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“What else would you like to know?” Mom asked, giving me a sly, highly amused smirk when she noticed how I was looking at Zak.
“Is this a setup?” I gritted out suspiciously. “Are you trying to get me to hook up with him?”
The smirk disappeared. “Sweetheart, of course not. But after meeting Zak, I knew you two would be perfect for each other. With some convincing, your father came to agree. And from the vibes I’m getting zapped with by you simply looking at him across the room, I know I was right.”
Stubbornly, I hiked up my chin to glare down at her. “And this has nothing to do with the fact that Dad does business with him? You’re not trying to join two powerful families or some archaic bullshit, are you?”
She rolled her brown eyes at me. “Arranged marriages went out of fashion a long time ago, Sofia. I mean, sure, it still happens, even in this day and age. But I would never allow that to happen to you. I just suggested to Adrian that the two of you meet, and if things happened organically, then great. If not, I had no plans to push either of you toward a relationship.”
The amusement returned to her beautiful face as several people passed us, their attention ensnared by the Ural necklace. I wanted to yell at them to stop looking atmyemerald, but I chose to lock my jaw and keep my mouth shut as my mother spoke. “Though, I can feel the heat of his gaze on you from here. And from the goose bumps decorating your arms, it’s obvious there is chemistry for you both.”
“But—” I broke off, rubbing at my arms in an attempt to erase the evidence of my body’s reaction to Zak.
“It was instantaneous for your father and me, too,” she confided in her quiet, gentle voice. “But we had obstacles in our way that kept us apart for…a while. I didn’t want anything like that for you, should you become interested in Morozov. I had a full background check done on the man—”
“Of course you did,” I muttered, unsurprised.
She went on as if I hadn’t interrupted. “And as far as we can tell, there is nothing and no one to stand in your way should you want to pursue your interest in him.”
“Goody for me,” I grumbled, glaring at her. “Okay, so maybe, just maybe, there was chemistry between us earlier. But that was then. I could as easily have had the same reaction to twenty different guys. It was fleeting. There one minute, gone the next. Much like every other man in the world.”
“Maybe,” she agreed, her lips tilting upward knowingly. “Then again, maybe not.”
“Whatever. The point is, I don’t want to explore it,” I informed her, not completely sure if I was lying or not.
Mom’s eyes narrowed on me. “May I ask why?”
“Just because,” I told her obstinately. “And I’m asking you—no, Mother, scratch that. I’m telling you, here and now, stay out of it.”
