Nick and Lilac (24 page)

She came with a scream, triggering his own release and Nick pumped his seed into her even as he didn’t stop thrusting. Jet after jet of his cum shot out, filling her pussy to the very brim until some of it leaked out and trailed against her inner thighs.

But still he didn’t fucking stop, didn’t stop savoring the feel of Lilac’s body now that it was his – it was finally his and no one was going to fucking take it away.

****

Lilac slowly rolled over on the bed, sleepily searching for the hard muscled body that was uniquely Nick’s. But all she found was emptiness. Forcing her eyes open, she saw Nick silhouetted against the sunlight streaming from the balcony’s doors, his head bent as he typed on his phone.

“Nick?” She expected him to smile, was getting ready to smile back but the look on his face made her swallow audibly. An ominous feeling skittered over her spine. “What’s…wrong?”

He was white underneath his tan, his eyes cold, nothing about him resembling the Nick who had loved her so beautifully. Finally, he shook his head.

The feeling that something bad was about to happen became stronger. Something told her she should let this go, but she couldn’t. She mustn’t. “Nick…tell me.”

“It’s not something you want to hear.”

She flinched at the harshness of his voice. “Is it…
her
?” Lilac hadn’t planned to say it, but somehow the words were forced out of her.

Ice wrapped around his heart at the way the last word fell from Lilac’s lips. He hated it, hated how she made him feel so guilty when he hadn’t made any fucking promises, hated how despite that, he
did
feel guilty.

Nick Christakos didn’t fucking do guilty.

“Yes,” he said coldly. “It’s
her.
Karla – the girl I loved.”

The Seventeenth Encounter

“Not that I’m playing the gossip---” Reid paused to thank the cabana attendant for the beach towel, which he used to briskly rub his body dry.

The woman went to Nick Christakos next, murmuring a respectful ‘sir’ as she gave him a towel.
Perks of the job
, she thought smugly, leisurely enjoying the muscular perfection of the two billionaires. Water glistened on their jet black hair and Mediterranean skin, making them perfect models for a
Speedo
advert. If only Reid Chalkias wasn’t so meticulous about his rules being observed, she would have tried stealing a photo of them – even just to serve as a “visual aid” when she was with good old BOB, her battery-operated boyfriend.

“You
are
,” Nick said coolly. “So fuck off.” He left the changing cabana and took one of the vacant tables set up by the pool. The morning swim had been a good cure for their hangover, but it did nothing to ease the tension inside him.

Without planning to, Nick’s gaze drifted inside, where Lilac was. He had asked her this morning if she wanted to join him poolside for breakfast, but she had declined very politely, telling him she would feel better within the air-conditioned confines of the patio, where the buffet table was set up.

Reid took the seat next to him.

Knowing his friend wasn’t done needling him about Lilac, he asked swiftly, “Where’s Christien?”

“Nathan arrived late last night. They had their usual orgy.” Nathan Callis was the fifth person in the group back during their boarding school days. They had been the only half-Greeks in their year and had banded together. By excelling in their chosen fields
and
turning their charm on the girls, they had not given any of the older students a chance to bully them.

Reid waved his hand, and another attendant came over, a petite blonde who momentarily gave Nick pause because she wasn’t the usual glamorous chick that Reid liked to employ in his homes. Also, she was incredibly
shy.
Unlike the cabana attendant who had ogled them shamelessly earlier, this one was quite shy, not meeting his eyes as she served him coffee.

“That one is explicitly
off-limits
, my friend.” Reid’s icily spoken Greek made Nick turn to his friend.

There was nothing charming about Reid’s face now. It was all hard angles, and his words were rather sharp as he dismissed the girl and called for the attendant from the cabana. The blond nodded and hurried away with a stiff back.

Nick frowned. “That was harsh.”

“You have too many problems right now to worry about that one,” Reid returned evenly. The cabana girl arrived and served tea, one of the few English traditions Reid had absorbed from the British side of his family.

The tea reminded Nick involuntarily of Lilac, and before he could stop himself, his gaze sought her once more. She was also drinking tea and nibbling on a piece of toast while her eyes remained glued to the newspaper spread before her. As far as he knew, she had not turned a page in the last thirty minutes, and the knowledge made the tension inside him harder to bear.

“Trouble in paradise?” Reid murmured
sotto voce
.

“No.”
Yes.
There was a fucking problem, but Nick didn’t know to fucking put it to words.

I don’t know who else to turn to, Nick. Please help me.

Karla’s words were imprinted on his mind, chaining him, tainting the beautiful night he had shared with Lilac.

Lilac – wasn’t Karla. She would never be what Karla was in his life because Lilac hadn’t been there when he was broken.

His chest squeezed more tightly, and it was as if Karla’s shadow was spreading inside him, forcing out any sweet memory he had of Lilac.

“You don’t plan to go to her? Beg her forgiveness and find your way back to her bed?”

“We’re friends,” he answered curtly. “We’ll figure this out.”

Reid’s voice cooled. “Even friends have to be treasured.”

Nick said between clenched teeth, “This is a matter between Lilac and me---”

“Not anymore,” Reid said with grim satisfaction. He nodded towards the house. “If I’m not mistaken, your twin brother’s about to make it his business as well.”

****

“Penny for your thoughts?” a light familiar voice asked.

She looked up, unable to believe it would be---

“Jason!” It was really him, and his charming smile was a painfully welcoming sight, so much so Lilac almost threw her arms around him. His was the first familiar face here and though Reid had been nothing but nice, it felt wrong to go to him because he was Nick’s friend.

Smiling back at Jason, she asked, “Have you eaten…breakfast…yet?”

He took the seat across from her and grabbed a piece of toast from her plate. “Now I am.”

She laughed, not knowing how its delicate sound flowed out of the open doors of the patio, drifting to the occupants by the poolside.

Jealousy burned inside Nick at the sound of Lilac’s laughter. His fists clenched as he turned and saw Jason and Lilac’s dark heads bent together as they talked in soft whispers. If this was how Lilac fucking wanted to play it, then she made the wrong choice.

The look on Nick’s face made Reid curse. “Don’t do something you’ll regret.”

Nick smiled tightly. “I’m not the fucking one who started it.”

Reid shook his head. “Nick---”

He stood up. “Excuse me.” He walked straight to the group of British models at the other table, and by the time he reached them a sexy smile was playing on his lips. “Hello.”

It was the only thing he had to say before they were all crowding around him. Or at least all of them had but one – a tall blond beauty who wore nothing but a cool smile and tiny yellow scraps that barely passed as a bikini.

She was clearly the leader of the group, possibly the only one who had brains. Her name was Felicity, and she didn’t waste time on introductions, asking pointedly, “You came with a date, did you not?”

He parried smoothly, “This is Reid Chalkias’ party, is it not?”

Amusement gleamed in her blue eyes, which were almost the same shade as his. “Ah, true. You have a point.” She made a show of looking at him, her gaze roving his bare muscular body from head to toe. She wetted her lips. “I like what I see.” It was normal for couples to get together for a quickie without exchanging names in Reid’s parties, and she wasn’t shy about instigating

He did the same with her, taking in her high pert breasts, her tiny waist, and her long golden legs, all perfectly flaunted by nearly-nonexistent bikini. It left him cold, but he didn’t give a damn. Behind him, all his senses were acutely attuned to Lilac, and the sound of her occasional laugh flayed him. Looking at Felicity under his lashes, Nick purred, “I’m not sure I like what I see.”

Felicity and the other girls gasped.

“I think…I’d need a sample.” Nick raised a brow. “Don’t you think?”

She pretended to think about it. “What do you think, girls?”

“It’s Nick Christakos,” one of the smarter ones hissed. “Of course he deserves a sample.”

Cheers erupted from the poolside, and the noise drew her attention and Jason’s. Her stomach turned upside down as she saw a girl unclasping her bikini top and then taking Nick’s hand to cover one of her bare breasts.

Everything inside Lilac froze. Jason’s gaze was on hers, and she choked out, “Don’t…pity me.”

“I’m not,” he said harshly. “I pity my brother because he doesn’t fucking appreciate how lucky he is that you love him.”

The realization that Jason knew her secret – maybe even before she had understood how strongly she felt for Nick – made Lilac push her seat back, mumbling an incoherent excuse as she stumbled away.

Nick withdrew his hand the moment the cheers erupted, knowing the game had gone far beyond his liking. The hairs on his nape stood, and Nick stilled, fear chilling his blood. He stumbled, his gaze desperately seeking Lilac or even his brother, but both of them were gone.

Fuck!

Lilac.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

What the fuck had he done?

“Looking for the girl in white?” Felicity came to stand at his side as she re-tied her bikini at the back.

He nodded curtly.

“Your date?”

This time he acknowledged it. “We’re just friends.”

“Is that so?” Her voice expressed her doubt.

“Yeah.” But Nick was starting to doubt it himself. He and Lilac had done too much, felt too much, and gone too far to be just friends – even the kind of friends that had benefits.

His phone rang. Jason’s name flashed on the screen, and Nick answered it right away. “Give her back to me, Jason.”

His brother’s mirthless laugh spilled out from the other end of the line like poison.  “Now you want her back after you hurt her?”

The fact that Jason was speaking in Greek meant he was still with her. “Lilac’s
mine
.”

“Yes.” Jason’s admission stunned Nick, but before he could answer, Jason said harshly, “But you are
not
hers, and you fucking shoved the truth down her throat by grabbing another girl’s breast.”

“It was just a game---” But even he knew that was a stupid fucking worthless excuse.

“If you saw her holding another man’s dick, would it seem like a fucking game to you?”

Nick whitened.

Just the thought of seeing Lilac doing something like that – just
thinking
of Lilac doing something like that had him almost blacking out in pain.

And he had made her feel like that.

“Bring her back, Jason.
Please.
”

Jason cursed silently. Furious as he was, he couldn’t ignore the way Nick’s voice had shattered at the end. He struggled to be fair even though his every instinct told Jason that the pale girl sitting next to him was better off without Nick Christakos in her life.

“Mother and I have never made any secret about how we felt about the other girl.”

Nick said tightly, “She has nothing to do---”

“She has
everything
to do with this.  Because you still love her---don’t you?”

I don’t know who else to turn to, Nick. Please help me.

He closed his eyes. Maybe this wasn’t love. Maybe this was just need. Or honor. He didn’t fucking know anymore. All Nick knew was that he couldn’t leave her helpless.

Karla.

The name was enough to make Nick sick because it reminded him of how weak he had been.

“While you’re trying to fucking figure out what you feel for that bitch, the girl next to me is hurting for you – and because of you.”

Nick said tautly, “I didn’t mean to hurt her.”

“IT DOESN’T FUCKING MATTER WHEN WE BOTH KNOW SHE’S IN LOVE WITH YOU.”

The words hammered into Nick’s brain and he fell to the ground on his knees, the truth of Jason’s words throwing his world off tangent.

Lilac loved him.

“Nick?” Lilac’s voice came from the other end of the line a little too soft, a little too hesitant. He broke a little more at the sound, knowing it was because of him. Nick knew Jason had deliberately omitted telling him that he was passing the phone to Lilac to force his hand. He didn’t blame Jason – right now, he could only be thankful that someone was treating her right.

Lilac loved him.

Nick should have seen it, known it, should have felt it with every every fiber of his being. Karla…Karla might have been the one who brought him back to life, but Lilac was the one who made his heart beat now.

Because Lilac loved him.

Nick forced himself to speak, his voice coming out hoarse and uneven as he said, “Hello, sweetheart.”

Silence descended on the ballroom as the duke bowed. He was resplendent in black, more elegant than austere---a strikingly powerful figure who drew gazes all around him. Fans fluttered, quizzing glasses raised high as he took to the dance floor, holding the hand of a girl that was…not her.

She stepped back with a silent sob, blending in the shadows as only a wallflower could.

Lilting notes from a violin played in the air, and the rest of the orchestra followed. The duke and his betrothed whirled like a prince and princess straight out from a fairytale.

If this was what she had wanted, then why did it hurt so terribly?

Lilac fell back against the passenger seat in Jason’s car, a midnight-black coupe that matched the essence of its owner. She stared fixedly out the window, doing her best not to cry.

“Are you still there, Lilac?”

She wiped away the tears that had managed to fall. Just the sound of Nick’s voice was enough for her entire body to hurt. All the places he touched, he kissed – it all hurt because she belonged to him, and he didn’t want her anymore.