Page 55 of Wicked Serve

“Don’t wanna squish you,” I mumble.

“I like it.” She skims her nails over my nape, making me shiver. “You didn’t even get undressed.”

“I’m sure we look ridiculous.”

“Everyone on your floor must hate us.”

I snort, kissing her temple. Eventually, I ease out of her and settle us on our sides. Spooned against me, I’m able to truly hold her, my heart beating a possessive tattoo all the while. I always worry about pushing her too far in bed, and she always gives it back as good as she takes it.

“Nik,” she murmurs into the twilight. “I really am sorry.”

I skim my nose over her bare shoulder. “And I’m sorry I overreacted.”

“But I pushed.” She twists to look at me. “I just... I want you to know I’m here. When you are ready to share.”

I trace over her hip. After I dropped her off around the corner from her house, I sat on the curb until my nausea passed and I could feel my hands again, but it wasn’t easy.

I should be pulling away. Better not to play the game at all than try and lose. I can’t have more with her, no matter my possessiveness, and the other night made that crystal clear.

And yet, selfishly, I kiss her cheek. “Spend the night.”

“Cooper will wonder where I am.”

I reach for her purse, pulling out her phone, and type out a text one-handed. I hit send. “Now he won’t.”

She huffs a quiet bit of laughter. “You better not make me late for conditioning.”

Chapter 26

Izzy

I finish up in the bathroom and slip back into Nik’s room, giving him a tentative smile. I couldn’t stand the sight of him with Cooper when everything was so precarious with us, and I’m glad about what just happened, but I still feel fragile. On edge. I could have sworn that something about the way he looked at me as he told me to come for him was... different. Possessive, and not just in the way guys naturally get when they have a woman in their bed. This felt ravenous, as if he’d have torn apart whoever asked me on a date instead.

There’s more to his past than he’s letting on. Whatever led to his parents’ divorce, whatever makes him stiffen at the mere mention of his father—there’s a deep wound there, and I’d bet anything that it has to do with his scar. If he’s truly been as lonely as Katherine claimed, I doubt he’s told many people about it. Perhaps no one at all. The thought makes me want to wrap him up in a hug.

I curl beside him in bed. He tucks a bookmark into the mystery novel he’s reading, setting it aside as he puts an arm around me. We were just as intimate as ever, and yet this feels more dangerous than being on my knees for him. Despite all the time we’ve spent together, I haven’t stayed over at his dorm. I always drive back, calling him as soon as I get to the house. Maybe this is reckless, but I did make Cooper believe I was going on a date. We might as well milk it for all it’s worth.

“The Rift shirt again?” he says, plucking at the sleeve.

“You need to do laundry.”

“Call the dry cleaner, you mean.”

I shake my head fondly. “I was wondering how your shirts have perfect creases.”

“Mm.” He kisses my hair. “Like I’d insult my suits with the school washing machines.”

I twist, so I can kiss him properly, and revel in the way his hand slips down to press against my lower back. I let myself get lost in his clean scent, our shared minty breath, the way he shivers when I cup his jaw. When we eventually break for air, his eyes are gleaming. He turns off his bedside lamp, plunging the room into darkness. My eyes slowly adjust to the moonlight drifting in through the window.

He kisses me again, hard enough our teeth scrape together.

“Can I ask you something?”

I nod, twisting in his embrace so I can trace down his bare chest.

“Did you mean what you said the other day? No other guys have made you come?”

I’m glad he turned off the light, so he can’t see my blush. When I saw Jeremy, who I slept with three times last year, outside of Lark’s, I panicked, and blurted out that secret. I’d hoped Nik forgot about it, given all that happened after, but apparently, I’m not that lucky.

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