Only a couple of minutes after entering me, Nico’s body broke out in a sheen of sweat and flexed tightly as he sucked in a breath and moaned his release. He took several ragged breaths as he recovered, then buried his face in my neck. “I promise it’ll be better next time,” he muttered against the skin of my neck.

I giggled, enjoying the feel of his weight over me. “What makes you think there was anything wrong with that?”

He lifted his head and gazed warmly at me in the dark room. “Trust me, it gets a whole lot better. I’m going to teach you, and I look forward to every one of our lessons.” He grinned deviously, then pulled my back flush against his chest, which was a huge relief. His words had triggered a flood of emotion as I began to grasp the implications of what we’d done. He thought this was a beginning—not just a one-time thing. I had known he would, and a part of me wanted that too, but it wasn’t so simple.

A relationship with Nico would be complicated.

I wasn’t even sure it was possible.

Yes, we had a connection, which included amazing chemistry, but that didn’t change the past. His departure set into motion a chain of events that couldn’t be undone, nor did I want it to.

As I listened to Nico’s breathing slip into the restful pattern of sleep, I lay awake worrying about what I’d done. Even if I could wash away the hurt from years ago, being with Nico would be enormously complicated. He was under the impression we’d patched things between us and all was well, but the reality was my troubles had only just begun.

Thursday and Friday after Nico’s birthday, he didn’t show up at school. I texted and called him repeatedly with no response. On Saturday morning, I had my mom drive me to his house only to find no one home. Just after lunch, I finally got a text from him.

Come to Josh Newton’s party tonight, we can talk there.

A party? We’d never gone to any of the high school parties. At least I hadn’t gone. It was possible he went without me, but I highly doubted it.

I was anxious to see Nico, but equally hesitant. That sixth sense that resides deep inside us, the one that stirs to life when a loved one is in trouble or a natural disaster occurs, was telling me something wasn’t right. It made me want to hide under the covers of my bed and not come out, but that wasn’t an option. I needed to know what the hell was going on.

After some negotiating, I was able to convince Maria to sneak me out of the house and drop me off at the party. Her reticence to help me had nothing to do with disobeying my parents and everything to do with carving time out of her busy schedule to bother with me. I didn’t care, as long as I found a way to get to Nico.