Chapter 15

NICHOLAS

Helping Giselle with her dresses gave me an inkling of the type of dresses she liked; silky and backless.

There was hardly a dress she picked that didn't have both characteristics, and they looked good on her, too.

She had agreed to go shopping without me cajoling her, and I wondered if she'd called the man on the phone to reschedule. Sure, I kept her busy today by taking her shopping, but they could always hang out another time. 

"Okay, this is the last one," Giselle said, startling me out of my thoughts.

She stepped into view, clad in a nude silk dress that hung off her frame like they tailored it just for her curves and olive skin.

Her bra was discarded because of the dresses she tried on, and from the way the dress hugged her upper form, I could see the outline of her nipples.

My dick stirred in my pants, and I hoped she didn't notice as I walked over to where she stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling mirror.

"You're supposed to crisscross the strings and tighten it so it looks like I'm suffocating."

I raised an amused brow at her through the mirror. "Suffocating?"

"I don't know how else to explain it. That's how the dress was tied on the mannequin, and it accentuated its waist."

I did as she asked, tying the strings tight so it looked like she was 'suffocating'. Her words, not mine.

"Good?"

"Mhm. I think I like this dress the most. What do you think?"

I cupped her waist with one hand, trailing the other up her exposed thigh. "I don't know, dolcezza. I think nude might be my favorite color on you."

That was also the shade of the lipstick she had on, and I didn't know if I preferred the red lipstick she wore the other night or this one.

"Really?" She sounded breathless.

"Really." I made eye contact with her in the mirror as my hand slid up a few more inches. Just like the dress she wore to Daniella's house, this one had a high slit, but the placement wasn't close to exposing her pussy.

"I didn't know you had a color you preferred." She arched her neck to give me more access to her neck as I inhaled her sweet, heady scent.

It was like a drug to my system. A drug I was getting addicted to as the day ticked by. And it wasn't just any drug. It was ecstasy. It made my dick hard as I stood this close to her.

"Take a quick guess, Giselle." 

I thought she sounded breathless before, but now I was certain she had stopped breathing when I cupped her left tit in my palm.

It was just a handful and felt exactly how I imagined it'd feel when my brain conjured scenarios in the dead of the night - soft.

Her nipples pebbled immediately, poking out the front of her dress as she sank against my body.

"What was the question again?"

I chuckled in her ear. "What color do you think is my favorite on you?"

"Black?"

"Try again." I flicked my thumb over her nipple, watching with satisfaction as her lips parted, and a soft moan escaped her mouth.

"Red?"

I twisted her nipple hard, and the loud moan she was holding back escaped her lips. "Right on the money, baby. Now, why don't you go get dressed so we can head out?"

She nodded, pushing away from me. I couldn't keep my eyes off of her as she walked over to the changing room, but she abruptly stopped with her hand wrapped around the knob.

"That can never happen again, Nicholas. Until you get rid of the other women, you can't have me or my body."

She didn't wait for me to reply before she fled into the room where she spent the next fifteen minutes getting changed.

***

GISELLE

Cristo, what was I thinking letting Nicholas grope my breast and twist my nipple like that?

It had felt so good, and my body wept from the first touch it had gotten from a man in over nine months. 

While his hand trailed up my thigh, I had been silently hoping he'd slip it between my thighs to cup my pussy and feel how wet I was for him, and boy was I wet. I could feel the moisture sticking to my thong.

Also, with that feeling of pleasure came shame. I was ashamed of myself for liking the things he did to my body, for liking the way his palms felt on my skin.

No matter how much I tried, I could never change the past, and in a life where the accident didn't take place, Gianna and Nicholas would still be together, and he wouldn't even look at me twice. 

I didn't believe in false humility, and I wasn't being obnoxious when I said this, but I knew I was beautiful, just like my mother. Nicholas's attraction to my body was the typical male reaction to a woman's body.

Men got aroused when they saw a woman's body they found attractive, and the proximity between Nicholas and I wasn't helping matters.

After gathering enough courage to face Nicholas once more, I walked out of the dressing room to find the private waiting room empty, all traces of Nicholas gone.

My heart dropped. Did he leave because I said he had to get rid of other women before touching me? Was that why he took me shopping and entertained my antics for hours in the first place?

Anger replaced my disappointment. If he was mad because I said he had to get rid of other women, then he wasn't worth my time of the day. I didn't even want him to begin with.

I was a lot of things, but foolish wasn't one of them. I'd taught myself to know my worth while growing up after watching my father disregard and disrespect my mother, and I wasn't about to change that for a man, even though the said man was my very fuckable husband.

The door opened, and two sales attendants walked in with smiles on their faces. "I was told by your husband to box everything you liked," one of them said.

At least he had the decency to pay before he left. "Yes, it's in the dressing room. The lesser pile is for the clothes I didn't like."

"Okay. It will take a few minutes to pack everything up. You can wait for the clothes, or drop an address we can send the things to."

"That's not necessary. We're going to browse a few more options in the store. That'll be enough time for you."

Both women smiled before walking into the changing room.

I snapped my gaze over to the door where Nicholas stood, his face a blank canvas.

"You didn't leave?"

"Why would I leave?"

"I thought you left because I didn't see you when I came outside."

"You were in there for over ten minutes," he deadpanned. "I needed to use the bathroom."

My cheeks tingled with embarrassment. I felt awful for judging him so fast, but he didn't have to know what I'd been thinking before he walked in, so I smiled at him.

"Sorry. It was hard to untie the dress."

He gave me a look that said he didn't believe me, but he said nothing.

"Where are we headed next?" I asked, following him out of the private room.

"Do you need shoes now, or you can do that another day?"

I was starving and eager to leave the store. "Another day, or I can order them online."

"Online it is. In as much as the experience was fun, it's not something I want to redo anytime soon."

"Don't worry. I'll give you a few weeks to heal, and it's back to the store."

He pinned me with a glare. "Not on your life, dolcezza."

I offered him a sweet smile. "We'll see about that, husband."

***

I walked into the closet later that night, fresh out of the shower, and ready to call it a day. I was exhausted from the day's events, and the California king in the bedroom called out to me.

I paused when I found a jewelry box on the counter in the middle of the spacious closet, contemplating whether to open it or not, but at the end of the day, my curiosity won.

In my defense, what was that popular saying? Curiosity killed the cat. 

"Oh, my God," I gasped when I opened the box.

This was the same wristwatch I'd been staring at when we browsed the jewelry store to pass some time. Realization dawned on me. This was what he went to get when he lied he went to get himself a wristwatch. 

Instead, he bought me a diamond wristwatch that cost over eight grand, and he placed it on the counter so I'd see it. On top of the jewelry box, there was a sentence scribbled on it in cursive.

Additional compensation for the wasted pasta and tiramisu. 

So, that was why he took me shopping. He felt bad that I'd spent hours cooking for him, only for the food to end up in the trash.

He was remorseful. Nicholas, a cold-blooded killer who probably never apologized to anyone, felt remorseful.

I smiled to myself as I changed into my nightgown, placing the wristwatch in my part of the built-in drawers in the counter that held the little jewelry I had.

I walked into the bedroom to find him already on his side of the bed with his laptop open in front of him.

I climbed into my side of the bed, dragging the covers up my body. "You suck at giving presents. And next time you write a cute note with your presents, don't use the term 'compensate'. It makes it sound like you're paying me for my services, and that's not why I did what I did. Thanks for the wristwatch even though I didn't say I wanted it just because I was looking at it."

"How about you learn how to accept a present first?"

"I'm teaching basic life skills that everyone should know."

"Are you scolding me?" He asked with a look of pure disbelief on his face.

I shrugged. "Someone has to do it, and it seems like your entire family fears you."

"And you don't?"

I did, but after spending the entire day with him, I wasn't as scared of him as I was before. "That's still up for debate. Good night."

I turned on my other side, and just as sleep was about to claim me, I heard him mutter good night.

Stubborn man.