NERTHUS
Even before the thought of passing under the table to sit away from him forms in my head, his groan gets my attention.
“Is everybody alright?”
Okay, Helen, now you are pushing your luck.
“This is really good.” He says, without even looking at him, and after a few awkward seconds, she walks away nodding her head.
Just as she is out of hearing range, he tilts his head at me. “If you change your seat again without my permission, I’ll shoot her.”
I laugh, his face remaining unmoved. “You can’t be serious!”
“What about the dinner with your friends?” He asks monotonously, and I pass my tongue over my teeth.
“Where is my money?”
He shakes his head, picking the bill out of his jacket again. Showing it to me by holding it up into the air, he throws it onto the table in front of me before he takes another bite.
“My friends have families,” I answer him, pulling at the dollar bill, and unfolding it.
“And so?” He asks, slipping out of his jacket to throw it on the seats in front of us.
He is wearing a black pullover, a piece of clothing that I have never seen on him, causing me to ogle him for a bit.
And why has he to look so good in everything?
He pulls up his sleeves, clicking his tongue. “Still mine. Not giving you anything.”
“I don’t want a bite of your food,” I chuckle, shaking my head.
His lips twitch briefly at the corners before he mocks me. “Ah, you want a bite of me, then?”
Ignoring his question, I lean against the wall, sitting on my leg. “How was your sleep lately?”
As our gazes meet again, I’m far away from thinking that he would answer my question.
“I’m sleeping extremely well.” He answers, putting a fry into his mouth. “How about yours?”
“Oh, heavenly.”
He nods, taking another bite. “How is your lilac friend doing?”
“Threw it out. I’m busy enough with my clients, so I didn’t need that stupid toy anymore.”
My heart increases its pace as I see his movements slow down.
“Oh, you know what? I want a chocolate milkshake!” Waving at Helen to ask her for one while Arawn stays silent.
“You are taking clients again?” He finally asks as Helen walks away with my order.
“Yeah.” I shrug, shifting in my seat. “You fired me, so…”
“It has been just a few days…”
“Two weeks, Arawn!” I whisper-shout, glaring at him. “What the fuck were you expecting me to do?”
He scoffs, one of his shy smirks playing on his lips.
“Don’t tell me that you were expecting me to mourn for you?” I say, leaning forward. “Cry over the big strong man that didn’t want to marry me and have many children with poor delusional me!”
I see his expression darken while my heart breaks a bit. “I told you that I was doing my fucking job. But you didn’t want to listen, did you? You were so convinced about you being the absolute catch. Someone every woman would fall for, stripping the moment you enter a room.”
His gaze is still fixated on me as I scoop closer, lowering my voice but fighting hard to keep it from trembling. “When in reality you made my skin crawl, like for all the women you took in that stupid conference room.”
I’m not surprised by the fact that he doesn’t look happy, more about to swallow me whole. Straightening back up into my seat, I push out a deep sigh. “But you men are all the same. A little bit of purring, and you feel like the kings of the world. You fell for it, were scared by it, and discarded me. No hate, but you are fucking delusional. Fine with me, but I have to earn my living.”
He doesn’t answer anything on it. And while I’m trying to avoid his gaze at any cost, he pushes his plate away from him. Only after Helen has tried her next flirting attempt and taken his empty plate shamefully as she failed miserably, does he turn to speak to me again.
“So, I can book you for tonight?” He asks, and I nearly give myself away as a sob gets stuck in my throat at him asking this so uninvolved.
“No,” I say, playing with my bill.
“No?” He asks, ignoring Helen who is bringing me my milkshake and trying to get his attention with a flirtatious bat of her eyes.
Ugh.
“I told you, I’m not working.”
As Helen trots away, he puts his hand on the backrest and leans closer.
“Would a million change your mind?”
My breath stuck in my throat, my heart beating out of control. “A million dollars for a night?”
“Why not? See them as a little extra because of the holidays.” He just shrugs, his dark eyes boring into mine. “Add a little extra purring.”
Opening and closing my mouth like a fish, I try not to interpret too much into this.
He is just offended and wants you to melt in his hands.
But as much as I want to lie to me, I can’t hide to myself that I would give him the night for free.
And add all the purring he wants.
“This is much more than a little extra,” I say, forcing myself to sound nonchalant.
He shrugs, tilting his head. “Let me decide that.”
“You can’t pay me a million dollars for a night!”
He smirks as he is still holding me captive with his gaze. “Watch me!”
Not knowing how to handle this situation, I lose myself shortly in my drink as I play with my straw.
“I thought you hated my purring,” I say, taking a sip through my straw.
His eyes fall to my lips, making my pussy throb.
And we are back being desperate.
“If you had taken any of my calls, you would have found out that I am missing your purring.”
I shrug, my heart burning in my chest.
He didn’t actually say that.
“You can’t throw away a toy and expect the next kid to give it back to you if you cry loud enough.”
Snickering, he touches my chin gently, lifting my head to look up at him. “But you aren’t a toy. And there aren’t other kids that would be able to handle you the way you like it.”
His words have a shiver running down my spine, and I gasp lowly, letting myself get captured by his intense gaze.
“You wish!” I say, still wanting to sound repulsed as I drag my head out of his grip.
Wrapping his arm around me, he pulls me to him. My eyes fall onto his lips automatically, making his smirk grow. He waits until I raise my gaze again before he whispers, “You can act tough all you want and keep trying to feed us both the lie that you are repulsed by me, but I know you belong only to me because of the itching I feel on my skin if it’s not your touch. And I have never had a woman fucking up my sleeping schedule even more. You can’t tell me it isn’t mutual as I had to shut down your purring, because it kept me from thinking straight.”
God, get him to kiss me.
I stare at him taken aback, and not able to come up with any response, I choose to ignore it, giving in.
“This doesn’t mean that I am coming back to work for you.”
His smirks falls slightly as he leans even closer, our lips nearly touching.
Such a tease.
“So, want to go to your apartment, beautiful?”
God, how I missed him calling me that.
I keep up eye contact as I act like I’m still thinking about it. “Let’s go to yours. I don’t want to scare my neighbors off with my extra purring.”
“Perfect,” he smirks, getting up and taking his jacket. Throwing a few dollar bills on the table, he ignores Helen once again, causing me to smile as I follow him out of the diner.