He had asked Schuyler to spend the rest of the day with him but hadn’t been surprised to have her reject it with some obviously made-up excuse about work. He could’ve tried changing her mind and he knew he would’ve succeeded if he had. No matter how hard she tried to hide it, she wanted him as much as he wanted her, and he had more than enough experience to use such knowledge to his advantage.
But he had not. Something was still holding him back, something that made him want Schuyler to submit to him willingly and not because he had seduced her into it.
Another early-morning call to Katya the next day, followed shortly by a check on Schuyler’s Instagram, confirmed pretty much what he expected: Schuyler was still hell-bent on avoiding him. But what he did not expect was to find her with another girl when he came knocking on her apartment door.
“You’re exactly what she said,” the blonde declared. “You are unbelievably hot—”
Schuyler’s gasp cut the other girl off, but he had heard more than enough, and Ioniko smiled.
The blond girl – whom he soon learned was named Sara – continued talking even as Schuyler scrambled to get rid of her.
“Ignore her. She’s leaving.”
“I am?”
“Yes. You are.”
“But—”
“No buts. Go.”
“Sheesh. Sex-starved much?”
Schuyler quickly waved him to come in, and as he soon as he did, she slammed the door shut on Sara’s face.
“Your friend’s quite interesting, koukla mou.”
“She’s certifiably insane, too, so just ignore anything she says.”
Mm. Did that mean the part about Schuyler being sex-starved was a mere joke? He glanced back at her and once again caught his beautiful little doll staring at him.
“I had a feeling you’d keep avoiding me,” he commented silkily.
“Can you blame me? I can’t even figure out why you noticed me in the first place.”
“I already told you—”
“I’m different, yada, yada, yada, but it just doesn’t seem enough, and that’s why your liking me will never make sense—”
“But it does.” And her conviction otherwise baffled him. How could she not realize she was the kind of gem men in his position would take the most extreme risks to possess?
“It doesn’t.”
He saw in her eyes what she expected him to say and was amused by it. “We’re not going to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Argue by saying ‘it does’ and ‘it doesn’t back and forth.” After all, it was something only couples who were silly in love that did such things and—
“I’m sorry, Ioniko, but I really don’t think we’re going to suit—”
The words, uttered in such a sober tone, were like a sudden punch to his guts, and he stared at her in disbelief. “Parakalo?” Excuse me? Was she actually tying to play with him? Manipulate him?
“Um, what does that—”
“You think we don’t suit,” Ioniko gritted out, “simply because I’m unwilling to say ‘it does’ and ‘it doesn’t’?”
“All of that…translated to just one word in Greek?”
He knew she was trying to make him laugh, but he was far from impressed. It had finally occurred to him that there was a chance he had completely misread the signals…the way he had, once upon a time, thought a certain woman would come to choose him over all others…but hadn’t.
“If I somehow misunderstood,” Ioniko said stiffly, “and you are truly not attracted to me—” His jaw clenched. “Then there is no need to make up lame excuses about it.”
If she didn’t want him back, then so fucking be it.
He waited for her to answer, but for a few moments, all she did was stare at him, and he wondered savagely if it was because she had a hidden sadistic streak that wanted to prolong his torment—
“Dude.”
Hearing her call him this now felt like a fucking insult. Maybe that was all he was to her? A fucking dude?
“I can’t believe you’re making me say this—”
“If it’s going to be another lie—”
“But I’m attracted to you. I’m really attracted to you, okay?”
He stiffened.
“I mean, of course I would be. Duh. Do you think I’m made of stone?”
He wanted to believe her, but fuck if he wasn’t experiencing his first bout of insecurity in years.
“I swear to God, on my grandparents’ graves, on your ancestors’ graves…please say you get it now because this is getting really embarrassing?”
It was that last note of appeal that finally got to him, and out of nowhere he remembered how he had once teased her…
Say it like you’re begging me to fuck you.
And he realized that this was how she would look and sound if that were to happen.
The tightness in his chest gradually eased, and even as she kept on denying the attraction between them, it no longer worked. Because she had begged. A girl like Schuyler would only have used such a tone with a girl she both wanted and trusted, and he was that man.