Lie To Me In Diamonds

CHAPTER TEN: SALT WATER AND SECRETS

Damian’s facial expression gave away the fact that his brain was spiraling, he seemed lost for words and Nadia squinted her eyes at him, still waiting for his response.

"Damian, I ask again, why are you in a picture with Marco Varela and Charlotte?!" Her slightly raised voice seemed to jolt something in him.

"Uh…uhm…Marco invested in my first company. Before you. He was my business partner. A..and Charlotte... she was in my finance class in college. We were in a group project." She looks him dead in the eye and Damian seemed to not be comfortable. He forces a dry laugh, runs a hand through his hair, a gesture Nadia had never really seen him do.

"God. My mom would’ve loved this. She always thought I should 'marry into the right family. We had a conference on this day,Charlotte was there and Marco too,he suggested we take the picture…uhh…it’s nothing to worry about,really.”

He says it so casually. But his eyes don’t meet hers.

Nadia stares at him. The words seemed to make sense. But Marco’s hand is on Damian’s shoulder in the photo. Like he owns him. And Charlotte is leaning into Damian like she knows him,more than just being in his finance class.

“When were you going to tell me the man that has been messing up my life for two years, the same man that has been trying to kill us both is someone you once knew??? What the hell Damian?” She throws her hands in the air, letting it hit her laps softly as they land and makes to move away, but Damian’s hand grabs her wrist.

Damian sees it. Sees the doubt.

He steps forward, takes the photo from her hands, and pulls her into his chest.

"Hey. Stop." _soft_ "You’re overthinking. Come here."

He kisses her temple. Long. Then he grabs her hand.

“I knew telling you might trigger insecurity and have your mind racing always. Everything is fine, trust me,I’ll protect you with everything I have”

Nadia looks up at him,love,too evident in his grey pupils which makes her smile softly.

“Even with your life?” They both let out a throaty laugh. Then Damian looks back at her,the same look as before

“Even with my life” he covers her in a hug and she instantly felt at home,inhaling the scent of his cologne and him,while he inhaled the scent of her hair.

“I would have loved to spin you around and fuck you slowly, but it’s been a long day and the place isn’t exactly where we can. We have time. I have something planned for us,tomorrow. You’ll see”

She lets him. Because his touch shuts her brain up.

|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~

The penthouse was quiet when they left it. Gray had already sent someone to open the beach house. Damian just drove. Top down, even though the August heat pressed down on the city and made the air ripple over the hood.

He didn’t play music. He never did when it was just them. The wind was loud enough.

“Where are we going?” Nadia asked, watching the buildings get smaller in the side mirror, her curiousity getting the best of her.

“Somewhere with water,” he said. “And no one who knows our names.”

It took an hour. The pavement turned to gravel, then to sand. When he killed the engine, the first thing that hit her was the sound. Waves. Constant, rolling, loud enough to fill the empty spaces in her head. Gulls crying. Dune grass hissing in the wind.

The beach was not packed but had enough people in it. , it was beautiful to behold. Just sky and water and a stretch of pale sand that went on until it curved. The water was that deep green-blue, clear near the shore where you could see broken shells and the shadow of small fish. Someone had already set up the umbrella. A cooler. Two towels.

Nadia marveled at the sight as tears welled up in her eyes at Damian’s thoughtfulness. She turned around and hugged him right, squealing like a little girl that had been given her Favourite pie, before placing a kiss on his lips,.

“Thank you, Damian, i really appreciate all of this”

He kisses her back, immediately the words leave her mouth. He places his hands on her waist as her hands go over his neck.

“I have always loved the beach, it was your Favourite and most mentioned whenever we planned dates. I would have rented the whole place to watch you swim” he tucks a strand of hair behind her ears.

“But the last time I did that, you didn’t speak to me for three hours, in your defense, you love people at the beach while you are there and you felt people’s happiness should not be deprived because you wanted to be there”

Nadia laughed loud, not because she remembered it, but because she knew that was the kind of thing she could do.

“Time to run along” she said excitedly as she ran, Damian stared at her, she was indeed a goddess.

Nadia slipped off the linen coverup she’d been wearing over her clothes.

Damian was crouched, pushing the umbrella pole into the sand. He stood up and turned.

And stopped.

She was in a white bikini. Simple. High-waisted. Her hair was down, damp at the ends from the drive with the top down. The sun caught in it.

He didn’t say anything for a second. Just looked at her like he’d forgotten how to breathe.

“You okay?” she asked, smiling because he looked wrecked.

“Yeah,” he said finally, and ran a hand through his hair. “You just... you’re here.”

He looked away fast, back at the umbrella, like the pole needed more attention.

“Fuck, that was humiliating, you threw me off guard for a minute. You look absolutely gorgeous”

She got on the double beach bed he lay on, kissed him.

“You don’t look bad yourself, you look… hot”

Yes he did look hot, he was shirtless and wore a light blue short that could make any lady guess what he had inside those pants. His abs were visible and his toned muscles kept flexing with each movement, Nadia was sure her pants were a pool now.

They spent the morning doing nothing on purpose. He bought her iced coffee from a vendor who walked the beach. She made him put on sunscreen and laughed when he grumbled about it. He ended up with white streaks on his nose. She didn’t tell him.

When she went to get a refill, she saw him.

Elias Vance. Linen shirt, sunglasses pushed up into his hair. He didn’t look like he belonged at a beach. He looked like he’d walked straight out of a boardroom and got lost.

“Miss Reyes,” he said when he saw her.

“Elias.” She was surprised how glad she was to see him.

“I heard you were back,” he said. “I’m glad. Truly.”

Apart from all the fiasco that had happened over the last few days, she had texted Elias a few times, she had gotten his number at the gala, and told him about her trip to Dubai, it wasn’t frequent, but at least, they always checked on each other from time to time.

She nodded, holding the coffee tight.

Something in her chest got soft.

“Thank you,” she said. “For sitting with me in the waiting room. For not leaving.”

Elias smiled, tired. “You’re good for him. Don’t let the world take that from either of you.”

Then he was gone, walking back toward the boardwalk.

Damian was there thirty seconds later.

“You okay?” he asked. His eyes cut to where Elias had been, then back to her.

“Yeah,” she said. “Just catching up with a friend.”

He didn’t ask anything else. Just took her hand and laced their fingers together.

The water was cold when they went in. She shrieked. He pulled her under anyway.

Then they were playing. Really playing. Like the last two years hadn’t happened.

He ducked her. She came up sputtering and threw a wall of water in his face. He caught her around the waist and spun her, and she ended up on his back with her arms around his neck, both of them laughing too loud.

“Admit I’m stronger,” he said, water dripping down his face.

“Never,” she said, and tried to push his head under.

He caught her wrists easily and backed her into deeper water until her feet didn’t touch and she had to wrap her legs around him to stay up.

The world got small. Just his hands on her thighs. Her forehead against his. Salt on their skin.

“I missed this,” he said, voice low. “You. You and me, like the rest of the world doesn’t matter”

“I missed you too,” she said, not knowing where that came from, her heart yearned for this man, even without really remembering him.

He kissed her. Slow. Salt and sun. His hand came up to the back of her head like he was afraid she’d disappear if he let go. When they pulled apart they were both breathing hard.

They took pictures. A lot of them. Selfies with the phone held out over the water. Her mid-laugh, hair stuck to her face. Him not looking at the camera at all, looking at her instead. One where she was on his shoulders and he was pretending to struggle.

“Do you think we can just stay here?” she asked later, floating on her back next to him. “Forget everything else?”

“For today?” he said, and his fingers found hers under the water. “Yes.”

On the way back in the water was up to his chest. She trailed her fingers up the back of his neck, then down his spine, slow.

“Race you to the room?” she whispered.

Something in his eyes went dark.

“You started this,” he said.

Then he lifted her out of the water like she weighed nothing. She yelped and wrapped around him. He didn’t put her down until they were inside and the door was shut behind them.

He pushed her softly against the door, placed his hands on her neck, she gave him a wink, so flirty, Damian’s member became hard immediately.

They were both still wet from the water and cold, which intensified their horniness.

“You like it when I hold your neck like this?” Damian said, lowly.

“Yes daddy, strip” Damian withdrew from her and took off his shorts and brief and his member sprung out, Nadia knew she would always be in awe of how majestic his whole body and dick is, A man in his full glory.

Nadia maintained eye contact with him as she took of her bra, then her panties. The fire in their eyes was hot, they couldn’t stop themselves, they found themselves kissing each other violently, like people drowning, not remembering how the space between them was covered or who initiated the kiss. Their hands all over each other.

Damian pulled away first breathless “ I want to fuck up against this door” he spun her around, as she bent voluntarily.

He positioned his member at her entrance from the back, in awe of what a sight it was.

Nadia moaned when he tried to get in, but couldn’t, he tried again and this time…. SLAM…

“Oh!!! Oh my God” Nadia breathed hard, feeling the impact of the painful but sweet thrust of his dick till it turned to pure sweetness.

“Fuck fuck fuck!! Fuck!!!!” Damian grunted.

Thrust. Thrust. Thrust. Double Thrust.

Nadia kept moaning, their flesh meeting, their sounds feeling the room, she cums hard,screaming Damian’s name as she almost drops to the floor, Damian is quick to catch her, talking her through it.

“Cum for daddy, yeah, like that” he smiled loving the effect he had on her as she screamed, her legs trembling.

He picks her up and takes her to the bed, spreads her leg and continued thrusting, making Nadia’s eyes widen.

Her moans and his groans filled the room again, Nadia could feel it, she loved this man.

|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|

Two hours later, she woke up.

The room was dark. Only the city glow through the curtains. Damian was asleep next to her, his arm heavy over her waist.

The nightstand vibrated. Damian’s phone was ringing, she wondered who was calling.

She reached for it. Before her fingers got there, a hand shot out and grabbed it.

She jolted. “Damian?”

He was already sitting up. Awake. Like he hadn’t been sleeping at all.

“It’s work,” he said. Too calm.

He got out of bed and walked to the balcony,shutting the glass door behind him.

She sat there in the dark. Her heart was pounding for no reason she could name. A minute passed. Two. When he came back in he slid under the covers and pulled her to him.

“Who was it?” she asked into his chest.

“Just work,” he said. “Go back to sleep.”

He kissed the top of her head. His heartbeat was too fast.

She didn’t sleep for a long time after that. Her suspicions growing, could it be that Damian was… seeing some other woman??? The question rang in her mind, till sleep overcame her again.

Morning came in gold.

They stood on the balcony of the beach house. Admiring the view of the water and taking in the scent of the rain.

“It’s beautiful,” she said.

“It is,” he said from behind her, arms around her waist.

He wasn’t looking at the view.

“Damian.”

“Hmm?”

He pressed his forehead to hers.

“I know we might have not made our relationship formal but…. who called last night?”

Damian looked taken aback for a minute. “It was…work… just work, nothing more, Gray called to notify me of some…things” his eyes held an expression she could not read.

She wanted to believe him. She did, mostly.

Few hours later, they were set to leave. A small bag packed by the door.

Damian took the bags down first. “I’ll bring the car around,” he said, and kissed her forehead.

She waited on the bed, tapping away on her phone, texting her brother. The ringing of a phone made her realize Damian had left his phone on the console table. Her curiousity got the best of her as she got up immediately and went to the table.

The lit screen displayed a name, ‘CHARLOTTE’

Her stomach dropped. Why the hell was Charlotte calling Damian?? A million questions went through her brain in a split second. Where they dating secretly, was she his wife, his real girlfriend, had they…. She shook her head and stared at the phone.

It rang twice, then stopped.

Immediately after, a message came through.

“We had a deal, you can’t back out now, except you want to lose her again!”

The words went blurry.

_Lose her again._

She dropped the phone, and sat back on the bed, tears welled up in her eyes, Damian had made her that Charlotte was just a friend, some worth less than a friend. What kind of relationship did they have that she could call him at night and threaten him as well.

The door opens

“Ready?” he asked.

She looked at him. Then looked forward. Then back at him. Damian looked at the phone and back at her, his expression laced with a bit of fear and confusion at her cold reaction.

Her brain went completely still.

“Yeah,” she said. Her voice didn’t shake. “I’m ready.”

Anger boiled in Nadia and she was ready to make Damian feel the hotness of lying to her.

_