by Marian Tee
It was, Lilac thought with an inner sigh as she shook herself out of her reverie, impossible to ignore a person if that person was made of six-foot-plus of sheer gorgeousness.
And arrogance, she added to herself. She should never forget that Nick was the personification of arrogance.
Nick’s gaze was all smoldering wickedness and laughter when she finally raised her eyes to meet his. This close, he easily took her breath away and Lilac doubted there would ever be a moment he would not do so. He was just too much of a Greek god in real life to do anything but make people catch their breaths, wondering what they did to deserve seeing him up close and personal.
Again, he was dressed elegantly, beautifully, so overwhelmingly sophisticated that one would never fail to realize he was a billionaire first and foremost, an MBA student after.
No jeans, no crumpled shirts, absolutely nothing homely was allowed for Nick Christakos – it was as if he wanted to remind everyone he was the closest thing to perfection alive. And then there were his clothes – Lilac suppressed a sigh. Nick’s clothes never made him less male, never failed when it came to emphasizing how amazingly sexy his body was – broad shoulders, strong arms with extremely defined cuts, rock-hard chest with jaw-dropping abs, and long muscular legs.
Lilac should know. She had just downloaded five more photos of Nick Christakos last night.
“You’re staring,” Dorothy whispered under her breath.
She jerked. She blinked. And when she saw Nick grin lazily, Lilac blushed.
Nick sighed. “I warned you about that, Lilac.”
Lilac’s blush deepened.
“Lilac.” Nick uttered her name as if he was in pain.
She protested, “I…can’t help it.”
“Try harder.”
She did as he said, doing her best to stem the color from flooding her cheeks. She watched Nick close his eyes for a moment, looking as if he was in torment. When he opened his eyes, those blue orbs of his were wry.
He sighed. “You look more beautiful each time I see you.”
She almost jumped at the words. It was too close to what her imaginary duke said to her imaginary Regency self, and the coincidences was getting to be far too many for comfort.
“It’s as if you’re blooming.” Nick knew the term was fucking old-fashioned, but it fit Lilac’s looks perfectly.
Lilac blinked. “You…are the second person who told me that.”
The words provoked something inside Nick. It took him a few moments to realize he was jealous. Nick couldn’t remember the last time he felt like that. Had it been when he had first started going out with Karla, and she had still insisted on dating other boys? That time he had been furious, and Nick had only been able to forgive Karla after her tearful admission that it was because she had been insecure about him.
The cynical part of Nick made him wonder if this was the same ruse, and he asked abruptly, “Who’s the other person?”
“A…friend,” she answered after a beat and tried not to squirm, knowing she was deliberately withholding the fact that it was another girl who said so. And that, Lilac thought miserably, did not feel right. So she added, “Dorothy…did.” She gestured to her friend, who was not hiding the fact that she was avidly listening in on their conversation.
Dorothy offered her hand quickly with a grin. “Hi.”
“Hi.” But Nick’s eyes were on Lilac. She could have left it a secret, could have tortured him with the thought that another guy was making a move on her. They both knew he would have hated it.
But she hadn’t.
When Dorothy turned away to wrangle more students into signing up for the SAC, Lilac smiled at him. “No guy…would ever say I’m…blooming.”
“I’m a guy.” Nick wondered if he should be offended.
Lilac shook her head. “You’re…different.” She paused then added very simply, “You’re Nick.”
Nick’s heart clenched, the way Lilac said his name making him breathe just a little more easily. To hide how fucking affected he was, Nick asked teasingly, “Is that a compliment or an insult?”
Lilac’s smile widened. “Both.”
He laughed.
Dorothy came back to their side, asking Lilac to save another student’s number on her phone. When Dorothy left, Nick already had his own iPhone out. “Give me your number.”
She did so, but only after frowning at his demanding tone.
He shrugged. “Don’t give any other guy your number.”
She blinked.
“And never flutter your lashes like that at another guy either.”
She blinked again.
He warned, “Lilac---”
Lilac quickly pressed her hand on her eyes, as if combing down her lashes. “I’m…trying.”
“Try much, much, much harder,” Nick said darkly. “Better yet---” Still looking at her, he muttered something in Greek.
Lilac rolled her eyes when she saw one of his bodyguards hand him a pair of shades. “I…haven’t even returned the other pair.”
“Keep them. Put one in every bag you’re using.” Nick slapped the shades on her face. Pretending he didn’t hear Lilac heave out a large sigh as he did, Nick checked his watch and cursed. He only had ten minutes before his own class started.
Ah God, it felt like this MBA shit had no end in sight.
Nick scowled at Lilac. “I have to go now. Remember your promise.”
She scowled back but did not say anything.
“Till next time, sweetheart,” Nick murmured before walking away.
Lilac tried not to stare after him, but it was like trying not to breathe. When he suddenly stopped halfway across the street, this time her breath stopped with him. Nick turned – and then he bowed.
Lilac’s heart crashed.
One day – one day she would know what tortured him so. And maybe, maybe when that day came she could help him feel…okay.
But for now, all she could do was bow back.
And then they turned away, neither of them knowing that they had just created what would be one of Christopoulos University’s most romantic mysteries, one that would be dissected and analyzed by thousands of students for years to come. Their guesses would range from strange to funny to the fantastic, but none of them would ever come close to discovering yet another secret that Nick and Lilac shared.
The Sixth Encounter
Nick rubbed his aching temples, feeling like he had half of his life drained out of him – the effect of spending an hour in Beatrice’s company. Beside him, Jason appeared the same, his face grim and lacking its usual charming smile.
Just thinking about how Beatrice talked to them – how she had the utter gall to provoke them made him want to smash something. If murder was not a crime, he had a feeling he would have killed Beatrice ten times over by now.
The FBI agent handling their case had been just as frustrated with the results of their meetings with Beatrice. “We can’t hole her up like this for too long,” Agent Sanders warned. “We either book her for good – or you drop the charges and make a deal with her. If we book her, I don’t think she’ll survive more than a month inside. She’s made too many enemies clawing her way into your circle.”
Nick’s grip tightened around the steering wheel, but in his mind it was Beatrice’s neck he was strangling. If only Beatrice would confess. If only he could finally uncover the goddamn person behind his attack, maybe – maybe the nightmares would go away and he could start living his life like he should. Maybe he could even fix things with Karla---
Nick’s skin crawled, unwanted images suddenly entering his mind. And God, the pain, the fucking pain in his ass---
Karla.
He needed Karla to make him feel he wasn’t weak---
“Nick.” Nothing in Jason’s voice revealed his disquiet as he sought to draw his brother out of his hidden fears.
“Yeah?”
It took a while for Nick to answer, and his voice was a bit hoarse. But Jason pretende
d not to notice any of these, knowing instinctively Nick needed him to keep things normal. Keeping his gaze ahead as the gates automatically opened and Nick drove past the property’s ten-foot walls, Jason asked, “Where are you heading after?” The three-story mansion Jason shared with their mother was visible soon after, lights glittering brightly behind its curtain-covered bay windows. “Clubbing or fucking?”
Nick made an effort to concentrate on his brother’s question. “I---” He stopped, realizing that neither held appeal. For so long, he had never dared spend a night alone. He either took a woman to bed or wasted the hours clubbing with his friends.
But he hadn’t done that in over a week. In fact, he hadn’t even considered doing so ever since---
Nick said slowly, “I’ll just probably head home.” But he was already taking out his phone, knowing that there was a new number saved in it he hadn’t yet used.
Jason stilled, noticing the odd tone in his brother’s voice. “You okay, brother?” He watched Nick nod even as an absent-minded smile tugged at his brother’s lips as he glanced down at his phone.
Jason took a shot in the dark. “Are you by any chance asking that girl out again? The one you weren’t able to bed?”
Nick’s fingers froze mid-type.
Jason grinned. “No fucking way, man – you’re taking her out again? Even if---”
“Don’t.” Nick’s tone was serious. “Don’t say anything offensive.”
Jason raised a brow. “That affected, eh?”
Nick didn’t answer, but what Jason saw was more than enough. Whoever this girl was – if she kept making his brother smile like this, then she had Jason’s support.
****
Saturday night and she had nothing to do.
Why did she feel so frustrated when it never used to bother her before? Lilac threw herself on the bed with a disgruntled sigh. Combing her still-wet hair with her fingers, she reached for her iPhone just as it vibrated in her hand.
Almost dropping it in surprise, Lilac checked the screen and this time she did drop her phone, her silly heart galloping before she could even hold the reins on it.
Nick: Want to play CS again tonight?
Lilac shot up in her bed, overthrowing the covers as she gripped her phone tightly. Lilac caught sight of herself in the full-length mirror at the corner of her room. She looked like she was channeling Tina Turner on a bad hair day. Not good.
Lilac’s gaze fell back to her phone, feeling torn in two directions. It was ironic, really, considering how this – this stupid inexplicable friendship – was going nowhere. Nick would never like someone like her while Lilac had always had a crush on him.
Worse, he still hadn’t completely gotten over his ex.
And the worst of it all was that she and Nick shared one painful similarity. They were messed up just by virtue of being Susan Petersen’s patients – and she couldn’t see how two messed-up individuals like them would ever make a great coupl---
Lilac mentally stopped herself.
They were not going to be that, ever.
Her phone beeped again.
Nick: I know you’re reading this.
Her lips twitched.
Nick: Stop overthinking things. Let’s just go play.
Before she could think about what she was doing, Lilac was already saving his number and typing her reply.
Lilac: One condition: my treat this time.
Nick: You wish. Stop playing hard to get. We’re just friends, remember?
Nick: Unless you want us to be something else?
Nick: I can think of other things we can be together. I can think of it VERY EASILY. And it will mostly have to do with undressing you.
Lilac gasped.
Lilac: What are you saying?!!!
Nick: I knew that would get a response. If we don’t go out tonight, you know what kind of messages I’d be sending you. Your choice – I’m going to have fun either way.
She could block his number of course but – they both knew she wouldn’t have the strength to do that. She…liked him too much already.
Lilac: You are so UNFAIR!
Nick: LOL. I like texting you, Lilac. You’re much more expressive.
She sighed. That was because fingers didn’t stutter – but of course she couldn’t say that.
Lilac: That’s me. I text more than I talk.
Nick: Figures.
Lilac: WHAT does that mean?
Nick: Nothing, manari mou.
Lilac: WHAT does that mean as well?
Nick: Your job to find out, sweetheart.
Her heart jumped at the term of endearment, while another part of her body also reacted, heating up before getting disturbingly wet. It had Lilac blushing, even though she was all alone in her bedroom. How could something so simple turn her on? But then – this was Nick. He could just raise his brow, and she had no doubt it would be more than enough to turn on most women. Herself included, she thought morosely.
Nick: You’re home? I’ll pick you up now.
Lilac: Yes. Will dress now.
Nick: Fuuuuuuuuuck, Lilac. Please do not tell me you were naked the whole time we’ve been texting?
****
Nick waited for Lilac to reply but she did not – even when minutes had already passed. A reluctant smile formed on his lips. Well, this was a first. And knowing Lilac, it surely wouldn’t be the last instance she’d prove how different she was from other girls.
He arrived promptly at seven in front of her house, and she came out less than a minute after. Another first, Nick thought wryly.
Their eyes met, and for a few moments both of them were simply content looking at each other.
Too gorgeous to spend too much time with, Lilac thought with a pang as she took in his impeccably dressed self with his blazer, white polo, and formal pants.
Too beautiful to leave alone far too long, Nick thought as an unnamable sensation squeezed his chest. He could only be thankful that most men weren’t as discerning as he was. If they were, they would have easily seen past Lilac’s love for revoltingly ugly clothes and discover the beauty hiding underneath it.
He smiled lazily at her. “So were you?”
She raised a brow.
He smirked. “Were you naked or dressed when we were texting?”
Lilac scowled.
Nick chuckled. “All right, sweetheart, I’ll stop teasing you for now.”
The endearment got to Lilac again, and in the middle of coming up with a retort that wouldn’t make her stutter, she closed her mouth with a mental sigh. Lilac was sure she would not be able to speak anytime soon after something like that. Her heart had run off again, galloping like a wild stallion that had broken free from captivity. Who could ever speak sensibly when Nick Christakos called you ‘sweetheart’?
As she took a step closer, Lilac paused, her nose wrinkling.
That nose…was too adorable as well. Nick closed his eyes, exasperated with his libido. Was it going to find every little thing Lilac York did arousing?
“You…smell like beer.”
Nick supposed he did. He and Jason had downed a couple of beers earlier, past experience telling them that numbing their senses with alcohol was the easiest way to bear Beatrice’s sickening presence.
The reminder wiped any semblance of good mood he had, and Nick turned to Lilac with hooded eyes. “All you have to know is that I’m not drunk – and even if I were, it’s a moot point.” He nodded towards his driver, who took off his chauffeur cap respectfully when Lilac glanced at him in surprise.
The driver was short and thin with a jaunty smile on his face as he opened the door to a black Rolls Royce.
Nick watched Lilac blink in bemusement, and his cock immediately reacted. Get fucking down, boy, and stay down, Nick thought irritably. Any more of this and he would no longer be able to wear any of his custom-made pants. They were a perfect fit – and that was the problem.
“You’re…” She shook her head, as if words failed her.
This time, Lilac rolled her eyes.
Nick frowned, unsure if he was exasperated or amused. “You really hate talking, don’t you?”
Lilac only nodded, but her doll eyes laughed at him and amusement won. Wickedly, he added, “It doesn’t matter.” When she raised a brow, he said with a smirk, “It just makes you sexier as hell.”
Lilac blinked, scowled, and grunted – but she still did not talk.
“What the fuck?” Nick laughed out loud. “You’re unbelievable.”
Lilac suppressed a sigh. If only he knew she wasn’t even trying to make him laugh! It was his fault, really. He said the most outrageous things, the kind that had her all choked up, tongue-tied, throat tight. How could she even dare speak when she felt like that? Surely she would end up stuttering in seconds!
Nick was offering his hand and she took it with another suppressed sigh. He was so touchy-feely but she didn’t bother telling him off, knowing it would just spark a debate she had no hopes of winning.
“I must be crazy,” Nick muttered to her as he escorted Lilac to the car. “I should be happy you don’t like talking and yet it’s just driving me fucking out of my mind.”
The driver closed the door behind them, and the minutes that followed were quiet, the Rolls’ dark interior making the silence between them more soothing than uncomfortable.
When Nick finally broke the silence, it was to ask something that had him curious. “So…you really don’t drink?”
“No.”
“Smoke?”
“No.”
“Drugs?”
“No.”
“You have no vices, you do volunteer work, you’re probably a straight A student – no, don’t answer---”
“Yes,” Lilac answered, just to be perverse, a smile tugging at her lips.
Nick groaned. “Are you even human?”
Her smile faded a little.
“Do you even have a bad side?”
“When I…get mad,” Lilac admitted, “they say…I’m like…the Devil.”