All the Lies We Tell (Quarry Road #1)(69)

She laughed, hard and loud. “Me?”

“Yeah. Have you been seeing anyone?”

She pressed her lips together to hold back another round of chuckles. “God. No. I mean, I have gone on some dates and stuff, but not for a long time.”

“How come?”

He twined a long strand of her hair around a fingertip, a gesture that would’ve driven her out of her skull with annoyance had anyone else tried it. Much like the way he’d cupped her face moments before. At the gentle tug, she let her head tip toward him before he released her.

“Quarrytown,” she told him, as though that were enough of an answer.

Nikolai laughed. “The pool’s very shallow, huh?”

“If you’re not related to someone, you went to school with them,” she pointed out, and scooted closer so he could put an arm around her. “Or you’ve known them since you were, like, three.”

“Gross,” he said with a laugh, since of course they’d known each other that long. He squeezed her closer.

She propped her feet up next to his on the coffee table, and they sat that way for a few minutes. She tapped his foot with hers. He returned the motion. She snuggled closer, at last paying attention to what was on the television but not willing to give up this closeness to grab the remote.

“This is nice,” Alicia said.

Nikolai made a murmured, sleepy reply. She twisted to peek at him and saw his eyes were closed. A faint smile played on his mouth. She didn’t want to wake him. She wanted to watch him, just this way.

Time had brought him back to her in a way that she guessed neither of them could’ve imagined. Whatever that meant, she thought, as she traced the curves and lines of his face with her gaze. Fate? Destiny?

A shared desire for eventual and mutual self-destruction?

Leaving him to sleep on the couch, she took their wineglasses to the kitchen, where she flipped on the outside light to look at the falling snow. It was still coming thick and fast. Heavy curtains of white that blocked out the sight of anything else. At least half a foot had layered on top of the picnic table in the backyard. She clicked off the light and turned, letting out a soft yelp as she connected with a solid male body.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

She let herself be enfolded. Her cheek pressed the softness of his flannel shirt. In the dark of her kitchen, they moved slowly. Not quite dancing, but definitely not standing still.

“Are you tired?” she asked.

“A little.”

“Are you going to go home?”

“No,” Nikolai said.

She smiled against him. “Good.”





CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO


Nikolai woke with the taste of her still on his lips. They’d made love slowly, leisurely, taking their time, and it seemed impossible now, after sleeping, that it wasn’t yet morning. Not even the hint of light peeked through Alicia’s soft curtains, so he contented himself with curling up against her back. Naked. Warm. He pushed aside the fall of her hair so he could press his mouth to the back of her neck. His hand curved over her hip.

She didn’t say anything, but she wiggled against him in a way that was definitely going to cause a reaction. He waited to see if she’d speak, or move again, but with a sigh, it seemed Alicia had fallen back into dreams. Nikolai closed his own eyes, no longer tired. He’d grown used to sleeping comfortably in any kind of bed, any kind of situation, but it seemed as he got older, he needed to sleep less, and without the clock to tell him it was nowhere near time to wake up, his body was considering starting the day.

He relaxed into the warm cave of the blankets and Alicia’s skin, instead. If he couldn’t sleep, at least he could enjoy this moment. He wanted there to be a lot more times like this.

It wasn’t going to end well.

How could it? Even if he could put aside the rise of jealousy that clenched his fists every time he thought about Ilya doing even one of the multitude of things Nikolai and Alicia had done, even if he could get past the incestuous tumult of being with his brother’s wife, there was no getting beyond the simple truth that he and Alicia had always been more like oil and water than air and fire.

No woman had ever made him so angry or pushed him so far beyond the limits of his temper. None had ever made him laugh so hard or feel so protective. He kissed her bare shoulder, tasting her. Breathing her in. It seemed that Nikolai could remember easily dozens of times when he’d been convinced he hated Alicia, but there was no time when he could not remember loving her.

“Are you awake?” he whispered into the darkness, half hoping she wouldn’t answer.

She wriggled against him. “Mmffff.”

It was enough of a response for him. He slipped his hand lower, over the softness of her belly. Lower still to the heat between her legs. A small, inquiring stroke of his fingers against her had Alicia arching with a sigh.

“Again?” Her voice, husky and low, sent a tendril of desire curling through him.

He dipped low to find sleek wetness, then drew it up and over her sensitive flesh. “Sure. Let’s give it a try.”

He loved the way her throaty chuckle turned into a rasping sigh when he circled his fingers against her. Loved the tense and release of her muscles as his touch aroused her. He could lose himself in the sound of her voice muttering his name and in the smell of her hair as he buried his face in it.