Chapter 3

• Eliana
• Nicholas sat beside me in the restaurant, much to my dismay. "You haven't touched your food, Eliana; is it not to your liking?" he asked nonchalantly, his deep voice making me fidget. I threw a glance at him, only to find him staring openly at my lips. I always bit my lower lip when I was nervous, an action that had the man's eyes openly devour me, or maybe I was just overthinking.
• "I'm not hungry," I curtly replied, chuckling nervously. I directed my eyes to my plate when my mother and her fiance looked at me.
• "Why don't you tell Ellie how we met?" My mother sparked up a conversation, making me scoff inwardly. I wasn't interested in knowing about their love lives; heck, I didn't even want them to get married.
• "Of course!" Robert seemed delighted as he put his fork on the side of his plate. I visibly tensed, my grip on the wine glass tightening.
• "Relax; you'll break the glass." Nicholas whispered beside me, his voice making my heart leap.
• "She came to my office in need of my services," Robert started.
• "What services?" I rudely asked.
• "Well, I am a private investigator, and your mom felt that the detectives working on your father's murder case weren't doing a good job." My nostrils flared instantly after he mentioned my father.
• "You hired a P.I. without telling me?" I turned to my mother, raising my brows.
• "Ellie, this is not the time for this." She tried diffusing the situation like always, but I wasn't having it.
• "Are you kidding me right now? I have the right to know about anything and everything involving my father. I can't believe you." I shook my head, blinking back tears I had no idea where they came from.
• "You're making a scene; lower your voice down," she responded, looking around. Sure enough, some people had turned in the dimly lit restaurant to stare at our table.
• "The detectives were doing their job. You just weren't patient enough to wait because you were busy searching for a man to replace dad." I took it all out, swallowing saliva painfully.
• "I will not allow you to talk to me like that." She gritted her teeth.
• "Eliana, show some respect." Robert chimed in. That did it; my entire body boiled with a feeling I couldn't comprehend. Robert had some nerve, reprimanding me as if he were my father. I opened my mouth to spit fire, only for a warm hand on my bare thigh to make me swallow my words. I regretted wearing a short bodycon dress at that moment.
• Nicholas squeezed my thigh slightly under the table, just enough to sway my attention from my mom. If it were some other man touching me without my permission, I would have given them a piece of my mind. With Nicholas, though, I welcomed it, and it scared the hell out of me.
• "There's no need to get worked up; we are all adults," he stressed the adults part, giving me a side glance while his hand remained on my thigh.
• In all honesty, I became dumb at that moment. Everything ceased to exist, and my mind concentrated only on the feel of his hand on my skin. It had goosebumps erupting and my heartbeat accelerating. His touch was simply calming my rage, yet it awoke something else inside me.
• "This is not over," I finally stated after clearing my throat.
• "Fair enough," my mother replied. Nicholas didn't remove his hand; instead, he joined the conversation my mother had started. It was something about the wedding plans, but my mind was too preoccupied to care. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, picturing his strong hand rising higher and higher, edging closer to the apex between my legs. As if reading my mind, Nicholas began making subtle movements, just enough to raise more goosebumps.
• "What do you think, Ellie?" My mother's loud voice snapped me back to reality.
• "Huh?" I raised my brow, ignoring the warmth that began to brew between my legs.
• "I asked if you were going to invite Dorian and Rachel to my wedding." They were my close childhood friends. We had grown up together and attended the same schools all the way from kindergarten to college, where we graduated a year prior with a business degree.
• "When's the wedding?" I realised that amidst it all, I hadn't even asked.
• "In three weeks time." I was about to push my chair backwards, stand, and stomp out when suddenly Nicholas put pressure on my thigh. I swallowed hard, his simple touch neutralising my anger in an instant.
• "I know it's too soon, but we don't want to wait. I mean, we're madly in love; we don't have little kids, and well, we just want to spend as much time as we can together." I watched as Robert held my mother's hand on top of the table, giving it a gentle squeeze.
• "You two are just perfect for each other." As Nicholas spoke, my desire to be touched intensified. I placed my hand on his wrist to stop any more movement while I looked at the side of his face. If only my mother knew what was happening under the table.
• "Thank you," my mom replied, a bright smile decorating her face, before sharing a short kiss. My entire body was on fire; my clitoral area was a pulsating mess, wanting nothing but to be touched as a distraction. I knew I'd mess up if I stayed there any longer, so I decided to leave.
• "Excuse me," I blurted while standing up, making Nicholas remove his hand. I hightailed out of there without waiting for any response, heading outside to the parking lot. I needed to put some distance between us for my mind to function well. He was, after all, a stranger, someone I had just met, yet I was allowing him to touch me.
• 'Get it together, Eliana,' I scolded myself, bending beside my mother's customised red Nissan Rogue with my head and my hand on the passenger's window.
• "Are you really that stressed, to the point of speaking to yourself?" I visibly tensed when Nicholas spoke behind me. I had gotten out to put some distance between us, and yet he had followed me.
• "Leave me alone," I snapped, without turning back to look at him.
• "Did I turn you on inside there? Is that why you left?" The sudden truth had shivers racing down my spine. But I covered it up and turned, trying so hard to glare at him. He stood inches from me, his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He looked so hot, just towering over me.
• "By placing your hand on my thigh? I didn't feel a thing," I lied through my teeth.
• "Are you sure?" he challenged.
• "Hundred percent," I confidently responded.
• "Then you'll have no problem if I touch you again, right?" he husked, removing his hands from his pockets. I swallowed, willing my racing heartbeat to slow down.
• "You just can't go touching women. That was very inappropriate of you," I said, hoping that he couldn't see the sweat that was breaking on my forehead.
• "But I didn't hear you complaining, Ellie...you didn't tell me to stop." He stepped closer, his alluring scent almost making me dizzy.
• "Why are you here?" I asked, trying to change the topic because he was right. That, and talking about it, was making my core heat up again.
• "Oh, your mother and my brother won't be going out for drinks like we planned earlier," he answered.
• "That's great; at least I can go home."
• "Yeah, about that, she asked me if I could drop you off at home because she will be going to my brother's place after dinner," he stated.
• "No, I'll call an Uber." I replied only to remember that I hadn't carried my phone.
• "Fine," I spoke, "but keep your hands off to yourself," I warned.
• "Do you really want me to? If I could guess correctly, right now your clit is pulsating, wanting me to flick it repeatedly." His words sent heat straight between my legs.
• "That's right, your mouth is saying no, but your eyes, your dilated pupils, are a confirmation of how aroused you are right now," he rasped, fishing his car keys from his pockets.
• "Shut up." Those were the only words I could come up with at that moment.
• "You can deny it all you want, Eliana, but your body can't lie." He smirked, looking at my chest, turning to head to his car. I lowered my eyes to look at where his eyes had been, only to be met with a sight that had me cursing my body.
• My nipples were hard, pressing on my dress.