Page 65 of Nico

No matter what he wore, the necklace never changed. Nico's brows furrowed.

Despite the situation, I couldn't resist taking a deeper breath, filling my senses with his comforting scent. Nico gave me an amused look, as if he knew exactly what I was doing. I cleared my throat.

“That’s extremely limited edition merchandise, as in they only made five of those,” Nico finally said.

I went through the stack again, just to make sure we weren't jumping to conclusions. The second look confirmed our suspicions.

“Nico, good work.” I couldn't keep the praise out of my voice.

Nico flushed. He looked so adorable and I was so very tempted to lean forward. Steal a kiss from those tempting lips and…no. I forced myself to remain calm.

"When did you put all this together?” I asked.

“Yesterday.”

“Did you even sleep?” I asked.

He shrugged. "I wanted to help."

Another twist of guilt. Here I was thinking Nico did all this just so he could return to the set, but in reality, all Nico wanted to do was to protect Logan, to protect us.

I should've remembered that, but instead I'd pushed him away. While we talked, I noticed his gaze drift toward my truck.

Once, twice, then a third time. Nico bit his lower lip, and I knew what he wanted to ask. He was still hoping I'd change my mind about keeping him away from the set.

I could tell him that it was fine for him to come back. Yet, every instinct inside me screamed no, not while whoever did this remained unidentified.

My wolf whined softly. We both knew how unhappy Nico was, and my wolf was pushing me to fix things before the rift between us widened. Not today, I thought. My decision was made.

I gathered the photographs into a neat stack.

“Thank you for all this, really,” I said. “I don't think anyone else would've caught this.”

Nico's lips curved upward. It was a small smile, barely there, but it still made something inside my chest loosen.

"We'll go over everything tonight,” I told him.

Nico sighed, but didn’t argue any further. “Okay then.”

"I mean it,” I couldn’t help but add. "We'll figure this out together."

“I know.”

His words were agreeable enough, but the distance between us remained. Damn it, I hated it.

"I should probably go," I said quietly. “Logan’s expecting me.”

“Yeah, of course,” Nico said.

Neither of us moved for a moment. Then I opened the truck door. "I'll see you later."

"Be careful,” Nico said.

"I always am,” I told him.

His expression said he didn't believe that for a second. I couldn't stand it any longer. I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his. Nico gripped my shoulders.

It was so tempting to deepen the kiss, but if I did that, I might lose what little control I was holding onto. I pulled away and slid inside my truck.