Page 74 of Diamond Don

We ride in the elevator down to the garage in silence. It disturbs me how at ease he is. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this content—and almost even relaxed.

I’m bursting at the seams with a million questions, but last night’s events still linger in my mind. I don’t want to ruin this moment or his mood. I don’t want to burst this happy, comfortable bubble we’re in right now.

Nik and I finally get to the garage and he leads me to a white Mercedes G-Class car. I’m surprised when he opens the passenger side door for me with a small smile.

“Where’s your driver?” I ask.

“I’m driving today. I think I’d like it better if it’s just the two of us for this,” he says enigmatically.

I get in the car and buckle up as he walks around the vehicle to reach the driver’s side. After turning the car on, he shifts into reverse and pulls out of the parking spot.

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” I ask.

“Nah, I don’t think I will. I think it’ll be more fun if it’s a surprise.” With a smirk, he slips his sunglasses on as we exit the garage and merge into traffic.

The sight of him with his black Wayfarers on is, of course, devastating. It takes an excessive amount of self-restraint to stop myself from asking him to pull over so I can jump his bones immediately. Somehow, I manage it. Instead, I tell him, “Maybe you haven’t noticed this, but I’m not exactly great with surprises. I’m not a go-with-the-flow kind of girl.”

“I don’t know about that, Kat. I think you’ve been going with the flow just fine. I can’t say that learning that you’re a bit of a control freak would surprise me, though.”

I scoff, outraged at his hypocrisy. “Me? A control freak? You’re one to talk, mister.”

Nik laughs again. The lovely sound doesn’t make my life any easier. The urge to throw myself at him is almost unbearable.

“You are literally trying to control me through sex, Kat.” He smirks at me.

“I’m just doing what I can with the hand I’ve been dealt. I can’t just ignore the resources at my disposal.”

Over the rim of his sunglasses, Nik practically undresses me with his eyes. He takes his time looking at me from head to toe before sighing. “I know just how you feel. I have a hard time ignoring your resources myself. No pun intended.”

Once again, the man is just more than I’ve bargained for. I could deal with grumpy Nik. But smirking, flirty Nik is way more than I can handle.

“Listen, it’s your fault, too,” I say with an unladylike snort. “If you weren’t so freaking bossy, I wouldn’t feel the need to wrestle some of the control of this situation from you.”

“I’m not bossy, Kat. I’m the boss. Of you, at least.” He smiles again and my heart does a somersault. I roll my eyes at him, and he laughs. I could really get used to the sound of it…

After a moment of comfortable silence, I start getting restless. Fidgety, even. Nik hasn’t said anything else. He seems perfectly content to just sit there and drive, looking gorgeous.

“Hey, shotgun picks the music, right?” I ask, needing some distraction.

“Sure, why not?”

I connect my phone to the car’s sound system and spend the rest of the drive occupying myself with the soundtrack to our little impromptu drive—nothing too romantic, nothing too sexy.

At last, Nik pulls into a graveled side road. Shortly after, he slows down as we approach an open field. From my car seat, I glance around the area. There isn’t much around us. I spot an asphalted road and a massive expanse of grass, but nothing else.

Nik comes over to my side. After opening my door, he offers his hand to help me out of the car.

“Where are we?” I ask. The words are barely out of my mouth when I realize the asphalted road is a landing strip. A tarmac. “Is this an airfield?”

“Of sorts. I used to come here a lot,” he says, pulling me away from the car.

As Nik leads me toward a small airplane, I’m so distracted by its bright red and white colors that I don’t notice the man approaching us.

“Nikolai,” he says in greeting. “It’s good to see you, man. It’s been a while.”

“Yuri.” Nik shakes the man’s hand. “This is Kat. Kat, Yuri here is our pilot today.”

“Our pilot?” I ask, turning to face him. “As in, we are going into that thing?”

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