by Marian Tee
She loved Nik as much as she hated herself.
“Remember.” Nik was speaking against her mouth. “You’re just a cunt that belongs to me.” His teeth sank into her lower lip, and Daria’s eyes involuntarily closed at the shock of sensation that jolted through her body at the contact. Oh God, how could she still want him even with what he was telling her?
He pulled away before she could decide what to say or do, and she could only watch in numb silence as Nik slid gracefully to his feet.
Gorgeous, powerful, sexy…so many words to describe how exquisite he was, but all she could think of was how none of the frogs had been able to make her feel cheap the way he made her feel now.
“Daria.”
She raised her eyes to his.
“Do you agree to my conditions?”
Chapter Five
Miranda was on her way to Nik’s office the next day when she saw its glass doors swing open and Nik Alexandropoulos coming out. “Leaving for a meeting?”
Nik stilled at the sound of his fiancée’s voice. Damn. Just the last person he wanted to see right now, he thought. But when he faced Miranda, his expression had been schooled to hide his thoughts, and his movement was unhurried as he bent down to kiss her on the cheek.
“I was thinking we could have lunch together while we discuss a few things about the wedding,” Miranda murmured.
Pulling away, he said, “Tomorrow would be a better time.” He paused then said reluctantly, “I have a meeting with Daria in the conference room.” As his mistress, Miranda had no right to demand answers, but she wasn’t just his mistress now, was she? He had also agreed to marry her, and even though it was a purely business arrangement, his personal honor dictated that he at least let her know what he planned to do.
“Oh.” Miranda did her best to keep smiling. “I see.” And she should see, since she was the one who had suggested this. So why did she suddenly want to tell Nik she had changed her mind and she wanted both of them to have nothing to do with Daria Everest?
Nik studied his mistress’ face when she took too long to reply. She was a beautiful woman, and the way her little black dress contrasted with her fair skin only made her more stunning. Angelic even. If there was one imperfect thing about her, then it would probably that she was perfect, which made her almost seem…inhuman.
When Miranda seemed neither inclined to speak nor let him pass, Nik said flatly, “You can still change your mind.”
She knew Nik wasn’t offering out of pity. It was just the way he was, with his old-fashioned sense of honor. But even so, she just couldn’t shake the feeling that Nik did pity her in some way, and the thought made Miranda lift her chin. “Of course not, darling.” She tiptoed to place a kiss on his cheek. “I won’t begrudge you this. She’s yours to fuck until you have your revenge.”
Miranda’s last words stayed with him even after they had parted ways when the elevator took her back to her floor and he stayed on to reach the fifteenth level.
Although a large part of Nik violently rejected the way Miranda had described his arrangement with Daria, he also knew it was no different from what he himself had done yesterday with Daria.
Miranda had only spoken the truth. Daria was a woman only meant for fucking, and he was the idiot who had thought otherwise.
****
Daria quickly came to her feet the moment the door to the conference room opened. She had memorized her introduction to the letter, worked hard last night on her mood board, and she had taken the time to craft several handmade samples of the menu and name cards for the kids’ tables in Miranda’s planned wedding. As far as she was concerned, it was a wedding that wasn’t going to happen, but even so she didn’t want to do her job half-assed.
Nik was the first one to enter the room, looking imposingly beautiful in his dark gray suit. She managed a polite smile, not wanting to accidentally give anything away about their past. She waited for other people to come in, but instead the door swung shut behind Nik…and remained shut.
Daria blinked. “Umm, I thought this was a meeting with the design team?”
“You thought wrong.” Ice sheathed Nik’s voice, and she realized then that Nik was in the worst of moods. A moment later, and she was gasping, caught by surprise as Nik yanked her to him, his mouth crushing hers. Heat mingled with surprise, but before she could even decide whether she wanted to kiss him back or ask what was wrong, Nik had moved again.
Tearing his mouth off hers, Nik flipped her around and pushed her down on the conference table. Her shock intensified when she felt Nik reach for her panties under her skirt—
A whimper escaped her as she heard the silk rip, and she couldn’t help whimpering again when she heard Nik unzipping himself.
She thought of stopping him. Of telling him that he couldn’t do this – couldn’t just start taking her underwear off to fuck her without saying a word.
But she didn’t.
Because who was she kidding? She was already wet at the thought of having Nik make love to her, her body trembling and becoming extra sensitive by the second.
When she felt the head of his cock nudge against the slick entrance of her sex from behind, Daria’s knees started to buckle and she hurriedly gripped the edge of the table with one hand while the other curled into a fist on the surface.
Another second, and he was sliding inside her—
Up, up, up, up, up—
The full length of Nik’s engorged cock entered her.
Oh God, she had missed this!
It was bliss. Sheer total bliss. The pleasure was so acutely perfect that her eyes rolled back and her mouth parted in a silent moan. Behind her, Nik had released a low growl, and his fingers dug hard into the sides of her hips as he started to thrust.
Each thrust felt deeper and harder, and her fingers tightened around the table’s edge as the force of Nik’s thrusts rocked her body.
“Nik.” She couldn’t help gasping his name, couldn’t help shuddering as the rhythm of his thrusts changed. It was more raw and rougher now, and oh God, she couldn’t get enough of it.
Up, up, up, uuuuup—
Nik slapped her naked butt, just hard enough for the sting to be agonizingly pleasurable. And then he was pounding into her. She started to pant. Behind her, his balls slapped noisily against the back of her legs. It was an erotic sound, as arousing as hearing the slick slide of his cock in and out of her pussy.
Sliiiiiiiip. Slaaaaaaap.
Pleasure started to build inside Daria’s body, and her breath caught. Oh God, anytime now—
Uuuuuuuuup—
Nik pushed her down flat on the table so he could deepen his thrusts.
Her eyes rolled back again, but this time it wasn’t enough. “Please,” she gasped. “Harder.”
Nik’s response was to grip her by the hair, and after tightening his hold on her long dark locks, he gave Daria what she wanted. He rammed her with his cock, so hard that the table – all twelve feet of it – moved several inches across the floor. Even so, he didn’t stop, only following her and thrusting into her nonstop.
One hand still holding her hair, Nik bent down, his chest pressing against her back, his cock still sliding in and out of her. She felt him curve his other arm around her body.
Oh God, oh God—
His fingers brushed the aching nub hidden between her swollen folds. He rubbed it hard as he drove in and out of her sex, the rhythm of his fingers and cock matching each other in pace.
UUUUUUUUUUP—
She came with a silent scream. Her body jolted at the strength of her orgasm, and even as she saw stars, she heard Nik coming behind her as well, felt him pull out just in time for his seed to shoot all over her bottom. It was hot and creamy, and there seemed so much of it, Nik growling with every spurt of cum shooting out of his cock.
When he released his hold on her hair, Daria slumped against the table tiredly, the feel of Nik’s cum streaming down her legs making her body shudder anew.
She f
elt Nik pull away and a moment later, she heard him say, “Fix yourself.”
The coldness of his words stunned her, and from the highest of high, Daria found herself spiraling to the lowest of low. Like a rollercoaster. Always, it was a rollercoaster with Nik.
Nik breathed hard as soon as he said the words, which now felt unnecessarily cold. Even so, he couldn’t make himself take them back or even apologize.
Silently, he zipped his pants back up even as his gaze remained on her. His tension grew at Daria’s visibly clumsy movements, and when she turned to him, her skirt down, hair just a little messy from his hold, the first thing he noticed was her eyes.
They were extremely bright again.
“You look like you want to cry.” He said the words without knowing whether he wanted her to admit the truth or not.
Did she? What they just did was only starting to dawn on her. She and Nik had just…fucked. The realization made her want to curl up in a ball, but she told herself she couldn’t give up just like that.
They might be fucking now, but if she was just patient, if she just kept working hard at showing Nik she truly loved him, it would change. It had to.
Out loud, she managed to quip with a smile, “They’re tears of joy for, umm, making me come.”
Nik didn’t answer, and if anything, his tension became even more palpable.
Her smile wobbled. What if he was thinking of putting a stop to this? What if he was about to change his mind? “Is something wrong?” she blurted out. Before she could stop herself, her mouth ran past her brain and she heard herself ask, “D-did you have a fight with Miranda or something?”
She expected him to say yes or prevaricate, but instead she saw Nik’s upper lip curl. “Miranda and I never fight.”
Oh. It was harder to smile now. Damn her for being so damn perfect.
The play of emotions on Daria’s face told Nik that his words had hit its mark. And it was the truth. He and Miranda had never fought. It was impressive, considering the number of years they had known each other. But it also made him uneasy, projecting a future with Miranda that seemed frighteningly…boring.
He shouldn’t even be making comparisons, Nik thought tersely. Boring or not, marriage shouldn’t even cross his mind where Daria was concerned.
His brooding gaze returned to Daria, and he said harshly, “I won’t be able to see you on Friday.” It was a snap decision, one made by the realization that he needed to spend more time away from Daria and think things through. Today was just her first day as his mistress, and this early, she was already disrupting his well-planned life. She was making him think of things he wasn’t supposed to think, feel things that he had no business feeling about her.
Daria’s eyes widened with hurt confusion at Nik’s unexpected announcement. “I don’t understand,” she protested. “Isn’t Friday supposed to be mine?”
Nik refused to acknowledge the way satisfaction blazed inside him at hearing Daria say such words. Goddammit, would he always be a fool whenever this woman was concerned?
“You sound like a kid,” he made himself say derisively. “There’s no such thing as Friday being yours—”
“Of course there’s such a thing.” She was already stomping her foot before she remembered that it would only make her look like the kid he said she was. She stopped doing it, and raising her chin, she said, “You promised Friday was mine.” Daria winced as soon as the words were out. Oh God, didn’t that make her sound like a kid as well?
Nik’s lips were pressed together. How the fuck did she do it? One moment he was filled with self-loathing and hatred for her, the next moment she was cracking him up, the way she seemed to guilelessly act like a kid, stomping her foot and protesting his decision because he had made a promise.
“There’s an emergency meeting I have to go to, okay?” And no, he thought. He wasn’t making excuses, wasn’t giving her an explanation so she wouldn’t be hurt. He was simply…stating a fact.
“Where?” Then before he could answer, she said impulsively, “Take me with you. Whatever you have to spend so I can be with you, take it out of my…” She tried to find the right word to describe the money he had deposited in her account first thing in the morning today. “Take it out of my, umm, allowance.”
Nik raised a brow. “You mean your wages.” But instead of seeing Daria’s eyes brighten anew at his dig, she simply crossed her arms and looked at him with thoughtful eyes.
“Does it really make you happy to say crude things to me?” Daria asked. “Because if it really does…”
He cut her off. “I’m sorry.” He wasn’t sure how it happened, only knew that Daria had managed to turn the tables around again. He also knew, after this, that he would never be deliberately crude with her again.
Daria was gazing at him with a stony look on her lovely face.
“I said I’m sorry,” he bit out, unwilling to admit how disturbed he was at the realization that he might have hurt her more than he wanted to with his words.
When Nik’s gaze strayed back to her, she asked immediately, “Are you sorry enough to take me with you?”
He blinked, and a moment later understanding dawned. “You manipulative little cheat…” He had been had. Nik knew he should be furious at the way Daria had again succeeded in manipulating him, but instead he was only relieved that she wasn’t hurt.
“I’m going to punish you—”
“Punish me all you want, I’ll even give you a whip, but tell me you’ll take me with you on Friday?” Daria knew she was pushing it, was being so recklessly impulsive like she always was, but she couldn’t help it.
Something had become so powerfully clear to her the moment she had called Nik on his shit and he had apologized.
All this time, she had been trying to be perfectly demure and discreet like Miranda when she should have been the opposite.
After all, Miranda had always been ridiculously perfect, and yet Nik had still managed to fall in love with her. If she hadn’t lied to him, she was almost sure he would have broken things off with Ms. Perfect and chosen Daria, imperfections and all.
But she had lied.
And so he had chosen Miranda.
However, that was the past, and this was the present, and she knew what to do now.
She started walking towards him, saw Nik’s arrested gaze settle on the sway of her hips, and she became even more convinced that she was right.
If she wanted Nik to love her again, she needed to be who she was before everything came crashing down. She needed to be herself, needed to act like she believed that one day Nik would learn to forgive her.
When she reached Nik, she ran her hands over his chest and was rewarded by the way he sucked his breath in deeply.
This was a start, a very good start, and her heart hopped back on its rollercoaster at the thought.
She reached for his tie, looped it around her fingers, and used it to pull him down. When he bent his head, she covered his jaw with tiny, soft kisses. “Please, Nik? Pleaaaaaaaaaase?” She knew she sounded like a kid when she spoke like that, but the thing was, she had always acted like a child with him. Whether Nik wanted to admit it or not, it was what made him want her. Fall in love with her. Simply, Nik liked Daria best when she was being herself.
Chapter Six
“So…”
They were seated across each other in Daria’s dining room, eating Chinese takeout for a late lunch. It wasn’t the first time he had done so with a woman. He had shared such meals with Miranda. The difference, however, was that Miranda had only been humoring him as a mistress while Daria seemed to genuinely enjoy it.
Either that, Nik thought, or it was still an act.
“Say ‘ah’.”
Startled, Nik did as asked and found himself being fed a spoonful of white chicken dipped in ginger sauce.
Daria beamed at him as he chewed. “Great, right?” But while she really had wanted to feed him, she had wanted to distract Nik, too. She was beginning to understa
nd him, her beautiful, tortured Greek. If he had a dark look in his eyes, chances were he was thinking about Daria The Liar and not Daria The Best Mistress Ever.
And she was determined to put a stop to that.
“Your turn,” Nik said suddenly. “Say ‘ah’.” He had his chopsticks right in front of her, and she opened her mouth unthinkingly.
“Umm, what is this?” Daria asked, mouth full.
“Fried intestine.”
Daria started to choke.
Nik laughed.
After gulping down her entire glass of lime-infused water, she glared at him accusingly. “I hate you!”
“It was just intes—” She groaned, her face screwing up in disgust, and Nik grinned. As Daria started on a diatribe over the many reasons he shouldn’t trick her with awful, awful food again, he simply listened and continued eating. Half of him was content at hearing Daria talk. The other half was even more disturbed at how content he was.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this, dammit. The plan was to fuck her and leave her. So why the hell was he here eating Chinese takeout with Daria? Why had he left work well before lunch for her? Why was he staying when he should be running in the opposite direction?
“Nik?” Her voice drew his attention back to her, and he immediately noticed the troubled look in Daria’s gray eyes.
“What is it?”
She lowered her takeout box on the table. “You remember our agreement?”
When her eyes didn’t meet his, her meaning became clear. “You have something to ask of me.”
She nodded slowly.
“Ask.” He watched her take her time, feeding herself a spoonful of rice, and he knew whatever it was, he probably wouldn’t want to answer it.
And he was right.
“Can you tell me why you’re the world’s most elusive billionaire?”
“When I was young, I wanted to be like Bruce Wayne.”
She frowned. “Seriously.”
“Good security.”