Page 57 of Runaway Queen

“No more secrets.” He nipped me again, making me laugh.

“It’s yours. Didn’t you see? I’ve always been yours.” The words left me in a rush, and I blushed. Thankfully, it was too dark for Nikolai to tell.

His grin against my thigh told me he knew anyway.

“And you didn’t think to tell me when I first found you? Hmmm?”

“You weren’t very approachable.” His tongue was right back on my clit, laving it in rough circles. “I was scared. Scared you’d never forgive me.”

He hummed against me. “You should have realized by now… I’d forgive you anything. Scar my face, get stabby with yourliccasapuni,turn me in to the police… I’ll always forgive you. I’ll never let you fall, remember?”

Tears sprang to my eyes. “It’s been so long, I didn’t know if you’d still feel that way.”

He worked his way up my body, and before I knew it, he was pressing inside me.

“I have no other way of being, prom queen. Loving you is in my bones.”

21

SOFIA

Ringing pulled me from a dreamless sleep.

I fumbled for my phone on the nightstand, and my hand hit the bed. I never slept in the middle. I cracked my eyes open and blinked at the empty mattress beside me, my phone flashing furiously from the bedside table. I shuffled to it, my muscles aching in all kids of places.

“Hello?”

“Good morning! Dinner today? I thought I could meet you at St. Mary’s, and once visiting hours are done, we can go out. Just the girls.”

I took a deep breath, trying to force my brain to work. Last night felt like a dream.

“Okay, sure. Let’s do it.”

“What’s wrong? You sound weird.”

Chiara knew me far too well.

“Nothing. I’ll catch you up later. Girls’ night sounds good.”

“Okay, great. Now I can’t wait. I can just tell it’s something juicy.”

“You sound way too excited about that.”

“Girl, I’ve been waiting for something juicy from you for years. I’m due.”

I hung up and put my phone back. As I did, I noticed a shine on my hand. My ring had returned to its place on my finger.

Nikolai had to have put it back on.

Where the hell was he? I glanced around the room. There was no trace of him. Had I imagined it all? No, the ache between my legs proved that he’d been very real.

I laid back and stared at the ceiling. I had to get up and get to work. I had to shower. I must smell like him. I had to get it together. I would, for sure. I just needed five more minutes to linger on the memories of last night.

* * *

School had draggedby as I tried to reassure myself that I wasn’t waiting to hear my phone ring. It hadn’t rung, in any case, not for a call or a message. Not that I was fixated on the fact that I had bared my entire soul last night to Nikolai, and he’d disappeared immediately after, and not called or texted. Nope. I didn’t care.

When the last bell of the day rang, I’d never been so ready to leave. I headed out early. I just wanted to get to the hospital and see Leo.

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