Nick and Lilac (13 page)

“…Lilac, are you listening?”

She said without hesitating, “I…am.”

His eyes bore through her. “Liar.”

She blinked her eyes at him, knowing it would get to Nick and wanting to do what she could to make his blue eyes a little less…blank. “I don’t…know what you’re…talking about.” She took a small amount of seaweed with her chopsticks and lifted it to him. “Bite?” she asked innocently.

A smile tugged at his lips. “Are you trying to change the subject?”

The teasing tone made her toes curl, but Lilac worked hard to keep it from showing on her face. “Bite,” she repeated, allowing herself only a small smile.

He surprised her by taking a bite, his eyes on hers, chewing slowly, sensuously. He looked, she thought with a gulp, like he wanted to eat
her.

Nick slowly licked lips. “Delicious.” A wicked gleam brightened his blue eyes this time. At that moment, Nick could easily pass as a commercial model for a fine-dining Japanese restaurant. It made her gulp again, and Nick knew it, making him chuckle.

She glared. “Shameless…flirt.” But she couldn’t keep herself from smiling, finding Nick’s beautiful smile impossible to resist. She was almost giddy, seeing how the coldness in his eyes had somewhat lessened.

A soft knock landed on the screen door, followed by their waitress –
Kimmy-san
with her still-loose kimono – coming back in to serve the main course.

The meal was delicious – juicy prawns, tender
gyuniku
served with fresh sprouts and Japanese rice, and an assortment of flavored
mocha
balls for dessert. Afterwards, Nick excused himself to take a call from his brother. The moment he left, she hastily took out her iPad again, quickly swiping to the page that she had earlier glimpsed but didn’t dare read in front him.

A very trusted source overheard Karla Niall telling a friend that she can have Nick Christakos back in a snap if she wants to.  Asked why, she says that the billionaire has never gotten over her – and never will because they have a special connection no one else can have with the Christakos heir.

“Don’t believe everything you read,” Nick said flatly, making Lilac gasp in surprise and drop the iPad on her lap. One look at the photo on her iPad’s screen and Nick knew immediately what Lilac had been reading. His heartbeat was thunderous as he waited for Lilac to speak, a part of him already expecting her to turn away from him in disgust because of how weak he was.

Like Karla had.

Twisting halfway to look at Nick, Lilac wondered uneasily how long he had been there. She hadn’t even heard him come in. She tried to keep still, not letting her worry show as Nick took off his shoes while one of his guards pulled the silkscreen door shut behind Nick.

“Are you…mad?” she whispered nervously.

Instead of sitting across her, he lowered himself to a sitting position next to Lilac. Only then did he speak, asking evenly, “Why would I be mad?”

“Because…I…Googled you?” When his lips twitched, she almost breathed a sigh of relief.

“That’s not a crime,
manari mou.
”

“I could have…asked you…and could have…told you what…I read.”

He asked quietly, “And whatever it is that you read, does it change your opinion of me now?”

She answered simply, “I think it…doesn’t matter. All I want...is for you to…be…happy.”

Her words were like a kick in the guts.

“You,” he told Lilac unevenly, “are too good for me.”

Lilac started to speak, but he held his hand up. “Even so, sweetheart, I won’t be a better man by letting you go.” She watched Nick’s broad shoulders move in an elegant shrug as he said, “And if you fall in love with another man, I’ll just seduce you until you’ve completely forgotten him.” His lips twisted. “I’ll have any fucking jerk who wants to take you away from me exiled from this country.”

A helpless laugh bubbled past her lips. “Selfish…egoistic…arrogant…billionaire.”

“And like I always say, sweetheart, you knew that from the very start,” Nick said silkily. “But you still want me anyway.”

Before Lilac could retort, Nick surprised her by pulling her onto his lap, and a little shriek of astonishment escaped her.

In a blink of an eye, his security team swarmed the entrance, the silkscreen door pushed open. Lilac wanted to die, but Nick didn’t appear bothered at all, his lazy blue eyes gleaming under his lashes.

“No one disturbs us,” he said without looking away from Lilac.

She wanted to die even more.

The moment the silkscreen door was pulled close, Nick hauled her even closer. “Nick!” Fear, excitement, and desire mingled in her voice. Her breasts pressed hard against his silk shirt, its tips now aroused.

Nick watched Lilac’s pale violet eyes widen at the contact, and he suppressed a groan. “Don’t do that.” But even so, he couldn’t stop his gaze from roaming Lilac’s body, couldn’t stop drinking in her essence – everything that made her good and beautiful. Her sweetness wrapped around him, and for a moment all Nick could do was hold her tightly in his arms, allowing the softness of her body to enhance the hardness in his.

With Lilac, the pieces in him were stitching together on their own – not as Karla could do with just one touch but just as seamless, remolding him from inside into something else.

“Lilac,” Nick whispered, just needing to say her name as he kissed her forehead, the corner of her eye, letting his lips move down so he could nip her ear.

“Nick.” Her voice trembled.

He closed her eyes, letting her voice wash over him. It sent his imagination into overdrive as it attempted to visualize how lovely Lilac’s body would be if it were completely bared to his eyes. When their gazes met again, his cock had become fully and powerfully erect, and it pulsed demandingly against Lilac’s belly.

Lilac blinked in shock.

“FUCK.” He had only meant to hold Lilac, but the way she was looking at him drove Nick too close to the edge. He was
this
close to kissing her, friends or not.

“Nick!” Lilac’s eyes widened even more at the way he so explicitly swore, violet orbs turning doll-like.

“Ah, fuck, I warned you, sweetheart.”
It was the only warning she got before Nick sank one hand into her hair, using it to pull her head towards him.

Nick’s lips closed over hers. She stilled, frozen with shock and desire at the sheer
heat
of it. And then he was moving his lips insistently over hers, demanding her lips to open. She tried to resist, shaking her head, but it only made Nick tighten his grip on her hair. “My second kiss out of five,” he whispered with a slight, tortured groan against her lips. “I’m claiming it now.”

It took her a second to understand what he was saying, another second to realize he was giving her an excuse to give in.

She took it.

Nick could have growled when Lilac’s lips parted. Perhaps he did. Unhesitating, Nick took advantage by plundering her sweet mouth, his tongue delving in, tasting, claiming. Lilac’s arms went around his neck, and he deepened the kiss in response, groaning again when Lilac’s tongue tentatively played with his.

“You’re so unbelievably hot, sweetheart.” He lay back on the floor, taking Lilac with him. He felt Lilac freeze the moment every inch of their bodies came into contact and he gentled his kiss. “Relax, sweetheart,” he crooned. “I won’t do anything you don’t want.”

Nick’s soothing voice calmed Lilac, the horrible times she had felt so dirty and cheap when pleasing James fading from her mind. She rose to seek Nick’s lips again, initiating the kiss this time, the best way she could explain without words how much his consideration meant to her.

Lilac’s kiss was shy and sweet. There was nothing expert about it, but somehow it was the hottest kiss he had ever tasted, making Nick shudder in desire. “I need to see you,” he rasped. And then he was pulling her ridiculously large sweater over her head.

Lilac whimpered at the way Nick was gazing at her. She tried covering herself, but he growled and shook his head, his hands immediately capturing her wrists to pin them over her head. Nick lowered his head to nuzzle the valley between her silk-covered breasts. She whimpered again when one of his hands joined his mouth, pulling the cups down. And then she couldn’t speak, couldn’t think – couldn’t do anything but moan his name when his mouth closed over one nipple.

The sight of Lilac’s creamy breasts, crowned with rosy pink nipples, had him nearly undone. He couldn’t stop himself from taking one areola into his mouth, plumping the breast so he could take it all in. He laved it with his tongue, cherishing it the way it deserved. He was rewarded by Lilac’s moan and the way her body arched so seductively against his body.

“Sweet,” he rasped out before moving to the next breast and lavishing it with the same attention he did its twin.

“N-Nick…” She was restless, wanting to feel his naked skin against hers. She pushed his jacket off, ignoring the way he laughed at how impatient she was. She glared at him in frustration. “Off!”

“Yes, milady,” he answered mockingly even as he swiftly dealt with his tie and shirt.

Her eyes widened at the sight of all that beautiful golden skin, unable to believe just how perfectly muscled Nick was. She told him firmly, half-meaning it, “Photoshopped like…the guys…in…300.”

Nick laughed then lowered himself back on top her, making sure that every inch of her naked skin was plastered against his. Not taking his gaze away, Nick greedily took in the way Lilac’s shock turned into desire, her doll eyes dilating, her lips parting in need.

He almost came at the sight alone. “Have pity on me, sweetheart,” he half-groaned, half-growled. “Don’t look at me like that or I won’t be able to give you what you want.” He moved down to start unbuttoning her jeans but Lilac suddenly froze, her hands clutching his.

“N-Nick.”

He stilled at the sound of fear threading her voice. For a moment, rage filled him, making Nick swear to himself that he would have his revenge on James Caruthers soon.

“Sweetheart, don’t be scared.” He moved up again, cupping Lilac’s face, raining kisses on her until he could feel her relaxing. “I just want to please you. There’s nothing you have to do. Just relax and let me please you, mm?”

Slowly, she made herself relax. Lilac nodded. “Sorry…so…silly,” Lilac whispered, pressing a kiss on one hard shoulder.

His chest ached at the tenderness of that act. Swallowing, he said quietly, “Be as silly as you want. Everything you say or do is a turn on for me.”

A smile curved on her lips. “
Really now
.”

She spoke it so beautifully, the teasing note in Lilac’s voice adding a lump to his throat. “Fuck, yes,” he said fiercely and because he couldn’t really wait anymore, he worked on her buttons again and had her jeans off before Lilac could draw her next breath.

“Nick, please…” She writhed at the heat of his gaze.

“Patience, sweetheart,” he murmured, but she could feel him smiling wickedly against her skin.

She pounded his shoulder in frustration, and this time he chuckled before leaving a tantalizing trail of kisses down her body, from the side of her neck to her shoulder, her chest and her breasts. She gasped when his mouth brushed over her nipple before continuing to descend, his lips touching her belly.

Lilac whimpered as his lips reached the edge of her silk panties.

“This has to go, sweetheart.” It was the only warning she got before he ripped her panties away.

“Nick!”

“It was in the way.” He lowered his head.

“Selfish---” She stopped speaking when his mouth touched the innermost part of her that he could reach, her body arching in response.

Nick lifted his head. “What did you say?”

She still couldn’t make herself speak.

“Thought so,” he murmured wickedly before lowering his head back down. Nick took his time tasting Lilac, leaving small kisses on her folds.

“Nick!” She clutched his shoulders, nails digging as her body twisted under him restlessly.

“I love how you taste.” He licked her folds.

“I love…how you…lick,” she gasped.

“Then I’ll always do this.” He licked her long and hard, short and fast, his licks sweet, frustrating, and unbelievably hot. “I’ll give you everything you want, sweetheart.” He moved up a little. Keeping his gaze on Lilac’s beautiful expressive face, he touched her clit gently.

She screamed.

“Everything you want,
manarimou,
” he promised intensely, “---and you won’t ever have to ask for it.” Then he started sucking expertly on her clit, nibbling and playing before sucking it hard like the sweetest candy.

Lilac came then, moaning Nick’s name, no longer caring who heard what outside the door. All she knew that moment was she had never known this kind of pleasure. When she opened her eyes, Nick was half-lying over her body and he was gazing down at her with a possessive look in his eyes.

“You didn’t…” She gazed at him questioningly even as she blushed.

His smile was a little pained. “It’s fine.”

“But---” Her fingers curled around his shoulder. “I want to…do something…for you.”