Nicodemis Read online

  Stunned, not only because such a sweet mouth had sworn, but also by the rest of her words, Nico handed the box in his hand to one of the women Cara had been huddled with. Then, without further thought, he pulled Cara into his chest and wrapped both arms around her.

  She tensed for about five seconds and then relaxed and leaned heavily against him as she began to sob. He dropped a kiss on the top of her head and held her, feeling a contentment fill his chest unlike anything he had ever felt before. There was definitely something about this woman that spoke to him.

  She suddenly pulled away. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to cry on you like that,” she said, staring at his wet shirt with a fear he’d never encountered before.

  “Sweetheart, you can cry on me any time. Now, what’s happened?” Nico asked as he brushed the last of her tears away with his fingers.

  Though he was tempted to lick her tears away, he wiped his hand down the side of his thigh instead. Taking her tears into his body would earn him even stranger looks than he was getting now. He and his cousins were known around town as doctors, lawyers, and engineers, not so much as members of the Kinky Saints MC, unless they were riding as a club for charity.

  Cara waved her hand at the building down the block. “That happened. The ham, my phone, my clothes, everything I own, and my job, all up in smoke because the landlord was too cheap to update the sprinkler system like he’d been told he should.”

  The chaos down the block drew their attention as firefighters, who had been inside, appeared and ran from the building as fast as their heavy, bulky turnout gear allowed. The crowd was then forced back by a line of police officers just seconds before a loud whoosh and boom sounded as the building collapsed.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” Cara muttered as she turned and walked away.

  After telling the woman holding the cheesecake to enjoy it and share with her friends, Nico followed. Cara marched down the block as if she had a destination, a place to go, or at least a plan for what she would do next. He caught up when she stopped on the sidewalk just beyond the police barricade.

  She patted the pockets of her slacks, but apparently did not find what she was looking for. In the next moment, her shoulders hunched, her head dropped, and her arms wrapped around her middle.

  “Cara?” Nico stopped behind her, wanting to give her another hug but unsure if it would be welcomed.

  After pulling in a long, deep breath, Cara lifted her head and straightened her shoulders. She then turned to face him. Instead of looking into his eyes, she stared at the middle of his chest as she said, “I’m sorry, Nico. I can’t cook you dinner tonight. I can’t even go buy another ham because my purse is back in there and apparently burnt to a crisp. I can’t go to a hotel because my car is parked behind the building, probably trapped under a zillion pounds of burning rubble. What am I supposed to do now?”

  * * * *

  Cara had nothing, was nobody, and having only lived in town a few months, she had no one she would be comfortable calling on for help. The shock of seeing Nico dressed in his motorcycle-club leather vest just added to the horror her day had become. Was it safe to share all this with a biker when her ex-husband had made her afraid of both motorcycles and the men who rode them?

  “Cara, I know we don’t know each other, but do you think you could trust me to take care of you? At least until you get back on your feet?”

  Nico’s warmth reached out to her before his body gently pressed against her back. In the next moment, one arm came around her shoulders and the other around her middle to pull her back against his big, solid form.

  Not sure what else to do, Cara turned in his arms and buried her face into his chest as she nodded. It had been a long time since she’d had someone to help, someone to take up the slack, someone to help make decisions. After divorcing her abusive ex-husband, she had learned she had to be strong and could rely only on herself. She had no family, and the few friends who had survived the divorce had grown distant of late, putting her off if they even bothered to answer her calls.

  She was all she had.

  But now, in this moment, she was having trouble thinking straight. All she wanted was for someone to take over, and not demand anything of her until she could deal with the shock of losing everything. She only hoped putting her trust in Nico was the right thing to do.

  “Okay, I’ll trust you,” she whispered into his chest, hoping he heard her soft words.

  Without saying another word, Nico released her. He took her hand in his and led her down the block to a big black motorcycle that was parked sideways behind a teeny two-seater car. After backing it into the street, he climbed off again, reached into a saddlebag, and pulled a helmet out. He quickly put it on her head, and snapped the chin strap together to secure it. Then he pointed to the motorcycle.

  “Place your feet on these pegs, and hold onto me. Lean the way I do when we turn, and everything will be okay. If you need me to stop, pat my belly three times,” Nico instructed.

  Once he climbed back onto the bike, he helped her onto the seat behind him. She put her feet where he told her, then wrapped her arms around his middle while trying not to get too close to him. He started the engine, and the thrum of it vibrating up from her ass sent chills and shivers through her.

  She had only been on a motorcycle once, and it had been during her year in college. That trip had left her wary of bikers. Her ex had then added to her fear of the two-wheeled machines when he bought one just six weeks before they separated. The one time she asked for a ride, he told her she was too fat to ride on his motorcycle.

  She gasped silently when Nico reached back, wrapped his hands around her hips, and pulled her forward on the seat. When he released her, she was plastered against his back from tits to twat. Then he pulled her wrists so her arms were tightly wrapped around his middle, like a koala hugging a tree.

  In the next moment, the engine roared and they were moving. She tightened her hold until he patted her thigh in protest. Taking a breath to calm herself, she loosened her hold a little, but found herself unable to relax too much as he drove through town. By the time they reached the highway, she was a little more comfortable as she watched the world whiz by.

  By the time he pulled through a tall stone fence, she had become comfortable on the bike and was almost sorry to see their ride end. The wind had dried her tears and blown all the worries she’d had just twenty minutes earlier out of her brain. Once Nico pulled into a warehouse-sized garage where a line of motorcycles filled one side of the large building and a number of cars, trucks, and SUVs lined the other, Cara felt suddenly nervous.

  Nico turned off the engine, then patted her leg. “Go ahead and climb off, sweetheart.”

  Cara swung her leg over and dismounted, not surprised to find it was much like getting off a horse. Her legs had the same wobbly feeling to them as well as she stepped away from the motorcycle. She fumbled with the helmet, then dropped her hands when Nico stepped in front of her and pushed them out of his way. In seconds, he had the helmet off her head, and ran both hands over her head to smooth down her hair.

  “I must look horrible,” Cara said as he brushed a kiss over her forehead.

  “You look like a woman who is feeling a little lost,” Nico said gently before kissing her lips.

  The gentle touch of lip on lip became a fiery spark that exploded into a raging inferno in the next two heartbeats. Lips parted, teeth clashed, and tongues tangled and danced back and forth. Cara melted into the big man’s embrace, and marveled at how it felt. Like two pieces of a puzzle coming together to fit perfectly.

  Her pussy dampened and her clit knotted as Nico’s cock grew to an impressive length against her belly. It had been a long time since she’d had a cock, any cock, in her, but all at once, all she could think about was riding up and down Nico’s long, thick length.

  She was breathless and panting by the time Nico finally lifted his head. He stared down at her with dark chocolate eyes that burned with a hunger she
had never seen in a man before.

  “Damn, that was hot, little girl,” Nico muttered as he pulled her arms from around him before stepping back.

  After returning the helmet to the saddlebag, he took one hand in his and threaded their fingers together. The sliding of skin against skin had her pussy clenching with simmering arousal.

  Nico led her out of the garage and across the parking lot, away from a large three-story farmhouse that looked like something out of her dreams. They walked down a paved road past a handful of houses of various designs before Nico turned up the driveway to a stone cottage with a green metal roof and a wide porch that ran across the front. She could see two barn-like structures to the left and behind the house.

  He didn’t speak until he opened the front door. “Welcome to my home.”

  Stepping back, he allowed Cara to enter first. Still a bit shaken by their last kiss and the shocking trauma of the day, she entered slowly. She half wished Nico would toss her over his shoulder, take her to bed, and fuck her until her brain shut down and her racing thoughts ended. She immediately felt guilty. She was a strong, independent woman and had been standing on her own two feet, making decisions, paying her bills, and living life by her own rules for nearly two years since divorcing her ex. Why was she fantasizing and getting so excited at the thought of Nico taking over her life?

  “Okay, sweetheart. Why don’t you go get a shower and try to relax? I’ll find something for you to wear and then see about getting dinner.”

  “I’m sorry,” Cara said softly, tears of guilt welling up at making the man fix a meal when she had promised to cook for him.

  Slap, slap, slap. Cara jumped and yelped when a large hand swatted her ass hard and fast.

  “What the fuck?” she screeched as she spun around and looked up into Nico’s darkening expression.

  “Whatever it is you’re thinking, you need to stop it right now. None of this is your fault, and I won’t have you thinking it is. You’ve done nothing wrong. Do you understand?”

  Cara nodded as she blinked back tears that swelled up at the hot fire that burned her skin where he’d smacked her.

  “Good girl. Now come on, I’ll get you set up and then see about dinner. If you behave, maybe after dinner I’ll take you to see my zoo. Tomorrow will be soon enough to introduce you to the family and worry about everything else.”

  “You have a zoo?” Cara asked, placing her hand in the one he held out.

  Nico smiled and raised his eyebrows. “You’ll have to be a good girl if you want to find out if I do.”

  Chapter Three

  “You really do have a zoo,” Cara said in a soft tone of wonder as they wandered through the enclosures of animals he was healing and rehabilitating. The hope was that one day they would be able to return to the wild.

  “Yes, I really do,” Nico said with an indulgent smile.

  He watched as she hurried from one enclosure to the next. She looked like a little girl needing to see all the animals at once.

  After her shower, she had put on one of his T-shirts with a pair of cutoff sweats. The shorts had a string in the waistband so she could pull them tight enough they wouldn’t fall down, though they stretched lovingly around her hips.

  Once she was out of her clothes, he had taken them to the kitchen and placed them in the washing machine. He waited until just before they came out to see his animals to start the laundry. By the time they returned home, her clothes would be ready for the dryer so she would have her own clean, non-smoky clothes to wear in the morning.

  Dinner had consisted of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, a childhood favorite comfort meal of his. His mother, and later his grandmother, would fix the simple meal whenever he was sad or hurt. He didn’t have his grandmother’s fine hand in the kitchen, but Cara had not complained that the sandwich was a little too brown and the soup was out of a can instead of homemade. She ate rapidly and said thank you enough times that Nico threatened to spank her again if she said it once more.

  “So that’s your job? You take care of hurt wild animals?” she asked before yawning once she reached the far end of the building his untamed patients resided in.

  “I’m a veterinarian. This side project grew out of the dog rescue I run out of the other barn,” Nico said, capturing her hand and leading her out the back door of the building. “My office is outside the fence and just across the street.”

  Instead of showing her the dog rescue, he turned them toward home. Cara was yawning and it was time to settle her for the evening. His cock twitched when she rested the side of her head against his arm.

  She was so tiny and curvy, reminding him of a doll, making him want to do everything he had to in order to keep her protected from the rest of the world. It was an unfamiliar feeling, but he wanted to wrap her in cotton wool and keep her for his own. She might be older in years, but he could see her allowing him to take control, make decisions, and care for her, heart, body, and soul.

  “Come on, sweet girl, let’s get you home to bed. You’ve had a rough day,” he said, brushing a kiss over the top of her head. “Everything else can wait until morning.”

  They walked home in silence. Once inside the house, Nico locked the door before escorting Cara past the living room and down the hall to the master bedroom. “Use the bathroom and brush your teeth before crawling into bed. I’ll go cycle the laundry so you’ll have dry clothes in the morning,” he said, releasing her hand and stepping away.

  He took his time, half expecting Cara to be in bed and asleep by the time he returned. His house had three bedrooms, but one was set up as a home office and gym, and the third remained empty. He’d refused to allow Nonna to decorate it when he’d moved in and, until now, had never seen a reason to set up a guest room. Tonight, Cara would sleep in his bed and he would crash on the couch. Tomorrow they would see about buying some furniture, along with whatever Cara might need to get through the next few days. At least the couch was long enough that he wouldn’t be too cramped sleeping on it.

  Instead of being curled up under the covers asleep as she should be, Cara stood just outside the bathroom, staring at his bed as if she had never seen one before. Or maybe it was because it was a California King and much larger than most beds.

  “Cara? What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

  She turned to look at him, her eyes glinting with unshed tears. “I can’t sleep in your bed. You should sleep in here and I’ll sleep on the couch,” she said softly.

  “No way. My cousins are not shy about walking in unannounced, and I don’t want them hassling you if they do. You’ll sleep in the bed. I’ll be fine on the couch. I’ve slept out there on more than a few occasions—one more time won’t hurt me. Now move,” he said, adding a little of an “alpha, don’t mess with me” growl to his voice.

  “Yes, Daddy,” Cara said with a smirk as she crawled onto the mattress and lay down before pulling the covers over herself.

  Nico was not surprised his cock sprang to attention, pushing hard at the front of his jeans. He knew if he bothered to check later, there would be a zipper imprint down the underside of his cock. Cara’s use of that word struck every possessively sexual nerve he had, and his entire body thrummed with need. He would have to stop at the smaller guest bathroom down the hall to jerk off before he could even think about relaxing.

  Taking a deep breath, he crossed the room and tucked Cara in. He brushed a kiss on her forehead before saying, “If only I could be that lucky, little one.”

  Without waiting for a response, he straightened and left the room, turning out the light and easing the door nearly closed as he went. He wanted to be able to hear her if she called out in the night. He expected that after all she had been through, there would be a nightmare or two to haunt her.

  * * * *

  Though her small, but comfortable, life was apparently over, Cara fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. When she woke herself up sobbing, she had no idea what time it was, or where she was. She jump
ed when she realized she was not alone in the bed.

  “Shhhh, little one. It’s going to be okay. I’ll make sure of it,” a deep voice said, the soothing tone washing away some of her terror.

  Cara tensed, still caught up in the horror of her dream when a large, warm hand touched her shoulder, pulling her even further to full wakefulness. She opened her eyes, then looked around. Dim light streamed in from another room. The man sitting on the side of the bed and leaning over her wasn’t just a darker shadow in the dark room. She could see it was Nico as he stared down at her with concern.

  “What happened?” she whispered as she blinked and wiped the tears from her face.

  “You had a bad dream,” Nico said gently. She shivered when he brushed a strand of hair out of her face before cupping one hand around her cheek.

  Cara blinked as her dream came rushing back. “Oh, yeah. It was a bad one. I was at the shop working when my ex walked in and started chasing me around the building with a knife. He caught up with me and was about to stab me when there was a whooshing sound and the walls of the shop caught fire. I got away from him but couldn’t find my way out of the building. What time is it?”

  “About two thirty. You’re okay now,” Nico said, smiling softly. “Think you can go back to sleep?”

  Though she was really only half-awake, Cara wasn’t sure she wanted to go back to sleep. She did not want to chance returning to that nightmare. Also, Nico’s gentle touches were turning her on in a way she had never experienced before.

  With anyone.

  And Nico’s bed was more than big enough for the two of them to share.

  Looking straight into his eyes, she asked the question that would no doubt lead to more than she could handle. Moving to the far side of the bed, she asked, “Can you stay in here with me? Please? We don’t have to do anything but sleep, if that’s what you want. I just don’t want to be alone right now.”