CHAPTER 67: – ME...? –

"Nikolas..." all she could do was whimper his name.

The sound made his breathing hard.

"You’re going to be the death of me," he said, brushing her hair out of her face. Viviana was still laid trying to catch her breath.

Was such a kind of pleasure even possible? Her head was ringing, high on the bliss.

Nikolas grabbed her shoulder gently and pulled her body up to gum her back against his frame. He rubbed around her neck, her lips and tilted her head around to take her mouth.

Viviana’s hands curled on the table. Her vision felt blurry. She could barely make up a thought. Her body had gone weak and she knew she wasn’t going to last. She was about to—

"Huh." Nikolas blinked rapidly. "Viviana?"

She wasn’t responding. Her body had gone frail in his arms and her eyes were tightly shut.

Don’t tell me...

Viviana had passed out completely, unconscious.

You’ve got to be kidding me. Nikolas’s lips curled as he broke out chuckling, amused. Well, that’s unexpected.

Scooping her up into his arms, he walked over to the bed and laid her down. He slipped in next to her, spooned her up and wrapped his arms around her, relaxing in the warmth of her body.

He felt afraid. The feeling had only just sunk in, the realization that he would never be able to dig this human out of his system. Not even out of his thoughts. He could never stop thinking of her, hadn’t even been able to regardless of seeing her face every fucking day.

And that was bad news. Because he was nothing other than a finished man. How would he ever survive being separated from her? When his fingers miss the touch of his skin? When his eyes miss the view of her face, his lips the taste of her, and his heart...the feel of every atom of her warmth.

"I am finished," he muttered to himself. "No one can save me now. Impossible."

———-

The room had lit up from the morning sun.

Viviana squirmed on the bed blinking her eyes open with a soft groan. She pushed herself up on the bed with an elbow and ran her free hand over her hair, fingers weaving through the black strands.

"Ugh..." her head was banging. What happened?

She blinked around the room, recalling coming back from the event and then...

Her breath hitched and red surged up her neck into her face. And suddenly she was fully awake, jolting up on the bed.

She swallowed thickly, flickering her eyes. What had she done? The images were as clear as day in her head. He’d made her watch after all, and she’d...she’d seen herself like that.

Viviana slapped a palm over her mouth, bending where she sat to bury her face in the bedsheet she’d gathered over her knees.

Me...? Those sounds had really come from...me? And did I pass out?

She remembered he’s said they weren’t done, but she hadn’t been able to keep up. She still recalled being too dizzy and then everything went black.

"That’s so embarrasing..." If the ground could just open up and swallow her. How could she pass out from that little when they hadn’t even...

Turning her head slowly, she glanced over to her side, and just as expected, Nikolas was sleeping right next to her. He was laid on his back, in nothing but the black casual drawstring pants he had on, his arms thrown over his head.

She stared at his face. His hair was tousled as usual, a few strands fallen over his face to his closed eyes . His lips were slightly parted and he was breathing slowly.

Gulping a little bit, she trailed her gaze down to his chest and all the way down to his defined abs where her fingers itched to touch. He must really work out, not that she would say she’d ever seen him do so.

Choosing to give herself what she desired, Viviana reluctantly reached her fingers out, and touched his bare upper body lightly. The confidence pooled in, and she spread her palm flat on his chest, pushing herself up on her knees on the bed.

’What am I doing?’

Her brows furrowed in chastisation of herself, but she didn’t stop. She rather unseated her balance and got on top of him, hands pressed down on him.

She stared at him, not knowing what to do other than to sit and stare at his face. The man was still asleep, but he’d move a little at her weight.

Viviana bit inside her cheek. ’Something is wrong with me’ She thought to herself, unable to keep her eyes off his lips.

’I want to kiss him’

And this time, even if he woke up, she wasn’t going to run away. Making up her mind, she leaned and tasted the waters by pressing her lips to his.

It didn’t feel the same.

Maybe she liked it more when he did the kissing. When he had absolute control. She was moving her hips subconsciously, head thrown back with eyes dropped shut. What had he done to her?

Her hand crept up to grab at the shirt she had on. It smelt like him. Did he change her into it?

It suddenly dawned on her.

If he’d changed her, that meant he... Viviana grew horrified.

"Don’t worry. I didn’t look at your back. I changed you without doing so." He really hadn’t. "Nothing to worry about. However—"

Nikolas popped open his eyes.

"—What are you doing?" His voice sounded rough, brow cocked.

Viviana’s eyes broadened. She was about to pull back, away from him, but he wrapped his arms around her waist, yanking her down.

"Now, where are you trying to go?" He asked. "You woke up, got on top of me and kissed me. And now that I’m awake, you’re trying to run from me? That’s not fair, wife."

"I...that’s not..." Her body froze where she was above him. She blinked and slowly lowered her head to look at the small inch of space between them. Her throat bounced a bit and she met his eyes. "Nikolas...you—"

Nikolas unseated her balance and flipped her over to drop her into the bed on her back. He was above her, knelt between her legs.

"This is your fault, ya know? You woke up and this is the first thing you thought of doing?"

Viviana was too stunned to speak, staring at the mann who’d flushed a bit above her. He took her slender wrist in his hand. "W-what are you doing?"

"C’mon now, you’ve got to fix what you just did. You can’t leave me like this now, will you?" His lips curled as he smiled. "You passed out on me last night. And now look at what you’ve done to me. It’s not fair, sweetheart."