Between Desire and Denial: A Fake Dating Romance (Hardy Billionaires)

The bubbles in her bath were sparse enough that I could see how her nipples tightened, how the blush on her chest and neck rose to her soft face. I saw how she wanted this as much as I did. “There’s not a chance in hell I’m leaving now, Olive.”

I wasn’t good at denying myself anything. Most risks I thought were worth taking, but I had hesitated at first with her which meant she was one of the biggest risks of all. She was the one I was going to have to go all in on. I had to. Yet, I had to be careful with her, ease her into the idea, and make sure we navigated it all perfectly for it to work out. I wasn’t about to share her with Jameson or any other fucking man, that was for sure. The thought alone had me wanting to rage.

“This ends badly for all of us.” She seemed to be reminding us both. “We don’t want to be in a screwed-up situation while I’m here. When things go sideways with us, we need to remember we still each have a friendship with Kee.”

Did she think our friends couldn’t overcome us being together? I wasn’t going to be able to explain it to her now. My brain wasn’t currently functioning. It was short-circuiting as I stared at her. It wouldn’t be something I would admit later. I’d chalk it up to my dick taking control, but right then, it didn’t feel that way. This was more than lust. I wanted to own this woman in the bathtub in a way I’d never owned anything. I would have given all my prime investments for it.

“Friends with benefits then,” I countered because I was used to negotiating. I could start there and work my way in.

“Have we reached the official friend level?” She smirked.

She wanted proof; I’d give it to her. “Sure. I’ve known you for years now, Olive. I know you like doing my best friend’s hair. That you talk incessantly about absolutely nothing with her, but it still brings you joy. I know you like flowers in your hair but are subtle with everything else you wear. You’re quiet but observant and somewhat nosy. You care about your family even if they’ve given you hell in the past. I also know the warm amber color of your eyes mists over every time you’re upset and darkens when you’re turned on like right now. I know how greedy you can be too when you want to fu—”

“Okay. That’s enough.” She held up a small soapy hand. “Tell me something about you now. I want to know you just as well.”

I stepped forward and tried not to scoff at her question. “We don’t need to talk about me.”

“I want to.” Her bottom lip pouted out, and she dragged a hand slowly over the bubbles across her knee. “We’re living together, Dimitri, so I should know things too. I know you like to invest, take risks. I know you have brothers and are Kee’s friend. I know what the magazines tell me. But you’re mostly working when you hang out and, well, I …” She sighed. “Never mind. This should just be us getting off, right?”

Her words jolted me and felt like a punch to the gut. I immediately wanted to tell her to take that back.

Still, she kept going. “I mean, I know that. Friends with benefits. After Rufford, we had fun, and this can be fun now too. Probably will be better than the other dates since—’

“Other dates?” My gut twisted, and I felt my neck tighten.

“Well, I told you I was dating that day in Kee’s office. Not that I’m looking for anything serious … just new, you know, stuff.” She waved down at my cock like I got the idea, but then her eyes locked on the bulge there. I’d been hard for her all day. I wasn’t about to hide that now. “So, we can do that, right? I mean with Rufford—”

“Olive, Jesus Christ.” She was rambling about other men fucking her while she stared at my dick. “Stop talking about other men or I’m going to shove my cock down your throat to shut you up.” I wanted to squeeze her neck while I did it so she couldn’t get a word out about another guy.

“Right. Of course. Oh my God. This is all stupid.” She licked her lips because she still couldn’t rip her eyes away from me, and I saw how her hand slipped down her leg into the water. I knew she put it between her legs as she whimpered, shifting in the bathtub. She hadn’t learned to control her desire yet. I hoped she never did, because I loved watching her struggle with it. “Dimitri,” she breathed out my name. “You should probably just go.”

“Go? Go where? To the next room to fuck my hand to the image of you? Why not give yourself some relief too? You know you don’t want me to leave you here unsatisfied. You want to come on your hand when I leave or have me give that pussy what it really wants?” I lifted a brow and put my hand in my sweatpants.

Her eyes were glued there as her lips parted, dazed. “What does it really want, Dimitri?”

Fuck. She was showing me by asking that— she’d for sure pick fucking me over sanity. “It wants to ride my hand, have my cock fuck it into submission. You want to be owned by me, Olive. I’m your boyfriend now. I can show you a damn good time. Better than those dates you’ve been on. You and I both know it.”

She shook her head. “If we do this, it’s just fulfilling our desire right now. Not again.” Her breath was coming faster now.

I hummed as I smiled. She’d give in again. I think we both knew that now. “You know, my parents let me get away with everything when I was in high school. They had my younger twin sisters to focus on, and my older brothers had already set the tone, so I ran wild. Did anything I pleased. Dabbled in whatever. Took the initiative to get what I wanted.”

“Why are you telling me this?” She frowned and started to sit up. Yet, I shook my head and took her chin between my fingers so I could drag a thumb over that bottom lip.

“Because. You wanted to know something about me.”

“We don’t have to be friends, Dimitri,” she whispered.

I knew that. But I wanted to give her what she asked for, needed to. She’d compared me to other men she’d been with, and I wanted her to understand this experience would be something different.

“I think we can be friendly though, right?” I leaned in and tasted her lips, relished in how soft they were, how they pillowed out to taste mine back. “I’ll give you a little of me and then take a lot of you.”

“Tell me something else?” Her breath came faster still, like this was a fucking turn-on for her to know more about me.

I shrugged as I stood back up and stared down at her. “I’ve taken a lot in my life. I like to take. I like to own. I like to show everyone what’s mine. It’s why I invest ruthlessly and get what I want.”

“What is it you’ve wanted most?” The woman was so inquisitive even while moving under the water, and I indulged her as I stared at how the bubbles floated around.

No one had ever really asked me that before. “To experience life, maybe. And not crave any desire I couldn’t have.”

“Do you think you want for anything now? Or you get it all?”

“I’m staring at a breathtaking girl in my bathtub in a neighborhood I practically own. What do you think?”

“I think you don’t own Paradise Grove yet or this girl.”

“I will own both, Olive. I won’t stop until I do.”

She chuckled. “You don’t want to own me for long, Dimitri. Just for now. This once. I think you’ll probably only want this tonight …” I opened my mouth to stop her, but she kept going. “Just like I only want this one more time too.”

Damn, that hit my ego where it hurt.

“You were so good last time,” she praised. I could see how her body was almost arching toward me, and I believed she meant what she was saying. “But I still want to see other men. You will too. You can’t possibly be satiated with just this when you’ve been out there conquering the world. And I want to see what else I can feel when …” Her words drifted off and a blush touched her cheeks.

“When what?” I asked as I pumped my cock. She had fantasies, and I wanted to hear them.

“I don’t know.” She shook her pretty curls in front of her face before murmuring, “When I do different things like we did in the office. When I thought someone might walk in, I liked it. So, I’m going to pursue it more with other people. And you can too.”

“Are you setting boundaries with me, Olive?” I asked and immediately felt myself wanting to push at them. “Are you saying I should see other women? Because I won’t.”

“I think it’s best.”

“I won’t argue with you about it now.” Instead, I’d nudge her in the right direction over time, make her see that I could give her all she wanted. I’d fuck her in an office or on a damn rooftop for all I cared as long as I got to keep her as mine. “Right now, you get what you want. So, what do you want from me? Tell me.”

“Well, I …” She shifted in the bathtub and her hand finally came up to twist the little flower in her hair. She did it when she was nervous and embarrassed. And I loved seeing how she blushed along with it.

“Don’t get shy on me now. Tell me.”

“I want to see how you want me. I …” Her eyes dragged over my cock as she hesitated. “I’m not used to seeing a man show me that.”

She hadn’t been spoiled with attention, hadn’t been given the reinforcement she deserved from her prior lover. I had an urge to change that. “You know every man would want that?” I motioned over her body. “But are you going to show me how you want me too?”

I wasn’t sure she’d rise to the challenge, but her little body rolled in my bathtub as her tits emerged from the water while she moaned my name softly. Then, she held my gaze with no shame and only desire in her eyes as she sat up and went to the edge. Lifting herself, she perched on the side and spread her legs. Water droplets and bubbles slid down her tan skin as she dragged her hands up her thighs. “I already came, Dimitri. Maybe I’m done.”

“You already know how many times I can get you there in one night. You’re not done. Roll your fingers over your clit.”

She did as she was told but pleaded with me too. “Show me.”

“You want to see what you do to me?”

She bit her lip but didn’t look me directly in the eyes as she nodded fast. I shouldn’t have cared, but it wasn’t enough. Even though this was only supposed to be relief for both of us, I wanted her begging only for me. “Look at me, honey.” Her eyes caught mine. “Say it out loud. And say my name, Olive. I’m the man you’re begging tonight.”

“Please. I want to see your cock, Dimitri. I want to see how I make you feel.”

“That’s right. I like that mouth saying every filthy thing to me.” I pulled my cock out and walked toward her. I pumped it slowly, biding my time. I wanted to have her all night again, to show her that she wanted it too. She’d talked about being discreet with another man just before this bath of hers, and it’d made me see a color I wasn’t used to.

Red.

Maybe even darker than red. Black.

I’d wanted to fuck her on that table right then and tell her there was going to be nothing discreet about our relationship.

When I stood on the other side of the bathtub, directly in front of her, I commanded, “Get on your knees in the water.”

She didn’t even hesitate. I caught the smile on her face and how she rushed to do as I told her. The way she wanted to experience everything sexually so quickly had me thinking of all the things I could do to her. “Want to taste me?”

“Yes,” she said, her eyes locked on me and her lips so close that I felt my dick swell in my hand.

“Open your mouth, then. You get me fucking those pink lips for one second.”

I threaded my hands through her hair, and she put one on my hip to anchor herself but one was still between her legs. Then she took me back in her throat, farther than I expected.

“Greedy fucking girl.” And that was the problem. Olive Monroe was greedy and desired almost everything I shouldn’t be giving her.

Her eyes drifted shut as her head bobbed over my rock-hard dick. I gripped her hair hard, pushing her further onto me than I should. I wanted her lips only around my dick, her moan only humming over my skin. I had to make her see that she wanted the same.

“Do I taste good?”

She hummed out a yes.

“I’m the cock you want. I’m the one you need fucking this little mouth of yours. Remember that,” I said before yanking her hair back and exiting her mouth with a pop. She’d have sucked me dry if I’d let her. “Remember you’re mine.” I didn’t say for the time being. She was mine now. Always.

Her lips were shining with my pre-cum and her saliva as she breathed fast, her breasts going up and down as I held her hair so her gaze met mine. “Dimitri, I want you to come.”

“Of course you do. You want everything when we screw around.”

She glared at me like she wasn’t sure if that was an insult. “You’re the one who came in here to listen to me.”

“I did. I like you greedy, Honeybee, don’t get me wrong. I wanted to see why you were saying my name.”

“Well, you saw,” she said, her eyes narrowing.

“Yeah, I did. And I want to see again,” I told her as I pulled my shirt off and shucked my pants to the ground. Then, I stepped into the bath with her. She was getting cold now, her skin had goose bumps, so I pulled her up to stand in front of me and turned the rain spout on above us. I let the water cascade over her body before I kissed her, tasting the lips that had just been wrapped around me and nearly made me come way too early.

I sucked on her bottom lip, then thrust my tongue into her mouth. She met me with the same eagerness as she draped her arms around my shoulders. My other hand squeezed the curve of her ass, and she whimpered. When I slid my hand to her pussy as I kissed her, I felt how wet she was, how slick her opening was, and I knew she needed more.

I needed more. “You going to come for me again?”

“I will,” she said almost in irritation as she tried to pull me back to her mouth. “I’m going to orgasm on your cock, and you know it.”

I shook my head. “Step apart for me,” I commanded, and she listened because she liked to obey. I made note of that for later.

I lowered myself to sitting before stretching out between her legs as I reclined back in the tub. I placed her right calf over the side as I admired the shape of her smooth legs. She balanced on one foot but then leaned forward to place a hand on my shoulder as I stared at her before me with the water running over her body, her calf hanging over the edge.

“Now the other,” I murmured and watched as the recognition of what I wanted hit her. She knew if her other leg was draped over the opposite side, she’d be essentially suspended right above me, her pussy spread wide for me to see. “Dimitri, I’ll be completely open in front of you—”

“Just how I want you.” I nodded and slowly grabbed her other wrist, then brought it down to my chest so she could use me for leverage. We both stared at one another. “Even if it’s just for tonight, I expect you to trust me.”

“This isn’t about trust,” she countered, “it’s about giving into our desire for a night.”

“If you think hitting a high with someone doesn’t require trust, you’ve missed the best part.”

Biting her lip, she looked away for only a second before she allowed me to help her drape her left calf over the other side.

“Will you touch me?” she whispered, but I couldn’t answer her.

She’d captured my damn soul hovering over me, her legs spread as the water hit both of us in that tub. Her curly hair looked like ringlets falling over her chest now and her pussy dripped water and her come down into the water right above my cock. “You have to touch yourself, Honeybee.”

She whimpered. “Why? I want your hand between my legs, Dimitri. It’s better.”

I shook my head. “If I touch you now, I’ll explode. Let me watch you. Fuck your hand like you want to fuck me.”

She bit her lip but leaned back to slide one of her hands up her thigh to her pussy. She was eager with her movements, fast with her fingers, and she dipped them into her core and groaned. Immediately, she balanced herself on the tub so she could arch backward and thrust her hips across her fingers.

“Slow down,” I growled, because I wanted her to remember this. “And look at me.”

I gripped my cock in my hand right below her and squeezed as she caught my gaze. “Look at what you do to me.”

“You do the same to me,” she whimpered. “I’m so close. I want to go fast.”

“Roll your thumb slowly over your clit, honey. Slowly,” I warned.

She shuddered over the feeling, and I pumped my cock once. “It’s too slow.”

“It’s just right. Your pussy is dripping, greedy girl. Slide a finger in now.”

“Dimitri,” she whispered as she did, and her nipples puckered with just one finger in her.

“You want my whole cock in you, don’t you?”

“Yes. God yes.” The way she was riding her one finger told me she was almost there. I wanted to see her unravel, see how she got there just from me commanding her.

“Move that finger inside you, Olive.” I pumped myself as I watched and brought my other hand up to one of her breasts to give her even more satisfaction. Her skin was so smooth and supple as my fingers played over her nipple. Her eyes widened when I pinched and pulled before she swore under her breath on a moan. “That’s right. Feel how I play with you while you play with yourself. Curl that finger in you now. Say my name as you do it. Ride your hand hard, baby.”

She cried out when she did as she was told, her whole body arching in the water splashing down on her. She almost fell forward, but I slowly lowered her, my hand still rubbing her breast in soft circles. She was fully vulnerable and beautiful. Completely at my disposal. I slid one of her legs from the rim of the tub and then the other so that her pussy was nestled right against my cock all while she took quick breaths coming down from her orgasm. I took the finger she’d had in her pussy and sucked the come from it.

She watched with wide eyes, her head on my chest. “That shouldn’t be hot.”

“And you shouldn’t taste like honey.”

“And I shouldn’t be on top of you in the bathtub.” She giggled.

“And I shouldn’t be contemplating how much more you can take.”

“A lot more,” she whispered. “All of you in me.”

“I’m a little concerned that once we’re done here, I won’t be able to picture any other face but yours when I want to fuck.”

“Then maybe I should turn around? I’m still on birth control,” she said. “You know what that means. You can fuck me just like this.”

I think right there I should have stopped us. There wasn’t a way I could get over a woman like this—one I’d overlooked for years and now couldn’t look away from. She knew she had me by the balls when she spun in the water and then straddled me to bear down on my cock. She did the maneuver perfectly, like she’d practiced all her life.

She was made for me, and in the water on that night, I took her hard, her back facing me like she thought I didn’t want to see her.

“Look back, Olive.”

She looked over her shoulder and smiled. It might have been the first real smile I got that night, and then she met my thrust with her own, and I came deep in her so hard I might have blacked out for a second.

She screamed at the same time and tightened around my cock, the water sloshing over the edge as she fell back onto my chest.

It had barely been a minute of us breathing heavily when she moved to get up. I pulled her back. “Where the hell are you going?”

She giggled and shoved my arm off her waist. “Our pizza is getting cold, Mr. Hardy.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“You just told Jameson to do so.” She rolled her eyes. “Should I keep calling you Darling D? A good nickname for my pretend boyfriend.”

“No. Unless the d stands for daddy.” It was a joke, but she smirked.

“I’ll call you daddy if you like it …” She stepped out of the shower and turned off the water before looking back at me and purring, “Daddy.”

Fuck me. I didn’t usually like being called that, but anything she did lately was getting to me. “You need to be careful with that mouth of yours.”

She rolled her eyes and toed the small seam in the tile. “Was it your idea to have a drain wrapping around the tub?”

“Sure. I thought it would add some fun.” I smiled at her. “I was right, huh?”

She walked over to the cabinet and grabbed a white towel to wrap around herself. “I’m sure a lot of girls like it. I’m going to get dressed and eat.”

“I’ll be down in a second.”

“Oh, don’t rush. I’m going to scarf down my food and pass out anyway.”

“That tired?”

“Well, we expended a lot of energy.” She sighed and looked out at the bedroom. “Should we order beds tomorrow? Till you leave, you can just sleep on one side of the bed. It’s a king anyway. And since we already … well, since …”

“I already fucked that pretty pussy of yours?”

“Oh my God. Do you always get like this after sex?”

“I’m not sure. I’m not usually around women much after I sleep with them, and you left me fast the last couple times we screwed.”

“Great that I know how to leave right?” She shrugged and I wasn’t sure if she meant it.

“No. I want you staying and cuddling—”

“I don’t want to cuddle,” she clarified. “Let’s just practice not talking about it and try to avoid the topic in the future. You can sleep in the king with me. No wandering hands though. Got it?”

I looked her up and down and contemplated how long I would have to play this fake dating game. For the time being, I would. “As long as yours don’t wander either.”

“Please. We got that out of the way. It’s not like we’ll want to screw again anytime soon.”

She knew how to take my ego down a notch or two, but when I glanced at her, I saw how the blush stained her cheeks. She shook her cute curls in front of her face and continued. “Believe me, we’ve done enough to tie us over for the time being.”

She left the room to get dressed as I grumbled to myself, “Speak for yourself, Honeybee. Speak for yourself.”