Page 85 of Ruthless Sin
My hand goes to the side of my face. There’s a crease there. From his pillow.
His pillow.
My nightgown smells like his sheets. Like him.
I don’t move.
I can still feel the heat of him, the space between us that never closed. The line of his ribs when he breathed. The hollow at the base of his throat. The way his eyes looked at me in the dark.
I wanted to touch him.
To put my hand on his chest and feel his heartbeat. To close the distance and press my mouth to his.
I lay close enough to feel his warmth. I let him sleep.
I get under the covers in my own bed.
The sheets are cold. They smell like nothing.
I close my eyes and his warmth is still on my skin.
18
NICO
She closes the door behind her and crosses the room, and the sound of the latch catching is the loudest thing I’ve heard all day.
Bare feet on the wood. The dress is one Sofia brought her — soft, dark, easy against her body. The chain at her throat.
I’m at my desk when she comes in and I don’t move. She’s early. Usually she comes in the deep hours when the household has gone quiet. Tonight there’s still noise below us, voices, the kitchen winding down, and she came anyway.
The room smells like her. It has for weeks. My cock goes hard the second she walks in. That’s weeks old too.
She sits on the edge of the bed and looks at me without speaking, and the quiet between us has weeks in it.
She lifts her arms over her head and pulls the dress off in one motion. I didn't think I could get any harder. I was wrong. It's almost painful and I do not look away.
She’s in a bra. Cotton pants underneath, soft against her thighs. Her breath hasn’t changed. Her body is still.
She doesn’t look at the door. She looks at me.
I grip the edge of the desk behind me. My knuckles are going white. I know they’re going white.
“Tell me what you want.”
She doesn’t answer.
She lifts her right hand and reaches for me.
I stand.
I cross the room.
Weeks of her in my bed. Four inches between us. The door has stayed open.
Tonight she closed the door.
I sit beside her on the bed. Not in front of her. Beside her.
