Page 37 of Captivated

He’s holding back with this kiss, and I appreciate that more than he knows.

There’s no rushing. There’s no endgame.

Despite the flirty and dirty texts, and alpha-man insistence earlier, he still respects my words and isn’t forcing more from me.

I cup his cheek and he breaks our kiss, leaning his forehead against mine. My eyes remain closed, wanting to savor everything about this moment, but I need to see his.

His deep brown eyes are waiting for me, and I feel his face muscles tick with the urge to smile when I caress his cheek.

Words fail me for the first time.

The intensity of the moment becomes overwhelming, so I pull away and take a small step back, needing a little breathing room before I’m consumed by everything about him. His eyes, face, voice, touch, smell…it’s all a dizzying storm that I can’t let myself be swept away in.

“Are you hungry?” I find myself asking, needing to break the silence so I’m less tense.

He gives me a smug smile that I would love to kiss off his face if I didn’t just tell myself I needed a little space.

“I am.”

I lead him inside, and after I take my coat off, he hands me the bottle of wine and shrugs his coat off as well. It seems like such a mundane thing, but Nico hanging his coat on the hook beside mine like he’s done it a thousand times when he’s come home, has my heart racing at the thought.

Nico coming home.

To Me.

It’s a scary thought, and I don’t know why I’m even thinking it.

I shake my head and go into the kitchen. “You can open this and I’ll heat the food again.” I can’t bring myself to look him in the eyes yet, so I shove the bottle and opener in his hands and turn the stove back on.

Why did I invite him in here? I said I wasn’t going to, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want him here. Just being around him is settling my nerves after everything with Sean.

“I like your house. It feels lived in,” Nico says in passing.

“I’m not sure that’s a compliment.”

“It is. I never had a home that had a homey feel to it.”

“What about your place now? Isn’t that a home you made for yourself?”

“It is. But it doesn’t hold memories like I know this house does.”

“Not all memories are good ones,” I tell him, finally looking him in the eyes.

“I know,” he says, a look of understanding flooding his gaze.

He doesn’t know, though. No one does. I haven’t told anyone everything about me. Not even Lexi. She and I have been friends going on four years now, but that doesn’t mean I’ve spilled my life story to her. Not even when I was at my drunkest did I let my secrets slip.

I was raised to keep things to myself.Everything stays within the family, is what my dad always used to say. And my brother and I learned the harsh truth of what happens when you don’t keep your mouth shut.

“What do you know?” I challenge.

“I know how a place that holds good memories can also be the same place that holds your worst. I know Lexi already told you who I am and who my family is, but you don’t know how it was before my cousin, Leo, took over as the head of the family.”

“I’d like to know. If you want to tell me, that is. I know you probably don’t talk about it or aren’t supposed to.”

“I can. To the right person who I know I can trust.”

He trusts me?

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