AN : say the name, SEVENTEEN! vote if you stan SVT!!!! and please go listen to them if you don't<3 AND VOTE. and comment. okay bye.
I was the CEO of one the most leading publishing companies in our country. Meaning I had read about hundreds of thousands of drafts, edits and published books of my own company as well as other competing companies.
Guess which genre had the bestselling titles of all times? You guessed it! Fake-fucking-dating.
Life had a weird way of shitting on me. First, my dad insisted I choose Vienna to be my secretary, because apparently her grandfather had made a deal with my grandfather that his granddaughter, Vienna be married to my grandfather's grandson. AKA, me. Confusing, I know.
Why this sort of a deal had even been necessary, I had no idea. Hell I didn't even know mine and her grandfather knew each other to begin with but what could I say? Arranged marriage tropes were second on the list, along with office-romance.
Having a little sister two years younger than me was also a catalyst because Lily ate the romantic shit, which meant I had to too because I was a good brother and I wanted to be involved in everything she did, in order to protect her should it be needed, or protect someone else who would dare to involve themselves with her. She was a troublemaker like that.
Because of Lily, I had read thousands of fake-dating novels varying for them having the most random storyline and unreliable characters to having the best plot with relatable characters.
But my story? My God, I wanted to laugh and cry and thank God at the same time for the ridiculousness of whatever was happening with me. My to-be-wife, who I also really, really, liked, asked me to be her fake-boyfriend. For fucks sake, was I that bad that she couldn't ask me to really date her?
I thought I was pretty transparent that I wanted her. That I was attracted to her. Why the fuck would I go around growling at men in my office for staring at her too long or getting angry at the assumption that Sully would propose to her? Surely she had to notice it. Why wasn't she thinking about people not asking her out because I could name about ten men on the top of my head who had been looking at her with fuck-me eyes ever since she joined.
Like fuck would I ever let them even near her though.
She was so fucking beautiful, and charming, and stunning in every aspect. And she made me breakfast when she woke up too. Seeing her in my shirt and shorts gave me a fucking boner and all I wanted to do was lift her up on the counter and kiss her senseless and then spank her hard for making me lose my mind. Instead, I settled for giving her a demo of how it would be if she gave in to the spark between us; I dirty-talked to her like I was in seventh grade, having phone-sex with my girlfriend. Fucking idiot, I know.
But what I was going to do now? That would top all the amount of idiocy I had done in the past four months of having known her.
"You could stay with me until you find a new home." Her brown eyes snapped to mine, widened in shock, hope brimming in them.
While fake-dating and arranged marriage tropes were Lily's favourite, mine would be forced proximity. And if she wasn't going to attempt anything funny with her feelings, I sure as fuck wasn't backing down because I knew she felt something for me and was just biding her time until she realised it for sure.
And I was going to give her just that; time. Albeit, with a little stipulation that she was going to see my face at every hour of the day and realise what she would miss out on if she didn't just accept the attraction between us.
Holding my breath, I met her eye-to-eye, watching her neck flushed red. "Really?" she asked huskily, suddenly looking away as if she was remembering watching me half-naked from earlier today and reminiscing the scene, hoping she'd catch that view again.
I'd be an idiot to not have noticed her prying eyes all over me, taking me in and sucking sharp breaths. I might have been a motherfucker and even flexed my chest and biceps a few times, trying to impress her, knowing she liked what she saw because the way she ran up the stairs and slammed the door shut behind her was every indication that she was as much affected by me as I was her.
"Mm-hmm," I hummed. Lifting my lashes to look straight in her eyes, I said, "And we could go out. Sometimes. Have fun. Work together—" When her eyes narrowed suspiciously, all my bravado vapourised into thin air, my heart beating faster at the realisation that I might have ruined everything before it even started. What happened to giving her time, asshole? I quickly backtracked, laughing awkwardly, "Or not. Nevermind, we won't go out—"
"Are you asking me out, Kyst Archer?" she eyed me bashfully now, her eyes taking in the muscles under my shirt and like the sick fuck I was, I strained them to get her attention. Her eyes widened with delight with the flex of my thighs, manspread, on the couch with her besides me.
I smirked. "No." Placing my elbows on my knees, I tilted my face to assess her, giving her a peek of my toned chest. "But would you like me to?" Shut up, Kyst, what the fuck are you doing?
"Uh..." she looked around hesitantly, wondering if I was setting her up into confessing something she was still iffy about. Her lashes lifted to look up at me and she parted her lips to speak something but a loud ringing from a phone cut her off.
A curse flew from my mouth at the interruption and without looking at the ID of the person calling, I picked my phone from the glass coffee table I hit my head on yesterday, and placed it over my ear, sending an apologetic look towards Vienna. "What," I snapped, uncaring of whoever had called, given the person had just ruined my entire morning in a second.
"Hm, were you jacking off at ten in the morning?" my father's obnoxious snort travelled through the speaker of my phone and I closed my eyes, tilting my head towards my ceiling in a God help me movement.
"Dad," I groaned. Putting it on mute for a second, I quickly whispered an I'll be back to Vienna with a small smile, knowing my dad wouldn't have called me on a Monday morning if it wasn't something important. "This better be important," I said to him, unmuting it and walking towards the windows and sliding it open, stepping into the extended balcony, the sun shining right over my head.
I hated leaving Vienna alone, sitting on my couch, especially when she was on the verge of finally accepting the connection between us. I was the bastard, ready to fall to her feet if that was what it took to get her to know that I was insanely infatuated with her. Especially after having her arms wrapped around me last night? Fuck, I was officially in the whipped club, right along with Sully. Jesus Christ.
"So?" my dad drawled in his fake British accent, completely aware that he was an American through and through and watching Brit shows was not going to make him an Englishman, yet he loved to try his accents and test my patience. "Bad time?"
The worst. "No, I was just changing my gauze," I lied easily. "What's up?" Call me curious, but I wanted to know what caused my dad to abandon his cuddling sesh with my mom and call me instead.
His knowing cackle from the other side made it evident that he did not buy into my bullshit. "Why aren't you at office right now?"
I leaned my front against the railing in the balcony, overlooking the buzzing city from the top floor that my penthouse was on and sighed. "Because of the rain yesterday, the drains had overflowed. Trains are running late and I don't want employees to travel with the risk of a thunderstorm. Some whose jobs are inevitable are working from home while others, I've given them an off today. We're profitting fine as it is. Others can use a day or two."
"Okay," he muttered. "And what about you?"
"Well for me, I was in the process of scoring a date with this girl I really like and guess what, you cock-blocked me," I mock gasped, shaking my head at the teenage shenanigans I was pulling with my dad. "Shocker."
His heartfelt laughter tugged my lips into a small grin as he said, "You just won't let that go, will you?"
No I wouldn't. I was seventeen, a blonde Claudia Jeffrey was on her knees in my bedroom after our prom and my dad had barrelled into my room with his laptop wanting to ask about something he didn't know how to operate while I was on the brink of the orgasmic pleasure. Terrifying as it might sound, I had pushed Claudia off me as soon as I could and she had dumped me the next day at school, in front of everyone.
I laughed at the memory. My teenage years were catastrophic, if anything. I was a notorious kid but I loved my Mom and Dad to bits, always trying to cover up my tricks on my own to not cause them any trouble. Good-ol-days. "You're never going to hear the end of it, dad, and you know it."
"Speaking of marriage—"
"No one was talking about marriage—" I interrupted.
"James is coming over today in an hour," my dad droned on, ignoring my interruption and getting to the point of the reason he called. "He wants to talk about the marriage and some other stuff. Think you can make it?"
Guilt gripped my heart in its palms and squeezed, hard. James was Vienna's dad, who was adamant about his father's desire about having his daughter married off to his bestfriend's grandson.
I never wanted Vienna to be in the unknown but my father insisted. He said something about her past and how she would never agree to even meet me if she was told about the marriage deal from the beginning.
Initially, I was confused. Then, with Bernard's entry and Vienna's disapproval about him, it started to make sense why she was so hell-bent about not falling in love. It was clear something had gone down between her and Bernard but I didn't want to push her into telling me what it was until she was comfortable, just like I was, telling her about my darkest experience and my panic attacks.
Then her disinterest in Miller Jones and Jenny vaguely telling me about how he was extremely, excruciatingly in love with her, yet she wouldn't spare him a glance.
There was so much to unpack about Vienna. With my father dropping a bomb yesterday about Vienna's family having had a company in the past before it went bankrupt, I was too shocked to even know process the information, let alone talk to her about it.
But one thing I knew for a fact was that I liked her. Really, really liked her. And I was a lot of things but quitter was not one of them.
If talking to Vienna's dad meant I could get an insight on her past, I would do it, no matter how much my heart screamed at me to wait for her. I was a curious little fuck and as I had said it multiple times, I wasn't a patient man.
So I told my dad, "Yeah, I'll be there," despite knowing perfectly well that this one meeting would ruin everything good between Vienna and I.
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As I walked out of the balcony, Vienna on the sofa, typing away on her phone, took all my attention.
Her phone binged multiple times at a time and a frown marred her forehead. She typed in something quickly before exiting the particular text thread and grinning widely at another one.
My heart constricted and I cleared my throat to get her attention. When she heard me, a soft gasp that did wonders to my dick escaped her lips and she pressed a hand to her chest. "You scared me. Oh my God."
I smirked, sliding my hands in my sweatpant's pockets and leaning against the huge sliding window. "If you're calling me your God when I haven't even touched you yet, Vi Darling, what will you call me when I do touch you?"
She blushed. "Probably a twat who only knows to dirty-talk because he can't make use of his tiny dingy."
Slowly, like a predator measuring its next move, I stalked towards Vienna until I was right in front of her. With her sitting on the couch and me standing before her, it gave me a lot of space to domineer her, so I used my thumb and index finger to tilt her chin up, making sure she looked me in the eye when I warned her silkily, "My cock is anything but tiny, Vi Darling."
Her body shuddered in my grasp, the alpha in me shaking with pride at eliciting that sort of a reaction from her. She blinked up at me, her lashes reaching her cheeks as she smiled devilishly. "I don't think so."
I growled, leaning forward so my face was right next to hers. Swiping my thumb below her bottom lip, I abandoned her chin and slid my hand in her silky strands, wrapping my fist around her brown hair. Ones I'd like better when they'd be fanning her face while I fucked her into oblivion. Fuck. Stealthily adjusting myself in my pants, I pulled at her strands, her eyes widening at the pressure. "Don't provoke me."
"Or what?" she taunted, a smirk lifting her lips.
"Unless you want my cock deep down in your throat while a dildo drove your needy cunt batshit crazy, I suggest, you stop—" I tugged her hair harder, driving my point home, "— provoking," Tug, "— me," Tug. "Do you understand?"
A whimper escaped her lips and when her eyes drove a path from my shoulders to my torso before landing on my erection sitting against my stomach, rock-hard and in desperate need of release, she sucked in a hard breath.
Deliriously, she shook her head, her eyes lifting up to meet mine, hazy and lust-filled. "Like what you see?" I smirked, loving her tremble beneath me.
God, what I wouldn't give to actually work on the visual I just created.
I loved torturing myself. And if the way Vienna crossed her thighs and shifted on the couch was any indication, I loved torturing her too.
As innocent as she made herself to be, she sure loved the dirty talks and I couldn't wait to discover what else she liked. Just some more time though and she would be mine. If you don't mess it up.
"Kyst," she cried. And fuck if my cock got the memo. Not now, dear friend.
Her lower lip trembled slightly, pink and lush, begging me to take them in mine and kiss her, nip her and pull her into me. The desire to make her just as crazy about me as I was her was riding an all time high and it was only a matter of time before I slipped and claimed her. It'd be a long time coming anyway.
Her phone lighting up with a text created a much needed distraction and I untangled myself from her, taking a step back. She was still breathing hard, her chest heaving up and down, as she picked up the phone and I caught Bernard's name flash on the top.
I grimaced. "Why the hell is Bernard texting you?" At this point, if Vienna didn't recognize the bite in my tone and the underlining jealousy backing it, she was either stupid or playing dumb.
I hadn't been this obvious about a girl since Claudia dumped me and I refused to eat anything for a whole week, hoping going on a fast would bring her back to me. Spoiler Alert: It didn't. She hooked up with some other guy a week after and I broke my fast, pasting a fuck you sticker with a middle finger on her locker. Ooo, the satisfaction.
"I didn't know that living with you entailed in me giving you information about who I text," she smiled sweetly. She still hadn't learnt her lesson, provoking me. Dirty, little vixen.
"So you're agreeing to live together?" I raised a brow, saving to teach her a lesson for later.
"Until I find a new place, of course," she said. "And if you don't mind, that is."
I shook my head instantly. "I don't. Stay for as long as you'd like."
"Thank you," she muttered. "Seriously, for everything."
"Anything for you." I got up, shutting my brain that kept coming up with topics to continue talking to her about but right now, I needed to get ready and then the hell out to know why Vienna's father wanted to see me.
I rounded the couch, loathing the feel of leaving Vienna alone, especially when Bernard was texting her and all I wanted to do was rip the phone off of her hands and make her do something better with them. I had officially lost my mind.
"Hey, housemate," her voice made me stop in my tracks and I turned around. "According to the email you sent earlier, technically I have a day off today. But Bernard wants to meet today to talk about the deal and since I'm free today, I'll go see what he has to say later today."
"You don't have to tell me that. We're housemates but as you said, you don't owe me anything. Especially your personal life. I know you don't have the best relationship with Bernard so I didn't understand why he would text you, that's it, okay?" I asked her.
"I just wanted to let you know," she said, her eyes softening as if she wasn't expecting me to notice how Bernard and her didn't get along. Another hint why I was so fucking whipped for this woman: I noticed everything about her; starting with the little mole below her left ear to how she liked listening to Korean pop while working when she thought I wasn't looking, I noticed it all.
"And I'm going home since dad needs me for something," I said. I knew I hated lying but I wasn't lying because dad actually needed me for something. What I was doing was just not telling her that what he needed from me was to meet her dad. Tough shit. And before she could open her mouth to sass about something, I cut her off. "And I too, wanted to let you know. That's it."
She pursed her lips in an attempt to prevent herself from smiling but a grin broke on her face, anyways. It was so beautiful, even as she let out a small giggle at my appraisal of her, as I checked her out from head to toe, how her hoodie was two sizes too big on her and how her leggings fitted her perfectly, showing off her thighs I wanted to touch, bite, have wrapped around my shoulders, my ears— and God, around my waist. Fuck.
How could someone be so exquisite? Beautiful, inside-out. Charming and hardworking. Sexy as fuck, without even trying. She lit up a fire inside me with just a few words and I hadn't ever experienced a woman quite like her ever before.
I had never fallen in love before but I had watched my mom and dad; how they talked, how they behaved, how everything was unicorns when they were together. Growing up, it was embarrassing to watch, witnessing my dad kissing my mom at any chance he got, or flirting with her openly and what not.
But if this was what falling in love felt like, like everything was sunshine even on the gloomiest day, like I could get a semi just at the voice of her laughter, that I always wanted to be around her, talk to her but also watch her become independent and grow into an amazing person, I knew for sure that I was fucking falling for her. For Vienna. And I was not afraid of being upfront about it anymore.
Fear of rejection be damned because I was sure I was bound to fuck up in the future and that she would realise she deserved better than me, a hypocrite who hated lies but kept brewing one, but if lying meant I could have my moments with her without getting her upset, then I would lie. I would hate myself. It didn't matter.
She had my soul in her hands and she could do whatever with it as long as she didn't give it back to me.
Before I could muster up my courage and ask her out, she called out, "Hey, Kyst." Her tentative voice snapped me out of my stupor and I stopped my journey of climbing the stairs to my room and looked around, stunned to see her grinning wide.
"Yeah?" Anticipation crawled up my throat, my skin buzzing with nervous excitement.
"Will you please go on a double-date with me?" she batted her eyelashes cutely.
My breath got trapped in my chest, regret setting heavy in my belly. Not just because of the lie she was being trapped in but because I wanted to be the one asking her on a date; because I was supposed to make this grand gesture where she'd not be able to say no to me even if she tried and then I was supposed to take her on her best date ever before kissing her goodbye.
That was the perfect plan. But I didn't know when my coward self would make a move on her and right now, she was asking me on a double date— wait—
"A double date?" I narrowed my eyes.
"Yeah," she said. "Sav texted me earlier that she wanted to go wedding shopping and asked if I wanted to join. So I agreed but then she asked me to invite you after the shopping on a double date with her and Sully and since we're supposed to be dating. . . I couldn't exactly say no," she frowned. "But hey, if you don't want to, I can totally make up an excuse or—"
"I'll go on the date with you," I snapped, rather harshly because her face fell, frown lines decorating her forehead. Eradicating the sense of rage towards myself for even thinking she would ask me on a real date one day after proposing a fake-dating relationship, I smiled forcefully. "I'll pick you up at seven from your room, then?"
"Um no," she shook her head adorably, her strands flying with her. "I'll reach the restaurant on my own since I'll meet with Sav right after my meeting with Bernard. Sully will text you the details later—"
Right on cue, my phone buzzed in my hand with an upcoming text from Sully.
Sully : wanna have a bros afternoon? and a sexy double date after?
Sully : although im pretty sure Vienna already told you that. see you in a few hours, we'll go shopping too!!!
Sully : not with the girls of course. Sav would kill me if I crashed their girl time. okay see you, bye!
I sighed. That was my consequence for walking right into this mess by agreeing to be Sully's best man and Vienna's fake-fucking-boyfriend.
And well that explained why Vienna had been grinning while typing on her phone; surely she was talking to this idiot. And a satisfied hum rumbled in my chest at the memory of her frowning at her phone; definitely Bernard's text.
But neither of those things were my priority right now.
It was getting my ass out of this house and making sure Vienna's father didn't treat me like he treated his daughter because I wasn't afraid of ripping him a new asshole.
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soooooo who's excited about the double date?????? albeit fake, Kyst has some extremely EXTREMELY strong feelings for Vienna and I can't help being jealous of what they have:(((
Tell me whether you liked this chapter and what about it? (Don't lie, I know it was Kyst dirty talking, you wicked people) did you expect it tho?
update: I actually finished Hunting Adeline and the series defs takes up my top 5, I LOVED IT, although I'll need some therapy.
what's your current read, and are you liking it so far?
Mine is Wrecked by Lauren Asher and I LOVE Jax Kingston so far!!! And Elena is definitely my soul animal lmao
Thanks for reading<3
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