Skye had no idea how she fell asleep that night, the anxiety over the situation she had been put in could not allow for any peace of mind, and yet rays of light shining through the unfamiliar curtains confirmed that it was indeed morning, and at some point during the night, she had fallen into a slumber of sorts. The weight of Nickolas' arm also destroyed any hope that last night was merely a bad dream and that she wasn't indentured to him inevitably.
She had managed to slip from underneath his arm and off of the bed without waking him.
Skye needed to get out.
Nickolas had agreed to give her three days to decide, not that she needed them. She would do anything to keep her mother from seeing that tape, she realized as she quietly put on her clothes and slipped out of the bedroom door.
She just needed to get away and clear her head.
Skye had no more than closed the door behind her before turning into a solid, shirtless body. Muscled arms enveloped her keeping Skye upright. She choked on the screech that was making its way out of her throat. Remembering Nickolas was still sleeping, she didn't want to risk waking him.
Glancing up, Skye had every intention of saying a quick thank you, since whoever this was had kept her from falling, and then proceed to take off, to the nearest exit, out of this mansion of terror, until she looked at who she had bumped into.
She had to quickly reopen the door that she just left out of to make sure she wasn't crazy.
There Nickolas was sleeping soundly, she turned back to the doppelgΓ€nger in front of her, remembering to quietly close the door in front of her. She was fairly certain Nickolas Asante did not have a twin and yet the man in front of her was his spitting image.
It was his eyes that confirmed it. This guy's was blue, an icy blue. She didn't have time to ponder this. Time being of the essence and all.
"Sorry. I thought you were someone else."
Her words rushed past her lips in a forced whisper. The stranger wearing Nickolas' face smiled.
"I assume it's whoever is in that room."
His voice was low, soft, and playful. It belied the proximity of what his body meant as he slowly approached her. Skye looked into blue of his eyes and could tell there was a twinkle of interest behind them. She felt her back hit the door behind her when she backed away from him. The same door that held the reason for her need to escape.
This stranger was right in his assessment. The door she was currently pinned to did hold her reason for such a hasty exit.
A squeak burst from Skye's mouth as the solid door frame gave way and the support of her weight was lost, her bare back connecting with Nickolas' equally exposed chest breaking her fall.
Powerful arms encircled her waist pulling her body more securely against his and Skye could feel his chin resting atop her head.
"Daniel." The vibrations resonated in her back and chest when Nickolas spoke his name. It surrounded her, his voice, somehow lulling her into a more submissive state.
He seemed calm enough and Skye was sure they made the perfect image of a doting couple in the moment with how he held her.
"Hey Nick." Daniel's voice was a little to cherry for her liking
"So this was who you were trying to get away from."
Daniel's eyes moved back to Skye's as he addressed her. it wasn't a question and when their eyes connected, the mischief and humor behind them confirmed that he knew good and damn well who she was trying to get away from. When the arms around her flexed, she began to wonder if he had held her up, just long enough to give Nickolas time to get her himself.
She glared at Daniel as Nickolas dismissed him and pulled the her back into the room, her hopes of escaping, without him further infiltrating her mind, vanishing as the door closed in front of her, Daniel's smiling face also disappearing behind it.
"I never took you for the love 'em and leave 'em type."
She could her shuffling after Nickolas had moved away from her.
She refused to look at him.
"That's funny, I never took you for the blackmailing type, but here we are learning all sorts of things we didn't know about each other."
The agitation in Skye's voice was evident and Nickolas was thrilled that he could get under her skin in more than one way. The fact that she had yet to turn from the door and face him was just another sign of her passive-aggression. The space between their bodies diminished and Skye felt the heat of his breath on her neck. The urge to rest against him growing with breath. And Skye herself was confused with her own responses to him.
She stood strong.
"I'll come to you in three days, like we agreed. Just give me space until then."
Opening the door Skye stepped away from a smiling Nickolas and walked home.
*****
Three days had gone by pretty quickly for Skye with little to no interaction from Nickolas.
True to his word he gave her space. He definitely meant what he said and was a man of follow through. But for all the space he gave her physically, Skye was still unable to escape him in her thoughts, and if she were being 100%, she was excited for what was in store for her at his hands.
She had always been a good girl, doing what she was told in fear of displeasing her mother. Not that this was much different. She could only imagine the displeasure on her mother's face if she ever saw that tape.
But there was more to it.