Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 76390 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76390 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 382(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
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?