Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 48709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48709 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 244(@200wpm)___ 195(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
We can’t stop.
She looks over, shaking her head slightly as if to say, We shouldn’t be laughing. This is crazy.
I grin, and we laugh some more.
Finally, we calm down. I lean away, shaking my head the same way she does.
“I can say one thing for sure,” she says quietly. “I never thought I’d end the night laughing with Damien Dovlatov.”
“Yes, I can imagine it’s quite strange,” I say. “I thought you might hate me for the part I played in the truce. But it was the choice between that and…”
“So much worse,” she whispers.
I swallow. “Exactly.”
We’re silent for a time, gliding through the night. I sneak glances over at her every few moments. She’s got her legs folded, the hem of her dress revealing those thick and juicy thighs.
It’s difficult not to reach over, to indulgently sink my hands into them.
We drive on.
Later, she says, “I shouldn’t have said anything, should I?”
“When?” I ask.
“When Gabriel said I was your fiancée. He was giving you an out, wasn’t he?”
I nod. “In his twisted way, yeah, he was trying to. A man with his ego can’t let an insult go. It’s pathetic. It’s a sign of weakness, but it’s who he is. So he would’ve seen it as his right to punish you for it. He could freely admit he’d overstepped if we were going to be married. Nobody would blame him for letting it go. It’s a marriage matter. That’s how a lot of people think in our life.”
She laughs softly. “That’s such a lovely proposal…sorry, bad joke.”
I will propose one day, and not as a joke.
“Are you nervous, Liliana?”
She looks at me as if to say duh.
I nod. “Fair enough. Yeah. Stupid question.”
“Stupid question. I never thought you’d say things like that.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Admit weakness, I guess, or that you could do wrong.”
I laugh darkly. “Liliana, let me tell you, it’s the ones who think they can’t do any wrong who do the most. It’s not a good way for a leader to think. To be effective, you have to be relentless with yourself to win. You have to become sharper, tougher, all the time. You can’t ever stop. Because if you do, if you slip, people move in. Worse people.”
She raises her hands, like the force of my rage – as I remember all the violence of the war – is going to leap at her. “I’m sorry, Damien. I didn’t mean to….”
“It’s fine,” I say, turning back to the window. “This is just a strange night.”
“Yeah, we can agree there.”
CHAPTER
EIGHT
Liliana
I stand at the window, looking out at the light of the stars and the moon.
Everything’s so much brighter out here, without any pollution. It’s still not middle-of-nowhere bright, but it glistens down with the sky cloudless and the moon full.
It’s easier to stand here and watch rather than think about what happened at the party, than in the car afterward.
I remember how Damien was filled with rage, about the past, about injustice. It’s like there are two sides to him, the civilized and the beast.
I laugh at myself and try to make it a joke.
This isn’t Beauty and the Beast.
He wasn’t looking at me like that.
But there was something in his intense eyes, some glimmer. It wasn’t what I was feeling. And they were crazily out-of-place emotions anyway, as I thought about placing my hands on him, telling him it’s okay. You don’t have to hold it all in anymore. You have me.
Then I thought about what would come after, a kiss, more closeness….
Turning, I study the room. The bed is four-poster, fancier than any I’ve ever seen in person. The floors are smooth wood with rugs laid here and there, with an open-plan layout to the large ensuite. There’s even a hot tub and a steam room in there.
The closets have fluffy bathrobes but no clothes.
I hug mine tighter around myself, walking across the room and sitting on the bed.
We laughed together in the car. It was just a moment, maybe five seconds, but it felt so special to me. I wonder if he was just being nice, humoring me so I’d feel better about coming here. Or if there was something real there.
After that, we didn’t say much. The driver brought us here, and Damien led me to my room.
He stood in the doorway, looming in his suit, looking like a knight in his armor. It was so silly how these thoughts kept rushing through my mind, digging my fingernails into his shirt so I could feel his muscle beneath.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” he said.
“You will?”
It felt like a freaking regency drama or something, all with the panic and excitement of the night rushing through me.
As I was thinking, Where is Uncle Nick?
And, What the heck is going to happen?
And, Does he think I look pretty in this dress?