Nico
My eyes widened in shock the moment those words escaped from his lips. Heat rushed through my chest so suddenly that it almost stole the air from my lungs completely.
I had expected teasing from him tonight. Maybe drunken flirting wrapped in sarcasm. Maybe another argument disguised as banter because that was what Alaric and I did best.
But not this.
Not Alaric sitting there with flushed cheeks and heavy eyes while openly admitting that he wanted me badly enough to say something like that.
My heartbeat immediately turned uneven.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke.
We simply stared at each other in silence while the soft city lights spilled through the massive penthouse windows around us. The teasing atmosphere from earlier slowly faded into something far more intimate.
Alaric's hazel eyes remained locked onto mine, slightly unfocused because of the alcohol but painfully honest in a way sober people rarely allowed themselves to be.
