Nicholas Vice

Slowly sipping from his glass, Nicholas locked eyes with her through the rim of his glass. An awkward silence slowly began to hover around them, and varying thoughts suddenly seemed to drown the sounds of blaring music.

"What else is the alcohol telling you?" He huskily asked as he set down the glass and slowly and carefully leaned closer.

Kimberly observed his slow approach towards her. She hesitated and softly bit her lips, and that action alone caused a jump in the excitement and sizzle subtly coursing in his veins.

The alcohol was whispering so much to Kimberly she wanted to drain out because she feared the thought looping in her head.

"Kiss you." She absentmindedly replied. She bit her lips harder when she realized what she had just said.

He chuckled again before inching closer till his face hovered against hers and his musk scent and the enticing fragrance of his cologne made their way to her head.

His cool breath fanned her face in a way that stirred her up and sent those ideas into spinning waves.

"Then kiss me." He husked. "I forgot to mention, one of the ways to mend a broken heart is a kiss with a stranger." He told her.

Kimberly could hear a silent alarm blaring on her inside. She knew this wasn't what she wanted. It was a bad idea, a very bad idea.

She was there to mourn her broken heart and not to have some rebound sex with a total hot stranger, who was stripping her bare with his blue eyes.

But despite knowing this, the alcohol buzzing in her system made her a bit more indulgent. A bit more daring.

Maybe what she needed was some rebound sex. A steamy night with a stranger she might never meet again. Foolish, yes, but needy. What did she have to lose? She had been used mercilessly by others, so why couldn't she as well use him to console herself tonight?

And with that thought, she lowered her gaze to his lips. She could feel the hesitation, but the gleam in his sparkling eyes encouraged her on.

Tossing all caution to the wind, she leaned in and claimed his lips in what could have been a chaste kiss. But just as she paused and pulled away, his lips locked her in and led her into a sensuous maneuver.

Kimberly couldn't exactly recall how it had happened, but he had paid the bill, grabbed her purse and led her to his car. He took her to his hotel and she had followed him willingly, excited to do something reckless for a change.

"I will be rough," he had told her the moment they stepped into the room, and even though that wasn't her kind of sex, she nodded.

"I think we have all had enough of smooth, kind and chaste sex. At least, I have." Because that was all she had with Ken in the past— lights off, pillows down, and a religious kind of sex that was always too decent. Too formal.

She needed something to forget the cheating bastard, and maybe doing all they had never done will do the job. Very impractical, but worth trying.

"I totally agree." Nicholas husked with hard breath.

Tossing her purse to the floor, Kim kicked off her shoes and lunged at him, pushing him hard to the bed.

She kissed him fiercely, with vengeance and determination to put the memory of the day behind her, and he matched her stroke for stroke.

There had been grunts and moans of satisfaction and ecstasy. The experience had been relishing, and it was one she'd never forget, because foolish as it had been, it had been something she had never experienced before.

She had sneaked out of the hotel room very early in the morning when she woke up and had left without a word.

"I suppose you're trying to summon your memories?" Nicholas asked, snapping her out of her reverie.

A blush stained Kimberly's cheeks when she realized she had zoned out in front of him and had been thinking of him naked.

"I don't know what you are talking about," she denied.

She was an incredible actress, Nicholas thought. He might have believed that she didn't recognize him, if he wasn't seeing the discomfort in her eyes— ones he knew so well because he had stared into them for hours, mesmerized by them, and even now they were still as mesmerizing, but that was beside the point. He wasn't going to let her off that easily.

If she wanted to play this game, then she just got herself a partner. Might he add, a very willing and enthusiastic one, Nicholas thought as he rose from his seat behind the desk.

Spotting the mischief in his eyes, Kimberly took a step back as she quickly thought about the turns that this drama could easily take, and she wasn't ready for any. She was too sleep deprived, too exhausted and too shocked to deal with something like this right now.

"Seeing as the chairman isn't here, I will come back later when he is around. Have a nice day." She said and turned on her heels.

"Running away again like you did that morning?" He asked, halting her.

"I beg your pardon." She turned around with a frown forming on her face.

A careless shrug crusied his shoulders. "What was it you said about smooth, kind and chaste sex again? I think I liked you better when you were drunk. At least you seemed smarter and more honest then." He said with disapproval.

At this point, her frown had turned into a full blown scowl. "What do you want? Do you want me to accept that I recognize you?"

"Well, that is a start," he said, unable to believe that his interesting one might stand was the woman, who was trying to manipulate his father.

Her brows gathered as she leveled her gaze on him and took a step closer. "Just to give you the acceptance that you seem to desperately need, I accept. I recognize you. We met and we had sex. Past tense. What else?"

What else was— Damn it! Why was he flustered?

Her countenance was cold and challenging, and her lips seemed to be working up something they were going to throw at him.

And just before he could find the words to throw her off, her lips were already rolling.

"And what the hell are you doing here?" She snapped angrily, ready to unleash all her frustration on him since he was part of the cause of her problems.

Nicholas raised a brow, taken aback by her sudden outburst, "I should be asking you."

"Asking me what?" That defiant cock of her brow and tilt of her chin was somewhat distractive, and it spoke volumes of her stubbornness, much to his irritation.

"What are you doing here? Was it all a part of your grand plan?"

Her brows creased in confusion. "What grand plan?"

"Did you approach me on purpose?" He asked and Kimberly opened her mouth and shut it.

He was insane were the first words that came into her head, and he must have felt the profanity, because his face tightened. Or maybe it was just him staring too closely at her.

"Do I need to remind you that you approached me, not the other way round? What grand plan are you talking about? And why the hell are you in Mr Vice's office and seating on his seat?" She asked, and Nicholas cocked a brow.

"Are you still pretending not to know who I am?" He asked and she scoffed.

"You must be so full of yourself to think I don't have better things to do with my time than to find out who you are. I don't know who you are, so you either tell me or go to hell. I have work to attend to," she said and seeing how annoyed she was, Nicholas decided that it was either she was innocent or a very good actress.

"I am Mr Vice. Nicholas Vice." He introduced himself.