Deeper Healing

18| Shatter Me

Nikolai Coleman

"I've heard an interesting rumour about why you take women to your penthouse," Leilani remarked with a slight glint in her eyes, cautiously drawing the hot cup of chamomile tea I'd made her close to her lips.

She sat on the kitchen counter now in a white fluffy morning robe with her leg crossed over her knee and her slippers dangling off the heels of her feet. I stood three feet away from her, but directly in front of her with my back leaned against the refrigerator and my own cup of tea in hand.

After nearly thirty minutes of trying to sway her to my side, I'd realised that Leilani Edwards was a hard nut to crack. She wasn't the type to be easily swayed no matter how glittery the offer seemed. She was the type to press on until the subject was dropped with her on the winning side, but this time, she was in for a change.

I trusted my persuasive charm and the effect I had on her that was beginning to get close to impossible for her to hide. I had senses and my own way of telling a woman was slowly unravelling before me and warming up to me. I was winning this one with no doubt.

At this point, I didn't know what turned me on more, the fact that I made her blush and bite her lip a thousand times in a short amount of time or the fact that she was trying her best to hide those indicators and acting like I had no effect on her whatsoever.

Her statement made my lips curl up into a sly smile. "Yes," I acknowledged. "I've caught wind of that tasteless rumour."

Leilani chuckled. "That means it's false, yes?"

I took a sip of my tea and swallowed, watching her. She averted her eyes from me, a small smile touching her lips. "By the amount of information you know about me so far, that should be a given."

She shook her head, rubbing the heel of her left foot against her the shin of her right leg. Yes, I was beginning to get oddly alert and observant of her every move. Reading her body language made me think I could have a better predicament of the words she'd spill out of her mouth, but I was wrong. She was a highly unpredictable woman.

"I know absolutely nothing about your sexual life," she said casually, "but I want to believe you don't actually pay for sex."

Some speculations about my social life shocked even me and the thought that people viewed me in that way sometimes made me wonder how exactly I presented myself to the world.

I scoffed. "That's an absurd speculation." I drew my cup up to my lips, taking a sip before setting it down on the sink next to me. "The women I link with don't fuck for money. It's purely for pleasure and nothing beyond. I'd never pay for something willingly begged for."

My answer seemed to amuse her as her smile only grew wider. "Interesting," she hummed, "but not completely surprising."

"Can I tell you a secret?" I invited softly, slowly folding my arms.

Leilani took a sip of her tea, chuckling. "Please, surprise me."

"I haven't been with a woman in a really long time," I divulged.

"How long is long?" she asked with a cocked eyebrow, holding her cup with both hands, her fingertips peeking out of the long sleeves of her loose robe.

"Four years."

Her face contorted in disbelief and a bit of anger, nearly making me crack up. "And I'm supposed to believe that bull?"

"Why wouldn't you?" I challenged.

She rolled her eyes, taking another sip of her tea. "You're Nikolai fucking Coleman. With that face of yours, I bet you have women falling at your feet."