The Darkness Within Him: The Untwisted series (24 page)

‘He’s only just met you, Rebecca, what could he need advice about?’ Nicholas’ tone was still low, concerned and wary and his body was tense beneath my hands.

‘Girl stuff,’ I replied briskly. ‘He doesn’t want me to tell you just yet, but you have nothing to worry about, Nicholas, trust me.’ Rubbing smoothing circles on his back, I could still feel tension in his muscles; apparently, Nicholas wasn’t convinced yet.

‘Is the coffee ready?’ I decided to ignore his sulk and he nodded silently in response to my question. A plan of how I could relax him formulated in my mind and I ran one hand gently around to his hipbone and slipped it into the front pocket of his jeans, wiggling my fingers provocatively against the upper area of his pelvis, a spot I knew he found particularly ticklish.

‘In that case I think we should take it up to bed and continue with our lie-in,’ I suggested, using Nicholas’ pocket to pull him in the direction of the kitchen. ‘Except I’m not tired any more, so you’ll have to think of something else for us to do in bed for a few hours. Any ideas?’ I asked in a similarly salacious tone to the one he used on me so often.

Hearing a growl from Nicholas as he followed me, I finally felt him relax as his hands wrapped around my waist and roughly tugged me backwards into his waiting arms, my favourite place to be.

Chapter Twenty-one

The following Saturday, Nicholas had another charity concert: this one was to raise money for a children’s home in one of the outer London suburbs. I have to say I’m actually rather proud of just how much charity work Nicholas does. Who’d have thought that you could be a kinky pervert in the bedroom and still want to help others elsewhere?

After spending several hours in the new library room – a place I found myself quite often now – I wandered over to Nicholas’ music room and saw he was engrossed in his practice. Propping myself on the edge of the white armchair by the huge window, I watched him finish playing. His skill was simply breath-taking.

Once he had drawn the piece to a close, Nicholas turned to smile at me, and I couldn’t help but shake my head at how different my life was in comparison to just a few months ago. I’d gone from being single and relatively boring to practically living with an exceptionally talented, handsome, caring man in his beautiful Victorian house. OK, so he was a tad on the pervy side too, but no one was perfect, were they?

‘What?’ Nicholas asked, obviously noticing my whimsical expression.

Pushing off from the sofa, I grinned and made my way across to him. I dropped a kiss on his shoulder. Nicholas’ skin was warm through the cotton of his shirt and I could smell his delicious pine scent mixed with fresh laundry powder, which only made my smile even bigger.

‘I was just marvelling at how fortunate I am,’ I replied cryptically, not wanting to give him a big head by blabbing about just how marvellous I thought he was. ‘That piece was beautiful, Nicholas. I won’t disturb you for long as I know you’re busy, but I thought I might head back to my flat for the night. You’ll be out until late anyway and I really need to get my post and check for any bills.’ As I spoke, my cruel mind flicked back to the last time Nicholas had played a concert, and I inadvertently shuddered.

Mid-pout at my mention of leaving, Nicholas saw this reaction and frowned. ‘What is it, Becky?’ he asked, instantly rising from the piano and taking hold of my shoulders in concern.

‘Nothing,’ I murmured. Seeing his probing look, I sighed. ‘I was just remembering the last time you performed at a concert … afterwards, you called me up and finished with me,’ I mumbled, suddenly feeling rather fragile and leaving the rest of my thoughts unspoken.
Then I came to your house and you beat me with a cane …

Pulling me into his arms, Nicholas held me tightly to his chest and planted several kisses in my hair. He obviously knew what I was thinking, but didn’t want to mention it again either. ‘Come with me tonight,’ he requested suddenly, leaning back to look at me. ‘There’s a dinner afterwards; I never usually stay for them but I could tonight. I’m allowed to take a guest – would you like to come?’

Out in public with Nicholas, that would be …
interesting
. Not to mention new. We’d not exactly been trying to hide our relationship as such, but he was sure once the press latched on to the fact that he had a girlfriend – a first as far as the journalists were concerned – they might be a bit more persistent in their hounding of him, so we’d kept everything low key and mostly stayed at home when we met up.

‘Do you want me to? I know you never go out with women in public …’ I didn’t want Nicholas to feel pressured into anything and freak out on me again. Sometimes dating him was like walking over broken glass – you had to tread really, really carefully.

‘I’ve never been out in public with a woman because, to be honest, you’re the first proper girlfriend I’ve ever had,’ he admitted with a shrug. Cupping my face and circling my cheek with his thumb, he gazed down at me with an expression of uncharacteristic openness. ‘I love you and I want the world to see it. I would be incredibly proud if you would accompany me tonight, Rebecca.’

Wow. I had been about to get nervous about the response of the journalists but his last statement made me feel quite a bit better. What a heartfelt sentence. From
Nicholas,
no less. Plus, he would be the main focus of the press, not me, I thought, to reassure myself as I smiled up at him.

‘OK, I’ll come,’ I agreed, before a small grimace crossed my face. ‘God, I have no idea what I’ll wear, though. How posh will it be?’

‘I tell you what,’ Nicholas said, glancing at his watch, ‘I’ll take an hour out of practice time and run you to the shops to get a new dress, then I’ll drop you at your flat and head back here to prepare. I can pick you up at five for the concert – how does that sound?’

Almost glowing at the thought of accompanying Nicholas to the concert and meal – in public – I nodded keenly. ‘OK, sounds good.’ Then I leant up on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. ‘I love you too, Nicholas … so much,’ I murmured against his skin, causing him to growl contentedly and hold me firmly against him.

With the limited time we had, Nicholas drove me to a posh out-of-town department store quite close to his house. After consulting the floor plan, we headed straight for the second floor, the dress section. With Nicholas needing to get back to practice there was no time to dawdle like I usually would when shopping.

‘How smart do I need to be? Cocktail dress or formal eveningwear?’ I asked absently as I fondled the soft material of a red knee-length dress. There was no way I was big enough up top to carry it off, but it was so beautiful I couldn’t help but touch it.

Nicholas shrugged, showing a man’s typical lack of interest in such things. ‘I think the women at these things normally get pretty dressed up. Floor-length dresses, I suppose,’ he murmured, heading toward a gorgeous strapless silver dress on a mannequin.

‘Try this on; it would look stunning on you,’ he said, holding it out to me. I nearly laughed at his command, but the dress was beautiful and exactly my size, so I merely shook my head at how funny he was and held out a hand to accept it.

‘OK.’ I took it, grabbed another, equally striking navy blue dress, and then headed to the changing room sure that one of these gowns would be the one.

‘I’ll wait out here; come out and show me when you have them on,’ he said, once again in a tone that was more instruction that request. Control freak. Although I genuinely don’t think he realises just how bossy he is when he talks like that.

Rolling my eyes, I handed my items to the shop assistant and allowed her to lead me to a changing room. Slipping into the silver dress, I immediately knew it was the one. I might not be what you would call a hugely girly girl but even I could see just how amazing this dress made me look.

I was suddenly all breasts and curves. Blimey, who knew I had that figure lurking in me?

Carefully making my way to the entrance of the changing rooms, I couldn’t find the assistant but saw Nicholas casually leaning on a nearby wall, looking amazingly handsome as he fiddled with his phone.

Was he really my boyfriend, I wondered as I took in his brooding good looks once more, but then he glanced in my direction and completely distracted me because the heat that seemed to emanate from his eyes was simply breath-taking. As he pushed from the wall and stalked toward me, I suddenly felt my mouth go dry. His frown disappeared and his eyes softened but they remained loaded with heat. Gosh, he was so sexy when he looked like this: intense and focused solely on me. There really was no greater turn-on than feeling so completely desired by this man.

Remaining silent, he circled me, taking in the dress like a hunter surveying his prey. ‘So beautiful,’ I heard him murmur as he stopped in front of me again.

‘You like it?’ I asked quietly, flushing at the look in his eyes.

‘More than like. The dress is stunning and you make it look even better,’ he said in a gravelly voice that made me feel like he was about to undress me on the spot, regardless of spectators.

OK, that was a definite seal of approval. ‘Me too. I’ll get this one.’ Smiling shyly, I nodded and headed back to change.

As I pulled the curtain shut, I reached behind my back to undo the zip and suddenly found my hands being grasped firmly at the wrists and my whole body being pushed forward. About to yelp in surprise, my gaze fell on the mirror and I realised it was Nicholas joining me in the cubicle. What the heck?

Gently pushing me face first against the mirror, Nicholas split my hands, holding one in each of his and bringing them up next to my shoulders. He pinned me to the mirror with his body before burying his head in my neck and kissing it hotly, his tongue darting out and no doubt making my skin redden with excitement.

‘You can’t come in here!’ I hissed breathlessly, my breath steaming on the mirror.

‘Baby, I can come wherever I want,’ he murmured salaciously. ‘Quiet now, let me show you.’ Gosh, he was just
sooo
naughty. ‘This will be quick,’ he told me, then his head dipped again, and as he kissed behind my earlobe, I forgot about my fears and lolled my head back against him.

‘Turn,’ he whispered, releasing my hands at last and moving back marginally to allow me some space to manoeuvre in.

As soon as I was facing him, I grabbed at his jacket and pulled him back to me again, kissing him furiously and thrilling in his heated response to my urgency. Lowering his hands, he began pulling up the thin material of my dress gently, his fingers caressing my thighs as he did so, making me want to whimper with desire. With my dress bunched around my waist, Nicholas briefly fondled my breasts but obviously didn’t want to pull the light material around too much because he only spent a minute or so there before he dropped to his knees in front of me.

Holding my dress aloft with his hands, Nicholas nudged my legs apart with his shoulder. He slipped the cotton of my knickers to the side and wasted no time in ducking forward and running his tongue down the length of my already slick folds. Holy crap, talk about moving fast! But it felt so unbelievably good that I buried my hands in his hair, encouraging him to continue as my eyes rolled shut with arousal.

When Nicholas sucked on my clitoris and gently nipped at it with his teeth, I couldn’t help but let out a small moan and I felt his hot breath fan across me as he laughed softly at my keen response. After briefly dipping his probing tongue right into the very core of me, causing me to practically convulse, he stood up again, looking smug and smiling darkly. He gazed down at me with hooded eyes, not breaking the eye contact once as he undid his zip and pushed my legs further apart with his knee.

‘No noises, Rebecca,’ he reminded me softly, and as his head nuzzled my neck, he eased himself into me with a groan, gripping my left buttock and bringing my leg up off the floor to deepen our connection before he began to slowly move against me.

This was so naughty! Sex in a changing room cubicle while other shoppers were innocently trying on clothes, completely unaware of what was going on just feet away from them. I could hear a woman in another cubicle fiddling with a variety of plastic hangers. Thinking about it, what we were doing was probably illegal … which just made it even hotter.

Somehow managing to keep his movements small but teasing, Nicholas repeatedly ground the base of his erection against my clitoris. Within a minute or so, I was just a rub away from a climax. A small hiss began to escape from my lips as I felt my muscles tighten around him, and Nicholas immediately placed a hand over my mouth to silence me.

Biting down on one of his fingers, I came hard around his pulsing erection, squeezing my eyes shut with the effort to be quiet and knowing that even Nicholas wouldn’t be brash enough to punish me for breaking eye contact in a changing room. Seconds later, he buried himself inside me to the hilt and stilled as he came, removing his hand from my mouth and placing a gentle kiss there instead.

After recovering for several seconds, he leant back and grinned at me. ‘Sorry about the hand over your mouth but I thought you were about to shout out loud,’ he whispered against my lips.

‘S’kay,’ I managed weakly, trying to say “it’s OK” but not managing to vocalise it in my current post-orgasmic state. When I could finally speak, I would tell him I was grateful for the way he’d trusted me enough to let me bite his finger – they were the tools of his trade, after all.

Nicholas eased himself out of me and kissed me tenderly on the lips before fishing a handkerchief out of his pocket for me. Flashing me a wink, he departed the changing room as quickly as he’d arrived, leaving me leaning against the wall, a quivering mess.

Wow, he was just amazing, and so was the sex for that matter. I shook my head in disbelief. After using his handkerchief to clean myself up, I began trying to change with trembling fingers and rubbery legs. Just when I had thought things were settling to normality, Nicholas kept surprising me with exciting activities and new locations. How he had never managed to have a proper girlfriend before was beyond me.

Changing out of the dress, I hung it up carefully while I put my own clothes back on. After smoothing my hair, I tried to walk casually out of the cubicle as if I hadn’t just been shagged silly by the hunk of a man waiting for me just outside. But I had, so obviously my face flamed as soon as I saw the assistant waiting at the entrance to the changing rooms.

After relieving me of the navy dress, which I hadn’t bothered to try on, she raised an eyebrow at my flushed cheeks – and no doubt post-sex hair. It sent me beetling across the floor to Nicholas where I burst out laughing childishly.

‘I told you I could come anywhere I liked,’ he stated softly, pulling me against his side and heading in the direction of the tills with me still giggling from embarrassment. ‘And it appears you can too,’ he added wickedly.

Holding the dress so it didn’t drag on the floor, I glanced at the price tag and gasped. I stopped mid-step, wondering if I had time to find something cheaper, but Nicholas saw my look and shrugged.

‘Don’t worry about the cost, it’s my treat. Plus, technically it’s used now, so you have to buy it,’ he said, referring to our hasty changing room tryst and making me blush yet again.

I wasn’t happy with him paying, so I shook my head, about to complain. The look spreading across Nicholas’ face stopped me. His expression was one of pure dominance, as if daring me to object. So, not wanting to spoil our good mood, I gratefully carried the dress to the till and leant up to kiss him on the cheek. ‘Thank you,’ I murmured against his light stubble, and suddenly I was even more excited about attending the concert with him tonight.