by Addison Fox
He spent long moments on her breasts. Always a sensitive part of her body, she felt herself nearly falling over the edge from just the play of his tongue and hands against her flesh. And then he shifted, touching that most intimate part of her and Nova shattered, flying into a million pieces as he coaxed her response.
On a hard cry, she let herself go, safe in the knowledge there was nowhere else she wanted to be.
* * *
Nikolas held Nova close as the last of her orgasm whipped through her. He supposed he hadn’t quite believed her when she’d said that sex was good for pregnant women, but now that he looked at her, her color high and a healthy glow suffusing her cheeks, he had to admit she knew what she spoke of.
It was humbling to realize all the body could experience. And where he’d been worried he’d have a difficult time making a distinction between the woman and the baby she carried, it has been incredibly easy—natural, even—to focus solely on her.
Even as he took caveman-level satisfaction at her climax, he knew he needed to hold himself in check. She was learning what her limits were and he was figuring out how much he could press and push and coax to bring her pleasure.
Which made the sure, steady hand reaching out to take him in her palm that much more of a surprise. “Nova. We don’t have to...”
His words faded as pleasure shot through him, lighting him up even as his body tightened in anticipation. He laid his hand over her, stilling her movements before she finished a show he wasn’t even sure they should kick off.
And then she was kissing him, the same goddess he’d watched take her pleasure shifting focus to give him the same. Whatever potential anxiety he’d had about them being together faded at the explosive desire that ripped through his body.
Had he ever felt like this before?
In that moment he could no more conjure up the image of any woman who’d come before her as he could remember a time he didn’t feel this way.
Such was Nova’s power over him.
And how startling to realize that he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Please, Nikolas.” She whispered against his ear, her voice breathy. “Let me.”
In the same way he’d trusted that she’d tell him if there was something she didn’t like or want, he trusted that she’d continue to know her own mind and could manage what she felt comfortable with.
A cool breeze blew through the windows he’d left open that morning before leaving and Nikolas relished the way that air coated his skin, slick with sweat and hot from what built between the two of them.
But it was her whisper against his mouth as they kissed that notched that heat several degrees higher. “I want you. All of you. Now.”
He nodded and extended a hand toward his end table and the condoms he had in the top drawer.
“We. Um. We don’t have to if you’re, you know, okay.” Nova’s eyes widened. “It’s not like I can get more pregnant. And I’ve been to the doctor. Once I found out about Fer—” She stopped as if unwilling to say her ex’s name in bed. “Well, let’s just say I made sure I got tested for everything. So I’m good.”
He’d always made it a personal practice to do the same, both in safe sex and in ensuring his ongoing wellness, and smiled down at her. “I’m good, too.”
“So, you know, if you want, we can skip the condom.”
“I’d like that.”
While he had no issue with her pregnancy—if anything, she was even more desirable than he could have imagined—her size did ensure they would need to maneuver a bit differently. Shifting so they lay facing each other, Nikolas pulled her close, placing her leg over his hip.
“I believe this is the position the sex manuals call ‘beached whale.’”
Despite the sensitivity of the moment and the cliff his body hovered over, Nikolas couldn’t stop the rolling laughter. “Oh, they do, do they?”
She smiled back at him, impish sparks filtering through her green gaze that was hazy with passion. “I believe so.”
“I have to say it’s a first-time position for me.”
“Me, too.”
He settled himself at her entrance, his body straining to be inside of her. He bent his head to kiss her, lingering over her lips. “A first I’ve no doubt I’m going to love.”
Nova’s arms came around him, her soft sigh echoing between them. It was only as Nikolas entered her body, the culmination of the intimacy and connection they’d had from the first, that he realized something else.
He’d been right about loving being with her.
But it was only in that moment, as the movements of their bodies pushed them both over the edge of pleasurable oblivion, that he knew he actually loved her, too.
* * *
Nikolas was still getting used to his new reality—and the idea that he was in love with Nova—the next morning.
He’d rolled over to pull Nova close, marveling in his mind how he’d fallen so hard and so fast—only to run his hand over a cold fitted sheet. She’d been up for a while if the bed didn’t have any remaining body heat and he was about to go look for her when his phone rang.
“Slater.”
“It’s Marlowe. The lab called this morning. They’ve got the results.”
“I thought it was going to be another week.”
“They had a break in what they were working on and rushed the job.”
“Did they tell you?” Although he’d gotten used to the idea that Nova was Ace’s daughter, the test would be the final piece of proof they could all rely on.
“No. They insist on giving the news to Nova in person. And as the father’s family member authorized to get the results, I have to go with you.”
“What time can you be ready?”
“I’m already ready.” Her smile telegraphed through the phone lines a buoyancy he’d rarely heard from Marlowe Colton. “But how about if I meet you there at ten?”
“See you then.”
Nikolas dragged on a pair of jeans and padded out to the kitchen. Nova wasn’t there and he almost called out her name when he found her in his office, seated at the laptop.
“Hey.”
“Hi.” Her big green eyes seemed to suffuse her face and she offered him a shy smile. “Good morning.”
Even with making love twice more the night before, Nikolas recognized the signs of some morning-after apprehension. Unwilling to leave her with another moment’s concern, he walked over to her and bent to press a kiss to her lips. “Good morning yourself.”
He lingered over her, amazed at how easy it all was. He’d never gone in for the whole commitment thing and owned that he was more than gun-shy based on his father’s ill-advised example, but he never expected it would be so easy to get past it all. Apparently a lifetime of behavior didn’t have to dictate your future.
Especially when someone came along who was more than enough.
That was what he’d never understood about his father’s behavior, Nikolas realized now. His mother was a wonderful, loving woman. A truth Guy Slater acknowledged whenever he spoke about his late wife. Yet something had still kept him looking, always keeping one eye out for the bright and the shiny.
And never realizing that what he had was bright and beautifully shiny all on its own.
Nova was that. All of that. Warm and beautiful.
And absolutely wonderful.
While he might feel that way, he wasn’t sure if she was ready to hear it all. So he focused on her instead. “What are you looking at?”
“I’ve been thinking about your conversation with Micheline. I know it seems like a long shot, but I wanted to look through any interviews she may have given or any other photos there may be about her. See if anything sparks.” She chewed on her lower lip, her gaze dipping to the computer screen. “And honestly, I was curious to see if I could find any resembla
nce.”
“That’s a good idea.” He moved in closer and couldn’t resist leaning in to kiss her once more. “On both fronts. Although I think I’ve got a better idea, and it doesn’t involve an internet browser.”
She smiled at that and lifted her lips to kiss him back. “I like how you think. But I do have a question for you.”
When he only nodded, she smiled and said, “Is there a reason I keep getting retargeted with baby furniture ads?”
“Hmm. That’s interesting.”
“I thought so, too. It’s happened ever since I pulled up an internet browser.”
There was a part of him that knew he should feel a little embarrassed, yet he couldn’t seem to find it. He cared about her. Based on his revelation the night before, he even loved her. And he loved the baby. He’d already begun to think of them as a threesome, just the way he’d observed Marlowe, Bowie and Reed together.
“Let’s just say I wanted to be prepared. And maybe, in the course of that preparation, I’ve done a little browsing online.”
Her teasing smile faded, her brows knitting together. “You do know what you’re asking, right? A brand-new baby is a lot to take on.”
“I know.”
“It’s a lot to take on when you plan for it. It’s a whole different matter when it’s with someone you barely know.”
“I know that, too.” He bent down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “But I also know something else.”
“What’s that?”
“I’d like you to consider moving in here. More, I’d like you to consider staying with me. Bringing the baby back here once it arrives. I’d like you both to live with me.”
She stood, pulling him close into a tight hug. “Oh, Nikolas. That is so much to offer. It’s amazing, but it’s so much.”
He hugged her back, pulling her tight against his chest. He wanted it all so badly—more than he could’ve ever imagined. “Is that a yes?”
“Yes!”
He hugged her tighter, and in the process bumped a few files off his desk. He bent to pick them up so she wouldn’t inadvertently trip on them, and set them down to restack later, his steno pad down on top.
Her gaze drifted, and he saw the moment she took in what was on the page.
Consider man named Ferdy.
“Nikolas? What is this?”
“My to-do list.”
She leaned a bit closer. “It’s dated the day we met.”
“Yeah.” He sensed they were on dangerous ground, but he had no idea why. “What’s the matter?”
“Why would you have written this down? About Ferdy? Why’d you put him on your to-do list? I told you that we needed to be careful and discreet. Heck, at that point I hadn’t even told you about Ferdy other than a slip of his name at dinner.”
“I know. And I didn’t do anything about it. I had written it down because I wanted to make sure I remembered it.”
“And you didn’t look up any information? Then? Before I told you everything.”
Wherever he thought this conversation would go, the immediate flare-up wasn’t it. Particularly since they had just been wrapped up in each other, envisioning their mutual future. “Nova. What is this about?”
“It’s about the information I trusted you with.”
“Yes, and I handled it properly. I made notes to myself, and that’s all I did.”
He saw her gaze waver, shooting back to the notepad, before shooting back up to him. “So that’s your answer, right there? Like it makes everything okay.”
“Excuse me?”
“Just like yesterday. With Selina. You’re perfectly comfortable operating in those shades of gray.”
Selina? What did any of this have to do with Selina? Nikolas felt himself being backed into a corner and all he could do—all he could think to do—was go on the offensive. “A point I have been honest with you about from day one. Further, I gave you full disclosure of my work and my caseload when you still had every right and opportunity to walk away.”
“That’s right. There you go, practically with your hands up and your voice all smooth and easy, like there’s no problem at all.”
“From my point of view, there isn’t.”
“I guess we’ll just have to differ on that.”
Nikolas had no idea how the conversation had gone so far sideways. Especially from nothing more than a few scribbles on a notepad.
“The reason I came to find you is because Marlowe called. The lab has your results back and we need to meet her there at ten.”
“I guess I’d better go get ready, then.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s a good idea.”
She slipped away from him, exiting the room without turning back. Not only didn’t he understand what had her so upset, he was equally unable to understand where he was the bad guy in all this.
He hadn’t betrayed her trust. And the fact that she couldn’t see that stabbed a pretty big hole in his own.
* * *
They’d been talking about baby furniture. About moving in together. About the future.
How did it all go so wrong?
Nova felt like she carried some blame for it, only she couldn’t take back what she said. Nor could she change how she felt. Nikolas did operate in a shade of gray. He also knew how to use that silver tongue of his to make it all work out okay.
But was that so wrong?
As they drove toward the lab, Nova couldn’t stop asking herself that question.
Nikolas made no pretension about who he was. He’d been up-front from the moment they’d met and he’d acted properly toward his current client in what he shared.
Even the day before, as he’d talked about the visit to the AAG, he was careful to relay Micheline’s behavior, but not its bearing on his investigation.
So what was it? What had her spooked?
Was it just seeing Ferdy’s name, so starkly written in Nikolas’s scrawled handwriting? Or was it something else?
Something that had everything to do with an incredible night spent in his arms and an overwhelming case of emotion she wasn’t entirely sure what to do with.
He’d asked her to move in. He’d looked at baby furniture. He wanted the baby.
Weren’t things moving too fast?
Just like with Ferdy.
Maybe that was what seeing his name in black-and-white had really meant.
She’d made a mistake once. What happened if she did it again?
The lab was a nondescript building in a Mustang Valley business park. As she looked at the low and squatty structure, she couldn’t believe that the entire course of her life would be decided from within its walls.
Which was both silly and oddly profound, she thought as she worked her way out of the car.
Nikolas had pulled them up to the building’s portico to drop her off, the parking lot nearly full at that hour. Over the past week he’d taken to coming around and opening the door for her, and while she really wanted to stand her independent ground, her stomach was getting too big to argue the point.
She held his hand as she got out and was oddly buoyed when he clung an extra few seconds before dropping hers.
Maybe the morning hadn’t been totally unsalvageable.
Maybe.
“I’ll just go park and be right back.”
She didn’t say anything, just watched him walk back around the car and climb in.
Those black curls that captivated her so much picked up the slightest breeze and Nova thought about the night before. She’d spent the night in his arms. She’d touched every inch of him, as he had her. He hadn’t seemed put off by her pregnancy. In fact, he’d told her how beautiful she was and how lucky the baby was to have her as its mother.
It had been tender and sweet and had brought a light sheen of tears to her eyes that
he saw her wholly as a woman, yet appreciated and understood and even celebrated the life that grew within her.
“Damn hormones,” she muttered as she dug out a tissue from her purse. Between the coursing hormones and the wild swings of emotion over the past week, she’d taken to shoving tissues in her purse each day, and now tugged at one of her stack. She’d inadvertently tossed her wallet on top of them and had to juggle her heavy purse to pull out the small scrap.
Her focus caught on the tissue, she wasn’t paying much attention to the broader parking lot.
It was only as she pulled the tissue free that she glanced up, the sudden sound of a car engine and squealing tires registering somewhere in her mind. A large black SUV swerved madly through the parking lot. And as she watched in disbelief, seemingly safe on the sidewalk, she realized one other fact.
Despite the narrow confines of the portico, the SUV was headed straight for her.
Chapter 17
Nikolas found one of the last spots in the parking lot and had jumped at it, lost in thought and the rote mechanics of parking the car. He’d gone over and over his discussion with Nova in his mind, replaying the words.
And the angry frustration that had characterized them.
He didn’t want to apologize. Moreover, he didn’t have anything to apologize for. He couldn’t change who he was, nor was he going to offer excuses for his job. He was good at what he did, damn it.
Why should he justify his work choices?
All good questions but ones that had very little validity in the face of a frustrated partner who was scared and scarred by recent events.
Something he’d do well to remember.
Like a deflating balloon, his selfish anger faded. Yes, they’d still need to work through this. He was still a PI and there were still going to be cases she didn’t like.
But...those cases weren’t going to be the investigation of her father. Perhaps he could give a bit more credence to that aspect of the situation.
