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Her eyes brightened. She liked my compliment but then she gave a self-deprecating little shrug. “Yeah, well. My family isn’t like yours. They’re not really into academics, and they wouldn’t think it’s something worth paying for.”
“I’m sure Nicu will be supportive, even if he wasn’t enthusiastic about his studies. Nothing but graduating cum laude was considered acceptable. Alex had to leave his pre-law program at Columbia University when my father was killed, but he insisted we finish our education with honors. I completed an MBA in Corporate Finance.”
She looked at me hopefully, “Yeah?”
“You should definitely go to college, Cat. Our family will do everything to help you. We can stop by the Admissions Office after lunch and find out the requirements and deadlines, and you should check out other colleges in the city and apply to them as well,” I suggested.
“The application deadline has long passed,” she grumbled.
I gave a little snort. “Exceptions can be made. You’d be surprised what money can do to facilitate these kinds of things.”
A gorgeous smile spread over her cupid’s bow lips. She was stunning. I’d be willing to do anything to bring that smile to her face. “You really think so?”
“I know so,” I said as we reached the ivy-covered building and I propped open the door for her. After convincing the guard at the front desk that I was her brother, all the while ignoring her dramatic eye roll at my lie, I followed her down the wide, high-ceilinged hall to her classroom. Waving her in, I ducked into the nearest empty room and dropped my briefcase on the wooden desk that the professors used. Pulling out my laptop and secure portable Wi-Fi router, I set it up and got to work on the cryptocurrency scheme, playing with one of the most market-capped crypto after bitcoin.
One good thing about playing guard with Cat was that I could work uninterrupted for several hours. Realizing that she’d have a break at some point, I squeezed into the hard plastic seat of a small student desk facing the open door, positioning myself so that I’d spot her if she left.
There was no denying I was taking this assignment above and beyond the call of duty, considering she was simply sitting in a classroom the entire time. She wasn’t exactly engaging in a high-risk activity in a dangerous area. Everything about her called to my possessive side, in a way I’d never experienced before. It was uncharacteristic of me to be so attentive to another person. Attentive to work? Yes. To my duties? Sure. To another human being, and a woman at that? Highly unusual.
Regardless of the madness that had clearly taken hold of me, there was no denying that I ached to be in her presence. I had foolishly judged her before ever meeting her. I assumed that she was a vapid, spoiled mafie princess. Wrong. The distance she kept from the gossiping misses and her dedication to hard work and education shattered those misconceptions. Not only that, but it was her dedication that made her seem so…Lupu-like, so very un-Popescu.
Via this arranged marriage, I assumed that Nelu was planting her as a spy. Wrong again. It was obvious from the moment I met her that she was an innocent. That innocence, combined with her thoughtful introspection, drew me in like a moth to a flame. Forget the fact that I wanted her writhing underneath me or riding my cock, I enjoyed conversing with her, watching her lively mind respond to my questions or challenge me. Hell, I simply liked being around her. The bottomless pit of loneliness, that I never fully shook, vanished in her presence.
Everything I never knew I wanted in a woman was dangled in front of me with Cat. Being with her taunted me with intimacy that I could never have. Once she married my brother, I’d be driven into further isolation, forcing a greater wedge between Nicu and me because I wouldn’t be strong enough to stand by, watching her at his side. The worst of it was that while I had the chance to be around her before she married, and I’d be forced to move halfway across the country to stay away from her, I’d indulge as much as possible.
Propping my elbow on the tiny desk, I pinched the space between my eyebrows.
I was so fucked.
