11. Tuomo
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Tuomo
N erissa is terrified of me. Her body is rigid, and tense and her eyes give away her emotions too clearly for her own good. She should learn to hold back on letting people see so much about her. I had to learn.
I don’t want her to hide anything from me. I want to know everything. I want her deepest darkest fears and her biggest dreams.
I pace up and down her apartment, filled with rage, fuming from her rejection.
Who the fuck does she think she is? Calling me a monster. Comparing me to my father.
If she wasn’t the love of my life, I would have to teach her a lesson.
I can’t believe I have pictured this night over and over again and not in any - not even one - of those fantasies did I imagine she would reject me. Never mind her call me a monster on top of it.
I grit my teeth, pacing. Up and down. Each step a soothing rhythm as I try to clear my thoughts. Trying to ease away the harsh rejection.
It is only because she is scared. That is the only reason she is saying such horrendous things about me. She doesn’t mean it. She would never speak that way about the man she promised to marry when she turned twenty-five.
A monster.
I shake my head.
Don’t think about it.
I should make her pay.
My eyes trace over her body, hidden beneath the loose fit of her hoodie. But I know what she looks like under there. I should make her pay. I should take what she owes me. What she made me wait so long to experience.
My cock stirs.
Stop.
Don’t think about it. She is special.
She is unique, and she deserves more than that.
I turn to face her again. I am calm. I am focused. I can do this.
“So, you are breaking your promise. You are not going to follow through with the pact we made?” I say.
She takes in a sharp breath. “Tuomo — I’m sorry, I just can’t—” I hold up my hand to silence her.
I shake my head and narrow my eyes towards her. My father taught me how to look disappointed.
“Fine.” I say.
Her eyes widen.
“Fine?” She asks, tentative and cautious.
“Yes. I agree. It was - it was so long ago. I don’t know what I was thinking. Of course, we should get to know each other. We should spend some time together.” I laugh, shrugging my shoulders.
“Um - yes.” She nods, looking nervous.
I sit down on the bed again, a relaxed posture and a smile on my face.
“Let me take you on a date. Three weeks from now. I’m sorry about how I pushed in here and came across like a crazy person. I just - I wanted to surprise you and it backfired.” I chuckle.
“You just wanted to surprise me?” She asks, her brows knotted.
“Yeah, I really messed it up, didn’t I?” I grin at her, knowing she always loved my smile.
Slowly a nervous smile spreads across her lips. She pulls her mouth to the side and tilts her head. She looks ever so slightly more relaxed. Good. This is working. Keep going. You have her.
“You really did mess it up.” She giggles.
Fuck. It makes me want to kiss her. That musical sound escaping her lips, the way her eyes glitter when she laughs.
No. Have patience. We have a backup plan.
“So, go on a date with me.” I say. “I promise to be the perfect gentleman. And you need to accept my apology for how things went down tonight.”
She nods.
She locks her eyes onto me.
This is how it works. If a person says no to something big - then they are much more likely to say yes to the next question if it is something smaller - more reasonable.
She is watching my every move. Paying careful attention to my expressions and my body language. I can tell she wants me. I can tell she would love it if I just took her right now on her bed. The bed I have watched her play with herself on. The bed I have dreamed of fucking her on. I run my hands over the duvet, my eyes still locked on hers. My fingers touching the fabric that has been wrapped around her body night after night.
“Ok. I will go on a date with you. But it’s just a date, Tuomo. It doesn’t mean that we are going to get married or anything like that. Just one date. Ok?” She says, trying to gain control over everything again.
“Of course, it is just a date and a chance for us to spend a little time together. If it goes well - I hope, we can have another. But I understand - this is the trial. This is our chance to catch up and learn who we are again.” I nod.
She nods.
We stare at each other for a long time and the air between us is sharp with static electricity. I feel as though I could reach out and touch her and a thread of lighting would connect us.
I pull my eyes away from her.
Just a date.
A date that is going to spark a chain of events that she has no idea has already been planned out. The moment she said no to me. The moment she rejected me and broke her promise. Everything that I put together as my back-up plan became the primary plan.
Just a date - yes - but so much more.
Three weeks.
There are two reasons I have set it so far in the future. The first is that I want to give her some time to get over the shock of me returning into her life. I think, just maybe, if she takes the time to think about everything, she might decide to do the right thing and keep her promise to me. She might make the right decision. Three weeks is enough time for her to have the space to do that.
However, three weeks is also long enough for her body to adjust.
Because I have switched out her birth control pills. I have changed them for almost identical looking sugar pills. She won’t know the difference. She will take them every day for the next three weeks but come the night of our date - she will not be in any type of birth control and that is when I can carry out my plan.
If she rejects me again, I will ruin her life.
I will make sure that every plan for the future that she has falls apart.
She will beg me to give her another chance because she will have nothing and no one else.
Because if I can’t have her - no one can.
But I am getting ahead of myself now.
I am sure she will come to her senses over the next three weeks.
I am sure she will realize what she needs to do. The right thing to do.
“Can I get you another glass of wine?” I ask, standing up and reaching over the bed to her side table and picking up her glass. My body brushes close to hers and she goes rigid.
I scoop the small velvet box into my hand as well, shoving it back into my pocket.
“I really need to get some sleep. It’s been a long night.” She says.
“Nonsense. It’s your birthday. You should celebrate the entire night. If you were my girl, I would have whisked you away to some tropical island and we would have drunk cocktails on the beach all day, letting the sun kiss our skin red.”
I chuckle, walking back to the kitchen.
I pour is each another glass of wine and carry it back to her.
I can see she is still scared but trying so hard to hide it from me.
I am still turned on her fear. I feel like I am in full control of everything happening right now.
She sips her wine, not speaking, not moving much either. I watch her. Thinking about our future together.
When her wine glass is empty, she stands up. She forces a bold look on her face as she smiles at me.
“Thank you for - um - for the surprise. It was nice to see you again.”
I stand up too.
She walks towards her door and pulls it open.
I follow her at a slow pace.
I lean close to her, pushing her back against the open doorframe.
“You are even more beautiful than the first day I saw you. You seem to be alive, more gorgeous, more enticing with each passing year. Never forget how beautiful you are, little bird.” I wrap my hand around her jaw and tilt her face up towards mine.
I press my lips against hers, expecting her to jerk her head away in horror, but she doesn’t. She freezes in place as my lips play across hers.
She lets me kiss her, forcing my tongue inside her mouth. She lets me kiss her passionately.
When I step away, I am grinning - and my cock is hard again. But I hide it this time.
She stands in her doorway, shivering, watching me walk away.
I’ll see you again soon my little bird.
I can’t wait.