Nikoli watched her from underneath his lashes. Her face was pensive. He wasn’t sure what she was thinking about, but her body was completely relaxed. It was exactly what he needed her to be. His fingers worked their way around to the top of her feet and up her ankles, slowly massaging the muscles. She was so relaxed she wasn’t even paying attention to his wandering fingers, and he smiled as he moved higher to her calves. He kneaded the muscles and chuckled at her little sigh of pleasure.
He made it all the way to her knees before she realized what was going on. She bolted upright and stared at him, her eyes a little wild. He simply stared back for a moment, and then continued his gentle massage around the back side of her knees and then up to her thighs. He slowed his pace, but increased the pressure of his fingers, soothing and kneading away the tension. She let out a little moan, but still he didn’t look up.#p#分页标题#e#
Her hand grabbed his when he got to her upper thighs, right below her hemline of her dress. She tugged, and he refused to stop. When he looked up, her eyes were overflowing with several emotions. He could see fear and panic, but there was also curiosity and lust. He needed her to focus on the latter two.
“Lily, I am going to take your dress off.”
“No.”
He did look up then, his eyes stern. “Yes, Milaya. You need to learn to feel my hands on your bare flesh. It’s time to push you just a bit further. You know I’m not going to hurt you.”
“I…I…Nikoli…”
“Shh, Milaya,” he crooned. “You are fine. You can do this. I know you can. Do you trust me?” He reached his hand out to her and waited. She looked at it like it was the hand of the devil, but he didn’t grow impatient. He simply waited for her to decide she was going to trust him.
It took her a good five minutes, but she finally whispered, “Yes.”
She put her hand in his and he sat up, pulling her toward him. She landed in his lap, her legs straddling his own. Her blue eyes were so dark they were almost black. He saw her fear and forced himself to stay calm, to go slowly with her.
“Easy,” he murmured, placing his hands on her thighs, where the bottom of her dress had bunched up higher. She gasped and put her hands on top of his to stop him, and he let her, knowing she needed to feel more in control.
She looked into his eyes and took a deep, steadying breath. “I don’t know if I can do this, Nikoli. I don’t know if I’m ready.”
“How can you know, though, if you don’t try, Lily?”
Her gaze swept down to where her hands lay on top of his. He could feel the tremor in them. He understood she was scared, maybe even terrified, but that was the point of all this. She needed to stop being afraid, and that wouldn’t happen if she refused to push herself.
It took every ounce of strength she had for Lily not to jump up, run into the other room, and huddle in the corner, screaming. Her panic was so severe, she felt her throat closing up on her and she started to shake. Just the thought of what Nikoli was going to do terrified her. Right now panic was all she felt.
“Look at me, Lily.”
Lily pulled her head up and met Nikoli’s gaze. His face was only a few inches from hers. His black eyes were calm, warm. She gave him a hesitant smile, doing her best to make herself relax.
“Have I ever hurt you?” he asked softly.
“No.”
“Do you think I ever would?”
“No.”
“Then stop thinking so hard,” he said, a small laugh escaping. “Just look at me and breathe, Milaya, just breathe.”
Lily did what he asked her to do. She thought about the last two months, about all the time she’d spent with him. She thought about the way he made her feel when he kissed her, when he made her laugh, when he held her, and how safe she felt. The more she thought about him, the more her body relaxed and the more her mind began to panic. Looking into his patient, dark eyes, Lily realized a hard truth she’d been hiding from.
She loved him.
Not just loved him. She was in love with him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, his voice concerned. “You just tensed back up, Milaya. Tell me what’s wrong.”
Wrong? Everything was wrong. Her panic shifted from his touching her legs to touching her heart. She felt like her entire world had just bottomed out. How had this happened? When had this happened? She couldn’t be in love with Nikoli Kincaid.
“Easy, baby, everything is okay. Just take slow, deep breaths and calm down.”#p#分页标题#e#
Calm down? How was she supposed to calm down when she was in love with the manwhore? Dear God, how did she let herself fall for him? She knew better. Sure, he might have called her his girlfriend for the sake of the bet, but he didn’t want one. He was helping her get over her fears, yes, but he had an ulterior motive. He wanted in her panties. Simple as that. He didn’t love her. She couldn’t ever let him know how she felt.