09: Private life

•Odette•

“Don’t make it sound as if it’s a big deal. As a businessman, of course I have to go into deep research about a product before investing in it. That’s just common sense, isn’t it?” Draven reasoned, making me appear like I lacked the common sense he was talking about.

“And I’m sure you’ve done the same towards me, haven’t you?” Draven’s smile broadened.

Yeah, right. Draven’s personal life was completely unknown to the world. The only things I could get my hands on about him were from gossip blogs and business magazines.

Even at that, I still barely knew him.

The lines about him being calculating, ruthless, and unpredictable were everywhere. No one ever mentioned the specifics. Just the end results.

“There’s not much info about you available to the public. My research on you can’t even be defined as research.” I admitted with a sigh just before the waiter returned with our orders.

“Public? You’re not the public, Odette Valmont. You should consider yourself privately mine.” Draven reached for my hand that was resting on the table.

His warm lips made contact with my skin, and this time, I didn’t pull away. But the tingles that ran down my spine actively worked to make me lose my composure.

Even after the kiss ended, Draven still didn’t let go of my hand. He used his thumb to massage my hand, as though enjoying the feel.

“Your hand is so soft…” he whispered, his voice nearly inaudible.

My lips parted on their own as I began to breathe through my mouth.

Did they turn up the conditioning here? Why could I feel beads of sweat forming on the surface of my nose?

Before I got the chance to excuse myself to the powder room, Draven slowly withdrew his hand with a wicked grin, looking very self-accomplished.

I instantly retrieved my senses and straightened my back. My eyes narrowing and my lips growing thinner, I stared at Draven with hateful intent.

To this, he laughed carefreely. “You need to learn how to accept my touch. I can’t have you squirming here and there when I fuck you in bed.”

Clank!

The sound of a tray collapsing on the floor disrupted the moment. Everyone naturally turned to the source of the noise. Draven and I were even faster to do so as the tray had fallen right next to our table.

It was a female server with a bright red face. She picked up the tray as quickly as she could with darting eyes that never met mine and Draven’s faces.

“I’m so s-sorry. I d-didn’t mean to. Sorry!” she exclaimed with an embarrassed expression, then vanished in an instant.

She totally heard us.

I covered my face with my palms. I got the feeling that my face was probably as red as that server’s.

What was with this crazy man and saying vulgar things?

“Ha!” And Crazy Draven was amused by the fact that someone had heard him say such nonsense.

I peeked through my palms to glare at him. I never really had any opinion on this man and had always thought of him as someone to stay away from like my parents had advised.

But now, I hated him.

“What? Are you going to hide behind your hands all night because of a few words? Your food’s getting cold. Go on, eat.” Draven said to me, acting like the last few seconds hadn’t happened.

Right on cue, the enticing smell of the seafood ramen wafted around my nose, almost getting my stomach to growl aloud.

I had skipped lunch to make room for quality dinner. Why did all my choices these days seem to backfire on me?

I sighed and resigned to my fate. Even though I hated Draven, I needed him for now.

I picked up a spoon and began to scoop the soupy ramen. The flavor danced on my taste buds and I almost moaned in satisfaction.

Draven and I ate silently for a few moments before he spoke up.

“We had been discussing something before…”

I blinked as the words, “I can’t have you squirming here and there when I fuck you in bed,” replayed in my head.

“You must have really done a poor job of digging up information about me.” Draven said.

My senses dulled for a second before I realized that he had been referring to our earlier line of discussion. I mentally facepalmed myself.

I was getting more and more retarded because of the amount of time I was spending in this man’s company.

“It’s not my fault that you do an excellent job of keeping your private life private.” I bit out.

Draven welcomed my words with a smile, then said, “If you ever want to know anything about me, just ask. I’ll do my best to be honest with you.”

“Really??” I was completely taken aback by his words.

“Of course. You’re to be my wife. I read somewhere that the more secrets you keep from your wife, the more trouble you’ll find yourself in when she discovers the secret herself.”

Draven using the word, ‘wife’, to refer to me set me off in a way that I wasn’t certain how it made me feel.

“I see…” was all I could say at the moment.

But Draven didn’t seem content. “This is your time now, Odette Valmont. Ask me whatever you want to. I’ll answer your questions with the utmost sincerity now. But I might be too lazy to give out any info on another day.”

This bastard. His offers always came with a twist that seemed to favor him in some way.

“Okay, then. Tell me this: what did you mean by I should count my losses and send them to you on the day of my birthday? You also said something about not liking to see wasted potential. I didn’t understand…”

At the end of my question, my voice grew weaker once I noticed the flicker of disappointment in Draven’s eyes.

I felt like he was scolding me with his eyes. An expression that I was used to receiving from my father.

“You really know nothing about me.” Draven said with a low voice, then chuckled to himself.

He sucked in a sharp breath and clasped his hands together. “I meant exactly what I said, Odette Valmont. If you can’t understand, that’s a you problem.”

“Pardon?”

“You heard me right.” Draven shifted his gaze from my face to his plate and said, “Sigh. My tongue suddenly feels tired.”

Fuck it. I knew he was lying when he said he was going to answer any question with the utmost sincerity.

From all the little exhibitions of his character that he’d shown to me recently, I’d made a firm conclusion about his personality.

Draven Lockwood was nothing but a cunning liar driven by perversion.