Page 22 of Darkest Desire

The plane finally begins to move.

“Enough talk about my family for today,” he says in a gruff voice, motioning for the flight attendant. “Bring me a scotch.”

She nods and walks down the aisle, coming back a moment later with his drink. Nico and I stare each other down the entire time, as if we’re challenging the other one to say something.

Once Nico has his drink, he takes a large gulp of it. I’m shocked. I always thought drinks like that were supposed to be savored.

“Mommy issues?” I ask.

He sets the drink down, clenching his hand around it. “She has dementia. It’s for her own good.”

A sudden flash of guilt hits me. I wanted to mock Nico for his mommy issues but I can’t. Not when his mom has dementia. I may hate Nico but I’m not tacky. I’m not going to take any cheap shots.

“I’m sorry,” I force myself to say. “I didn’t know.”

“How could you? No one else knows.”

“Yet, you told me.”

He shrugs as he takes a smaller sip of his drink. “You’re my wife. Might as well tell you. There shouldn’t be any secrets between us. So tell me, Sasha, are you keeping any secrets from me?”

Other than I think you’re contemptable and I hate you and yet I also find you disarmingly handsome?

“No secrets,” I say with a smile. “I’ve lived a sheltered life. I don’t have any skeletons in my closet.”

“Everyone has skeletons in their closet. I’ll just have to take my time finding yours. Did you ever sneak out when you were younger? Fuck a man you weren’t supposed to?”

I flush as my eyes land on his drink. Maybe I need one of my own to survive this flight. “My father never wanted me to date.”

“That wasn’t an answer.”

“I’m not going to tell you.” Let him think I’ve been with multiple men. If he finds out I’m a virgin, he’s just going to use it against me. It’s another way of power over me.

“So I’ll take that as a yes. I can assure you, Sasha, that I’ll be much better to you in bed than any other man could ever be. Or any of the men who didn’t show you the pleasure you deserve.”

“Who says they didn’t? I had a boyfriend who was great at giving me orgasms.”

His hand tightens on his glass. “What’s his name?”

“Jake. All American. We met at school. Would sneak around behind the bleachers. The best I’ve ever had.” It’s almost scary to me how easy it is to lie to him. But then again, Nico is not a man deserving of the truth.

“So you’ve had multiple boyfriends, is that it? Multiple lovers?”

I wrinkle my nose. “Don’t call them lovers.”

“Why not? Was that not what they were?”

“Uh… sure. But just say boyfriends.”

“I’m curious, for a girl who was never allowed to date, how did you manage to have so many boyfriends? How many was it?”

“Three.” It’s a low enough number to be believable but a high enough number to piss him off. Let him think he doesn’t get any of my firsts.

“Yes. Three. I always heard that Lev was strict about his daughters dating.”

“He was. But I had enough freedom to get away with it.” Another lie. I always had a guard on me. At school, at the mall, at home. My dad never meant it to be a prison. He meant it to keep me safe.

“Interesting. Well, I’ll just have to show you what a real man can do in bed. Those boys you dated didn’t know what they were doing, I’m sure.”