Hurt flashes on her face. “You used to fuck me every chance you could. Now you’re?—”
I yank her left, out of the path of a broad guy wearing a rugby jersey who was about to bump into her from behind. “Watch it,” I snap at him.
Carina’s hair hits me again as she pulls away, striding down a hallway I know leads to the restrooms and Cillian’s office.
I swear under my breath and follow her.
THERE IS NO TOMORROW
“Where are you going?”
“You said not to tell you,” she sasses back.
I catch up with Carina in three more strides, grabbing her arm and yanking her to a halt. She tries to shove at my chest, but I’m expecting it. I have her pinned against the wall a second later.
She glares, but doesn’t attempt to push me away again. “I could shoot you.”
“Go for it.”
A scowl appears. I want to kiss her until it’s gone.
Instead, I say, “We need to leave soon.”
“You go. I’m good here.”
“You want to forget about earlier? The whole point of meeting with Seamus was to get you those papers. You’d better fucking use them, Carina.”
Her eyes flash. “I’m not one of your men, Lev. Stop ordering me around.”
I sigh.
“This is my problem,” she continues. “You’ve done more than I ever expected you to.”
Now I’m scowling. “This isn’t over yet. You’re still?—”
“You won’t let me make my own decisions,” she snaps.
“What are you talking about?” I reply, genuinely baffled. “Earlier, you were asking me where?—”
“I was asking for your input. Not for you to choose for me. I thought—I used to think I was making my own decisions. Now, I realize it was all being controlled by my father. Like I was a … zoo animal. I thought I was living in the wild, then stepped outside the exhibit and realized it had all been a pretty facade. I never got a chance to be myself, not really, and now I’ll have to pretend I’m someone else entirely. I’m adjusting, and I have one final night, and I want to have fun so I forget that. Let me.”
“Fine.” I step away, walking back the way we came.
“Lev, don’t?—”
She stops speaking when I pivot, completing the circle and heading back to where she’s standing.
I hold one hand out. “Hi. I’m Lev Sokolov.”
A slow smile spreads across her face as her fingers curl around my palm. “Carina Caruso.”
“Do you come here a lot, Carina Caruso?”
She shakes her head. “Mm-mm. First time. You?”
“Occasionally.”
“I bet you do a lot of things ‘occasionally.’”
