Your Fault (Culpable Book 2)

I woke up with Noah whispering into my ear.

“Nick…wake up.”

I didn’t open my eyes, I just grunted, and her tongue started slowly and softly caressing my jaw.

Shit.

“Nick,” she repeated several times as her hand crept down my chest and stopped for a moment on the dark hair on my belly.

“I’m beat, Freckles. If you want something, you’re going to have to try harder.”

It was strange to have Noah trying to get my attention that way. I was usually the one going after her. I liked this role reversal.

“I guess I’ll have to look for someone else,” she said then, getting my attention and putting me on alert. I felt her pull away, and I opened my eyes and pounced on her so fast, she couldn’t have gotten away if she’d wanted to.

She took a deep breath as I slid a hand under her T-shirt and squeezed one of her breasts.

“Freckles, we’ve hardly slept,” I said, my mouth descending to her neck. “What’s this early morning sexual harassment about?”

“You’re my boyfriend. I’m just trying to make you do your job,” she replied, pushing her hips into me and breathing hard against my bare shoulder.

“You can make me do my job as a boyfriend whenever you like, but hold still for a minute,” I said, immobilizing her on the bed. She was so small beneath me…! I wanted to kiss her slowly until we forgot everything, even our names. “You do know our parents might be here, right?”

I didn’t give a shit about our parents, but I decided to make her wait a little longer before I gave her what she wanted. In response, she wrapped her legs around my waist and squeezed me. “Since when do you care?”

I smiled in the shadows, and right away, her hand was on my pants, trying to get inside them, but I stopped her before I lost control.

“Unless I remember wrong, last time you were the one taking the reins, Freckles. Now you’re at it again? Who gave you permission?”

“Permission?” she repeated, her eyebrows raised. “Keep acting smart and you won’t get anything at all.”

I laughed. “Babe, you won’t regret waking me up,” I assured her, pulling off the T-shirt, rubbing her body, and maneuvering to where I wanted to be. I kissed her legs and thighs, counting to ten to keep control of myself. Noah stirred, sighing, gripping the sheets, and I knew I was about to make my promises reality. “Look at me,” I ordered her.

As we locked eyes, she said, “Oh, God.”

“You like that?” I asked, and just then, I heard a noise behind the door.

I cursed, got on top of Noah so she was completely concealed beneath me, and pulled the covers over us.

“What are you doing?” she asked. “I was about to…” Just then, I covered her mouth with one hand while the door opened with a creak.

“Nicholas?” Raffaella asked.

Dammit!

“Raffaella, I was asleep,” I replied, trying to maintain the calm in my voice while Noah lay beneath me, stiff as a board.

“Sorry. I just wanted to thank you for staying here with Noah.”

Noah—I could feel her just then, shaking beneath me.

“No worries. I wouldn’t have wanted to leave her alone,” I said, smiling, caressing her now. I looked down and could just barely glimpse Noah’s eyes, so big that I almost cracked up laughing.

“I know,” Raffaella said serenely. “Okay, well, I’ll let you sleep. Your father and I were hoping we could all have breakfast together in a bit.”

“Great,” I said, frowning from pain as I felt Noah’s teeth sink into my arm. Her mother shut the door, and Noah slapped my shoulder.

“Idiot!” she snarled.

I laughed again and kissed her, sliding my tongue between her lips and savoring her while my fingers toyed with her. A few flicks, and all her anger had subsided.

“You’re a douche,” she said, closing her eyes, enjoying my attentions.

“A lucky one. Come here.” I took off my underwear and pulled her to me without waiting, grunting into the pillow as I felt her. She murmured something unintelligible while I started stroking, not wanting to waste time.

“Please, Nicholas, I need to finish…” she whispered, digging her nails into my back. I’d left her hanging before, but now I caressed her again, wriggling my way between our bodies.

When I heard her gasp, I stopped for a few seconds, trying to stretch the time on so I wouldn’t come, too.

I started over, going slowly, waiting for her to recover. Nothing compared to feeling her like this, with no barrier between us, skin against skin. Since Noah had gone on the pill, I was in heaven.

“Just one more,” I said, slowing down. “Let’s try and finish at the same time.”

And we did. Together, we reached that spectacular liberation that left us exhausted for long minutes. We lay still in bed, trying to recover our breath.

“That’s what happens when you try to waylay me in the morning,” I said.

“I’ll try and remember that for next time.”

Months had passed since the last time I had breakfast with my father in the kitchen. I think it was shortly after Noah returned from the hospital after the kidnapping. Doing it again was very weird. Raffaella was there, too. We were a happy family, I guess.

I didn’t want them to see how little I cared to be there. Plus, Noah didn’t like seeing me in a bad mood with her mother there, so I tried to act relaxed. Noah sat next to me. She wasn’t so much eating her cereal as playing with it. The radio was on in the background as always, and the way my father and Raffaella were sitting there across from us told me this wasn’t just a casual meal together.

“So…” my father started, looking back and forth between Noah and me. “How’s everything going? You’ll be off to school soon, Noah. Do you have everything ready?”

“Not even close. I still need to get started packing,” she said, putting a huge spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

I tensed when I saw she wasn’t saying anything about living with me. This was as good a time as any, but she showed no sign that she was ready to pull the trigger.

“Do you know who your roommate will be yet?” her mother asked, and Noah almost choked. I stretched out a hand and struck her softly a few times on the back.

“Not yet,” she said in a raspy voice.

Shit. I wanted out of that kitchen. Now.

Raffaella looked at my father, and they both looked back at us.

“We wanted to talk to you both,” he began. “I realize we haven’t exactly acted like a family these past few months… We’ve had our dustups, and we want to try to resolve that so we can all get along a little better.”

I wasn’t expecting that. As my father and I met eyes, I put my cup of coffee down on the table. I was all ears.

“Are you going to finally accept that we’re together?” I asked.

Raffaella stiffened, and my father gave her an almost-threatening look. “We accept that you are young, and you like each other, and…”

“We love each other, Mom, it’s not just like,” Noah said, finally intervening.

Her mother pursed her lips and nodded. “I get it, Noah, I promise, and I know you think I’ve been ruining your life because I don’t accept your relationship, and maybe you’re right…but you’re very young, and the nearly five years’ age difference is a big one, especially when you’ve just turned eighteen. All I’m asking is for you to take it slow. Nick, I hope you can understand that my daughter still has a lot to learn. She’s about to head off to school, and I want her to experiment and have fun and enjoy to the maximum—something I never dreamed I could give her.”

I could feel the rage kindling and starting to slowly burn inside me.

“Are you saying she doesn’t have fun with me, that I’m not going to allow her to enjoy college?”

“What she’s saying is for you not to base everything you do on each other. You’ve still got a whole life ahead of you, and we don’t want you to take things too fast,” Dad said, trying to still the waters. “So, on that note, we wanted to propose a deal. Like a peace treaty. What do you think?”

“I’m not interested in any kind of treaty. Noah’s my girlfriend, and there’s nothing to negotiate.”

My father sucked in a breath, and I could tell he was struggling not to start shouting.

“Then I need you both to do us a favor. And if you do, we promise not to get mixed up in your relationship anymore.”

“What type of favor?” I asked, wanting to get to the damned point.

My father seemed to be weighing his words carefully.

“In a month, Leister Enterprises will be celebrating its sixtieth anniversary. We’re going to have a charity reception. All kinds of people will be there, and all the money we raise will go to an organization that feeds people in developing countries. It’s a vital affair for the company, Nicholas, you know that perfectly. We’re undertaking new projects, and we need to give a strong and unified image when we are in front of the press and the other guests.”

“I know how important it is. I’ve helped organize it,” I said. “And I don’t know what it has to do with my relationship with Noah.”

“It’s very simple. If you both show up to the party as a couple, you can imagine the articles in the press… Everyone will focus on you and how scandalous your relationship is. No, Nicholas, don’t interrupt me,” he said when he saw I was about to cut him off. “I’m well aware of what kind of relationship you both have, and however much we dislike it, you’re within your rights. You’re stepbrother and stepsister, you’re not related by blood, but many won’t see it that way. I need to present a solid image of our family, and if you show up acting like a couple, lots of the people at the party will be confused and will look down on us. I’m talking about older people, people with lots of money, who simply don’t accept that kind of conduct.”

“This is ridiculous. No one’s going to notice us. My God, no one cares what we do or don’t do.”

“That would be true if you hadn’t spent the past few years being seen with the kinds of girls who end up in magazines. You know perfectly well that the press has always had its eye on you, Nicholas. Just look at how they crowd around you every damned time you decide to show up at some function.”

Noah looked at me askance, and I cursed between clenched teeth. Dammit!

“Are you asking me to go to the party alone and act like Noah is my little sister?”

“I’m asking you to take a friend, a female friend, and avoid the spotlight. Noah will go with a date, too. We’ll pose like a family for the cameras, we’ll have dinner, chitchat, negotiate with some of the big players in attendance, and then everyone can go home and back to their normal lives.”

Before I could explode, Noah butted in. “Sounds fine,” she said. I glared at her.

“Screw that. You’re not going to a major event like that with some dickhead who thinks you’re on the market. No way.”

Raffaella now opened her mouth again. “Nicholas, this is what I’m talking about when I say you need to calm down. It’s just a party. Your father is telling you how important it is. This doesn’t mean Noah’s going to marry some other guy. For the love of God, if she wants to go alone, that’s fine with us, too.”

I took a few deep breaths and stood.

“We’ll go, we’ll pose for the cameras as you wish, but I’ll warn you, when they eventually figure out what’s going on with us, Dad’s going to look like a fucking liar.”

We walked out to the backyard. I was so mad that I stared wordlessly at the waves breaking on the cliff below the house, trying to calm down. I felt Noah’s arms embracing me from behind and her cheek leaning softly on my shoulder. Putting a hand on top of hers, I felt a little better.

“It’s not such a big deal, Nick…” she said. I turned and looked at her sternly.

“For me it is… Noah, I can’t stand people thinking you’re not mine.”

“But I am, you know I am, and it’s just a stupid party. We’ll be there for a few hours at the most. Don’t overthink it.”

I shook my head. “It’s important, though. This is the last time I give in to something like this.” I kissed her. “I want to shout to the whole world that I’m with you. I can’t believe you don’t feel the same.”

She shrugged and smiled. “I don’t care what anyone else thinks. You know I’m yours. That should be enough.”

I sighed and kissed the tip of her nose. It should be, but it isn’t, I thought to myself. Things needed to change.