Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90084 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90084 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 450(@200wpm)___ 360(@250wpm)___ 300(@300wpm)
“Oh. Right.” If blushing could kill a girl, I’d keel over. That has to be the sexiest single sentence I’ve ever heard in my life. I mean, he’s obviously an arrogant prick and clearly deranged and dangerous, given the whole aiming a gun at me thing, but my god.
There’s something about his voice.
It’s deep and crushing like the sound of an ocean breaking against a sheer cliff face.
I want to hear that voice in my freaking dreams.
“Merrick lives next door.” The man’s eyes glance over at the painting on the wall. “I’m a fan of his work, as it happens.”
“That makes sense. I recognized the painting, and I guess I just thought I was in the right place so I took off my jacket to break the ice, and I’m honestly so embarrassed I could die right now.”
“Nikkita will walk you over to Merrick’s house.” He looks me over one more time. The curiosity is back in his gaze, like he’s wondering if he should come over here and tug off my jacket again.
A very sick, very stupid part of me wants him to.
That’s wrong. I mean, he pointed a freaking gun at me. What kind of guy does that?
But for some reason, the look on his face, mixed with the splendor of his house and this man’s sheer intense sexual attraction makes me totally brainless for him.
I follow him into the hall. When the older woman appears, they speak in Russian, and the housekeeper glares at me like, somehow, I’m the problem.
“It was nice seeing you, Karine,” the man says, and the way he slightly emphasizes seeing makes my knees go weak.
If my nipples weren’t already hard, they’d be cutting glass by now.
“Thanks for not shooting me,” I blurt out.
Nikkita shakes her head like I’ve lost my mind, which is entirely possible, and leads me to the door.
I realize I never got the man’s name.
I look over my shoulder and glimpse him watching me from the hall, shrouded in shadow, looking like sin, death, and sex wrapped up in one terrifying masculine body, and I’m suddenly sure that if I ever come back to this house, I won’t ever leave it again.
Chapter 2
Karine
“It’s not funny! Seriously, Merrick, he pointed a gun at me.”
Merrick doubles over. He’s laughing so hard his face is red and tears stream down his cheeks. I stand on a small platform in his studio on the top floor of his house while sunlight streams in through the big windows, and I’m thinking about murdering him.
“You have no idea how close you just came to getting killed,” he says, wiping his face, his other hand pressed to his stomach like he’s holding himself together.
“Great, thanks, I just exposed myself to a stranger and you’re cracking up like it’s the funniest thing you’ve heard all week. It’s not a joke!”
“Okay, okay, you’re right, sweetie, it’s not a joke.” Merrick’s grin suggests he most certainly does not mean what he’s saying.
“Who is that guy anyway? He had one of your paintings hanging on his wall.”
“Oh, you know, just an extremely scary and powerful member of a large multi-national organized crime family.” He says this while looking at his nails as if he was describing a new polish color he bought recently.
I cover myself with my arms.
For the second time today, I’m totally naked.
“Sorry, what now? Did you say organized crime?”
“That’s the rumor, anyway. Told you, you came extremely close to getting whacked just now. Then again, I wouldn’t mind getting whacked by Valentin Zaitsev.”
Valentin. So that’s the man’s name. His deep blue eyes and full lips play through my mind, and I’m uncomfortably aware of my nudity.
“How do you know he’s in the mafia?”
“Bratva,” Merrick corrects. “That’s what the Russians call it, anyway. And I’m not totally sure, that’s just the rumor. He’s got a shitload of money, keeps some really shady hours, and doesn’t seem to have a real job. I don’t know, seems pretty plausible to me.”
I start to pace. Merrick murmurs something and sketches as I move.
“Okay, great, so I just barged into a Russian gangster’s house and flashed him. That’s probably bad, right?”
“You’ll be fine, don’t worry. I mean, look at you. He probably liked it.”
I pause and frown into space. He was giving me an extremely sexy and serious look.
But I don’t feel like I’m anything special.
I’m lean from years of running track and cross country, and my boobs aren’t particularly big. I keep my hair too long and I really could use a manicure. I’m not even wearing any makeup right now—Merrick wanted me totally natural.
Still, the look Valentin gave me…
“No, definitely not.” I start pacing again. “You don’t aim a gun at naked girls if you’re into them.”
“I don’t know. He definitely gives off a fuck-then-murder kind of vibe.”
“That’s a vibe?”
“Sweetie, it’s very much a vibe.”