Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 81947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81947 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Unfortunately, she’d woken up in mid-sentence, pissed as hell at being forced to sleep in my bed last night.
Just wait until she learned I expected her to sleep in it again, not only tonight, but for the foreseeable future.
I set my coffee cup down. “I know, baby. That’s why you also didn’t see the deadly ramifications of giving five knockoff Mona Lisas to a bloodthirsty shit bag of a dictator.”
Vivian tripped over the long sheet as she attempted to cross the bedroom to me. Hiking up the sheet and exposing a nice bit of leg in the process, she stomped over to me. “That’s not fair! You don’t exactly have the high road in this, Mr. I don’t work for the mafia, I am the mafia.”
I cupped her jaw. “There’s a difference between us.”
Her emerald gaze narrowed. “What difference?”
“I have guns and a dick.”
Her mouth opened on a gasp as I moved to the closet to step into a pair of Taft jack boots with a gold and blue filigree accent pattern.
Her hand rested on her hip as she stood on the threshold. “That is the most misogynistic, patronizing, chauvinistic, sexist bullshit I’ve ever heard.”
“Then buckle up, sweetheart, because you’re not going to like what comes next,” I warned.
I left the closet and followed her as I secured the crocodile leather strap of my Patek Philippe Gobbi Milan Heures Universelles watch to my wrist. The blue face would complement my attire, but mostly, the asshole I was meeting with would immediately recognize it as a seven-million-dollar watch. I’d learned that men rarely try to haggle or be difficult when they knew upfront I didn’t need their measly millions.
In business, even an illegal one, it was all about perception. The ones who were truly successful never overlooked a single detail. A watch, a tie, the tightness of my handshake grip, even what kind of coffee I was drinking, would all send a message about who I was… mainly not someone to fuck with.
She shuffled backward as the sheet twisted and gathered around her ankles, hindering her movement.
I followed her. “From this point forward, I expect you to behave. No more bullshit lies. No more disobeying me. No more questioning my motives.”
Her eyes widened as she straightened her spine. The knuckles on her right hand turned white as she gripped the sheet around her tighter. “Wow. You really are a piece of work. Just tell me where my paintings are, and I’m out of here.” She leaned forward and pointed. “And I don’t give a fuck if I have to wear this stupid, goddamn sheet down Michigan Avenue when I leave, so it’s pointless threatening to keep my clothes.”
A downside of being attracted to a filthy mouthed, disobedient, incredibly stubborn and equally intelligent and beautiful brat was that she used those same traits to challenge me.
I pushed her back against the wall. “Listen closely, baby girl. I will not be disobeyed in this. Your paintings are gone. I destroyed them.”
Her lower lip trembled. “You destroyed my work?”
“It would have been dangerous and destabilizing to allow them to hit the black market.”
She ducked under my arm and shuffled away, tripping over the long sheet again. “How dare you ruin my work!”
I placed my hands on my hips as I turned to face off with her. “I’m warning you, Vivian. You are messing with shit that is none of your business. Let it go.”
Her body became still as she slowly inhaled and exhaled several times.
A frisson of awareness ran up my spine.
The tension in the room thickened, like the calm before a battle.
My gaze took stock of her immediate vicinity for any priceless projectiles that were within arm’s reach.
A ghost of a smile lifted the corner of her full mouth.
I’m not afraid to admit… it was terrifying.
Damn, this woman kept me on my fucking toes.
She threw her arm wide, while still keeping hold of the sheet. “Thank you for making this so much easier.”
There was definitely a catch. I waited.
She inhaled again as she glared at me. “It’s been maddening these last few days, both hating you and being attracted to you. I’ve been tearing myself up with guilt each time I succumbed, knowing you were nothing but toxic for me.”
Fuck.
Her arm reached down to gather the folds of the sheet. “But now I’m officially done. Done with pretending to be your assistant. Done with caring what that other Russian dude is going to threaten when I tell him I can’t get the paintings. And definitely done with you.”
After her dramatic announcement, she turned and tried to leave the bedroom in a flourish of silk sheets and righteous anger.
The moment she opened the door, I reached over her head and slammed it shut. Grasping her shoulders, I whipped her around to face me. With a scowl, I demanded, “Did you say that other Russian dude? Explain. Now.”