Reclaiming Nicola (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  Breathing unevenly, their hearts thumped heavily in their chests. Nicola trembled slightly when Victor's breath wafted over her lips.

  "Why...did...you...ask...me...here?" She insisted, the words demonstrated the effect of Victor’s kiss on her but Nicola didn’t care. Victor made her burn and he knew it and he always took great pride in it.

  Too much pride actually, she thought as she remembered the argument that led to their break up. Nicola had less trouble releasing him when the memory intruded. He, however, did not return the favor.

  "Do we really have to do this now?" He bent his head towards her.

  Realizing his intent, she turned her face away, sure she had never done anything harder in her life than denying him in that moment. "Yes, we do. Please, Victor, let me go."

  His arms briefly tightened around her as if to deny her request. Then he released her, stepping away from her, away from her body and outside of her personal space.

  Although she was able to take a deep breath again, bereft didn't beginning to describe what she felt right then. He looked at her with sad eyes, and Nicola felt even worse, regretting her actions instantly.

  When Victor invited her to retake her seat, Nicola chose the sofa, hoping he would join her. But he never did.

  Chapter 3

  Victor sat in the armchair she had vacated, his sadness weighing heavily on him. She could clearly see it in his eyes, in the set of his shoulders, in the drawn lines of his face.

  Before this ordeal, Nicola had thought he might propose to her. She’d been so excited, thinking the weekend two weeks ago would be it. Instead, their relationship had taken an entirely different turn, wavering from permanent to nonexistent.

  "Victor, are you all right?" Nicola called to him. He appeared deeply contemplative. She wished she knew what he thought. “You still haven’t told me what I’m doing here.”

  She prayed this conversation didn’t end in another argument. Quite frankly, she was weary of the fighting, weary of the discord between them. They had belonged together, dammit. And although all that ended two weeks ago, there had to be a way for them to act civilly with each other.

  His eyes locked with hers, glazing with lust. She could tell his thoughts had gotten increasingly hotter, his air of sadness replaced by smoldering heat. She knew where his mind led, that kiss had affected her too. She had wanted him to continue tasting her, drinking her in. Picturing him making love to her, right here in this room, the images came to her clearly.

  Stripping her down to her strappy shoes, she would fit her back to his front as he held her hands against the wall. His chest and abdomen would stroke the arch of her neck, the smoothness of her back.

  Her skin tingled where they touched, arousing her. His cock would enter her moistened channel, slamming repeatedly into her willing body as she reached for the completion she knew he could give her. Pushing back into his thrusts, she strived to take him with her, demanding his own release.

  Mewling, she would scratch at the wall, fighting his hold on her. He would switch both her hands to one of his and reach around her body. Starting at her breasts, he would tweak her nipples, trailing the tips of his fingers lightly between her breasts. Down to her belly button, continuing lower his fingers would skim her pussy lips, capturing her clit.

  His thrusts would never slow, his demands of her would never wane. He would expect it all from her and she would willingly submit. Squeezing her nub, her pleasure would heighten. Her peak would be evident by the screams of her release, matched only by his shouts of completion.

  Nicola’s chest heaved at the erotic fantasy her mind conjured, vivid and real. She wanted that experience with him, needed it. Gradually, her mind readjusted to the present, her pussy empty and needy, her entire body aching for Victor.

  Noticing his gaze still trained on her, she blushed with embarrassment. He might not know what her mind conjured up but he could probably guess the basics. His eyes sweltered at her, and she figured her thoughts must be stamped all over her red stained face.

  “I...” Victor began but his mother chose that moment to interrupt.

  "Victor, honey, can you come here for a minute?" His mother’s voice traveled down the stairs.

  Heaving a deep sigh, he stood, emotions she couldn’t identify flickering across his features. But Nicola welcomed the reprieve, “I’ll be right back, Nikki,” he said, leaving the room and Nicola behind.

  * * * *

  Victor had just excused himself to talk to his mom, when Vincent entered the room. Victor's father was a mirror into the future for his sons. She had no doubts that they would look just as handsome later in life as he did now. Not that she would be around to see the proof of that.

  “Good afternoon, my dear Nicola. How’re you today?” He smiled, giving her a brief hug.

  “I’m well, Mr. Weise.” She responded, savoring the embrace.

  “Oh no, none of that dear. We agreed you would call me Dad, remember?” He looked at her expectantly.

  Opening and closing her mouth, nothing came out. She felt uncomfortable with the title but she couldn’t think of a polite way to convey that to him. Why didn’t anyone remember she and Victor were no longer together? What the hell was going on in this house?

  “Yes, of course.” But her response didn’t satisfy him. He waited for her to continue, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “Dad?” The word sounded both right and wrong coming from her lips. She used to glory at the privilege, but now...

  A warm smile skirted his lips, showing his obvious pleasure with her acquiescence. “Good,” he nodded and continued. “So tell me, darling. What is this nonsense about your moving away?” He sat on the sofa next to her. “What is that all about?”

  Nicola cleared her throat, wondering why she felt nervous. She was the injured party here, she shouldn’t have to defend herself. “Well, I have an offer for a teaching position in Pittsburgh, sir.” Her brows furrowed with confusion as she explained her plans. “It’s time for me to move on.”

  “But that doesn’t make any sense. I thought you loved your job here.” Grabbing hold of her hand, he patted her. “Victor never mentioned you being unhappy.”

  “No, Mr. Weise, I love my job here. It’s just...time for a change.” Nicola responded, baffled by the conversation.

  “But if you love your job, why would you want to leave us?” Vincent questioned further.

  “Don’t you know what happened in this very room two weeks ago, Mr. Weise?” He raised one brow, cocking his head to the side. “I mean, Dad.”

  “Yes, I do. But your place is here with us, darling. You’re family.”

  Wrenching her hand away from his, bitterness welled up within her. “I was family, sir. But I’m not anymore.” Standing abruptly, she balled her hands into fist. “Please let Victor know that I had to leave.” She stepped away from Vincent Weise, from the couch, from all that this place represented. “I must go home and pack.”

  He stood as well, stretching his hand toward her. But she continued her retreat. “Nicola, please don’t go. I never meant to offend you.”

  Turning her back on him, she looked over her shoulder. “Look, Mr. Weise, I...” She shook her head, unable to complete the thought, unsure of what to say. Her shoulders slumped and she prepared to leave again. “I gotta go.”

  She never went too far though, her body ricocheting off someone else’s chest. And again someone had entered the family room while she was otherwise preoccupied. Okay, this was becoming a pattern. Gosh, the traffic in this place certainly seemed to have significantly increased in the past half an hour or so.

  Chapter 4

  “Please don’t go yet,” Victor said, making it a demand cloaked in a plea. He took her hand within his and dragged her back to the sofa, sitting next to her this time.

  She noticed Victor’s father had left the room, the norm for these conversations. One family member leaving, replaced by yet another one. Each one showing up when the conversation appeare
d to be spiraling into the awkward.

  She couldn’t deal with this now. Her chest ached as the tears built there and she didn’t need the Weise clan being a witness when that dam broke. She would not show them her vulnerability.

  “Look Victor, I have to go.” She stared into his eyes. “Please just let me go,” she begged, desperation weighing on her. She felt raw, her throat aching as if she was drowning.

  “I can’t,” he whispered.

  “But you must.” Tugging her hand, she tried to get away from him. “You already have.” He released her and she got to her feet, only to be lifted off them and seated, straddling Victor’s legs. “Victor. Let me go.”

  Burying his hand in her hair, Victor ignored her demands. Slapping his chest, Nicola leaned backwards, resisting the forward momentum of her head. Eventually, he stopped fighting, stopped trying to pull her towards him. A small victory, or so she thought. But instead he closed the space between them himself.

  Leaning towards her, he captured her lips. She struggled against him, but he refused to free her. Her body melted, she knew if he didn’t free her soon she would submit to his will.

  One of his hands released her head, stroking under her skirt and up her bare thigh. He cupped her ass as he drew her flush with his body. Resting her hand along his shoulders, she put pressure on them, a last ditch effort to separate their bodies.

  “Open for me,” he said against her lips, swiping his tongue repeatedly against her.

  “No.” His tongue dipped into her mouth. Okay, bad move. She increased her struggles, fighting against him. But she was already lost. Surrendering, she kissed him back, sucking his tongue into her mouth. He slid his other hand out of her hair and down her back. At the hem of her shirt, his hand changed directions and moved up under her blouse, caressing the soft skin of her back.

  “Hmm.” Rocking her pelvis against his, she cupped his head with both hands. She dragged her mouth away from him, raining kisses along his jaw down to his neck. “God, you taste so good,” she muttered at the junction of his neck, lost in the moment. Moving back towards his mouth, she initiated the kiss this time.

  He soon stopped her, whispering, “Not here,” into her mouth. “Anybody can walk in,” he finished.

  Staring at him for a long minute, she contemplated her options. She couldn’t deny that she wanted him. Would it be so wrong to indulge, to take what he offered? Just one last time, she thought to herself. But he forestalled her response by covering her lips with his fingers.

  “This will not be just a last fuck or some kind of pity sex. You hear me, Nicola. So consider that well before you make your decision.” His words changed everything and nothing.

  Could she commit to him so blithely again? Could she give him her all considering what had happened the last time? Her response varied with each passing second: Yes, No, Maybe. But in the end, self-preservation won.

  “I think maybe we should...” she began only to be interrupted again by yet another member of the Weise household. Nicola sighed, the family must have some psychic link or something.

  “Oh, Nicola. How are you tonight? I hadn’t realized you had already arrived.” Natasha, Victor’s mother, said.

  “Good, thank you. And you?”

  “Good.” Turning to her son, Natasha said. “Your father wants to see you.”

  “Now?” He groaned, frustration bleeding into his words.

  “Yes. Go on, I’ll keep Nicola company until you return.”

  Before Nicola could protest, Victor stole one more kiss, lifting her out of his lap and planting her back onto the couch. Nicola straightened her clothing, well used to the family showing up at the most inappropriate times. At least Simone hadn’t walked in on anything indecent.

  As soon as Victor left, Natasha took the seat across from her. Elegant to a fault, Natasha sat in her usual prim and proper way, displaying the perfect combination of beauty and grace. Nicola sometimes envied her self-possession.

  “So Nicola, we’re having a dinner party tonight...in honor of you and Victor,” Natasha stated. “What do you say we go out around five to buy you a dress?”

  “But why?” Nicola scooted to the edge of the couch, “Seriously, Mrs. Weise, what is going on here?” Propping her elbows on her knees, she clasped her hands together, letting them dangle between her legs. “Victor and I are no longer together. He broke off our relationship two weeks ago. And I know you know that.”

  “Well, that was a little misunderstanding.” Waving her hand in the air, Natasha brushed the incident away.

  “With all due respect, Mrs. Weise, it didn’t seem like just a little misunderstanding to me.” Her emotions switched from anger to hurt to disappointment. “Your son accused me of things I have never done in any relationship or in my entire life. So I’ll not sit here and have you or any other Weise dictate to me how I should be feeling.” Nicola’s eyes watered.

  “Where were all of you that night, two weeks ago? Where was all the support then? I never saw any of you coming to my aid that night. Now all of a sudden, I should accept that I’m worthy of being a member of this family again. Well, no thank you. I don’t want it. I’m moving away, I’m leaving. I’m looking to a future without any of you. And I suggest you all do the same.”

  She never gave Natasha a chance to respond. She left her sitting in the family room, unaware of the effect her words had on Victor’s mother. Her heart could not absorb anybody else’s pain at that moment.

  She made it as far as the front door but Victor intercepted her a second time. He caught her around the waist and without saying a word, he picked her up and carried her up the stairs. Nicola wanted to scream, frustration building inside.

  “Let me go, Victor.” She gritted out through tightly clenched teeth.

  “No,” Victor growled back. “Listen carefully, Nicola. Before this night is out, we’re either going to talk and make up. Or make love and make up. The choice is entirely yours.”

  Chapter 5

  In his room, Victor dumped her on the bed. “Look, I know how stupid I’ve been, okay,” he admitted. “I should have known better. But I’m standing in front of you now letting you know how sorry I am, how wrong I’d been. I’m asking you to forgive me. I made a mistake, a terrible one. Please don’t make an equally devastating mistake by keeping us apart. We belong together, Nicola.”

  But even with all his apologizing, Nicola couldn’t let it go. Maybe she didn’t want to let it go. Clinging to her anger, she fed it fuel to sustain the fire, helping to keep the pain at bay. Whenever she relented, the pressure in her chest intensified.

  Sniffling, she wondered how long she could hold onto this rage. This road would only lead to bitterness for her. But she didn’t know how to forgive this nor how to forgive him.

  “We talk,” she declared, responding to his earlier words, not even hinting at the other half of his statements. How could she commit to him physically or even emotionally again when she wasn’t even sure he trusted her? Or that she trusted him not to betray her again?

  “Okay.” He nodded, relief reflected on his face. He seemed to expect that very answer from her, or maybe he hoped for any compromise she offered.

  “Why would you believe I was capable of divulging secrets to your rival?” she asked, sitting up in the bed. She would open herself up to the possibility of forgiveness between them. They might not stay together at the end of this talk, but she needed closure. And this would be her best and possibly only chance to achieve that.

  “I believed the wrong people.”

  “Why? Who did you believe?” She already suspected who the person behind the accusations could be. Victor’s personal assistant had been trying to get rid of her from the beginning. It seemed she’d finally found the perfect crime to accuse Nicola of.

  “I believed Sonja.” She nodded, her suspicions confirmed. “I believed her because...” He brushed that explanation away. “I should have believed you...you and my own heart.” He paced back and forth, look
ing at everything in the room but her, clearly ill at ease with his confession.

  Patting the space on the bed beside her, Nicola said. “Come sit with me, Victor. No sense in you towering over me throughout this whole conversation.” She had made a commitment to listen and she would, but he didn’t need to be uncomfortable in the process.

  “If you really don’t want us to make love, Nicola, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” His voice sounded strained. His cock tented his pants, pushing at the zipper, attesting to his desires.

  “Fine.” Swinging her hand out, she indicated the lounge chair in the corner. “Then use the chair. You don’t have to remain standing.”

  Victor walked over to the chair, and stopped. He contemplated the chair, as if it held all the answers he sought. Looking back at her, he studied her, searching for some unknown answer. He appeared to have settled on his answers, finding them in her because he reversed directions. Walking back to the bed, he perched on the edge, sliding back until he rested against the headboard.

  “I never meant for any of this to happen,” Victor explained, picking at the comforter. “I saw you talking to Umberto Sciarra at that benefit the night before we faced each other in court. Everything went fine with the proceedings, but then he produced a key piece of evidence and cost us the case.”

  “So what? You automatically assume I had something to do with that? I know nothing of your cases, Victor. Plus, I thought our relationship comprised at least some level of trust.”

  He smiled sadly. “Our relationship does include trust. But you have to admit I do engender a certain male chauvinist at times. Acting before I think.”

  “That’s absolutely true,” Nicola agreed, smiling back at him. The self-deprecating comment helped to lighten the mood for her. “But what can we do? How can we get pass this? How can we fix our relationship?”

  “I took the first step, Nikki. Now it’s up to you to reseal the gap between us.” The comforter forgotten, he faced her. “Why did you come here, Nikki?”