Page 74 of Enforcer's Obsession

When that thought sprang up, I didn’t try to argue with it.

I was sure my mother had thought the same thing about my stepfather, and I might be walking into the same trap.

But even after all I’d seen, Nico was the only person who’d ever made me think I might be able to trust him. I wasn’t sure if I did yet, but the possibility was there.

And I would miss him when I was gone.

“Be good, Champ,” I said.

The dog barked, and I closed the sliding glass door, the need to see Nico overwhelming me.

He was in the back, the place I presumed was his office, and I went to it, not allowing myself to slow down enough to think.

I didn’t even knock on the door, and found him standing over his desk, a notebook on the top, two pieces of paper in either hand.

He put the papers down quickly and closed the notebook.

“What is it?” he asked.

I didn’t answer. Instead I took two steps forward, and he moved toward me and met me in the middle of the floor.

I stared into his dark eyes, searching, looking for something.

Except I didn’t know what.

I just knew that meeting Nico had changed me and changed my life.

That leaving him would change me again.

I moved on instinct, reaching out to run my fingers against his strong jaw.

It shook under my touch, and he stared at me, confused.

I wasn’t.

I didn’t know what would happen tomorrow, didn’t know what I felt about what had happened in the days before, but knew that in this moment, Nico and me, together, was all that mattered.

I stretched up tall and kissed him with everything I had.

Then settled on my feet, my eyes locked with his.

“Nico, make love to me please,” I whispered.

It felt so freeing, and also scary to say those words, but when he looked back at me, his eyes bright, I knew that they were right.

Nico didn’t say anything. He just led me to his room, to his bed, and when he entered me, I knew I’d found my home.

TWENTY-TWO

Nico

“I have never seena waffle with any of that on it,” I said to Hope as we left the restaurant one afternoon.

I’d clearly hit on something with waffles; she loved them, and we’d become regulars here.

“That’s because you’ve never lived,” she said, a smile playing on her lips.

“If bacon, apples, and caramel drizzle is life…” I said, looking at her skeptically.

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