PART TWELVE

- Deception Offices-

"What kind of game are you playing, Katherine?" Nikolas' voice cut through the conversations in the room and turned heads.

Sweeping across the room to touch his arm, Katherine gave him an indulgent smile. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She gestured to the luxurious buffet at the other side of the room. "Why don't you get plate and some wine-"

"You told me that Elizabeth couldn't come to the party because this was about the campaign."

"And it is!" She gave a winning smile to a couple passing by. "What has you so upset?"

Nikolas pointed to the poster, the happy couple dancing on the roof amidst an ethereal whisp of clouds and a band playing in the next building over. "You knew that Elizabeth helped me fine tune the idea. You knew that, Katherine and you told me she wasn't welcome!"

Katherine's laugh was nervous and she grabbed the finely tailored lapel of his suit coat and pulled him into the hallway. "Why is this such a big issue for you, Nikolas? Sure, she gave you a few suggestions, trying to bolster your ego, but you… you were the one that brought them all together… You were the one that lead this team. You made this campaign the huge success it is. I wanted to acknowledge that and thank you."

She reached out and set her hand on his torso, fanning her fingers out across the expensive custom shirt. "To show you how much you're missed by the team…" she leaned a fraction of an inch closer, "by me."

Nikolas tried to move away, but she extended her other hand, bracing it against the wall, pressing her body against his from knee to chest. "Katherine, stop."

"Stop? Stop dreaming about you in my arms?" Her voice echoed in his ears. "Stop needing you in the middle of the night? Stop thinking of the family we've made together?"

"We," he ground out between his clenched teeth, "didn't make a family." "I am making a family with Elizabeth. Don't think you're going to distract me with words and the offer of 'other things.' I've walked away from you before." He turned his face away from her when she leaned closer. "And I'm going to keep doing it until you get the idea."

Katherine felt him pulling away as she heard the soft ding of the elevator. Fueled by anger and frustration she reached out and arm and yanked Nikolas back toward her. Her strength shocked them both, and before either of them knew what was happening, Katherine had spun them until her back was against the wall. Nikolas, afraid of falling off balance, braced both of his arms against the wall.

Her arms free, she slid one hand behind his neck, the other around his torso to cup his muscular backside and pulled him flush against her body and her lips.

When the elevator opened up, the two Deception employees that stepped out where treated to the sight of their boss and her boy toy making out, hot and heavy, in the hallway.

By the time he'd extricated himself from her arms, a few people had seen them pressed intimately together in the hall. Nikolas ripped off his tie and took the stairs down to the parking lot fuming with anger.

-Alexis' House-

It had taken awhile to get NIkolas on the phone. Alexis knew from talking to Elizabeth that there had been a party the night before at the Deception offices. When her nephew picked up she could hear the rough scratch of his voice. "Hello?"

"Nikolas, hi… this is Alexis. I was hoping you could come by for dinner."

"Uh… well, tonight might not be-"

"The engagement party is next week, Nikolas, we have a number of things to discuss to make sure this works out the right way. I really need you to come by tonight. Seven o'clock."

She hung up knowing she'd pushed him into it, but there was one big thing that needed to be addressed. Immediately.

-Nikolas' House-

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, Nikolas scrubbed his hand over his face, enjoying the painful rasp of stubble against his palm. Pain was good. Pain like this was only a tiny measure of what he deserved.

Katherine had kissed him last night. She had all but forced her tongue into his mouth and even though he'd brushed his teeth nearly two dozen times and used a bottle of mouthwash he could still feel her lips on his mouth.

The thought drove him over the edge and what little bile was left in his stomach came boiling up into his mouth. He spit it out into the sink and turned the water on to try to wash out the taste.

He only had a few hours before he had to meet Alexis at her house. Alexis… and Elizabeth.

Flinging back the shower curtain, Nikolas dropped the towel from his waist and stepped inside again. He'd already taken a shower, but just thinking about the party last night… he felt the need to be clean.

-Alexis' House-

Nikolas climbed out of his jaguar and shut the door with a dull thud. Lowering his chin to his chest he let out a pent up breath. He was struggling to lose the dark mood he was in. Elizabeth, dear God, Elizabeth didn't deserve to know about what an ass he'd been. Instead of dropping his keys into his pocket he juggled them in his hand intending to get back in the car.

"Nikolas!" Her voice hit him like a blow.

Turning, he had every intention of giving her any excuse he could think of, but he took one look at her beautiful beaming face and he felt a smile curve his own lips. And when she launched herself from the front steps and ran up to Nikolas, his keys dropped from his hand as his arms were suddenly filled with a beautiful giggling wonderful woman.

"It's about time you got here!" She squeezed him tight with a hug before she slid down his body and took his hand, dragging him toward the house.

Nikolas could do nothing by follow behind her, feeling as though he'd just been caught up in a tornado… and still the smile on his lips was steady, strong… just like Elizabeth's hold on his hand.

Once inside the door, Elizabeth dropped his hand and shut the door. "He's here!"

Alexis emerged from the kitchen and smiled at her nephew. "I wasn't sure," she admitted, "the way you sounded on the phone earlier, I almost expected you to beg off and stay home."

His guilty look had her nodding.

"And if you had done that, Elizabeth and I would have packed everything up and brought it to your house. So hiding, my darling nephew, does NOT work. Not from two intelligent and determined women."

Nikolas looked at Elizabeth and saw her definitive nod. "Okay. So I am here… as ordered. What do we need to talk about?"

Alexis gave him a sharp look that checked him in his place. "First, there was no ordering… only a loving dictatorship here… from your lawyer, I might add, so I'll get right down to the point. Dinner is in the kitchen and," she looked at her watch, "your father is picking me up in a few minutes to take me to dinner and a movie. You two," she pointed at them each with a hand, "need to get a little more…. comfortable with each other. We have your engagement party coming up and it will be the first time you'll be under intense scrutiny and be observed by people who we'd like to be able to call on if there is a custody battle."

Nikolas suddenly felt the walls closing in on him, but he didn't run… yet.

"So while I'm gone, you two should take the opportunity to practice."

"Practice?" Elizabeth's voice was a bit higher than its normal pitch. "Practice what?"

There was a knock at the door and Alexis moved quickly to it, pickingup her purse and coat at the door before she swung it open to reveal Stefan standing just outside. Alexis handed him her purse and pulled on her jacket. "Well, you two should look comfortable with each other… general a couple that's engaged will touch each other in many ways without thinking about it. You two need to look natural with each other."

Nikolas opened his mouth, hoping that they could put this off for at least a day or so, but Alexis jumped right back in.

"And at the engagement party, you'll be expected to show your affection for each other," she saw Elizabeth open her mouth and cut her off as well, "romantic affections… and yes, after your father offers his toast for the happy couple," she gave the two a pointed look apiece, "you'll be expected to kiss. Okay, so now that you have your orders for the evening. We're gone."

She all but pushed Stefan out the door and shut it behind them.

-Outside-

Stefan opened the limousine door for Alexis and waited for her to settle on the seat before he handed her purse to her. "Don't you think that was a bit…"

"Pushy?" She laughed at Stefan's strained expression and waited for him to sit down beside her. "If this was an ideal situation, we could wait months for them to realize how they feel about each other. Instead, we have your money-grubbing ex-fiance breathing down their necks and if we want Nikolas to be happy… well, he's going to have to step it up and make this happen… sooner, rather than later."

Stefan looked out the window as the car pulled away from the house and onto the main road. "Women in our family have always been the most aggressive planners-"

"And," she reminded him, "the most successful."

Stefan, intelligently, remained quiet.

-Alexis' living room-

"Are you hungry?"

Elizabeth looked over at Nikolas. "No… not really." She had, but with Alexis' announcement, the thought of food had gone to the back of her brain. "You?"

Nikolas looked once at the door to the kitchen and then back to her. "No… not really."

"Okay." Elizabeth swallowed and licked at her lips.

Nikolas watched her unconscious action and struggled not to kiss her. The thought, the very thought of pressuring Elizabeth to let him kiss her… turned his stomach. "Look, Elizabeth. I know what Alexis said, but we don't have to."

"We don't?" Confusion pouted her lips and made them all the more appealing. "Why not? We are trying to get people to believe that we're really a couple."

"Yes, but we don't have to pretend to be more… 'involved' than we are." He moved closer, trying to reassure her. "Not everyone starts marriage being physically intimate with each other. Making us 'seem' like we are isn't necessary."

Elizabeth moved closer, smiling at him. "I don't think Alexis meant 'that' kind of intimate, she just wants us to not be all nervous when we touch each other." She reached out and took his hand in hers. "That we don't look shocked when it happens," she took his other hand and gave it a little squeeze. "See? Like this." Leaning forward, Elizabeth laid her cheek on his shoulder.

She felt him tense against her. "Breathe, Nikolas… breathe… I'm not going to hurt you."

He slowly drew in a breath and let it go, marvelling at how just standing here with Elizabeth, her cheek pillowed on his shoulder, left him more shaken and primally stirred than being intimate with Katherine.

Leaning down, he laid his cheek on the top of Elizabeth's head. The scent of her shampoo was intoxicating. His eyes closed as he drew her scent in again and again, turning his head slightly to press a kiss on her forehead.

"Hmmm.." she sighed at the gentle touch.

"Elizabeth?" The sound of his own voice sounded foreign to him, the rumble of a groan built up inside his chest as Elizabeth let go of his hands and slipped her arms around his middle.

"Mmhmm?" She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder, pulling him closer to her.

He wrapped his arms around her, and settled his hands at the curve of her lower back, enjoying her warmth. "Elizabeth, I..."

Tilting her head back slightly, she opened her eyes, her lashes fluttering as she struggled to rise up from the languid heat of his embrace. "Hmmm, yes?"

Nikolas was transfixed as he looked down at her. The soft light in the room melded with the dark evening light from outside the house. Her soft and perfect lips were parted at the end of her words and her eyes… those amazing eyes that appeared so many times in his dreams… were looking up at him with such tenderness.

His mind told him he'd regret it later, but the heavy beat of his heart in his chest wasn't having any of it. Nikolas wet his bottom lip a moment before he slanted his mouth over hers.