The VIP (18+ Only) [COMPLETED] [Winner of a Wattys 2014 Instant Addiction Award]

9: In Which She Might Have Nikolai in Her Browser History

“Pussycat,” he hissed, beginning to grind against me. “You're killing me.”

I raised my head, stilling his distracting movements with firm hands on his thighs beneath me. “Truth,” I said softly. “When was the first time you saw me? Because I know for a fact that it wasn’t after we…accidentally had sex.”

Nikolai’s gaze devoured me, dissolved me from the inside out with its intensity. “Your graduation.”

I exhaled the breath that I’d been holding. “You were there?”

“Briefly,” he said quietly. “My brother couldn’t make it and I went on his behalf. Little Mikhail needed at least one family member there, right?” Taking a deep breath, he said, “I felt like a pervert, getting hard for someone so young, but God, it wasn’t just sexual. You were laughing during your valedictorian speech and I wanted to…to I don’t know what. It scared me and when I got back here, I tried to force you out of my head.” He gave me a small smile. “I didn’t count on having to force you out of my bed. What were the odds of you falling into my bed when I wanted you so fucking badly?”

I swallowed, knowing that I should never have started this dumbass game. A flurry of emotions threatened to knock me out. This wasn’t what I had expected to hear. It didn’t feel even close to being real.

“So that night? At the end? You pretended not to know me,” I said, but it was more to myself than to Nikolai. “You made up a story about thinking I was trying to seduce the king. And then that time Mikhail properly introduced us? You deserve an Oscar.”

Out of habit, he pulled at his restraints again. “No, Ophelia. I knew it was you the minute you opened your mouth,” he murmured. “There was no fucking way I could have forgotten that voice.”

For a second, I was speechless. Then, “Reward,” I mumbled absently, bending and laving Nikolai’s other nipple with my tongue. I bit down harder than I’d intended and he growled low in his throat, jerking his hips.

“Stop this, pussycat,” he pleaded, his chest heaving beneath my mouth. “I know you're mad, and you have every –”

“I’m not mad,” I told him truthfully, tracing the contours of his pecs with the tip of my tongue. I paused, lifting my head and meeting his blazing eyes. “I’m…overwhelmed.” I sat back up, sucking in air before hoisting myself off him and ambling to his vanity table. “Another truth. What are these?” I held the stack of photographs I’d stumbled upon and watched as heat stained his upper chest and face a deep red. “Oh, you’re a blusher. I would never have guessed,” I muttered sarcastically, walking over to him and flinging the snaps at him.

“Trust me, this is a first,” he said under his breath.

“Trust you? Right. Trust the guy who’s basically admitted that he’s stalked me for the past six years. Got it.”

His eyes narrowed up at me. “Stalked you?” He snorted. “I’m not that far gone.”

“Then how can you expect me to not be creeped out by this? I thought you were normal. I thought you were – God, I don’t know – a player. But then you drop this on me and act like I’m overreacting?”

“I guess you’ve never Googled yourself,” he said, sounding like the soothing voice of reason to my high-pitched hysteria. He sighed with defeat. “You’re not going to let me loose until I tell you everything, are you?”

“No.”

Nikolai’s nostrils flared. “I suppose you're waiting for me to admit that I spent the last six years jerking off to your college photos, pining away for you like a lovesick fan,” he growled through clenched teeth. He tugged at his restraints for good measure. “I’m sorry to disappoint. You obviously don’t know this but” He didn’t look away from me and I didn’t look away from him. “After that night, I just didn’t want to forget your face.”