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Ihad to escape the suffocating pressure of being dragged around by my mother, who prodded me to smile wider and laugh quieter in order to seem more ladylike. Pfft, as if any of that would help my case. It didn’t matter what I said or how I acted. The man, or rather stranger, who was my fiancé, was as stuck as me with our engagement.
My mother was relishing every moment of the charade, especially since the Lupu clan was paying for the entire engagement party weekend. Considering our financial problems, I tried talking her out of a big wedding, but she said it was a matter of Popescu pride. I didn’t see what pride had to do with it. If we couldn’t afford it, we couldn’t afford it. My father was already in debt, and the idea of adding to it to pay for my wedding seemed insane. While my mother was ecstatic, I was trying to manage Cristo, who slunk in the background, growling and snapping at anyone who passed by.
Meanwhile, Simu was working hard behind the scenes with my dad. Getting nowhere, he too, was acting like a grouch. I had too much on my plate to deal with him and was relieved that he had to return to the city in the evening.
My mother got embroiled in a deep conversation with another mafie matriarch, and seeing my chance, I held my breath and inched away slowly until I melted into the crowd. When I was far enough away, engulfed in the large, bustling reception room, I scooped up a champagne flute from a passing waiter, took a deep swallow, and slipped out the nearest open French doors onto a patio.
Guzzling down half the glass, I felt the bubbly blend with the acid roiling in my stomach. Not the best combination, but screw it. I followed the wraparound patio around the corner of the house and pressed my spine against the rounded, ancient-looking stones protruding from the wall. The back of my head thumped lightly on the wall as I closed my eyes and expelled a long sigh.
“Needed an escape, huh?”
A gasp slipped past my lips as my eyes popped open wide. My head spun in the direction of the intruder. My gaze landed on a man, half a dozen feet away from me. Leaning a shoulder against the stone wall, a cigarette dangled from his full, sculpted lips. I gaped at his face. God, what a face. His expression confirmed that he was a devil. Wasn’t every man here? But damn if his features didn’t give him the look of an angel.
How unfair.
A spring breeze blew blond curls off a face that might as well have been carved out of marble. All the angles were hard, from his strong, wide forehead to his high cheekbones to the jut of his jawbone. But his eyes were what paralyzed me, rooting me to my spot. Bright silver and hard, but with a faint trace of mischief in them. Staring at him was an experience in and of itself. An unusual mixture of the desire to scream and laugh hysterically warred inside me.
“Uhhh…” I trailed off. Caught off guard by his cruel beauty, my brain hiccupped. “I-I didn’t see you there.”
A feral smirk curled the edges of his lips upward as his eyes slowly made their way down my body. Heat singed every inch he touched with his eyes. It took every ounce of pride I had not to fidget under his blatant perusal. Sheesh, at least he found me attractive, which was more than I could say for my fiancé. The thought burned a hole in my gut. Normally, I didn’t seek the approval of others, but it was a doozy to experience Nicu’s eyes gloss over me like I didn’t even exist.
Nothing like that could be said of this man.
“Hmm, apparently not. Who are you running from, beautiful? Or were you also escaping the general bullshit of this absurd party?” he asked, his voice doused in mockery.
I cleared my throat.
“General bullshit,” I croaked out.
He nodded knowingly, as if we shared a mutual secret. As if we were co-conspirators of some kind. Good God, I wish I could conspire with him. Preferably between the sheets. I didn’t really mean that, of course. It was my unbridled libido talking. But that’s what happened when a woman of eighteen, who had never been touched, was faced with such raw, sensual beauty.
Between the arrogance that oozed from him and the fact that I didn’t recognize him, he was most definitely a Lupu. Lupu men were dangerous, and this one had to be the most perilous of them all. There was a wild, rough energy that rolled off him in waves, even though he hadn’t moved a muscle. He reminded me of a caged feline.
Powerful. Untamed. Unsafe.
The smartest move I could make was to leave his presence, but then my eyes dipped to the cigarette in his hand.
I stammered out, “D-do you have another one of those?”
Alcohol. Nicotine. Anything to help me get through this ludicrous farce of an engagement party. If it wasn’t for the fact that it was my duty, that I wanted to make my family proud, and that my mother was having the time of her life, I’d never have put up with this ridiculous situation.
His eyes slid over my face critically. “Are you even legal?” he asked, tipping his chin toward the glass that I gripped. His lips turned up into a half smile and a deadly dimple popped out on his left cheek.
“Yes and no,” I teased.
His eyebrows drew down. “What the hell does that mean?” he ground out.
Jeez, no patience, this one.
“I’m eighteen,” I clarified.
He nodded sagely. Instead of giving me a cigarette of my own, he passed me his own, butt facing me. I glanced down, searching for the imprint of those full lips on the filter. Finding nothing, I snatched it and took a drag. The burn exploded in my lungs, giving me a little head rush, but I savored it.
“You’re not going to tell on me, are you?” I threw him one of my toss-away flirty smiles.
His eyes turned hard. Clearly, it didn’t melt him. He snorted. “No. I’m the last one to tattle.”
