His Games, Her Rules

The air is cold outside. I run my palms up and down my arms as I look down the road with different cars parked on the curb and in the parking lot.

I had to step out. I had to breathe in fresh air because if I’d stayed in there any minute longer, I may have caused a heartache for myself and maybe caused a scene.

I still can’t believe he’s in there as the hospital’s new shareholder. In fact, I thought after the party Monique invited me to, I was never going to see him again. But hell fucking no, he just happened to walk right back into my life and he’s making me question my own sanity.

Why can’t he just go away and never come back?

“Red does look good on you.” A familiar voice says.

I turn around, coming face to face with him for the second time in three weeks. I lock eyes with his ocean-blue eyes, wondering how on earth he’s always so calm when he’s fucking corny. I’m not dumb, behind this whole calm exterior, I can swear on my dad’s life that there’s a whole different man in there. And he knows I know that.

For the first time since I found out this man existed, I took my time to stare at him. His perfectly squared jaw is tight like he’s been clenching and unclenching them. He’s attractive, but yet terrifying. He’s annoyingly sexy and gorgeous, but yet dangerous. Dominique Gray screams power and class. He’s not your typical billionaire. Lying behind his custom-made suit is a dangerous man, I could tell the minute we locked eyes. He’s the type of man you don’t want to double-cross or mess with, yet he wears a calm exterior like a second skin.

It’s pretty obvious he built his wealth from the ground to the point where he is at the moment. You could tell when you see a rich boy who got handed a silver platter and a man who worked for it. Dominique Gray is no rich boy, nor is he nice. He’s dangerous, he’s corny, and he’s manipulative.

Dominique Gray slowly runs his eyes down my body, taking his time to check me out, and then he brings his gaze back to my face as he takes a step toward me so that we are a few inches apart. I can’t read his look. It’s just blank, but I’m very much aware a lot is going through his mind right now. And I badly want to know what he’s thinking. I’m good at reading people. I can tell who you are by a quick observation, but not with Dominique Gray. This man is like a Rubik’s Cube. Complicated. And that just makes me frustrated.

And fuck me if he doesn’t smell really good, like wood or pine, with a mixture of an expensive cologne.

“What are you doing here?” I ask him.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“It’s the outside. People step outside for fresh air or privacy.”

“I’m pretty sure you know what I’m talking about. What are you doing here?” I point at St. Jose.

Dominique briefly smirks, eyes still fixed on my face as he says, “This isn’t about you, sweetheart.”

I raise my eyebrows, arms crossed underneath my breasts as I stare at this man. I’m still trying to figure out how he’s been everywhere ever since that incident three weeks ago.

“It isn’t about me, but yet, here you are as a new shareholder of the hospital that I work for. Why are you doing this?” I sound frustrated. “Why did you purchase shares from St. Jose all of a sudden? What are you trying to prove? Is this some sort of scheme you have going on for you? I don’t know, to tell me you have some sort of control over my life and if you wish anytime, you can just talk to the people that I work for to fire me because you own part of St. Jose all because I hit your fucking car?” I yell, and I sound exasperated right now.

He’s smirking. This motherfucker is smirking at me after my outburst. He thinks this is amusing. This is amusing to him, isn’t it? God, I want to punch that smirk off his pretty face and rub his face against the pavement.

Dominique looks so reserved, collected, and it just pisses me off.

I sigh and run my fingers through my hair. “Look, I’m sorry I hit your car. I’ve said sorry a hundred times and I even offered to pay. You can’t just barge into my life and try to fuck shit up.”

And just like that, the smirk is gone, replaced with a blank expression. “What do you think this is?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me? You can’t just tell a lady she owes you all because she fucking hit your car… and ran off.” I add, groaning under my breath.

“Well, actually, I can. And you do owe me.”

I groan. Why’s he so fucking difficult?

“I don’t owe you shit. I offered to pay but you wouldn’t take my money.”

“That’s because I’ve fixed my car and I don’t need your money. You didn’t think I would just let my car sit in my garage and wait for you to magically come back so that you would pay for repairs? I know you’re smarter than that, Robyn.” Robyn. My name sounded so foreign to my ears when he said it. So smooth.

“How did you know my name?”

Slowly, he smirks, not a full smirk though, just the raise of his lips and then he licks his bottom lip and takes another step toward me, crowding my space. I step back at once, hitting my butt against a solid surface that feels like a car. It’s a car.

I’m tilting my head up, looking up at this tall and domineering man. From head to toe, he reeks of power and dominance, and on a normal day, this is the type of man I shouldn’t mess with. The whole calm exterior is just a trap, and what’s hiding behind that exterior, I don’t think I’m ready to find out.

Dominique smirks for real this time, taking up the little space in between us as he looks down at me, with my back pressed against a car. I’m crossing my arms, eyes still locked with his as I match his gaze. I want him to know that I’m not scared of him. To see that no matter how hard he’s trying to scare me, I’m not that girl who’s going to cower. He needs to understand that I’m not scared of him and that I’ve handled men like him in the past.

“I don’t know what games you’re trying to play, but I’m not interested.”

“Games?” Dominique asks, his voice deep and rich. “You seriously think I bought shares from a hospital that cost me millions of dollars just because I want to play a game with you? You can’t be that daft, Robyn.”

“Then, what’s this? What do you want? Sex?”

“Sex? Is that what you want?” Dominique asks, tilting his head to the side.

I burst into a chuckle, still staring up at this man. Fuck, he’s corny.

Dominique watches me with little to no interest. He looks so reserved with his hands deep in his pants pockets.

“Nuh-uh. You can’t do that. You can’t put words in my mouth and plant them in my head. That’s just shitty.”

“Mmm.”

“And I don’t want sex, especially from you.”

Dominique raises his eyebrows, a cocky smirk gracing his handsome face.

“I wouldn’t make promises that I won’t keep if I were you.” He says this slowly, taking his time. I feel like he’s doing this to torture me.

“Yeah? Why don’t we see about that? The fact that you’re a billionaire doesn’t mean you’ll always get what you want.”

“And what’s it you think that I want?” He asks calmly, but yet there’s arrogance in his tone as he brings his eyes down my body. “You?”

Wow, what an arrogant prick.

I’m not stupid. I see the way he looks at me. I see the desire in his eyes and the hunger. I may not know what he’s trying to get out of the games that he’s playing with me, but I’m never going to give him the satisfaction that he’s going to win. Not this time. If he’s used to having his way with everything and anything, he needs to understand I’m not the type of girl he can easily subdue.

He needs to try harder.

I pull myself away from the car and uncross my arms to grip the lapel of his suit. Shit, this man is built like a god. I can feel his strong abs through the suit material and how rigid he feels at my touch. He’s trying so hard to keep his composure at bay and he’s good. With the way he’s looking at me, he looks the least interested, but I can’t be fooled. He’s a man, and I’m a woman, and I don’t want to brag, but I know I’m a beautiful woman. And he knows that too and that gives me a little power over him.

With our eyes still locked, I slowly pull him toward me, and he lets me. Despite wearing heels, he’s taller than me.

I lean on my toes to whisper into his ear, “I see the way you look at me. I can even smell the hunger from here… Dominique Gray. I know you want to fuck me, desperately, if I might add, but you need to understand one thing; I’m not every other girl, and you need to try harder,” I voice out, my breath warm against his skin. “I don’t know what little games you are playing, and you and I know you’re playing these little games…” I pause to look at him and I’m not surprised by the blank expression on his face. “You’re not gonna win. Not this time anyway.”

Slowly, a smirk creeps up his perfect face as he grabs my hands on his lapel and drops it by my side. His hands are strong, so masculine and I hate that. I hate that he’s so calm. I hate that he’s everywhere. I hate the way his voice is low and deep and fucking sexy. And I hate that I have to admit to that. I hate that he’s so good-looking, arrogant, annoying, and at the same time mysterious. I fucking hate him so much even though we barely know each other. How can one man rev me up this much?

“I see you’ve done your research, Robyn. But if you should know one thing, sweetheart…” Dominique takes one last step so that we’re breathing the same air. My tits are nearly touching his suit material and I feel his fingers on the material of my dress. Dominique brings his right hand to my face as he slowly tucks my hair behind my ear. “…you should know I don’t have the luxury of time to play games with you or anyone for that matter. And if I want to fuck you like you’re so confident about, I don’t think you have it in you to resist. Well, not for long actually.” His words are so smooth and his voice deep.

He knows what he’s doing. He’s pushing my buttons, pushing them to know how far he can push them before I break.

What kind of man is he?

My eyebrows are elevated by his arrogance and confidence, which for some reason, is just fucking hot. “That’s a lot of confidence, Mr. Gray.”

“It’s not confidence. It’s called fact.”

“Fact? The fact that you truly want to pin me against your wall and have your way with me?” I whisper, and just like that, his eyes betray him. There was a glimpse of desire in his eyes, even though it lasted for only a second.

I chuckle. “Well, keep dreaming, you disgusting asshole. I don’t like assholes, especially the rich ones. And for the record, I don’t owe you shit. If you’d never fixed your car, I would have done that for you, even though I fled the crime scene.” I say.

There’s a long silence, with none of us planning on putting an end to it. After what feels like an eternity, Dominique breaks the silence.

“It was nice talking to you, Ms. Denver,” Dominique says, looking down at his lapel before he brings his gaze back to my face. He doesn’t move or walk away.

“There you are. I’ve been looking…” a voice says as Dominique and I turn toward the source of the voice. Monique halts on her track as she looks at the scene before her eyes.

Dominique turns to look at me as he leans forward to whisper into my ear, “Playing hard to get doesn’t suit you, Robyn. And sooner or later, you’re gonna give in. And a little tip: you should wear red more often. It brings out the color of your eyes.”

Dominique steps away as he turns around and walks toward the entrance of the hospital, a curt nod at Monique who’s standing by the entrance starstruck, as he disappears behind the transparent double doors.

Well, talk about a complicated man.

With hasty steps, Monique rushes towards me. I look up at the sky and expel my breath through my nose with my arms enveloping myself.

“What the fuck was that about?” Monique asks, a big grin on her face.

I furrow my eyebrows at her.

“The sexual tension… come on, that must have been something.”

“That was nothing.”

“That was not nothing. What did he whisper into your ear? And why?”

“Can we go home, please? I’m tired and I badly want to get out of these heels so bad.”

“Yeah. We’re gonna go come and you’re gonna tell me what the hell just happened? That was a lot of sexual tension and you can’t just brush it off like it’s not nothing. That was obviously something.”

I mutter, desperately wishing Monique would drop it. “Right.”