Enforcer’s Obsession

Chapter 32

Hope

“You don’t look any worse for the wear,” I said to Nico as he emerged from the upstairs and went down to the kitchen the next morning.

“Good,” he grumbled.

He hadn’t shaved, but his hair was still damp from his shower, his eyes surprisingly clear.

“Eggs?” I asked, gesturing toward the stove.

“No,” he responded, looking a little bit green around the gills, something I couldn’t help but laugh at.

“Have you been sailing, Nico? You look at little seasick,” I said.

“Ha-ha,” he muttered, though I didn’t miss his little smile.

I waited a moment and then broached the topic that had been on my mind. “That doesn’t seem like you,” I said.

“What’s that?” he asked.

He looked beautifully devilish with the sun beaming through the windows, highlighting streaks of brown in his hair and lightening the gold flecks in his dark brown eyes.

“Losing control like that,” I said.

“Everybody has an off day sometimes,” he said.

He looked like he was going to say something else, but a short bark cut him off.

He smiled, the expression bright, making my heart trouble.

“Champ,” he said, reaching down to the dog, “I missed you, buddy.”

Champ jumped at him, tail wagging seriously.

“He missed you too,” I said.

When Nico looked at me, I spoke again.

“So did I,” I said.

He looked back down at Champ, but the enthusiasm of a moment ago was gone.

“I guess I missed you too,” he finally muttered.

I smiled. “You guess? Like you would get wasted because you might have missed me,” I said.

“You sound pretty certain that you know me and my motivations,” he said.

He looked at me now, his eyes hooded.

I paid the warning in them no heed.

“I do. I know you better than you think do. And I know you at least well enough to tell when you’re trying to push me away. That’s what that was, right?” I asked.

I didn’t specify what that was, but I knew I didn’t have to.

“No. That was just me telling you the truth,” he said.

“Sure, in a way, but it was also you pushing me away. Trying to use my past and my fear against me instead of letting me make my own decisions,” I said.

I wasn’t accusatory. I wasn’t even angry really. I understood what he’d been trying to do, and what had motivated him.

But the time for that was over.

“You think that, but what do?—”

“What do I know?” I asked, cutting him off.

I didn’t give him time to answer.

“I know what I went through. I know what I can handle. And I know who I love,” I said, my gaze not leaving his.

For split second he looked so heartbroken I wanted to go to him, but I couldn’t.

Just like I had to come to terms with my past, he needed to come to terms with his too.

“I know you think you were doing that for me, Nico. Trying to scare me enough that I would protect myself. But that’s not true. You were scared. Afraid to lose something. And I understand. But I made a decision. I decided I would not let fear control the rest of my life. Now it’s up to you to do the same,” I said.

“Meaning what, Hope?” he said, his voice low.

“Meaning I’m not afraid of you. I’m not afraid of what you do. And I want to be with you. I won’t beg. So, now’s the time, Nico. What’s your decision?”

Nico

She had thrown down the gauntlet, and if nothing else, I refused to walk away from a challenge.

I approached her slowly, stopping when I was standing in front of her.

I towered over her, making her full, curvy figure seem almost dainty.

But I knew appearances could be deceiving, knew that was woman, who I could physically crush without a second thought, owned me body and soul.

And in that moment, I realized I might be scared, but I wouldn’t allow myself to live without her.

Told her that with a kiss.

She yielded to me so sweetly, and the surge of happiness, and possessiveness that I always felt with her was back.

I moved with urgency, wanting to be with her, needing to share even a fraction of what I was feeling. The way she kissed me back told me she felt the same.

And when I joined our bodies, I knew the trouble that had walked into that bar was the thing that had ever happened to me.