A Fling with the Greek Billionaire (17 page)

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 understand 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.”

His continued evasiveness revealed how much he disliked her question, but that only made her even more determined to find out the truth. Knowing she had to tread carefully, she changed tactics, saying lightly, “Nik?”

He raised a brow.

She asked innocently, “How much did you like fucking me this morning?”

His gaze bored through hers. “You know how much.”

“I gave it my all, didn’t I?”

He realized where she was going, and a reluctant smile formed on his lips.

She pressed on. “You wouldn’t want me to lie back and just think of England, would you?”

“
Touché
.” He inclined his head to the side, acknowledging the truth in her words.

“So…” She looked at him hopefully.
 

“I prefer keeping the truth of my identity hidden as it…reduces the possibility of having to encounter people who want to be in my life for the wrong reasons.”

Daria flinched. She might not be one of the smartest persons in the world, but even she knew when someone was doing his best not to insult her…even if she deserved it. It was bittersweet, knowing that Nik didn’t want to hurt her but also knowing that Nik still believed she was a gold digger.

“Do you have another question?” Nik was doing his best to ignore the way Daria had paled at his answer.

She managed a smile. “Nope.” And then she didn’t talk after that.

When it was time to clear the table, Nik insisted on helping her despite Daria’s protests. He waited for her to speak, willing her to say anything. But by the time they were done drying the glasses, she still hadn’t said a word.

“I don’t like it when you’re quiet,” he said curtly.

And I don’t like it when you’re trying not to be an ass to me
, Daria thought. It made her want to kill herself for being an idiot.

To distract herself from her misery, she asked, “Why don’t you want me quiet?”

He shrugged, saying reluctantly, “I like you chattering.”

The words stunned her. “Y-you do?”

He didn’t answer, and the shuttered look on Nik’s handsome face told her he thought he had said more than he should. “I’m going to take a shower,” Nik muttered.
 

He left her staring after him, open-mouthed.

Nik liked to hear her chatter
, she thought dazedly. The one thing almost all of the 28 frogs she dated had complained about, and it was something Nik liked about her.

Nik.
The most sensible man she had ever dated. The man she had loved and lied to. The man God gave Daria to be her prince.

Nik was naked under a powerful blast of hot water when he heard the door slide open. A moment later, he saw Daria, exquisitely naked, step inside and join him in the shower.

She had the loveliest smile on her lips, and his cock became fully erect in an instant.

Reaching for the soap on the tray behind him, she said huskily, “Part of, umm, services I’m supposed to render.”

Nik stiffened when Daria stepped close to him, the tips of her breasts brushing against his chest. “Daria—” He was unable to continue, Daria running her hands over his chest as she soaped his body making his arousal reach a feverish pitch.

And then she started to talk.

Gradually, it became clear to him. Daria was chattering, the way he had asked her to. And with every damn word, he was unable to stop her from breaking the walls of defense around his heart.

Goddamn. Beautiful. Liar.

He thought of the words to remind himself of the kind of woman Daria was, but it was too late. The rage he had lived with during the past month eluded him now, leaving him almost as vulnerable as he had been when he had first met her.

That night, they lay in bed, facing each other, an entire half-foot separating them.

An entire day had passed. One full day of being in Daria’s company, but somehow it didn’t feel enough. The knowledge disturbed him, but even as common sense urged him to leave, Nik remained where he was. He might as well be chained, the way his body was addicted to Daria’s.

Daria shifted, and when he glanced back at her, she whispered, “Tell me more about your childhood.”