Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 100716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
I’m burning at the stake, but since Ark would rather his incineration occur without an audience member who could potentially ruin his campaign for office, he guides Veronika back toward the exit.
Fury burns hotter than the lust scorching my veins when Veronika swoops in for a quick peck when Ark holds open the door for her. Her puckered lips display their desperateness to touch him in any way, not to mention the lusty gleam in her eyes.
I fight like hell to keep my feet rooted to the floor when a door closing harshly draws my eyes back to Ark. We’re alone, as the magnetizing pull trying to draw us together announces, and although there is a two-way mirror separating us, Ark stares straight at me as if there isn’t.
I return his watch, confused, angry, and incredibly aroused.
There’s still so much tension, so much energy. I feel seconds from combusting, and the flames aren’t solely from my half of the room.
Ark shoves his hands in his pockets, striving to convey unity between his head and his heart.
He can’t fool me.
Mutual attraction drew us together, but something much more profound pulled us under.
I’m dangerously close to forcing Ark to admit that with me, but I lose the chance when the door opposite him pops open and Rafael enters with an equally attractive brunette.
She races to Ark’s side with her hand held out in offering, her footing almost a stumble. “Mr. Orlov, thank you for agreeing to meet with me. I am aware your time is extremely stretched, so I won’t keep you long.”
Ark accepts her hand before he steals her focus with a smile. It is so breathtaking she misses the head nudge he issues Rafael, oblivious that he wouldn’t have accepted her handshake if it didn’t service his needs.
He wants me removed from a meeting that seems more important to him than I ever was, and I have enough self-respect not to pretend otherwise.
I’m halfway out the door before Rafael can acknowledge Ark’s silent demand to remove me from the premises, and heartbroken enough to make a pledge to never return.
40
ARKADIY
The instant Rafael walks through the door concealing Mara from me, I yank my hand out of Detective Pascall’s grasp and stuff it into my pocket. I didn’t accept her offer of a handshake to facilitate the suspicious groove between her brows. I did it so I could announce to Rafael that the interview I organized was being witnessed by the last person I want to know about my crimes.
Rafael must be able to read minds. I barely nudged my head to the two-way mirror I was seconds from squashing Mara up against and kissing her silly when his arrival broke the spell Mara’s presence forever places on me. But he understood the urgency on my face within a second and implemented immediate actions to ratify the injustice.
He’s done the same multiple times over the past three days.
I would have folded by now if he hadn’t.
I can’t be in the same room with Mara and not itch to touch her. It is an impossible task. Even drunk and belligerent, I could barely hold back the urge Friday night. I remained holed up in the bathroom for not even thirty seconds before I sprinted for the exit.
If the elevator had made it to the underground garage fast enough, I would have stopped Mara from leaving that night. Then I would have fallen to my knees and begged for forgiveness, and all the work my team has been undertaking for the past several days would have been pointless.
This has nothing to do with my political campaign, and everything to do with the woman I fell in love with on sight.
Needing to get my head into game mode, I gesture, with the hand not stuffed in my pocket, for Detective Pascall to sit at one of the chairs around the conference room table.
“Please, call me Sanya.”
She flashes me credentials to assure me that I’m speaking with a professional before she takes a seat and removes a notepad from the breast pocket of her jacket.
“Water?” I ask, attempting to display I’m not the slightest bit nervous about our meeting.
When she shakes her head, I fill one glass before taking a seat opposite her.
“If this is in regard to an increase in media presence over the past three weeks, I can assure you my department is implementing measures to reduce the disruption to residents in the building as we speak.”
“It isn’t regarding that.” I speak with a professional edge that gives no indication I am affiliated with gangsters. “But I’ll be sure to pass your message on to Mr. Ivanov the next time I speak with him.”
Maksim Ivanov is a gangster in every meaning of the word. He also owns a majority of the apartments in my building. We met once, but it was too brief to determine how indebted he is to Mara, and if that debt would transfer to me if it were in Mara’s best interests. But I’m not opposed to tossing his name into the ring if it’ll make the flames less scorching.