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Chapter Five
Raina
To my surprise,Alek hasn’t directed the elevator up, to go to one of the famed rooms of this beautiful hotel—but down. I wonder if he’s staying nearby, but I certainly don’t mind walking for a bit. My head is still foggy from all the vodka, and no matter how much we’ve danced, I feel deliciously woozy, like my feet aren’t quite touching the ground.
I have every reason to feel woozy, I decide. I’m leaving one of the biggest society weddings of the year with a man who is apparently one of Chicago’s newest and most eligible bachelors…and we’re going to spend the night with each other!
The few times Alek left my side, I learned exactly how eligible he was, in fact. I was nearly mobbed by women as I walked to the ladies’ room or stood briefly alone at an hors d’oeuvres station, all of them with another story about him. Everyone seemed to take note of us together, from the bride and groom down to the waitstaff, and Alek danced with me exclusively the entire night. He didn’t give anyone my name, but the bride’s family certainly knows me…and Alek’s very public interest in me made me feel insanely safe—as if no one can ever touch me, as long as he’s near.
The curious parade of women asked who I was, who my family was, and how I knew Alek—all questions I avoided, but that didn’t seem to be a problem, as they mostly wanted to dish on Alek. It also didn’t take long for me to assemble an entire biography of the man, though I refuse to accept some of the accolades laid at his feet. Yes, there’s no question he’s well off…but a straight-up millionaire who’s the son of one of the most powerful mob bosses in the country? I can’t believe that. And that his cousin’s family is the syndicate’s local connection, with links to other powerful families throughout the U.S.? There’s no way that’s true. I’ve spoken with Natasha Kavenev—well, the new Mrs. Bolykin now—several times. She’s sweet, fully aware of how spoiled she is, and a little bit flighty…but she’s not mob material. The very thought makes me giggle.
“Why are you laughing?” Alek murmurs as the elevator doors open, but I simply shake my head.
“I can’t believe any of this is happening,” I say honestly, and I’m rewarded by his beautiful smile.
“The night is still so young, too.” His mysterious comment sounds so lush and full of promise that it sends my mind spinning down entirely new lanes of possibilities, each more elaborate than the last. Alek pulls out his phone and sends a quick text as we cross the lobby, and I wonder vaguely where I stuffed my phone after Alek eventually gave it back. Then, a second later, my mind rabbits off in another direction as Alek tugs me outside.
A car is waiting at the curb, a limo, and I frown at it, momentarily confused. “You aren’t staying close by?” I ask Alek, and he smiles down at me.
“I confess I am very particular when it comes to my accommodations. I’m staying less than a mile up Michigan Avenue. We could walk, if you prefer?”
“No…” I’ve never been in a limo before, though it’s my father’s preferred way of traveling in the city. He and his third wife live in the exclusive River North area, and he avoids driving like the plague, especially downtown. But I don’t ever see my father, not anymore. I haven’t in years.
I smile a little now, thinking of him, but when Alek asks me my thoughts, I defer again. There’s no reason for me to be wistful tonight, I remind myself. Tonight is for celebration.
The limo whisks us up Michigan Avenue, and in scarcely more than a blink of an eye we’re slowing again. A moment later, the car stops and a doorman appears out of nowhere on the sidewalk. The door opens and Alek exits first, pausing to take in our surroundings, then turns to help me out of the car.
Once on the sidewalk, I try to get my bearings, but none of this makes sense. This isn’t a hotel at all, but one of the blindingly expensive apartment high rises that overlook the lake and Millennium Park!
“This is…” I break off, not wanting to betray my ignorance to the doorman. Suddenly and excruciatingly aware of my simple suit and heels, I bite my lip, but Alek folds my arm into his as if I’m the queen of England. And I’m not dressed like a tramp, after all—I’m almost egregiously conservative in my work attire. Still, it’s all I can do not to gape as Alek ushers me into the lobby of the gorgeous old building, and my eyes are immediately drawn to the exquisite architectural details of the room—the carved stone features and inlaid marble in particular. When was this masterpiece built? I barely pay attention as he stops at the front desk to chat with the uniformed man sitting there. Then he’s striding with me once more to the elevators, fiddling with a special keycard, and a second later we’re lifting skyward.
We keep going all the way to the floor marked P. My eyes snap wide as the elevator doors open again, and Alek leads me into an apartment so sumptuous I don’t even know where to look. “You live here?”
“When I’m in Chicago.” Alek laughs as I stare open-mouthed around the room. He moves over to a well-outfitted bar, while I take a few steps toward the windows. It’s pitch dark outside, but I can see the twinkling lights of the city as they stretch off into the distance, bordering a huge dark expanse that must be Lake Michigan.
“This—oh my god, the view here must be incredible during the day,” I breathe, then jump a little as Alek moves up beside me.
“I don’t know. The view inside tonight is pretty impressive to me.”
I blush as he offers me a tumbler filled with sparkling water, but I take it gratefully. I’m still unreasonably lightheaded, though whether it’s from the vodka or simply the air in this luscious penthouse, I can’t say.
Sipping the water in the middle of arguably the most beautiful apartment I’ve ever seen, standing next to the most gorgeous man I’ve ever met, I scramble to decide what I should do next. My mind is such a whirl of confusion, that this time, when Alek asks what I’m thinking, I can’t keep from blurting out the truth.
“I’m thinking that I’ve never done anything like this before, and I don’t know how to act—what to say—anything,” I admit in a rush as his emerald eyes watch me, glittering in the half-light of the room. I drain the glass and he takes it from me, setting it on the table beside me.
“You’ve never had a glass of water?” he asks, so serious that I burst out with a nervous laugh.
“I’ve never had a glass of water in a multi-million-dollar penthouse, no. I’ve also never danced with a stranger—let alone kissed him. Let alone, um…”
He moves closer to me, and there’s something about his smile that sends a thrill straight to the center of my being—a center that’s growing incredibly hot and wet, simmering with a need I can’t exactly describe. It’s like an ache, a hollowness that needs to be filled, and only Alek can fill it. He has to fill it, I think, my tension winding tighter as he watches me. Surely he will…won’t he?
I draw in a shaky breath. When I danced with Alek, I felt more alive than I had in longer than I can remember. When he stood with me protectively in the reception hall, I felt cherished. But now, standing with him in this incredible apartment, my heart practically beating out of my chest, I feel—adventurous.
“It appears that tonight will be a night of many firsts for you then,” he murmurs, his low voice sending another ripple of excitement through me. “What is the next first you’d like to try, Raina?”
My gaze leaps to his, and my breath catches, a heady rush of power filling me. “Me?” I ask, totally floored by his simple request. “I can choose what we do?”
His eyes only seem to grow more intense, and his smile broadens. “I insist.”
