Chapter l294

Chapter 02 94

Confronted with the scenario of the man I wanted to sleep with very clearly about to sleep with someone else, I did the only thing I could think to do.

I swiveled on my heel without a word and took off down the hallway. I fully intended on returning to my room, crying my eyes out, and then pretending this never happened.

I would never be such a fool again either. I didn’t know how I could think that Nicholas would want only someone like me. He obviously had needs. Maybe he really had changed since I’d known him, but-

A hand caught my arm, stopping my b*dy and my thoughts at once.

“Piper, wait.”

We were in the hallway. We had to keep our voices soft. He might as well have shouted at me, because my entire b*dy flinched.

Maybe he noticed. Maybe he didn’t. Either way, he did not let me go..

“Piper, please. I need your help.”

I looked back at him.

There was desperate, wild look in his eyes. He seemed utterly lost.

His hopelessness softened my demeanor, until I remembered the l*pstick on his collar and I hardened again.

“Surely Lilliana can help you with whatever problem you have,” I snapped. “I have no intention of being involved.”

“Lilliana is the problem,” Nicholas said.

“I’m not going to give you love advice -”

“She’s drunk,” Nicholas said.

I paused. My brow scrunched in confusion.

“I think it’s a last ditch effort from her to maintain her position as my favorite despite her poorer showing recently. I don’t know. I don’t care. I only know she came to my room dressed like that, and grabbed me by the cro tch as soon as I opened the door.”

His fingers on my arm held me with a gentle insistence. I could break free with enough force. He’d even let me.

But I stood still.

+15 BONUS

“I don’t know why she thought this would work,” he said, frowning. “Even if I wanted her, which I don’t, I would never bring someone drunk like this into my bed.”

“So if she was sober?” I asked.

“I would turn her away,” Nicholas said. He stepped closer to me, and I closed my eyes, feeling his warmth. “You know my heart and b*dy desire another…”

I open my eyes and find him staring at me with such open fondness that it steals my breath away. It makes me want to fall into him right here and now, forget everything, and just push forward with this man.

But th

that wouldn’t solve the current predicament of Lilliana mostly n*ked in Nichola s’s room.

“I don’t know if she needed to get this drunk to have the courage to approach me so blatantly, or if the alcohol is instead an excuse she could use as a cover if things went poorly for her,” he said. “I’m not fond of either possibility.

“If she’s that drunk,” I suggested, “maybe we can convince her to go to her own room, and in the morning she might forget any of this ever happened.”

“I hope so, Piper, because right now, she refuses to leave my rooms unless I sleep with her. I’ve spent the past ten minutes explaining to her why that can’t and won’t happen, but she refuses to listen. I fear being more forceful. I don’t want to physically harm her.”

“I’ll speak with her,” I said, surprising us both. Embarrassment and jealousy were beginning to fade from me as the truth of the situation became more and more clear. In their place, however, anger was taking root.

Nicholas was the one worried about taking advantage, but Lilliana was the one who wanted to take advantage of him and his kindness. She kept pushing after he declined. Would she have kept pushing him all night if I hadn’t shown up?

I imagined Nicholas hiding behind a locked door as Lilliana continued to try to seduce him. Even that more amusing thought did little to quash the rage growing within me.