“I know who that asshole is.” Glaring at Alex, she stood and crossed her arms. “You can turn around and get the fuck out right now. There is no way on earth I’m letting you touch me.”
Tusya stared at her like she’d lost her mind, but Alex merely lifted one brow in a cool expression of amusement that made her grit her teeth. He said something to Tusya in Russian and he left with Katya, closing the door, trapping her with Alex. Panic filled her and she slowly backed up when he walked towards her. Even in a suit the man radiated menace. It gave her chills to see just how cold his gaze was.
“Stay away from me.”
He stopped advancing on her and nodded. “Please, have some coffee.”
“Fuck you. It’s probably drugged.”
His lips twitched, but he merely shrugged and went about making his own cup. “If I wanted to drug you I wouldn’t have to do it with food and drink. I could merely shoot you with a dart the moment I walked into the room.”
The casual way he said that frightened her; she wished she had a gun right now. “You need to leave.”
Bringing the coffee cup to his lips, he took a sip and sighed. “I will not hurt you, Rya. Please. Let us talk. Sit.”
She’d backed up to the window and jumped slightly at the sensation of the cool glass against the back of her arms. “I have nothing to say to you.”
“Fine, then you will listen.” He sat with an elegant grace and stared at her. It was disconcerting to see someone who looked so much like Dimitri watching her. The same dominant vibes rolled off of him as his brother, but where Dimitri watched her with heat, Alex’s gaze was icy. “My brother loves you and he is terrified that you will be hurt.”
“Bullshit.”
“Dimitri says you are good at reading lies. Am I lying, Rya?”
She bit her lower lip and studied him. “I…no, I don’t think so.”
“So, we know that Dimitri loves you. I admit, I’m baffled by how quickly he fell for you, but that seems to be how it works for the men in my family.” Deep, crushing pain filled his face for a moment before it vanished like snow melting on a warm day. “He tried to protect you the best he could, but your activities drew the interest of the spies we have traveling with us in the European Delegation and now we must do damage control.”
She stared at him, a bit creeped out by the way he could sit so still, almost like a statue. “I’m not fucking you, Alex.”
“I accept that, but we will have to do something.” He sighed and his expression thawed somewhat. “You must sell them on wanting me, Rya. Even if I disgust you, we must make them believe that you are of no value to them, that there is nothing between you and Dimitri.”
“How? How the hell am I supposed to pretend I want your touch when the thought makes me ill.” She angrily wiped away a tear. “How can you say he loves me when he’d let his brother fuck me.”
Alex abruptly stood and stalked across the room towards her. If Dimitri was a wolf Alex was a tiger and her poor little rabbit heart raced as she was caught in the gaze of a predator. “Do not question his feelings for you. He is beside himself with worry. I have never seen him like this and we have been through terrible things together.”
He stopped just out of reach, and she had to crane her neck to look up into his eyes as he loomed over her. She shoved at his chest but he didn’t move; his body was solid muscle beneath her palms. “Back off.”
“I must show you something since you do not seem to understand the level of danger you are in.”
Baffled, she watched as he unbuttoned his white dress shirt, revealing a body built just as fine as Dimitri’s but a bit leaner. She looked up to his face but he wasn’t watching her with anything even close to lust. Instead that immense, roaring pain was back in his eyes. After shrugging out of his jacket he took his shirt off and stepped back.
She looked all over his body, stunned by the number of scars covering him. The men in the MC club had lots of battle wounds, and she’d heard plenty of stories about how they got them so she was able to catalog his scars. Bullet wounds, what looked like stabbing scars, a burn on his ribs, and various other injuries marked his body. She looked up from his stomach, absently noting he had an excellent six pack and sexy V, then up his chest.
Alex touched a beautiful tattoo over his heart. There was something written in Cyrillic and below the writing a rose in full bloom with its stem intertwined with another rose, this one still just a bud. “Did Dimitri tell you about my Jessica?”
Frowning, she shook her head. “No.”
His entire body sagged and she was afraid he was going to fall to his knees before he stood straight again. He looked out the window instead of at her. “Five years ago, I met an American girl while I was…working in Ireland. She was beautiful, so full of light and love despite her harsh upbringing in the American foster care system. And smart, so smart. We would play chess after her shift ended until dawn at the pub where she worked and I rarely won. We quickly fell in love and I thought I could hide her, keep her safe. I married her and we lived together for three months before…”