But it was too late. He had already torn my dress up the other side.
“You bastard!” The thing was hanging in tattered, silvery ribbons—sporting a slit that went all the way up to my hips. And while it technically might cover everything it needed to, it was only a matter of time before the entire thing gave way. “I can’t believe you just did that!”
Nick simply folded his hands behind his head, and leaned back with a satisfied smile.
“There—symmetrical.”
I let out a gasp of incredulous laughter, and smacked him in the chest. My legs were still straddling his waist, and I felt him stiffen as he gazed up at me with a grin.
“Do you really have to destroy every priceless dress I have?” I teased, leaning down so that the tips of my hair brushed against his cheek. “First the fountain, now this?”
The man always had an uncanny knack for destruction, but my wardrobe had never borne the brunt of it until now.
His eyes danced as he stare
d up at me, and without thinking, he reached up and caught a dangling curl between his fingers—running it absentmindedly along his lips.
“I guess I’ll just have to take you out to get another one.”
I pursed my lips.
“Until you destroy that one as well?”
He laughed, dropping his head so his own hair spilled out over the mat. “Yeah—until I destroy that one as well. I’m glad to see you’re catching on.”
I bit my lip, trying my best to fight back a smile as I leaned dangerously over him.
“I really liked this dress, you know.”
“Oh yeah?” His eyes sparkled with a challenge. “What are you going to do about it?”
“Me?” I pretended to look confused. “Oh—I don’t have to do anything. I don’t know if you understand how fighting works, Nicholas, but you’re the one on your back.”
He didn’t miss a beat.
“And you’d rather I was on top?”
I opened my mouth, then closed it right back up again. Truth be told, it seemed rather counter-intuitive to reply. His eyes flashed and he took my silence as an invitation.
“Understood.”
There was another swish of air, and the next thing I knew—we were flying back around again. As I clung to him for balance, all the muscles in his body tightened of one accord, turning into some kind of super-human wall of strength. He pressed me down with a taunting slowness, completely immune to the fact that I was pushing back up against him with all my might.
It was like fighting against a statue.
“For fuck’s sake!” I anchored my entire body against him, giggling breathlessly all the while. After only a few seconds, my arms had already begun shaking. “What the hell have you been doing all these years—prowling the rooftops at night, solving crime?”
He laughed loudly, thoroughly amused with my pathetic struggles.
“As my publicist, I couldn’t possibly admit such a thing. I’m sure you’d hardly approve.”
I bet I wouldn’t. But before I could say as much, he beat me to the punch.
In one graceful motion, he took my hands off his chest and pinned them up above my head. I gasped softly, as he lowered his lips playfully to my ears. “But between you and me, I can think of a lot more interesting things to do with my nights.”
At this point...I think the fight was officially over.
My body was pressed flat against the mat, my hands were pinned inescapably above my head, and Nick was hovering just an inch above me, staring down into my eyes.