Total pages in book: 187
Estimated words: 177397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 887(@200wpm)___ 710(@250wpm)___ 591(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 177397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 887(@200wpm)___ 710(@250wpm)___ 591(@300wpm)
“Uh-huh,” Mikhail replies, guiding me inside Tsar’s. “Who do you think gave me the shiner?”
Once again, I take the non-desperate route.
It is a challenging achievement with how high my shock is.
“I assumed the Triple Threat Team liked it rough.”
“Oh, they did.”
His moan at the end of his statement has me tempted to pluck an umbrella from a stack near the hostess desk. Above-par batting averages may be the only way I survive the stampede we’re about to face.
“But Andrik has a temper as short as a matchhead.” A smirk curls his lips. “I may also get pleasure out of pushing his buttons.”
We’re seated at a table with a prime view of most of the hotel’s foyer. Mikhail waits for me to sit before he removes a napkin from the hostess’s tray and drapes it across my thighs, ending their uncomfortable press.
Once I’m suitably covered, he leans in close and whispers, “He took your underwear, didn’t he?”
His words are soft enough for only me to hear. They cause a fiery heat to creep across my cheeks that colors my tone with just as much vibrancy. “Will you call me a hussy if I say yes?”
“No.” He sits across from me before accepting a menu from the smiling waitress introducing herself as our server. Her roguish blush is as evident as mine when she drinks in Mikhail’s handsome features. He doesn’t pay her an ounce of attention. His focus is solely on me and my possible confession. “But it will tempt me to ask what makes you different from the rest. He’s usually a fuck-’em-and-leave-before-they’ve-finished-shuddering kind of guy.”
My stomach gurgles. I downplay it as hunger. “Can we eat before you tell me exactly how many times Andrik has used your private abode as a whore house? I’d like to have something to bring up when I vomit. I have issues with dryness.” The heat on my cheeks doubles when he chuckles. “Not like that.” I pick up the napkin and toss it in his face. “You’re disturbing.”
“And you are even more feisty when you’re embarrassed.” He leans back in his chair so the waitress doesn’t bump into him when she fills his glass of water. “Maybe that’s what attracted Andrik to you? My brother usually goes for the demure, quiet ones. You wouldn’t fit that criteria even if you had one foot in the grave.”
Brother?
As my eyes zoom over every morsel of Mikhail’s face, I’m steamrolled with stupidity. The signs are in black and white for all to see, yet also not.
They’re night and day.
Light and dark.
Similar yet unique.
They’re the very definition of a brother from another mother. I’d put money on it.
Mikhail quirks a brow when I say, “Now your lack of fear makes sense,” demanding further explanation. “You’ll survive his threat of disembowelment since you’re blood.”
“Blood isn’t always thicker than water.” He leans forward until his elbows balance on the tabletop. “And do you care to elaborate on what his threat entailed?” I don’t believe him for a second when he smirks. “I’d like to know which buttons to avoid.”
He wants to direct his arrow straight at them, not away from them. His smirk announces this, much less the menacing glint in his eyes.
I thank the waitress for filling my mug with a steaming hot brew as Mikhail’s curiosity gets the better of him. “He threatened future bed companions, didn’t he?” When I give him a look as if to say, I’ll never tell, he murmurs, “You don’t need to confess, Sunshine. The truth is all over your face. I’m just trying to determine why he’d say that and then do what he did.”
I’m lost but too exhausted to excavate with the intelligence it deserves. “What did he do? Leave me to pre-scrub your sheets before placing them in the wash because I had no clue you were related?” I hit him with a pointed stare. “You could have told me he was your brother. Then I wouldn’t have broken a nail wrangling a fitted sheet off your ginormous mattress.”
He laughs. It is unexpected from how uneasy the groove between his brow makes him appear. “And let him steal the honor I worked so hard to achieve? Don’t be ridiculous.”
The coffee I’m slowly sipping means it takes me longer than I care to admit to recall where I’ve heard those words before. It makes me sick when I unlock the vault.
My voice is too loud for our public setting when I ask, “You were watching us?”
Mikhail nods.
He. Fucking. Nods.
I appreciate his honesty, but still, I’m shocked by his nonchalant approach to his reply.
His eyes bulge when he understands the cause for my kick under the table. “Not that,” he pushes out quickly. “What the fuck is it with everyone today thinking I’d get my rocks off watching my big brother…” He refuses to say his last word. He swallows the bile it instigated before lowering his voice to a more respectable level for our audience. “I saw your exchange in the elevator.” His words quicken when my snarl causes me to bare my teeth. “The pre-slap part of your exchange. Jesus, Sunshine. I’m not a complete fucking creep.” When I pfft him like I’m unsure if I believe him, he says, “I’m trying to be honest with you. I thought you’d rather that than base our friendship on the lies he must have tossed out to get you to—”