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“I’m good. I want your scent on me. I need you knowing I’m yours.”
He doesn’t answer with words, just sends a heavy hand carefully down my spine, lingering in that dip above my butt.
“Sweet mouse,” he breathes out with a sigh.
11
I wake up sprawled across Nick (again) with one heavy arm anchoring me to him. It’s perfection and I could so get used to this. I can tell today is going to be a hot one. I’m not sure how I know, but there’s just something in the way the sunshine streams in the windows, like it’s not yet at full amplitude. I debate whether to tease Nick awake for more sexy times or to let him sleep while I go take care of the plants before the heat hits.
Raising my head so that I can see his face, I study it in repose. He looks sad. Which makes me wonder if his usually stern expression is really a mask. That doesn’t surprise me that much. I didn’t think he was wearing his feelings anywhere obvious. But that it would be covering up distress, disturbs me. I decide to let him get some rest and carefully slither out from under his protective arm. He mumbles something and turns on his side.
I sponge off in the bathroom rather than risk waking him with a shower. I’ll probably need one later anyway, as it’s sweaty work in the greenhouses. I grab a banana and some iced coffee that was waiting in the fridge and then head out for a day of semi-farming. Okay, it’s only a few hours of checking and watering with the automated system, but it’s exciting all the same. Some day I hope to have a full production test system, breeding new varieties of edible and delicious plants and a team to support that. But for now, I need to stay on top of everything and get some experience under my belt, so that means staying small for now.
It’s monotonous work for the most part, so my brain returns to Nick as I tend the tiny plants. He’s been nothing but gentle with me. And deep down, I know he’s holding back. More than the simple act of penetrating me with his cock. He’s holding everything back. I remember those rumors of him being a beast in the bedroom as well as the boardroom. Maybe that was just talk or someone had some firsthand experience. A flood of jealousy enters my system and coalesces into a ball just behind my sternum. I rub it absently, lecturing myself that whatever Nick did or didn’t do before he made any kind of fake or real commitment to me is none of my business. It doesn’t help much.
I’m toying with the idea of simply asking him about it when I re-enter the house. Only to find Javier leaning against the counter once more. There’s no doubt in my mind that he has a hidden agenda. He reeks of it and I don’t need that anywhere near my tenuously growing relationship with Nick. I’ve got enough challenges there already.
There’s an almost silent rustle of papers as they slide onto the kitchen table, and that’s when I see Nick seated there. His face is blank, almost like watching death creep over it. A shiver trickles down my spine. He stares down at his hands, flexing his fingers slightly, still looking bemused.
“What’s going on?” I’m not sure who I’m asking, I guess whoever will answer. I’m surprised that Javier’s not smirking, but neither does he look surprised. My question hangs in the air, neither man even looking at me. Fine. I stalk towards the table and gather up the papers.
It’s the DNA results which doesn’t shock me. But the paragraph below the statistical numbers does.Presumed to be human.What the fuck? I scan over the numbers and thanks to my years in botany and biology, I can understand them, or at least what they ought to be. These are different. I read the notes again. The text is very carefully worded. Probably because these results couldn’t possibly be achieved outside of a lab. Not even with a deliberate breeding program.
I stare at Nick, trying to read his reaction. He must feel my gaze on him because he stands abruptly. Staring down at his hands again he pauses briefly before glancing in my direction and then away. “I should go.”
Panic overwhelms me. Probably why I step directly into his path and stand on his feet. Briefly a flicker of the old Nick appears in his eyes, but then it’s gone again. I turn towards Javier with my arms wrapped around Nick’s waist, like I’m going to physically hold him in place.
“Explain,” I practically bark at Javier.
He brushes his coiffed blond hair to the side. “I can’t really divulge…”
“I’m his wife. Explain.” I’m growling now and Javier straightens abruptly. I’m not sure if it’s at my fierce tone or the news that Nick and I are legally paired. Don’t really care if it gets me answers.
He sighs. “There is mounting evidence of a… problematic… lab that was delving into genetic experimentation. It’s looking like Nick was an early product of those experiments and as he’s several years older than the other known um, offspring, that makes sense. The later phases were known to mix-and-match for want of a better term between species. Most weren’t viable, but a handful were. Are.”
I gape at him in horror. When Nick tries to detach me gently, I squeeze harder.
“Candace,” Nick’s voice sounds like it’s coming from far away. “Candace, I… this was a mistake, little one. I shouldn’t have been so selfish, not when…”
I can’t help it. I kick him lightly in the shins. Nick stares down at me like I’m a complete stranger. “Of all the stupid, asinine… Nickolas Savage, do you or do you not want to have sex with me?”
There’s an astonished snort from the peanut gallery, which we both ignore. A little life comes back into Nick’s face, but not enough. “Little mouse, what I want isn’t important here.”
“Yes, it damn well is. You’re the same man you were yesterday, Nick.” That doesn’t even seem to register. I frantically search my brain for how to get through to him. Then I realize what I’m going to have to do. He’s worth it, no question. And hopefully it’s only temporary.
12
“I will pluck one perfect blond hair for every tomato plant that dies. Understood?” I stare up at Javier, who has more than once accused me of being more suited to the role of evil lab experiment than Nick with my newly found temper. But at least he’s agreed to stay back and mind the farm while I accompany Nick to New York. I say accompany because he still thinks I should leave him to wallow in his new found past and go on without him. Not a chance. But I can see that he’ll be able to process things better in an environment that feels more natural to him and, quite frankly, my breeding experiments with tomatoes may just hit a little too close to home right now. So off to the Big Apple we go. This time I’m not letting him dump me in my former residence.
“I don’t see why you want to stay with me, Candace,” he grumbles as we drive to the airport. “It’s stuffy and boring there, you said so yourself.”
“When I was nine!” I exclaim in frustration. “And that was only because you didn’t have time to talk to me.” My dad dragged me along to some excruciating dinner party when my mom had to go out of town and he forgot he would need a sitter. But of course there wasn’t a place for me at the table, so I had to hang out on the gallery at the top of the stairs with a plate. Occasionally, Nick would look up to check on me (unlike my dad) and give me a secret smile. So small nobody else noticed, and I felt like he became mine back then. He just didn’t know it.
“It hasn’t changed all that much,” he admits sheepishly.
“But I have. And I do not intend to let you out of our agreement. Not unless you want to concede now and make real love to me tonight?” I ask sweetly.
When we stop for a red light, he stares at me like I’ve grown two heads. “Didn’t you read anything on that report?” he finally asks with exasperation.
