DENY: A Dark Romance

by Sophia Gray

  I was paying him so much attention I didn’t realize he was going to stop walking, so I stumbled when he halted. He tightened his grip to keep me upright. For a fraction of a second, his lips curled into a tiny smile, but then his expression went blank. He even controlled his facial features. He seemed to me like he had a lot going on inside, a lot he wanted to hide. He was an enigma, and maybe it would be better to not try to solve the puzzle that was him. Let him do his own thing the rest of the time and just put up with the fucking when necessary. If he hired me. Why had he brought me here, to this empty backroom? Did he want an audition? To test me out? My stomach churned at the thought.

  Anton released his hold on me and closed the door. I stood there, hands clasped behind my back, feeling like I was in a daze. Why wasn’t he talking? I wasn’t a mind reader. I didn’t know what he wanted.

  Anton stood directly in front of me, staring down at me. The sound of his footsteps echoed in the room as he paced around me in a tight circle, giving me a close once over. I refused to squirm, but he was so intense that I found it hard to breathe. A little intimidating? Yes, but I still didn’t feel as off as I had with Alec.

  “You’re pretty,” he said in his low, deep voice.

  My stomach clenched. I sensed a “but” coming. I wasn’t one to care much about my looks, but when the job you were applying for required being bedded who knew how many times, I couldn’t blame him for wanting to sleep with a woman he was attracted to.

  And it sounded like “pretty” might not cut it.

  He completed his circle and stood before me again. “You’re pretty,” he repeated, “but not as pretty as I’d been hoping.”

  Despite working out logic to go along with his way of thinking, I couldn’t help myself from bristling. Who the hell did he think he was? Yeah, sure, he was a mob boss, but he had no reason to be so belittling.

  “I didn’t know my looks were important,” I said, lifting my chin. “Just that I can give you a baby.”

  He brought up his hand, and I didn’t flinch. Was he going to slap me for being insolent? I’d leave then. No way in hell would I tolerate that shit. Yeah, talking back probably hadn’t been smart, but I would not stand to be put down. This job was demeaning enough as it was.

  But instead, he brushed my cheek, the gesture surprisingly soft and tender, almost intimate. It wasn’t something I expected from him, and I almost stepped back to avoid his touch, even though it felt good.

  “I’m an uninterested in having an ugly child,” he said.

  What was looks to his heir when he would have money and power? My stomach churned at the idea of thinking of the baby — our baby — as only his heir, as only Anton’s. I hadn’t given many thoughts to having kids. I had wanted to find Mr. Right first. Then I would consider it. Maybe I wasn’t cut out to be a mother, considering I was willing to have this man’s child and just hand him over for money.

  I’m doing this for Mom.

  But that didn’t make me feel much better about the whole situation.

  Anton took a step back and crossed his arms, the strength of his biceps visible through his stark white shirt. “Tell me about your cycle. Are you on birth control?”

  This was not a topic I ever talked to a guy about before, and I could feel my face flaming. This was private information, but he did have a right to know. Heck, he needed to know if he were to hire me. I hoped I had the right answers to give because he might want a woman who already gave birth to a healthy child since she could obviously get pregnant and carry a baby to term. My womb and I were untested goods.

  I shuddered. This was so strange and bizarre, and…just a job interview. A job that wasn’t the best by a long shot, but I was desperate.

  Desperate enough to agree to this?

  Most likely.

  “I’m not on birth control,” I said. I had thought about it but ultimately decided against it because I didn’t like the idea of messing with my hormones. Would he want me to start taking it? Of course not. The idea was for me to get pregnant, after all! He was making me lose my mind. I couldn’t think clearly. “I always used condoms with my last boyfriend. I’ve always been regular. Every thirty days, like clockwork. I don’t imagine I’d have trouble conceiving. I’m healthy, and I work out. I generally eat healthy and…” And I was rambling. I snapped my mouth shut.

  During my speech, I stared at him, watching to see if his expression would change any. It hadn’t, but now that I had stopped talking, he looked intrigued.

  But he wasn’t saying anything. I had no idea what he was thinking. Was my being only pretty a deal breaker? He should be happy I never took birth control. Didn’t women sometimes have trouble conceiving if they had been on birth control for a long time?

  We wouldn’t be using condoms.

  I could feel myself grow damp, and I squeezed my legs together. I never had unprotected sex before. I never felt a man come inside of me. Would that change soon? Would this tall, powerful man standing before me be the first? How many times would we have to have sex before I would get pregnant?

  He maintained his silence, and I didn’t say anything either. Eventually, he walked away to a chair and sat down.

  Not knowing what else to do, I trailed after him.

  His hands reached out, and he seized me by the hips. He pulled me onto his lap so I was facing him.

  Startled, I stared deeply into his eyes. For a moment, I could see some emotions flicker — hope, pain, even fear.

  He desperately needed an heir, or else he wouldn’t be thinking about hiring a woman to provide him for one. That explained the fear. And maybe he was hoping he had already located that woman.

  The pain, though…what was that from?

  Anton was a mystery to me, a mystery I maybe wanted to solve. As dangerous as his world was, I could feel that tug I always felt when I found a bad boy — the tug to see just how bad he really was.

  And that was when I realized that I had to be careful, very careful, or else I just might fall under the spell of this man.

  Chapter 8

  Anton

  Was she trembling? I wasn’t sure. She was staring at me like I was a puzzle she wanted to solve, which amused me. Most women didn’t want to get to know me. All they cared about was my influence, my power, and my money, and while she obviously came to me for my money — her purse and obvious desperation alluded to that — that she was trying to figure me out made me curious.

  Who was she? I hadn’t even asked her for her name yet. She had me off kilter, and that was not a good thing. But pulling her onto my lap had thrown her some, I could tell, and I decided to press that advantage first. “I need to know if we’re compatible,” I said.

  And I kissed her.

  She was resistant at first, her hands on my shoulders, pushing me back, but I wound my fingers through her soft hair, pushing her toward me, my tongue touching her lips, outlining them. Her hands remained on my shoulders, but she stopped pushing me away. Ah, yes, I knew women. I knew how to kiss them, and when I pressed my tongue against her mouth again, she parted her lips for me. I almost laughed as I continued to deepen the kisses, and she ended up melting in my arms despite her initial defiance.

  My hands fell from her hair, down to her hips, pulling her even closer to me. I wanted to touch her, to hold her. She was a bountiful little armful, and I found myself getting harder than I’d been for a woman in a long while. Lately, women left and right had been boring me. We would fuck once or twice, and then I would move onto the next. If I was searching for something, I hadn’t found it yet. What that something might be, I didn’t know, and that was almost as frustrating as not finding it.

  As I continued to kiss her, my hand trailed up her dress, pulling it above her thighs, and the thought of having my way with her right here, right now crossed my mind.

  I didn’t, of course. This wasn’t a typical relationship. We weren’t going to fuck. We were going to enter into a business contract, which meant Is had to be dotted and Ts cr
ossed first.

  But my cock being this hard told me all I needed to know. She would do.

  As long as everything in background checked out, of course. She was desperate for money, and I needed to know why before I could hire her. And since she might lie about it, I would have to do some digging and research her.

  I finally broke off the kiss and leaned back to get a better look at her. She was flushed, her cheeks a lovely shade of rose, and as she blinked at me, it was easy to see the haze of arousal in her eyes. I often had that effect on women, and I was more than pleased to see how much I affected her. For just one, long kiss. I smiled at her.

  She gave me a dazed one back.

  “I’ll pay you one million dollars at the beginning,” I said after a quick calculation to determine a fair and reasonable amount, “and another million after you give birth.”

  Her body had still been melted into mine after the kiss, but now she stilled at my words. Yeah, I might have sounded a little cold, but I needed to keep my distance. This was purely business. Nothing more. I never got attached to a woman before, and I wasn’t going to change that now. She needed to understand that before we even got started.

  She was trembling on my lap. Hell if that didn’t make me even harder. It took everything in me not to rub against her. “Y-Yes,” she said, nodding emphatically several times.

  “Good.” I didn’t bother to smile again. “I’ll have my men come to you tomorrow with the contract to sign. If that suits you.”

  And if my background check on her proved her worthy enough to be the mother to my heir.

  Chapter 9

  Lily

  The next day, I woke up and rubbed my eyes. Had the night before been a terrible dream? My fingers went to my lips. I could almost swear that they were still swollen. That kiss had almost been too perfect, though, so maybe I had dreamed it all up.

  Anton. The mob boss. And soon, my business partner.

  If I signed the contract.

  A knock pounded on the door.

  “Just a minute,” I called.

  Who could that be? I wasn’t expecting anyone.

  I quickly got changed — no way was I going to open the door in my pajamas — and opened the door. A man I’d never seen before stood there.

  He looked down at me. “Hello. I’m looking for a Lily Nevison.”

  “That’s me.” I nodded, but I didn’t move to open the door wider or to give him entry to the house.

  Wait. Was this Anton’s man? I never did tell Anton my name, not even my first name. He never asked, and I hadn’t been thinking the clearest, not after that kiss, and not before it either. How had he tracked me down? Everything after the kiss was a giant blur in my mind, so maybe I had given him my name and address after all.

  Or maybe his resources were that good. Somehow the thought of being watched or studied or being checked up on made me uneasy. Had he run a background check on me? While I had nothing to hide and his wanting to do a check made sense, it still made me angry. My private home life had nothing to do with our agreement. I needed space away from Anton and his mob and his way of life.

  The man opened his long, black coat and removed a large manila envelope. “This is for you.”

  I accepted it. The contract. Wow. This really was all real. “Ah…thanks.” I moved to shut the door.

  He slid his foot forward slightly to stop me. “I’m supposed to stay and answer any questions you may have, if you want to request any changes…”

  This man had to stay and watch me sign, I realized. Great. Just what I wanted. An audience. This was embarrassing enough as it was.

  Hoping Mom would stay asleep a little while longer, I quietly ushered him into my room, having nowhere else to hide him.

  “You can sit…” I offered, pointing with the envelope to my bed.

  He stood by my bedroom door, his arms clasped behind his back. “I am fine.” His legs were spread, and his stance reminded me a hired bodyguard.

  Who knew? Maybe he was a hired bodyguard. Anton needed an heir desperately if he was going to dole out two million to get one. Desperately and as quickly as possible, which suggested that he had a huge reason for needing an heir so fast.

  Because he didn’t think he would be around for long, maybe? Was he in danger? Doubts were starting to creep in already, and I hadn’t even started to read the contract. Two million was a lot of money, and it would solve all of my financial problems, but that didn’t mean I had to be blinded by the dollar signs. I would check out the contract and make sure it suited me before I would sign.

  The envelope was heavy in my hand, and since the bodyguard hadn’t taken up my offer to sit on my bed, I sat there myself. I ripped open the envelope and removed the pristine white papers, the black ink a sharp contrast.

  My throat grew dry as I read each line. So these were the details and the negotiations from Anton.

  The surrogate, hereafter referred to by name as Lily Nevison, agrees to enter into this contract of her free will. She will be paid one million dollars as soon as the contract is signed by both parties, the other party being one Anton Kovalsky.

  Lily agrees to have sex up to four times a week until she becomes pregnant, at which time she will be under the care of a doctor of Anton’s choosing until she delivers.

  The job will be considered successful once Lily gives Anton a male heir. If she should produce a female, Lily will have two choices. She will either forfeit the second million dollars, or she will complete the job again.

  There was a bit more too it, and a lot more technical jargon that sounded very stiff and formal and lawyer-y, but I got the gist of it.

  Could I really do this? Yes, one million would be a godsend. It would keep Mom and I stable for years, decades. Two million and we would be set for life.

  But could I have sex with Anton in exchange for pay? And it was more than that. I wouldn’t be his hooker. I would be his surrogate. We would be having sex with the sole purpose of wanting to bring a child into the world. We would fuck and fuck and fuck until I got knocked up.

  And at the end of those nine months, I would turn over the baby to him. To Anton. To a mob boss.

  This was way too crazy to even contemplate.

  I glanced at my nightstand. At the stack of mounting bills. At my phone which had missed calls and voicemails from people I had to pay or else we’d be without electricity. Even before I lost my job, money had started to get super tight. Between increased cost of living prices and everything Mom needed for her treatment and having to pay for someone else to take her to and from the hospital when I had been working, it had all equaled to more money than I made. Even before I lost my job, I had already started to look for a second part-time gig. Hadn’t found anything in the three months I’d been looking, so what made me think I would find a full-time position somewhere any time soon? And I’d never be able to find one that paid so much either.

  I reread the entire contract. He wanted me to stay at his place. Okay. Time for questions.

  “I can come and go as I please from his house?” I asked the guard.

  He nodded. “As long as you make arrangements with Anton first. He would like for you to be near at hand obviously, so you can—”

  “I get the picture. He’d be reasonable, do you think?” I had to be able to take Mom back and forth to her appointments, and since I wasn’t working set hours, I would love to sit with her through the entirety of at least some of her chemo treatments.

  “He is a reasonable man.” The guard nodded, smiling slightly.

  Good. So he wasn’t a robot. I was beginning to wonder if he had been programmed or brainwashed. That was good. I stared at the guard point blank. Would he tell me the truth? Did he even know? “Why is he willing to pay so much for an heir?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “You have to have a guess, though.”

  “My guess is only that you seem to need money, and Anton is willing to pay you. The only question is whet
her or not you’ll let him. If you do what he wants, he will take care of you. I can assure you that.”

  I still had misgivings, but the sound of Mom coughing, hacking up a lung, and the springs in her bed creaking, forced my hand. I grabbed a pen and signed the contract.

  The guard jumped forward, gathered all of the papers for me, and eased them back into the envelope. “I will bring you a copy shortly,” he said. “Do you need anything else? Any last questions?”

  Wordlessly, I shook my head. In a daze, I walked him out. After I closed the door, I shut my eyes and leaned against the wall, sliding down to sit on the carpet. I couldn’t help wondering if I had completely lost my mind.