Page 37 of Where the Wicked Reign

She was impressive, to say the least.

Strong, independent, and forthright. And obviously sexy as hell.

And the way she’d been giving it right back to him all these years was incredible.

I’d never spoken more than a couple of words to her in that time or been within her vicinity because she had been his obsession to play with. Plus, there was that whole thing about Nico taking away the location she’d wanted for her club and giving it to me forNocturne,which had made her only look at me with disdain, not exactly starting us off on the right foot. Also, I’d been busy immersing myself in my work and a whole lot of hardcore partying. I didn’t stop for a moment to assess things, really, especially not my personal life. I didn’t like the stillness or the silence. I always had to be doing something.

But then tonight had happened.

And I’d had to stand still for a while and deal with this.

She’d been right there in front of me.

Right up close.

And I’d liked what I’d seen.

Especially her having this odd power to put Nico in his place. It was hot as fuck. He actually compromised in her presence. For her. I’d nevereverseen that before from him.

But more than that, I liked how she was willing to go against her father’s wishes with this marriage directive and that she wasn’t afraid to. I’d experienced a similar thing with my father, defying him and being punished for it as a result. I knew how that went.

The door to the master bedroom opened and the sexy piece in question strolled on out, her laptop in hand. She’d taken it in there with her before she’d locked the door, not wanting it to remain on the coffee table within our reach without her supervision.

She was wearing a pair of Balenciaga yoga pants and a strappy white tank with a black bra beneath, somehow giving off a sexy yet cozy look at the same time.Christ.

Her wavy brown hair was damp and wild and even from here I could smell her perfume. Chanel No. 5 as Nico had mentioned it being before.

“Good, you’re all here,” she said, briefly glancing at Milo, before taking a seat on the edge of her wraparound couch and settling her laptop on the coffee table. She gestured at the far end of the couch and told us, “Come on then, let’s get to it. I need to get at least a couple of hours’ sleep before work tomorrow.”

Nico went to speak, but she held up her hand. “If anything out of your mouth is about the craziness that went down in my bedroom, I’ll kick you out and we’ll do this via secure video call instead.”

“So, you’re back to denial again,” Nico grunted and Milo and I grimaced at one another as it looked like he was on the way to getting worked up again—in a very dangerous way.

“If I was back to denial, I would have actually kicked both you and your whore-of-the-century best buddy out. And I certainly wouldn’t have invited your guard dog up here.”

“Whore of the century?” I uttered, grinning.

She lifted a shoulder. “Am I wrong?”

“I enjoy fucking. Being referred to as a whore, though, that’s another thing entirely. It speaks to some major repression from you, darlin’.”

I expected her to bite right back at me, but instead she smiled and said, “Hmm, touché.”

“How long?” I asked.

She looked between all three of us, and then her gaze settled on Nico. “I’m sure you already know with all your stalking.”

“Three years,” he revealed. “Levi and you were each other’s firsts. It’s the only time you allowed yourself to let your guard down and go there with anyone.”

“Almost. It was actually more of a therapy sort of thing for the both of us.”

“Because of his trauma with the kidnapping and you wanting to prove to yourself that you were free of all your father’s expectations, including the whole ridiculous remaining-a-virgin-until-an-arranged-marriage thing.”

“And now we’re getting married, that doesn’t bother you?”

I could tell by the way she asked the question that she didn’t really give a crap what he thought, but she was testing him.

“He prefers them broken in,” I told her.

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