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“It’s brazen, confident, and determined,” he corrected. “And you’re not women nor are we at a funeral.”
Touché.
Another grin aimed at me chipped a bit more of my icy demeanor.
“So if you’re not here for my aunt or my sister, what are you here for?”
His smile slowly faded and he glanced down at me with a look on his face of something akin to deep contemplation.
“I owed someone a favor.”
When he didn’t elaborate I knew it was meant for me not to know his business.
“Well, thank you for your brute honesty on one of the worst days of my life, but I really should go back in now.”
“You’re welcome but this isn’t the worst day of your life. Well maybe it is, but it’s also the best.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Because you met me,” he retorted smoothly.
“Because I met––okay Casanova, that was pretty good, and like five percent cheesy, but I won’t tell a soul if you don’t tell I almost swooned,” I laughed.
He grinned, sending the flutters up again and bringing forth his fucking dimples. “It may have been cheesy but it worked.”
“What worked?”
“You’re smiling.”
Oh, damn he was good.
“You’re pretty when you’re sad, but you’re gorgeous when you’re happy.”
Before I could open my mouth and say anything back, he surprised me by reaching up and smoothing the pad of his thumb across my lower lip.
“Meu,” he said with a harsh finality, dropping his hand before I could knock it away.
His deep voice, coupled with the intense way he was looking at me, caused an unwelcome sensation to blossom in my stomach. He glanced away at something for a brief second and then back at my face.
“Welcome home, Elena.” He took hold of one of my hands and pressed a lingering kiss to the back. Had he been anyone else, the move would have been over the top, but with him I felt like I’d just received a serenade from a royal and should swoon, fluttering my lashes.
“If you ever want that talk.” He winked and stepped away, and then ambled towards the parking lot where a black Mercedes sat idling with two large SUV’s waiting behind it.
He gave me one last disarming smile over his shoulder before getting in the passenger seat. I caught a glimpse of another man in a suit before the car lurched forward and disappeared from view.
What the entire hell just happened?
That was hands down the most exciting encounter I’d ever had in my life.
He just blew every preconceived notion I had him out of the water. I thought he was supposed to be sadistic and unsmiling.
His owing a favor spiel honestly had me confused. Who here could he owe something to that had anything to do with me?
I rolled my lips together to get rid of the lingering feel of his finger wondering, what he had said in his native tongue. I was still staring at the spot where the car had been when a low whistle had me turning my head to the right.
I squinted watching her come closer. When her features started taking shape, I took off towards her with as much poise as I could muster in heels, trying not to bust my ass.
“I was coming to check on you and saw all whatever that was,” she said as soon as she was close enough to throw her arms around me in a bone-crushing hug. I hugged her back, catching a whiff of her rose-scented perfume when I pulled away.
