"What… what was that?" Ella gasped, her body still trembling from the aftershocks, lips parted as her wide eyes searched his face.
Nicholas chuckled, the sound low and dark, his gaze devouring her. "That,love," he murmured, leaning in to brush his lips against her jaw, "was only the beginning."
Her breath caught again—not just from what he said, but how he said it. Deep, assured, laced with the promise of more. Of everything.
He pulled back slightly, just enough to see her face. His expression had shifted—his eyes still molten, but now edged with restraint. She could tell: he was holding himself back, barely. Not because he didn't want her, but because he needed to be sure.
"Do you want to keep going?" he asked, his voice velvet-soft, the tension simmering just beneath. "Because once I start… once we go there, there's no halfway. I won't be able to stop."
