Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106159 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
“I thought he was an intruder,” Saka defends.
“With his pants huddled around his ankles and a condom wrapped around his cock? Sure. That sounds logical.”
My sass takes a back seat when Saka says, “And how lucky was she that I forced her to dodge that bullet? What were his charges again…?” He taps his lips like his brain isn’t an encyclopedia. “Numerous accounts of aggravated assault and deprivation of liberty for dates he attended before and after Taylor introduced him into your life.” He drops his hand from his mouth before warning with a confidence I can’t ignore, “I told you he was bad news, and I’m telling you again now that this man will be the same.”
“Then why the fuck are you standing here doing nothing?” I ask while marching to the counter to retrieve my cell phone from the bottom drawer.
Saka looks as desperate as me to race out of the store when numerous attempts to reach Taylor go unanswered, but something is holding him back.
When I realize that something is me, I say, “I already gave you permission to leave.”
His hesitation this time around is nowhere near as long. It barely lasts three full beats. “If you leave this store—”
“I won’t. I promise.” I cross my heart like I did nights ago. “You have my word.”
I don’t deserve his trust, but it is nice to have. After a final warning to keep my defenses up, he hotfoots it outside and disappears in the foot traffic Polina is desperate to divert through her store.
I thought I’d relish being alone with nothing but my thoughts, but my worry steals the joy. Saka is a little overprotective, but his intuition isn’t something to be messed with. If he tells you someone is bad news, you’d be a fool to ignore his caution.
I’ve never been more grateful for the annoying chime of the bell above the boutique door. Keeping occupied may be the only way to save my nails from being gnawed to stubs.
As I exhale the jitters in my stomach, I spin to greet a customer I’m praying has deep pockets. Things have been a little slow since Polina’s brother, Alek, and his crew moved abroad. There aren’t as many trafficked women to dress when the leader of that syndicate leaves town.
“Welcome to—” I can’t breathe, much less speak, when my eyes land on the man who’s occupied my thoughts for all the hours of the past few days.
Just like in the alleyway and those tantalizing minutes in the private room at Spanks, Matvei’s watch does crazy things to my insides. They dance like I had more than Wheaties for breakfast and prove that lust is the most potent drug on the market.
Seconds ago, my stomach was twisted up in knots in panic. Now it is doing somersaults in excitement, which is ludicrous to consider. I owe this man far more than the two minutes I shaved off my “performance” by kneeling before him.
I contacted Jax the morning after that fateful night. He removed Maksim from my list by placing Matvei’s name at the top in big capital letters.
Jax said my “client” was so taken aback by the tension burning between us that he preempted us needing more than twenty minutes.
He paid for an entire night.
I shouldn’t hope Matvei is here to collect. I don’t want to be bought, but the prompts of my body appear involuntary when he’s close enough to smell his enticing aftershave.
After wetting my parched lips, I pretend he’s a regular customer. “Is there something I can help you with?”
I realize I don’t have Saka’s trust when the back door of the boutique pours late afternoon sunshine into the store. After shrugging out of the winter coat that announces she wasn’t at her apartment when Saka called her to babysit me, Polina’s wary gaze floats up from her shoes.
She frowns at my frozen state before shifting her focus to Matvei. I’m not shocked when her mouth gapes more in response to his expensive threads than his timeless face. She is obsessed with fashion. It is ranked one spot below Yev.
“I didn’t think Magenta was bringing out that collection until the end of the year?” She stores her coat on a hanger hidden from customers before merging deeper into her boutique. “Only a handful of vendors were given early access to those pieces, and they weren’t to be sold.” It’s an effort to drag her eyes from Matvei's coat to his face, but their shift announces she has red blood in her veins like the rest of us. A pink hue hits her cheeks as her mouth parts to suck in much-needed breaths, but she maintains a professional front. “You must know people in high places.”
Her laugh is fake, but it shifts Matvei’s focus from me to her. “Depends on your definition of friend.”