“Mmmm. That’s right, you show me how much you like it when I own you.” He sounds close to finishing, himself, and when he makes one final thrust into me, hard and deep, he stills. I feel him offload inside me and I sigh like a needy fucking whore.

What the hell has happened to me?

“Come here.” He wraps me up tight in his arms, keeping his cock buried. “I’m right here,” I tell him, clutching his back ashe stares down at me. “Right now, there's nobody on this earth more important than you,” he tells me while catching his breath. “I won’t let anyone hurt you. You just…” He stops himself from saying anymore and tenses his jaw.

“Nic?” I let him see how confused I am. Where did all that come from?

“You just have to be honest with me, okay? About everything.”

“Sure.” I nod back slowly, and when he kisses my forehead and snuggles back into my body, I don’t move or tell him he should leave. I just stroke my hands through his hair and take in the scent of him, while his cock remains hard inside me.

His breaths get softer and I realize he’s fallen asleep. I should probably wake him up and tell him to leave but having him here, like this, feels far better than it should so I let him be.

“Are you nervous?” I ask Nic as he checks his tie in the mirror by the door.

“About meeting your mom? No.” He shakes his head and at least tries to act confident. “But just out of interest, do you think she’s going to like me?”

“You put a baby in me before I graduated college, she’s going to hate you.” I manage to keep a straight face until his eyebrows rise and he swallows nervously. “Relax, I was kidding,” I burst out laughing. “You should see your face, though. I didn’t think the great Nic Conte was capable of fear.”

“Yeah, well thegreat Nic Contehas never done the whole meet the parent thing before.” He shrugs into his jacket.

“She’s going to see that we’re handling this right and that you have a secure jo–” I pause when I remember there's something I have to tell him.

“What?” Nic must sense from my face that there’s something I’m keeping from him because he tilts his head and has that,I know you did something stupid, look on his face.

“I kind of told her you were a realtor” I bite my lip awkwardly, as I move closer and readjust his tie for him. He wears one most days so I don’t know how he manages to never get it central.

“Lorna, I don’t know jack about selling houses.”

“Well, I could hardly tell her the truth. Come to think about it, Nic, I don’t even know what thetruthis. What do you do?” I step back and study him curiously.

“I…That's not for you to worry about,” he stutters as he moves past me to grab my jacket and hold it open for me.

“Come on, Nic, I was hardly going to tell her that my baby daddy is part of the mafia crime family.” I laugh as I slide my arms into the sleeves then pick up my purse and follow him toward the door.

“Say that again, I liked it.” He stops and turns around so fast that I bump into his chest. Slowly, I raise my eyes to look up at his, all the while willing our lips to touch again.

“Mafia crime family,” I say the words slowly and sarcastically.

“Not that, the thing you said before. What you called me.” The way his eyes slightly squint makes my pussy clench like he’s missing from it.

“Baby Daddy.” This time I try to sound seductive, and it must work because he presses my body up against the door and lets me feel for myself what it’s done to him.

“If I wasn’t so keen to make a good impression on your mom and arrive on time, I’d have you say that again with this cockstroking against your cervix.” Just the thought makes my nipples harden and my clit pulse. “But first impressions count so it’s going to have to wait.” He kisses me roughly on the lips and then opens the door for me.

“Since when has kissing become something we just do?” I ask as I move out into the hall.

“Since you made it impossible not to.” He gives me my answer sharply before calling for the elevator.

Things have been really good between us these past few days. Nic has slept in my room every night since Serena’s birthday, and it’s kind of cute the way his hand rests on my tummy all night. It’s starting to feel as if we are in some kind of unspoken relationship, and I know we should talk about it but things are going too well, I don’t want to spoil it. Maybe our getting closer has made it easier for me to notice that Nic has something on his mind. He’s gotten even more protective over me since the party, he doesn’t even let Seb drive me where I need to go, anymore. I really hope that his need to be by my side, twenty-four/seven, isn’t pissing off Dario because if I’m being honest, I’m not just getting used to it, I’m actually starting to like it.

“So, did you tell your friends about me coming on your trip?” he asks as he drives towards my mother’s house. I never gave him an address yet he seems to know where he’s going.

“Yeah, I told them.” I look down at my lap. Cass was, of course, excited, Jonah just shrugged, and Wes…he looked kind of put out. He’s started acting strange lately. He stares at me for far too long and often speaks negatively about Nic which is starting to piss me off. Not that I’d ever tell Nic about it. I wouldn’t want to wake up one morning and find out that Wes wasswimming with the fishesor worse, have to admit that Nic might have been right about him.

“I’m pleased you sorted it out. I asked Dario about the jet and he says it’s fine as long as nothing urgent comes up. You know, I was thinking–”

“Let’s not talk about the trip,” I cut him off.