All Chapters of Bound By A Billion-Dollar Lie: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Anastasia’s POV I sat at the head of the polished table, my posture perfect, my charcoal blazer immaculate, my hair swept into a severe chignon. To anyone watching, I was the picture of composure, the formidable CEO of Reed and Associates who was commanding and unshakable.But I hadn't heard a single word spoken in the last fifteen minutes.Around me, their voices quietly going on and on about quarterly projections and market volatility. An executive was saying something about supply chain disruptions, another junior executive was presenting a spreadsheet filled with numbers that only blurred before my eyes. None of it seemed to register in my head.Because my mind was elsewhere.The office desk from last night. I could still feel the cool wood against her back, still feeling the way his hands wrapped around my thigh, his kisses trailing up my thigh to my pussy, the sensation burning through me all over again as I remembered the way he had looked at me like he was deciding exactly

Anastasia's POV Of all the things I expected Nikolai to say, sitting in my office with that infuriating smirk, shopping hadn't even made the list.I stared at him, he returned the favor staring back at me, utterly unbothered, still twirling my fountain pen like he had nowhere else to be."You dragged yourself across town," I said slowly, "broke into my office, and sat in my chair……""Your chair is more comfortable than mine."".....to ask me to go shopping?"He shrugged. "We have an event tomorrow, a gala and you need a dress.""I have dresses.""You need this dress." He set down the pen and stood up, circled around my desk with the easy confidence of a predator who knew exactly where his prey was going to run. "I'm not taking no for an answer, Anastasia."I should have said no, I should have set down rules about what I can do with him after all it was only a contract marriage. Instead, I heard myself say, "Fine. But you're paying."His smile was slow and devastating. "I was counti

Nikolai's POV “If you would excuse me for a moment.” Anastasia said, smiling away from the both of us. My face still fixated on Damon Pierce and thinking to myself how he had a punchable face.I'd known this for years and that had been long before he became my rival, long before he started building his tech empire on the ashes of deals I'd passed on, long before he looked at my wife like she was a prize he wanted to claim. The man was handsome in that manufactured way that suggested he spent too much time in front of a mirror and too little time doing anything that actually mattered.But watching him make Anastasia laugh? Watching her smile at him like he was clever and charming and worth her attention?I wanted to put my fist through his perfect white teeth.He raised his hands in surrender, chuckling underneath his breath. “You guys are a power couple.” smiling at the both of us. "Your wife is extraordinary," Damon said, his tone light, professional, utterly infuriating.He'd recov

Anastasia’s POVI'm fucking furious and that wasn't just because Nikolai followed me into the powder room, it wasn't just because he cornered me against the marble counter with that infuriating smirk he always had on his face, it wasn't even because he kissed me like he owned me.I'm furious because I melted, because of his kiss. My body completely betrayed me, my lips parted for him, my hands wrapped around his suit jacket while I made a sound, a small, pathetic, needy sound and he heard it. He felt it, my body being desperate for him.I hate him! I hate him so much that it burns.I spend the remaining time of the gala completely avoiding him. With the way I've been acting needy, avoiding him is the right option for me.I walked around the hall like a ghost, acting invisible and smiling at the guests who I didn't know. Accepting champagne flutes I don't usually drink from. Making small talk with investors' wives and elderly countesses who pinch my cheeks and call me "the lucky girl.

Nikolai's POV The study was dark except for the warm glow of the desk lamp. I sat in my leather chair, a stack of files spread before me, my pen suspended mid-air over a document I hadn't read in twenty minutes. The numbers blurred over and over again and I couldn't make sense of the words.I couldn't focus.I couldn't stop thinking about her.Anastasia.The way she felt pressed against the wall in the powder room. The way her lips had parted for me, hesitant at first and then desperate. The way her hands had fisted in my jacket like she hated me and needed me all at once.I closed my eyes and all I could picture was Anastasia in that red dress. The curve of her hips, the flash of her eyes when she was angry, it was dark, blazing and devastating.God, she's so fucking beautiful when she's pissed.I shifted in my chair, adjusting my collar. I could feel my body tensing up from the image of her in that red dress and how I would have loved to undress her out of it but I was irritated. I