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Nikolai studied an to make me nervous, but I kept quiet As oing, I wouldn't let it cost me the only relationship I had into quell the ruht he was

As I lay beneath Nikolai, unsure what his next move would be, I prepared myself for the ultiiven hiainst me

But despite my insistence that I would respect his decision, I found myself unable to entirely release his arrip on hi on to him But there was no departure, no escape There were no words either When Nikolai's response came, it stole my breath because he leaned down and sealed hisor softness in the kiss It was Nikolai taking what he wanted and for whatever reason, what he wanted was me All the shit I'd thrown at him in the past twenty-four hours and he was still here with me

He still wanted me

The real me

The real Jude who shouldn't have been enough for him but somehoas

Chapter 23

flipped

How had I gotten soabout the man beneath me?

It was a question that had been on a silent loop in my head for the past several ed him as a spoiled, entitled, rich asshole whose only concern had been the next deal and all the le level

None of what he had done had been abouthe did now seemed to be about it, either In my heart, I knew the deals he worked on weren’t really about turning a profit They were Jude's way of proving his value It was his way of saying “Fuck you” to the people who’d thought he would never be anything because of the severe behavioral and learning challenges he’d faced as a child

I’d been one of the assholes who'd judged him, just in a different way