Nico extends his hand to me. “Ready?”

I smile hesitantly at William and say my goodbyes to everyone before putting my hand in Nico’s and rising to leave.

***

The restaurant is in the back of the bar and it’s quieter and more intimate. Nico pulls out my chair before sitting and the waitress takes our drink order as soon as we’re both seated. We’re finally alone and Nico is looking at me questioningly. He seems to be expecting me to say something, but I don’t. I wait, I want to know what’s on his mind.

“Drinks with William?” His voice is low and he sounds angry. I can tell he’s doing his best to appear controlled.

“It wasn’t a planned thing, if that’s what you’re asking.” I raise an eyebrow in question. But I know exactly what he’s asking.

Nico studies me for a second and then nods, accepting my answer.

Dinner is good, although I think Nico’s cooking is better. We move past whatever issue he had with William and Nico has me laughing through most of dinner, telling me more stories about growing up with his three brothers. His childhood memories are beautiful, filled with laughter and fighting and a roller coaster of emotions that always seem to land on love. It’s so different than the memories I’ve spent half my life trying to keep at bay.

The sprawling lawn that lead to our stately home looked beautiful, like something from a tender storybook. Yet inside was anything but, instead filled with anger and violence. It should have been easy for us. We were a family. Two parents and none of the financial stresses that many have to face daily. Yet Nico’s single mom, who struggled raising four boys, seems to have been able to give them so much more. I’ll never understand why we lived the way we did.

The waitress arrives with our check and she looks at Nico shyly. “Umm…can I bother you for your autograph? I’m a huge fan.” She’s nervously swaying back and forth as she speaks and it’s sweet, almost coquettish. I hadn’t really noticed her before. She’s a pretty girl, something about her has a girl-next-door quality.

Nico smiles and tells her he’s happy to sign an autograph and the two of them spend a few minutes talking about his upcoming fight. Her shyness easily disappears as they talk and I watch as he turns her from shy girl to flirty woman in just under three minutes. The transformation in her is remarkable. But it’s Nico who brings it out of her. He gives her his full attention as she speaks, it’s just shy of flirting and he doesn’t even try. Whatever he has exudes from him naturally. By the time they’re done, the sweetness that I felt when the doe-eyed waitress asked him for a simple autograph has turned into something else. I’m pretty sure that something else is jealousy, but it’s new to me.

Nico turns to me, “You ready?” He stands and offers me his hand.

“Sure, if you’re done.” My response comes out more sarcastic than I intended, but I give him my hand nevertheless.

Nico’s eyebrows arch in surprise at my tone and he looks at me at first in confusion, and then it quickly turns to amusement. He pulls me to him and crushes my mouth to his. He doesn’t care that we’re standing in the middle of a crowded restaurant, and he makes it so that I don’t either.

***

We no longer invite each other in at the end of the night, it’s just a given. I spent years dating William and we never moved past the invite stage to where Nico and I have gone in only a few weeks. I don’t know when it changed, but I think we’ve left dating and moved into relationship. It just happened. Something slipped by me and it was too late before I noticed. Not that I would have stopped it anyway. But I find it intriguing when I look back to where things stayed with others. This man does something to me that’s different. It’s like breathing. I don’t think about it, my body and brain just work together of their own accord to take care of my need for air. Nico’s become a need.

We settle into my apartment and Nico sits in the loveseat facing the couch. It looks more like a big chair with his large frame filling up so much space. I kick off my heels and walk towards the couch.

“Come here.” His voice is gruff and sends a chill up my spine. He extends his arm up and pulls me down to him so that I’m sitting facing him, straddling his muscular thighs. I squirm a bit to find a comfortable place, but I feel his thick bulge beneath me and there is no place to hide with my legs spread so widely over him. He looks amused watching me, so I settle on a spot even though he’s pressed up against me in my most intimate of areas. I feel an ache almost immediately.

“You have a jealous streak in you.” His eyes light up as he pushes my hair back off of my face with his calloused fingers. He leans in ever so slightly and kisses me gently on the lips before he speaks, his lips still so close to mine I can feel the vibration of his words. “I like it.”

“And you, what was that little thing you did with William?” My words come out breathless from his sweet kiss, but his body tenses underneath me at the mention of William.

Nico pulls his face back to look at me and he grips my hips tightly. “I told you I’m not sharing you.” His voice is serious and rough.

I don’t know how to respond to that, so I’m honest. “William and I have been friends since law school. He’s a good friend.”

Nico looks at me, waiting for more.

“We sort of, you know, added to the friendship a few years back.” I blush and bite my lower lip unconsciously.

Nico’s jaw flexes and his green eyes go dark, cloudy gray. “And now?”

“Now we’re friends again. I guess. I haven’t seen him since I told him that I didn’t want to see him anymore, in that way. Tonight was the first time I’ve seen him since you and I started seeing each other.”

Nico nods. His face tells me he understands that he wasn’t my first, but it’s difficult for him to hear. Difficult to accept the thought of me with another man. I want him to forget about William, put all thoughts of our pasts out of his mind and focus on me. Us. Now.

I lean forward and press my body up against his, the slight shift lines the length of him up against me. I can’t help but let out a small moan as I feel him hardening underneath me.

“You’re mine now.” He groans as I push my weight down on him, the outline of him pushing up against me firmly through our clothes.

“Does that mean I get to do whatever I want with you then?” I flirt in a suggestive tone and raise one eyebrow in question.