Chapter 61

I opened my eyes, feeling my body break into a cold sweat and I was short of breath. I stared at the dark ceiling, similar to the sky outside, and looked in the direction of the clock on the bedside table: three forty-eight. My muscles tensed, I laid my head back on the pillow, rubbing my damp face with the back of my hand. Everything was so fine, why did I keep having these dreams? Why couldn't I get him out of my subconscious, even after all the moments with Steve? Why couldn't I even sleep without the image of Nicholas haunting me?

I looked to the side and saw Steve's broad back, sleeping like a baby. He would only wake up in the morning, no doubt. I smiled weakly, unable to contain the wave of happiness he was bringing me, but my breathlessness and trembling were still stronger than his calming effect.

I stood up, hunting for my panties and grabbing my lilac silk nightgown from my backpack, and put them on to go to the kitchen for a drink of water. Maybe that would help me sleep again. I tied my hair in a loose knot, feeling the breeze from the window refresh my back as I snuck out of the room.

After a few minutes of searching, I finally found the glass cabinet. I opened the fridge, thirsty, and all I found were two bottles of water amidst bottles of champagne. Many bottles of champagne. And in the middle of them, a transparent container overflowing with strawberries. Extremely huge, red, juicy strawberries.

I bit my lower lip, feeling my saliva going into overdrive, and couldn't resist: I stole one of the strawberries from the jar and quickly washed it before biting into it. I don't know if it was hunger, since I hadn't eaten anything since lunch, or if it was fact, but this was without a doubt one of the best strawberries I had ever tasted. It didn't even seem real. In fact, nothing in that house seemed real, not even the house itself seemed real to me. Everything was too perfect, absurdly beautiful.

Before long I was sitting on the sink, with the jar of strawberries on my lap and a full glass of water beside me (which wasn't champagne because if I started drinking it I wouldn't be able to stop, and I didn't intend to get a headache the next day), vaguely observing the kitchen details. If one day I became rich, I would ask Cassano's permission to photograph that house and I would do the same thing in my own house, just like that. During my daydreams about the future (and unfortunately about Cassano too), a noise distracted my attention. I turned my head much faster than advisable in the direction of the noise, which went on and on, louder and louder, and I realized that it was coming from the street Steve took to get to the house.

I frowned, feeling my heart racing with fear, and slipped off the sink in a leap, leaving the strawberries on it. An engine snoring closer and closer with each step I took toward the door made me almost run to open it. For a second, the quickening beats of my heart were not driven by fear, but by euphoria. Because in that very second, I could have sworn I knew that engine roar.

I opened the large front door, and almost fell over backwards when I saw the second car being parked next to Steve's vehicle in front of the house. A red Ferrari contrasted with the darkness of the night, gleaming imposingly even with the lack of lighting. My eyes were slow to accept that this was not a vision, much less when the owner of that car and also of that house stepped out of the Ferrari, looking divinely stylish and wonderful in a black polo shirt that emphasized the width of his shoulders and jeans. He walked to the door, watching the outside of the house with interest, and as soon as he saw me, he stopped a few steps away from me.

"I honestly didn't expect this reception, Velarde," Nicholas smiled, a few seconds later, looking slightly surprised. He cast a significant glance at my legs, and that perverted smile that had been disturbing me appeared on his lips. I followed his gaze with mine, quickly and uselessly pulling the sweater down further, while cursing it for being so short and barely covering the top half of my thighs.

"What are you doing here?", I asked, still hoping that this was an illusion, and my voice came out a little louder than a whisper. I was breaking into a cold sweat, feeling my balance wobble, and continuous shivers ran down my spine with each passing second that didn't go away, as a normal hallucination should.

"I came to check if they are taking care of my house properly. "he replied, raising his eyebrows in an amused tone. "I was afraid that you and Suan would end up giving me material damage with all your Aggressiveness, if you know what I mean."

Nicholas chuckled disdainfully, staring at me in that invasive way, and I tried to firmly reciprocate. In vain, obviously.

"Bullshit," was all I could growl, feeling the need to take a step back as soon as he advanced toward me, but my feet didn't move. Just as Steve instantly cheered me up, Nicholas seemed to paralyze me.

"I give up my own house for you and your boyfriend to spend the weekend, and all I get in return are insults? You really are surprising."

Nicholas threatened to stroke my face, but I was quicker, and in a burst of sanity, slapped his hand away.

"You're not going to touch me," I spoke, trying to sound threatening, but the most I sounded was lax. Even I wasn't sure what words were coming out of my mouth when he was so close.

"Sorry to contradict you, but...," he whispered, moving even closer to me and wrapping my hip with one of his hands, meeting no resistance from me due to the panic in my brain "I will."

Running away from his gaze, I lowered my eyes in the direction of his hand, which was sneakingly pulling me closer to him. His breath was already hitting my face, hot and extremely inviting, and feeling my blood boil inside my veins, I closed my eyes slowly, numb. I felt his other hand cover the entire side of my neck, keeping his thumb on my cheek, and in one last breath of resistance, I begged:

"Please don't..."

"I'm not going to do anything you don't want," he whispered, rubbing the tip of his nose against mine slowly, and suddenly froze, letting out a low chuckle. "But teasing me with strawberries is tempting enough."

I opened my eyes, wondering how he knew, and soon found out: my breath. At the same instant, I felt enormous remorse for having stared into those brown eyes so closely, because in the next second, the only word that crossed my mind as I let him kiss me was: Damn.