Once we were seated in the bus, ready to leave Castelrock Beach after three days of basking in the sun and water, Sutton turned to me across the aisle with a huge smile on her face. "Good news, Thea. There are fourteen cabins around the vicinity of Roseden near Sansiro Lodge with three rooms each. Mr. Finch said two or three people can room together."
Nico groaned, snuggling closer to me. "I'm not rooming with Theo again. He can cuddle with Faust or JJ. I'm out."
"Asshole," my brother muttered from behind me. "How's that considered good news?"
Sutton just shrugged, mouth tipping upwards as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Just means we have a cabin to ourselves and we can pick our own roommates. Faust, Theo and JJ can room together, then Paula and I, and Nico and Thea."
I sat up straighter. "Wait. Is that allowed?"
Sutton's smile grew wider. "No, but I'm saying it is. Mr. Finch trusts me, so he won't do rounds in our cabin."
JJ raised his hand. "Then I'd like to room with you, please."
Faust rolled his eyes. "Give it up, Ford. She's way out of your league."
Sutton shot JJ a look. "And I don't involve myself with fuckboys."
The boys howled with laughter. JJ pouted and crossed his arms, sagging back against his seat.
Nico nudged me with his elbow and whispered in my ear, "Alone in a room together with no supervision. That sounds like heaven to me."
I grinned and faced him. "Naughty, naughty."
"Only for you, princess," Nico said, sliding his arms around my waist and pulling me back against his chest. "Only for you."
When we arrived at Sansiro Lodge, just as the sun was about to set, flames were burning in the fireplace. Wood covered the cozy and small common room from ceiling to wall to floor, bean bags and benches were strewn across the space alongside two long tables and a breakfast bar by the kitchen.
Nico waved our room key in front of my face. "Sutton gave us the room with the double bed."
"Don't sound so happy about it, Romero," Faust said, squeezing his friend's shoulder. "Just keep it down, okay?"
My neck flushed with heat. "Shut up."
Faust chuckled and passed us to retrieve his own room key.
"Do you think he'll be okay? Rooming with JJ, I mean?" I asked Nico quietly with a frown.
He grabbed the handles of our suitcases in his hands. "He'll be fine. We're all good at pretending, anyway."
We were.
"He might even get the chance to check his shoulder," Nico added.
I pursed my lips. "Yeah, okay."
"C'mon." Nico tipped his head towards the door of the lodge. "I can't wait to get you all to myself."
*
A mushroom lamp was the only source of light in the room, and the cold, night air crept up against my skin. The room was small—an oak dresser stood near the bathroom door, an empty bookshelf and an old television set filled the space beside the promised double bed, and curtains the shade of washed-out yellow draped the open windows.
I took my phone inside my bag and quickly texted my parents about our whereabouts. Nico locked the door behind him and reached me in three strides, and one hand brushed my hair away from my shoulder, exposing my neck, and the other slid down my hip. "I still owe you."
I dropped my phone on the bed and leaned my head back. Nico's lips skimmed over my skin. "Owe me for what, exactly?"
He laughed under his breath and spun me around, walking me a few steps towards the bed. "For the shower. Last time."
My heart raced at his words as my head hit the pillow, and Nico crawled on top of me, supporting his weight with one arm and the other caressing my cheek. I smiled up at him. "Oh, that's right."
"I love your smile," he breathed, staring at me.
I ran my hands through the soft strands of his hair as his traveled to my thighs. "I love yours, too. You rarely smiled back then."
"You weren't mine back then," Nico whispered, softly planting a kiss on my jaw and working his way upwards. "And I wasn't yours."
He reached his destination as his mouth met mine. My lips parted just as his hand moved to the back of my neck, catching my lower lip between his teeth. My back arched, needing more of him.
"You," he rasped, leaning down to mark my neck, and a soft whimper crawled up my throat when he pressed himself down on my body. "Drive. Me. Insane."
I slid my hands under the hem of his shirt just as he kissed down my throat, fingers pushing my blouse up until my stomach was exposed. Nico pulled back on his knees just as I grazed his taut skin, and he reached back and pulled the back of his shirt over his head.
My breath hitched as I soaked in Nico's body, but he crawled over me again, arms caging me in and body tensing under my touch when my hands roam over his stomach. He kissed me again, and I gasped into his mouth when he lowered himself down. I could feel him against our clothes, against my torso, hard and thick. Heat flared through my body and I shifted under him, bringing him closer to where I ached for him.
"Shit," Nico groaned, settling himself deeper between my legs.
I ran my hands greedily all over his body and lifted the hem of my shirt up until it ended up on the floor along with all of my coherent thoughts. His hips rolled into mine and I squeezed his shoulders. I shut my eyes when one of his hands went to the hook of my bra. "You're beautiful," Nico breathed once I was bare from the waist up.
He dipped his head and my back arched when his lips kissed down my chest and when his hips made another slow thrust that made my toes curl against the covers. The touch of his lips and the way his body moved against mine caused a sharp dart of pleasure and desire to spread through me.
Nico curved his hand around my thigh and lifted my leg around his hip, pressing deeper against me. He picked up his pace while rocking his hips, and I moaned in his mouth when he captured my lips in a searing kiss after he'd kissed his way downwards—from breasts to stomach to thighs.
His hands slid upwards, and he pulled back, breathless. I was flushed. "May I?"
Before I could even react, the back of his knuckles brushed the inside of my thigh and I shivered, gripping his forearm. My stomach coiled tight when the tips of his fingers grazed the center of my underwear, and my other hand tightened in his hair.
Nico lifted my hips and slid the thin fabric down my legs, rubbing me in quick circles before his finger dipped inside.
"Oh, God," I gasped, fighting the urge to close my legs.
He holds them open with his other hand, digging his nails into my thigh. Nico watched my face, slowly pulling in and out. "You're soaked. That feel good?"
"Yes. Baby, please," I breathed. "More."
Nico released a breathless chuckle, kissing my forehead. "As you wish, princess."
His hand shifted, adding another finger and pumping them in and out.
The knot on my stomach tightened. Nico kissed me, swallowing my moans as my hips bucked up against his fingers, his thumb pressing and circling me again.
I moaned, and it was all too much that I cried out his name, my legs shaking.
Nico eased his hand from between my thighs and pulled my underwear back on, kissing me sweetly as I lay there, sated and dazed. He flashed me a wicked grin, bringing his fingers to his mouth. "Mm. You taste good."
"Oh, God." I turned around and buried my head on the pillow. "Stop."
Nico laughed. "I'll clean you up."
*
Cuddled on his bed, Nico stroked his hand down my hair and murmured, "Can we just...not think of anything right now?"
I ran my finger down his cheek. "What do you mean?"
"We've been so caught up with all the Anya and Paula business these past few weeks," Nico explained, "and it's draining. Can we just be together today? Sleep in, watch television? Turn off our phones?"
I smiled. "Yeah. That sounds good."
"Okay," he murmured, bringing my hand to his lips. He kissed my knuckles. "You're the best thing that happened to me. Then and now."
I wrapped my arms around him and listened to the beats of his heart. "You are mine, too."