Keeping his bride

Selina

I WAKE UP with a start. The last thing I remember was the nurses trying to calm me down before they stuck a needle in my arm, sedating me. Everything is fuzzy after that.

I’m in my bed, so Nico must have tucked me in. But where is he now?

Movement from my right catches my attention, and I see a dark figure sitting in the chair I usually read in by the window.

“Nico?” I whisper.

“Yeah,” he says. He sits forward, his elbows on his knees, the moonlight streaming through the window highlighting his handsome features. In one hand is a rocks glass with a dark amber liquid, the ice clinking against the side of the glass with his movement.

“Any news about Aria?” I ask even though I’m afraid of the answer.

“Not yet,” he says, his voice heavy with emotion.

“It’s my fault,” I tell him. “If I wouldn’t have left the house…”

“It’s not your fault. We had no idea about the tracker.”

The tracker. I told Nico about it after I was rescued. My hand instinctively moves to the back of my skull. There’s a bandage over the place where the tracker once was. They must have removed it while I was sedated. “I didn’t know about it,” I mutter quickly. “If I had known -.”

“No one is blaming you for anything, Lina,” he assures me.

I take some solace in that fact, but guilt and shame are still scratching away furiously at my insides. Everything is my fault even if no one sees it as such. Aria is gone because of me. She’s out there, all alone, scared, not knowing if she’ll ever come back home again.

And I know exactly how she feels.

I lived through all the up and down emotions that trick your mind into thinking you’re on some kind of crazy, evil roller coaster. And just when you think things can’t get any worse, they do.

Shuddering, I throw the blankets off and go to stand. My legs are unsteady, and I almost fall. I catch myself on the bed. “Damn, that sedative is strong,” I curse.

“You were inconsolable,” he reminds me. “And plus, they wanted to get that tracker out of you.” He sets down his glass and comes over to me. “Please get back in bed.”

He moves to grab my arm, but I shrug it off. “I can’t just sit here while Aria is out there. God only knows what he’s doing to her! I need to help. I need to do something!”

I don’t realize I’m near hysterics until Nico suddenly grabs me and pulls me close, crushing me to his chest. The first of many sobs let go, and my fingers wrap around his shirt as I slowly release some of my repressed guilt.

“It’s my fault. It’s my fault. It’s my fault,” I chant against his chest as my tears soak the material of his shirt.

“No, it’s not,” Nico whispers into my ear as his hand gently caresses my back up and down. “There’s only one person to blame.”

He’s right. Deep down I know he’s right. And even if I have to live with this survivor’s guilt, or whatever the hell you want to call it, Constantine is the one who needs to be punished. He is the one behind all of this. If it wasn’t for him, none of this would have happened.

“There has to be something I can do,” I plead with him.

“I could take you down to the control room. Aldo might have some questions to ask you about locations of places you’ve been with Constantine. Maybe he can figure out where he might have taken my sister.”

I nod. “I can do that. Yes, anything he needs. Anything to help.”

“As soon as you’re feeling better,” he adds on the little caveat.

“No,” I tell him with a firm shake of my head. “Now. It has to be now.” I won’t wait another minute or even another second without trying to help them find Aria. It’s the least I can do. “I have lots of information I could help Aldo with. The sooner, the better,” I plead with Nico.

He stares at me with those gray eyes that I love so much and then gives me a nod. “All right. Let’s go then,” he tells me before hooking his arms under my legs and lifting me. “But I’m carrying you the whole way down there. And if you show any signs of stress or weakness down there…”

“I won’t,” I assure him. I’m completely focused on finding Aria right now. I can recuperate and dwell on everything later. She is my main focus, my main priority. And I won’t be able to fully relax until she’s found.

After hours of talking to Aldo about different places, cities and countries Constantine frequented or regularly visited, I’m mentally exhausted, and we’re no closer to finding Aria. Aldo promised to take all of the information I gave him and run it until it either gives us a hit or a dead-end. I’m praying and hoping for the former.

When Nicholas escorts me back to my room, I’m too wired to sleep.

“Let’s take a shower,” I suggest. I need to get Constantine’s scent off of my body. I swear I can still smell him and feel his touch. I shudder in response to my inner thoughts. And, without another word, I walk into the bathroom and begin stripping out of my clothes.

Nico follows suit, slowly removing his clothes while I test the water in the shower. Once I feel like it’s hot enough, I step in. A few seconds later, Nico joins me. I’m careful not to wet my hair, because I don’t want to mess up the bandage on my head where they removed the tracker. I hold my head out of the stream while I get my body wet.

Nico grabs a bottle of his body wash and squirts some into his hand. And then I feel his gentle touch on my back. I’m so overwhelmed by tonight’s events, Aria’s disappearance and Nico’s gentleness with me that I begin to cry. And it seems like once the dam breaks, the flood gates open, and soon I’m sobbing.

Nico turns me around and captures me in his arms. I hold on to him for dear life. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” I murmur against his chest.

“I wouldn’t have let him take you again, Lina. I would have spent the rest of my days on earth searching for you until I found you. I would have scoured heaven and hell for you. There is no way I would have just let you go. You’re my girl,” he tells me heatedly.

My hands skim up his shoulders to his face, and I place my hands over his scruffy cheeks and force him to meet my eyes. “I love you, Nico.”

He stares at me, a myriad of emotions crossing over his features.

“Say something,” I say nervously with a soft laugh.

He blows out a breath and stares into my eyes as he confesses, “I love you, too. I’ve always loved you, Lina, even from the first time I laid eyes on you. Probably before I even knew what love was. I have loved you for every second, every minute, every hour for the past ten goddamn years.” He cups my cheek with his palm and gently runs his thumb over my lower lip, his eyes tracing the movement. “I guess I was just waiting for you to catch up.”

Nico’s words overwhelm me to the point that I’m incapable of speech. Gripping his neck, I pull his face down to me until our lips meet in a passionate kiss.

My hands roam over his broad chest and then lower until my fingers are running through the soft hairs of his happy trail that lead down to the deep V of his pelvic muscles. But before I can get too far, Nico’s hands grip mine, stopping me. His eyes darken as his jaw tightens. “We can’t, Lina. You’re hurt,” he says.

“Please, Nico. I need you,” I beg. I can worry about my bumps and bruises…and everything else later. Right now, I need to feel him inside of me. I need him to feel how much I want him, need him…and love him. I need the connection that only him and I share.

Nico reluctantly releases my hands, and I continue my journey. His abs tense as my hands lightly brush over them, and I hear him blow out a staggered breath. Reaching down, I touch his hardening cock, rubbing him from root to tip, earning me a delicious, deep moan. Nico’s gray eyes flare with desire.

I watch him grow thick and hard as I stroke him. And when a small bead of pre-cum leaks out of the tip, I swipe the drop with my finger and then stick it in my mouth, tasting him and moaning in approval.

“Fuck,” Nico growls, and I can see the exact moment when his control finally snaps. Backing me against the tiled wall, his erection digs into my thigh as his tongue laves over my breasts, slowly sucking on each stiff peak.

My hands dive into his damp hair, holding him to me, needing more. So much more. His teeth scrape over my nipples, biting down gently before soothing the pain with his tongue. Liquid pleasure floods through my veins until it feels like every nerve in my body has awakened just for him. I think I could come just like this, with his wicked mouth on my breasts, but Nico has other plans.

His hand slowly ventures down to my wet core; and the moment he touches my clit, it feels like fireworks exploding behind my eyes. My body trembles as he sinks a thick finger inside of me, pumping in and out while he works my clit with his thumb. His worshipping touch leaves me breathless and needy.

“Please, please, please,” I beg in a whisper, needing the pleasure only he can give me.

“Come for me, Lina,” he demands.

And I do.

I tumble over the edge so quickly that it takes my breath away. My mouth opens on a silent scream, and Nico takes full advantage, thrusting his tongue into my mouth, tasting and devouring me while I shatter around his hand.

He doesn’t even give me a moment to recover before I feel his cock notched at my entrance, and then he’s filling me up in one slick stroke.

I cry out, and he gives me a few seconds to adjust before he begins to slowly rock into me, taking his time as the warm water rains down around us and the steam encases our connected bodies.

Gripping my left leg, he lifts it up before driving his cock back into me. The new angle causes him to hit the spot inside of me that makes me sees stars. “Oh god, Nico!” I moan.

Nico pins me against the wall as he takes what he wants. What he needs. I can feel the tremor in his muscles as he’s trying to hold it together. Tears fill my eyes as his lock onto mine and I see the raw, undiluted emotion there. We almost lost each other again. And the actuality of the situation seems to hit us both at the same time.

“I love you,” he whispers urgently.

“I love you, too,” I whisper back.

He moves faster and deeper, giving me every inch of his length. He drives into me, capturing my lips with his. The kiss is raw, heated and full of emotion. Even though he just told me he loves me, he’s making me understand his true feelings without words. He’s letting me know just how important I am to him in the way he holds me so tightly against him, as if he’s afraid that I’ll be taken from him again. But even if I would somehow disappear, I would find my way back to him. He’s my entire world now, my friend, my lover, my…everything.

I whimper against his mouth as my orgasm detonates within me, completely destroying me in the process. Nico lifts his hips, driving his cock in and out and milking every ounce of pleasure he can get out of me until he joins me in bliss. His warm breath skims across my lips in a low moan as he buries himself inside me one final time.

“I’m never letting you go,” he utters before sealing his vow with a kiss.