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"This girl is on fi-yah!" Rachel screeches into my ear in her scratchy, ear-splitting voice.

"Rach! Rach!" I yell into the phone, clenching my fist tightly.

She stops her shrilling and mumbles a soft, innocent 'What?'

"Remember when you called me at work and said you had an emergency?" I inquire with a wide smile, faking sweetness in my voice.

"Yeaahh?" She mumbles, drawing out the single word in question.

"You singing Girl On Fire doesn't sound like a freaking emergency!" I grumble into the phone, throwing my hands in the air.

She giggles humorlessly and whispers softly, "Oh. I may have gone a little bit off topic."

"Ya think!" I grumble, rolling my eyes.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me, Missy!" She reprimands and I could feel her narrowing her eyes at me.

I immediately stiffen and whisper in a hushed voice, totally spooked, "How did you know I was rolling my eyes at you?"

"That's not the point." She shrugs it off. "Anyway, where were we?"

"Um... I was working while you were being an off-key Alicia Keys." I murmur dryly and stare casually at my nails.

"Uh no. Before that?" She asks, wondering out loud.

"Um... I dunno. You screeching into my ears kinda brainwashed me." I mumble, rubbing my forehead and wincing in pain.

"Oh hush now! Ooh! I remember!" She says giddily and continues, "So you know how tedious being a housewife is, right? I mean, you have to wake up early, prepare breakfast, bath the kids, look after them, cook lunch and dinner, do the laundry and the dishes, clean the house and other blabbity blah stuff. You know how hard it is, right?" She asks innocently and I could feel her blinking her big brown eyes at me.

"Oo-kay?" I say awkwardly, not knowing how to reply to that.

"So, if I made a teeny-tiny-eenie-weenie mistake, it's not a big deal, right?" She whispers softly with hints of guilt laced in her voice.

"Rach? What did you do?" I ask sternly using my mother-voice, knowing that a mistake made by Rachel Buchanan can never be a fudging teeny-tiny one.

"Um... It wasn't all my fault." She whispers softly.

"Rach?"

"Okay, maybe it was my fault." She whispers again, ignoring me.

I pause, waiting for her to continue.

I hear her sighing out loud as if preparing herself for her next words, before blurting out, "Little Ben said his first word!"

I smile into the phone, picturing the little baby in my mind, "Aw, he did? What was it?"

"Shit!" She curses out loud.

"Rach, I told you not to curse in front of the kids. Now, tell me - what was Benny's first word?" I ask, stretching myself against the back of my chair.

"That's it, Nina! Shit. My son's first word was shit." She whimpers at the back of her throat.

I burst out laughing. "You're kidding, right?"

When she doesn't reply, I immediately lean forward, placing my elbows on my desk and clutch the phone tightly in my hand and mutter into the phone, clenching my eyes shut, "Rach? Please, for the love of God, tell me you're kidding!"

She cries out, "Oh my God! Colt's gonna kill me!"

"Blondie... you're so screwed!" I say softly, shaking my head.

She wails out loud, "I know! I'm a horrible mother!"

"Rach? Sweetie, you're not a horrible mother." I whisper softly in a soothing voice.

"But I am!" I could almost see her nodding vigorously, "Colt told me not to use such words in front of the kids." She chokes out a sob.

"Rach? Honey? Listen to me..."

I feel her shaking her head before crying out, "How could I be so lousy at this? I feel like crap!"

Before I could reply, I hear a faint sound in a background of someone mumbling a soft 'Crap'.

Oh, fudge.

"Rach?" I hear her nod in response. I rub my fingers on my forehead and wince, "Did I just hear little Ben say 'Crap'?"

"Uh uh." She whimpers in response.

Could her day get any worse?

I hear her sobbing, hiccuping and burping altogether. When I finally decide to reply, the words get stuck in my throat when I hear smooching noises coming from the speaker.

"Um. 'Ello? Rach?" I murmur.

No reply.

Huh.

I was just about to end the call when I hear a familiar male voice say, "Hey Nintendo."

"Oh, hey Colt!" I cringe and ask softly, "How is she?"

He chuckles in amusement, his voice turning smug, "I just kissed her, so I guess we have a good two minutes before she starts sobbing again."

I feel a smile twitch at the corner of my lips.

We all knew that whenever Colton kissed Rachel, she would forget everything except the kiss for nearly three minutes and just stay still like a statue reminiscing the kiss, till she came back to her senses.

She used to say that his kisses made her speechless and motionless.

Ah! The power of true love!

"So? You're not angry at her?" I ask softly, testing the waters.

"Honestly... a little." He sighs out loud and continues, "But I knew this was gonna happen the day I asked her to marry me, so it wasn't that of a shock."

I smile at his words and exhale in relief, "You're really okay with this?"

"Yeah, I guess. As long as my kids don't start throwing F-bombs when they're five-years-old, I'm good!" He lets out a chuckle.

I smile back.

"And just so you know, shit isn't Benny's first word!" He quickly informs me, happily.

"Huh?"

"Yeah... just yesterday, he called me out." He gushes out and I could feel his pride pouring from the speakers.

"He said Colt?" I ask in confusion.

"No. He called me how children are supposed to call their fathers."

"So... dad?" I ask hesitantly.

"No."

"Papa?"

"No."

"Pops?"

"No."

"Dada?"

"No."

"Daddy?"

"No."

"Père?"

"My child is not French, Nina. No!"

"So what?"

"It was a derivative of Pop!" He says enthusiastically.

So enthusiastically that it was almost weird. Too weird.

"Coco? What did he really say?" I ask suspiciously, knitting my brows.

He chuckles humorlessly and whispers in a hushed voice, "Promise you won't say this to anyone?"

I let out a shaky breath and murmur, "Yeah, I promise!"

"Yeah... er... his first word was..."

"Was?" I encourage.

"Poop!"

"Huh?" I do a slow blink in confusion.

"His first word was Poop. He called me Poop! Like I said it was a derivative of Pop!" He mutters defensively and huffs out loud.

I blink twice and burst out laughing, "Derivative shmarivative! Are you sure it wasn't a Code Brown situation?"

"No. I checked. Thrice. He called me Poop."

I pause for a beat before clutching my stomach and bursting into giggles.

"Why in the hell did I think you would understand this? Some sister you are..." He tries to sound furious but I could hear the smile in his voice.

I laugh softly but quickly sober up and whisper, "I'm sorry hon... I know it must have been a big moment for you. I'm proud of you, Coco."

"Thanks." I could feel him smiling his big goofy smile. "Well, I gotta go. Rach's gonna start sobbing soon. Have to kiss her again." He mumbles, sounding way too happy and eager to do that.

"Coco?" I whisper softly.

"Yeah?"

"You're a good guy. I'm glad Rach has you."

"Thanks." He whispers happily. "Now stop flirting with me, woman! I have a loving wife!" He grumbles sarcastically.

I chuckle, shaking my head. "And Coco? Keep up the dirty talk... she likes it."

I felt him blush as he grumbles loudly, "Damn it! I have to Google again." He sighs out dramatically, "The things I do for my wife..."

I giggle and murmur, "Bye Colt!"

"See ya!" He bids cheerfully.

I hung up the phone and sigh.

That's when my phone rings again. I immediately pick it up and say my usual, "Asher Reed's office. Nikolina Stark speaking. How may I help you?"

"Would my favourite girl in the whole world like to go out with me for a lunch date today?" A familiar male voice pours into my ear.

I chuckle and reply, "Well, hello to you too, Daddy! I would love to go out with you today, Oh Kind Sir but let me run it with my boss first."

"Sure, Snowbella." He replies in his thick British accent.

I crumple a piece of paper and throw it over Asher's shaggy red hair, a mere twenty feet away from me since we share the same office. He looks up from his desk and raises his eyebrow. "Can I leave early? Before lunch?"

He gives me thumbs up and gets back to work.

I blow him a kiss in gratitude but of course, he doesn't notice, being so into his work.

I immediately roll my eyes at him.

"Don't you roll your eyes at me, Nikolina Snowee Stark!" He looks up and smirks smugly.

How do people do that?

I poke my tongue out at him and pick up the phone, "He said yes!" I murmur cheerfully.

"Well, of course, he would," Dad replies dryly.

"So... where do you wanna go?" I ask happily.

"How about we order takeout? Papa needs some junk food!" He chirps cheerfully.

I could almost see him clapping his hand giddily like a five-year-old who had just been offered a lollipop.

"Mum's not in town, is she?" I ask knowingly and chuckle.

"Yeah, she's in Sydney, doing her fashion show thing-y." He shrugs it off. "Heaven forbid what your mum would do if she found out!"

"Anyhoo, what time, old man?"

"Um... let's see." I hear some papers flipping and shuffling, "I have a meeting with the CoopCorp in an hour. So... why don't you come to my office and after the meeting and we'll go back home together. What say? You in?" Dad murmurs, sounding excited.

"Okay. I'll see in an hour and a half. Bye Daddy!"

"See you, Snowbella."

I hang up the call.

Great, I have an hour to complete the work piled up on my desk.

***

I close the last file and stretch in my seat, relaxing my sore muscles.

Finally! Lunch time.

As if set on alarm, my stomach grumbles.

Hmm... punctual as always, I see.

I quickly pack everything in my purse and untie my long black hair from a ponytail and fluff it, making it look more presentable.

I pile up all my files and head towards Asher's desk and drop them in front of him.

"I'll be leaving now, Mr Reed." I mock-salute him, walking backwards towards the door.

"Where are you going, Nina?" He asks, still not taking his eyes away from the file he was working on.

Just as I was about to roll my eyes at him, he looks up and raises his eyebrow, smirking at me.

Seriously! How do people do that?

That's really spooky!

Asher Walter Reed was my big brother Nathaniel's best friend from high school. When Asher wanted to start his own company, Dad helped him by investing in him.

Hence, when I wanted a low-key job as compared to Dad's billionaire status, Asher offered me one here, which I took willingly and gratefully.

Only problem: Asher took up the role of being my annoying big brother.

I flick my hair back in response and whisper happily, "If you must know, I have a date with this really handsome billionaire."

He looks at me with his jet black eyes twinkling and smirks, "And by any chance this handsome billionaire - your dad?"

I slump my shoulders down, my grin rubbed off and breathe out, "Yeah. It's him."

What a sad life I must lead?

He shakes his head at me and murmurs softly, looking up at me with his big, rounded eyes, "When are you gonna start dating again, Nikolina?"

I scowl at him.

Everyone knows I hate being called by my full name.

Is it that hard to remember?

It's Nina, people!

"You know I don't date, Ash!" I state, shrugging dismissively.

"Why not? It's been eight years since you've even been on a real date!" He throws his hands in the air in an exasperated gesture.

Don't you think I know that, Ash?

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." I huff, crossing my hands over my chest.

"So this is it then," he says, waving his hands around. "You're not gonna date anyone your whole life?" He raises his eyebrow in question.

I smile sadly at him and whisper, "That's exactly it, Ash."

He looks at me and lets out a frustrated sigh and asks, "But why?"

Why?

Wish I could tell you... but I can't.

I just shake my head at him, not replying anything.

"Fine! Don't tell me." He pouts prettily, puffing out his cheeks.

I fight the urge to say 'Aw' and pinch those chubby cheeks.

"Have fun with your dad."

"Oh! I will, Ash-hole." I reply, grinning evilly.

"Oh come on! It's not funny! Stop calling me that!" He whines out loud.

I look up at him, blinking innocently and say, "Do you think I'll ever stop calling my friend by his embarrassing college nickname that he really wants to forget? What kind of a friend do you think I am?"

At his groan, I blow him a kiss and wave, "Nina out!"

***

Reaching the entrance of the tall skyscraper with a big sign 'S Enterprises' written over it, which stood for Stark Enterprises, I walk in through the glass doors, smiling at my reflection.

I quickly straighten out my royal blue pencil skirt that matched my eyes and my sleeveless black top, brushing the creases. My black pumps make a clicking sound as I walk over the shiny white tiles, following the familiar route.

I make my way straight towards the elevator and press the button indicating seventy-second floor, once I was inside the colossal metal box.

The door opens up to the mentioned floor and I walk straight towards the receptionist and greet, "'Sup, Charlie!"

The timid, shy twenty-year old guy behind the desk interning at Dad's office smiles shyly, brushing his overgrown messy brown hair out of his forehead and looks down, mumbling, "Mr Stark is in his office. You can go in." His soft voice overflowing with shyness.

For the whole six months I've known him, I never saw him look anyone eye to eye while talking. His head was always bowed down.

"Mmh. How are you, Charlie?" I ask softly, tilting my head at him, leaning my elbow on his desk.

He looks up at me and blinks his big golden-brown eyes twice and then looks down and murmurs shyly, "I'm... I'm fine, Miss Stark."

"Oo-kay." I murmur to myself and move around his desk, walking away whilst yelling out, "Thanks, Charlie!"

I could hear his soft voice reply back, "You're welcome."

I walk through the hallway, past the conference room towards Dad's office and just as I was about to turn the knob of the huge mahogany door, the double door opens and I come face to face with Daddy Dearest.

Before I know what's happening, I let out a girlish squeak as Dad pulls me into him in a bone crushing hug and lifts me up, twirling me around.

"Can't. Breathe." I grunt out, trying to pull away from him.

Finally, after what feels like an eternity, he places me down onto my feet. I immediately take a deep breath and breathe out, panting, "Good to see you too, Daddy!"

I then notice Dad had reversed our position and I was inside his office facing the door while he was out, in my previous position.

The corners of his eyes crinkles and he smiles warmly, "I missed you, Snowbella."

"Don't you try going all mushy on me, big guy!" I threaten playfully, narrowing eyes at him.

He lets out a belly laugh and hugs me again, less life-threatening than before and I melt into his fatherly embrace.

He pulls back and smiles down at me.

I smile back but quickly narrow my eyes at him and start my routine questions, holding both of his cheeks in my hands, tilting his face side to side, "How are you? Are you eating healthy? When was your last doctor's appointment? What did he say? Did you take your medicines? Have you had proper breakfast? Did you have a proper sugar intake? Have you-"

I get cut off when he removes my hands off his cheeks and I see him blushing slightly. He clears his throat and says, "Oh my God! Can you just be cool?" Imitating Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother.

That's when I realise, we weren't alone in his office. Dad turns me around with his hand over my back and whispers, "We're not alone, sweetie!"

A gasp escapes me when I notice two familiar faces looking back at me.

Dad proceeds to introduce them, oblivious to my gasp, "Snow, this is Mr Lucien and Mr Levi Cooper, the joint CEO's of CoopCorp."

Levi looks at me and smiles warmly, covered in a two piece dark grey suit and a goofy expression. I smile back at him before turning my gaze towards Lucien.

Holy shit, did he look sexy!

Then again, when doesn't he look sexy?

A fine two piece black suit with a white shirt underneath that traced his muscles beneath and a skinny black tie paired with a big black watch on his wrist.

His dark blond hair was messy as usual. His clothes covered all his tattoos, making my heart twitch, feeling a pang of disappointment.

I fight an urge to pout at him.

He stares back at me, his green eyes registering surprise, but then he looks over me, noticing Dad's hand on my back and his jaw clenches, his expression hardening.

What's up with that?

"Mr Stark!" I see Charlie behind Dad, seeking his attention.

Dad turns towards him and raises his eyebrow to which Charlie immediately asks, "Would you come with me for a minute?"

Dad nods and turns towards me with his eyes apologetic. I shrug and give him a smile and say, "Go on! Do your thang!"

He smiles back and kisses my cheek. My eyes find Lucien to see him looking at us sharply as his fist clenches and he immediately looks away.

I frown at his reaction just as Dad takes off and shuts the door behind him, leaving me alone with them.

I take a deep breath and turn around to see Levi and Lucien whispering among themselves. Lucien was still looking livid and infuriated while Levi seems like he's trying to console his brother.

As soon as they notice I'm looking at them, they pull away from their small huddle and sit back casually; stretching themselves against the back of their chairs.

Levi smiles at me apologetically while Lucien doesn't even meet my eyes, fixing his gaze at some random books that were piled up on my father's desk.

What's going on with these two?

I move around the huge desk and gently perch my bottom on the chair behind it and shift comfortably, facing the brothers.

"Hey," I whisper softly, smiling at them.

Levi smiles back and replies, "Hey." While Lucien still doesn't meet my eyes but gives me a curt nod, his jaw clenching even further as he does so.

Jeez, who pissed in his coffee?

"Um... what are you doing here?" Levi asks me curiously, blinking his brown eyes at me.

I immediately turn my attention to him and answer cheerfully, "Oh! I have a lunch date with Daddy!"

Levi cringes instantaneously and turns to face Lucien who quickly curls his fingers over the hands of the chair, clutching it tightly just as the muscle in his jaw ticks at my declaration, his expression seemingly getting angrier by the second.

Huh?

"I see." Levi murmurs awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck while Lucien grits out, "No surprise there."

Wait. What?

"Excuse me?" I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

He finally turns his fuming green eyes to me and grunts, "I said, 'No surprise there!'"

I look at him confused and ask hesitantly, "What's that supposed to mean?"

He just rolls his eyes and looks away in irritation.

Oh, he didn't just do that!

"Answer my question, Mr Cooper!" I snap at him, narrowing my eyes.

He raises his eyes back to mine and shoots me a sinister smirk, "Do you know Mr Stark is married and has three children close to your age?"

Uh... what now?

"What?" I give him an utterly confused look, knitting my eyebrows together.

Levi immediately nudges Lucien's arm and shoots him a 'Shut up, dude!'  look with his eyes, which the latter man promptly ignores.

"Why are you tryin' to destroy a perfectly happy family? Just so you can earn some money or build a reputation as a billionaire's mistress? Do you realise Mr Stark is nearly thirty years older than you? Couldn't you have at least chosen a different sugar-daddy who didn't already have a family? Are you really that cheap a gold digger that you don't fuckin' care how many people you hurt in the process of whoring your way around?" Lucien snaps angrily as if finally saying everything in his mind.

Finally, he stops and breathes hard, staring up at me and I swear I see hurt in those eyes before it turns blank and cold again.

I sit back and take a breath, furrowing my brows, "So, you think I'm ruining the Stark family, Mr Stark is my sugar-daddy and I'm with him because I'm a gold digger." I murmur to myself, trying to understand him.

That's when my eyes widen as the realisation hits me and I gasp out and whisper hoarsely, "You think I'm basically a slut who's sleeping with Mr Stark just because he's loaded?"

He remains silent and I get my answer.

I fight the urge punch his stupid face and sit back against my chair fuming to myself and feel my eyes moisten at the knowledge of the fact that first stranger that I had come to care about in six years thought I was nothing more than a money-digging whore. Yay fucking me!

"Excuse me. Sorry, it took so long!" Dad murmurs courteously, entering the room and shutting the door just as I notice Lucien stiffening in his position and shifting uncomfortably.

I smirk at his obvious discomfort and turn to greet Dad, "Hi Daddy!" I whisper sweetly, putting extra emphasis on the word Daddy, seeing Lucien's jaw clench further.

"Hey, sweetie!" Dad replies, smiling back at me and sits down the chair from which I had just gotten up from and swiftly makes himself comfortable.

"I'm sorry for being late. There were some issues with the employees." Dad says, smiling at them. "So... where were we?" Dad cocks his head to the side and looking back and forth between Lucien and me; trying to figure out what's going on between us.

I look at Dad and blink innocently at him, "Weren't you gonna introduce us?"

"Oh yes!" Dad straightens up and introduces proudly, "Mr Cooper and Mr Cooper, this is my eldest daughter Nikolina." He says, smiling at me fondly, "My little baby girl."

I hear Lucien inhale sharply, while Levi just cringes and I almost felt his urge to face-palm himself.

Before they could say anything else, I fix my gaze at Dad and quickly whisper, "I'll be waiting for you outside. See ya, Dad."

I quickly make my exit, completely avoiding looking at Lucien and succeeding profoundly at the task.

Once the doors shut behind me, I walk straight towards Charlie; wanting to have a small talk with him, trying to get Lucien out of my mind.

"Hey, Charlie!"

He turns his eyes to me before looking down and inquiring shyly, "Hello, Miss Stark. Do you need something?"

I shake my head in response. "Naw, just needed to talk to you. I'm bored."

He blinks twice and confirms, "You wanna talk to me?" He says, pointing to himself in confusion.

"Is it that hard to believe?" I ask softly, tilting my head.

"I'm really boring, Miss. I'm a shy nerd. I don't really have any people skill." He says, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly and staring at his shoes.

On an instinct, I reach my hands forward and pinch his cheeks and shoot him a big goofy smile, "See! Now you're a cute nerd!"

He smiles back at me, blushing furiously.

The thing with Lucien was far away from my mind until I feel the heat of his presence behind me. I ignore said presence and continue looking at Charlie.

Charlie smiles awkwardly, immediately noticing the tension between us.

"Anyway, I hear there's a new intern who started working here last week? Um... Rebecca something?" I ask vaguely, trying to remember her name.

"Rebecca Seraphina Winters!" Charlie blurts out, before looking at me wide-eyed as if he's caught red-handed and blushes hard.

I chuckle and smile at him knowingly and snicker, "Mmh... Rebecca Seraphina Winters huh? You like her?"

He nods, then shakes his head then shrugs, shyly.

Aw.

His eyes notice something on my right and he straightens up immediately. I turn my head in that direction to see a petite curvy redhead passing by, looking at Charlie and waving at him, blushing slightly as Charlie waves back.

"She's cute." I murmur, getting Charlie's attention back. "She likes you too. Keep doing what you're doing."

And just because Lucien was behind me, I add harshly, "Just don't call her a gold-digging whore who's sleeping with an older man for money."

I hear Lucien inhale loudly behind me before he slams his hand over Charlie's desk making a thud sound and grunts, looking at me, "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

I shrug.

"Privately?" He says, looking at Charlie apprehensively.

I huff and roll my eyes, "Fine!"

I wave my hands at Charlie and walk away from him, "You coming?" I look back at Lucien and raise my eyebrow.

He nods and follows my lead. I walk straight to the door at the corner of the floor and open it and walk into the balcony overlooking the streets below.

I feel Lucien enter and close the door behind him. I stiffen in anticipation and turn to look at him.

He sighs out long and rubs his face with his hands before looking at me.

"I apologise."

I cross my hands over my chest and snap, "Well, you should!"

He sighs, wincing and speaks, "Look, I've never been rejected before. And yesterday, when you turned me down, I couldn't think of any reason why you would do that-"

"Seriously!? That's your excuse?" I interrupt him.

He gives me a look and continues, "So today, when I saw you huggin' and kissin' Mr Stark's cheek, carin' about him... the only reason I could come up about why you rejected me was that you only date sugar daddies - old men with money and the fact that you didn't know who I was."

He sighs out and continues, "I was attracted to you from the first time I saw you... and seein' you with another man, just after you rejected me; I just snapped. I didn't even consider the possibility that he was your father. All I could see was you smilin' and carin' about another man, when it should have been me."

He runs his fingers through his thick hair, "I always see the worst in people and maybe I should have realised that you weren't just anybody. You're different. You're my sweetness." He stops, looking at me with his eyes pleading.

"Oh." I breathe out.

The corners of his eyes crinkles and his lips twitches, "Oh? I gave you a fuckin' five-minute lecture and all you say is oh?"

I pout, pulling out my cheeks and grumble, looking at him just like yesterday, "Again! I don't face situations like this every day, where a man ends his five-minute lecture by saying - you're my sweetness!"

His expression finally relaxes as he chuckles softly.

"Anyway, I accept your apology, but to make sure you don't repeat this mistake again - I need you to buy me a cake; a chocolate cake. No! A chocolate cheesecake. No, maybe just chocolate cake! Shoot, I can't decide!" I grumble to myself, wondering out loud.

Chocolate cake or chocolate cheese-

My thoughts get interrupted when Lucien suddenly pulls me against his warm, muscled body into a hard hug. He buries his face in my neck, inhaling deeply as his hands go around my waist.

I wave my outstretched arms around him awkwardly. "Um... Lucien?"

His hands around my waist tighten and he murmurs softly as if talking to himself, "Knew you'd be special."

I do a slow blink. "Um... thank you?"

He chuckles softly making his hot breath blow against my neck as I shiver inwardly. "Fuck! You smell so fuckin' good!" He sniffs my neck in one long inhale and whispers huskily, "Like green apples."

I bite my lip and shrug, "Um... yeah. It's my body wash."

"Mmh." He makes an approved sound and rasps out, "Can't wait to find out what you'll fuckin' taste like."

I gasp out loud and pull away from his hold, my cheeks turning red.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" He asks, smirking arrogantly at my flushed cheeks.

I blurt out the first thing on my mind, "You curse like a sailor!"

The corners of his lips twitch, "No, sweetheart. I curse like a fuckin' sailor." He teases, putting emphasis on the word fucking.

I narrow my eyes at him and mumble dryly, "Ha ha. You're so funny. Stop it! My stomach's aching from laughing so hard." I roll my eyes at him and shoot him a deadpanned look.

His lips immediately curves into a smirk at my response and he takes a step closer to me with a predatory glint in his eyes, making me walk backwards till my back comes in contact with the cold wall behind me and Lucien takes my distraction as an advantage to pin me against it with his hands tightly clutching my waist.

I look at him, wide-eyed and alarmed as he leans down and nuzzles my neck, making me tilt my head to the side, unconsciously giving him better access to my skin while his hand on my waist gently trails downwards to cup my butt cheek in his hand, squeezing it hard into his rough palm.

My lips immediately part to verbalise my protestations when I suddenly gasp out loud as he gently bites down on the soft flesh of my earlobe; effectively hindering my speech.

Lucien gently flicks his warm tongue over the bite; taking my earlobe between his lips and rolling his tongue over it again, eliciting a moan from me before pulling away and whispering in my ear; his voice deep with arousal, "I love your ass very much, sweetheart and I would love it, even more, to see it red and glowin' under my palm. So baby, try not to roll your eyes in front of me and make me wanna spank you. 'Cause, I would fuckin' love to do that. You hear?"

I let out a loud gasp and turn to look at him, feeling my cheeks redden and my eyes dilate with arousal at his husky words.

Geez! When was the last time a hot, sexy guy talked to me like this?

"Um... try never!" My subconscious snorts.

Hmph... true that.

He pulls away slowly and tenderly runs his knuckles down my pink cheek, caressing it softly. "I'm sorry for calling you a slut."

I frown at his words and grumble defensively, "Don't be like that! Sluts are human too. So what if they like sleeping with someone. That doesn't make them any less of a human. Um, where's the whole freedom of equality, huh? I think-" I stop when I see him looking at me with darkened, heated eyes filled with raw hunger.

"What?" I whisper softly, feeling self-conscious under his intense stare.

"Has anyone told you that you look really fuckin' sexy when you get all riled up?" He asks huskily, looking straight into my eyes.

Okay, seriously! Can he do anything that does not come off as sexy?

"I'm still not going out with you!" I blurt out randomly.

He just curves his lips into a cocky smirk in response, "I didn't ask, sweetness. But the next time that I do ask; you'll say yes."

"That's never gonna happen." I cross my arm over my chest defensively.

He chuckles softly and stares at me with his eyes shining with possessiveness, "I wouldn't be so sure of that, sweetheart."

I squirm against his hold and whisper defiantly, raising my chin, "It won't be that easy. I've vowed to myself never to date anyone. I'll guess it means that I'll just have to keep resisting you."

He smirks and leans his face closer to mine; brushing his nose against mine lazily and whispers, "Just try and resist me, sweetheart."

I narrow my eyes and move around him and start walking away, when he suddenly pulls me back against his hard chest, while two large hands make their way around my waist holding me snug against him.

I let out an involuntary gasp as my lips part and look up to see darkened green eyes twinkling down at me.

He tucks a piece of my hair behind my ear gently and leans his lips closer; brushing it against the shell of my ear, "So... name's Nikolina, huh?" He growls out my name huskily.

I let out a shaky breath and feel my breath hitch; goosebumps rising on my skin and feel my fingers curl over the back of his suit, clutching the fabric in my palms tightly.

"I like it..." He whispers huskily, nuzzling his nose against my ear before kissing my earlobe softly, his hand tightening around my waist as I let out a mewl.

"A lot." He breathes out, blowing his hot breath against my ear as he exhales slowly.

My eyes immediately roll shut, savouring the feel of his large, muscular body surrounding me into an embrace.

He slowly pulls back and winks at my dazed look before swiftly walking away.

How can he walk away just fine; leaving me all hot and bothered?

Ugh! Nina! Get your priorities straight!

I shake off all the X-rated thoughts out of my mind and walk out of the balcony.

"Sweetheart?" I hear Dad call out. I look at him to see him in the elevator holding the doors out for me.

Shit! "I'm coming!" I yell out and run towards him.

Just to my luck, the only two people inside the elevator with him were Levi and ugh... Lucien.

The man in question having a knowing grin on his face and seeing the blush on my cheeks, his grin widens and he winks at me subtly.

I roll my eyes at him and mentally scowl, blaming myself for having a moment of weakness with him. It won't happen again. I remind myself.

"So... where are you guys going?" Levi asks smiling at my father who smiles back in response.

"Back home. We have a lunch date today."

I look up at Dad to see a look passing through his warm, blue eyes. Fuck, I know that look! I know that look too well!

Oh no no!

Dad! Don't say it...

Please no!

Dad turns to the Cooper brothers and studies them for a bit before his lips curve into a big, bright smile as he beams up at them.

Holy shit! He's gonna say it.

Dad shoots them an inviting look and asks warmly, rubbing his hands together in excitement, "So Lucien, Levi... fancy joining me and my daughter for lunch?"

And... he said it. Fuck.

I glance a peek at Lucien from under my eyelashes to see him smirking at me knowingly; before licking his lips in a slow, seductive gesture and shooting me a heated, carnal look.

Oh God, I'm so screwed.

And for the first time in my whole life. My subconscious agrees.

Oh, Daddy! What have you done?

***