All the Lies We Tell (Quarry Road #1)(76)

“I love getting you off,” Niko said as he kissed her. “I love it when you make those sounds.”

Her fingers dug into his shoulder as her head fell back. He got his mouth on her neck, nibbling, finding all the places he knew would make her squirm against him. Her hips moved. He slid deeper inside, aching to replace his fingers with his cock but wanting to draw this out until Alicia was shaking and crying out his name.

“We should go upstairs.” She made no move to leave.

Niko withdrew to move his slippery fingers up and over her sweet spot. “In a minute.”

“It’s only going to take me a minute . . .”

He couldn’t stand it any longer. He had to taste her. Swiftly, he pulled her panties down and got on his knees to spread her open for him. Feasting on her, teasing with the flat of his tongue, until he felt her body swell and tremble under his lips. He kept his mouth held to her while she shook and grabbed at his head, holding him close to her. He wanted to draw it out, make it go on forever, even as he finished her.

She looked down at him, her eyes glazed over and her lips plump and swollen from where she’d bitten them. Her tight grip loosened, though she kept her hand on his head. She shook her head the tiniest bit, drawing in and letting out a breath, but no words.

Niko gave her another slow, long lick, all the while keeping his gaze locked on hers. He could make her come again, just like this, with him on his knees on the hard kitchen floor and her sweetness coating his tongue. He wanted to.

Alicia groaned, her fingers twisting again in his hair. “Wait, wait . . .”

“Mmm, no. Let me.”

“I want you inside me.” She didn’t push him away, though. Her thighs widened. She cried out when he licked her again.

“First, this.” His cock was so hard it ached, pressing against the front of his jeans, so he undid his button and zipper, freeing himself into his fist. Just a few strokes, Niko thought. He wouldn’t go over, not until he could be inside her, the way she wanted. But for now, licking her, bringing himself to the edge . . .

They were moving. Turning. He was behind her, then inside her. Pumping gently, then harder until she cried out and her hands skidded against the countertop. He followed her half a minute later, losing himself in ecstasy.

Panting, he pressed himself to her back, holding her for as long as he could before it got weird, which was about thirty seconds before the tensing of her muscles alerted him to move. They disengaged, cleaned up, buttoned up, and zipped up.

“Hey.” She snagged his arm as he went to the sink to wash his hands. “Kiss me.”

He did, gladly. When she tucked herself against him, Niko closed his eyes and lost himself in the scent of her hair. The rise and fall of her shoulders told him she sighed, but when she pulled away to look at him, her smile gave away nothing of what she might’ve been thinking.

He could just ask her, he thought as he watched Alicia rearrange her clothes to erase all signs of what had just happened. But if he did, then she’d want to know what he was thinking, and it would become complicated. Messy. It would upset the balance. So he kept his mouth shut and took up his tools so he could fix her faucet.

It didn’t take long. He held up the broken part to show her. “All it needed was a washer.”

Alicia glanced at him from the table she’d been setting with two of everything. She’d pulled her hair up on top of her head in a messy bun, tendrils hanging down all over the place. She wore no makeup. He thought about the giant cotton underpants and her prickly shins, about beauty, about comfort and safety and expectations. He thought about love.

“I made meatloaf,” she told him. “If you want to stay. And we could watch a movie—I mean, unless you have other plans or something.”

He did not, of course. Not unless you counted working on more home-repair projects for his mother. “Scalloped potatoes?”

“Ummm, duh.” She grinned over her shoulder as she bent to look inside the oven; she opened it and let out a waft of something delicious. Her grin faltered for a second as she straightened. “What?”

“What, what?” He tested the faucet, running the water and then turning it off to make sure the dripping had stopped.

“You looked weird.” She reached for a hot pad hanging from the drawer next to the oven.

He’d been admiring her ass; that’s what he told himself. Nothing else. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

“It was a really weird look,” she said.

“French toast. Meatloaf. You’re so domestic. That’s all. I remember when you could barely make microwave nachos.” He hefted the spanner and shrugged.

Alicia made a face. “Wow, thanks. You don’t need to sound so surprised. I’m all grown up now.”

“And a woman of many talents,” he said.

She studied him again, more thoughtfully this time. “And you’re a handy handyman.”

“Seems like we make a good team,” Niko said.

Alicia’s grin had always been sunshine burning away the clouds to him, probably because for most of their lives, he’d spent as much time earning frowns from her as smiles. He said her name, thinking he would tell her that. How beautiful she looked to him just then.

But when she tilted her head to give him another assessing, curious look, all Niko managed to say was, “I’m starving. Dinner sounds great.”