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)
She has her knights mixed up, so I can’t stomp on her fantasy more than Yev’s grief already has. Even a gentle shove could get her ensnared by Vasily’s clutch more than she already is, so I must tread carefully.
I’m also not eager to confess I’m so daft that I can’t tell the difference between a gym bag plumped out with ten thousand dollars and one housing over ten times that amount.
I feel like a fool.
After a silent sigh, I say, “Thank you for your purchase.” I hand the customer back a credit card like the one I could have access to if I were willing to be bought before saying, “Have a pleasant day.”
As the gray-haired woman exits the boutique, Saka enters it via the storeroom.
“Anything?” I ask, my eagerness undeniable.
Disappointment slams into me when he shakes his head. I didn’t tell him why I wanted him to track down Vasily’s home address. I simply said it was dire that I speak to him in private. I doubt he thinks it’s for anything sinister, but he’s not been as interrogating as usual the past few days. His thoughts are preoccupied.
“You can head home. Polina won’t be back for a few hours, but I’m fine here by myself.” He barely shakes his head for half a second. “Saka, go home. I am fine. No one knows I’m in Kronstadt”—thanks to the generosity of a stranger—“and even if they did, do you think they’d expect to find me here?” I wave my hand around the boutique store I am incredibly proud of for my friend, but conscious the price tags are nowhere near high enough for the Lefevre name. “I’m safe, and you’re exhausted.”
Even while scrubbing at his tired eyes with the back of his hand, he insists, “I’m fine.”
Needing a few moments to gather my thoughts while not tossing and turning in bed, I twist him to face the door, then march him out. “I’ll call you when I’m ready to be collected.”
His reply isn’t what I am aiming for, but it is better than him moping around the store with me. “I’ll wait for you in the car.”
“In the car I lent to Taylor?” His eyes meet with mine, but he remains quiet. “She needed to prep for her date with that guy she met over the weekend.”
His tone is the same one he uses while reprimanding me. “The guy who gave her an alias?”
“How do you know it’s an alias?” My mouth gapes when the truth smacks into me. “You did a background search on him!” The distance between my lips grows when he fails to deny my claim. “Does Taylor know you’re spying on her dates?”
“It isn’t spying. It is my job to know everyone you interact with or could interact with in the future.”
“He’s hot, isn’t he? That’s why your jaw is twitching.”
“My jaw is not twitching.” He works it side to side to make sure. “And the qualities of Ms. Monroe’s associates have no basis on my scale of their reputability.”
“He’s totally hot.”
He continues speaking as if I never spoke. “So both Ms. Monroe and yourself should take me at my word when I caution you against inviting this man into your home. A man with no past is shadier than a man with a record. Welcoming him into your inner circle could end badly.”
I barely balk, but Saka senses it more than he sees it.
“Spill. Now.”
“What?” I walk around the store as if a tornado ripped through it, and I urgently need to tidy it. “I didn’t say anything.”
“Natalya…” he grumbles in a low rumble, following me.
My resolve holds for thirty seconds. When it crumbles, it crumbles fast. How quickly Matvei got me on my knees proves this without a doubt. “Taylor asked me to take the afternoon shift today.” I rake my teeth over my lower lip before whispering, “Because she knew you’d be out of the apartment with me.” Hating his forlorn look, I add, “She said it was time for her to move on. That she was over flogging a dead horse. She looked miserable, and I wanted her to be happy again.”
“By inviting a stranger into your home? A man who could only be dating her to get to you?”
“I highly doubt that is true.” My tone is as angry as his, my annoyance just as high. “Taylor is gorgeous. She could have any guy she wants.”
“Except the one she wants!” He cusses, scrubs his hand over his head, then aligns his eyes with mine. “Did you at least ask for his number? Or where they were going?”
I feel like the worst friend in the world.
“Natalya…”
“She’s probably cooking for him. That’s why she wanted us out.” Suspicion runs rampant through my veins. “She still hasn’t forgiven me for the last time you ruined her date.”