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Daria’s eyes widened with hurt confusion at Nik’s unexpected announcement. “I don’t understand,” she protested. “Isn’t Friday supposed to be mine?”
Nik refused to acknowledge the way satisfaction blazed inside him at hearing Daria say such words. Goddammit, would he always be a fool whenever this woman was concerned?
“You sound like a kid,” he made himself say derisively. “There’s no such thing as Friday being yours—-”
“Of course there’s such a thing.” She was already stomping her foot before she remembered that it would only make her look like the kid he said she was. She stopped doing it, and raising her chin, she said, “You promised Friday was mine.” Daria winced as soon as the words were out. Oh God, didn’t that make her sound like a kid as well?
Nik’s lips were pressed together. How the fuck did she do it? One moment he was filled with self-loathing and hatred for her, the next moment she was cracking him up, the way she seemed to guilelessly act like a kid, stomping her foot and protesting his decision because he had made a promise.
“There’s an emergency meeting I have to go to, okay?” And no, he thought. He wasn’t making excuses, wasn’t giving her an explanation so she wouldn’t be hurt. He was simply...stating a fact.
“Where?” Then before he could answer, she said impulsively, “Take me with you. Whatever you have to spend so I can be with you, take it out of my...” She tried to find the right word to describe the money he had deposited in her account first thing in the morning today. “Take it out of my, umm, allowance.”
Nik raised a brow. “You mean your wages.” But instead of seeing Daria’s eyes brighten anew at his dig, she simply crossed her arms and looked at him with thoughtful eyes.
“Does it really make you happy to say crude things to me?” Daria asked. “Because if it really does...”
He cut her off. “I’m sorry.” He wasn’t sure how it happened, only knew that Daria had managed to turn the tables around again. He also knew, after this, that he would never be deliberately crude with her again.
Daria was gazing at him with a stony look on her lovely face.
“I said I’m sorry,” he bit out, unwilling to admit how disturbed he was at the realization that he might have hurt her more than he wanted to with his words.
When Nik’s gaze strayed back to her, she asked immediately, “Are you sorry enough to take me with you?”
He blinked, and a moment later understanding dawned. “You manipulative little cheat...” He had been had. Nik knew he should be furious at the way Daria had again succeeded in manipulating him, but instead he was only relieved that she wasn’t hurt.
“I’m going to punish you—-”
“Punish me all you want, I’ll even give you a whip, but tell me you’ll take me with you on Friday?” Daria knew she was pushing it, was being so recklessly impulsive like she always was, but she couldn’t help it.
Something had become so powerfully clear to her the moment she had called Nik on his shit and he had apologized.
All this time, she had been trying to be perfectly demure and discreet like Miranda when she should have been the opposite.
After all, Miranda had always been ridiculously perfect, and yet Nik had still managed to fall in love with her. If she hadn’t lied to him, she was almost sure he would have broken things off with Ms. Perfect and chosen Daria, imperfections and all.
But she had lied.
And so he had chosen Miranda.
However, that was the past, and this was the present, and she knew what to do now.
She started walking towards him, saw Nik’s arrested gaze settle on the sway of her hips, and she became even more convinced that she was right.
If she wanted Nik to love her again, she needed to be who she was before everything came crashing down. She needed to be herself, needed to act like she believed that one day Nik would learn to forgive her.
When she reached Nik, she ran her hands over his chest and was rewarded by the way he sucked his breath in deeply.
This was a start, a very good start, and her heart hopped back on its rollercoaster at the thought.
She reached for his tie, looped it around her fingers, and used it to pull him down. When he bent his head, she covered his jaw with tiny, soft kisses. “Please, Nik? Pleaaaaaaaaaase?” She knew she sounded like a kid when she spoke like that, but the thing was, she had always acted like a child with him. Whether Nik wanted to admit it or not, it was what made him want her. Fall in love with her. Simply, Nik liked Daria best when she was being herself.
