Page 128 of Wicked Serve

She shakes her head slightly, as if she doesn’t believe what she’s seeing, but she’s smiling.

“Come on another adventure with me,” she says, tangling our fingers together. “Starting with lunch on the Brisbane River.”

Chapter 60

Izzy

“I just realized something.”

Nik, lounging across the bed—part of an extremely fancy suite overlooking downtown Brisbane—props his head up. “What’s that?”

“I need a new life’s dream.” I join him on the bed, enjoying the taste of chocolate on my tongue from our shared slice of cake at dinner. I take off my earrings. “I’ve held a koala. I don’t know what’s left for me. I didn’t expect to experience my greatest wish this early.”

He holds out his hand for the earrings and places them on the nightstand. “Hard to top, I know.”

The smile on his face is so smug, I have no choice but to pinch his thigh. The spontaneous trip, the amazing day spent at the sanctuary, the donation—I never imagined that anyone outside of my immediate family would care so much about my happiness. He’s right, I needed the break. I’ve been running at full speed since the semester began, and it was starting to wear on me.

I pulled Maren aside earlier to ask about the donation details, and the number made my mouth drop open. That, and the fact it’s yearly. It’s outrageous, and yet it’s not a complete surprise. He’s so hard on himself, when in reality, he’s one of the best people I’ve ever known.

I lean in for a kiss, wanting to taste the sugar on his lips. I’m proud that he’s starting to let himself enjoy sweets when he wants them. He deserves chocolate cake every now and again. He unclasps my necklace, careful not to snag it on my hair.

“Thank you. For all of it. This has been amazing.”

He holds my gaze, his gold-brown eyes bright in the lamplight. His finger traces from my wrist to my elbow with deliberate slowness. I bite the inside of my cheek, pressing my legs together.

“Do you want to go out? To a bar maybe, or a nightclub?”

“Is that why you packed that yellow dress?”

“It’s the dress I first saw you in. Last fall, I mean. At the party with Victoria.”

“It makes me look like a highlighter.”

“A fucking sexy highlighter.”

I burst into laughter. “You’re so full of shit.”

He laughs too, snagging me around the waist and pulling me into his lap. The skirt of the dress I’m wearing—fortunately not highlighter yellow, but rather a beautiful blush pink with a short skirt and sweetheart neckline—rucks up as my thighs settle on either side of his. He’s half-hard in his charcoal slacks; earlier, I couldn’t stop staring at the way they molded perfectly to his ass. The top two buttons of his white shirt are undone, giving me a tantalizing peek at his sculpted chest.

He finds the zipper on the back of my dress and tugs it down. I’m not wearing a bra, so his hands span the width of my bare back, the blunt tips of his nails digging in. I’m torn on whether I want to wriggle into the yellow dress and dance with him or keep the party going in private, until I see the look in his eyes. It’s not yearning, not even hunger—it’s practically starvation, as if even this position, with both of us fully clothed, has him close to the edge.

I lean in, letting my breath wash over his lips. He swallows, his Adam’s apple moving.

“Is that what you want?” I tug on the lock of hair hanging over his forehead. “To dance with me at a nightclub?”

“This trip is about you, sweetheart.”

I let the dress fall off my shoulders. His gaze drops to my tits, unabashedly admiring them.

“Let me thank you properly, then.”

Before I can kiss him, he grips my wrist, shaking his head slightly. “You never have to do that. Sex doesn’t have to be...”

“I know that.” And I do; I know he’d never expect anything. “But this is what I want. I always want you, Nik.”

I nearly call him Kolya, but I’m not sure if I’d be pushing my luck. I couldn’t help myself earlier; it slipped out before I could change course. I could have sworn something changed in his expression when he heard it. Not a bad something, but noticeable all the same.

I push the hair away from his face, suddenly so full of fondness I couldn’t stop smiling if I tried. I kiss his scar, then lick it, and he makes a noise in his throat that sounds close enough to a growl, I don’t know whether to giggle or moan. He rolls us over, so I’m on my back and he’s caging me in with that lithe body I fucking love, and bites my lip before kissing me properly.

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