by Aubrey Rose
Fishing it out and seeing an unidentified number, Velvet answered the call. “Hello?”
Mykolas leaned back against the plush cushions of his yacht’s custom-designed sofa. He had hoped to meet the intriguing Velvet Lambert – a little digging in her phone allowed him to figure out her name – but his meeting with his stepsister had to be cut short because of an emergency back in Athens.
Velvet’s frown was evident in her voice, and this made his smile widen. “You have found your phone then.”
The voice at the other end of the line was decidedly Greek, a deep accented baritone filled with sensual confidence and natural arrogance. Oh no, Velvet immediately thought. Her friend Mairi’s Greek billionaire sounded exactly like this, and look what had happened to her. Granted, Mairi and Damen Leventis were a couple now – they had just gotten engaged last night, in fact – but even so, the sheer amount of drama the two had gone through to earn their happy ever after was too much for Velvet.
And so she said crisply, “Yes, I did. Thank you for handing it to the librarian. Goodbye.”
Mykolas gazed at the phone in amusement. That was the first time a woman had hung up on him.
Velvet’s frown became more pronounced as her phone vibrated, signaling an incoming message. Persistent just like Mairi’s Greek billionaire. This really wasn’t good.
I have a confession to make, Velvet Lambert. I went through your phone and read a couple of your messages.
About to cross the street to get to the dorm, Velvet abruptly stopped walking with an infuriated gasp. How dare he?
All of them had come from your ardent admirers. Their devotion to you makes me want to see you and find out whether you are as desirable as they make you sound to be. However, I am not like most men who are easily swayed by appearance. I want my woman not only wonderful to look at but wonderful to spend time with as well.
I am sure that you are the same. So I propose a bet.
And that was that.
Velvet waited for another incoming message, but none came. If he thought leaving her hanging like that would make her call him—-
Velvet’s phone rang, and she froze. Don’t answer it, Velvet, an inner voice cautioned inside her head. To distract herself, she resumed walking, crossing the street to get to the teachers’ dorm. She took the stairs steadily and tried to keep her heartbeat at pace with her steps.
Her phone stopped ringing just as she slid the key into the knob and unlocked her door.
Good, Velvet told herself. He’s lost his patience. She pushed the door shut with her hip and after dropping her bag to the floor, she threw herself on her bed and gazed up at the ceiling. Seconds ticked by. Slowly, she placed her hand on her heart, which was still thudding. Restlessness built inside her, and Velvet realized that she hadn’t been this annoyed – or this intrigued – in ages.
The librarian had called the person who found her phone a gentleman. Most likely, he wasn’t working for the school then. Was he a visiting professor? The thought had her wrinkling her nose.
Her phone rang again.
Before she could think twice, Velvet answered the phone. “Hello?”
Mykolas purred, “You sound breathless.”
Damn it, but she was. “Don’t take it personally,” she managed to quip. “I’m always like this when talking to potential stalkers.”
“You’d be lucky if I stalk you.”
Damn it, damn it, damn it but why did this man’s voice sound so sexy to her? He was arrogant as hell, which was usually a turn off for her but right now, it was the opposite. There was just something about his voice that told her this man had every right to be arrogant. He was that...desirable.
She gripped the phone more tightly, needing a few seconds to make sure her voice was not breathless as she said, “Dream on.” It was a lame ass reply, and Velvet knew it. By the way the man chuckled, he seemed to know it, too. And to rub salt into the wound, the sound of his chuckle was also sexy as hell. Damn it.
“While I’d love to keep talking to you more, agape mou, I unfortunately have an urgent business meeting to attend to. May I talk about our little bet?”
“It’s not our little bet.”
But the man only continued to speak as if she hadn’t spoken at all. “While I know your name is Velvet Lambert, I chose not to look you up online. As such, I do not know what you look like. All I know is that men find you...irresistible.”
The way he spoke the last word made it sound like both a promise...and a threat. He would find her irresistible like the other men, but unlike the other men, he would do something about it. Thinking about what that “something” was caused Velvet to scowl. It was that – or shiver, which she would do only when hell froze over.
“And now, let me tell you a little about myself. My name is Mykolas Sallis.”
Mykolas Sallis. Her lips parted, moving to mouth it silently as if his name alone was irresistible. The thought had her shaking her head. What was wrong with her? This man was a stranger, and here she was, mentally sighing his name!
“I gave you my name so that we both know what to call each other. But like me, you shall not look me up.”
“And why wouldn’t I do that?”
“Because that’s the bet, agape mou. The way you have men enslaved intrigues me. I want to see if you can do the same to me even if I have not seen you.” He paused. “And I want to know if I can do the same to you without you seeing me.”
“If I see you—-”
“—-you will want me to fuck you.”
Velvet choked.
Mykolas smiled. “The loser of this bet is the one who asks to see the other first. If I win, I will have the pleasure of making you mine to command in the bedroom.”
“And if I win?” Velvet wanted to smack herself the moment the words came out. Asking means you’re interested, dummy!
“Trust me, agape mou,” Mykolas purred. “This is not something you would not want to win.”
Chapter Two
“Are you done yet?” Mykolas murmured the question two days later over the phone while reading a draft for a shipping contract his secretary had given to him. He was at his Athens office, working overtime, and he couldn’t remember the last time he had enjoyed himself this much. And it was all, surprisingly enough, because of Velvet.
“Nope,” Velvet answered as she tallied the correct answers and wrote the student’s final score on the top margin of the answer sheet. She was alone in her bedroom – and probably also the only one right now inside the dorm. It was a Saturday after all, and most teachers generally took advantage of the weekend to leave the island and have fun elsewhere.
But here she was, happily checking her students’ tests. She had even turned down Mandy’s invitation to go out, and it was all because of him. “What about you?”
“In an hour, I’ll be finished with the draft and have to meet a business associate over dinner.” They had been talking for over an hour now, a record for him. Mykolas kept waiting to be bored but instead, he had only found himself more and more intrigued. Maybe it was because most of the women he had dated were too self-absorbed, and as such almost everything they had to say was about them.
But Velvet was different. Getting her to talk about herself was like pulling a tooth, but by now, he had talked to her long and often enough to figure things out. And so he asked in a deceptively casual voice, “Why did you choose to become a schoolteacher?”
She answered absently, “Because I wanted to give hope...” Velvet caught herself in time and scowled at her phone. “Ha-ha. Very funny.”
“There’s nothing wrong about me getting to know you better,” he responded even as he mulled her words over. Whenever Velvet lost herself in her work, she was prone to slip and reveal things about herself. And so now he knew she wanted to be a teacher because she wanted to give hope. Was this because her parents were the same – or the opposite? It usually was one or the other.
“There’s no need to get to know me better because
we are not meeting, period.”
“You know it’s inevitable that we meet, agape mou. The chemistry between us is too hot and too rare to ignore.”
“You and I,” she said sweetly, “we’re like negative and positive forces. Ne’er shall the two meet.”
“Two words, my soon-to-be-lover: opposites attract.”
Velvet...grinned. She couldn’t help it. Practically every man who had tried to hit on her only had lame comebacks to give whenever she rebuffed them. But Mykolas was...different.
“I can feel you smiling, Velvet. My brain is a turn on, ne? You will find my body even more so, I promise you. And when I fuck you, I will fuck you so good you will wonder why you postponed our meeting for so long.”
“You are so full of it.” She wanted to sound haughty, but all she managed was to sound like she was running out of oxygen. Damn. “From my experience, men who talk big are just that. All talk.”
“How many times must I tell you, lovely Velvet? I am not like most men. I am Mykolas Sallis, and on the first day we fuck, I promise you. You will love my cock.”
Daaaamn. Why was his arrogance such a turn on? “I bet you have a small one.”
“Sometimes, women do wish it’s smaller.”
She rolled her eyes. “You are just really so full of it...”
“It’s true.”
He said it so simply she couldn’t help but challenge him, “How long is it?”
Mykolas shrugged even though Velvet couldn’t see him. “I’ve never tried to measure it.”
An imp inside her made Velvet say naughtily, “Then do it now.”
He snorted.
“No, really. I want to know. Measure it. Now.”
“And what would be my reward if I do?”
She thought about it. “I’ll say something dirty.”
“Done.”
Mykolas had answered so swiftly it made Velvet laugh. She listened to him rummaging, probably going through his drawers.
“I never thought I’d do something like this, agape mou,” Mykolas admitted with a grimace as he finally found a ruler.
She asked curiously, “Would you be able to, umm, measure it if...”
“I don’t have a hard-on?”
Velvet coughed. “Yeah, that.”
He unzipped himself. “Do not worry about that. I’m always hard when talking to you.”
“Mykolas!”
Her embarrassed gasp had him smiling as he took out his cock, but a grimace replaced the smile as he brought the ruler next to it. If anyone found out about this, he would probably kill himself. Only insecure bastards cared to know numbers of this kind.
Unable to stand the suspense since she was genuinely curious, Velvet demanded, “Well?”
“It’s long enough to make any woman delirious.”
“Come on, give me a figure.”
Sighing, he said, “Eleven point five.”
Velvet’s jaw dropped. “What?”
“You heard me,” Mykolas answered patiently as he swiftly disposed of the ruler and put his engorged cock back into his pants.
“Maybe you measured it wrong?”
“Velvet.”
Eleven point five. Surely that was an exaggeration? But...Mykolas didn’t seem to be the type to exaggerate. “I mean, if that’s true, you should have worked as a porn star.”
Something occurred to him at Velvet’s words and he asked, “I know you’re a schoolteacher, but do you have any idea what my job is?”
“It doesn’t matter what your job is.”
Mykolas’ brow lifted at Velvet’s unexpected answer. “Why is that?”
“Because I know you’re a Greek billionaire.”
Mykolas stilled.
Velvet smirked. “Relax. I didn’t check you out online. It’s just that I also know a certain Greek billionaire—-”
Jealousy, an unfamiliar emotion to him but was nonetheless recognizable, flared up inside Mykolas and he asked coolly, “How well do you know him?”
She asked innocently, “Are you jealous?”
He returned silkily, “Would you like me to tell you that I also know a certain schoolteacher...”
Velvet grimaced. “Touché.”
Mykolas’ face softened slightly. He liked how Velvet was easily able to admit she was wrong. “As long as you do not refer to any other man when talking to me, agape mou, we will be fine.”
“He’s not like what you think. You see, my friend is engaged to a Greek billionaire. Maybe you know him. Damen Leventis?”
“I do,” Mykolas said, surprised. “We are not close friends, but we are on good terms and we have done business together in the past. I was under the impression he was engaged to a local girl though. The Kokinos’ only daughter, I believe.”
“Yeah, well, that was true then. But he fell in love with my friend so now they’re the ones engaged. Anyway, I don’t really know him that well, but Mairi never stops talking about him and that’s how I knew you were a Greek billionaire.”
“Are you implying we are similar then?”
Mimicking his quizzical tone, she said, “Begging to differ, Mr. Sallis, but it is my hypothesis that the two of you are of the same specimen as you share one integral characteristic, and that is the fact that you two are the most arrogant men who have ever walked the face of the earth.”
There was a moment of silence before Mykolas burst into laughter. “I think this is the first time I’ve ever dated a woman who knows the word ‘hypothesis’.”
She said sincerely, “That’s really sad.” She thought about it then added, “And we’re not dating.”
“Of course we are, Velvet. We’ve been dating the moment you decided not to put the phone down when I told you about the details of our little bet.”
Velvet’s mouth opened and closed. There was nothing to say, she realized grumpily, because it was damn well true. “Change of subject please.”
Chuckling softly, he took pity on her and changed the subject to something just a little bit less disturbing. “What kind of cock do you like the most, Velvet?”
Velvet groaned. “Are you seriously asking me that?” Her face turned completely red as Mykolas’ question made her wonder what his cock looked like, what type it would be, and how it would feel to have his cock inside her.
A wicked smile curving on his lips at the sound of Velvet’s acute embarrassment, Mykolas slowly leaned back against his chair. “You now know I’m bigger than most men. I want to make sure that you were okay with that.”
Silence.
Mykolas’ smile disappeared. “Velvet?”
She said finally, “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never had sex before.”
Silence.
Velvet blinked. “Mykolas?”
“Tell me you’re fucking joking.”
“I-is it a problem?” Damn, but she hated how her voice shook as she spoke. It was as if she cared too much. If he had a problem with it, then so what? Right? His loss if he didn’t want to do her. Right? And not that she wanted him to do—-oh, God, she was so confused and it was all his fault!
“I’ve never fucked a virgin before.”
“Err...oh?” His voice didn’t give anything away, and she couldn’t be sure if what he said was a good thing or not.
Mykolas closed his eyes. “I can’t believe you’re a virgin.”
“Yeah, well...” Her voice trailed off, her mind drawing a blank as to what she should say.
“Why are you still a virgin?”
She didn’t answer for a long while. But in the end, Velvet was too innately honest to lie, and so she said gruffly, “I’ve never met a man I wanted to have sex with.”
The words had him groaning and his cock hard and throbbing like it would die if it didn’t find its way to Velvet Lambert’s pussy soon.
Velvet’s eyes widened at the groan. That was definitely a sound of pleasure, and that meant he was...aroused.
Mykolas Sallis was aroused.
She had aroused Mykolas Sallis,
and just like that, her breasts started feeling a little heavier, her nipples more sensitive, and her panties becoming slightly damp. She wetted her suddenly dry lips, the silence from the other end of the line torturing her, making her feel restless. “Mykolas?”
“You make me want to touch myself, Velvet.”
Velvet bit her lip hard.
“I haven’t touched myself – haven’t had a need to since I first fucked a girl at thirteen, but I have a feeling,” Mykolas confided tautly, “it’s going to be a daily habit until we meet.”
She asked unsteadily, “Does this mean I’ve won the bet?”
Doing his best to ignore his aching cock, he said flatly, “It means, my beautiful Velvet, when you lose the bet and find your way to my bed, you will have a lot of making up to do.”
Slowly, quietly, Velvet squeezed her legs together. She had never felt like this before, and she just didn’t know what to do.
“Are you alone right now?”
She almost didn’t want to answer the question. She wasn’t stupid. She knew where that question was leading.
“Answer me, Velvet.”
The commanding note in his voice should have made her bristle, but right now, all it did was make her squeeze her legs more closely together as she whispered shakily, “Yes.”
“Lock the door if you haven’t yet and make sure you’ve got your curtains drawn shut or the blinds down. I don’t want anyone seeing you while I make you come.”
“You’re crazy if you think I’m going to do what you say.”
“Yes,” he said thickly. “I’m crazy with desire for you, and so what you’ll do for me is make this ache inside my pants a little more bearable by doing what I say.” In a steely voice, he ordered, “Do it, Velvet. Do it before I decide not to play our little game and just storm into your place and take you and to hell with what everyone says."
She wanted to put the phone down. She wanted to hiss at him that she was not his to be ordered about. She wanted to end this, once and for all, before she did the worst thing possible. But what she wanted was different from what she needed.
