She scoffed. "Don't charm your way into my good graces, Carbonel. I've seen too many men take that route and fail."
He heartily laughed. "I wasn't even trying to be charming."
"So, you're just being a natural flirt?"
"I wasn't even flirting," he protested. "It was just a wink. If I ever plan to flirt with you, you'll know."
"Because you wouldn't be too artful and do just what men do?"
"Men? How many men have you been with?"
"Excuse me?" Her brow rose.
"What you did with who in the past won't be a bone to pick between us, Nyxa. I believe in the equality of the sexes."
"Sexual pleasure is farthest from my mind when I am with you, Leiandros Carbonel."
"Hm..." He smiled. "We'll see about that..."
"Mr. Carbonel, to spare you from the pain of my rejection, let me just say that I am already set to marry someone."
"You're in a relationship?" he asked and for a second she wasn't sure how to describe her betrothal to Jason – it wasn't romantic but something they both expected.
"You can call it that..." she said in a small voice.
He frowned. "It's either you are in a relationship or you aren't."
"I am engaged."
"You are?" He sounded surprised.
"Yes. I have been engaged since I was eighteen. Our families plan to hold a wedding as soon as he's done with his PhD abroad."
"Do you love him?"
"What kind of question is that?"
"Because you don't talk about him with fondness or affection in your voice. In fact, you sounded indifferent as if you were talking about the weather."
"We are not into the cheesy stuff, Mr. Carbonel. Jason and I are adults."
"So, how do you communicate?"
"Is the internet a foreign concept to you?"
"But you do visit him, right?"
"No..." she said finding it somehow weird that it didn't even occur to her to visit Jason in Japan.
"Why?"
"I was busy with school then with helping my family run our business."
"Those are just excuses."
"Call it whatever you like. Jason and I are assured of our feelings towards each other—"
"Does he turn you on?"
Her eyes widened comically. "Excuse me, what?"
"You don't sound like a woman who's in love. I am curious if you at least desire him. Because what's the point of a marriage if you don't, at the very least, enjoy the marital bed?"
"You seem to know a lot about marital beds."
"I do," he replied without qualm. "Though, I have never been married but I have bedded women who are."
Her eyes widened more in shock. "Why do you seem proud instead of ashamed?"
"Why would I be ashamed?"
"Because you slept with someone else's wife?"
"A man who doesn't satisfy his woman in bed so she has to seek satisfaction in someone else's arms is not worthy to be called a husband."
"Wow...that's disgusting."
He laughed. "I have slept with different women, Nyxa. I am no saint. And I would like to believe that I am an expert when it comes to women and their desires which I have made my lifelong goal to fulfill."
She felt her face heat up at his words.
"Are you still a virgin perhaps?"
Her jaw dropped at his candor. "Excuse me?"
"Come on, Nyxa, we're both adults and to us Greeks, sex is a vital and natural part of life. It is odd that you still find sex as a taboo. So, answer me, do you have desires for this man?"
"That's really none of your business."
"It is. Because first, you're my prize, second, I don't like sharing, and third, I want to know where I stand with you. I am sure you are aware that I am attracted to you or else I wouldn't have asked your brother for you, correct?"
"As I have said, I am already engaged—"
"Unlike other men, another man's claim on a woman is not a deterrent for me if I want to pursue her. I find it archaic that a man has the say whether a woman can be pursued or not. The permission should come from the woman herself."
"You're not my type, Leiandros."
"Then what's your type?"
She couldn't reply because she really had no idea. She used to think that she wanted to marry someone like her father but as she grew older she realized that her father was married to the family business instead of her mother. She wanted someone who's well-mannered and gentle like her brother but after tonight, she realized that Janus Tantoco was nothing but a shallow and spoiled gambler who would even use his own sister as a bet.
"You don't know, do you?" he said. "You're a sheltered princess who doesn't even know what she wants."
"Are you hoping that this sheltered princess will somehow like you?"
"Come on, khriso mou, the word like is not an adjective to describe feelings. It's what we Greeks call drinking your coffee lukewarm."
"You're not going to start professing your love for me, are you?"
"I told you that I am never going to pretend or lie to you, Nyxa. I am attracted to you and willing to see where this attraction is going to lead me."
"Golden words from a womanizer."
"I am actually a one-woman man."
"That's rather hard to believe. I can confidently say that you're half-Greek, full asshole."
He laughed out loud. "The venom in your words hurt my heart, Nyxa. I can't believe that after I have sincerely given you that BigMac, you still think so badly of me."
She forced herself not to smile at his quip.
"H'wag mong pigilan 'yan, baka sa iba 'yan lumabas."
"Yuck."
He laughed again.
"Bakit ang tatas mong mag-Tagalog?" she queried.
"I was raised by Filipinos. My governess, my butler, and my personal driver are all from the Philippines."
"Sobrang close ka ba sa kanila?" she asked changing the topic.
"Yes, almost two decades ko silang kasama. Nanay Ising's like a mother to me, Manong Dado taught me how to ride a bicycle and later on how to drive, and Manong Gerry taught me how to fish and fly a kite."
"Sila ba ang mga kasama mo rito?"
He shook his head. "Hindi. My grandfather dismissed all of them about nine years ago, when I turned eighteen," he said before he smiled at her. "I hope you still have room for the fried chicken," he added handing her the paper box. "Ang lakas mo palang kumain."
She instantly scowled then snatched the box off his hand.
He laughed again. "Galit ka na n'yan?"
"Don't ever tell a lady that she eats too much."
"Real men are always proud of how well their women eat. There is nothing sexy about a woman starving herself to earn a man's approval."
"Hm..." She narrowed her eyes at him watching him open his McDo Fried Chicken box.
"This man you're engaged to, how long have you known him?"
"Since childhood."
"I see. Was he perhaps a childhood crush?"
His question had her thinking – was she ever attracted to Jason? The answer was a plain and simple no. Jason was just too familiar for her to have romantic feelings for.
"O, kumain ka na muna, talagang nag-isip ka pa, eh," he teasingly said.
"Ikaw, bakit ka nandito?"
"Para po kumain," he readily answered.
"Not that, why did you decide to come to the Philippines?"
"Wala lang, I just got curious."
"About the Carbonels?"
"About a lot of things that I'd rather not talk about because you are still engaged to another man. Only the woman who holds a man's heart has the right to know his secrets."
"So ilang babae na itong nakakaalam tungkol sa mga sikreto mo?"
"Why do you ask? Selosa ka ba?"
"Kaloka si Kuya."
"I'm not your brother, why do you call me Kuya?"
"Kuya could also mean an older male not related to you."
"Why, how old are you?"
"Twenty-three."
"I see. Anything else you'd like to know about me?"
She shook her head. "Nothing else really."
"That's cold," he remarked. "Are you not interested to know about the tragedy called my life?"
"Your life can't be that tragic if you are the owner of one of the twelve Bugatti La Voiture Noire," she commented.
"Oh, this car? I won this at the gaming table."
Her jaw dropped. "You did?"
"Yes. From an Italian aristocrat, who, like your brother, couldn't recognize that it wasn't his night."
"Is that all you do? Don't you work?"
"I run businesses."
"But you could run your businesses to the ground if you don't stop gambling."
"I won you at the gambling table so gambling isn't that bad," he replied with a grin.
"Stop rubbing it in. Hindi mo naman siguro ako ipupusta, ano? We better include that in the agreement—"
"Bakit naman kita ipupusta? Ano ako, timang? Sino pang kasama kong kumain sa McDonald's kung ipupusta kita?"
"Pwede kitang hanapan ng girlfriend, I have a lot of friends."
"I am very particular with my wants and I want you, Nyxa Tantoco. I also do not have a habit of using people as bets, so, if you are hoping that your brother is going to win you out of our agreement at the gaming table, that's not going to happen, Princess."
"Let me get this straight—"
"Don't talk your way out of this, Nyxa. I have no intentions of curtailing your freedom but you should have realized what was going to happen when your brother lost."
They both grew quiet.
"What are you thinking?" he asked after a while. "Natatakot ka ba sa akin?"
"Hindi."
"Really?"
"Oo. Besides, I know self-defense. I can probably end your family's line with a kick in the groin."
She laughed seeing the look on his face. "Takot ka na sa akin n'yan?"
He chuckled. "Hindi naman—o, what's with the sigh?"
"What does this all entail?"
"Me winning you?"
"To put it bluntly, yes."
"I want you to make yourself available to me at all times."
"What do you mean exactly by available?"
"You come to me every time I call. As I have said, I am fair and I am not going to make unjust demands."
A frown marred her beautiful face.
"I am not going to force myself on you, Nyxa, no matter how physically attracted I am to you. I will not harm you and I promise not to do anything without your consent."
"I want that in writing," she said.
He nodded. "Very well."
"I want a time frame, too. You cannot have that power over me forever."
"This is not about power."
"It is. It is stripping me the power to say no to you."
"You still can."
"Maybe. But it still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. But, you are right, you won me fair and square so I will fulfill my brother's end of the bargain. However, I am a person, Leiandros. I have family, friends, and a life other than being the woman you had won at the betting table—"
"Two years."
"I could be married by then and that would pose an issue between me and my husband. I don't want that kind of complication. Five months—"
"One year and you are not allowed to get married within that time," he countered.
"That's too long. Six months."
"One year," he firmly repeated. "Be fair, Nyxa, that offer is quite generous. I could have demanded something more but I am not that kind of person."
"And you just want my company, right?"
He nodded. "Yes."
She let out a long in-drawn breath. "Okay...but what's going to happen after a year?"
"You're free from me, of course. Unless..."
"Unless what?"
"Unless you fall in love with me and realize on your own that a year with me is not enough..."
"Not going to happen..."
"Wanna bet?" he asked with a smile.
She pursed her lips. "What would I get out of it?"
"Me," he replied. "And pretty much anything you want."
Nyxa knew that she should refuse and just stared at the hand he extended.
"Takot ka na n'yan?" he issued knowing that she wasn't one to turn down a challenge.
"Hindi." She shook the hand he offered and sealed the deal.
She should have just ran for her life.