He didn’t give a fuck. It was the way he walked, the way he held himself. He didn’t care who was watching or what they thought of him. He was taking me to lunch because he’d decided that would give him pleasure, and everyone else had better stay out of his way.
He opened the door and held out his hand for mine. Another gentlemanly act. He was polite, yet arrogant. He treated me like a lady even as he admitted to his bodyguard that he wanted to fuck me. He took women out to posh restaurants, then returned to his world of violence and death.
For a split-second, I hesitated. Decision time. Was I really going to get involved with this guy?
I reached out and took his hand.
Inside, it was all snow-white tablecloths and hushed voices. Luka already had a table and guided me over to it, his hand on the small of my back. The red dress was made of fairly thick fabric but, suddenly, it seemed to barely be there at all.
When we sat, Luka said to the waiter in Russian, “She will need a menu in English.”
That was when I realized he had no idea I spoke or read Russian. That could be useful. Maybe he’d say something important about the arms deal, right in front of me, thinking I wouldn’t understand. So I tilted my head curiously and raised my eyebrows.
“I said you’ll need a menu in English,” he repeated in English, and I nodded and smiled.
We ordered: duck, for me, exquisitely cooked and drenched in rich sauce. For him, a rack of lamb. He cut into it, the juices running pink. “Why come on vacation alone?” he asked, his accent caressing each syllable.
I’d been drilled by Adam before I left Virginia. Keep as close to the truth as possible, he’d said. Good advice...but what do you do when your past is something you don’t share with anyone? “I thought I’d meet more people,” I lied. “I thought, if I came with friends, I’d just wind up talking to them the whole time.”
He nodded and chewed and then said, “Liar.”
The duck turned to tasteless mush in my mouth.
He looked me right in the eye. “I can tell when you’re lying to me, Arianna.”
Did he know?! I was in a public place, but this was Moscow, where money and power can buy anything. He could have me down the steps and bundled into his car in seconds, even kicking and screaming.
“Tell me why you’re really alone,” he said.
My mind was whirling. Why didn’t I listen to Roberta? He knows! He’s toying with me! I didn’t know whether to break and run and try to make it to the door or brazen it out or—
I snapped and told the truth. “I find it hard to connect with people,” I blurted.
The faintest hint of a smile crossed his lips. “That’s why you’re alone? Not just now but...always?”
I swallowed. “Yes.”
He smiled a slow smile. “That wasn’t so difficult, was it?”
I relaxed a tiny amount. He did want to find out the truth about me...but not what I did for a living. About me. The parts of Arianna Ross that were the same as Arianna Scott. In theory, that was a relief. But the thought of that stuff coming out, of having to relive the reasons why I was messed up—that wasn’t much less frightening.#p#分页标题#e#
“Are you always this...invasive with people?” I asked.
He didn’t even flinch. “I don’t like people lying to me.”
And then I realized the edge of his foot was against mine, under the table, the hard leather of his shoe pressed against the soft calfskin of my boot. It started to slide up, a firm caress, up the inside of my shin and then up the side of my calf. I stiffened in my seat as it left the boot and rasped against the nylon of my stocking. He rested there for a moment, his toe circling the side of my knee, and I caught my breath. “Do you always do this, as well, with women you’ve just met?”
“I’ve met you twice, now, Arianna. And we’ve already been much closer than this.”
The sound of my name on his lips did something strange to me. He’s pure ice, Roberta had warned me. But, behind those cold blue eyes, I thought I could detect something else. Something hotter than the core of a volcano, ready to burn us both. I recognized it, because I could feel the same thing building inside me.
“Why were you so rude to that guy at the park?” I asked. “He hadn’t done anything.”
Luka’s eyes blazed a little hotter. ‘He wanted to.”
“But why so rude? You just glared at him.”
“I’m not a very nice person, Arianna.”
“You’re nice to me.”
“You have something I want.”
My breath caught in my chest. “What?”