He didn’t say anything else, but the gleam in his eyes told Daria that her answer – her lie – had pleased him.
I’ll tell him the truth next time, God.
I promise.
And then her thoughts were cut short as Nik began stripping off his clothes and joined her back in bed.
****
WHEN DARIA WOKE UPfor the second time, she was alone in the room, and Nik had left a note on the bedside table.
Call me as soon as you’re up.
I just need to catch up with work at the hotel’s business center.
She was tempted to do as asked, but in the end she decided to simply wait for him, just to avoid having Nik think of her as clingy. Swinging her legs off the bed, Daria stood up, stretching—-
Her arms froze mid-air when she caught sight of the rather huge bloodstain on the sheets.
Curse it, but that made it look like someone had died on the bed!
Without hesitation, she picked the phone up and asked for housekeeping. By the time the room attendant arrived, Daria had bundled up the covers herself and worked hard to keep her face expressionless as she handed them to the other woman.
Afterwards, she studied the neatly made bed for two long seconds and made a decision. Climbing back into the bed, she rolled herself from one end to another, thrice, ensuring that the bed was perfectly mussed by the time she finished. She knew she was being silly, but the thought of making love on sheets stained with her virginal blood was...icky. On the other hand, she also didn’t want Nik to know that. He might think she was being too “high-maintenance”, two words which many of her ex-frogs had used in their break-up lines.
By the time Daria heard Nik come back, she was in the shower. She heard the door open, and she could feel herself turning red all over as Nik leaned against the doorway and stared at her with dark, inscrutable eyes.
A mischievous smile played on Daria’s lips as she asked, “Are you waiting for an invitation?”
Nik didn’t answer right away.
So damn beautiful, he thought.
It was too bad she was a goddamn liar.
Returning her smile, he asked pointedly, “Do I need one?” None of his fury showed in his face or tone as he divested himself of his clothes and joined her in the shower. She went to him the moment he stepped inside, her lips seeking his. He returned the kiss, his fury intensifying at the way his body was still reacting uncontrollably to her curves.
He turned her around, lifting her hair and placing them over one shoulder so he could nuzzle her neck from behind. If he kept seeing her lovely face, kept seeing her smile with such fake innocence, he didn’t trust himself to keep to the plan.
Goddamn. Beautiful. Liar. The words hammered his head as he ran his mouth down her back, made slippery by the water streaming out of the showerhead. While she was asleep, he had asked his security to run a background check on her, mostly out of habit rather than harboring any kind of suspicions against her.
Nik had expected the results to reveal more quirky aspects of her life, but instead he had gotten a thick folder bulging with reports on each and every one of Daria Everest’s twenty-fucking-eight lovers.
And she had the gall to lie to him about being a virgin.
He had seen the sheets, had checked every damn inch, and there was not the smallest speck of blood.
Fury and arousal blended inside him.
A whimper escaped Daria as Nik suddenly pushed her towards the marbled tiles, its cold surface making her breasts prick to life. And then just as suddenly, he was entering her, fucking her from behind, and she moaned. “Nik.” She tried to look at him, wanting to see his face as they made love, but he didn’t let her, his grip on her hair tightening as he bent down and began sucking on the side of her neck.
Goddamn. Beautiful. Liar.
He pounded harder and harder into Daria, her moans intensifying both his desire and loathing of her at the same time. She might have lied about everything, but at least this was real between them. This, no one could fake, and this was what he would use against her.
Goddamn. Beautiful. Liar.
He reached for her clit and pinched her into coming.
Goddamn. Beautiful. Liar.
He came right after her, his thrusts relentless even as his cock shot loads of cum into her sex.
Goddamn. Beautiful. Liar.
He would teach her. He would make her pay for deceiving him.