Page 31 of Broken Princess

“I was in love with Aurora for years. At least, I thought I was. I pined after her. When she got married, and I met you, I figured my feelings weren’t real. They were exaggerations I’d imagined based on our friendship. A sort of delusion I’d leaned into to avoid accepting myself and embracing that I was gay.”

Nico continues for me—because of course he does. How does he figure out what’s in my head before me? Every. Damn. Time. “And now you’re realising that you always had feelings for her, and you still do.” It’s not a question.

I swallow audibly and in a meek voice that I don’t recognise, reply, “Yes.”

It feels so dishonourable to say that to my partner. Someone I love with everything I have. But I continue, “When I realised it was her on that warehouse floor, it all came flooding back, and I don’t know what to do with it all.” Unable to look at Nico, I avert my gaze to the landscape passing us by.

Nico pulls the car over, switches the engine off and turns to face me. “You love me.”

Panicking, I snap my eyes to his, my voice almost shrill as I say, “Of course, I do. How can you say that to me?”

“Calm down, you twat. It wasn’t a question. I love you, Bambi, but sometimes you can be so dense. I know you’re not only attracted to men. I’ve been waiting for you to figure it out for years. I have no issue with whatever you’re feeling for Aurora. You need to figure it out and how that affects you. Are you planning on leaving me?” he asks and gives me a rare, sweet smile. He’ll deny it later, of course.

His loving look brings me back down, calming my fraying nerves. “Of course not. You’re perfect for me. Who else would gift me a rapist to beat the shit out of when I’m having a bad day? Best present ever, by the way.” I lean over and grab the back of his neck and kiss him savagely. Claiming his lips and showing him just how much he means to me. Our breaths mingle and I feel the familiar warmth in my chest. One that feels like home.

I break our kiss and hold his gaze. “I love you, Nico. It’s just I think a part of me has always loved her, too. And I don’t know what to do with that.”

“Do you need to do anything with that?” he asks, with no hint of anything other than support and honesty.

“I guess not,” I reply, unsure of myself. “Doesn’t it worry you I’m so confused?”

“Bambi, you’re confused, but not about me or us.”

His understanding and endless support doesn’t shock me like it used to. This man is amazing. It annoys the fuck out of me that most people don’t see it.

“You continually blow me away, Nico.” I lean in to steal another kiss, more gently this time, and his eyebrows raise in surprise at my tenderness. “I wish you’d let other people see this side of you.”

“I reserve this for you,” he growls, taking control back and placing his hand around my throat, squeezing just enough to allow me to feel my pulse throbbing under his thumb. “You’re mine.” Then he tilts his head and pauses before leaning closer. So close, I feel his breath dance along my jaw and across my earlobe. “There’s a part of you that will only ever belong to me. That glorious submissive part—that’s mine.”

I nod, dropping my head back, elongating my neck for him. Enjoying the weight of his palm at my throat, the rasp of his tone, the dark possessiveness that bleeds out of his every pore.

“But there’s a part of you that may also be hers. One that wants to protect her the way I protect you, Bambi. The way I look after you… in all ways.”

I’m so confused, “And you’re okay with that? Are you saying what I think you’re saying? You’d share me?”

I’ve entered a parallel universe, where up is down, left is right and someone who doms the ever-loving fuck out of me and is the most possessive man I know just suggested he’d let me fuck someone else.

“Yes.” His expression shifts to something foreign. He’s unsure, and for just a moment, his fuck-around-and-find-out demeanour slips. He looks vulnerable as he says, “I need to talk to you about something.”

I feel my eyes flare as panic seizes a tight grip on me. Those words sound so ominous. My posture shifts and I become rigid, waiting for my fight or flight instinct to figure out which way it’s leaning.

“Easy now, Bambi. It’s nothing bad.”

“Promise?” I slump in relief while my tone softens, sounding more like a prayer.

He captures my gaze and refuses to release it. “I promise,” he says with a dominating tone that embodies the ownership and power he has over me. Releasing the breath I’ve been holding hostage, I relax back into the passenger seat.

“It’s not that I’m saying I’d share you. I’m saying I think I would share you with her.” He pauses and heaves down a breath of his own to help him force out what he doesn’t look ready to say. But whatever it is, I will understand. “There’s something about her. She doesn’t just call to you. That woman brings out something in me I’ve only ever felt for you. It’s confusing, and unwelcome, and infuriating. It pisses me the fuck off, but it’s there.”

I’m staring at him, trying to figure out how to respond to this. The silence grows and becomes more and more awkward. When it becomes close to unbearable, he rambles just to fill the gaping maw that is this silence.

“I’m not saying I’m in love with her, just that we had a moment, and I overstepped and tried to dom her, a reflex and it was unexpected, and I thought I’d hurt her and it was a clusterf?—”

This is not like him. Nico does not discuss feelings. I lean across and cut him off with a hungry and adoring kiss that stuns him into silence. That’s better.

“Shut up, you twat,” I mumble against his lips, failing to suppress a smirk. From the way his brow is furrowed I’d say he’s more than a little confused. He’s emitting a low growl, disappointed in himself for letting his armour slip.

“You’re attracted to her, too. How about we just leave it at that for now? I love you; you love me. Nothing affects that. You reassured me. Now it’s my turn, Nico. Whatever you feel for her now or in the future, I know you’re mine and I’m yours. Right?”

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