Part 24 (1/2)
”Oh, I survived it. And what's funny is that later on, after I became a novelist, I understood what S0ren had done and why.”
”And what was that?”
”It's a trick of the fiction writer,” she explained. ”You figure out what your main character is most afraid of, and then you make her face that fear.”
”Is that what he made you do?”
”Losing him, losing his love, was my greatest fear. And he made me face it. I faced it, I survived it. And ultimately ...”
Nora paused to kiss Nico's neck for no other reason than it wanted kissing.
”Ultimately, that time on my own turned me into what S0ren said I was all along.”
”What was that?”
Nora pulled back and gave Nico her wickedest grin. She raised one finger to indicate he should wait. Nico arched an eyebrow. She slipped out of his arms, out of bed and took something from her suitcase.
Her red riding crop.
She held it in front of her, the tip pointed at the center of Nico's chest.
”Dangerous,” she said.
Nico smiled, his lips slightly parted, his breath quickening.
”You see,” she said, letting the tip of the crop rest at the hollow of his throat, ”when you face your greatest fear and you survive, what's left to be afraid of?”
Nico licked his lips. His chest rose and fell.
”Answer me.” Nora slid the crop under his chin and forced him to raise his head an inch.
”Nothing,” Nico said.
”My greatest fear was to live without S0ren and I did. I wasn't afraid of that anymore, and I didn't need anyone anymore. I wanted him, but I didn't need him. But he needed me.”
”I believe it,” he said.
Nora looked down at him.
”Now, Nicholas Delacroix, tell me your fear.”
”My fear is that this will be our only night together, and I will live the rest of my life never meeting another woman like you.”
”I can't promise we'll have another night together, but I can guarantee this-you'll never meet another woman like me.”
She didn't add that never meeting another woman like her was most likely a good thing.
He didn't seem to think so, however. A smile, s.e.xy and suggestive, crossed his lips.
”Prove it.”
Prove it?
Well, if he insisted ...
Nora grabbed the back of Nico's neck and turned his face up to hers.
”Are you going to hurt me?” he asked, his voice equal parts fear and antic.i.p.ation.
”Not tonight,” she said, remembering the night she'd asked almost the same question of S0ren and he'd given her that exact answer. ”Tonight is only for pleasure.”
She kissed Nico then with all the fierce pa.s.sion only someone wounded and desperate to heal possessed. She kissed him like the meaning of life lay in his mouth and if she kissed him hard enough, sweet enough and long enough, it would brush her lips and she could catch it in her teeth and swallow it whole.
Nora pressed Nico onto his back, not once breaking the kiss. He moved to put his arms around her, but she grabbed his wrists and pushed them into the bed over his head.
”Lie there,” she ordered. ”Don't move. I want to make you come.”
”I'm all yours, Nora.”
She loved the way he said her name.
”I should make you call me mistress.”
”Do you want to be my mistress?”
”Would you like that?”
”It would be a dream come true to belong to you, to be your property. But since I don't belong to you, Nora it is.”
It embarra.s.sed her how much Nico's words affected her.
”Nora it is, then,” she repeated. ”Now be good and don't come until I tell you that you can.”
He nodded and fixed his eyes on the ceiling as Nora pressed his knees apart and settled between them. She licked her fingertip and slowly pushed it inside him. She went in deep but not too deep. She stopped when Nico gasped in pleasure.
”Good?”
”Parfait.” He kept his eyes on the ceiling as if too embarra.s.sed to look at her while she touched him so intimately.
”Good.” She pulled her finger out of his tight pa.s.sage and grabbed her riding crop. She twirled it once before catching it in the middle. Carefully she eased the narrow shaft of the handle a few inches inside him.
”See?” she said as she ma.s.saged a spot inside him. ”Crops aren't made only for pain.”
Nico said nothing. He had apparently lost all powers of speech. Nora took him in her hand and stroked his incredible hardness. Then she dipped her head and licked him from base to tip and then back down the full length of the shaft again.
Nico groaned and grasped at the sheets. She loved nothing more than making a beautiful man writhe.