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Nero shook his head, a flash of sadness flickering through his eyes. “They died when I was young.”
“How young?”
“Julius was a baby, and I was six.”
“I’m sorry.” The platitude was automatic, but having lost both my parents too, I understood how it felt, even though I’d been an adult and we’d been kind of estranged when my parents died.
He shrugged a single shoulder. “I don’t really remember them. They were gone a lot when my mom wasn’t pregnant. They were… uh, archeologists, died on a dig. No one knows exactly what happened. They were always heading out to the next site, looking for the next big find, the next big sc—” Hecut himself off, and I got the sense I was missing something important, but Nero didn’t continue.
“Well, look at us, just two lonely orphans.”
Nero scoffed. “Ha. I wish I was lonely. But no. Three brothers, remember? All of them a pain in the ass in a different way.”
“Still, no parents.” I wasn’t sure why I was clinging to that as a thing we had in common. Maybe that was why we were fated to each other. Maybe we needed one another because we both knew what it was like to lose.
Another shrug. “Do you want to take a shower or change?”
I shook my head. “I do, but first, will you show me whatever it was you were talking about in the parking lot?”
Nero thought for a second, his thick brows furrowing over his dark eyes before he remembered the conversation. “Yeah. Definitely. Bring the stuff you took from the safe.”
He walked through the kitchen, down a single step into a wide great room with a stone fireplace, and then down a wide hallway, stopping in front of a door on the left.
A set of stairs led to a lower level. “Where are you taking me? Your secret lair?” And yeah, in that moment, I could admit I’d maybe read one or two more comic books than I should have and fantasized about being whisked away to some misunderstood supervillain’s lair where he’d seduce me to the dark side.
“Not my secret lair.”
“But someone’s?”
“You’ll see.” He flipped a switch, and the lower floor and stairway lit up.
I expected a dark, windowless basement, but we were actually on a floor that walked out to a pristine expanse of lawn that butted up to a private beach and the Sound. The sun was starting to set, making the surface of the water glow orangeand the mountains in the distance look dark. The view was breathtaking.
“It’s beautiful.”
Nero stopped walking. “What? Oh, yeah. I guess.” He took my hand again, but this time, he wound our fingers together, and I took a moment to appreciate how his larger hand enveloped mine. “Come on. This isn’t what I wanted you to see.”
He pulled me along, and I only caught glimpses of the other rooms on the floor—a wide glass wall showed off an indoor pool and hot tub, open double doors led to a movie room, and we blew past a wine cellar and full bar before Nero stopped in front of a set of dark gray pocket doors.
“Ready?” I had no clue what to expect on the other side of those doors, but anticipation thrummed in my chest.
“As I’ll ever be.”
He dropped my hand and used both of his to push open the doors like Beast showing Belle the library in his castle. And like Belle seeing all those books, I almost wept with joy when I saw what was on the other side.
A computer command center the likes of which I’d only imagined in my dizziest daydreams filled the room. Four interconnected monitors fit the curve of a corner desk, and two laptops sat in front of them. There was another four-monitor display on the wall, and across from those was an interactive whiteboard. A large black leather sofa with a chaise divided the room and faced a huge television on the wall, every game console currently on the market and some that were closer to antiques lined up in built-in, glass-fronted wall cabinets underneath.
And I couldn’t have said what it was about the room or the gesture Nero was so clearly trying to make, but in one massive wave, the day caught up with me, and the floodgates opened.
My knees went weak, but before I could so much as stumble, I was pulled into Nero’s arms, against his strong chest, his scentall around me as I lost it, huge gulping sobs shaking my body until I thought Nero was the only thing holding me together, the only thing holding me up.
He stroked my back and my hair and murmured words in a language I didn’t know as I cried over the day, my tears refusing to stop until I’d let it all out. It felt good to grieve the loss of my freedom and almost everything I owned, the catharsis essential if I was going to focus on what I knew would need to be done next.
And even though I was sure I was a tearstained, disgusting mess, Nero let me press my lips to his when the tears stopped and I needed an outlet of a different kind.
Being so close to him, surrounded by his scent and knowing he was my fated mate, made me want him, but more than that, I’d learned over the course of the day that Nero was a genuinely good man. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to take on the job of keeping me safe when McMahon offered it, but he’d done a damn fine job so far. He made me feel safe, and that was maybe the hottest thing of all.
Nero growled, and the innocent kiss turned feral. In a second, Nero had lifted me into his arms and wrapped my legs around his hips as his lips, teeth, and tongue devoured mine. I put my arms around his neck and scratched along the dark patch of skin, smiling against his lips when I felt his cock jump.
