely as if he’d painted them on my skin. My cheeks flushed hot, but I managed to keep my gaze steady on his face.

“I’m not actually sure what you see in me, except that I’m clearly addicted to you now.”

As he dropped his hands and leaned toward me, his expression sobered and those dark eyes grew intent on my face.

“I can’t argue with that part, but fuck, Kitten.

There’s so much more. You’re beautiful, yes, but you’re also brilliant and loyal and fierce.

I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for walking away from you, or for letting you walk away from me.

All that time we could’ve had together, if I hadn’t let your father and my own stupid insecurity scare me away. ”

Tears burned at the back of my eyes, but it was nothing compared to the feeling of being knocked completely breathless by his words.

I could only stare for a long moment while I struggled to make my lungs start functioning again.

Before I could speak, Nico was out of his chair and crouching at my side.

“Hey, I’m sorry,” he said softly, running his knuckles along my jaw. “I’m sorry, Kat, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“I’m not upset. I just . . . that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

My voice broke just a touch and his arms went around me. Nico held me while I tried to gather myself back into some semblance of calm .

“You can cry all over me tonight, if you want. Why don’t I bring over a pizza and a box of tissues?” he offered.

My wobbly laugh made him flinch ever so slightly, like I’d driven a stake through his heart. “That sounds perfect,” I said, pressing my fingers against my eyelids. “I should probably get to work.”

He trailed a row of kisses across my forehead, murmuring, “You do that. Tonight, pizza. And if you happen to open the door wearing only a silk robe, I won’t complain.”

At that, I laughed outright, clearing some of the tension from his expression.

“I’ll see what I can scrounge up from my closet. And Nico,” I said softly as I laid a hand on his cheek, “thank you.”

With a smile, he turned his head, kissed my palm, and stood.

“Better get used to it, Kitten. I won’t be so easy to shake off this time around. Not by a long shot.”

I watched him go, those long legs of his covering the space from the office to the parking lot in half the time it took me. I was still staring after him when the warehouse door opened again and Erin fluttered in.

“Aw, c’mon, Kat. I was hoping to get at least some vicarious action this morning,” she called as she wandered into the office. A sudden frown creased her forehead when she saw my face. “Is everything okay? Do I need to chase after him and kick his ass?”

“I’m fine, I promise. No ass-kicking required.”

Erin dropped down into the chair Nico had vacated. “You look . . . conflicted,” she said carefully, studying my expression .

Conflicted.

It was a good descriptor for how I felt. For so much of my life, I’d longed to be in this position, with Nico at my side—but I was afraid to be too happy about it just yet. Everything was still unsettled, at least until the painting was sorted out.

I’d lost him once before; losing him again would destroy me.

“I think I’m in love with him.” The words poured out of me before I could stop them. I covered my face with my hands and moaned, “What am I going to do?”

“Do? Besides the obvious, which is to continue letting that stud kiss you like he’s been wandering the desert and you’re a cold glass of water?”

“I’m not sure it’s that simple.”

Erin smirked at me. “Do you really think he’s not just as in love with you as you are with him, Kat?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know!”

Her smile went soft. “I know enough for both of us.”

“I think I’ve loved him since I was in kindergarten and it certainly wasn’t reciprocated back then. Things are just really complicated right now.”

“Life is complicated,” Erin replied, but her expression was gentle. “I see the way he looks at you, honey. It might be complicated, but you have to know he’s head over heels in love with you. Believe me, I can tell these things.”

I nodded—somewhere deep down, I knew it, too.

Part of me wished I could waltz into my father’s house, pluck the painting off the wall, and hand it to Nico so we could move forward, but it would continue to hover at the horizon until we came up with a better plan than burglary.

Preferably something that one or both of us might be more qualified for.

Except . . .

“We’ve got work to do,” I said, flashing a bright smile at Erin and ignoring my assistant’s sudden suspicion. “I’ve got to make some calls. Can you update this week’s spreadsheets?”

Erin nodded and closed the door behind her as she left the office.

I grabbed a notebook and made a sketch of my childhood home, taking care to map the grounds of the estate as well.

Once upon a time, Nico and I had tromped through the woods, explored every inch of the house, raced and roamed and made the entire property our playground.

When he left for college and I decided to test the practically invisible boundaries of my teenage years, I’d used that knowledge to sneak out for dates and parties—not because my father would’ve said no, but simply to flex my own youthful power.

I’d never been caught, either.

Ten minutes later, I had a fairly decent blueprint of the property in front of me, along with a few jotted notes and arrows detailing the best paths in and out.

I didn’t know the intimate details of my father’s security team these days, but at least I could guess based on my previous knowledge of them.

Experienced burglar I was not, but I had more confidence in my ability to slip in and out of my father’s home undetected than Nico seemed to have.

It was the aftermath that concerned me; Aidan Willoughby was not the type to stand by and let something be stolen out from under him, not something of actual value.

I could steal the painting, I was sure of it, but I didn’t want Nico to be swept up in the manhunt that might follow.

He’d never be able to enjoy his inheritance if he had to spend the rest of his life hiding it away.

Or if he was one of those adversaries who went missing without a trace, or one of the mangled bodies found in the woods years later with no evidence of a crime.

With a sigh, I tucked the map into my purse and convinced myself to stick to the plan. I spent the next half hour fiddling with the broken pieces of my old phone until I finally convinced it to boot up, then I swallowed down a hoot of victory.

Once my data was safely transferred over to the new one, I pulled up my contact list, uttered a silent prayer that this might actually strike gold, and made the call.