Chapter Twenty-Eight
Arya
Stop acting like a creep!
I cut my gaze away from Nathan casually strolling and surveying my office. I can’t seem to stop staring at him, devouring those godly features and his tall, muscular stature pushing the limits of his custom-tailored suit.
The spacious room suddenly feels too small with his larger-than-life presence. Every time I glance at my desk, the image of me bent over while he spanked me savagely flashes in my brain. Every tiny movement flares the smarting on my ass cheeks.
The state of my face isn’t any better.
Instead of my arousal being doused by the punishment, it’s spiked high. I’m hyperaware of the orgasm denial from the last ten days. I kept myself busy, but every night I went to sleep in my bed, I was tempted to break the rule.
Man! I should’ve used the vibrator. I paid the price for it anyways.
Nathan keeps throwing me off at every turn.
Mysterious one second, raw and open in the next. The latter happens whenever he’s caressing and pleasuring me. It’s the only time his sky-high walls are down.
“When did you come back, Nathan?” I ask, watching him stop at my bookshelf which I’ve filled with different knickknacks rather than just books.
“This morning.”
“And you came straight here?”
“Yes.”
I don’t know what to make of that. Should I feel special he came straight to meet me and no one else? Did a part of him miss me? Did he want to surprise me? If it was just about work, he could’ve texted or set a meeting up later since I never mentioned it was urgent.
The passionate kiss spoke volumes too. I could see it in his eyes that he didn’t want to end it as soon as he did.
He picks up a photo frame of me and my best friends on the beach in Alibag. “Do your friends know about us?”
“Anaya and Noor do.”
Placing the picture back, he turns around and pins me with a hard look. “They can’t tell anyone about our arrangement, Arya.”
“Of course they won’t.” My tone comes out offended.
It doesn’t deter him. “I can’t afford another scandal, that I’m sleeping with my publicist.”
“Well, neither can I.”
“Glad we’re on the same page.” Crossing over to my desk, he sits down across from me with his legs crossed. “What’s the progress with the freelance investigator?”
If I wasn’t mildly irritated, I’d be impressed by his ability to switch topics so effortlessly.
Plopping down on my chair, I answer, “She hasn’t found the hacker yet, but she’s working on it.
She went to the hotel where the event was held and tried to locate everyone who had access to the presentation.
Once she has the names, she’ll investigate them. ”
“It won’t be that easy to find the culprit.”
“It’s a start. Better than sitting by idly.”
“Did she try getting the CCTV footage?”
“The organizer’s team was big and a lot of the staff were working backstage. Nothing seemed amiss. Perhaps the hacker was working from somewhere else.”
“How long will it take for her to give us the information?”
“Every case varies. But I’ll check in with her,” I reply. “In the meantime, she advised you should switch your phone and change your number since the current one is compromised. You should also check your emails and devices you use regularly to make sure they aren’t hacked.”
“If they hacked this phone, they could easily do the same with another.”
“I think you should still do it and avoid discussing confidential information that they could use to harm you.”
He scrubs a hand over his jaw. “I’ll think about it.”
“Okay.”
With the fog of lust lifted, I scan Nathan’s face and notice the tired lines around the corners of his eyes and the dark bags underneath them. Does he neglect his health while working? Or is it just jet lag?
“How was your trip?” I ask.
He stills, eyebrows lifting in surprise. “Boring, like they usually are.”
“Where did you go?”
“London.”
“Nice. I’ve been there once.” I smile. “Hated the weather, though.”
“With whom?”
My mood sours. “Aryan.”
Nathan’s jaw clenches before he quickly masks it. Jealousy, perhaps? Or maybe it’s my wishful thinking.
Hating the crippling tension, I switch the topic to bring back the flirtatious version of him. I also want to make him stay. “Did you get a chance to have breakfast? I can order you som—”
“Come here.”
The deep and commanding timbre of his tone has me lurching to my feet and rounding the desk to him. He rolls the chair back an inch and spreads his legs in a silent invitation for me to stand between them.
I take a position in front of him.
My pulse kicks up, goosebumps breaking out on my skin as his broody eyes drag up my body to my blushing face. The color hasn’t left my cheeks for a second since he stepped inside my office.
“Take off your dress,” he orders darkly.
I peer nervously at the door.
“I locked it when I came in.”
My gaze jerks to his. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
“I wanted to see if you’ll obey me.” Smirking, he teases, “I also learned that the thought of getting caught turns you on.”
Heat flies to my cheeks and I look away.
“Get naked, angel,” he says impatiently. “I am starving and your tight pussy is going to be my meal.”
Lord! He wants to do that right here and now?
A knot forms in my stomach even as a throb flares in my core. My breath going shallow, I timidly gaze down at him. “Do… you really… have to?”
He scrutinizes my words carefully, gauging every nuance.
Unease spreads through me and I rush to say, “You don’t have to, if you’re returning the favor because of… last time.”
“Why are you making it sound like a tedious chore?” He practically spits it out like an accusation.
I look down at the floor, muttering, “I know men don’t really like it. I’m giving you a free pass, so you don’t have to pretend. Just take it, oka—”
In a flash, he’s out of the chair and crowding me against the desk. Tugging my head back with a fist in my locks, he forces my eyes on his stormy ones. “When I am with you, you don’t talk about other men. You sure as fuck don’t compare me to them. They don’t exist to you. Am I clear?”
“Yes, Nathan,” I gasp.
“Now I am going to ask you a question and you will answer me truthfully.”
“Okay.”
“Has a man ever gone down on you?”
I shut my eyes and slowly shake my head.
His sharp inhale pierces my ears. Although I am unable to guess if it’s in anger or something else. We’re both aware I’m referring to my two exes and exactly which one had something to do with the revelation.
“Look at me.” I meet his ruthless gaze. “Did you go down on him often?”
“Yeah,” I say, mortified.
“You’re an intelligent girl, Ari. Didn’t you see the double standards?”
“Of course I did,” I utter indignantly. “But I couldn’t exactly force him, could I? I had no desire for it anyways after that. He didn’t enjoy it. It wasn’t exactly the end of the world.”
Aryan had said it was icky and unsanitary. Why bother doing it when he could get me off with his fingers or dick?
However, I was always curious, having heard how amazing it felt from Anaya’s sexcapades. So, one drunken night after we returned home partying from the club, I begged him to do it once to try and change his mind.
I was his girlfriend. Surely, he could give it a shot for me.
Only for it to turn into the most horrible and scarring experience of my life. I’ll never forget the cringe look on Aryan’s face and how he ran to the bathroom to wash his mouth out. He could gurgle cheap liquor like it was water, but I tasted like crap to him.
My confidence took a hit that night. It took months to build it back up. I can’t survive the shame twice, especially not with Nathan.
“Survive what?” Nathan inquires, going rigid.
God! Not again. “Nothing.”
“Ari!”
“We… uh… tried it once,” I confess lowly, staring at his chest so I don’t have to look at the sympathy on his face. “He hated it. Said why would I put him through something so disgusting.”
It was the first time I had cried because of Aryan. I’ve never told a soul about this incident. Not even my best friends.
“I ought to kill your ex-fiancé for this,” growls Nathan lividly.
My cry of terror never makes its way past my throat. My gaze snaps to his. I swallow when I see violence brimming in his pupils and the determined set to his clenched jaw.
Is he capable of such extreme actions?
And for me, no less? The girl he’s fucking secretly and will never have feelings for.
A promise this scary shouldn’t have me flattered, right? That would be insane.
Summoning rationality, I softly calm him down. “It doesn’t matter. It’s in the past. I’m over it.”
“You’re not, angel.” Cupping the side of my face, he murmurs, “Because if you were, my face would be buried between your thighs right now.”
“What if you hate it too?”
“Impossible. I’ve had a tiny taste of your cum after making you come on my fingers.
You taste divine.” I melt in his arms at the beatific look in his eyes.
Stroking my cheek, he says, “He most likely didn’t know what the fuck he was doing and put the blame on you.
There’s nothing wrong with you or your beautiful body. You’re perfect, Ari.”
“You think I’m perfect?” I whisper.
“Every square inch of you.”
My heart flutters behind my ribs as I smile at him gratefully.
His gaze drops to my lips, becoming primal.
“I enjoy eating pussy and I’m fucking dying to taste yours, angel.
I want to bury my face between your thighs and lick you for hours until I’m drowning in your arousal and you’ve come over and over.
If I have to go another day without it, I won’t survive. ”
My toes curl in my heels as I struggle not to squeeze my legs. Even though my body is eager to let him do just that, my mind is another story. The flashbacks with Aryan keep plaguing me, threatening to nosedive my desire.
“Stop thinking about him,” says Nathan tenderly, reading my thoughts like a book. Gliding his palms down my sides to my waist, he squeezes. “Let me erase the doubts he’s put in your head.”
Taking my limp hand before I can react, he presses it against the front of his pants. The telltale bulge draws out a low moan from me.
“Feel how hard I am.” His gaze grows heavy lidded, full of carnal hunger. “Just the anticipation has my cock throbbing. You won’t deny me, would you?”
“Never, Nathan.”
“Then take off your dress.”