Nikolai
“I need a cell phone”
Ava announces on a sunny afternoon, three days after our last encounter in my office. She looks down at me, determination filling her gaze as she makes her request.
I hadn’t expected Ava to willingly enter the same room as me after our last encounter. Yet there she was, standing across from me, the sunlight streaming in from the window casting the perfect glow on her silhouette from just the right angle. To say I was surprised to see her again in my office would be an understatement, to say the least, but then again what is life if not full of unexpected surprises and Ava standing before me, dressed in a little red top that hugged her figure, partnered with a pair of black jeans that accentuated her curves would be the most unexpected surprise of the century.
We’ve barely seen each other since our last encounter, and I had convinced myself she was running away from me or, at the very least, avoiding me.
I guess I was wrong on both accounts because the woman in front of me didn’t look like someone who was avoiding me at all.
I lean back against my chair, the leather creaking under my movements as my eyes settle over the sliver of skin exposed between the hem of her crop top and the waistline of her jeans.
My God, she looked beautiful. Even now as her eyes are filled with defiance and determination, I can’t help but be captivated by her.
My gaze shifts back to her face, to the stubborn lift in her chin and I clear my throat, a small smile crawling its way up my lips. “A phone?” I repeat, tapping my index finger lightly against the armrest of my chair.
“And why exactly will I give you a phone?”
“Because,” she begins, her voice trailing off as her gaze wanders to the floor. I examine her noting the way her brows furrowed and the way she presses her lips together, trying to come up with an answer.
“You didn’t actually think that you could waltz into my office and make demands without offering me a reason to even consider granting them in the first place, now did you?”
She scoffs, “Of course not, I’m not dumb Nikolai”
“I would expect my wife not to be.”
She freezes at the mention of the word wife and I catch a faint blush staining her cheeks. “Don’t call me that.” she snaps almost angrily.
Her fingers clench by her side, and I savour the way her composure falters before letting out a low chuckle. “Wife?” I ask. I was enjoying the way the word unravelled her far too much.
Her jaw ticks, and she flattens her lips into a thin line” Yes, that. Stop calling me that”, she grits out.
A slow gin spreads across my face at her reaction. A part of me is tempted to see just how far I can push her with my words.
“But You are my wife?”
“No,” she says firmly, “I am not.”
I raise a brow, “Oh really? I believe the marriage certificate I have tucked away in my bedroom would beg to differ.”
Ava huffs, rolling her eyes as she places a hand on my desk, “Cut the crap, Nikolai; we both know this marriage isn’t real.”
I lean back against my chair, crossing my arms and tilting my head slightly,
“Oh? Is that so? Then tell me, Solnyshko, What exactly about our marriage isn’t real?”
“I don’t know Nikolai; for starters, we aren’t in love with each other. I despise you and you want to kill my father. Plus I’m pretty sure you hate me just as much as I hate you. ”
“You’re wrong”
She freezes, “What?”
“I don’t hate you, I hate your father but not you, never you.”
Surprise flickers in her eyes and she pulls away, clearly not expecting the reply she got.
“And as for love,” I continue, “It isn’t necessary for marriage.”
That seems to snap her back to reality.
She straightens her shoulders and folds her arms across her chest.”I suppose only a cold-hearted psychopath like yourself would view a loveless marriage as normal.”
“You flatter me with your compliments Solnishko.”
“Forgive me that wasn’t my intention,” she responds dryly. Her voice is laced with irritation and I can see the stubborn glint in her eyes resurface.
“What exactly do you need a cell phone for?” I ask, placing a hand on my desk. From the background check, I asked Ivan to carry out on her a few weeks ago, I found out that Ava isn’t particularly fond of technology. She was barely on any social media platform and preferred books to screens, a rarity in today’s world, which was why I had filled the bookshelf in her room with all of her favourite books. Her disinterest in technology was one of the reasons I found myself drawn to her in the first place when I first read about her.
“Gee, I don’t know, Nikolai, why exactly would anyone need a cell phone in the first place,” she says, sarcasm twisting her words.
I frown, leaning forward with a low growl rumbling in my chest.”Careful Solnishko. I don’t take too kindly to sarcasm.” I could take her smart-ass comments any day; God knows that at this point, our banter was almost foreplay, but what I didn’t appreciate was her sarcasm.
I didn’t appreciate it from anyone most especially my wife.
“Next time I won’t let you off with a warning.”
Ava’s eyes narrow, and a flicker of defiance dances across her face. “What are you going to do? Spank me?” The second the words escape her lips, her expression shifts. Her eyes widen in shock and a faint blush creeps up her cheeks
“Oh my God… I didn’t mean to say that” she stammers, looking up at me horrified. She covers a hand over her mouth clearly mortified by her own words.
“I didn’t know you were such a filthy girl, Solnyshko,” I say, a hint of amusement in my voice as I tilt my head to the side, enjoying her reaction.
“I’m not!” She says almost instantly, defensively, “It was a mistake; you know I didn’t mean it, ” she says, but I don’t miss the unmistakable flicker of lust that dances in her gaze as she looks away. Or the way she tries to rub her legs together to soothe the ache that had no doubt started to form between them.
Sure she didn’t.
The thought of Ava draped over my knee, her skin warm under my hand, and the sharp gasp she’d let out as I turned her ass the perfect shade of red, crossed my mind. The image is far too tempting, too vivid to ignore, and I feel my pulse quicken as my dick hardens in my pants.
Yebat’ (fuck), what was this woman doing to me? Why was the thought of her red and swollen and me being the cause of it so fucking appealing?
“Whatever you say,” I say then swallow. The air between us had shifted, but since neither one of us wanted to acknowledge it, I cleared my throat.
“Now, back to my question,” I say, leaning back, “Why exactly do you suddenly need a cell phone, Solnishko?”
Ava is smart. After her little pool day with Kat, I’m pretty sure she now knew the real reason her father sold her to Alessandro Moretti, So I know she doesn’t need the cellphone to contact her father, and even if she did, she wouldn’t be able to.
Her father has been missing for the last two days. Not a single beep has been heard from him or his whereabouts. Ivan and I have been searching for him nonstop but It was almost as if he had fallen off the face of the earth.
But I knew that a man like Marcus Blackwood didn’t just disappear. He was probably hiding somewhere outside the country, which is a bit inconvenient because he could be anywhere. We’ve tried tracking his cell phone, but that was a bust, which meant he had probably ditched his cell phone before he left for God knows where.
“I want to talk to Cara,” she says, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“And who is that?”
“My best friend. I miss her and I know that she’s probably been worried sick since I left.”
Of course, I knew who Cara was; I had been tailing Ava for weeks before she officially met me. It would be foolish of me not to know who her best friend was.
“Fine,” I say, “I’ll tell Ivan to send up a phone to your room before the day runs out” Her shoulders visibly sag at my words and releases a breath
“Thank you, ” she says, the words so soft I almost miss it.
She turns to leave but then I stop her. “And where do you think you’re going?” she glances back at me, a quizzical expression on her face as she raises a brow.
“My room,” she says like it’s the most obvious answer.
“And what about my payment?”
She arches a brow, “Payment?” She repeats and I nod.
“Yes, payment solnishko. You didn’t really think that I was going to give you a cell phone without collecting anything in return?”
She turns around fully, pressing her lips together tightly, “You want me to pay you for giving me a cell phone even though you’re the reason I don’t have one in the first place?” she asks, and I nod again, smirking this time.
“That’s what I said, Solnyshko, Unless… you don’t want your cell phone that is. If that is the case you can forget about me sending your phone up to your room.
Ava glares at me, her jaw tightening as she weighs her options. “Fine,” she spat out, her voice voice tight.
“What do you want?”
I rise from my chair and move around the table, approaching slowly, each step deliberate until I’m in front of her. Her breath catches in her throat at my sudden proximity and I glance down at her hands to see her fingers fidgeting by her side.
The air charges with electricity as something shifts between us.
I lower my face until my nose lightly brushes her cheek, and she inhales sharply, the tip of her fingers digging harshly into the side of her palm.
She’s much shorter than I am so I have to stop just as my face is inches from her ear to keep from crowding her completely. The faintest scent of cherri. es mixed wit, h vanilla rushes into my lungs and I have to physically dig my feet to the ground to keep from soaking her in.
Fuck, She smells so good, like the sweetest temptation. It’s fucking intoxicating and it ignites a hunger deep inside me. I wanted to crawl under her skin until all I could feel was her. Her fucking touch. The way she tasted. Fuck, I needed her. Badly.
Ava doesn’t move; her body remains rigid, defiant, almost like she doesn’t want me to be close to her, but she’s breathing faster now, betraying the farce that she so desperately wants to keep up.
Her breath comes out in shallow, uneven pants and I wonder if she can feel this thing between us as intensely as I do. Her eyes drop to my lips, lingering for only a fraction of a second before she drags it back up again, meeting my gaze.
“I want a kiss” I murmur, the words almost sounding like a growl. Instantly, her eyes grow wide, and she tries to step away.
“I am not going to kiss you Nikolai” she says, but it doesn’t sound convincing enough even to her ears. I lean back slightly and tilt my head to the side, examining her features. The way her lips were parted slightly, the lust that darkened her brown eyes and the subtle flush of her cheeks, I took it all in, wanting to engrave the way she was looking at me deep inside my mind.
“Is that so?” I ask and she doesn’t respond, “Very well,” I shove my hands into the pocket of my slacks, “Suit yourself.”
,
I start to move away when her hand shoots out, gripping my sleeve, “Wait.” she says, stopping me, and I have to suppress the smile that threatened to spread across my lips.
“Yes. Solnishko”
Ava drops her hand, and lifts her eyes slowly, “Just one kiss?” She asks again and I nod straightening.
“Just on-” The words are barely out of my mouth before Ava grabs me by the collar and tugs me down towards her, slanting her lips on top of mine.
The kiss is over in less than a second and Ava steps away, clearing her throat, her cheeks stained, “There,” she says, “Happy?”
A low sound vibrates beneath my chest as I tug her back , against me, barely giving her a chance to return the distance that once existed between us. “Not quite”, I growl and then my lips are against hers.
I needed more.