Chapter 97

Nicholas licked at the seam of my lips before coaxing his way into my mouth with his insistent and demanding tongue. I closed my arms around his neck, holding on as best I could while he delved and mapped my mouth like he belonged there.

Like this, it felt like he did.

His hands dropped to my waist, where he gripped me firmly. His body held me flat against the door at my back.

When we had been intimate in the past, it had been soft and slow, gentle and tender, with barely there touches and exploratory kisses. It had been a low simmer, burning over a long evening as we shyly explored each other’s bodies.

This was nothing like that.

Where that had been a simmer, this was an explosion.

His kiss was fierce, claiming. His body was everywhere against mine, yet still somehow not close enough. I wanted him naked. I wanted the press of his bare flesh to mine so that nothing could ever come between us.

His hands moved down from my waist and gripped my ass. I moaned against his mouth.

Yes, that. More like that.

He complied by taking me fully in his hands. He lifted me up against the door, wedging me there with his thighs. I wrapped my legs around his waist. His rock-hard arousal pressed against my core and I moaned again, louder.

He covered my mouth with another kiss. But I couldn’t keep quiet, especially when he began to rock his hips.

Breaking the kiss, he moved his lips to my ear. Meanwhile, he reached up and covered my mouth with one of his palms.

“Anyone could hear you,” he whispered. He took my earlobe between his teeth. He didn’t bite, just held it as he rolled his hips again, pressing me further up the door. “Maybe you want to be caught. Maybe we should let everyone know that I’m the only one who can make you lose yourself like this.”

Danger and adrenaline surged inside of me, swirling deliciously with my fiery lust.

I wanted him to keep talking. I wanted him to rip my clothes off. I wanted him to fuck me right here, right now against this door.

His jealousy was burning hot, that much was clear. He had misunderstood Julian and my relationship and it drove him mad. He wanted to claim me, to keep me from Julian. And despite myself, I wanted him to claim me, too.

I’d never seen this animalistic side of him before. He was always so measured, so controlled.

I wanted to make him wild, to see how hard I could press him, to see how rough he would get.

But, even like this, I couldn’t make him more jealous. The truth was, I didn’t care about Julian in the same way. Julian was a friend. Nicholas was someone I wanted to ravage me, heart and body, until I was a whimpering puddle of pleasure and satisfaction.

So I pressed my mouth into his neck and told him. “Only you. Only you, Nick.”

His dick twitched against me, growing impossibly harder. His grip on me tightened.

“I just want you.”

At once, his hips shot forward once, twice, pounding me into the door so hard that it rattled on its hinges. He growled, wolflike, in my ear.

God, the friction was perfect. If he kept going like this, I could reach my pleasure.

But as soon as his wild side had revealed itself, it immediately vanished. Suddenly, he stilled as if he had transformed into marble. Only his cock continued to twitch against me.

Slowly, he lowered me down. I unhooked my legs from behind him to get them back under me.

“Nicholas?” I asked, breathless.

When I was steady, he stepped back from me. His hair was a mess from my running my fingers through it. His chest heaved with heavy breaths. His lips were kiss-red and swollen, likely mirroring my own.

But his eyes were crystal focused now. Whatever fire that had sparked there had been well contained. He was pulling himself back under control, and I felt cold, mourning the loss.

He didn’t apologize, thank God, but he didn’t say anything else either. No explanations. No words of comfort or cruelty.

Looking at me, he swallowed hard. Then, finally, he said, “Return to your room, Piper.” His voice was still lust-rough. He cleared it but did not speak again.

He’d made it sound like an order, and not a sexy one. His words were like a bucket of cold water dumped over my head.

I opened my mouth to say something, I honestly wasn’t sure what, when he abruptly turned and all but ran from me. He disappeared into his room, the door closed and locked behind him.

I stood staring after him, trying to collect myself after everything that happened. In the end, I simply felt abandoned.

Confused and embarrassed, I returned to my room. If Mark noticed my disheveled state of dress, he did not mention it. Good, since it was likely his fault, Nicholas had known to look for me at all. If Mark said something now, I’d likely reply with a cutting remark I didn’t mean and would regret.

The person I was truly hurt by was Nicholas, not Mark. But I was ready to lash out at just about anyone.

Except Elva.

I went to her side to check on her. She was still sleeping peacefully.

Finally, I exhaled and slunk down onto the mattress beside her. Here, in the safety of my room with the knowledge of Elva safe and happy, I could reflect on whatever the hell had just happened between me and Nicholas.

My body had ignited when Nicholas had touched me, and I couldn’t blame nostalgia for it this time. Before, our intimacy had been shy and experimental. This had been all heat and passion, and even a little rough. And I loved it.

I had wanted him to continue so badly, I nearly begged for it. I might have, had we gone on longer.

I was a mess.

I only went out to try to find Julian and convince him to save me during the next elimination. Instead, I ended up dry humping Nicholas against his door.

What kind of person was I? I couldn’t control my libido? I was a virgin, sure, but I wasn’t sex-crazed. At least, I never had been before.

Nicholas had drawn it out of me. Even after our breakup and with our years apart, he was the only person I ever wanted.

Kissing him tonight had lit a spark inside of me. I felt like I had been just sleepwalking before, placing myself and my needs secondary to everything else, but now, I was coming alive again.

If I acknowledged my own desires, then yes, I wanted to fall into bed with Nicholas. The problem, of course, was that I also wanted to keep him there afterwards.

I didn’t want a one and done with Nicholas. I wanted him for life. A dangerous, impossible prospect.

I needed to get my head on straight. I needed to put my selfish personal desires back on the shelf where they belonged. This competition was more than just my wants. My life was more than just what I wanted.

I had an obligation to Elva. I couldn’t make selfish choices anymore. I had a daughter.

So whatever Nicholas unlocked in me tonight, needed to be locked up again.

I had to put him totally out of my mind.

But as I pressed my fingers against my lips, I didn’t know how I would ever be able to forget the passion he had shown me tonight.

I wondered if he was still thinking of me, too.