When she brought them to the foot of the stairs leading to the two-hundred-foot high Buddha statue, he asked incredulously, “You want us to climb all the way there?” There had to be a thousand of steps for them to trek before they would reach their destination.
She beamed at him. “Yes.”
Now was the time to let her know he owned a copter that could take them to the top in seconds. But that would also mean telling her he was not Luuk.
When put like that, the decision was simple.
He took her hand. “Let’s do this.”
It was a spectacular day, ending with Ayah and him kneeling on the ground as she taught him how to pray to Chinese gods. They had bought giant incense sticks that were almost as tall as Ayah, and he had barked in laughter when her face turned red in her efforts to lift the burning incense sticks on her own.
After, when he asked Ayah about her familiarity with the city’s local culture Ayah explained, “My mother was a travel writer, but she liked spending most of her free time here in Hong Kong.”
“When she fell pregnant with me and my dad didn’t marry her, she went back home so she could have help from my grandparents while raising me. But she told me stories about Hong Kong all the time and she taught me how to speak all the Chinese dialects she knew. When I had the chance to come live here, I took it.”
“You weren’t afraid of living on your own in a foreign country?”
“It wasn’t as if I was leaving anyone else back home,” she answered with a wry smile. “They’re all gone.”
Nic had paled at her words, but she laughingly waved his apologies away. “It doesn’t hurt anymore. I’m just happy thinking they’re all at peace. Besides...” She peered at him under her lashes, eyes dancing with mischief. “You kind of remind me of my mom.”
He had a feeling he wouldn’t like her next words, but he said anyway in a dry tone, “I’ll bite, lieverd. Why do I remind you of her?”
“Because she tells the most awesome stories, and you do, too. With you it’s like I have my own Grimm and Andersen and—-”
He shut her up with a kiss, seriously embarrassed at the way she was looking at him. She made him feel perfect, when he very well knew it was Ayah who was perfect. He couldn’t recall a day when he had this much...fun. And certainly, he couldn’t recall a day that he had been this tired or spent less than a thousand dollars. If he was back at home – or with any other person but Ayah – Nic knew what he would have spent on a few drinks would be more than what they had spent as a couple.
Day had turned into dusk by the time they took the cable car back to the city. They were surrounded by blackness, with only golden lights from the airport occasionally allowing them to see each other. For the return trip, she had booked them the standard cabin, and he was thankful for that because it gave him a chance to use the pole in the middle of the cable car for a quite inventive reason.
Before Ayah knew what he was planning, he had already unzipped himself, flipped her skirt up, and entered her from behind. In moments, she was clutching the pole desperately as he fucked her hard, and soon her screams echoed around the cabin.
Even though her mind knew that the darkness of the night completely hid them from view, she still felt thoroughly hedonistic about what they were doing. She felt that, but for the life of her she couldn’t make herself stop thrusting back, wanting more of Luuk’s cock.
After, with her entire being humming with contentment, Ayah could only sigh as Luuk wiped her clean and gathered her in his arms. He was seated at the bench, one leg stretched out, with Ayah draped across him.
His heart felt like it was about to explode, and he had a feeling it would do just that if he didn’t get the words out. “Ayah?”
“Mm?” She was in his arms, her head nestled against the crook of his shoulder.
“I love you.”
Ayah hugged him tightly. “I love you, too.”
It should have ended like that. Perhaps if he had been a good man, it would have.
But it did not.
When they arrived at his hotel, a woman walked swiftly towards Luuk, throwing her arms around him as she gave him a passionate kiss. Pulling back, the stunning woman said throatily, “I missed you so much, Nic.”
Chapter Eight
The broken silence between the three of them was exactly what Thelma Laarson had hoped for. She had been keeping tabs on the little slut for over a year now, doing her best to poison Nic de Koningh’s mind against marrying the cheap gold digger in subtle ways.
She had known from the very start that the two had an inexplicable connection, and she had also been smart enough not to mention it. Instead, she had played her cards carefully, doing her best to undermine the relationship by constantly making digs about love in Nic’s presence. She had needed him cynical about love because it was the only way to get him – and she had almost won. She would have won if not for that snooty and nosy Farica.
That girl was the only one who could have convinced Nic to fly here and take his chances on this nobody. If not for Farica’s interference, Thelma knew a little more time was all she needed before she had a de Koningh ring around her finger.
But she wasn’t giving up just yet, Thelma thought as she pasted a fake curious smile on her lips upon turning to the pale-faced girl next to Nic. “Is she a friend of yours?” She let her eyes go wide. “Oh, dear! Don’t tell me this is—-”
Nic stiffened, realizing where this was heading. “Shut up, Thelma.”
“—-the infamous Ayah Chandler?”
Ayah whitened even more at hearing her name fall from the other woman’s lips. There was too much tension in the air for her to ignore the words, no matter how badly she wanted to pretend that nothing was happening.
“Yes.” She forced a smile. “I’m Ayah. But I’m afraid—-”
Thelma deliberately cut the girl off with a sneering laugh. “I know all about you, Ms. Chandler. I know how you’ve tried to seduce Nic on the plane and have forever pestered him since then with emails and calls—-”
Ayah took a step back, the vitriol in the other woman’s words making her feel physically sick. “I didn’t...I’m not...” She looked at Luuk, and the only thing she could think of asking was, “Why is she calling you Nic?”
Thelma snapped, “Because that’s what his name is, you stupid slut.”
“Get the fuck away from us now, Thelma,” Nic growled without taking his gaze off Ayah’s stricken face. “Ayah, I can—-”
She whispered, “Why would you lie to me?”
Thelma pushed herself between the two. “Oh, please. Isn’t it obvious? He’s just been fooling around with you.” She gave the younger girl a nasty smile. “Don’t flatter yourself into thinking you’re special, honey. Nic’s a billionaire and the flight here’s no more expensive than what he spends on his clothes.”
She tried to take a step closer towards the other girl, but Nic was suddenly holding her back. “Let go—-”
“Security,” Nic barked.
Thelma turned red. “How dare you call security on me?”
“Because you’re making a fucking scene—-”
The disgust on Nic’s face stung, and she poured out all of her rage on the other girl, turning to face her again. “Don’t think you’ve won, bitch!”
The hotel’s security crew had finally arrived and they took over holding her. Enraged, Thelma screamed, “He was always planning to dump you. In fact, he practically proposed marriage to me. Did you know that?” Seeing her words had found its mark, Thelma laughed. “Aww...did that hurt? Maybe he tried to propose to you, too? Well, I wouldn’t blame him for trying. It could be he was wondering if with marriage you’d finally give him your virginity—-”
Unable to bear hearing anything more, Ayah turned her back and walked away.
“Ayah, wait—-”
She nearly fell in her haste to get away from him.
Stunned, Nic slowly let his arm fall to the side.
“What’s
your real name?”
Fuck. Fuck. FUCK. He didn’t like hearing her like that. “Ayah, let’s talk—-”
She whirled around, crying out, “What’s your damn name?”
There wasn’t any sign of fury on her face. All he could see instead was hurt. “Nic,” he said tautly. “Nicolaas de Koningh.”
“And...you’re rich? Like she said?”
He gave her a curt nod.
She sucked in her breath at that, nearly doubling over at the pain his admission caused. “Everything she said was true, wasn’t it?” she asked tonelessly. “You never planned to marry me when you came here. You never...you never...” Ayah gasped out, the only way she could make herself breathe through the pain. “Oh, God, you...never...”
“Ayah, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
She looked at him with eyes dulled by hurt. “But you know you could, Luu—-” She shook her head, and the tears started to fall. “Nic. You know you could hurt me, but you still did all of this anyway.”
He ached to hold her, fucking ached to wipe her tears away and do everything he could to make it all right. “Ayah, I may have lied about so many things, but I didn’t lie about loving you.”
“Maybe,” she said brokenly. “But love comes with t-trust and I...I can’t trust you when I don’t even know who you are.” She started to cry hard at that, not wanting to but unable to help it. “I don’t even know who I am anymore after what you did.” She covered her mouth, trying to stop herself from sobbing. “I lost myself in you and now that you’re telling me you’re not who I thought you were...how do I find myself again?”
Chapter Nine
“Thanks for everything.” It was the best she could do without blubbering like a fool as she looked at her friends one last time before she boarded the plane heading back to Florida. It was time to make a fresh start. Hong Kong had been a blast, but after what had happened one week ago, it would never be the same. It would always have ugly memories, and she was so tired of crying.
“Yeah, yeah.” Mr. Hsu was glaring at her. Ayah had a feeling it was the best he could do, the only way to stop both of them from bawling like kids. Goodbyes were hell, but she hadn’t wanted to go without thanking everyone either.
“We’ll miss you,” Mari said before pulling Ayah into a hug.
After all the hugs, she gazed at them, knowing she would never forget this bunch of people. They had become an important part of her life and it hurt to imagine waking up to a new day and knowing they were half a world away.
She opened her mouth to speak, but Mr. Hsu growled, “You go now. You might be late. Stop wasting time here. It’s not like you’ll disappear.”
“I’ll miss you guys,” she said, now smiling a little because of her boss’ grumpiness. It was just like old times.
“Yeah, yeah. We can go and visit you.”
“No, you can’t. You’re afraid of flying,” she reminded him.
“Then you come and visit us. Same stupid banana.” He shooed her away. “Now go.”
She was smiling when she turned around after giving them one final wave. The plane was almost completely filled when she boarded. It was strange, considering that the plane wasn’t bound to take off anytime soon. Perhaps it was given the green light for an early departure and she had missed the announcement?
After putting her backpack inside the overhead compartment, she flopped down on the seat. Her eyelids drifted closed. She felt the plane taking off sometime later, the sound registering in her subconscious. She stirred in her seat and froze when her movements were hindered by...a seatbelt?
She couldn’t remember securing her seatbelt, and certainly not this tightly!
Her eyes flew open.
“Hello.” It was Nic.
“I brought you a peace offering.” Before she could tell him no, she didn’t need one, he placed a large brown envelope on the table. Despite herself, she opened it and shook the contents out. The tears started to fall.
“I’ve been flying around the world this past week, collecting each and every one of them.”
It was the entire set of the limited edition kokeshi-designed throw bags from Jaewon Airlines.
He offered her his phone next, making her frown at him even as she sniffed back tears.
“I have an Instagram account, too.”
“So?”
“Please look at it. You’ll understand.”
She wished she could tell him no, but she just didn’t have it in her to be rude. Ayah took the phone reluctantly and clicked on the IG icon. She swallowed back another surprised, tear-choked laugh.
“I made sure to use that Insta-Place thing, just so you know I’m not lying. I didn’t have anyone collect it for me. I did everything myself.”
Finally, he gave her another envelope, a smaller one this time.
Inside were two pieces of paper – one blown-up snapshot of their clasped hands, taken a year ago, and the other one a pen-drawn illustration of a tiny hand.
“I kept thinking all this time about what I could do to make you believe me, Ayah. I thought of begging, maybe even bribing people to be my character witnesses and all sorts of crazy things. But the bottom line is, I want to believe that you’ll forgive me because...” He inhaled, feeling like he was about to jump off a cliff with his next words.
“I once asked someone if, when you learned about what I did, you would still forgive me. And she told me that you would because you love me.” It was his greatest gamble.
And yet there was only silence.
The flame of hope inside him was dying a slow death, but still he waited, his fists clenched, telling himself that if he believed hard enough, maybe a miracle would happen and she would...forgive him. Because she really did love him.
Not because she had to – the way his parents should have but didn’t.
Not because she needed to or wanted to – the way like all the Thelmas in the world were eager to even though they really didn’t.
His head bowed, Nic said rawly, “If you can’t love me again now, can you just let me...can we please fucking start again? I’ll do it right this time. I’ll tell you who I am, show you the real me. It’s not...it’s not much, but I can change. I’ll fucking change into whatever you want me to be.” The silence was killing him, making his heart start to shatter into a thousand pieces of lost hope.
“My name is Nic de Koningh...”
“Stop.” She had finally broken her silence, but it wasn’t what he had hoped to hear.
Fear threatened to choke him, and he desperately continued, “No. I’m not finished. You have to listen to me. I’m twenty nine—-”
“Please—-”
“I work in the family business, solving shit around the world because I don’t really have a home. I’ve got four brothers and two sisters. I come from a huge brood—-”
“No—-”
“—-and they’re all here.” He felt her stiffen and he made himself look up.
Her eyes were swollen with tears, her lips trembling.
“Everyone in this plane is part of my family, lieverd. This time, I really want to do it right. I want to ask you in front of all of them—-” He went down on one knee. “Will you marry me?”
She sobbed out, “Do you really mean it this time?”
“With all my heart.”
Tears streaming down her face, Ayah demanded shakily, “Do you really believe in us now?”
Nic said savagely, “I’ll still believe in us even if it means having to believe everything else in this world is untrue.” His voice broke off, the fear of being too late strangling him. Was this it, he wondered dully. Had he lost his final gamble?
He forgot about pride and arrogance, forgot about everything except the fact that he needed her to love him. He begged, “Ayah, please.”
Click.
His head snapped up.
A smile wobbled on her lips as love shone from her eyes. “For the digital scrapbook we’ll build together.”
Before
he could react, she had bent down and kissed him. Her tears seeped between their lips, but it only made the kiss sweeter, not bitter, because the tears came with a promise for the future.
She whispered in his ear, “I love you...Nic.”
Epilogue
“That was Johnny?” Nic demanded hours later as he crossed the threshold of Venetian Macau’s largest suite with his bride in his arms. It had been a beautiful wedding, even though it had been organized with mere hours to spare. His whole life, he had disliked being a de Koningh but now he had a reason to treasure it. Only his last name had made it possible for Nic to give the woman he loved the kind of wedding she deserved.
An entire ballroom had been transformed into a recreational park that bore a striking resemblance to Ngong Ping 360, complete with a replica of the Giant Buddha at the corner. Willem had taken one look at it and gave his bride an impressed smile. “My brother likes his urban pleasures, you know. The fact that you were able to convince him to go all the way up...he must love you very much.”
“You make me sound like a lazy piece of shit,” Nic had growled. He turned to Ayah to reassure her that he wasn’t as lazy as Willem had made him sound – and he wasn’t, considering the fact that he went hiking once a month –
Ayah had been looking at him with a lovestruck expression. “Is it true?” she whispered. “You’re not into stuff like that and you did it for me?”
Ignoring his brother’s knowing look, Nic said, “Yes, lieverd. I’ll do anything for you to keep loving me.”
And he should, Nic told himself, since too many men were after his wife. He glared at her. “You made him sound like a young boy when you talked to me about him.” He was still stinging at the way the Taiwanese brat had tried kissing his wife right in front of him. Damn kissing monster, Nic thought.
She kissed his cheek. “He is a boy. He’s just nineteen, you know.”
“A boy is a boy if his cock is no larger than my finger.”
Ayah gasped. “Nic!”
“But that boy...” He raised a brow at her. “Unless you’re aware he’s got a small dick?”
Seduction in the Sun: Adult Romance Box Set (9 Sizzling Tales with BBW, Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males) Page 97
