Chapter 15 - Stefano
I'm sitting in my office at one of my warehouses when my phone chimes with the sound of the security app. I open my phone, knowing that it must be because the camera has registered that Darya is awake.
But when I open the camera to see what she is doing I practically fall out of my chair.
My cock instantly goes rock-hard as I watch her hands travel over her body. She slowly starts removing clothing, piece by piece, and then things get so heated that I have to jump up and close my office door.
I can’t believe I am witnessing this.
Is this something she does often? I have never been lucky enough to catch her.
I watch her closely, every move, every little smile that touches her lips as she reaches her pleasure.
Fuck. This is driving me crazy.
Then she hops off the bed and disappears from my view. I am left wanting to see more, needing to feel her.
While I am still watching the camera in her room, waiting for her to come back, my phone rings with her number.
I get such a fright I answer it within a second of it starting to ring.
I feel my cheeks heated with embarrassment as though I have been caught in the act, even though I know it isn’t possible for her to know I was watching her.
“Darya,” I say, feeling tensely turned on.
“Stef, did you leave for work already?” She was doing that while she thought I was still somewhere in the same house? Fuck, that's hot.
“You, uh, thought I was still in the house?”
“I wasn’t sure. But I actually need you to come home, please. It’s a bit of an emergency.”
“What emergency?”
“Please, I need you to come home.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
If she needs me, I will be there, no matter what.
I don’t know what is going on, but either way, I can’t sit here at my desk with a massive boner that I know is only going to get worse the more I think about what I just saw.
I rush into the house, feeling flustered in more ways than one, but also worried about her.
“Darya?” I call out and then jump because she is standing right near the front door.
“What’s wrong? What’s going on?” I ask hurriedly.
“Did you enjoy the show?” she grins with such a sly look on her face, her arms folded across her chest, as she stares me down.
What the fuck?
I clear my throat, trying to hide the fact that my cheeks are heating up.
“What show? What are you talking about?” But I think I look so painfully caught that she knows just by looking at me.
“The show I gave you this morning,” she says calmly.
She definitely knows I was watching her.
So she did all of that—for me.
I clear my throat again and shift my weight from one leg to the other. How should I handle this? I could deny it, but I think it's pointless.
“I, um, rather did enjoy the show,” I say tensely.
She steps closer to me and gently runs her fingers over my chest as she looks up at me with her bright blue dreamy eyes. I feel myself sinking into her.
“Don’t you think that instead of watching me on a camera, you would rather get to know me better by actually spending time with me in person?”
I nod, captivated by her.
“Stef?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
I clear my throat for what feels like the hundredth time. Shit, this girl drives me crazy.
“Yes, I should spend more time with you in person instead.”
“Good. Well, then, let’s go.”
Huh?
“Go where?” I ask, feeling overwhelmed and caught off guard with everything that is happening right now.
“For a drive. You are taking me somewhere.”
“Darya, I kind of have work to do—"
“Not today, you don’t.”
“Today and every day,” I say, knowing that all I really want to do is pull her against me.
“Get in the car, Stef. We are going out. It’s my birthday.”
My heart slams into my ribcage.
“I had no idea. I would’ve planned something. I didn’t know, Darya. Where do you want to go? Anywhere. Just tell me.”
I am flustered and tripping over my own words.
“You’ll do anything I want?”
“Of course. Shall we go shopping? We can find you a beautiful gift. Diamonds? Shoes? Dresses—"
“Come on.” She grabs my hand and pulls me back out of the house towards my car.
She obviously wants to go shopping. I can’t believe I didn’t know it was her birthday. I should have woken her up with flowers, balloons, chocolates, beautiful sparkling gifts. Of course, that is what a girl like Darya deserves.
I feel so shit about the fact that I forgot. But I will make it up to her by buying her everything her heart desires.
Sitting in the car, I start the engine and head out towards the main road, the one that leads to the biggest mall in the city. Darya is smiling triumphantly, as though she won some game, or maybe she is just pleased with herself for catching me off guard like this.
Wow, this girl really knows how to keep me on my toes. And after that show she put on this morning, my entire body is still humming with lust for her. I don’t know how I am going to get through an entire day of her trying on all of those little dresses again. Last time was bad enough trying to control my urges.
I focus on the road ahead of me, but my confusion doubles when Darya gently touches my arm and says, “Turn off here,” pointing in the opposite direction of the mall.
I almost miss the turn, I am so confused, but she insists so I swerve a little and take it. Maybe we are going to some kind of custom jeweler or a luxury spa, those types of things that women love.
I drive with one eye on the road and one eye on her, tired of being caught off guard today. She definitely has the upper hand here.
“Here,” she points again, to a place I know well, next to a park.
“We are going to the park?” I ask, confused.
“You can stop here.”
She hops out of the car as soon as I am parked, and I have to jog a little to catch up to her. She reaches out and wraps her fingers through mine and my heart grows tighter and tighter in my chest as she leads me to my parents' grave.
My real parents.
“What are we doing here, Darya?” I ask tightly.
“When last did you visit them?” she asks gently.
“I don’t visit them.”
“Well, we are visiting them today. Because, well, I never had the chance to meet them.”
I eye her sideways, trying to figure out what is going on. I don’t want to be here, but it is her birthday, and for some reason, of all the places in the world, this is where she decided she wanted to go.
I lean against the low stone wall built up around my parents' resting place. Their graves are next to each other. It is what they would have wanted, even after everything.
“Do you miss them?”
I swallow hard. “Of course, I miss them every day.”
She leans her body against mine and goes quiet, a comforting sort of silence in which I feel like she is just being here for me.
I don’t quite know how to handle it.
But as time slowly moves on, I find myself relaxing more and more.
“I miss them more than they could ever understand. And I think about them every day.”
She nods quietly, her hand slipping around my waist and giving me reassurance.
I sigh and keep talking. “Sometimes I wonder…actually, I wonder all the time what my life would have been like if my mother hadn’t cheated on my father with your uncle. None of the stuff that happened with my stepfather would have happened. My life would have been so different.”
My throat starts to get tight as I fight back the lump that is forming.
But now that I am starting to pour my heart out, I can’t seem to stop. I didn’t realize how much I was holding inside me.
“I am angry with my mother for what she did. But I also know it isn’t her fault that things ended up in such a huge mess. She never knew what kind of man my stepfather would turn out to be. I fell for his manipulation as much as she did, anyway. He ruined all of our lives. I just wish—I wish my parents had been able to work it out somehow. I wish they had had that chance.”
I feel Darya move against me and realize her body is shaking slightly.
I wrap my hand around her chin and lift her face towards mine, seeing the tears running quietly down her cheeks.
Seeing her looking so vulnerable tears at my heart. And in this moment, I am feeling so emotional I suddenly can’t hold back the tears that fall from my own eyes.
I lift her in my arms and walk over to the nearby bench, pulling her onto my lap.
She wraps her arms around my neck and nuzzles against me.
I bury my face against her hair and breathe in the warmth of her scent.
Neither of us says anything, but I have never felt closer to anyone in my life before this moment.
After a long time, I feel her hands brush over my cheeks, and I lift my face to look at her. The warmth and tenderness in her eyes pulls me towards her, and before I know, it our lips and pressed against each other’s.
She kisses me tenderly and slowly, with such intense passion that I can barely breathe at all.
I turn her body so that she is sitting on my lap with her legs wrapped around my waist. I can’t help but think about what I saw on the camera this morning, and my cock begins to push up against her.
She rocks her hips over me, and her kiss deepens.
Then she starts giggling softly, and I stop to look at her, not able to hide the grin on my face at the beautiful sound of her laugh.
“What’s wrong?” I ask with a chuckle.
“Perhaps we shouldn’t make out in front of your parents,” she grins, blushing.
I glance over at their graves and laugh.
“I think they might just be happy to see me happy.” I shrug.
She climbs off my lap and pulls me to my feet. “Thank you for coming here with me. It means a lot.”
“Thank you for bringing me here, sweet girl,” I say, pulling her against my side as we walk back towards the car.
I hold the door open for her, and then realize I still haven’t gotten her anything for her birthday. Maybe she wants to stop now and go shopping.
As we pull out onto the road, she runs her hand over my thigh and sends heat spinning through my entire body all over again.
“Darya, do you want to go shopping? I would love to get you something for your birthday.”
I glance over at her and notice how pink her cheeks have turned.
“Actually, I know exactly what I really want for my birthday,” she says shyly.
“Well, tell me what it is. Anything at all. I will get it for you right now.”
She bites her lower lip.
“I want you to be the one—um—the one who takes my virginity.”
Her words catch me so off guard that I almost swerve us into the pavement. My cock is instantly hard again, and I can’t believe that she just said that.
“Darya, that can’t be all you want?” I ask in shock.
“It is all I want, Stef. It’s what I have wanted for a while already.”
“You want me? You think I am the one?”
My heart is hammering so loudly in my rib cage it feels like it is going to burst from my chest, like a wild bird fluttering to free itself from a cage.
The grin on my face is so massive my cheeks are beginning to hurt.
She teasingly runs her hands over my swollen cock.
“If you want me,” she says in a whisper.
“We are going straight home. I have to give the birthday girl exactly what her heart desires,” I laugh, pressing my foot harder against the accelerator.
I can barely keep it together as we head home, and when we park the car, I practically run to open her door for her. I can’t believe she has very blatantly asked me to be the one.
I have spent the last few days so stressed about the fact that I forced her into this marriage, and she wasn’t even interested in me, but now everything has changed. She told me she has wanted this for a while already, so I have obviously been misreading her along the way.
I am such an idiot. I chuckle and shake my head as I hurry to open the front door.
As soon as we are in the house, I lift her into my arms and kiss her.
She wraps her legs around me as I carry her upstairs towards our bedroom.