Below the Peak (Sola)(18)

“Don’t be shy” Nadine coaxed. She wanted to get rid of him. She would do this quick and send him on his merry way. She wasn’t going to spend more time with him to earn more. She could smell trouble from him. She didn’t want a clingy customer on her back.

“How are you?” Nikolas asked abruptly. Nadine stilled for a second, the genuine concern in his voice unnerving her. Many people have asked her the same question but never really desired to know how she felt. Not that Nadine did want to share how she actually felt. She kept her walls up, safe not be deceived by all the lies men proclaimed in the throes of sex. These were men who avoided her in the street during the day and hid under the skirts of their wives, denying they have never met her but never failed to proclaim their adulation of her when they fucked her.

“Very fine” Nadine converted the innocent words into something more. At the spoken words, Nikolas' eyes drifted over her body. He couldn’t hide the lust dilating his pupils. The satin nightgown covering her body did nothing to hide her perky nipples, the soft skin of her bared legs. It drove him mad with desire. The corner of her lips curled cynically, and something glinted within her intense gaze before it retreated within the fathomless eyes. Nikolas felt like he has just been judged and the ruling wasn’t in his favour. In fact, he felt in his bones that she had just condemned him with the worst of sinners. He blinked, the lust fogging his mind dissipating as the feeling of wrongness accused him.

“How is your mother?” he asked eagerly, wanting to show her he was genuinely concerned about her and save the terrible impression he had just given her. He wasn’t a dirty man who would just ask her how she felt so he would just get something from her. He wasn’t the type. No matter how hard it was to concentrate on her with all the vulgar images drawing themselves in his mind whenever his gaze latched to any part of her body.

Nadine inhaled hard, hands fisting. She pulled back from him, her shoulders going rigid. “How do you know of her?” her voice was hard, gone was the softness in it that he liked.

Nikolas looked at her in confusion.

“How do you know her?” Nadine repeated.

“Ummm… I overheard someone talking about you living with your mother” Nikolas lied. What’s so wrong with asking for her mother? He remembered Gittan telling him of that bit of information. Seeing the way, she turned cold, he wasn’t going to blurt to her that another man who had come for her service had told him. She would be humiliated to hear that other people share stories of what she did to them, even for a prostitute, Nikolas didn’t think it would be pleasing. He would be disgusted if it were him. He would be disgusted not only by the men but toward himself more. He watched her wry when she remained silent. Slowly she wrapped her hands around herself, like fragile glass falling and shatter, the coldness slipped from her features. The woman that stared back at him was a vulnerable little girl. A tear fell from the green well of her eye. She whispered. “My mother is dead.”

Air left his lungs.

“She is dead. She died two days ago,” she said a little louder with another tear falling. Pain, sadness, and anger collided inside her hunched body. He watched in horror when she began to sob.

Gods, what have I done? Nikolas wanted to smash his head on the wall.

“I’m so sorry…very sorry” he apologised, hands going up but posing midway not knowing whether to hold her not. He closed his fingers. “I’m so sorry I didn’t know…please forgive me” he kept apologising. “I’ll just leave…” he began to say. It was best if he disappeared. He had just caused her terrible pain by inconsiderably bringing her mother up.

“No, sit down” she croaked, holding one finger up. Nikolas would do anything she wanted. Nikolas sat back hurriedly and kept his mouth shut. He kicked himself over and over in his head as the room remained silent except for Nadine’s sobs. He held his breath when the sobbing quieted, and she lifted her fingers to her face and wiped the tears there. When she looked at him, it was if she hadn’t been crying nor had she just confessed that her mother passed away. There, the enchanting woman reached across to him, drawing near that they were just inches apart.

He startled, taken aback from the sudden twist of behaviour. Nadine leant forward purposefully, sharing the warm breath with him. She hardened everything inside, locked tight with all her might. Nadine refused to mourn for her. She was going to keep the promise her mother made her vow. “That wasn’t very good of me. Let me make it up to you” she dropped her voice to a breathless whisper. Biting and sucking her bottom lip purposeful, and placed a hand on his thigh. Nikolas sucked in hard, bees swarmed in his stomach, heat seared him, rushing and pumping in his veins to his groin. His eyes glazed from watching her tease the succulent bottom lip. He wanted to do it for her…Bite it. Every instinct propelled him to take up on what she was offering. He tilted his head down, his nose skimming hers. He grunted when he felt her fingers climbing up his thigh slowly. Arm rising, he cupped her jaw tilting it up. He peered into her eyes. Her hands now which were at his waist clasped the tunic he wore and trembled. Nikolas dropped the hand holding her cheek.

He swallowed. “I cannot do this.” Her lovely eyes grew widened slightly.

“Yes, you can” she murmured seductively, still holding him.

He shook his head. “No, it isn’t right. You are grieving, and I won’t take advantage of you.”