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)
The mere thought tempted her to hysterics. Nik, looking at another woman with love in his eyes?
Hell. No. Over. My. Dead. Body.
“I don’t want to start my married life – our married life – thinking of you as an enemy.” Her cheeks blossomed with heat. “I’m sorry, but yes, that’s how I think of you.”
Was it possible to die in the face of such perfection? If so, Daria might just be its first known victim.
“That’s why I’ve proposed this to Nik. I want to put everything behind me, and to prove to both of us that I truly trust him now, I thought I could invite you to work on our wedding.” Miranda took a deep breath. “If you accept, you’ll also be communicating with Nik the whole time. Just Nik. I won’t be around.”
Daria tried to wrap her head around it. “You won’t be around. As proof that you trust him.”
“And you, of course,” Miranda added. Daria nodded wordlessly, forcing her to wait. Unbidden, Miranda’s gaze darted to Nik, and she saw that no matter how hard he tried to hide it, the truth was there in his eyes.
They were so damn alive, heat glittering so fiercely in his eyes, in a way that they never did...for her.
She forced herself to look away even though she wanted to beg Nik to give her a chance. To try looking at her the way he didn’t want to look at Daria Everest but did.
Reaching for Daria’s hand, she held it tightly, saying, “I know I have no right to ask you this but please – could you find it in your heart to be friends with us and we can all start anew?”
NIK ONLY ALLOWED HIMSELF to take a look at Daria when he heard her reply.
Yes.
He refused to name the emotion that crowded his heart at hearing her say that one word, refused to acknowledge the reason he had only been able to stop holding his breath now.
His gaze moving towards her, he ignored the way Daria visibly stiffened when their eyes met, ignored the way her face paled and her throat worked convulsively.
One second to see her—-
Her hair had grown longer, and her gray eyes appeared larger with the way the angles of her face were more defined now. Her body was thinner, too, making her curves even more prominent, her breasts – well, it was impossible not to stare at them now.
One damn second.
That was all it took to realize that he had not succeeded in getting rid of her presence in his heart.
Nodding curtly at Daria, he turned his attention back to Miranda, and she immediately acted on cue, making excuses for both of them.
He waited for Daria’s footsteps to recede and the door to swing shut behind her before speaking. “Do you still think this is a good idea?” He sure as hell didn’t. One damn second, and he already wanted to haul Daria into his arms, rediscover the taste of her kiss, and remember the feel of her body.
Miranda nodded. “I’m doing this for you, darling.” She gazed at him searchingly. “Have you changed your mind about love?”
His jaw clenched. “You know my answer to that.”
“And yet you keep thinking of her. I’m neither blind nor stupid, Nik. She’s still in your mind.” She pressed a hand on his chest, right above his heart. “Maybe she’s still in here—-”
He flung her arm away as soon as she spoke the words. “Don’t be ridiculous.” His voice was ominously soft, a warning in itself for Miranda to tread carefully because she was now skating on very thin ice.
“Then do this,” she pressed. “Prove it to yourself that you won’t let love – something that we both know isn’t real – destroy our chance of a peaceful future.”
Tiptoeing, she placed her lips on his. “Use this chance, Nik,” she whispered against his mouth. “Seduce her, fuck her, hurt her as much as you want to – and then get rid of her once you’re back to your old self and the obsession’s worn off.”
Chapter Four
“Get the hell out of there now, Daria.” Alyx’s voice was grim with foreboding. “It’s a trap.” Daria’s iPad showed her friend in her nightgown and glaring at her through a facial mask.
“It’s not a trap. They told me what they wanted to happen and I said yes.” Daria placed the iPad on the dining table before taking her seat. Her new apartment was a one-bedroom unit on the twenty-second floor, with its own balcony and in the same building as Miranda and Nik’s offices. She loved how the apartment looked, but the last fact made her queasy. Somehow, it didn’t feel right.
From the iPad, she heard Alyx release a sigh of frustration. “Yanna, tell her you think the same thing, too.”
On the other half of the screen, Yanna, still in her office, looked up from her laptop. “Huh? What?”