Heart Ache (Bound by a Touch Novels #1) (23 page)

“
I don’t understand. How did their story—or some cruel semblance of their story—make it to the shelves of my bookstore?”

“
That’s a really long, drawn out story.” Nikolai kissed her. “How about we go upstairs—”

“
Upstairs? But aren’t we in your room?”

“
We are
down
stairs. Less windows.” He winked. “Come on, let’s get some breakfast, and then you can ask your questions. I’m sure you have a lot of them.”

“
Just a few.” She glanced down at her very wrinkled shirt and hastily tried to iron it with her palms. “I’m feelin’ kinda gross. Would it be okay if I borrowed your shower?”

Suddenly his mind was flooded with images of the first night he’d visited her apartment and he jumped off the bed, nearly dumping her into the floor.

“
Bathroom’s right through that door.” He pointed in the general direction and hurried out the door, leaving her standing alone. He needed some alone time too. Time to get his self-control back under … control. The first time he and Gabrielle made love he needed to keep himself in check. If he didn’t he’d run the risk of hurting her. And that was not an option.

Pushing the thoughts of her and the shower—and the purely delectable ivory of her naked skin—from his mind, he popped to the kitchen to make breakfast for his fiancée.

Fiancée
.

He smiled. He liked calling her that. But couldn’t wait to change her title to “wife”.

In the bathroom Gabby’s mind raced, darting from one topic to another in frantic succession. She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that the black tile floors and walls with gray granite countertops didn’t register. Neither did the dove gray toilet and dark blue towels. She sighed and stepped around the corner of the snail shower.

Knowing Nikolai loved her made her heart soar. She wanted to yell from the rooftops, wanted to tell the world she’d met the man who completed her.
Her
heartmate.

She thought of her birthmark subtly adorning his chest and tingled all over. He’d asked her to be his wife, his lover, his forever. Literally forever. She couldn’t wait to be with him again.

After a quick soap and suds, she turned off the water and toweled off. She opened the door and the sudden influx of cool air caused goose bumps to break out all over her body. She padded into the bedroom.

Nikolai’s shirt lay haphazardly on the floor next to the bed. She picked it up and sniffed. The dark musky, masculine scent of his caressed her senses. Her eyes drifted closed and she held the fabric up to her nose, savoring his smell. Her toes curled. Her skin warmed from the inside out and she found herself more than a little turned on.

With a playful smile on her lips, she slipped her arms into the sleeves, rolling the cuffs five times before her wrists were revealed. The soft cotton rested just above her knees and she gave her the naughtiest idea.

Never before had she been brave enough to go without underwear. Well, except the nights she’d spent sleeping naked in order to seduce the
real
figment of her imagination.

Damn his self control!

She shook her head, loving Niko all the more. She understood why he hadn’t been more forthcoming about his feelings and their connection, but it still bugged her. The guy was
so
honorable it could be considered a flaw. Probably his only one.

Walking down a long hallway toward a set of stairs, Gabby noticed there was only one other door. Curiosity urged her to open it, to see what was on the other side.

It’s not snooping. You’re trying to find your way to the kitchen.

Yeah, that excuse would so totally not work if she got caught. The stairs were only eighteen inches from the door.

She curled her fingers around the knob and twisted, half expecting it to be locked. A soft click verified it wasn’t and the door opened, cutting a slice in the darkness. The room was ornately decorated, similar to the room where she’d spent the night in Niko’s arms. More than similar …
identical
.

Instead of curbing her curiosity, opening the door only heightened it. It was weird to have two rooms in the same house the exact … same. Not wanting to get caught, though, she quickly walked back out into the hall, taking one last look before quietly closing the door again, and following her nose up the stairs and into the kitchen.

The soft sizzling and distinctive smell of maple made her mouth water in anticipation of bacon. Niko stood next to the skillet in only a pair of dark blue jeans. His dark hair was damp, brushed carefully away from his face. His broad shoulders and muscled chest flexed as he moved the spatula in the pan. Gabby couldn’t help but admire the spot on his left pectoral with the nearly perfect heart, the mark that told the world he was hers.

He looked up. His eyes widened and flashed silver, then his gaze roamed over her in an appreciative appraisal of her appearance. A breathtaking smile graced his masculine features.

“
How was your shower, love?”

She moved to his side and he wrapped an arm around her. Her head met his shoulder. “Interestingly enough all the brands I use were stocked in the cabinets.”

His hold tightened, and she looked up to see his cheeks flush. “Would you believe it was a coincidence?”

“
I would believe you used all those nights you were in my apartment as a reconnaissance mission.” Without waiting for him to react, she stretched up on her toes to kiss his tense jaw, the slight beard rough against her lips. “I love you.”

He released a loud sigh then kissed the top of her head. “Oh Gabrielle, I have waited a near eternity to hear those words, to have you sleep in my bed—” Soft lips touched her lips, her cheek, the tender spot below her ear. “—to make love to you.”

His hands slid down her back to her thighs and back up to cup...

He hissed. Growled. And crushed her to him.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she recognized the clanging of the spatula hitting the pan and the sizzling pops of the bacon. But those sounds were secondary to the sensations overwhelming her; Niko’s warm body, his musky scent, his low groan.

Nikolai wrapped his arms around her, lifting her feet from the floor. His lips scorched her, branded her.

She returned every action, unleashing all of the emotions she’d been forced to keep buried. She gasped as her bottom came to rest on the cold counter. Niko’s large hands enveloped her thighs, moving higher as he pushed her back. He followed her, loving her, until she was lying flat against the cool granite. His mouth moved eagerly over her body, down her neck, licking, tasting.

Soft, warm fingers moved the cotton away from her shoulder and he kissed it. As he reached the swell of her breast resting just above the shirt, her breath rushed from her lungs.

The shrill screeching of the smoke alarm brought Nikolai out his lust-induced haze. He dropped his head to rest against Gabby’s bare shoulder and cursed.

“
My thoughts exactly,” Gabby muttered breathlessly. Her head fell back to meet the granite with a soft thud. Niko stood up and helped her to her feet. A pang of disappointment exploded in his gut as she adjusted the shirt back into place, covering all the delectable skin he’d so thoroughly exposed.

Smoke billowed from the pan, filling the room with a thick, black fog. Gabby coughed and put her hand over her nose.

“
I thought it was only me you could set aflame.” She laughed through her fingers. One brow rose. “Should I be jealous?”

He swatted her bottom. She giggled and grabbed a dish towel off the counter, then cut the heat and moved the skillet.

Niko opened the windows while Gabby waved the towel around to circulate the air which brought an end to the annoying beep of the smoke detector.

After the kitchen was free of smoke, he plopped down into a chair at the table. He dropped his head in his hands. Guilt slithered up his spine as he realized just how close he’d come to taking his heartmate on the kitchen counter.

That would be acceptable later. But their first time would be romantic, sensual, a night of exploration and communion. Not an impromptu, unrestrained release of lust.

She took the seat to his left and her slender fingers slipped around his hand.

“
Thank you,” she whispered.

He looked up into her twinkling, blue eyes. “And exactly which part of this disaster are you grateful for?”

She stood and gracefully slid into his lap. Tender hands held the sides of his face. “All of it. Every single second of it; waking up in your arms, showering in your bathroom, you cooking me breakfast. I wouldn’t change any of it. Except maybe the burnt bacon,” she added with a quirk of her lip.

He shifted her into his lap until she faced him, taking a side of the shirt collar in each hand. Gabrielle tipped her head, revealing her jugular, and closed her eyes. He smiled then, and obliged her with a gentle chaste kiss against her neck. When he pulled back, she looked up at him in question. His only answer was to kiss her on the tip of her nose and over exaggerate a sniff.

She grabbed a hunk of her hair and lifted it to her nose. “Ugh! I’m going to need another shower.”

“
Yes, we both are.” He stood, letting her slip down his body until her feet rested on the floor.

Her eyes hungrily moved over his bare torso and Niko could feel the caress as if she’d used her fingers. Heat spread throughout his body and settled in his groin. Biting back a growl, he said, “But…

“
But?”

“
But
… we shouldn’t take that shower together or we’ll be late for work. You do still work for me, don’t you?”

She let the “Yes” stretch out and looked at him from under her lashes, a last ditch effort to thwart his self-control. It almost worked. Almost. She grinned.

“
You’re an evil female, Gabrielle.”

“
Who, me?” She placed a hand over his heart and smiled. “I’m only offering what you want.”

“
Yes.” He tapped down the raging beast clawing inside his gut and said through gritted teeth, “And I want that very much. But I am a man with limits.”

And Nikolai knew those limits perfectly well. Stepping into a shower with a naked Gabrielle Ryan—and not taking her against the tiled walls—was
way
beyond what he could handle.

Nikolai led Gabrielle back to his room. He opened the spacious closet and showed her the small section of clothing that would fit her like multi-colored gloves.

“
A little presumptuous, aren’t you?”

“
Hopeful, I’d say,” he said over his shoulder. At the dresser, he opened a drawer and began to pull out an entire Victoria’s Secrets’ inventory. A low, erotic growl rumbled through the room. “I very much enjoyed buying these.”

And when his eyes met hers, he blushed—and good hell, didn’t that make him all the more handsome!—cleared his throat and moved toward the door.

“
I will shower in the guest room down the hall.”

“
Guest room? It looked a lot like
this
room to me.” The words came out and hung uncomfortably in the air as he narrowed his eyes. They flashed silver, and Gabby bit down hard on her tongue as punishment.

The corner of his mouth lifted. “This is my room, my retreat. No female has ever set foot within these walls before. Well, I guess the decorator did, but you understand what I mean. The room down the hall was for the times when I—” He paused and her heart chugged to a stop. “I am over four hundred years old, Gabrielle. Before I met you, I—”

She held up a hand. “Stop defending yourself. I am not an innocent little girl, Niko. Before me, you were … with other women.” The thought made her sick, and the words tasted vile on her tongue. She wasn’t naïve, but that didn’t mean she had to like the idea of another woman in Niko’s arms.

He nodded, his eyes focused on his shoes, and she tried to force her grimace into a smile. It felt ridiculous and she wondered how it looked to him.

“
What you did,
who
you did—” She raised a brow in hopes of looking playful and swallowed back the bile in her throat. “—doesn’t matter.”

His entire body relaxed, from the dark hair on his head to the bare toes that uncurled against the thick, dark brown carpeting.

“
It might not seem like a big deal to you, Gabby, but the fact you’re in this room means something. And that I’ve filled it with everything you might need means so much more. Shower, love, we need to get to the office.”

And then he turned and walked out the door, closing it softly.

*****

“
Hold tight with both hands. Don’t let go.” Nikolai hugged Gabby close and concentrated on his office. She gasped as they vaporized into the middle of the room, inches from the desk.

“
That is the coolest thing
ever
. Can you pop anywhere you want?”

“
Nearly anywhere. We have some limitations; metal of any kind makes it harder, sometimes impossible, depending on the kind. Steel is hard to penetrate, but aluminum is harder. Gold is impenetrable, but the price of putting gold leaf on one’s walls is a huge deterrent.”