Total pages in book: 172
Estimated words: 155984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 780(@200wpm)___ 624(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
“It gave me a headache is all.”
“I hope that’s all.” He bent forward and brushed a light kiss over it, feeling her shiver in response. “Thank you, Flambé, for agreeing to stay. After Matherson, it can’t be easy to give your trust to anyone, least of all a man like me.”
“A man like you?”
Her lashes made her look so innocent, those red-gold tips turning up right at the ends. He loved them already and knew he could spend a lifetime looking at them and never get tired.
“Don’t pretend you don’t know what I am or where I came from. There might not be mention of me in the papers, but there is of Mitya and Fyodor.”
Her eyes searched his. “I was holding out hope that the things they said in the papers weren’t true. Everyone wants to accuse people from Russia of being in organized crime just like they do if you’re Italian.”
“They’re true, Flambé. I was up front with you about what and who I am.” It was very possible, with the leopard’s heat on her so severely, she could barely understand a word he was saying.
“Leopards hear lies, Sevastyan, and that’s the first lie you’ve told me.” She tilted her head and studied his face. “Why would you want me to believe that you’re in the mob?”
He swore to himself but never changed expression. Didn’t blink. Didn’t look away from her. “My father was a vor. He ruled a lair in a brutal and savage way and trained me to be that way. Mitya’s father and Fyodor’s father were the same. Gorya’s father tried to get out and they killed him—his own brothers and sons. They would have killed Gorya—an infant—but Fyodor’s father had plans for him. I come from a very long line of evil leopards, Flambé, all of whom were bratya. That is the Russian equivalent to the mob. Perhaps the interpretation is lost in the way I speak and I sound as if I am speaking an untruth.”
Flambé searched his eyes. “Perhaps.” There was pure skepticism in her voice.
He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Out of curiosity, do you have any of your mother’s skills when it comes to cooking?”
“I hear pleading in your voice. Are you telling me you can’t cook?”
“It depends. I might be able to cook when it matters to me. That’s not when I’m hungry, only when it matters. I have no problem sharing the kitchen duties, in fact I like that idea, but it would be nice if you’re good at it.”
She put her hands on her hips. “I’m okay being the modern, hear-me-roar, I-can-do-it-all kind of woman, but what exactly are you bringing to the table?” Her gaze swept him up and down. “Aside from the obvious really good looks. Okay, brutally good looks. Aside from that, what are you bringing to the table?”
He stepped close to her, letting her feel his raw heat. The hot blood pounding through his veins. He dropped his voice to that velvet whisper of sheer command. “Sex, Flambé, the way no one else can or ever will give it to you. You’ll scream with pleasure, you’ll beg me for my cock. You’ll do anything I ask of you, just to feel that pleasure, knowing I’ll take you there over and over.”
He dropped a kiss on top of her head and put her hand in the crook of his arm when she continued to stare up at him looking shocked. “We’re going out the back way. Matherson has men watching the house. We’ll take the car in the underground garage. They don’t know about that one yet. There’s a tunnel that goes straight to Mitya’s property and comes out on the other side of his drive. I’ve texted him we’re using it and to alert his security people so they don’t decide to treat us like we’re the enemy.”
“You have a secret underground garage?”
“We do. Technically, since we’re going to be together and Shturm claimed Flamme, it’s our tunnel. I didn’t think of it first. The Dovers owned the property before me. They were all about cars and they had the underground tunnel put in. Ania, Mitya’s wife, didn’t even know about it until after her father died. We discovered it when we were clearing out the garage of all the cars the Dovers owned. We had to reinforce the tunnel with steel in a few places, but it’s a nice escape route for us and for them. Dover had a few surprises for us.”
She looked around. “I love the house.”
“The best is upstairs. The entire floor is dedicated to a bedroom, sitting room and bathroom. That floor has a wraparound balcony. It wasn’t the master bedroom. That’s downstairs, but I prefer the upstairs room. I had that one remodeled before anything else. I’ll show it to you sometime.” Sooner than later, he was certain, going by her leopard’s antics. In the meantime, he was going to do whatever he could to earn her trust.