11. Oli

11

OLI

I'm so mad that I'm shaking.

I know that Adonis - Nikos - doesn't know me, but what kind of utter asshole does he think I am, that I need to be paid off to keep a secret that any decent person would know needed keeping?

What an arrogant fucking prick.

I haven't been able to concentrate from the moment we heard from the movie's PR team that they wanted Nikos Ridge to come film social media with some of our books, maybe doing a cute Q&A with the author. I ordinarily would have an entire schedule plotted out, down to the minute, to maximize the time we got with the star. If this were a normal day, a normal job, I'd have researched the hottest trends of the week and made sure to plot out reels and TikTok videos that matched.

I've done none of those things, worrying over meeting Adonis and ensuring that I don't accidentally spill his secret. I've literally bitten my nails down to the quick, which drives me even more wild. I'm chewing so much gum to try to avoid further nail biting that I'm surprised my jaw hasn't fallen off, and my fingers are twitching for a cigarette.

Except now all of that has been redirected from anxiety to full-on rage.

I stalk through the maze of desks to room A10, one of the small studios that's equipped with camera equipment, good lighting, and soundproofing tiles on all the walls. I assume Adonis - fuck me, Nikos - is following me, but I don't care to look over my shoulder to check. If I look that man in the eye at the moment, I'm liable to slap him across the face. I don't know what I did to give him the impression that I was a total piece of shit.

I yank the door to A10 open so hard that the handle flies out of my hand and whacks the wall. I get myself inside and pull more gum out of my pocket to stuff in my mouth. Maybe it will help me not say something that's going to get me fired.

Nikos walks in a second later looking like a dog left out in the rain, all puppy-dog eyes and pleading looks. His lips are slightly swollen from our kiss.

‘Shut the door,' I snap, hanging onto the threads of my anger. Just because he's hot, doesn't mean he gets a pass on being rude as fuck. I'd done that with Geoff, made myself small because it was easier than standing up for myself, and now I'm just seriously not in the mood for any more of that type of behaviour from men who think they're rich and handsome enough to look down on other people.

‘Honey - ' he starts, but I cut him off with an upraised hand.

‘We're here to work,' I remind him. ‘Sit.'

I point to the stool sitting in the middle of the room. Nikos obeys, shrugging off the blazer he's wearing to reveal the soft grey t-shirt he has on underneath. His jeans bunch up around his still-obvious hard-on when he sits down, one foot propped up on the stool's crossbar.

‘I didn't mean - ' he tries again, but I ah ah ah him until he shuts up again.

‘We. Are here. To work.' I hiss. I head over to the camera and power it on. It would be easier if I could use my phone, but then again, privacy concerns.

I almost laugh.

I get the lights on, making sure that he's well-lit, and then scroll through my mental list of video ideas, searching for the most humiliating ones. There's a copy of An Age of Dragons sitting next to me, and I toss it at him. He catches it with totally infuriating grace.

‘Read the fifth paragraph on the second page of chapter 51,' I order. It's a particularly filthy sex scene, in which Armin and Gwen do it in the mud. Not precisely the kind of mud wrap that I'd appreciate getting in a spa, and it's the only part of the book that fans mocked online.

‘Oh?' His eyebrows shoot up to his forehead and I can tell right away that he knows exactly which scene I'm referring to, which infuriates me even more.

Of course he'd be the kind of person to actually read the fucking book.

‘Yes,' I say flatly. ‘Go on. We have a whole list to get through.'

It's a lie, and I think from the tilt of his head that he knows it. But he just purses his lips and cracks open the book, flipping to the right page. I count him down and he starts to read, and I thought this would be humiliating but of course he makes using mud as lube sound hot instead of incredibly disgusting and UTI-inducing.

Listening to his rich, deep voice reading about things so much like what we did that night in my bed makes my head spin. I'm mad at him because he was a dick in making assumptions about me extorting him for money, and I'm mad at him that he didn't trust that the night meant something to me like it did to him.

I wouldn't keep the post-it note of a man I was planning to betray to the media for money.

But I'm watching him do this, and when he gets to the end of the passage and gives me a few seconds of smiling silence to edit in an ending, he slumps down. He literally, physically gets smaller. The transformation is incredible, and excruciatingly sad. Because I can tell that he just put on a mask for the camera, and now that he's not being filmed it's been taken off.

Adonis - Nikos Ridge - is showing me his exhaustion, and his anxiety, and I don't see how I didn't realise before that those were the emotions written all over his face.

My anger starts to ebb away, and I'm powerless to keep a hold of it.

‘I'm not going to sell you out to the media, and I don't need to be paid money to do so,' I say quietly. I can't meet his eyes. ‘I was offended because you implied I wasn't trustworthy, that you thought I needed to be paid off to do the decent thing. I don't. But I can see why you might think that.'

Because maybe a man who wore a mask did so because he'd learned the hard way that it was necessary.

He clears his throat. ‘I'm sorry, Honey. Oli. I didn't mean to. Look, I'm in town for a little while. I want to make it up to you.'

The sound of my name on his lips sends a jolt of arousal through me. I lick my lips ‘And how are you going to make it up to me?'

‘It depends,' he replies, his eyes searching my face. ‘I can wine and dine you. I can take you shopping. We can spend all night with take-out and Netflix. I can make it up to you in other ways.'

He drops his gaze down to my belt at that last suggestion, and the final scrap of my resistance is gone.

‘Well,' I say, my voice husky. ‘I can think of some other video ideas that we can practice sans camera if we go back to my place. Special things, for your biggest fan.'

‘Oh?' The hope that crosses his face is almost unbearable. ‘And who would that be?'

I take one step towards him, then another, until I'm standing between his legs, our eyes level as he's sitting down. He puts his broad, warm hands on my hips as I rest mine on his insanely muscular thighs.

‘Me,' I say. And then I lean in and kiss him.

It takes a Herculean amount of effort to make it through the rest of the day. The filmed Q&A with the author goes off without a hitch, and she's even confident enough that we do an impromptu Instagram live with the two of them together. I'm so proud of her and how far she's come with her ability to manage PR and public speaking that I feel like I'm going to burst. I give her a long, tight hug before sending her off. I catch Nikos smiling at me from the corner of my eye, and it's all I can do to not react in turn.

Even if we're going to end up at my flat together again, I need to make sure that no one realises there's more to the two of us than a publicity manager and an actor. I don't like being made to feel as though I'm - as he put it - a dirty little secret, but right now what's between us is different than that.

It feels like being trusted. It feels like helping someone else feel safe. It feels like something private that's just for the two of us and no one else. An extension of that special bubble we were in after the premier, when we were just Honey and Adonis.

I'm alright keeping that feeling going for just a little bit longer.

Because I'm going to take what I'm being given, I think to myself as I turn off my computer and wave goodbye to Megan. Nikos left an hour ago and said he was going back to the hotel to freshen up, and then would have his driver wait outside my flat. The anticipation builds as I dash down the stairs of the tube and shove myself onto the train just as the doors slide closed.

I really don't want to keep waiting.

True to his word, there's a big black SUV waiting in front of my building. I head up the steps to the front door, and I feel Nikos join me. I don't look back, just soak up the heat of his body. But when I reach into my bag for my keys, my fingers just brush empty air.

‘Fuck,' I curse. I turn to him, because I have no choice. I'm looking around like there are paparazzi everywhere, but my street is nearly empty. ‘I must have dropped my keys somewhere in the office. They're not here. I'll have to call a locksmith.'

I had spare keys, but they're with Geoff. My mother has another set, but she lives an hour away, and I'm not going to ask her to make that drive so I can fuck a movie star. I'm not that depraved.

‘It's ok.' Nikos reaches out and brushes the backs of his fingers against my arm. His eyes are fixed on me, two pools of molten desire. ‘I can still make it up to you. What do you say we go out for a bit and then head back to my hotel?'

My keys are probably at the office. I'll have to search for them, but I can do that later tonight after I'm done with Nikos - or, more accurately, when he's done with me.

‘Alright,' I breathe, and let him usher me into his car.

‘I'm ready to grovel,' he pronounces, and I flush with heat. ‘However you like best. I say we start with Burberry and work our way to Chanel.'

I go a bit breathless as he leans across the arm rest to nip at my ear.

‘Ok,' I say, and he leans forward to give the driver directions. ‘Do your worst.'

‘Oh,' he growls. ‘By the end of the night, I assure you, I'll be forgiven. Even if I have to spend the whole night on my knees to get there.'

And that's when I realise there's no way I could ever stay mad at this man. I'm well and truly fucked.